Rittier and Jenna talked toward to Ereka who stood in the middle of the ruin.

  “Your Highness. What is going on.”


  “I am…… sorry.”


  Ereka dropped her head.

  “Princess, what happened?”


  “Jenna……”


  Ereka held Jenna without finding a word to say.

  The heavy bloody smell from the ruin and Ereka in pain showed them this was not a simple matter.

  Then Sungjin arrived.

  “The ruin with the bloody smell……”


  At a glance, they found a shoe soaked in blood with foot lost the leg. Once they found one, they were able to see what happened.

  ¼ of a face.

  An arm without any finger.

  The horrible scene reflected the tragedy that had happened.

  “Boo…… boo…… boohoo……”


  Jenna fell down and cried out loud.

  “What are these…… this…… the pain…… poor…… this is terrifying……”


  “huh.”


  Sungjin nearly threw up. He took cold and calm as his motto but he was still a high school student. He was shocked by such a terrifying scene.

  He didn’t break down because there was bigger than the shock.

  The anger.

  “What happened?”


  “Sungjin…… I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”


  “Stop apologizing and tell me what happened. I need to know what happened to plan how to deal with this.”


  But Sungjin already knew what happened. That’s why his anger was burning.

  This was a trace of a massacre.

  “Ok……”


  Ereka told everything to Sungjin.

  The blood ruler Riad took children as hostages to provoke her and she made a mistake and reacted as the blood ruler planned.

  Rittier’s face stiffened listening to her story.

  “Your Highness…… That was a mistake.”


  “Yes.”


  “That was a huge mistake……”


  Rittier looked into the sky and moaned.

  “Yes. I understand.”


  “Sungjin’s strategy was the only way to win while it is only possible when it is a defense battle against the blood ruler’s awaken power.”


  “Yes. I knew…… but forgot for a second.”


  “You should have ignored at the first place. You knew if you are played by a hostage show, the opponent will take it as your weakness and use it against you.”


  “Yes. It’s all my fault.”


  Ereka couldn’t look into Rittier’s eyes who kept blaming her.

  She didn’t have a word to say.

  “Princess.”


  Jenna called her with regretful voice, but couldn’t find a word to defend her. Even young Jenna understood how serious this situation was.

  “Your …… I understand you cherish the lives of extras as well. But you can’t save everyone. If you try the impossible that will result in a bigger disaster that will kill everyone else. I told you so many times.”


  “Yes…… you are right…… you told me…… I kept that in mind but……”


  Ereka understood the magnitude of her mistake.

  Killing children was not an acceptable act. But it was impossible to stop all injustice.

  It was stupid to kill a hundred to save one.

  Now the blood ruler will take over this kingdom and abuse everyone with tyranny.

  No, not just this kingdom. She would use this as a stepping stone to conquer more.

  Sungjin promised to make them win in a defense battle, but she lost control of a moment and ruined everything

  A king had to be cold when necessary. A king needed the best judgment to know what was the best.

  Sungjin stepped in.

  “That’s enough.”


  “But sir Sungjin. Now your strategy became useless.”


  “I know. You are right and it was clear that the princess made a mistake. But that was enough.”


  Ereka started to have tears in her eyes looking at Sungjin.

  “Sungjin, be angry. I don’t want you to take my mistake lightly.”


  “If you know yourself, that’s enough. And moreover.”


  Sungjin picked up a bloody shoe from the ground.

  There was a tiny foot with its leg cut off.

  The bloody red shoe used to be a cute yellow one with little chicks printed on it.