The palace was no longer a sanctuary.
It was a fortress of suspicion.
Despite still recovering, Alex stood in the war room with Elisha, Oliver, and Raymond.
Maps were unfurled, security logs scattered.
A servant entered, trembling, with a tray of tea—Oliver's hand shot to his sword.
Even a cup now looked like a weapon.
"Three entrances were breached," Elisha reported. "But no signs of forced entry."
Raymond narrowed his eyes. "That means someone on the inside… opened the door."
Alex nodded grimly. "A mole. Or more than one."
Just then, the Emperor entered. His royal robes were untouched, but his eyes looked older, heavier.
"I want names," he said. "We are not waiting for the next attack. We hunt now."
Maria entered behind him, holding a sealed envelope.
"A servant found this… hidden behind the curtain in the Empress's chambers," she said, voice tight.
Alex opened it. His eyes scanned the parchment. Then he froze.
"What is it?" Maria asked.
He passed it to Elisha.
It was a coded message. One that hadn't been used since the civil war in the North.
"Someone from the old rebellion…" Elisha whispered.
Raymond added, "Or someone reviving it."
Alex gritted his teeth. "They're not just targeting the palace."
Everyone looked at him.
"They're planning to kill the heir."
The Serpent's Second Phase
Deep in the abandoned chapel ruins, far beyond the palace walls, cloaked figures circled the flame again. The Veiled Leader stood before them, the serpent ring glinting in the firelight.
A tall man stepped forward, his face partially burned. "The explosions succeeded. Nobles are scared. Paranoia has begun."
"But not enough," the veiled woman said coldly. "We shook them, yes. But now… we have to cut."
She turned toward a table, revealing blueprints of the palace.
One path was marked in red—leading directly to the Royal Nursery.
A young assassin stepped forward. "But… the child isn't born yet."
"It doesn't matter," she replied. "Strike the Empress, strike the womb. Destroy the future."
Another cloaked man hissed, "The Duke survived. Again."
The woman's hand clenched into a fist.
"He won't for long."
"Are we prepared?" she asked.
"Yes," said the burned man. "The one inside the palace is ready."
She smiled behind her veil.
"Then let the bloodline break."
Meanwhile… Back in the Palace
Elisha sat with a list of every servant, soldier, and noble who had access to the wedding hall.
Dozens of names.
Maria stood behind her, her eyes red from lack of sleep.
"I saw her," she said suddenly. "During the explosion. A maid… she didn't flinch. Everyone screamed. She didn't."
Elisha looked up sharply. "Can you describe her?"
Maria closed her eyes. "A scar… near her collarbone. And her eyes. They were too calm."
Oliver burst into the room. "Another servant has disappeared. Gone without a trace."
"Name?" Alex asked.
Oliver handed him a list. Alex scanned it. One name jumped out.
The same maid Maria just described.
They all looked at each other.
"She's still in the palace," Alex said. "And she's not done."
Meanwhile-
The Empress stood at the balcony of her chambers, bathed in moonlight.
Her hands rested on her belly — the child within was her miracle, her legacy. But tonight… the silence didn't feel peaceful. It felt suffocating.
She turned to Countess Wilmore, her most trusted lady-in-waiting.
"Has Maria come by today?"
"She said she would come after speaking with the Duke," Wilmore replied.
The Empress nodded, then suddenly winced. A sharp pain ran through her back.
"Should I fetch the doctor?" Wilmore asked urgently.
"No…" she breathed. "It's nothing."
But the pain wasn't anything.
It wasn't physical.
It was a pulling — like her soul was bracing for something.
From the corner of the room, a candle flickered unnaturally.
And for a split second… the Empress could have sworn she saw a shadow move without a body to cast it.
Meanwhile, in the underground servant tunnels, Alex, Maria, Elisha, and Oliver moved in complete silence. The scent of oil and burnt incense lingered — remnants of the explosion.
"She's still here," Maria whispered. "I can feel it."
"She has access," Elisha muttered. "She's moving freely. Which means—"
Suddenly, Oliver raised his hand, halting them.
A faint shuffle. Then silence. A heartbeat.
Then—FOOTSTEPS.
They all pressed to the stone wall as a figure walked by — not hurried, not cautious. Confident.
Alex narrowed his eyes.
The same maid from the wedding. Calm. Too calm.
"That's her," Maria whispered.
Elisha nodded, signaling with her hand: Surround. Trap. Quietly.
The four of them spread. They moved like shadows—each heartbeat measured, each footstep ghosted.
They turned a corner—
Gone.
She had disappeared.
"What—?" Oliver spun.
"She knew we were coming," Alex growled. "She's not working alone."
Back in the Empress's chamber, the wind howled unnaturally through the window.
Countess Wilmore turned to close it—and froze.
