After James finished speaking in a cold tone but with a gaze that held such wounds, William immediately fell silent. He would have rather heard the young man yelling at him and cursing at him than that look that made him feel guilty.“James,” Alen called in a low tone.Andrew said, “James, watch what you say!”James shifted his gaze from William to Andrew, “Why, General Reece? What I'm saying is the truth. It was indeed General Mackenzie who killed my father.”Andrew bit his teeth, “But ... you can't talk in that tone to-”“Why not? I am not demanding retribution for my father's death from General Mackenzie. What I am asking is why General Mackenzie can be so very calm as if he doesn't have the slightest guilt towards me. He-”“General Mackenzie only did what he was supposed to do, James. You should know what we were dealing with back then.” Andrew explained in the hope that James would immediately shut up.Unfortunately, James was not one to give in easily when talking to someone, A
James gave a small nod. However, when he saw the surprised expression on Riley's face he hastily added, “Oh, I should have known something like this could happen, Riley.”James scratched the back of his head which was still wet and continued, “After all this palace is not as big as the ocean, of course the possibility of me meeting him is quite big too.”He shrugged his shoulders and smiled a little, while Riley was still speechless as if a lot of things had suddenly popped into his head.James let out a long sigh, “I'm a bit overreacting I guess. You ... don't have to think about it, Riley. I'm fine. It's just that I'm ....”“It's just what, James?” Riley quickly asked, wanted to know more.While Alen could only hold his breath, not daring to interrupt for fear that he would misspeak.Riley swallowed and looked into James' eyes. The young man finally ventured to say, “Are you sure you're okay?”James snorted, “You don't believe me, Riley?”“How can you be okay when you met someone wh
“I'm very sure, Your Majesty,” Andrew said in a confident tone.Keannu looked skeptical so Andrew had to reassure the king by saying, “This way will make the people of Ans De Lou happy.”Keannu's eyes widened, “Really? Explain to me how!”Andrew Reece, the war general of the Ans De Lou Kingdom nodded enthusiastically. He explained in detail about the way in just a few sentences, but it made Keannu smile widely.The king with two children nodded and now looked much more excited, “That's a good method. When will you summon them, General?”“After the day of mourning is over, Your Majesty,” Andrew replied.Keannu nodded his head once, “Alright, I'll give the official order for that right away. And you ... can summon them according to the list of soldiers who you think do meet our criteria.”“Yes, Your Majesty,” Andrew said as he was finally able to release one burden on his shoulders, namely the problem related to the number of royal soldiers whose numbers were reduced a lot due to the w
With an expression without feeling guilty for making the young man curious, Mary shrugged, “Oh, I'm sorry, Riley. I couldn't tell you.”Riley let out a disappointed sigh, “Well, I'll find out soon enough, right?”Mary blinked in surprise. “Have you given up?”“Weren't you the one who asked me to give up? Oh my!” Riley shook his head and walked away leaving Mary stunned at the young man's departure.The girl commented, “He will definitely be a very disciplined soldier.”She nodded confidently, “Otherwise, how could he easily forget his curiosity? Hm, he really does resemble his father.”She smiled faintly and left the area as well.Exactly two days later, as promised by Janice Grow and Mary Kesley, Andrew Reece had already obtained all the lists of prospective soldiers who had been discharged before the war between the Kingdom of Ans De Lou and the Kingdom of Fermoza broke out.The man quickly compiled a new list according to the records obtained. It didn't take long for him to order
“Greco! Is that really Diego Greco?” James said with a tone of almost disbelief at what he was seeing with his pair of clear eyes.Alen himself was gaping at Diego's arrival who finally arrived at their place and immediately jumped towards him.Diego first hugged Alen who was still as still as a statue and then turned to hug Riley while patting his shoulder, “I saw the news on television. You're really great, Riley.”Before Diego could respond, the young man had already released his hug on Riley. He turned to James who was staring at him without batting an eye. Diego smiled at the young man and hugged James.“You're great too, James. Oh, no. Actually, all of the Ans De Lou Kingdom's troops are great,” Diego said, sounding sincere.After hugging his three roommates first, Diego released James and looked at his friends one by one. “Wow, you guys look so cool and dashing in those uniforms. I'm so envious of you three,” Diego said with an admiring smile.However, when he realized that h
Riley suddenly fell silent. His forehead was furrowed and James knew that his best friend was thinking about his words. Meanwhile, Alen immediately responded, “Hey, don't think too far like that!”James snorted, “I'm just thinking logically. If there is no big problem like a war that might be threatening, why would the palace summon all the soldiers who have failed the test?”Alen sighed tiredly, “To get ready perhaps, James.”James still wasn't too sure and was now looking closely at the lineup arrangement of the prospective soldiers. He caught a glimpse of Jason Hoult who had failed.He let out a long sigh, “To be honest, I'm happy to see Greco and the candidates who have good potential like Hoult, but this makes me think seriously.”Riley, who had been thinking about it finally, responded, “I don't think this decision has anything to do with the war.”“Well, I was right, wasn't I?” Alen said with a lopsided smile, seemingly satisfied that Riley was also thinking casually like him
