?

Of course, Zach couldn’t forget about Elizabeth family either. But unlike the Macrae family, he had a relationship with Elizabeth family. He was almost a family member to the latter. Therefore he only nodded towards George before heading towards the carriages that awaited his boarding.

George didn’t move from his spot but Christina couldn’t stay still as she watched him leave. She hurriedly followed after him and grasped his pace to stay right behind him as he was about to climb aboard the carriage.

“If the wedding had gone as planned, I wonder what your answer would have been then.” said Christina in a voice that was only audible to Zach. She acted as if she didn’t want to ask him and had let her tongue slip at the last moment.

Zach didn’t expect this kind of question from Christina whom he considered to be quite business minded and not this sentimental. The sudden question caused him to freeze on the foothold of the carriage as he turned his head back to take a look at Christina who was partly blushing at the moment and partly expectant to hear his answer.

The look on his face turned extremely solemn as he didn’t want to disappoint the woman who had put herself in harm’s way to save him. He wanted to portray his seriousness regarding their relationship through his expressions and gestures.

“Yes, I do.”

Zach felt that this was the only answer that did justice to Christina. He couldn’t let her down; not after what she had done for him. He vowed to treat her well in the future.

Zach fumbled in his pocket for a while as if he was looking for something but instead he was using the Weapons arsenal to retrieve something. As he took his hand out of the pocket and opened his fist, there was a white colored earpiece in the center of his palm.

Zach threw it towards Christina whose rosy face was shining after she heard his answer to her question.

Christina caught onto the earpiece with both hands as if she was afraid of not being able to catch it properly. 𝒷𝒹ℴ𝓿𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

Zach didn’t wait around to see if she had caught it or not and entered the carriage with a smile on his face. The earpiece he had just delivered to Christina was capable of connecting to an artificial satellite. So, Zach would be able to contact her anytime he wanted to in the future.

Christina held the earpiece in her closed fist as if unwilling to let go of it and stared at the departing back of the carriage that housed Zach. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were filled with expectations for the future as she watched the group leave until they were out of her line of sight.

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Zach ordered the carriages following him to move eastward. The reason behind this decision was the geographical location of the eastern lands of the empire because there lay a wide berth of oceanic body in that direction. After thinking for some time, Zach had deduced that the coastal cities along the ocean were the perfect place for him and his group to lay low.

There were two reasons behind this decision. Firstly, the governmental influence in such far off cities tended to be very low. Most of the people in the cities barely knew what government was. They were usually inhabited by fishermen who lived their entire lives fishing and selling their produce to the market in close by areas. They neither relied on the other cities nor on the government to survive. So, they made for the ideal company for Zach and his people.

Secondly, Zach and his group had better chances of escape if they ever encountered the governmental pursuit in these areas because the royal forces would be too weak due to the low influence of the royal family and the passage by sea would offer plenty of similar destinations.

As soon as Zach and his group left for their next destination, George ordered two of his servants who were trained in the operation of trucks to travel inland towards the heart of the empire due west. The route that the trucks followed was the exact opposite to that of Zach and his group just as Calvin had anticipated upon laying his eyes on the two trucks.

Prince Kolt was relentless as his pursuit of Zach was never ending. He had already invested far too much in this venture to let it go just like that. Therefore, he was intent on getting something out of it by capturing and squeezing Zach.

Soon after the panther made its escape, Sarah ordered her troops to stand down and retreat. Since no one could prove that they were from the Macrae family, it was easier for them to withdraw. The royal forces took a breath of relief as well since they had been fighting for quite some time and were totally exhausted. Seeing that the Macrae family had retreated, Barry also ordered his forces to fall back even though they hadn’t taken part in the earlier battle at all after Kolt announced Zach’s treachery and Luna’s identity.

To the dismay of the royal forces, Prince Kolt wasn’t satisfied with just repelling the opposing forces. He seemed livid despite all the battles the royal forces had fought for him in a single day. Instead of telling them to rest, Prince Kolt forced them to chase after the escaped Zach and his group with whatever strength they had left.

Soon Kolt received word of the sighting of two trucks departing from the exit of Elizabeth city headed due west. Prince Kolt seemed excited at the piece of news because it corresponded perfectly with the time that Zach had gone incognito.

Of course, Prince Kolt didn’t know that Zach had long since left by the means of carriages and the trucks were only a diversionary tactic designed by George and perpetrated by his men.

Prince Kolt chased after the trucks with vain hope burning in his eyes but only found disappointment and distress when he finally chased them down. Only then did he realize that he had been schemed against and the real Zach had probably escaped through some other means and by that point it was already too late for Prince Kolt to trace him.

That day his forces witnessed him screaming into the air like a madman and not at all regal like the Princely cloth he wore to hide his vicious and shrewd heart. Prince Kolt on the other hand was too far gone to care about his princely prestige at this point. Instead of worrying about that, he vowed to take revenge against Zach and all those who assisted in his haphazard escape. He promised himself that he would chase them to the ends of the world if he had to.

Seething in righteous rage and indignation, Prince Kolt had no choice but to return to the royal capital in order to seek help from his family for the injustices he had suffered at the hands of some measly businessmen who didn’t even have a chance to enter the capital with their strengths and wealth.

George and Calvin kept in touch with the affairs of the empire during these times because they were expecting to receive the warrant of arrest for Zach and the Luther family based on the events of the recent past. They already knew through their intelligence teams that Prince Kolt had returned to the capital. Therefore, both of them thought that it was only a matter of time before the warrant was issued.

But to their astonishment, no matter how much they waited there wasn’t any news regarding this instant let alone a warrant. It was as if the government had swept the whole incident under the rug. A few weeks passed as they waited for the response of the government before they finally received some news.

A Prince from the capital had come to meet with the Elizabeth family on behalf of the royal family.

Calvin could rest easy since the Prince from the capital had come to see the head of the Elizabeth family specifically. But George couldn’t help but grimace at the thought of meeting another Prince. After all, he had seen Kolt and knew how unreasonable he was.

George rushed out of his residence upon hearing the news so as to receive the Prince at his residence in order to show his respect.

It wasn’t long before the entourage of the prince made its appearance. There wasn’t as much fanfare as George had imagined. Unlike Prince Kolt who had brought enough forces to take over Elizabeth city, Prince Olaf had only brought a few guards and an escort with him. The whole protocol was an imitation of an ambassadorial visit as if implying to George the purpose of his visit to be purely discussion for mutual benefit.

Cunning as he was, George picked up on the clues and some strength returned to his jellied feet.

“My lord, welcome to my humble estate. It is my utmost honor to host the magnificent Prince Olaf. You might not know my lord, but the people tell stories about your bravado, knightly appearance and graceful bearing even in these parts.”

Prince Olaf laughed heartily upon hearing George’s welcoming words. He was unlike Prince Kolt in all the ways that mattered. Despite hearing words of flattery, Olaf didn’t feel let it get to his head and still looked calm and dignified.

George guessed that Prince Olaf would prove to be a difficult opponent compared to Prince Kolt should the need for battle arise.