The door was kicked open without even a knock.

Zera took out his weapon. It was so rude of these people to barge into Princess Ariel's healing room like this, he planned to teach them a lesson.

"What is this..."

"The Queen's knights?"

Zera froze in his tracks. Faced with the Queen's knights, he calmly put down his weapon.

"May I ask... what happened?" Ariel quickly found herself surrounded by the knights in red armor. Looking at the men who were all a head taller than her, Ariel carefully scanned her surroundings with a cautious look in her eyes.

"Your Highness, Lord Rold Baemillion was found dead in his home this morning. Her Majesty the Queen ordered to detain all the people who had contact with Lord Rold yesterday. The palace guards said they saw you and Lord Rold arguing yesterday, so Princess Ariel, one of the suspects, please come with us."

Although the knights spoke with respect, their actions were extremely rude. Ariel was firmly tied up with a binding magic rope.

Ariel didn't struggle at all, a surprised expression on her calm face. "How... Lord Rold was perfectly fine when he spoke to me yesterday."

Without intending to answer, the knights controlled Ariel and then locked their gaze on Michail.

"This foreign traveler, don't mind coming with us, right?" They asked, but the knights had no intention of waiting for Michail to answer. As they spoke, they already approached him, ready to restrain him like they did to Ariel.

Leny took a light step forward, easily emitting destructive magic from her hand.

Michail reached out and pulled Leny towards him, placing her by his side. "You don't need to tie me up, I will cooperate with you."

The leader of the knights examined him from head to toe. Not detecting any trace of magic on this foreign man, he was probably just an ordinary commoner. The knights had no reason to be on guard against someone who had no magical power. As for the little girl by his side, the knight commander didn't even consider her.

"Keep up. If you try to escape, you'll be executed on the spot." The knight commander said coldly and led the way.

The priest group automatically made way, even Zera could only grit his teeth and stand aside.

"Your Highness..."

"It's okay, Zera. I didn't do anything like that. Her Majesty the Queen will give me justice."

Ariel's slender arm was held firmly by a strong knight. Michail followed behind, his expression becoming increasingly cold.

The trio was pushed into a carriage by the Queen's personal knights, who were incredibly rude. In the end, even though Ariel was a princess of the royal family, being held captive and paraded through the streets was not befitting of her royal image.

A small window on the carriage became the only ventilation, divided in half by iron bars, not even a head could stick out.

This carriage looks like one used to transport prisoners, right? The culprit Michail thought he was innocent and should not be suspected.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Michail, for making you go through this." Ariel's hands were bound, rendering her entire upper body immobilized. "You saved Zera's life... I apologize on behalf of the Ace Federation."

Ariel's voice gently echoed in the cramped space.

Leny made a disdainful sound from her nostrils. Standing on the seat of the carriage, she tiptoed curiously to look outside the window.

"I apologize deeply," Ariel bit her lip and lowered her head in the limited range of her neck's movement, "may I know your name?"

"You daring human... hmmph!"

Michail acted quickly and covered Leny's mouth. He awkwardly smiled, "Her name is Leny Neil."

Leny couldn't be bothered to mock the weak human girl anymore, as she was already squatting in the corner of the carriage with a flushed face.

"Thank you, Leny."

In this situation, Ariel could still smile and thank them. Michail was slightly surprised. The princesses he had encountered before would cry endlessly even for the smallest matters.

The bumpy carriage suddenly stopped, and someone opened the wooden door.

It was an unfamiliar castle, not as magnificent as the royal castle, but it was still one of the prominent family castles in the Ace capital city.The crowd outside the gate was bustling with discussions, though they were speaking softly, they couldn't escape Michail's keen demonic senses.

"That eldest son of the Bamilion family was perfectly fine yesterday, but today he suddenly looks like that."

"It has been confirmed to be a curse magic, but the specific type of magic has yet to be determined."

"A curse magic, just like the one in the royal family?"

"The curse magic in the royal family has spread to the nobility...?"

"It's so terrifying, can the Ace Federation still survive? The curse of the queen will eventually spread to the commoners, right?! Shouldn't we flee?!"

"Shh, lower your voice, are you seeking death?"

The noisy voices made Michail frown, and his extraordinary hearing allowed him to catch every word of the conversation. He was curious to know how someone else's curse magic could be similar to his.

When Michail saw Ariel's figure in front of him, he took a step forward and asked quietly, "What is the curse of the royal family?"

Ariel furrowed her eyebrows, facing the impatient urging of the knights, she hurried her steps and answered Michail's question in a low voice, "Originally, it was a secret of the Ace Federation a few years ago, but recently, with the increasing rumors, it has become well-known."

Ariel rolled up her wrist, and there was a black mark on her fair skin, resembling a coiling black snake. "Ten years ago, during the Federation's conquest, they angered a black mage. He cast a powerful curse magic, starting from the royal family, and the curse has spread throughout the entire Ace Federation."

At the mention of a black mage, Michail became interested. But then again, in ten years, the curse had only spread to a few people and had yet to cause any deaths. The rate of consumption seemed too slow.

"The curse magic can be lifted, right?" The Demon King Michail, holder of the strongest black magic, asked the human.

"The Ace Federation does not have the ability to lift it, and in the current era of war, it is also difficult to seek help from other countries. Moreover, with the crisis in the royal family, Ace's neighboring countries have started to make moves against them," Ariel said, her face revealing an angry expression. "Those small countries around us, when they were in trouble, Ace frequently extended its helping hand to them, but now they have united to attack Ace."

Michail thought to himself that humans were all the same. But then again, it was really pitiful for him to end up in a war-torn continent. To save another world, they actually expected a Demon King to do it?!

During their conversation, they had already arrived at a room after climbing a flight of stairs.

A putrid smell could be smelled from afar. When the black, foul-smelling liquid on the ground came into view, Ariel covered her mouth and gagged several times.

The black liquid had seeped out of the clothes, and it was the gorgeous noble attire that Ariel and Michail saw yesterday.