630 THE SECRET IS OUT

"THE KIDNAPPER said that taking the Crown Princess with him was a sign of his rebellion against me?" Nero asked Duke Rufus Quinzel. "And that he would only return Hanna if I get myself together?"

"That's correct, Prince Nero," Duke Quinzel said, nodding. "I don't know what it means, though. Does Your Royal Highness know the Pirates of the South?"

Right now, Nero was having a meeting with Duke Quinzel in the drawing room of his palace.

The duke left the rescue team in Duchess Amber's hands to talk to him.

Nero sipped his tea before he commented. "If I knew their identity, I would have arrested them a long time ago."

Calyx and the Empress Dowager had tried to start a trading business with the South since the territory owned by the Quinzels was the richest region in the empire. However, those damned pirated would always attack and loot the royal ships.

[Come to think of it, the pirates only attacked the royal fleet.]