“Don't be stupid, Alen! Everyone heard it too. Otherwise, how could everyone look surprised and confused now?” James replied in an exasperated tone.Alen reluctantly agreed to James' words. But, when he really cast his gaze around himself, he found that so many soldiers were talking about the matter. Not only that, even the officials were busy talking to each other until Mary Kesley raised her voice a little to calm things down. Riley sighed, “I don't know what's going on, but ... perhaps General Reece has his own difficulties so he was forced to withdraw now.” Alen suddenly went limp. The young man remembered something.“Maybe ... it's related to the wound,” Alen said in a quiet tone. James once again turned his head towards Alen, “Indeed, is the wound very severe? Hey, but he looks fine.”Alen shook his head, “I'm one of the medical staff who participated in treating his wound and ... indeed the wound is very severe, there is some damage ....”Alen swallowed hard as if unable to
Unexpectedly, Riley casually replied, “James is brave, Alen. You also know how he faced the enemy troops.”Alen frowned, “I know. But ... I mean if James is in the class two place, shouldn't you also be in the same class as him, Riley?”Riley shook his head firmly, “I made some mistakes.”“Which mistakes? You ....”“I caused the death of one of this kingdom's best commanders, Alen.”“No, you didn't. It wasn't your fault, you just-”“It was one of my carelessness in being so slow to understand the possible actions of War General Fermoza. And ... as a result of my carelessness Commander Sehel had to help me and eventually as you know ... he was killed protecting me,” Riley explained, laden with guilt that never left his head.Alen could not reply anymore.After all, everything Riley said was a fact and there was no way he could argue with that.Meanwhile, the dazed James Gardner began to walk towards the waiting king of Ans De Lou Kingdom, Keannu Wellington.The young man who then stood
Foei Maccray turned around and looked sarcastically at the junior.When he saw Lory Blackwell's compliance, Foei Maccray smiled wryly as if satisfied that he had succeeded in making one of his juniors submit to his orders.Of course, that made him feel big-headed. Hence, Foei haughtily said again, "Keep standing here until we are out of your sight. After that ... then you can walk."Lory Blackwell did not reply. But Foei took his silence as obedience so he said, "Good! You should obey your seniors' orders."Lory just swallowed without daring to say a word. However, Foei did not need an answer so he just continued walking along with his good friend, Derrick Weybe who looked bored in Lory's neighborhood. The other soldiers followed the two senior soldiers with mixed feelings. Apparently there were some of them who were starting to feel sympathetic towards Lory. But due to their status and class being much lower than the two senior soldiers who were bullying Lory, they chose to be cowa
Derrick snorted in annoyance, while Foei immediately responded, "Oh, you seem to be very timid!" Foei cast his gaze at Derrick and then flashed a smile with a mocking expression. Derrick shook his head, also smiling mockingly."If you're scared, why would you want to participate in this important mission?" Foei said.Lory quickly shook her head, "I'm not afraid ... I’m just-""Huh? Not afraid? Then, why did you just say that?" Derrick cut Lory off, as if he deliberately didn't want to hear Lory speak."You're obviously a coward! Oh my! You should have stayed in the palace and not joined the search for General Mackenzie," Foei explained with a lopsided smile. "Coward!" Derrick taunted again. "A pathetic soldier like you who dares to tell us we're slow? Who do you think you are, my superior?" Foei said with a cold tone and a dismissive expression.Oh, he was really very satisfied seeing Lory's helpless expression.The two men deliberately wanted to humiliate Lory. Their intentions w
Seeing James' confident smile, Ben instantly realized that his best friend was unpredictable. But, when he recalled the relationship between James and Riley in the past, he felt that everything James said was true. Riley had always been completely open to James. The young man only hid one thing, which was the fact that he was William Mackenzie's son. Other than that, Riley had no other secrets from James. Meanwhile, Riley was also the only person who could understand James very well. Only Riley is able to understand every action taken by James and James only wants to talk about things with Riley.So, seeing all these facts, Ben finally nodded, "Okay, then. What should I do?"James snorted and immediately put on a sullen face, "Come on, Ben! I told you earlier."Ben rolled his eyes, "I still don't understand. Please explain in more detail!"With an annoyed expression James replied, "If I had the authority to downgrade soldiers, I would definitely downgrade you to class two."Ben's n
