Female Novel
Chapter 774 Forced Into The Labyrinth Swamp (Part Two)
Unable to hold it back any longer, Lance spat out the blood in his mouth. The eunuch and the guardsbecame frightened. "Shamans! Call the shamans right this second."
The situation in the Imperial Palace was nothing short of chaos. While Lance was spitting blood, a lot ofshamans came to the palace in a hurry. Meanwhile, Matthew with his troops, was attacking the cities ofthe South Kingdom. It was reported that the Starry Palace had been destroyed. All of the people in theSouth Kingdom were hysterical. If Lance became seriously ill, the kingdom would be ruined soonenough!
"Shaman, how is the emperor?"
Being summoned by Lance, all the officials of the South Kingdom rushed to the palace. Their kingdomwas in grave danger at that time. If anything bad happened to Lance who was an important pillar of theentire kingdom, it would suddenly turn this chaotic situation into a hopeless one.
"His Majesty spat blood and then fainted due to excessive rage. He is fine now. He has already wokenup, but he can't be stressed out or provoked. His Majesty calls for all of you," the shaman announced.
"Okay," the officials stated in chorus.
All of them walked into the room one by one. Meanwhile, Lance leaned against his bed with a pale faceand said, "You are all here."
"Your Majesty."
"You already know the current situation of our kingdom. Matthew with his Black Flag Army is nowheading towards the south and soon they will arrive at our capital. To put it plainly, it's going to be hardfor our soldiers to resist. I'm afraid it won't be long before the South Kingdom falls." Lance coughednovelbin
twice before he continued, "I didn't expect that it would turn out to be a big mistake to invite the envoysof the three kingdoms to attend the ceremony."
"Your Majesty, Prince Matthew will certainly retreat after we hand over Princess Harper to him," anofficial responded right away. 'Why is Prince Matthew attacking the South Kingdom? It was all becauseof Princess Harper,' he thought. The officials were all thinking that before Prince Matthew and his armycould come to the kingdom, he needed to know that Princess Harper was safe and sound. As long asshe was fine, they didn't have to worry about Prince Matthew's invasion.
When Lance heard that suggestion, a hint of hatred appeared in his eyes. "Speaking of Harper... Shekidnapped Diana and strayed into the Labyrinth Swamp with her."
The faces of all the officials turned pale as soon as they heard the news. They couldn't believe the grimreality that they were facing. Once a person went into the swamp, their corpses couldn't even be found.No one had ever entered the swamp and come out alive to tell about it. What was more, a lot of highlyskilled shamans once tried to enter the swamp, looking for secret medicines to make those long-lostsecret remedies. However, their efforts were in vain as they had never come back. Even as a memberof the South Kingdom, they couldn't resist the miasma inside the swamp.
The prime minister was now in a panic. "What? What should we do now? Princess Harper went to theLabyrinth Swamp herself. It's not our responsibility, right?"
Lance bitterly smiled and asked, "Do you think Matthew is a reasonable man? If she had been fine inour kingdom, why would she have risked going to the Labyrinth Swamp?"
The crowd looked at each other in dismay. How could they know what Harper was thinking? She wasthe one who dared to go to the swamp on her own! Was she courting death? They wouldn't know.Besides, why did she hold the princess as a hostage and took her to the Labyrinth Swamp?
"Your Majesty, why did Princess Harper abduct the princess and run to the Labyrinth Swamp with her?"
The expression on Lance's face dramatically changed. In order to take back the Holy Article of theSouth Kingdom which had been stolen by Harper, he had sent guards to surround the Starry Palace.Harper abducted his daughter so that she could escape. On her way out, she was so agitated that shemust have chosen to enter the Labyrinth Swamp on a whim!
"She took away our kingdom's Holy Article and tried to flee with it. But she took the wrong way andentered the Labyrinth Swamp." Lance chose his words carefully so he could shift the blame on Harper.If Matthew looked into the matter, the South Kingdom would evade the responsibility as well. In theworst-case scenario, he could give ten beautiful women to Matthew as the replacement and each ofthem would be more beautiful than Harper!
All of the officials were keen and immediately understood their king's actual intention. To put it bluntly,Lance wanted to take the Holy Article back from Harper, but she refused. So, he sent people to siegeand force her into the Labyrinth Swamp, but they couldn't expose their king's lie. They also had to helphim make the lie believable.
"Prince Harper shouldn't have stolen the Holy Article of our kingdom. If she had just been honest andtold us that she wanted to borrow it from us, she could've just said so. Why did she have to do that?Now, she lost her way and found herself in the Labyrinth Swamp. How could we explain this entiresituation to Prince Matthew?"
Lance's eyes lit up as soon as he heard that. "Yes, that's it! Harper got lost and went into the LabyrinthSwamp. It has nothing to do with us!"
The officials all nodded in agreement. It was Harper's fault. She was unfamiliar with this place and sheeven stole a valuable thing belonging to the South Kingdom. She succeeded in taking the Holy Articlebut in return went into the Labyrinth Swamp. This time, even if God was with her for help, it would beimpossible to save her from the dangerous swamp!
"Your Majesty, then, Princess Diana—" One official tried to bring it up, but couldn't finish his sentence.
At the mention of Diana, the smile on Lance's face vanished in an instant. In terms of spells and poisonmaking, his treasured and younger daughter Diana was as good as her elder sister Catherine. He hadalways been fond of his younger daughter more. He didn't expect that in his old age, there was apossibility that his younger daughter would die before him. Harper forced Diana to enter the LabyrinthSwamp so her life was in grave danger. Harper, herself wouldn't even be able to protect herself. Howcould she protect his beloved daughter?!
"You may leave now. I want to be alone." Lance waved his hand, gesturing for the officials to leave. Atthat moment, he seemed to have grown old, not an aloof and proud king, but an old man who had losthis beloved daughter. "Diana, my daughter, I'm sorry."