Chapter 81:Everyone in this world is your enemy.

Hours ago

The soldier hesitated before entering the large and beautifully embroidered tent. He took a deep breath and stepped inside. Inside the tent, a red-haired man with a majestic figure was resting on the bed. His eyes were closed, yet it seemed as if he could see everything around him. The soldier approached and calmly looked at the red-haired man. His facial features were sharp and stern. Despite his stern face, he was quite handsome, and his sharp jawline was visible despite his beard

"Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to tell me why you're here?"

With these words, the soldier, startled, snapped to attention and began to speak haltingly.

"I apologize, Your Majesty. I had a letter that I needed to bring to you'' he said.

Alpshar opened his eyes and took the letter from the soldier.

"Thank you, you may leave now"he said.

After the soldier left, Alpshar opened the letter and began to read. It took him some time to decipher it, as the letter contained many codes.

"Haha. Once again, you chose wisely, my first and last love" Alpshar said as he burned the letter to ashes and returned to his bed, not to rest but to engage his mind more than ever.

As the ashes of the letter scattered in the wind, preparations for the repatriation began at a military camp not far from here. At the far end of this camp, a tall, and golden-haired woman was gazing towards the horizon from the top of a mountain.

She had raised a great army and was leading it, but upon hearing from the scouts that Alpshar had once again achieved a great victory, she quickly decided to return to the capital. She was Anastasia Valentina Tamerid, the Empress of the Tamerid Empire.

She continued to stare at the setting sun in frustration. Now she was thinking about how to fight Alpshar, or maybe not fight Alpshar.

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"Now is the time. Go!"

When Richard said this, Isabella was on Faith, Ethan's horse. Ethan had given his beloved horse to his sister because he knew it was durable, fast, and he didn't want anything to happen to it 'faith'. Isabella couldn't bring herself to leave, tears streaming down her face.

Richard gave the horse a hard smack on its hindquarters and it galloped away, leaving behind Isabella's silhouette. Richard snapped out of his reverie. He saw another soldier heading towards Isabella and used the last of his strength to stop the enemy soldier. A gravity spell broke one horse's legs, and it crashed to the ground with its owner.

When Richard noticed that he was surrounded by enemy soldiers, he ran towards Ethan. Ethan had been relentlessly cutting down dozens of enemies with his sword. The remaining hundred guards were fiercely protecting their king. Richard grabbed Ethan firmly and turned him around. Ethan was bewildered and looked at his father.

"Why did you stop me, Father?" he asked.

"My son, you need to escape and hide for a while"

"What? I will stay with you and fight to the end."

"No! If you stay here, Alpshar will kill you. For the good of the Asina Kingdom, you must escape from here" he said in a stern tone

"Then come with me for the good of the Asina Kingdom" he said coldly.

"We've discussed this before. I can't escape from here, but you can. I haven't told you this before, but Alpshar wants to kill you personally, and I don't know why," he said, holding Ethan's head in his hands. They had to come close to hear each other over the rain and the noise of the battle.

"...Listen to me, my son. Everyone in this world is your enemy. Trust no one, for people are incredibly ungrateful. Just use them and discard them when they are no longer useful to you. That way, you'll never suffer or be betrayed. These are my last words of advice to you. Now, run without looking back" said Richard. He had lost all the light in his eyes, and now his only wish was for Ethan to be safe.

Ethan couldn't decide what to do. His father had told him he needed to flee for his life, and with every raindrop falling from the sky, time was slipping away quickly. He needed to make a decision, and if what his father had said was true, he could die.

Would someone who had already died once be afraid of death? Moreover, would someone who had wanted to die in their previous life be afraid of dying?

The answer was simple. Yes!

What made people's lives valuable was the part of life that lay beyond themselves, and while Ethan was finally living a happy life, of course, he was afraid of death. How could he want to lose what he finally had, what he belonged to?

I can't lose!

In fact, Ethan was more afraid of death than anyone else. He had already been given a second chance, but would Ethan ruin even that?

I can't ruin it!

While Ethan had come this far, how could he lose everything?

I can't lose!

"Okay. I'll do it, Dad."

"Well done. You've made the right decision."

Ethan grabbed a nearby horse and mounted it.

"Before you go, know that I've always been proud of you, my son" Richard said