Although they seemed confused by the war general's order, they still unanimously replied, "Yes, General."It wasn't long before all the soldiers formed a line where they would prepare to search for Riley Mackenzie as ordered by James Gardner.Most of the first class soldiers did not hesitate to do the task, but there were some of the class two soldiers who seemed to be unsure of what they were going to do.Two of them were Foei Mccray and Derrick Weybe."I don't understand why General Gardner is searching the forest. How could General Mackenzie be here? This doesn't make sense," Derrick said, who had just lined up facing the front of the forest.The twenty-six year old young man was in the front row with his best friend so they could still talk in a fairly low tone of voice.Foei nodded in agreement, seemingly thinking the same as Derrick, "He's probably too frustrated to pick a spot."Derrick exhaled harshly then glanced towards the front where several class one soldiers seemed to be
Gary Davis shook his head with a super confused expression. He couldn't guess what might have happened. He himself did not know James Gardner very well. He entered the palace when James Gardner had just resigned from the post of deputy general of war. So basically he had only met James a few times. It was different with Riley Mackenzie. He had met Riley countless times. In fact, it could be said that he already knew how Riley behaved. However, he could not think of anything about James Gardner. He was just like a blind man when it came to James. "Even young General Mackenzie is not suspicious of you. He's been in the palace longer than that general. I don't understand," Elena said, who also hadn't found the answer to the question that was bothering her.She also still didn't understand. However, a thought occurred to Gary. "Maybe I was in too much of a hurry, Gran," Gary said suddenly.Elena frowned, "What do you mean, Gary? What kind of hurry?"Gary sighed softly, "Approaching
Elena Goldwin bit her lip, feeling she had done something wrong. The old woman said, "I'm sorry, Prince ... oh, I mean ... Gary."Seeing Elena's soulful face, Gary became uncomfortable. He looked at the old woman who had taken care of him since he was a child. That woman had done so much for her family. Not only did she devote herself as a household assistant, she also became a substitute mother figure for his brother. Indeed, her age was more appropriate to be called a "grandmother", but her role was more suitable as a mother to herself and Rowen.Oh my! What have I done? She sacrificed so much, but what have I done? The old woman who has helped me with all her time and energy, I almost made her cry, Gary thought in exasperation.The young man touched Elena's hand, startling the woman. She then heard Gary say, "You don't have to apologize, Gran. And I ... I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. Please, forgive me for getting angry just because you called me that."Elena ga
Gary Davis sighed softly. Guilt immediately rushed into his heart.He immediately positioned his seat towards his little brother and looked at him with a guilt-filled gaze.The boy's gaze was so innocent that it made Gary's feelings even more chaotic.Rowen, his little brother, was still very young, but he had to bear problems that he shouldn't have thought about at such a young age. In a very gentle tone Gary said, "Rowen, I'm sorry. I ... know you must feel very lonely. But ... believe me I'm doing all this for us. I-""You risked your life, Brother. I ... I ...."Gary shook his head, "Don't think about me! You just have to grow up healthy and safe. So that when we get what is rightfully ours, we can stand tall."Suddenly, Gary's words made Rowen look down sadly. "Gary, can't you just leave it all behind?"Rowen made Gary frown but he smiled a little before saying again, "What do you mean? Didn't you say you wanted to live in the palace with me? Why are you saying that now?"The 10
Actually it was not only Doris Tan who found it hard to believe what Xylan had decided. However, his three fellow bodyguards also felt the same way.In fact, the images of the three's expressions were very clear from just one look. Especially Jim Chesnut who looked so shocked at Xylan's words. His mouth even opened wide and he forgot to close it again. "Y-Your Majesty, I'm very confused. I ... I-""Doris Tan," Xylan cut Doris off with a stern tone.Doris fell silent, as if knowing that Xylan would soon explain the viceroy's reasoning. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Xylan said, "Hm, you ... did do the right thing by admitting your mistake."He paused for a few seconds, deliberately to give Doris time to calm down before he continued what he wanted to say.When Doris seemed much calmer, Xylan continued, "However, you did it in the wrong way."Ludos Flee frowned, looking confused. Meanwhile, Jim Chesnut looked thoughtful as he squinted slightly.What's wrong? Jim wondered to himsel
In fact, Xylan Wellington never cared about what the people in his palace said. He tended to ignore the gossip about him.In fact, there was once a time when there was a visit from another kingdom, at which time Xylan was asked by his father to greet one of the princes. However, he who was not very good at socializing actually made the king's son from the other kingdom uncomfortable. As a result, there was a bit of a commotion at that time. Xylan was accused of being rude to the prince so that the prince did not feel at home in Ans De Lou Kingdom and ended up leaving the palace sooner than he should have.The situation in the palace was a bit chaotic. Many people considered Xylan to be totally at fault for causing an important cooperation to fail. However, the young man did not care at all and never explained anything.His father, King Keannu at that time also never asked his son and instead seemed to tolerate Xylan's behavior. But, King Keannu had a good reason: he knew his son's ch