Losing the royal guards along the way, she changed into a black gown and covered her face with a black cloth and then went into the forest to find Acastius and Minver. She spent the whole night looking, but she couldn’t find them or their camp. Then, suddenly, she heard footsteps. Whoever it was began to attack her. She defended herself but didn’t attack back because she didn’t know on whose side the fighter was. The attacker stopped and stood there, and Martia too stopped.

  He took off his mask and said, “I only wanted to see you in happiness. Why are you meeting me in my misery?”

  Recognizing the voice, Martia went forward, embraced him, and said with gratitude, “Thank you, Minver, thank you so much for saving the Prince. I am here because I want to give you the exact chance for happiness that you gave me, and then, I want to celebrate that happiness with you.

  Let’s make everything okay now. Let’s give a chance to the new generation to feel all the love, hope, peace, and opportunities in life, which was not possible for us till we rebelled.”

  Smiling on hearing this, Minver held her back and then took her to

  his camp.

  The camp was full of people, but there was not enough food or weapons. Martia realized that the next attack had to be the final one.

  When Acastius heard that Martia had come, he ran to her and embraced her tightly. She was surprised. She smiled and said, “Our Acastius has now become bolder. First the rebellion, and now this?”

  Acastius laughed with tears in his eyes. “I am so happy that you are here, Martia. I can’t express my happiness.” Then he spoke in a low voice so only Martia could hear. “I was very scared. I was scared that I would end up getting all these people who trusted me killed because of my ineffectiveness.

  You were right, Martia. No matter how much I practiced, I could never be like you.”

  Martia said in a determined tone, “No need to be like me. You were

  and are already better than me. You know, you are the only person I respected when I was in the village, even before you decided to help me.

  For me, you always deserved to be respected, and now you are a good fighter, too. Now listen to me attentively. No matter how many guards Promanthae has arranged and no matter what the structure of the security is, I know I can break it and sneak in because he and I discussed all the possibilities of securing the entry to the village. So now, you and Minver, along with a few of the best assassins, will come with me and follow me. It is time for Promanthae to give up the leadership of the village and stop the Promapplers from believing that the only purpose in their life is to kill and get killed. Let’s dethrone him.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Minver and Acastius were now filled with hope and courage. They were eager to go with Martia. Completely covered in black and in the darkness, Martia led them, and they followed. Seeing that security had expanded from just in front of the gates to behind the trees also. Martia understood that most of the guards were newly hired from the eleven villages, and hence, must still be unaware of all the possibilities of attack in the forest.

  Taking advantage of knowing the forest like the back of her hand, she focused her attention on breaching the security at the gate. She listened to her instincts and started following a path to get into Promapple. And if she guessed wrong and came across any guards along the way, she killed them without hesitation. She had to kill many more guards than she had expected, and she thought to herself that Promanthae must be very worried to have increased the security so much. She felt she could use this to her advantage. Any self-doubt is always beneficial to the opponent.

  After killing several guards, they managed to sneak into Promapple. But the lights and security inside Promapple had also increased. Thus, they were unable to hide, and they had to confront many more guards than they had expected.

  As silent as they were, with so many corpses to hide and so many

  confrontations, Martia knew that soon everyone would be aware of the infiltration and she would never get to Promanthae. She killed the guards in front of Promanthae’s house, and Acastius got rid of the corpses. As she broke into the house, a sudden thought unwillingly entered her mind..of Promanthae holding Martia’s hand and announcing himself as her parent and taking her into the house, which was supposed to be their home, but it never was.

  It always remained a place to rest after ruthless training. She also remembered that she didn’t have any good memories

  with Promanthae. She could not understand why, but still, she felt a little restless. A realization hit her heart that she was here to kill her guardian.

  Someone who, no matter what, was the only person who had given her shelter, food, and a life—whatever kind—but still a life to her. She closed her eyes for a moment to get rid of these thoughts and continued to keep herself calm. She then opened her eyes and searched for him in the whole house.

  She wondered whether, fearing assassination, he had changed his

  house. She ordered Acastius and Minver to search the village as quietly as

  they could and then stood there calmly and thought, Where can he be?