Third person POV
Shortly after lunch, Robert, Emma, Zarah, and Emi are walking through an alleyway to shorten travel time when one of the king's messengers came and said, "Milady, Mr. Lightningheart."
Upon hearing his address to them, the four of them stopped walking and turned around.
"Oh, you must be one of my father's messengers, right?" Zarah asked back.
"Yes, and I have been looking all over for you, milady," the messenger, a man with black hair and purple eyes, responded back.
"What does dad need now?"
"I was sent to give word to you that he wants you and the others to come back immediately because the king is going to hold a meeting regarding the Old Faction's planned coup," the messenger replied back.
"That was fast," Robert responded. "Okay, we'll be there."
"Yes, come with me."
And so, all of them went back to the palace as fast as they could.
Later, at the palace's meeting room, Alexander revealed to Robert and the others about the current status of the Old Faction: They are preparing their magic and arms, and managed to take control of one of the city's barracks, which was a few blocks from the front gate of the palace, and managed to gain a lot of weapons.
Robert and the others got alerted by it.
"Yes," Alexander responded. "I know it sounds so sudden, but we still have the other three barracks containing around 100 soldiers each, so we might gain an upper hand. Sol already finished revising our plan of defense, so all we need is to cooperate and coordinate."
Eventually, Robert and the others agreed, and they started to reveal their part for the plan of defense.
"Me and William-kun will be the lookout on the number of troops involved in this coup," Jeremiah responded.
"Me, sis, Harold-kun, and Robert-kun will be in the backlines," Peter added positively.
"I'll provide the extra weapons using my ability just in case the palace guards break their weapons," Tanaka responded.
"I'll be in the medic team!" Blaise added.
"I'll be leading two of the legionnaires as backup," Dan seriously responded.
"Me and Zarah-san will be in the backlines just in case," Emi added.
Luke and the two other Senior Royal Guards already had roles of their own, and Alexander already knew that.
Moments later, Alexander accepted their roles in the defense plan, reassuring to them and the others that they will all pass and win this fight.
After that, Alexander felt that he couldn't hide his secret behind the identity of the Grand Founder, so he just dropped his head slightly, and said to them, "Everyone, I knew who is the Grand Founder."
Robert and his group looked at him, and Robert asked, "What? Really?"
"Who is it then?" Blaise added.
"That would be my paternal uncle," Alexander spitted out the truth.
Eventually, Robert and the others were shocked to hear that.
"What? Your uncle?"
"He's a traitor and disgrace to this kingdom!"
"Why he would do such a thing?"
"What an idiot he is."
Then, Alexander explained to them that the true reason why his uncle would do that is that he wanted the power for himself, but unfortunately, his younger brother, who was Alexander's father, was chosen to be the next king, causing a grudge by his uncle, and split off from the royal family.
After that, Robert and his group get what the king said to them.
"Yes, and all those claims of restoration by his group?" Alexander responded back. "Those are just facades and mirages to hide his true intentions."
Robert and his group didn't say anything nor object to his explanation.
William, Tanaka, and Blaise are a bit upset by the king's uncle's selfish intentions.
Emi already knew the identity of the Grand Founder, so she just confirmed to her friends.
But before anyone would say a word about it, Alexander bowed his head and apologized to them for not telling them sooner, before rising his head and felt bad for his actions.
"Yes, we already knew that," Miriam responded as she felt bad, too. "We're sorry for keeping that a secret."
"Me too," Stephen added.
But, moments later, Sol spoke up, "It's okay, we understand."
The royal family then looked at them while being stunned by their understanding attitude.
"Yeah, we didn't know someone in your family is greedy and selfish traitor," Robert positively added.
"Is that so?" Alexander asked back.
"Yes."
After that, Alexander said to them with gratitude, "Thank you so much for understanding our feelings. We'll give you anything in return after the coup has been thwarted."
To that Harold spoke up frantically while stammering, "U-Um, you don't have to do that! We don't expect any reward from you guys! We're just merely helping out."
He then looked at his friends and asked, "Right, guys?"
Robert and the others then agreed and confirmed in response.
"I see," Alexander responded to this. "I understand."
After that, the meeting was over, and they all grabbed their belongings and left the meeting room.
Along the way in the hallways, Robert, Jeremiah, Blaise, and their friends are very determined to win this fight of the century, with Sol giving his support to them. Dan and Luke seemed to be happy that they are determined with confident.
After that, they spent the rest of the afternoon doing their duties and preparing for a hard tomorrow, with Robert deciding to end his triple date and Emi going back to her station at the Old Palace to act as if she didn't do anything betraying to the Old Faction. The Grand Founder didn't know all of these until the right time. But, will they succeed in their battle to protect the kingdom from falling into the wrong hands?