[CHAPTER 97]
“I delivered the will to the knight by Lincia’s side.
If anything happens to me, tell them.”
Hue involuntarily moved his lips at his lord’s flat talk of death.
“Is that really all right?”
Hue had grown increasingly skeptical after the recent string of events.
This was land that did not require the lord to sacrifice himself to take responsibility.
Once he realised that, his lord’s life looked unbearably tragic.
It was absurd that his lord would have to gamble his life in war to settle everything.
The ringleaders of all this were already in prison…
Frankly, Hue wanted to use them as shields rather than lock them up.
“Shouldn’t we inform my lady about the war? Or he could wait until after the child is born and then leave…”
They had less than a month to prepare for war again.
It was a rushed schedule.
Supplies were already sufficient, but some wars depend more on information than on materiel.
Especially civil wars.
“We lack intelligence.”
If the lord died like this, who would make amends for his life?
Who would take responsibility?
“If not now, it will be too late.”
“But—”
“I don’t intend to become the emperor, do I?”
He wanted to demand reparations from the empire and achieve independence for the duchy.
Until recently they lacked the resources, but with the discovery of the mine the land could now sustain itself.
“Is it because of the will? Anyone preparing for war writes one, don’t they?”
Harvich had written a new will simply because he wanted to rewrite what he’d leave to Lincia.
It wasn’t that he had resolved to die.
Besides, Harvich still had many tasks to do for Lincia.
Starting with severing ties to the imperial court.
Most of the problems could be solved while he was alive.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I have no intention of dying.”
Harvich clenched the ring he hadn’t yet given tightly in his palm.
“Stop worrying and go out.”
* * *
Tereo found life in the Wellen estate wonderfully pleasant.
It was the life he had once wished for.
Living with the princess in a warm, safe place.
If there was an inconvenience, it was occasionally killing the birds the emperor sent and carrying the man’s will in his pocket.
To be honest, Tereo did not want to keep the man’s will.
But Harvich had threatened him with something not entirely veiled.
“The emperor is looking for you.”
“Did they find out I killed a knight?”
“Are you not afraid for your life?”
“I had no choice.
That knight was so rigid that if I had not sent him back to the soil, he would have come again.
Until he succeeded in kidnapping the princess.”
Harvich frowned.
“Keep it with you.”
“What?”
“My will.”
Tereo’s expression hardened beyond concealment.
He realised Harvich was preparing for war.
“As long as you hold it, you won’t be allowed to die.”
“Damn it, why not just let me die instead? I don’t want to be dragged into trouble.”
“I don’t want your death to affect Lincia.”
Perhaps he hated the idea of his death becoming something Lincia would remember.
Tereo scoffed inwardly at Harvich and yet felt a small measure of gratitude.
The mild weather allowed pleasant walks with Lincia, and he enjoyed conversations with Anna and Lincia together.
He liked the way the violet eyes turned toward him and smiled.
In his original life, he would never have had such things, so a few threatening letters were nothing.
Thinking of them as the emperor’s tantrum tied to his rank made them easier to dismiss.
Tereo frowned at a bird flying far off again today.
The intervals at which the emperor sent birds had been shortening, as if war were beginning.
Tereo found the number of birds that recognised his scent chilling.
At this rate, perhaps Yulias had long suspected Tereo would steal Lincia away.
Otherwise, why have so many birds ready?
The moment Tereo grabbed the bird, Lincia’s voice reached him.
“Uh…”
Tereo stiffened with the bird in his hand.
Lincia’s face grew cold as she read the note tied to the bird’s leg.
“Explain.”
“I’m not colluding with the court.
It’s a unilateral notice? A threat?”
Who would collude in that fashion?
[You bastard, were you happy to steal my sister? Did my sister praise you?]
[How long until our sister’s birth? Is our sister healthy? Is our sister even alive?]
Thinking of the letters Yulias had sent him, Tereo felt a little resentful at being questioned by Lincia.
Lincia would be frightened by Yulias, and Tereo could not bring himself to recite the obsessive notes aloud.
“Show me the note.”
“I haven’t even read it yet… It needs checking.”
