The “trap” Philip and Marcus had conspired to set began to slowly unfold the following day.
Christina woke up early but could not find a single member of her guard unit.
“Christina, your attendants left for the Sela Temple ahead of you. They said they were going there to conduct a preliminary reconnaissance and departed first.”
Just as the Knight Princess was about to head downstairs, she ran into Philip in the stairwell.
“How could they act on their own? What if they encounter a Witch and aren’t strong enough to face her?” Christina said with some irritation. She had clearly taken Philip’s lie at face value.
In reality, the Knight Princess had chosen the room at the far end of the right side the previous night, while the rest of her guards were in rooms on the left. While they were all asleep, Philip had used high-level magic items to create a sensory isolation barrier and a spatial magic shield between the Knight Princess and the others.
Christina angrily burst into the room of every guard member, only to find them all empty.
In truth, Christina had already entered a magical space. Everything before her eyes was an illusion designed to deceive her senses. The rooms she had pushed open were fakes. Not a single one of her guards had even woken up yet…
“Damn it!” Christina immediately went downstairs, donned her various pieces of equipment, and prepared to head out.
“Oh, Christina, aren’t you going to eat breakfast before you go? I have everything ready…” Philip continued his performance.
“I won’t eat, Uncle Philip. Thank you for your kindness, but I’ll just eat some emergency military rations on the way. I need to hurry and catch those idiots who took off without permission!”
The Knight Princess spoke with an angry tone. Naturally, she wasn’t angry with Philip; she was venting about her disobedient subordinates.
—
“Ladies, Lady Christina left for the southeast corner of the forest outside the city early this morning. Witnesses previously reported that a unit of the Papal Resistance is stationed there. The Knight Princess prepared to launch a surprise attack and hurried ahead alone.”
Continuing with his plan, Philip let a hesitant, flickering look cross his eyes before playing a game of cat and mouse with the attendants.
“I don’t know if you ladies would like to go. The Lady might have been worried that you couldn’t keep up with her… and it seems a group of Papal Resistance elites is there…”
“Lord Philip, please do not question the bond between us and Lady Christina so casually. The more dangerous it is, the more we must go!”
In a place where the others could not see, Philip flashed a smile that said everything was going according to plan. A moment later, he restrained himself.
“Then I wish you all great luck in battle. Hurry along, ladies!”
…
Catherine and the others marched quickly into the heart of the forest on the outskirts of Heliwood. When they reached a clearing, they bumped into a strange man.
“Lady Christina’s attendants?”
A man wearing a gray cloak suddenly appeared. Beneath the cloak, the thorn badge of Philip’s intelligence department was clearly visible. He spoke to Catherine and the others.
“I am Kallen, an intelligence officer under Lord Philip. I was ordered by Lord Philip to deliver urgent news to the guards.”
Catherine gripped the hilt of the sword at her waist, raising an eyebrow warily. “Lord Philip is not here. If there is news, I can pass it on for you.”
“That won’t do!” Kallen lowered his voice and pulled a fragment of the Palicio Crest from his coat. “Scouts ahead discovered an ambush by the Resistance forces. It’s exactly where Lady Christina is right now. She is completely surrounded!”
“The commander with the Lady told me to escape as fast as possible to seek reinforcements. Also, this map of their formation must be delivered to Lord Philip immediately!”
Kallen hurriedly stuffed a roll of yellowed parchment into Catherine’s hand. His eyes were filled with urgency. “You must be quick. If you’re any later, it will be too late!”
Catherine’s ears flushed red as she looked into the distance with a worried expression.
She had followed Christina for ten years. It was the Knight Princess who had brought her out of the slum orphanage in Karonpolis.
Now was the time for her to stand on her own.
“Lord Kallen, we don’t have time. Let me see the map quickly.”
She snapped the parchment open. The routes on the map were clearly marked, showing the various strongholds of the Papal Resistance, along with thoughtful notes on the approximate number of troops stationed there.
Once she understood the specific location where Christina had been ambushed, she looked at the fragment of the Palicio Crest in Kallen’s hand, her heart burning with anxiety.
‘The Lady said we shouldn’t act without permission on unconfirmed orders.’
Catherine bit her lower lip, falling into thought.
But her hesitation was interrupted by Kallen. “By the time you confirm it, the Lady will likely have become a prisoner of the Papal Resistance! Ladies, you should understand which is more important by now…”
Catherine no longer hesitated and responded immediately. “We will set out at once. Mr. Kallen, hurry and take that map to Lord Philip!”
“Elsa, Ellie, keep up! No one fall behind! Move fast!”
Catherine quickly led the guards toward the “shortcut” marked on the map. It was located in the Camphor Woods to their east, which was the trap Kallen had coordinated with a small group of the Resistance.
At that moment, the “Skynet” conspired by Philip and Marcus was falling from the sky.
When Catherine passed through a patch of mist and felt something was slightly off, she began to grow alert.
This was no ordinary miasma. It was a hallucinogenic mist that could cause visions, and there were even multiple unknown debuff clouds within it.
The members of the guard felt their heads spinning, and some had already begun to faint and collapse.
Catherine, Elsa, and Ellie were among the highest-leveled members of Christina’s guard. Relying on their experience, they continued to resist, forcing their willpower to hold on so they wouldn’t fall.
In this Camphor Woods, a special mist that lowered all of an enemy’s elemental resistances had been set up in advance, along with a phantom fog blended with sleeping potions.
A team of knights who had taken the antidote beforehand quietly approached them. Although this did not align with the code of chivalry, it was a plan by Lord Philip — the man recognized by Lord Marcus — and so they had no choice but to accept it.
Catherine and the others, still pushing deeper, had no idea that more traps awaited them.
By the time they suddenly noticed dark purple magic patterns glowing on the ground beneath their feet, it was already too late.
A massive number of magic vines erupted from the soil, binding them one by one.
Catherine struggled with all her might, trying to draw her sword, but another vine wrapped around her wrist. Her sword fell to the ground with a clang.
“You were tricked, little girls.”
Several knights now held cold sword blades against their necks.
“Despicable cowards! Do you even deserve to call yourselves knights?” Catherine said, her eyes wide with rage.
“We do not believe that knights who assist a tyrant can uphold justice. Later, we will tell you exactly what that beloved Pope of yours is doing right now,” the leading knight squire said, speaking his heart with a calm gaze.
“Come with us. You will see the person you want to see — though it’s likely another one.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.