Melisa left quite early. So once she got out of the palace gates, there wasn't much to see as the capital's shopping district was mostly closed. Melisa hoped that their journey wouldn't attract too much attention. Both the horse-drawn carriage and the guards escorting Melisa advanced at a constant pace. They didn't stop until they reached the gate that separated the capital from the rest of the Sigmund Kingdom.
"Your Highness, you can rest if you feel tired. Yesterday, you slept quite late, while today, you woke up early to prepare for this departure. I will be on guard. So, please rest throughout this journey."
After an eerie silence fell over the carriage when Melisa finished speaking earlier, Teresa finally spoke again to dispel the silence once they were outside the capital, which tended to be safer as there were only vast grasslands around them. Melisa looked at the surrounding area for a moment. Since Melisa was indeed quite tired, she finally chose to do what Teresa wanted.
"Alright. Please wake me up when we enter Daedalus territory."
"As you wish, Your Highness."
Hearing Teresa's reply made Melisa start to feel calm. The girl closed her eyes until exhaustion took over her consciousness.
***
The second time Melisa woke up, she opened her eyes because she felt an unnatural shaking from the carriage she was on. Melisa suddenly had a bad feeling when she saw Teresa preparing her hand at the foot where she kept her hidden knife. A noise could be heard out there. Meanwhile, Melisa could feel that their carriage was speeding up as soon as she fully woke up from her sleep.
"Teresa, what happened?"
"Someone attacked us once we left the clearing. Please hold on tight, Your Highness. Despite our best efforts to escape their pursuit, these attackers are so persistent that they haven't lost us until now."
Since the windows of the carriage were closed as soon as Melisa chose to sleep beforehand, Melisa had a hard time knowing what was going on outside apart from hearing the commotion outside. The shouts of the guards and the sound of clashing swords made Melisa even more tense. Although Melisa had been prepared to be in danger ever since she came to the Sigmund Kingdom, experiencing it firsthand still had a psychological effect on the girl.
BANG!
"Argh!"
"Your Highness, hold on tight!"
Teresa shouted as the horse-drawn carriage they were in suddenly hit something hard before it started to go off in an unclear direction. Teresa peeked out to see that the coachman who had previously brought them had disappeared somewhere. All that was left where the coachman had been sitting was a man in black, who began to steer their carriage towards a dangerous cliff area.
"Shit!"
Teresa unconsciously swore before she opened the carriage door even if the carriage was traveling at a fast speed. There was no one else besides them and the mysterious attacker in that place. Since they were in an emergency, Teresa did not hesitate at all when she showed her skills as a knight of a royal family.
The woman jumped to the front of the carriage, then took out her knife quickly to cut down the attacker sitting on the spot. Teresa was indeed not someone who was used to using a knife to kill in the past. But thanks to her training before going to the Sigmund Kingdom, her movements looked highly practiced as she managed to rip their attacker's neck out before he could fight back.
"Got you."
"What?"
Teresa was surprised when her attacker suddenly spoke, before he deliberately threw himself off the carriage, even if it was moving at an above-average speed. Teresa stared ahead once her rapidly working brain finished translating the attacker's meaning. Her pupils shrank rapidly when she saw that there was only a dead end ahead of them.
Not only that, their attacker had also apparently cut one of the saddles until the carriage and horse separated once the horsepower was greater than the strength of the remaining rope.
"Your Highness!"
In such a precarious situation, all Teresa could think about was Melisa, so she quickly jumped back into the carriage to save the girl. The carriage jumped freely before Teresa could get Melisa out of the carriage. Teresa and Melisa felt their bodies floating for a few moments before their carriage crashed and hit the ground hard.
"Your Highness!"
Before she lost consciousness, Melisa only saw a glimpse of Teresa's shadow rushing in before Melisa completely lost consciousness.
***
"You know, you can't keep wearing a sour expression every time you visit my palace."
Elsewhere, Alexius, who had just finished his state business, was forced to accompany Alister again, who occasionally came to bother him about his failed relationship with Melisa. Alister refused to go back and continued to complain to Alister as a form of protest to his good friend. He did that tirelessly, even if Alexius had to chase him away many times because Alister was so noisy.
"Poor Melisa. She had to get engaged to a heartless crown prince like you. While here, I'm heartbroken at not being able to be with the one I love."
A vein of anger rose in Alexius' head when he heard Alister's words. The man frowned, then reprimanded Alister for who knew how many times.
"Can you stop that? Instead of looking so miserable, why don't you use that energy to help me find a way for Melisa to be freed from that agreement sooner?"
Alexius could not dethrone his father in order to quickly come to power because it was against the rules in the Sigmund Kingdom. Even Alison's family, who had always supported him, would not spare Alexius if he were to ask his father to retire for no apparent reason. Therefore, Alexius could only gather his strength through the influence of people so that he could persuade his father to stop the invasion and war that was still going on everywhere.
Alister also helped her a lot in that matter. Therefore, when Alexius asked Alister to start focusing on their work again, Alister could not help but get up from his leaning position to see what Alexius was trying to show him.
"You see, yesterday, I-"
"Your Highness, it's an emergency!"
Alexius had just started talking when they heard the sound of someone running before shouting from outside Alexius' study. Alexius immediately hid the paper he wanted to show because of that voice. Meanwhile, Alister rushed towards the door to let whoever was shouting outside into Alexius' study.
"What's going on? How can you shout in front of my study?"
As soon as the knight who had just arrived walked into the room, Alexius immediately asked because he felt something bad happen after seeing the knight's troubled face. Alexius didn't even give him time to rest, as he needed an answer right away.
"We just got word from the troops who normally patrol the outer regions of the capital. They said that they saw many corpses of palace guards in that place. There, there are also traces of a fierce battle. On this day, only Princess Melisa is scheduled to go out to attend a charity event in the Daedalus region."
"What?!"
Rather than Alexius, Alister seemed much more devastated by the news. His expression instantly changed 180 degrees. Alister looked pale. And if it wasn't for Alexius holding him back, Alister might have already lost it because of the news he had just heard.
"Then, how is Princess Melisa doing? Some knights were assigned to accompany her, right?"
"That's...."
"Quickly tell me what happened!"
When Alexius saw a trace of hesitation on the knight's face, he began to push the knight to speak quickly. His efforts seemed to be successful in influencing the knight. He remained silent for only a moment before continuing his report in a low voice.
"That... They all disappeared without a trace, Your Highness. They weren't even real knights. It was only a few hours ago that we received reports that the knights assigned to escort Princess Melisa had died entirely the night before."
"Then, how is Her Highness?!"
Alister panicked even more when he heard the knight's report. Killing the knight in charge of guarding the royal family was no easy feat. If the enemy could kill all of them on the same night, it was certain that their enemy was not a random person.
"We followed the battle trail all the way to the dangerous cliff area. But the carriage tracks stopped there, Your Highness. There is a high possibility that the carriage Princess Melisa was riding in fell into the cliff along with her."
"Alister!"
Right after the knight finished his report, Alister went straight out, completely ignoring Alexius' call, who tried to stop him. Everything turned chaotic in no time. Alexius tried to keep himself calm, as he immediately gave orders to the knight, who was already pale from having to face the wrath of Alexius and Alister.
"Quickly form a joint force to search for Princess Melisa in the region! I don't care either way! You must find her as soon as possible!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
When the knight had already left the room, it was only then that Alexius felt his legs weaken from the shocking news he had suddenly received.