"King Finn often calls me to come to his palace, and I know there are a few places he often visits when he's at the palace. First, of course, is the royal meeting room. Second, his office is not far from the meeting room. Third, an indoor garden where he spends time with his wives." Luna spoke in front of her two younger siblings and her four friends, who insisted on coming along rather than sitting quietly in the camp.
They said Evan could take good care of Darren, and Rhea was their priority because Luna couldn't face King Finn, who was so strong, on her own.
Luna looked at each of them carefully. She didn't want them to risk their lives just by following her. If Luna died, she might return to her world again. Meanwhile, they would stay dead and not continue the game.
Darren would suffer because all his friends would be gone.
"So, we'll all enter that palace and gather in the indoor garden. There are a few guards there. I'm sure they'll let their guard down and won't suspect anything." Luna said, confident they could save Rhea, who was currently inside the palace.
"Will this work? What if we all get trapped inside? Besides, how are we going to just suddenly enter? Won't that be suspicious?" asked Elric in the middle of their discussion about how Luna would sneak into the palace unnoticed.
"I have some outfits to get inside the palace. Maybe I'll also visit someone to help me arrange this. A few days after we arrive at Mierre-Park's capital, I'll look for help," said Luna before turning to Mia and Thalia. "I hope we don't get caught before we enter the palace."
"Wait, are you sure King Finn won't hurt Rhea?" Cal asked. The man reached for a glass of mineral water on the table, took a few sips, then set it back down.
"I know they just want to lure us out of camp. Or more precisely, he's targeting me." Luna said.
"Why is he only targeting you, Luna? Shouldn't Thalia and I also be targets of King Finn? We all escaped when they planned to sell us at Narima Beach. I'm sure if we hadn't run, maybe we'd already be in Ellery or Kleinn." Mia rambled in front of Luna, who listened to her words. "Is there something I don't know that's causing you to be threatened like this?"
"Nothing, maybe because I'm a rebellious woman in his eyes," Luna replied. No way she would let her sister know that she was once an assassin working for Finn before the four of them joined the camp. "Listen, everyone. We all know fighting King Finn won't be easy. We have to make sure everything remains safe. For example, our carriage. Do you guys have any idea where we can store the carriage? We'll need it to escape."
"Maybe we can hide the carriage somewhere, Luna. We need to prepare a few things, and while waiting, we can rent a safer house." Thalia gave an idea, but the others didn't seem to agree. "What's wrong, guys?"
"We don't have money, Thalia," said Elric, making everyone nod slowly. True, they didn't have much money. But Luna still had a few savings she could use to carry out her mission to save Rhea.
"I can think about the money later. For now, we need to figure out the best strategy and timing for the operation. We might be able to ambush King Finn easily in the garden. But finding Rhea's location won't be easy. So, the first thing we need to do is find out where Rhea is," said Luna before she fell silent.
"Do you guys still remember Rich, who once visited us?" Leon reminded Luna of a man she had never met, even though Rich had stayed at the camp for a few days. She didn't know what Rich looked like because Luna was still unconscious when Rich left. "I think he's still in Mierre-Park. We haven't seen Rich again until today, have we?"
"Oh, right, Rich!" Kael responded enthusiastically to Leon. They all knew who Rich was and seemed to have a strong friendship. "We have to visit Rich before going back to camp."
"I know where Rich's house is." Mia suddenly joined the conversation while Luna remained clueless. Turns out her younger sisters knew far more than she did. "It shouldn't be far from the market. I happened to go to his house once to deliver some wine."
"You know him?" Luna asked doubtfully. She watched Mia speak confidently. Not a hint of hesitation, even though Rich and Mia had only met once.
"Yes, Dad introduced us to his family because they're our regular customers," Mia answered confidently. "We should've delivered more grapes. But because we ran away, the grapes were left uncared for. They're probably wondering why no one's delivered wine to their house."
"How do you know his family is one of our customers?" Luna couldn't remember how Mia knew so much about Rich without her knowing.
"For your information, I just know part of his family. But the reason I know if Rich was our customers was because Rich said his family often buys grapes from the Mierre-Park border. And the only plantation is ours," the girl explained as if guessing what Rich liked or not.
It made sense. Luna could be sure they could ask for Rich's help, even though she wasn't sure whether it would work. Luna nodded in agreement, stood up, and invited Mia and Thalia to go to the place they had planned while they were busy cooking dinner in the kitchen.
The moment Luna stood, they understood the signal she was giving. Everyone stood up and split up. Kael, Leon, Cal, and Elric would rest in the rooms prepared for them. Meanwhile, Luna, Mia, and Thalia would go find out where Evan and Darren had disposed of the bodies.
"I already told you I don't know, Luna. I'm also not sure where they put all the bodies. Whether they buried them or just dumped them in a closed place." Mia tried to make Luna understand that they might have explained it wrong to her. "Besides, yesterday we were all busy preparing what to bring if we had to return. Wouldn't it be presumptuous of us to handle their bloody, death-related matters?"
"I just want to make sure whether this guy is worthy of being a leader or not," she said before walking out of her house without hesitation.
"Luna, wait!" Mia called after her older sister, who walked ahead without turning back.
"Hey! Luna!" Thalia also followed after Luna.
Luna wanted to confirm whether Darren had killed all those people or not. She couldn't believe it, even though her two younger sisters said Darren and Evan had done it. As she passed the mailbox in front of her house, she suddenly stopped when she saw something strange. The mailbox was half open, and a letter had arrived.
Luna observed it closely, afraid she was seeing things. But it was true, there was a letter containing several sheets of paper. Thalia and Mia stopped and also looked at what Luna was seeing.
"Who's that letter from?" Mia asked softly. "Does Dad still have bills?"
"Doesn't look like a bill," Thalia said as Luna took all the white sheets of paper from the mailbox.
Her quick steps made her two younger sisters follow her back inside the house. Of course, they couldn't read the contents of the letter outside. It was dark, and only the streetlights illuminated the night.
Once inside the living room, Luna immediately sat down on a chair. She examined several drawings that had been sent, drawn with black ink.
There were five drawings sent. First, a house without a wall. Second, a mountain range with the word 'Oron' written on the top right corner. Third, a drawing of nine adults and one small child. The small child was labeled 'me,' indicating the sender was the child. The last two were a horse and a river in a forest that Luna recognized.
"Rhea is still alive!" Mia screamed, causing everyone in the house to come out of their rooms.