A dagger glinted in the moonlight, held to her throat by a masked figure.
Another shadow detached from the corner, moving toward the Empress's bed—
But the Empress was not asleep.
"I knew it," she said, voice cold and commanding. "I knew you'd come tonight."
The assassin lunged.
At the same time—
CRASH.
The doors burst open.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Alex shouted, charging in with Elisha and Maria behind him.
Steel met steel as Alex intercepted the assassin mid-strike. The blade scraped across his shoulder, but he didn't falter. Maria rushed to the Empress, shielding her with her body.
Elisha threw her blade— a perfect shot.
It pinned the other masked attacker's cloak to the wall.
The Empress rose from the bed, regal even in danger.
"You dare come into my home," she said to the writhing attacker, "and try to take my child?"
Alex stood, sword pressed to the assassin's throat.
"WHO SENT YOU?" he roared.
The figure said nothing… then gave a chilling smile.
"Too late," he whispered.
He bit something between his teeth.
Foam.Twitch.
Dead.
Alex turned to the other attacker—just in time to see her snap her own neck against the wall pin.
Elisha swore and rushed forward.
Maria looked at Alex. "They're willing to die… without hesitation. That's not loyalty. That's fanaticism."
And that's when the Emperor arrived — breathless, armed.
"What happened!?"
"The attack failed," Alex said grimly, "but the war has begun."
Dread Lurking in Every Corner
They stopped one strike.
But the message was clear.
This was not over.
The enemy was not done.
And somewhere, deep below the palace, another seal burned…
Marking the next move.
The Royal Council Crisis Meeting
The royal council chamber had never felt so tense.
The Emperor sat at the head of the long table, his expression carved from stone. Around him, the highest-ranking nobles, generals, and ministers were whispering in growing panic. The scent of smoke still clung faintly to the heavy curtains — a reminder of the explosions that had rocked the palace hours earlier.
"The security breach at the royal wedding," growled Duke Herrick, head of the military council, "was no mere act of rebellion. This was coordinated. Calculated."
"Five explosions," said the Prime Minister, his voice brittle. "Five. Inside the palace walls. It wasn't meant to kill. It was meant to show us how easily they could."
The Emperor clenched his fists. "And to make us afraid."
The Empress, sitting silently beside him, reached for his hand under the table.
Alex, though still recovering, stood by the window, arms crossed, listening. His body ached, but his mind was sharp — sharper than ever.
"They infiltrated the palace. On our happiest day. That means one thing." He turned to the council. "The traitor… is still among us."
Gasps followed. Then silence.
"We have no time," the Emperor finally said. "Double the security. Lock down the noble estates. No one enters or leaves the capital without my seal."
"And what of Lady Elisha and Lady Maria?" one noble asked. "They've requested access to noble gatherings…"
The Emperor gave a firm nod. "Let them. We need eyes inside the wolves' den."
Later that evening, inside the quiet chambers of the northern estate, Elisha and Maria dressed not as royalty, but as refined noblewomen — silent observers.
Their goal: to infiltrate.
One noble had invited them to an elite gathering — the kind where polished masks hid dirty secrets. Whispers of discontent had grown among the central nobles after the Empress's pregnancy and Alex and Maria's renewed power. Someone was stirring them. Feeding them.
Maria's face was calm, but her fingers trembled as she fastened the last pearl of her necklace.
"You ready?" Elisha asked, strapping a small dagger under her gown.
"I've never been more afraid," Maria said honestly. "But I'm not running again."
Together, they entered the banquet. The hall was filled with laughter, glasses clinking, and dresses swishing— but beneath it all… tension. One wrong move and they could be discovered.
As they mingled, Maria overheard two nobles whispering by a fountain:
"…if the sixth phase is complete, the city gates will fall within hours."
"And the priest? Does he still hold the trigger?"
Their eyes locked on Maria — but they smiled politely.
She quickly turned, weaving through the crowd to find Elisha.
"Elisha…" she whispered, breathless. "It's worse than we thought. They're planning a full takeover."
And behind them, a shadow slipped quietly into the night — a veiled figure… listening.
The Gathering of Snakes
The noble banquet gleamed with opulence. Golden chandeliers sparkled overhead, violins played a haunting waltz, and the crowd was draped in silks and secrets.
Maria and Elisha moved like shadows.
They smiled, laughed at the right moments, nodded graciously — but their ears were tuned not to music, but murmurs.
Elisha leaned close to Maria. "Stay close. Look at their eyes, not their words."
At the edge of the ballroom, a familiar figure emerged from the crowd.
Count Willox.
A loyalist — or so everyone thought. But Maria saw it — the brief nod he gave to a veiled woman with emerald earrings. The same woman she saw before the wedding… slipping through the servant passages.