“Still, show me.”
Tereo ruffled his hair and opened the note.
[The duke has started a war. Return to the palace.]
Lincia swayed after reading it.
Tereo gripped her shoulders as she couldn’t stand steadily.
“A war?”
“It seems so.”
“…Oh.”
As Tereo began to explain, Lincia suddenly started panting.
She clutched her belly and collapsed toward Tereo.
“P-Princess!”
* * *
Is it going to rain?
Willsen, the scout, watched a distant black cloud during the dawn watch and thought that.
But the black clouds moved quickly, kicking up dust as they closed in.
“…Huh? People.”
People!
Willsen tried to raise the beacon to signal an invasion, but an arrow pierced his throat.
He fell and died in a desolate instant.
The same happened elsewhere.
Before the northern knights could be mustered, they fell lifeless or struggled to light beacons and were killed.
Because it had been a long time of peace, the surprise dawn attack threw the palace into chaos in moments.
The attackers’ mobility was astounding.
Knights in black armor advanced rapidly.
“It’s an assault! They’ve breached!”
The delayed alarms gathered the knights, but those who hadn’t trained well were easily felled.
The northern knights failed largely because of the horses’ mobility.
Armored mounts were not killed by a single strike, and if you got close the furious hooves trampled you to death.
Under the horses’ hooves, what had been people were crushed into a sticky, unrecognisable mess.
The entry was easier than expected.
Their siege weapons were nowhere to be seen, and there were very few defenders on the walls.
Harvich raised his head.
From above, he saw people scrambling to form ranks for the first time.
“They’re coming in.”
At Harvich’s signal they quickly broke through the walls.
Inside the walls, the situation was not much different.
It took the imperial knights a long time to form ranks, and those ranks collapsed soon after.
“…This feels terribly wrong.”
A northern knight muttered softly.
It was understandable.
The disparity was so great that taking lives seemed as easy as bending a finger.
“Do not let your guard down.”
Harvich reorganised his formation and pushed forward again.
Arrows shot from the hastily assembled walls, but they were easily stopped by shields.
When the scattered formation regrouped and raised their shields in unison, the knights were terrified.
It felt as if the empire might fall.
Realising the overwhelming difference, the palace’s knights drooped their swords.
“Lower your blades and surrender.
If you have no will to fight, I will spare your lives.”
Those who hesitated at Harvich’s words soon dropped their weapons and raised their hands.
They stepped aside to let the surrendered knights through.
It was only a short distance to the emperor’s residence.
Harvich strode in as if entering his own house.
The main hall’s entrance was wide enough to ride in on horseback.
Harvich placed his knights around the palace as if encircling it.
Some were ordered to guard the underground passages.
“Do not let a single rat escape.”
“Yes.”
Although there were palace guards, they could not match the intruders.
Watching people die needlessly, Harvich felt an odd emotion.
He should have been glad to hold the advantage, but he felt puzzled about what they had been stalling for.
After all, this was all they amounted to.
At least the attack had come at dawn.
Otherwise, dozens of innocent, fragile lives might have been taken.
Red blood splattered the corridor floor grotesquely.
“Hello.”
Yulias greeted them.
The ministers’ seats were empty, but Yulias sat on the throne.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Harvich frowned at Yulias’ composed air even though northern knights had seized the court.
“…What are you doing?”
“Receiving guests.”
Is this what a guest looks like?
A man who had so suddenly seized the palace by force?
Harvich searched the halls but found neither hidden weapons nor an ambush of knights.
Yulias was alone.
“Bring me the ministers. I have questions.”
Harvich ordered some knights and looked at Yulias.
Without armour or any display, the man looked like someone who could be killed with a single sweep of a sword.
“You know, I almost killed them all because I held grudges against the ministers.”
“…”
“But I heard you wronged them.
So I spared them.”
“Are you insane?”
“I only wanted to be in your good graces.
After all, our sister will soon have a child.”
How would things be if the misunderstanding between us remained and his sister bore another child?
“I’ll give you the throne.”
Yulias stepped down from the throne.
“But in return, return our sister.”
The emperor had gone mad.
