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Josephina’s face looked much more at ease after taking a few days of rest.
Clean and freshly dressed, she politely expressed her gratitude to the knights gathered in the great hall.
Then, to her companions who were brimming with strange tension and excitement as they anticipated battle, she loudly declared her resolve.
It was as if her weary moments from just hours ago had been a lie.
Alicia offered Josephina a second dinner.
Having barely eaten while speaking in the great hall, Josephina quickly sat down at the table.
“My Lady, I have something to tell you.”
Alicia spoke while cutting into her meat.
“Please, go ahead.”
Recalling everything Alicia had done for her so far, Josephina steeled herself not to be disappointed even if Alicia were to say, “I’m sorry, but please leave now.”
“When I sent you the letter, I thought this might happen.”
There was a note of self-reproach in Alicia’s voice.
“Thank you very much for that letter, Alicia.”
Instead of saying the war wasn’t her fault, Josephina chose to express gratitude.
“My Lady. If I hadn’t been betrothed to His Grace the Grand Duke, I would have been engaged to Gregory Barker. Perhaps…”
If that had been the case, Alicia would now be in Josephina’s position.
Understanding what Alicia meant, Josephina dabbed her lips with a napkin.
“Don’t worry. I already carved Gregory up so he’ll never rise again.”
Josephina spoke proudly and confidently.
She had reason to.
Alicia had sent Josephina a hint through the letter in order to cut her ties with the Barker Family.
Before wiping out the Barkers, she had wanted to protect innocent victims.
Though it hadn’t been her intention, she had shifted her burden onto Josephina.
She had thought Josephina would investigate Gregory Barker after receiving the letter and declare a breakup.
But Josephina had shown far greater decisiveness than Alicia had anticipated.
She cut down her deceitful fiancé on the spot.
“When I heard the news, I was truly impressed. If I had been there, I would have applauded you.”
Alicia spoke with a small smile.
But the guilt shadowing her face hadn’t disappeared entirely.
Josephina addressed the look of lingering remorse.
“Even if you hadn’t given me that letter, Alicia, I would have eventually discovered it myself and arrived at this moment. What matters to me is that Alicia Rain is helping me now. Thank you for not turning your back on me.”
Alicia spread a gentle smile.
“Very well then, Supreme Commander Josephina. I’ll deliver the war report. Shall we head to the study?”
“All right.”
Josephina spoke with vigor, popping the remaining three pieces of meat into her mouth at once.
Count Barker’s troops steadily arrived at the Galli Plains.
Perhaps because they were so close to the imperial palace, the Barker soldiers acted meekly like lambs.
But their spirit was anything but meek.
The troops brought by Count Barker stained the edge of the Galli Plains pitch black.
Ninety knights. Twenty-six hundred infantry.
A number far surpassing expectations.
“I’ll take the vanguard.”
Hearing the enemy’s numbers, Josephina declared loudly.
Naturally, the knights opposed her at once.
“Go ahead.”
Alicia agreed, sipping her chilled tea with ice.
“Lady Alicia!”
“My Lady!”
Josephina’s escort knights raised their voices in alarm.
“But on one condition, my Lady. I’ll place shield-bearers around you. Show your face to the enemy.”
Josephina blinked at Alicia’s words.
The intent was unclear.
The knights, about to protest at the nonsense, stopped to wonder if Alicia was indirectly rejecting Josephina’s opinion.
“I’ll do it. I believe in Alicia.”
After a brief silence, Josephina spoke with a bright smile.
“Lady Josephina!”
“Shut it, Duca. You’ll burst my eardrums. I said I trust Alicia.”
Josephina nudged her escort knight with her elbow and departed.
“……”
With all eyes fixed on her, Alicia calmly finished her refreshing tea.
She hadn’t expected Josephina to accept such a strange proposal.
It had just been something she said.
But Josephina had accepted with a curious kind of trust.
Well, it didn’t matter.
Alicia had no intention of waging war anyway.
In the past, the House of Rain had defeated the House of Barker in war, but it was a Pyrrhic victory.
During that war, the northern great house had suffered continual decline.
Their fortunes had collapsed beyond recovery.
Alicia was no fool to walk that path of hardship again.
“The news is a little late.”
The only thing pressing her was time.
Three men stepped into a street so run-down it was hard to believe it existed in Baden, the imperial capital.
All three wore cloaks with hoods, concealing their faces and clothes.
The man in the rear pulled out a letter and checked it.
The letter described the appearance of a woman.
“This is the last place.”
Walking behind Roderick, one of the men constantly scanned their surroundings.
“People actually live in a place like this…?”
A musty stench rose from the back alley just after rain.
Doors patched together with broken planks and crooked mud walls looked as if they would collapse with a single kick.
At the Marquess of Istevna’s remark, Roderick said nothing.
“This way.”
The genial, sociable Marquess of Istevna had surely seen many places.
But he had never visited a slum where houses were packed together like an anthill.
In one corner, a child was lapping at stagnant muddy water.
“Don’t.”
