"H-he... he-help..." Stevan pleaded with a choked voice, literally. However, nobody dared to come closer when they saw the Summerian monarch's murderous expression.

He looked terrifying. So, they decided not to mess with him.

Maxim tossed Stevan to the ground like he would toss trash and then stepped on the older man's head with one leg. "Your men kidnapped my mother. Tell me where you keep her."

"Aaaahh...!!" Stevan growled in pain when Maxim pressed his leg down on his temple.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!" Maxim impatiently kicked the man's head and Stevan instantly wailed pitifully. 

Maxim knew his mother was probably held in a secret location in the capital because she was too ill to travel all the way to Astland. It means, they had traitors in the royal palace who could enter secretly and then bring the old queen to a hidden place.

"Aslain, I need you to burn this man alive," Maxim told the black dragon who perched on the castle's outer wall. "He is a useless piece of shit.."

The big black dragon tilted his head down and opened his mouth. However, before he could spout fire from his mouth, suddenly Stevan shrieked and beg for forgiveness.

"All right- All right!!! I will tell you where your mother is being kept..." Stevan quickly blurted all the information Maxim wanted from him because he was scared to death that the scary dragon would really burn him alive.

Maxim was right. His mother was still in the capital and the traitors were the two servants who worked in the queen's residence. Stevan paid them a lot of money to betray the king.

"I still haven't given you proper punishment," Maxim told Stevan coldly. His expression looked disgusted. "I will deal with you after I am done with our overseas guests."

He kicked Stevan in the shin two more times before he walked to approach Mars with the confidence of a victor. He looked at the king of Draec with a nonchalant expression.

"For Emmelyn's sake, I will turn a blind eye to what happened before today and consider we are even. However, I want you to send back your army to wherever you came from," Maxim said to Mars.

He added, "If they stayed here, they will just put pressure on my colonies for logistics. They already served their purpose by coming here. You no longer need them." Maxim said to Mars.

Mars looked at Maxim in disbelief. Just like that?

That easy??

From the moment he stepped onto the courtyard, Maxim acted as if the war and a month-long battle between his army and this foreign force were nothing to him.

He didn't look distraught by the fact that Summeria just lost Redwood. Maxim also didn't seem mad that several of his colonies joined forces with Draec to topple his sovereign, and what's worse, his brother-in-law's kingdom was one of them.

Mars looked at Edgar and Gewen and saw sympathy in their eyes. Mars realized he should trust their judgment and advice this time.

Even though he didn't know Maxim or Kira enough to understand if the offer to go to Castilse was a trap or not, but he knew Edgar and Gewen well enough to trust them.

"Fair enough," Mars nodded. "I will coordinate my people to go home and keep only 500 of them to go to Castilse and meet me and Emmelyn there.

Mars brought a total of 100,000 soldiers from Draec and several lesser kingdoms under Draec. he planned to keep only 500 in Atlantea, while sending the rest to go home.

Edgar and Gewen could command the small group to march toward Castilse and pick up Mars, Harlow, and Emmelyn, to go home to Draec together.

"Okay. You can be my guests in Castilse. Send the rest back." Maxim nodded his approval.

King Stevan, and several kings from Summeria's colonies who witnessed the exchange between Maxim and Mars suddenly turned pale.

So... just like that?

How easy the war was quenched by this young man.

The coalition crumbled down and now the Draecian army would go home?

King Stevan and his peers shuddered when they thought about Maxim's rage and punishment toward them after 'he was done with his overseas guests'.

One by one, they stepped back and tried to disappear before Maxim turned to look at them and marked them for punishments.

"How is Emmelyn doing?" Mars decided to ask Maxim this burning question. "Why didn't she come here herself?"

Mars actually assumed that his wife was still mad at him and wanted him to grovel for forgiveness. That's why she sent Maxim to come here on her behalf.

No.. that was THE BEST possible scenario, Mars told himself.

What if what really happened was THE WORST possible scenario?

What if Emmelyn had decided to divorce him, or annul their marriage so she could marry Maxim?

This possibility truly scared Mars. What if the reason Emmelyn asked Mars to come with Harlow to Castilse was that she wanted to take Harlow away from him and marry Maxim?

However, Maxim's answer was totally unexpected. He said, "Emmelyn is unwell. She cannot make the trip to come here. That's why I went through the hassle to come and invite you myself."

"Emmelyn is unwell?? What happened??" Mars instantly became worried.

Ahh.. no wonder Emmelyn didn't come. She was sick.

Mars knew that she would have come here to see Harlow as soon as possible. She just couldn't.

"It's a long story," Maxim replied tiredly. "Can we discuss the detail later? I don't like talking about it in front of many people."

"Yes, okay.," Mars suddenly feeling anxious.

He imagined Emmelyn must be suffering so much already. But now she got sick too? Oh.. his poor wife. His heart ached for her.

He asked again. "By the way, how long will it take to travel to Castilse from here with dragons?"

"Three days," Maxim replied.

"Ah.. okay." Mars cleared his throat and said, "That's not too long. Give me several hours. I will sort everything on my side before I can go with you."

"Very well. We will return in two hours to get you. You better be ready by then," Maxim said calmly. He motioned Aslain to come and pick him so they could fly from this wretched place.

Mars watched Maxim and Aslain dashed to the sky, followed by Renwyck and Emery. And then, everything became quiet.

He turned to Edgar and Gewen and spoke seriously. "Please coordinate with the other generals and find the best way to go home soon. Take only 500 men with you to Castilse and meet me there."

"Understood, Your Majesty." Edgar and Gewen replied in unison.

They continued talking about what just happened and made plans on what to do next. Mars really couldn't wait to see Emmely again.

Gosh... he missed her so much!

.

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I'm very sleepy now... ahahaha. I'm sorry if you found many errors in this chapter. I will check this chapter again tomorrow and fix them.. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

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