Rune and Arthur were shocked to learn that within the short time span of two nights, Reina had travelled all the way to Edrisyl the home island of Elves and Dwarves and done her investigation.

"There are demons involved in this matter so, as soon as we finish the trials I will need to return. And I can’t use the fourth trial here, we will need to change that bit." Reina explained.

Originally, she had thought that she could use the civil was of the Elves to build a connection between humans and Elves but considering that there were demons really involved she couldn’t risk Eric’s life or have an anamoly occur.

"But, all the trials were explained to the King and nobles already, how could you cancel on at the last moment?" Rune asked and Arthur shook his head.

"Wait, Rune. Only three trials were explained, the fourth trial is a secret one that even the King doesn’t know of." Arthur said.

Rune stared at his father and then at his sister for a moment, "It’s quite surprising to see how much the King trusts Ocean Ryujin now. He even let him keep secrets."

Reina smiled at his words, "It’s only because I’m keeping him up with the little treats. He thinks I’m working for him like an obedient dog."

Both the men grew a little uncomfortable hearing that.

"Wouldn’t he want to know though? About the fourth trial?" Rune asked and Reina shrugged.

"I told him that the fourth trial would be a surprise event and that would be the game changer as it would show which Prince is capable of showing his skills to be the better King in the times of need." Reina explained.

"You must have another trial in mind too, don’t you?" Arthur asked and Reina nodded.

"I had three more prepared in case we failed to go with the original one." Reina said.

"Who are you planning to place beside Eric?"

"Drac." Reina answered and Rune looked relieved.

"But won’t it be a little hassle to explain how he also has fire as his element?"

"He’s plenty strong even without having to use his mana." Reina said and then added, "Besides, these two guards that will be beside the Princes will only be there to protect them from any outsider problem. They are not allowed to interfere with the actual Trials."

It was pretty obvious that some people who wanted Carlos to be the King would try to mess things up and also because their noble faction had actually insisted that the Princes have guards in case some problem occurs that’s why each Prince would have their own personal guard.

Reina had made all the preparations and had eyes everywhere to make sure there wouldn’t be any foul play. These Trials were the going to make a huge decision for not only the kingdom of Sestia but of the world.

After having her discussion about the plan and the security, Reina retired to her room to have a little rest as she hadn’t gotten any sleep in the last two nights.

She lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling and saw the multiple- almost around fifty or so unread notifications piled up. Another notification popped up and she sighed opened it.

[Goddess of Wisdom bets that you are ignoring them because you don’t need them as your Patrons anymore.]

"You’ve been going about this since you returned," Reina muttered, "I told you I accepted another Patron because The Preserver is a familiar persona."

[Defender of Divine Glory asks if they aren’t familiar to you.]

"You are."

[Giver of Gifts asks if you are mad at them.]

"I’m not. I just didn’t want to deal with your insecurity that I would choose other Gods instead of you as my Patrons. And even now you’re doing the same thing. If you keep this up, I’ll keep ignoring you all."

[Goddess of Wisdom dares you to do that.]

[Defender of Divine Glory requests you to not do it anymore.]

[Giver of Gifts requests you to not ignore them.]

Believe it or not, these were the three of the higher class deities who were having the feelings of insecurity.

[The Preserver asks you to not bully your Patrons like that.]

"I’m not bullying them." Reina sighed and massaged her temples.

"And listen carefully now, Goddess of Wisdom, Defender of Divine Glory and Giver of Gifts, you all are my Patrons and will stay till I die. Is that clear?"

[Giver of Gifts wishes to embrace you.]

[Defender of Divine Glory sighs with relief.]

[Goddess of Wisdom asks you to remember it.]

Reina rolled her eyes and then turned on her side.

The last quest that she had gotten was to protect Oasis from the Eternal Ascetic but even after so many days, the quest was still incomplete. It sat like a heavy weight on her mind.

Apart from that there was another unread quest which she opened.

[Giver of Gifts has assigned you a quest.

Protect Edrisyl island and Yggdrasil.

