Chapter 422

With a bang, Fermin was stunned for a moment.

Suddenly, two battle cries came from the east and west.

Two teams of Aegis Guards appeared suddenly, like soldiers dropped from the sky.

They not only broke up the Royal Guards' encirclement but also routed them in headlong flight.

Michael couldn’t help but look towards the source of the sound, and saw Athena and Natasha each leading two teams to charge in.

Fermin looked at the collapsing Royal Guards outside the hall, grabbed a guard next to him, and roared, “What’s going on?”

“Your Highness, I don’t know either,” the guard said.

Before the guard could finish speaking, two black torrents poured in from the breaches in the east and west palace walls like a river bursting its banks.

In the east Aegis Guards formation, Athena held a spear and swept across, shattering the Royal Guards' shields like paper.

Natasha on the west side was even more valiant, as she took off her helmet and threw it on the ground.

Her dark hair was tied into a high ponytail, and she was waving her long blade.

Two women, proving women can hold up their own.

“It’s Natasha and Athena!” Michael’s soldiers erupted in earth-shattering cheers.

The encirclement, which had been tightly shrinking just moments before, was shattered by these two reinforcements.

The Royal Guards seemed to have lost their backbone. Some threw down their weapons and knelt, begging for mercy, while others turned and ran, only to be pierced through the back by the spears.

The wound on Michael’s left arm was still bleeding, but he seemed oblivious to the pain, hacking through the last obstacle in front of him with his blade.

He charged towards Athena, their eyes met in the air, both filled with joy.

Fermin had been defeated.

“General Osborne, I’ll leave the left flank to you!” Athena’s voice was somewhat scattered by the wind, she flicked the spear behind her. “I’ll go and meet Fermin!”

Natasha had already fought her way to the corridor pillar, kicked over a Royal Guard trying to untie the Queen, and held her long blade to the Queen’s neck. “Move again, and you can forget about keeping this head.”

She turned her head and grinned at Alexandra, revealing two small canine teeth. “Alexandra, take a rest. Leave the chores in Core Palace to me.”

Alexandra watched the blood drops on her knife fall on the bluestone ground and laughed. “Good girl, go to the front hall to help Athena. I’ll take care of things here.”

Natasha was about to obey when the Queen suddenly twisted as if she were crazy, “Northcold army, the Northcold army has arrived outside the city. You will all die!”

Athena happened to rush through the corridor and paused when she heard this.

She looked up at the palace walls and could vaguely see thick smoke billowing from the distant beacon tower, and her heart sank.

Ray must have allied with Northcold in order to invade the Imperial City.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to reach Ironfang Pass so quickly.

“Natasha,” she shouted, “Take a thousand men to guard the city, and be sure to delay until the main force of the Aegis Guards returns to support!”

Natasha was stunned for a moment, then clasped her fists. “Understood!”

She turned her horse around and shouted, “Giddy up.”

The Aegis Guards behind them instantly cleaved a bloody path to the city gate.

Evander protected her flank, shouting to the crowd, “Follow me to defend the city gate! Do not let the Northcold people enter the city!”

Countless soldiers responded one after another, and those Royal Guards who had surrendered were also included in their ranks.

Athena continued to charge towards the main hall with her spear, and the Royal Guards along the way were no longer able to fight back.

She saw Fermin was trying to escape through the secret passage, like a stray dog.

“Fermin, where are you going!” Athena shouted and chased after him.

Fermin fled in panic, almost falling to the ground.

His close aides escorted him to the entrance of the secret passage. He glanced at the Imperial City unwillingly, and then plunged into the secret passage.

However, as soon as he walked in, he saw countless torches in the secret passage.

An old voice echoed in the secret passage, “Fermin, where are you going?”

Fermin looked at the person in horror, only to see Arthur standing in front of him.

Behind him, Kurtis and his two sons were protecting him.

Fermin looked as if he had seen a ghost, his voice trembling, “You… you’re not dead?”

“You unfilial son!” Arthur shouted angrily, but he was obviously short of breath and coughed violently.

These days, Fermin had been putting chronic poison in his food.

Arthur’s already fragile body was like a candle in the wind, vulnerable.

The reason why he came out, supporting his body, was to see how Fermin would end up.

“Father, please spare me.” Fermin knelt on the ground and walked a few steps towards Arthur’s knees. “I was just confused for a moment, so I did this rebellious thing. I was also bewitched by the Queen.”

As death approached, Fermin pushed all the responsibility onto the Queen.

Arthur looked at Fermin, and grief came from his heart.

His favorite son, the future crown prince, was so depraved.

“Father.” Fermin kept calling out to Arthur on his knees, trying to evoke their father–son relationship, seeing that Arthur didn’t say anything.

But Arthur was already heartbroken and had been regretting a lot these days.

“Fermin is an outrageous rebel who poisoned me. This is intolerable. From today, his status as a prince is abolished, and he is demoted to a commoner. He and his faction are to be beheaded before the crowd.”

Arthur’s voice was light, but it weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.

In the past, there were also princes who rebelled and challenged the throne.

But very few were sentenced to be beheaded.

Fermin being beheaded was obviously a great disappointment to Arthur.

Fermin was like a broken sack, slumped on the ground, trembling all over, his face pale with fright, unable to say a complete sentence.

Athena’s men arrived, and the Aegis Guards dragged the Queen, bound and gagged, in front of Arthur.

Arthur looked at the Queen’s terrified face with apathetic eyes. “The Queen is without virtue or talent, and has failed to educate her children, causing the Prince to commit heinous crimes, which is irrefutable. She will be put on public display with Fermin.”

The Queen seemed to have all the strength drained from her body and collapsed to the ground.

“No, Your Majesty, I am innocent!” The Queen suddenly crawled towards Arthur like a madwoman. “It was all that rebellious child’s own idea. I didn’t know anything! Please, Your Majesty, spare me this time for the sake of our past relationship!”

Arthur sat on the throne, looking at her with indifferent eyes, as if he were looking at a stranger.

“Past relationship?” He sneered, his voice filled with deep disappointment and sorrow. “When you incited Fermin to commit treason, why didn’t you think about our past relationship?

“When you watched him walk into the abyss step by step and turned a blind eye, why didn’t you think about my favor to you?”

“Now that death is imminent, you remember our relationship as husband and wife? If you really cared about our relationship, you wouldn’t have poisoned me.”

The Queen was speechless and could only collapse on the ground and cry loudly.

The cry was shrill, but it could no longer bring Arthur a trace of pity.

Arthur coughed violently and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Your Majesty,” Athena hurried forward, wanting to take Arthur’s pulse.

Arthur shook his head, his face turning greenish-gray, indicating that the poison had clearly penetrated his internal organs. “It’s useless. Even a divine elixir wouldn’t save me.”

He knew his body better than anyone else.

Fermin and the Queen never intended for him to live.

Chapter 423