When Karel realized he had fallen into a trap, and that the one who set it was someone he knew very well…
After seeing her long silver hair, golden eyes, and the destructive aura coating her sword, he knew instantly—it was Forn.
Holding his wound, he said:
"We haven't met in a long time, Forn."
Princess Forn saw Karel gripping his injury, yet still refusing to drop his sword. She said:
"You still haven't surrendered, Uncle?"
Karel smiled, blood showing between his teeth, and replied:
"How could I surrender to you, girl?"
He straightened his posture, grabbed his sword firmly, and said:
"You know me well, Forn. This was a perfectly laid trap."
Forn looked at him as if he were an idiot, lifting her sword and pointing it at him.
"You're not the only one who falls into traps so easily, Uncle."
Karel's face reddened with embarrassment, and he quickly defended himself:
"It's your fault! You used such a dirty method just to lure me in."
He gestured with his sword toward the dead and dying youths and added with a mocking expression:
"Do the duchies know what you've done to their offspring, Forn?"
Forn smiled slightly and said:
"What I've done? You were the one who butchered them, Uncle. Do you really think the duchies would believe that I used their heirs as bait just to catch you?"
When Karel heard her words and glanced down at the wound on his chest, he knew he had to escape. Facing her head-on was suicide.
He smiled and said:
"Forn… do you know how to run?"
The moment he said that, he reinforced his legs with aura and dashed away in the same direction his son, Grizen, had fled.
When Forn heard him and saw him escaping, she froze for a moment—but quickly gave chase, shouting:
"Damn you, Uncle! Stand and face me like a knight!"
Karel laughed at her words and increased his speed:
"I'm no longer a knight, Princess Forn. I'm a traitor on the run, and you're the hunter. Of course I have to flee, you fool."
He said this while dodging the waves of aura she launched at him to kill him.
Forn's expression shifted, and she intensified her aura output, pouring more power into her sword attacks to land another wound on him.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hit him—not even once.
The distance between them kept growing… wider and wider.
So she shouted:
"Stop right now, and I'll let your granddaughter live!"
She expected Karel to panic and lower his guard for at least a second, but unfortunately for her, Karel was not affected, because he knew that the Emperor would never leave someone who held a grudge against him.
So he said, as he quickened his pace and pulled out a healing potion from his possession and drank it:
"I'm sorry, Forne, it seems you will fail to capture me just like you failed to capture Zeus before. Hahahahahaha!"
When Princess Forne heard that and heard his laughter, her face turned red with anger, and she cursed and said:
"Curse you, uncle! When I catch you, I won't kill you but I will torture you and make you regret what you said!"
Karel laughed when he heard what she said, and said:
"Do you know how Zeus found out about being captured?"
Forne stopped for a second, but quickly caught up to him and heard him say, surprised:
"I was the one who warned him about the capture order, you fool! Hahahahahahahaha!"
Forne's thoughts scattered for another second, but she quickly caught up with him and said:
"Do you think you can distract me with your lies?"
When Karel saw that she did not believe him, he said to her provocatively:
"I was the one who carried out everything he ordered, and everything he did."
When Princess Forne heard that, she was shocked, and stopped chasing him and connected everything together, for all these years she had been searching for the person who had been helping Zeus carry out what he had done, and who had helped him escape.
She connected everything together when Karel said that, but she quickly snapped out of her thoughts and looked around and did not find her uncle anywhere around her. So she screamed angrily while following the path he escaped through, but a small smile appeared on her face; for all these years she had been searching for Zeus, the person who had escaped her all these years without any clue indicating his location, but she had finally found someone who might know where he was, and she said to herself:
"When I capture you, uncle, you will lead me to Zeus's hiding place."
Forne increased her speed to catch up with him, to get rid of the shame that had fallen upon her and her father's feeling of disappointment.
For when she captures Karel, she will know Zeus's location and get rid of the only mistake she had ever committed in her life.
When Karel saw that Forne had stopped after he told her the truth, he quickened his steps and tried not to leave any trace for her to follow and crossed the road, but he knew that this would not help much, for in the end she would find him.
When he thought about that, he said to himself that he might not be able to meet his son and granddaughter again, and he sighed and said:
"I hope I can meet my son and granddaughter if I can."
But suddenly he stopped talking because he sensed two strange auras near his escape path.
When Karel focused a little on the aura, he realized that it was coming from a nearby cave, inside which were his son and granddaughter.
When he felt that, he was surprised; for he had been fleeing in the opposite direction from the way his daughter and granddaughter had escaped, and he suddenly remembered that when he was fleeing from Forne he had not focused on the direction they had gone, and he had been moving quickly using the aura.
Karel paused for a little and thought about whether he would meet them, but after a moment of thought, he advanced toward them, for the wound in his chest would hinder him from escaping, and he needed to treat it.
He also wanted to see his son and granddaughter, for he felt he might die, and he wanted to see them to reassure himself about them and warn them of the path they would take to escape.
From Karel's son's perspective
We had been running for a long time, and it was good that we found this cave to spend the night in.
And when Karel's son was preparing food for his daughter, he suddenly heard her voice saying:
"Dad, it's my grandfather!"
Upon hearing that, he left the food in front of him and went to his daughter, and he saw and felt her weak aura:
"Dad!"
He was shocked by what he saw, but he quickly went to support his father, and asked him:
"Who did this to you, Dad?"
Karel did not answer him, but he was focusing on his granddaughter, who did not know what was happening and was tense.
He said to her to calm her and make her relax:
"Welcome, my little one, you have finally come, as I promised you."
Karel expected her to laugh or at least calm down, but suddenly he asked her in a hoarse voice:
"Grandfather, are you injured?"
Karel was silent, looked at the wound in his chest, and sighed, saying:
"Yes, my little one, I am injured."
Elina was silent for a little, tears in her eyes, and said:
"Grandfather, who did this to you, grandfather?"
Elina held his foot, crying over what had happened to him, so Karel felt sad and decided to tell her that they were being pursued so she would be cautious.