This was not the first time the Royal City had been the target of a violent attack, nor was it sure to be the last. Just as such an ancient city carries a burden, it also carries millions of stories and events.
However, receiving an attack during a war is a totally different thing from being attacked during times of peace.
The last war the Kingdom of Tretidian fought was when it became involved in the famous Duchy War, when it chose a small duchy to help annex the others and finally annexed it, becoming as large as the two other human kingdoms. However, this conflict happened more than forty years ago, when the current King of Tretidian was just a brave, young and smart warrior, so it made no sense to have an attack on the Royal City after so long, and this fact made everyone understand that it was not the attack of another nation, but a synchronized terrorist attack.