It only took a couple of hours to reach capital but inside the carriage, four people sat in total silence while the Rebels' leader whose name Mars learned from Ceres to be Neptune sat with her hand legs bound by an enchanted rope that can't be broken. She had now changed out of her battle attire to a more casual attire which consisted of the loosely fitted black full-sleeved blouse and a pair of leather trousers which probably belonged to Priscilla, though she was barefooted and her hair was unkempt she had an air of a princess rather than a warrior which further intensified the mystery of her identity for Mars.
When they reach the royal capital's entrance, they found that the crown prince and younger brother of Mars, Ares was there with his one of the wives to welcome them. Though they had the same black eyes and hair he had a rather straight nose compared to Mars crooked one which looked like it had broken several times. The Emperor had four wives in total and had four princes namely Mars, Ares, Remus, Sirius with them. All of his wives got assassinated in an ambush while protecting the lives of their sons staged by his political opponents. This led the Emperor to banish half of his family to a foreign land and naming Ares the crown prince and deeming Mars to be unqualified for the position.
Mars clambered down the carrier with Ceres and Priscilla following behind him, while Ares came forward and hugged his brother rather aggressively while his wife chuckled at his unroyal display while nodding her head toward her would-be sister-in-law. Surprised by his behaviour Mars returned a half-hearted hug while Neptune was the last one to get off the carrier.
They were then escorted to the royal castle in the middle of the night on foot since it is forbidden to use carriers after sunsets as it would be difficult to spot any commoner in low visibility for fore it's too late. The royal castle was a huge structure made up completed of white stones and adorned with many turrets and as many gold and silver crosses to symbolise their relationship with the Church, windows radiating the candle lights and a set of huge double doors both to welcome guests and keep out the enemies, while a number of soldiers patrol them and garden around the castle
At the foot of double doors, the emperor himself and margrave graham waited for their return. Mr. Graham was a middle-aged man with a stocky build with brown hair and signs of baldness, while the emperor looked like an older version of both Ares and Mars with white hair and an unkempt beard and a stoic face similar to that of Mars.
Mr Graham beamed with joy as he saw his daughter were safe and sound as they first bow to the emperor and to him.
"Well then, if you would excuse me and my daughters you highness as it seems we had some urgent catching up to do.", Mr Graham then leading Priscilla and Ceres inside the castle toward the castle quarters on the third floor.
"Ares, go and take that woman to solitary confinement and then go back to your quarter. Mars follow me." Emperor ordered his two sons with a flat voice while turning away and leading Mars inside the castle.
After ten minutes or so they finally reached their destination which tuned out to be the castle's terrace, which does not surprise Mars as he knew his father like to discuss important personal matters here rather his study or his room.
"Tomorrow, you would turn eighteen, so to celebrate that and your victory we are going to hold a banquet. Make you're sure dressed properly. Understood." Emperor order Mars with his back turned to him.
"Yes, your highness." Mars replied with a voice devoid of any emotion.
"Your dismissed" nodding to himself emperor order Mars to leave as the awkwardness raised with each passing moment.
As Mars was left, emperor looked at the sky and release a heavy sigh, tomorrow wasn't only Mars' birthday but also the day his mothers died, a fact both of them were aware of but neither want to mention it.
At the same time, in a room on the third floor's east wing, Mr Graham sat on a chair as listen to his daughters' account of the war while nodding and laughing. They both were sat on the bed and answered the question asked by their question.
"Priscilla, are you sure about that woman?" asked margrave with a slightly worried tone.
"Yes father, she is the one we were looking for, I'm sure." Priscilla replied without a sliver of doubt.
Ceres too was worried that her sister might have made a mistake but after experiencing her tactics work wonderfully in the war and her confident voice now, all of her doubts were cleared and she beamed her sister in admiration. Priscilla not only won the whole battle with her strategies but she did that while keeping the casualties to a minimum. Like everyone Ceres too was oblivious to how she knows those things as she always replied that her mother and her maternal grandmother gave her this power. Their father was the only person alive that knows how she does gather her knowledge and show full support to her decisions.
He was so supportive of her that when she asked her and their father to be engaged to Prince Mars he readily agreed despite that Mars was already engaged to Ceres since childhood. But Cere holds no ill-feeling toward Priscilla as she believes her more than any other person in the world.
"Oh!, look at the time you two should go get some sleep otherwise, you won't be ready for tomorrow's banquet." Said, margrave.
As they both left, margrave's smiling face turned sad as he realised that his time with his daughters is coming to a close dinner rather than later.