Before the two royals could react, Roderick quickly warned them.
He had already given this warning many times.
Once inside the slums, no matter how pitiful, shocking, or unbelievable the sight, they were not to give so much as a coin.
The moment you gave something, you could consider yourself stripped bare before the day was done.
Though playing at being naïve royals, the Marquess of Istevna refrained from doing anything foolish.
Even Reichardt faltered at the shocking sight, but made no move.
With only himself as their guard, Roderick was on edge.
It would have been better to leave such tasks to subordinates.
He did not like the diligence of the two royals who insisted on coming in person.
The three stopped before a house.
Though splattered with mud, its gate alone was painted white.
“Here it is.”
Speaking, Roderick knocked at the door.
“Come in.”
A faint voice replied from within.
Without hesitation, Roderick opened the door.
Creak—the old door shrieked.
But the dreadful sound was soon replaced.
Sweet notes of a lute echoed from inside.
“Welcome, traveler. You are welcome in Reina’s house.”
The woman’s voice greeting them was more beautiful than the lute’s sound.
She sat in a chair that looked as if it might collapse at any moment.
“If you listen from outside, two copper coins. If you come inside, one silver. If you request three songs, one gold. For reference, I sing very well.”
Unlike her heavenly voice, a savage scar marred one of her eyes.
Her face looked young, yet streaks of white in her hair made her age impossible to guess.
Her shoulder-length hair was raggedly cut, giving her a mysterious, mischievous air.
The three men stepped inside and shut the door.
Roderick placed three gold coins on the table.
Her one remaining brown eye looked up at them uneasily.
It was the gaze of someone who knew that great fortune was always tied to great misfortune.
“Knights…?”
Roderick judged her to be a woman in her twenties, with a very youthful appearance.
The white hair and uncanny aura were marks of dreadful hardship no ordinary person could endure.
Her scarred eye could not open at all.
Her frail body looked as if it might break should she fall.
One ankle was twisted unnaturally.
Roderick signaled Reichardt with his eyes.
“We come from Count Barker’s household.”
At the deep, resonant voice, despair spread across Reina’s face.
Her hand slackened, the lute falling to the floor.
“Knights, I’ll give you all the money I have…! Please kill me! I beg you… let me die here!”
Her strange plea froze the three men.
The Marquess of Istevna slowly removed his hood.
“You’re wrong. You should be asking to live.”
Having known only a wretched life since birth, to Reina the Marquess of Istevna’s face looked like that of an angel she had only seen in holy paintings.
“……”
Reichardt and Roderick removed their hoods as well.
Reina could not shake her astonishment.
A… angels.
Reading the lips of the stunned Reina, Roderick rumbled softly.
“It seems we’ve found the right one. Will you come with us, Lady Reina? For the record, we are not angels. Two royals and one knight. Allow me to help you up.”
Reina was even more shocked by their true identities.
Roderick lifted her lightly in his arms.
The sun rose over the Galli Plains.
Josephina’s camp, standing with Luderne Castle at its back, was entirely on horseback.
Opposite them, the Barker camp placed their swarming infantry at the fore.
The first to move was the Barkers, who held overwhelming numbers.
The mercenary infantry, though not perfectly aligned, advanced with a crushing sense of pressure born of sheer numbers.
Just as Josephina at the front prepared to advance—
Bwoo!
From Baden, the long call of a horn resounded.
Moments later, five thousand cavalry appeared as one, bearing the imperial standard, the Emperor’s banner, and the Grand Duke of Tessen’s banner.
Both camps gaped at the arrival of the imperial army.
“Good heavens, what is that…?”
“Is that an axe?”
From the Barker side came cries of dismay at the sight of the fully armed Grand Duke of Tessen approaching.
No one within the Empire had ever seen Reichardt ready for battle.
His mere presence threw their camp into disarray.
“Cease battle at once!”
Roderick’s shout rang out as the Barker army’s chief commander dashed forward.
The gaudily dressed general bellowed.
“What nonsense is this?!”
Roderick shouted back without yielding.
“Hear me, soldiers of Count Barker! The Count has committed heinous crimes—kidnapping and imprisoning innocent subjects. For profit, he sold captives to foreign lands like a slaver!”
Murmurs of confusion spread among the soldiers.
Roderick continued shouting.
“The Empire does not permit trafficking in humans. All the crimes of the Barkers are exposed. By decree of His Imperial Majesty, Count Barker is stripped of his rank and title. Lay down your arms and obey the imperial command!”
The Barker soldiers wavered but could not immediately obey.
The generals and knights of the Barker household stood firm at their side.
“General, will you not step down?”
Reichardt, wielding his axe, advanced toward the Barker commander.
Two steps of his horse.
“I—I cannot believe…”
Count Barker’s chief commander, a knight of the household.
If the Count was guilty, then he too would be implicated.
The commander could not finish his words.
Whoosh!
Without warning, Reichardt’s axe swung sideways.
The commander’s head was severed, spraying blood as it flew.
The slain man had likely not even realized he was under attack.
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