Maria's heartbeat quickened.
"Don't look now," she whispered, "but he's here. And he's not alone."
Elisha followed her gaze. Her eyes sharpened. "That's Lady Virell. She disappeared during the border unrest. We assumed she was dead."
"No one truly disappears," Maria murmured.
Suddenly, a noble bumped into Elisha, nearly spilling wine.
"My apologies," he muttered quickly — too quickly — and slipped away.
Maria's hand darted into Elisha's sleeve.
He had placed something there.
A folded note.
They rushed to a quieter corner and opened it under candlelight.
"The priest who holds the trigger is not who you think. He walks the halls of your temple, but bows to another god."
Elisha went pale.
Maria whispered, "The wedding priest. He blessed us. He heard our vows…"
"He may have tried to curse them instead."
And somewhere across the hall, Count Willox smiled faintly, as if he knew they'd read it.
Back at the palace, Alex stood at the center of the war room, a crimson map sprawled before him. Pins marked locations — castle walls, sewer lines, servant corridors, abandoned tunnels.
"The next strike will be swift," he told the generals. "This wasn't just about fear. It's positioning. They've infiltrated systems we haven't even named yet."
The Emperor stood beside him, silent but grim.
Alex placed a small sealed box on the table.
"What's this?" the commander asked.
"A decoy," Alex said. "We'll circulate a message that the imperial treasury has been moved to the Eastern Vault. Only someone within our enemy's circle will act."
"You're baiting them?" one noble gasped.
"I'm exposing them," Alex replied. "When they try to take the bait, we close the trap."
And as he said this, the box was quietly slipped into a guarded cart — bound for a vault that didn't exist.
Back at the banquet, Maria saw Count Willox and Lady Virell suddenly part ways — both headed toward separate exits.
She moved instinctively. "They're moving. Elisha—"
"I'll follow her," Elisha said quickly, pointing to Virell. "You follow Willox."
A final nod between them — then they vanished into the crowd.
And in the palace war room, a messenger arrived with urgent news:
"A spy attempted to breach the Eastern Vault… They were caught. And they carried a seal. One we've seen before."
Alex opened the parchment.
It was stamped with the serpent mark.
"They've begun," he whispered. "Now we finish it."
Maria – The Chase Begins
The ballroom faded behind her.
Maria's footsteps echoed softly in the silent corridor as she followed Count Willox at a safe distance. He was fast — too fast for someone who claimed old war wounds. Suspicious.
He passed two guards and gave a signal — a slight twitch of the hand. The guards didn't stop him.
They moved.
Maria's breath caught.
They're in on it.
She slipped behind a tapestry, watching. Willox reached a hidden panel, pressed his hand against the stone — and a part of the wall moved. A secret door.
Maria stepped forward too late. The wall sealed shut.
"Damn it," she whispered. "He's gone."
But she'd memorized the symbol etched on the door.
A twisting serpent around a burning tree.
She pulled out the note from earlier and scribbled the mark on it before rushing back the way she came.
Elisha – Through the Garden of Thorns
Lady Virell was elegant, sharp, and dangerous. Elisha knew her reputation — once a diplomat, later vanished during the rebellion. And now, she walked like she owned the night.
Elisha trailed her through the palace gardens, the moonlight casting eerie silver on the hedges.
Virell stopped under an old statue of a forgotten king, pulled a small device from her cloak, and pressed a button.
From the ground, a slab of stone shifted.
Elisha moved fast.
She dashed forward, tackled Virell from behind — the device flying from her hand. They crashed to the ground in a whirl of petals and gasps.
"Who sent you?" Elisha demanded, blade pressed to her throat.
Virell's eyes sparkled with disdain.
"You wouldn't understand, little Duchess. You're still playing loyalty while your Empire rots from the inside."
Elisha's hand trembled — but her grip stayed firm.
"Try me."
Virell smiled… and whispered something:
"The Serpent is not alone. The Hand moves too."
Then — with a sudden twist — Virell head-butted Elisha, grabbed a hidden blade, and slashed.
Elisha fell back, cut along the arm — but not before stabbing Virell in the leg. The traitor cried out and limped into the shadows.
The Intersect – The War Room Unfolds
Moments later, both women returned to the palace — wounded, breathless, but alive.
Alex stood waiting, alongside the Emperor, the Empress, and their trusted circle.
Maria slammed the note with the serpent symbol onto the table.
Elisha threw the blade she took from Virell onto the map. Its hilt was marked with the same symbol.
"They're inside," Elisha said. "And they're not working alone."
"I found their passage," Maria added. "Hidden under the west wing."
Alex narrowed his eyes.
"Then it's time," he said, stepping toward the map. "We don't wait anymore. No more traps. No more shadows."
He looked up.
"We go to war."