Andrew Reece replied, "Your Honor, I don't think any of this has anything to do with you at all." "How could it have nothing to do with me? Since he left the palace, he immediately disappeared. His companies were also sold and he must have started a new company. His wife's family also never talked about him, so what if it wasn't because he didn't want the palace to know? By me, to be precise," Keannu explained in a disappointed and sad tone. Andrew Reece turned to the king and said in a calming tone, "Your Majesty, if General Mackenzie hated you, it would be impossible at the end of his reign for you to be close to him. I'm sure you also felt that General Mackenzie was actually friends with you at that time." "Yes, but only for a moment," Keannu replied. Andrew nodded, understanding, "But that's enough to show that your relationship with General Mackenzie has improved since then. So it can't be the main reason." Keannu was silent, trying to believe Andrew's words. "I think he dis
"Yes, Your Majesty," Andrew Reece answered firmly, as if there was no doubt about his decision. Keannu looked at his war general with a strange look, as if the person sitting beside him had lost his mind. "Are you crazy or what, Reece?" Keannu said with confused eyes. "Your Majesty, I am still very sane. Please listen to my explanation first," Andrew Reece said in a serious expression.Keannu snorted in annoyance but the king who had two children still said, "Say it!" Andrew Reece nodded, excitedly, "James Gardner is said to be looking for General Mackenzie's son. His determination must be very strong. This must be related to events in the past, where Jody Gardner, his father was killed by General Mackenzie." "I already know. That's the problem, Reece," Keannu said through gritted teeth, trying hard to suppress his annoyance at Andrew Reece. "Yes, I understand, Your Majesty. However, that is also what we want, isn't it?" Andrew asked. He tried to make Keannu understand."What do
James Gardner was silent for a moment, but the young man immediately replied, "Of course I learned about it. That's why I know who killed my father." Several people who initially wanted to attack James with words finally chose to abandon their intentions after they heard the bitterness in James' voice. Riley Mackenzie was at a loss for words. James said again, "You may know all the history of this kingdom better than me, Riley. But ... I certainly understand more than you when it comes to matters related to my father, including my father's murderer." You're wrong, James. I understand the same as you about that problem, Riley thought. The two of them looked at each other as if they had been enemies for a long time, but Riley did not reply to James' last words. "Come on, restrain yourself a little, Riley! You know he's crazy, you don't need to pay attention on him!" Alen said, to which Riley only responded with a small nod. That evening at the palace, all prospective soldiers were
"Riley, did you hear what I said?" William asked. Riley immediately realized, "Nothing, Dad. Not at the moment. Besides, it's only the first day. I don't know that many people." The young man felt uncomfortable about hiding such a big thing from his father, but he didn't want to make his father think about things and worry too much so that he had to make such a tough decision. "That's good then. But ... listen to my message, you shouldn't trust the people around you too much," William said. Riley nodded even though he knew his father couldn't see his facial movements. "And look for Andrew Reece when you have problems. He will definitely help you," William added. Riley sighed softly, "Don't worry, Dad. Until now, I can still take care of myself." "Okay, get some rest. You have to start training tomorrow, right?" William asked. "Yeah, Dad," Riley answered with a yawn. "Oh, my Riley. You're already sleepy. Then hang up the phone," Cassandra said. And the call ended after Cassand
"Your ambition is too big to find the general's son," Alen Smith said. James grinned, "You would have done what I would have done if born without a father." Alen suddenly fell silent, while Riley gripped his glass of water. "Hey, it's appeared," Diego said, intending to cool the atmosphere. All the eyes of the prospective soldiers were immediately glued to the very large screen. "I don't care about my ranking, the important thing is to get the minimum score." "Is there really a minimum standard for assessment?" someone else said. "You idiot! Didn't you read all the rules before registering?" They started having fun throwing around words until finally they started to fall silent when their names started appearing. Riley saw that James was looking seriously at the screen, while he only glanced at their names. "Wow! You rank first in swordsmanship, Riley," Diego said. Alen clapped his hands, happy, "Amazing! Why didn't you tell us that your sword skills are good." Riley smiled
