James VIII had misjudged the situation.
When the thunder of hooves rang out, the old king's aged face turned deathly pale, and his body swayed on the verge of collapse.
Mary, equally pale, steadied him.
Although she still resisted accepting him as her father, she did not want him to fall to the ground like this.
A king fallen into the dust...
It was simply too undignified!
"Mary, go!"
The old king spoke urgently.
The girl shook her head.
"Trust 2567!"
Mary trusted Qin Ran.
When she had been at her most helpless, Qin Ran had stayed by her side, helping her through her troubles and even comforting her in his own special way.
Although he seemed cold to most people, the girl had felt a gentleness she could trust.
Trust and gentleness.
The girl did not know whether the former had brought out the latter, or the latter had made the former stronger.
She simply helped the old king sit back down.
And waited quietly.
But...
The others did not do the same.
The soldiers guarding the rear of the rebuilt Thunder Fortress had already been frightened. The moment the sound of hooves reached their ears, their expressions turned to terror.
The only reason they had not broken into a rout was that several commanders had immediately shouted them down.
However, Qin Ran knew perfectly well that this only treated the symptoms, not the cause.
As soon as the Steppe People broke through those flimsy defenses, the camp would collapse into a rout.
Even those commanders would flee with the rest.
It had nothing to do with honor.
Only survival!
Three thousand men facing fifty thousand, after losing Thunder Fortress, truly were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot-hopelessly outmatched.
Everyone knew death was coming.
And the moment