826 THE SPIRIT GUARDIANS

NIKOLAI returned to the palace as soon as he received Dahlia's message.

He left the battlefield and let Rufus lead. The reanimated corpses had completely fallen into their trap anyway. Hence, all his cousin had to do was wrap it up.

Rufus was capable of doing that.

Hence, Nikolai was able to return home.

To be precise, he arrived at the Imperial Shrine where the Black Witch told him to go.

[But… why here?]

His heart thumped hard and loud against his chest while he was frozen in front of the Imperial Shrine.

It was where members of the Imperial Family were buried.

[They're not going to bury Neoma there, are they?]

Whether Neoma was really dead or not wasn't the real issue. The real issue was whether they could revive his daughter or not.

"Love?"

Nikolai turned to the owner of the cracked voice who called him in a soft and obviously sad tone. "Mona…"

It was Mona who stepped out of the portal.