Reward: Faith and loyalty of the Elves and Dwarves.

Penalty: Destruction of the world.]

Reina sighed, she was expecting this sooner or later. Having the faith and loyalty of the Elves and Dwarves wasn’t a bad idea but the penalty was too large. If anything happened to Yggdrasil then it would be like a huge declaration of war from the demons to the world and also a lethal attack as the mana flow in the world would be disturbed. It would lead to many people losing their mana and lives since mana was the life essence in this world. Yggdrasil’s fall would result in the fall of the world.

The Preserver had warned her when they met that the quests from now would have even greater risks and penalties but it seemed like he forgot to mention that failing any of those quests would result in the complete failure of everything that she had done. The world would be destroyed and no time reversal could revive it anymore. The present Reina was their last hope.

Reina tried to fall asleep and did manage to doze off until she felt someone entering her chambers. It was a familiar presence who moved without making any sound, if not for Reina’s Dragon senses she wouldn’t have known of their presence.

"Is there something wrong, Lyall?" She asked without opening her eyes.

"I’m sorry to disturb you at such hour, Master. But you must have got to know about a guest from Denril being attacked yesterday." He spoke.

Reina hummed and Lyall continued, "Young Master Kai ordered us to look more into the attackers and we got to know that they were the convicts who were in death row or were serving a long time in the royal dungeon."

Reina was still half asleep as she hummed.

"When we inspected their bodies we found a strange mark on each one of them." He said.

Reina didn’t respond and Lyall added, "It was the same mark as what you found Master."

Reina remained still for a long moment before she groaned, sitting up. Her long hair spilled past her shoulders framing her face and she pushed them back watching as Lyall stood near the window.

"Anything else that you found?" She asked.

"None of those attackers were nobles, Master." He added and Reina sat cross legged with her elbow resting over her knee and chin cradled in her palm.

"So, they chose the disposable commoners." She sighed.

"Yes, Master."

Reina closed her eyes for a moment as she thought who might have enough power in the palace to get the convicts from the dungeons and even make a deal with the witch.

"Is the Queen back in the game?" She wondered aloud.

"Young Master Kai had asked me to look into that and according to the palace sources, the Golden Serpent hasn’t left her room for days and she didn’t have any other visitors apart from the physicians, the King and Princess."

Reina pondered over it for a moment, "Then would it be someone who’s capable of using their power to get the convicts out?"

"We have been looking into it and one name stood out, Master." He said, "An official who works at the palace in the wing of ministry of law. It’s Earl Sortes’ son."

Reina remembered Earl Sortes, he was a loyal official under the ministry of law but his son had joined the Queen’s side. But there was still something else here.

"He couldn’t have done this without any backing, there must be someone with more power behind him and that person has made a deal with the Witch. We’ll need to dig deeper. Grab this Earl’s son and interrogate him." Reina said.

"Yes, Master."

Reina remained silent for a moment and then asked, "Besides, why did you rush here so late at night? You could have given me the full report tomorrow morning."

Lyall looked at her, "The attack that happened was on the young lady who is going to be a part of your family soon, Master. I thought, you would need the report as soon as we found the intel... Did I disturb your sleep?"

Reina chuckled, "No, thank you for coming all the way here for this. And yes, since she is going to be the family soon I was wondering who had dared to try and harm her. So, having answers already is good."

Lyall appeared a little relaxed and Reina sat there wondering if he had anything else to report.

"Is there anything else?" She asked.

Lyall looked at her, "Yes, Master. There’s one more thing that is strange about the royal family."

Reina nodded gesturing for him to continue.

"Princess Colette has been frequenting the shops all over the capital recently."

Reina cocked her brow, "Why?"

"She has been buying items for men."

Reina chuckled again, "Items? You mean she’s buying gifts for some man?"

Reina laughed, "I pity the poor guy who caught her attention."

Lyall fidgeted and Reina asked, "Who’s the unfortunate guy?"

Lyall looked at her, licked his lips and then answered, "It’s Prince Davian, Master."

Reina was silent for a moment as she heard the name.

"What?!"