The peaceful gardens contrasted the intense fight that was going on. The sounds of nature were replaced with the clinking metal. A fight between a former commander and the current queen was an even matchup but the latter had an advantage.

Using the familiar terrain to her advantage, Zula was able to send Vasillis flying into the bushes. She dodged over the flowers, not wanting to ruin the newly bloom orchids, to attack. By this point, Vasillis was back on his feet and parried her attack. The man used his strength to push her away and retreated to a safe distance to catch his breath. He knew his opponent to be a strong fighter but he underestimated just how strong she was.

“What happened to trying to kill me? You’re doing a fairly bad job at it.” She had a confident air around her despite exhausting more energy than planned.

“I swear on my name that I will, for King Sen.”

Zula tilted her head, confused as why his name was mentioned. “You said you were from the fallen kingdom and judging by your abilities, you were a fairly good soldier. Does that mean you were someone the king pardoned?”

Her body relaxed and Vasillis thought about his options. There was no point in retreating, she had already seen his face and knew his name. If he was going to die, he might as well take her down or at least incapacitate her.

Vasillis gripped his sword tight as he stood up. “That’s right, I owe my life to the king. That’s why, even if it kills me, I’ll kill you for killing him.”

For his fourth try, Vasillis aimed at Zula’s legs. He figured the heavy outfit would become a burden by now. His thoughts were proven correct as he managed to stab the fabric of her outfit but unfortunately not her.

“Why do you say that?” Zula asked. She used the thick fabric to tangle the sword and to safely pull it out from his hands.

“Are you not going to deny it?” He jumped out of the way of her stab.

“You already know the truth, I’m still not sure how but there’s no point in lying.” She tossed the sword back to him and prepared for his fifth attempt. She was annoyed at Ziteng and Yeon and decided to reveal their secret.

“Why did you do it?” Since she had managed to take the sword from him each time, this time Vasillis did not pick up his sword, and opted for hand to hand combat.

“Are you curious?” Zula easily deflected his punch and landed a hit with her elbow.

Vasillis caught her elbow while she was finishing her jab and pulled her in. Zula spun to break free of his grasp and used the momentum from her spin to land a spinning kick. The larger man fell down onto the ground for a fifth time. He might have been more experienced but she was a genius.

“You want to know why I killed him?” Zula picked up the discarded sword. “I’ll tell you why.”

Words poured out of Zula’s mouth like heavy rain ending a drought. Even if she wanted to stop, she couldn’t. As Vasillis’ anger faded to shock and confusion, Zula wondered what she should do with him now that he knew the truth. So she stabbed him.

Vasillis was still registering Zula’s words and didn’t even notice her stab. His sword was firmly planted in the ground between his legs. He only noticed once Zula crouched down to meet him at eye level.

“I like you, help protect me.” While it was an offer, it came off more as a demand with a service smile.

“Why would I help you?” Vasillis was hearing all sorts of strange things today.

“It’ll be hard to kill me if someone else does it first. There’s a particular bird out there that isn’t a fan of me.”

“You want me to protect you so I can be the one to kill you?” Vasillis reiterated in disbelief.

“Of course, it would have to be after I accomplish my goals but yes, I’ll let you kill me after. I’ll put up a fight too if you want it to be more fun.”

Vasillis just sat there wondering if the queen was serious. Basileios and Valleria were very similar kingdoms but he could never imagine his king talking this way. Even the late King Sen, who Vasillis swore his loyalty to after Basileios’ fall, Vasillis had a hard time seeing the laidback king joking like this.

Zula just smirked and before getting up said, “Take a few days to think it over and come find me with your answer. Just make sure you pick this location again, there are too many eyes and ears in the rest of the palace. Now if you excuse me, I have an advisor to meet.”