The Devil's Cage

Kieran grabbed the captives and went into a tent that Mary had prepared for him.

The tent had a thick felt around it and had decent soundproofing capabilities, it was also close to Mary's tent.

Mary then summoned Bosco to her tent.

When Bosco arrived, he was still exercising his hands and legs that went numb due to being tied up for a long time.

"I think it might be hard for me to stay alive until the day where my two daughters get married. Your Highness, I request for a more reliable guard around me!"

After venting his own grievance, Bosco looked at Mary with puppy eyes.

"It is always better to rely on yourself than others. I'll write a letter to transfer you to the frontlines of Lightning Fortress. After experiencing life and death, I assumed you will be more skillful in handling such difficult situations," Mary said calmly.

"Any difficulties are nothing before my loyalty to Your Highness and His Majesty, I'll even cross the highest mountains and swim the deepest sea but my duties in Riverdale are not yet complete, I can't just give up halfway, especially when it is related to the citizen's well being!"

Bosco said in a righteous tone.

"Very well, since you bear in your heart the well being of the people, then I have an urgent task for you right now. Bring this secret letter and head towards Will Prefecture, pass it to Old Duke Will yourself."

Mary handed Bosco the wax sealed letter.

Bosco was stunned for a while, as he related into more, sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I don't suppose Your Highness's letter would be something like "If you don't send your troops to aid us, we will let the Prairies invaders roam south", right?" Bosco said in a shivering tone.

"Exactly." Mary nodded.

"Your Highness! I still have two unmarried daughters! The biggest wish in my little life is to stand beside them, walk them down the aisle and give them my blessings…" Bosco cried and begged, he almost kneeled down and grabbed Mary's leg if it wasn't for the inappropriate action and identity difference.

"You are not willing to go? Then I won't make it difficult for you as well. Here, I've another task for you." Mary then took out another sealed letter.

"Thank you, Your Highness! This is…"

Bosco thanked Mary repeatedly but when he took over the new sealed letter, he shook as though he was struck by lightning.

There was no receiver's name on the letter, instead, a family emblem marked at the hidden corner.

Bosco was aware of the hidden corner, he borrowed the light and shed it over the letter.

When he saw the red Flying Dragon emblem, he fell to the ground limping.

The emblem was the mark of Duke Zilin, Emblem of the Flying Dragon!

The biggest lord of the north in Warren and commanded the best elite hunting squad in Warren.

However, the route to the north was cut off by the Prairies invaders for the time being.

There was only a narrow chance of surviving should Bosco bring the letter to Duke Zilin.

"Your Highness, you can't…" Bosco's tears rolled down his cheeks, he looked at Mary with his wet puppy eyes.

Mary, however, was not moved at all, she too stared at Bosco with a calm expression.

After half a minute and under Mary's pressuring stare, Bosco stopped crying. He stood up as though he had accepted his fate, he rubbed his tears away and gave an ugly smile.

"Your Highness, is the Will Prefecture option still available?" Bosco said while wiping his tears.

"Of course!" Mary nodded.

When Bosco retook the sealed letter to Duke Will from Mary, he saluted and turned around straightaway. He was afraid that Mary would hand him more scary assignments.

Mary smiled with she saw Bosco walk away.

Bosco wasn't a jester by any means, quite the contrary his absolute loyalty to Warren's royal family was one of the best even among the whole kingdom. That was why Mary decided to task him with that assignment.

Of course, Bosco was also extremely afraid of dying.

Afraid to die and loyalty clashed in his heart, thus conflicts happened.

Sometimes, the outcome might even be the enemy of life itself.

However, Mary believed Bosco would deliver a good result because he was smart.

When she recalled her first meeting with Bosco in his skillful disguise as a refugee and how he arranged things meticulously, Mary heaved a breath of relief.

Mary moved the letter for Zilin Prefecture near the candle fire. It was actually a blank paper with nothing inside and its sole purpose was to scare Bosco so that he would travel to Will Prefecture instead.

The fire quickly burned away the unwanted paper.

When she felt the heat on her fingers, Mary shook it off and flung the burning letter away.

It danced in the air for a while before reaching the ground and when it did, the fire engulfed the whole letter, burning it into crisp.

As the fire started to die off...

Fuuua!

It lit up again! The fire burned stronger than before and it immediately flew up to a person's palm.

Mary quickly raised her head and saw a figure in red through her eyes.

The person was donning a bright red robe with the same color scarf over the face. The hood and the scarf blocked the person's face and prevented Mary from identifying the person's gender.

Chang!

Mary drew out her short sword and pointed it at the uninvited guest but she didn't shout for help. She knew it was useless.

Since the red figure could appear before her without a sign, even if the patrolling soldiers rushed over, what use would they be? They might die as well.

Her only hope left was Kieran.

Mary gripped her sword tighter as the thought came.

Her sword gave out a sharp glare under the candle light.

"Your Highness, I come in peace." The person said.

The person wanted to prove the words that came out, thus the hood and scarf were removed to reveal a middle-aged man behind them. His face looked beaten by time and his hair was thin, there were wrinkles around his eyes and mouth corner as well, the features made the grey eye of his even older.

"I am Celty, it's a pleasure to finally meet Your Highness." The man introduced himself.

"Celty?"

Mary looked at the man's face and started to search for information in her mind but there was nothing except the unfamiliar feeling.

The man was a complete stranger.

"You might have forgotten me, after all when I first saw you, you were still an infant in a cradle…"

"You know my mother?" Mary interrupted the man's word.

She looked at him with furrowed brows.

Whenever Mary heard something about her mother, her heart couldn't hold back the memories rippling in her heart even though her mother was dead.

"Of course. After all, we do come from the same place… the Raven Sect!" Celty said slowly.

"What!?" Mary cried out in shock as she could not hold back her astonishment anymore.