Chapter 415
“After I leave, Michael will deploy defenses around the manor.” Xander paused and added, “The city gates open at sunrise every day. If you want to travel, be sure to wait for his men to protect you before you move.”
Athena turned around and reached out to smooth the wrinkles between his eyebrows.
The candlelight cast shadows in his deep-set eye sockets, and she suddenly noticed that in just half a month, a few silver strands had appeared at his temples.
Athena lovingly stroked his temples. “You too.”
Her fingertips trembled slightly, “Don’t always think about a quick victory. I’ll be waiting for you to come back in Pidence City.”
Xander took her hand and placed a small gold pendant into her palm.
The gold pendant was carved from warm jade and carried a familiar warmth, having been close to his body for years.
“If there’s any unrest in Pidence City, take this to the suburbs. I’ve left an elite team there, and they will protect you and Alexandra in a safe place.”
Athena’s eyes were a little red. “You’ve arranged all the escape routes for me, so what about you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’m taking the Aegis Guards with me to Athkar, and they will keep me safe,” he said.
Athena sniffed and nodded, “The child and I will be waiting for you at home. You must come back, you hear?”
Looking at her worried appearance, Xander only felt a pang of bitterness.
He held her hand, his gaze calm. “Don’t be afraid. With Michael here, and the 30,000 Royal Guards I left behind, Pidence City won’t descend into chaos.”
“I trust you.” Athena forced a smile, not wanting him to worry.
As dawn was just beginning to break, Xander looked out the window.
Reluctantly, he hugged Athena again, gently kissing her forehead, “I must go.”
Athena nodded and escorted him to the manor gate, watching as he mounted his horse.
Xander’s black cloak fluttered in the morning breeze. He reined in his horse, turned back to look at her, his gaze piercing through the misty air as if to etch her image into his bones.
“Wait for me.” His voice was low, heavy with a weight that could crush the heart.
Athena stood on the stone steps, nodding vigorously until tears blurred her vision, and his figure gradually disappeared into the alleyway.
She said in her heart, over and over, “I will wait for you. I will definitely wait for your return.”
“Close the manor gate; no one is allowed to enter or exit at will.” Athena turned and entered the manor, her expression completely different from before.
She looked like a female general about to go to the battlefield, her eyes resolute.
The courtyard was filled with servants, all looking at Athena in panic.
Athena swept her gaze across the terrified faces and said in a deep voice, “Pidence City will not be in chaos. Life will go on as it always has. If I find anyone disturbing the peace, they will be severely punished according to the rules of the Xander Manor, without exception!”
She bit down on the words “severely punished,” making them exceptionally clear.
Carrying a biting chill, those words instantly made those who harbored wishful thinking or restlessness feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave. They lowered their heads, not daring to meet her gaze again.
Then, without saying more, she turned and walked toward the inner courtyard.
Alexandra was on pins and needles. Seeing Athena return, she calmed down a bit. “Athena, why do I feel so uneasy?”
Athena hurried forward a few steps, reached out, and took Alexandra’s hand. “Alexandra, don’t worry. Pidence City will be fine.”
“I heard that the rebel army is advancing with irresistible force, marching north and already occupying several cities. If that’s the case, they will reach Pidence City in less than a month,” Alexandra said.
Athena sat down next to her, placed her other hand on the back of Alexandra’s hand, and gently patted it, comforting her. “You’re overthinking it. The cities that Ray has occupied are all small cities with no natural defenses and fewer than a thousand soldiers. It’s just a show of strength.”
She took out a map from her sleeve and spread it on the rosewood table.
“Look, Athkar is garrisoned by Xander. He leads the most elite Aegis Guards of Petanion. As long as enemy troops approach, they will never return.”
Moving her finger around Pidence City, Athena added, “The moat outside the city is thirty feet wide, and General Osborne has added three iron gates behind the city gates, so even if they can fight to the city, they won’t get any advantage.
“What’s more, the terrain of Ironfang Pass is dangerous. It is as difficult as climbing to the sky for Ray’s iron cavalry to break through Ironfang Pass.”
When she heard Athena say this, Alexandra’s heart quietly relaxed a little.
She sighed, still a little worried. “Xander is far away in Athkar, and you are a woman, supporting this huge Manor. How can I not worry?”
Athena picked up the cup on the table and refilled Alexandra with some hot coffee. “We still have Perkins Manor. With grandfather and Michael to protect us, we will be safe and sound. The more critical the situation, the calmer we must be.”
Alexandra nodded, looking at Athena’s calm expression, and her heart became much calmer.
She said, “You are right, the more critical the situation, the calmer we must be, as long as this place is not in chaos, Xander will have no worries.”
In a blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed, and Xander sent letters to Athena every few days.
He explained the progress he had made in Athkar, saying in the letter that he had found Quincy and persuaded him, and had taken Quincy to Pidence City.
He would be back in seven or eight days.
Athena’s heart pounded as she looked at the handwriting on the letter.
Even far away, just seeing his handwriting could give her strength.
However, rumors that Athena was a jinx began to spread in Pidence City.
They said she was a femme fatale who brought disaster to the country, and if it weren’t for her, Ray would not have declared himself King and attacked Pidence City.
At first, these rumors were only spread in small circles.
Later, it escalated. Someone smashed the stone lions outside Prince Xander’s mansion, and someone tied strips of cloth with the words “jinx” written on them to poles and threw them into the Xander Manor.
The common folk, swayed by some unseen hand, gathered around Xander Manor, demanding that Athena be handed over.
“It’s all her fault. If she hadn’t stolen Princess Kendra’s marriage, how could Ray have rebelled?”
“I heard that she also seduced General Osborne back then, causing the Osborne family to be exterminated!”
Obscene words mixed with stones hit the gate of the Xander Manor, making a muffled thumping sound.
Alexandra, supporting herself on a veranda column, stood in the courtyard, her face pale with anger. “Are these rioters crazy? How dare they cause trouble at the Xander Manor?”
She was about to go out, but Athena stopped her. “Don’t bother with them. The people are emotionally charged right now. If they dare to make trouble, they wouldn’t be afraid of you.”
“But we can’t let them throw mud at you.” Alexandra’s eyes reddened with anger. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she said, “Why don’t you hide in the palace?”
Athena shook her head. “It won’t work. Once things are allowed to fester, even the King will waver one day.”
If sacrificing one woman could bring peace, he would do it.
Alexandra gasped. “Then, wouldn’t you be in even greater danger?”
“The walls of Pidence City are strong. If Xander brings Quincy back to Pidence City, Ray will have even less chance of winning. He is inciting popular sentiment to put pressure on the King to hand me over to him, so Xander will turn against Arthur.”
Athena tightened her grip on the sword in her hand, her eyes incredibly sharp. “He can’t hide this little scheme from me, and naturally I won’t let him succeed.”
“Open the door,” she ordered the steward.
Alexandra grabbed her sleeve, looking flustered. “You’re crazy! Those people are bloodshot. If you step outside, you’ll be devoured alive!”