"I would love to say 'yes', but you know that 'Wood' is not a rare surname, it is too common a surname, Reece," Keannu said. Andrew's face, which originally looked bright, suddenly turned a bit gloomy again. Keannu immediately felt guilty. "I don't mean to destroy your hopes, Reece. I just don't want you to be too disappointed," Keannu said slowly. Andrew nodded, "You are right, Your Majesty. It would be too quick to guess that the child is General Mackenzie's son just by looking at some training results." "Yes. Just pay attention to him the same way you pay attention to that young Gardner. Oh, but ... I have a bad feeling about that kid," Keannu said. The king looked worried so Andrew said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will monitor the child more closely. I won't let him mess up." "That's better," Keannu replied. After that, Andrew ordered several of his subordinates to always be on guard around James Gardner and Riley. Riley didn't realize it at all, but James was starting to
Without blinking his eyes, Riley replied, "Why should I play guessing games with you? Don't you claim to be the best?" "So, you can find General Mackenzie's son easily, right?" Riley added. James frowned irritably, "It wouldn't be fun if I looked for it myself." "Oh, you mean in other words you want to say that you need my help to find him?" Riley asked, raising his thick right eyebrow. Alen chuckled softly, while Diego openly said, "My roommate, you are determined to find and defeat him. So do it yourself." "Why invite Riley?" Alen said. James, who was initially annoyed, then smiled, "Even though I intended to give a lot of money for this game." Alen and Diego glanced at each other, looking shocked. But, Riley quickly said, "Who cares about money here?" James took a deep breath, "Wood, not everyone comes to this kingdom to purely serve, but most of them expect a high salary." Riley was silent, James continued, "You also know how much salary the king offers. You also know that
Mary Kesley who was standing in front of the building greeted them with a friendly smile, "Welcome to the ice building, gentlemen." Riley nodded and smiled back, as did Jason Hoult. But James Gardner said, "Why are we asked to come to this building? Why not in the silver, gold or titanium building?" Mary replied, "I don't know. I was just carrying out General Reece's orders." James didn't like that answer so he said again, "You do everything you're told without knowing why, Miss?" Mary intended to answer James' annoying question, but Riley said first, "This lady's job is only to convey orders from the general, not to investigate General Reece's reasons. After all, General Reece doesn't need to explain the actions he takes, except for King Keannu who asks for it." Jason, who didn't like James, immediately nodded in agreement, "Never mind, you've wasted General Reece's valuable time, Gardner." James snorted in annoyance, while Riley said, "We're ready to go inside, Miss Kesley." M
Ben quickly racked his brain, thinking of the right way to put James at ease. But before he could come up with a good line, he heard James say again, "Or ... is he angry that I took his current position? But, ...."James shook his head weakly, "There's no way he's angry because of that right? Moreover ... he knows very well that I never wanted her position. He must be-""Stop thinking like that, James! Are you stupid?" Ben said in an annoyed tone.James was about to respond, but Ben raised his right hand as if asking James to be quiet for a few moments.James seemed to understand the meaning of Ben's gesture and he let out a long sigh.Ben swallowed before explaining, "James, you know Riley doesn't care about the title 'War General' either. Basically, both of you are not crazy about positions."James faltered. Ben was right. How could Riley be disappointed and angry with me over this damn title? That doesn't sound like 'Riley Mackenzie', James thought.The young man exhaled harshly.
Without looking away, Ben thought hard. James didn't just stand by, waiting for Ben's answer. He himself repeatedly touched the handkerchief to scrutinize it. Not only that, the war general of Ans De Lou Kingdom was also sniffing the gray handkerchief as if he was looking for something.Seeing what James was doing, Ben impatiently commented, "You're not a dog. How can you track someone's whereabouts from sniffing that thing?"James instantly gave Ben an exasperated look, "That's not it. I'm just trying to smell this handkerchief. Who knows ... it might turn out to be a clue.""Then ... did you get a clue after sniffing the cloth?" Ben asked with a casual look.With a look of disappointment, James replied, "No. I didn't. I just smelled the earth."Had they not been in a serious situation, Ben's laughter would have exploded. However, they were working on an important mission so Ben knew he had to restrain himself. He certainly didn't want to be seen as trivializing his friend's rescu
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