An hour quickly went by and the two managed to arrive at the castle grounds. Without even returning their seemingly tired horses back to the stable, they stopped in front of the castle’s main building’s porch and swiftly sprinted towards the Queen’s throne room. They barged inside the throne room without any notice beforehand and found that both the crown princess and the Queen were having a conversation in the said room. Not forgetting her manners, the supreme general half-kneeled down instantly at the two royalties before standing up and trying to explain the reason of their sudden and unannounced entry. However, only stifles of breaths managed to come out of the two’s mouth as a result of their attempt on sprinting.

“Look, you two, take a deep breath first before trying to explain why the two of you barge inside here like there’s no tomorrow,” Crown Princess Bae said towards her best friend and her sister.

The two decided to calm themselves down first before even attempting to explain again.

After a few minutes or so, the general managed to regain her breaths back, hence she began, “Her Highness and I were back at the Night Mountain for our hunting trip today and when we were about to return back to our tents, we heard sound of horses galloping fast. We were extremely curious as to whom, in their right mind, would want to take this path towards the city, so we decided to wait near the main road to see. When we finally could take a good look on their faces, we discovered that it was General Chou Tzuyu of the Im Kingdom and the rest of the Im Kingdom’s Snake Trio.”

Hearing the name of the Im Kingdom’s Army’s most feared soldiers earned the gasps of both the crown princess and Queen, who instantly raked their brains to figure out the agenda of the three soldiers’ arrival.

“Should I get our troops ready, Your Majesty?” the supreme general asked worriedly, waiting for any orders from the Queen in order to deal with such matter.

“Lay off first, general. We don’t know their intent yet. Let’s just hear out their reason first before we decide to take any actions,” Queen Bae commanded, much to the dismay of the two royalties and supreme general.

“But Mother, are you sure about that? They can be planning a sudden attack to us. I know that all Seulgi unnie and I saw were those three, but what if they bring more troops to try to take over our territory?” Royal Princess Bae argued upon her father’s decision, in which the Queen just simply replied, “It’s better if we wait, Jeongyeon-ah, and see where whatever this is heading.”

When the royal princess opened to rebut the Queen’s statement again, the crown princess cut her attempt by saying, “On second thoughts, Mother might be right, Jeong-ah. We have no idea why they’re here and their motive to be here. Let’s just wait and see.”

“Seulgi, if the three attempt to enter the castle grounds, just let them be and lead them straight towards the throne room please,” Crown Princess Bae commanded at the general, who was initially shocked at the orders, but later just nodded and replied, “Yes, Your Royal Highness.”.

The general headed out of the throne room after bowing towards the three royalties in order to carry out her new orders. Knowing that her three most trusted lieutenant generals were probably inhabiting the battle room at that time of the day, she bolted towards the said room. Right to her prediction, the supreme general discovered her three subordinates discussing important matters in the battle room as soon as she opened the door hurriedly.

Hearing the sound of the door opening and the pants of the general caused Lieutenant General Son to question, “Why do you look like a horse who just travelled thousands of miles without any drink?”

“General Chou and the rest of the Im’s Snake Trio are on their way here,” General Kang stated speedily whilst still trying to catch her breath once again.

The three lieutenant generals looked at each other in confusion and anger before gazing their eyesight back towards the general, who seemed to finally managed to calm herself down.

“What are our orders, Seulgi unnie?” Lieutenant General Park Jihyo hastily asked, with eyes eager and ready to fight.

“Hold your horses, Jihyo. Her Majesty has commanded us to lay low this time and we are ordered to just the three generals to the throne room when they set foot on the castle grounds,” General Kang relayed the orders said by the Queen and crown princess.

“I don’t think that’s a particularly smart move, Seul unnie. Have you told Her Majesty that?” the head strategist, Lieutenant General Park Sooyoung, commented upon hearing their commands.

“Her Highness and I had tried to convince Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness that, but they wouldn’t budge. They said until we know their true intentions of coming here, we should not be hostile to them,” General Kang explained back in frustration, earning a series of sighs and reluctant nods from the Bae Kingdom’s own Dragon Trio.

General Kang, then, continued, “The last time I met them was a little more than an hour ago in the forests of Night Mountain. In a matter of half an hour, I bet they will arrive at the gates of the castle, so let’s get prepared guys.”

The Bae Kingdom's own Dragon Trio, comprised of the said three lieutenant generals, and General Kang began getting ready by sheathing their swords on the belt surrounding their waists and hid small pocket knives at the back of their clothes. After being absolutely sure that they were ready for the Im Kingdom’s Snake Trio arrival, they walked towards the castle’s main gate and positioned themselves alongside other soldiers to guard the gates at the outside post.

Like what the supreme general had predicted, the three soldiers from the Im Kingdom arrived at the castle’s gates  after quite some time and requested to gain entry to the castle grounds.

“I am General Chou Tzuyu and I am here on behalf of King Im Taecyeon, tasked to bring a message for Queen Bae Taeyeon,” the soldier, who stood in front and in the middle of the other two, announced herself, earning the attention of every soldier guarding the gates, including the supreme general and the Dragon Trio.

The guarding soldiers, who crossed their spears, signaling their contempt at the three guests, immediately stood at ease when the supreme general and the Dragon Trio walked to face at the three guests.

“It’s been a long time, General Chou. How have you been doing?” General Kang mocked at the tall statured, black-haired general of the Im Kingdom, while also glaring at the latter intently.

“You seemed so prepared just to meet me, General Kang. If I may guess, it was you or one of your goonies here who saw us on our horses when we were at the Night Mountain,” General Chou said back sarcastically after scanning the appearances of the four high-ranked, properly armed soldiers before her.

The supreme general faked a gasp at General Chou’s statement and stated, “Well, I admit that I was too loud back there because I was kind of in a hurry to notify my Queen that we were about to be attacked by the three of you. I guess I shouldn’t have really underestimated you that much, shouldn’t I, general?”

General Chou’s smirk grew even bigger, but Lieutenant General Son Chaeyoung, another member of the Im Kingdom’s Snake Trio, stood impatiently before her commander before pacing forward and shouting, “Enough with the pleasantries! Let us in now, General Kang!”

The supreme general’s own second-in-command immediately became irate at the short-haired lieutenant general’s words and was about to attack the latter when she was stopped by the hands of the supreme general herself.

After managing to calm Lieutenant General Son Seungwan, the supreme general returned her attention back towards General Chou and said with a seemingly ‘hostile’ smile, “Please follow us, General Chou. Our Queen has been waiting for your presence.”

The supreme general, then, ordered the guarding soldiers to open the castle’s gates and ask the three guests to follow her lead, with her own lieutenant generals standing behind the three guests. The supreme general ushered the three soldiers from Im Kingdom towards the Queen’s Throne Room and knocked on the door loudly to announce her presence.

“Who is it?” the Queen asked with absolute supremacy from the inside of the said room.

“It is General Kang Seulgi, Your Majesty. I am here with General Chou and Lieutenant Generals Son and Myoui from the Im Kingdom, as well as our own Lieutenant Generals Son Seungwan, Park Jihyo, and Park Sooyoung,” General Kang reported, while the others were just waiting impatiently to gain entrance.

“Come in,” Queen Bae ordered before the majestic, golden-plated doors opened to find the Queen sitting in his throne and the two royal siblings standing on both sides of the throne.

The soldiers, even those from the Im Kingdom, half-kneeled upon the th