Other Way?

To reiterate the true purpose of them going into the hive of Wither Bees in the west mountain other than getting the honey for Nela's illness, Riko and the others wanted to purposely leave behind Lyrica to try and portray themselves to her as an enemy. Effectively, this would give Lyrica a hint that she should no longer stay in Takkot.

However, instead of that happening, they find themselves being crept on by Wither Bees in the dark. With the only option of leaving someone to distract the other Wither Bees for everyone else to escape the hive, Lyrica revealed that they know about what their planning to do. With that out of the way, Lyrica orders everyone to stick to their plan and leave her behind just like what they intend to do from the beginning.

Most things didn't go exactly according to their plan, but they at least managed to somehow deliver the message they wanted to tell Lyrica no matter what. They all feel relieved and hopeful that she'll come back one day. And when that time ever truly comes, it'll be the day where they'll get their freedom back.

But then, Lyrica suddenly mentioned that she cannot meet the high commander with her current appearance. The only reaction they could muster up is to look at her in surprise.

"Wait!" Magdalo shouted on top of his lungs. "You're going to meet the high commander?!"

Lyrica paused, and then turns around to answer the veteran knight, "Yeah."

Sure enough, this is not the outcome Magdalo and the others had in mind. Following Lyrica's actions, a question boggles everyone's heads.

"Why?" Riko uttered. "You knew the real reason why we're here, you knew exactly what comes next when you meet the high commander. So then, why?"

Why is Lyrica still willing to meet the high commander despite knowing what Riko and the others are trying to do, other than getting the honey for Nela?

The girl averted her stoic gaze from everyone. She turns around wordlessly and starts moving forward once again as she heads back down to Takkot. But before she could widen the distance between her and the others, Lyrica begins to speak.

"I know what comes after this." She said towards the young knight. "But I also know what comes the other way."

"The other way?" Riko gave the back of the girl a bewildered gaze.

Before long, Lyrica disappeared from their sight. They then looked at each other, not knowing what to do except to just follow Lyrica and head back to town.

Moments later, the news of Lyrica and the others arriving back to town reaches the mayor's office. Agario could not hide the shock in his face as the messenger mentioned his men who returned along with the girl.

"They are on their way towards Riko's residence as we speak. Also, the girl wanted me to tell you that she will meet you in the town square in a while, high commander."

"I see, very well." The high commander replied with a triumphant smirk. "Ready the new Kalesa and the horses."

"Masusunod!"

Following a bow full of respect to the high commander, the messenger exits the mayor's office, leaving the Alkalde, the high commander, and Agario inside.

"That's too bad, Agario."

Agario looks at Gilberto and sees the jeering look form on his face.

"Looks like I was right. And you failed." Gilberto mouthed as he snickered at the commander.

"Tch!"

Agario turns around to hide his frustration from the high commander. He then went to look outside the town through the glass window. At that moment, he asks himself:

'What happened? What went wrong? Did they fail to tell Lyrica the danger she's walking into?'

While this is all transpiring inside the Alkalde's room, Lyrica and the others arrived at the front yard of Riko's house.

Through the open window up on the second floor of the residence, Rona sees his older brother and the girl about to reach the door.

"Ate Lyrica! Kuya Riko!"

Her screaming voice lured their eyes onto the second floor.

"Hey, Rona! What are you doing in my room?!"

Right then, the two hears the rumbling sound coming from the second floor before it went down and approaches behind the wooden door.

The door then creaks open, revealing Robert and Nilo who came rushing to them.

"Kuya Riko!"

"Did you get the honey?"

"Here."

The young knight shows the honey-filled bottle in his hands.

"Let's hurry!"

Following Robert and Nilo's lead, Riko and Lyrica runs straight inside the house and went to the second floor immediately.

"Looks like our job here is done." Said Roberto to everyone. "We did what we could do, but she ain't doing what we want her to do, and it doesn't look like she's gonna listen to us even if we try to persuade her."

"You're right, it's just like what happened back in the beehive," Marlo added. "There's something in her that makes me feel like I could only listen to her and follow her."

"That description sounds just like your wife," Cardo commented.

"Now that I think about it when Lyrica was shouting at Riko, it almost sounds like I'm being scolded by Estella." Marlo's face darkened in utter horror. "Women are scary."

"Nah, you're just a coward."

"Huh...?!"

Deep lines begin to form all over Marlo's forehead as soon as he heard the words that came out of Cardo's mouth.

"I'll have you know that from now on, nothing will scare me anymore!" Marlo declared in a loud voice. "And not even Estella!"

"Is that so?" Cardo mouthed in a doubtful tone before shifting his attention towards Magdalo. "So, what now? Do we wait things out or what?"

Magdalo took a glance at Cardo before looking back at the house right in front of them.

"I don't know, but she's going to meet Gilberto despite learning that the kingdom is now after her." Said the veteran knight in response to Cardo's questions. "But we know she's not that stupid."

"Are you saying that she's plotting something?"

Roberto who's standing behind Cardo and Magdalo interjected. Magdalo nods his head as he replied with a resounding yes.

"If that's the case, and she doesn't want us to know or interfere with it, then it's best to just stay back and let her do things by herself."