Chapter 238 - Those Who Chase the Dawn (3)

I had believed this was a time to catch our breath, to repair the damage of the last war and tend to our faltering nations. I had expected peace to last quite a while longer.

And now, a declaration of war out of nowhere?

"All territories east of the sea of trees lost in the last war have been retaken. The Dotrin Kingdom's army is now advancing toward the imperial mainland."

And they were going all out, too.

But apparently, I was the only one who hadn't seen this coming.

"How has the Empire responded?"

"Dotrin's advance was so swift that they have yet to mount any meaningful response. According to our spies, lightly equipped cavalry rode out through the gates and headed west. They seem intent on keeping their gates shut and holding out until reinforcements arrive from the central territories."

The king questioned the Royal Knight calmly, without a trace of surprise. The knight, in turn, showed no sign of finding his composure unusual.

As though they had known everything all along.

"Don't tell me..."

Their unruffled manner convinced me. They must have known from the outset that Dotrin would do this. There was no other way they could be so composed.

Only then did the things I had overlooked come to mind. Why Dotrin had sent no envoys to the kingdom's victory banquet. Why no one in our court had questioned their absence.

I felt utterly deflated. The formation of the Dawn League, Dotrin's lightning offensive—I alone had been left in the dark.

Everyone had known. Everyone except me.

"Report to me immediately when further news arrives."

"As Your Majesty commands!"

While I sighed, the Royal Knight finished his report and left. The king turned to me.

"You look displeased."

"I was merely wondering whether I really am this country's crown prince."

The surly reply escaped me before I realized it. Being excluded from important affairs time and again did little for my mood.

The king gave me an indulgent smile. He explained that he had kept the news from me because, reckless as I was, he feared I might even pose as a mercenary again if I heard of another war.

"You seem to think I'm some war-crazed lunatic."

Instead of answering, the king simply stared at me.

I found myself at a loss for words. In truth, I had just been regretting that I hadn't known sooner. I could have found some way to get in on the action.

Concealing those thoughts, I casually changed the subject.

"Dotrin's declaration of war could give the Imperial House of Bourgogne an excuse to end its civil war."

"What justification did the Fifth Imperial Prince give for taking up arms?"

Rather than answer, the king posed a question of his own.

"To depose the emperor for his inhuman atrocities and restore righteous..."

I had begun answering without thinking, only to fall silent as the point of his question dawned on me.

"The Fifth Imperial Prince has wholly repudiated the reigning emperor's authority. They cannot stop fighting until one side falls. If they did, the emperor would lose his authority, and the Fifth Imperial Prince would lose his justification for taking up arms."

The king was certainly right. If there was no chance of the civil war ending, there could be no better time to attack the Empire.

That was what made it so frustrating.

Unlike Dotrin, which had devoted generations to preparing for war against the Empire, we had been too busy simply surviving. We had barely won our independence and emerged victorious from the war, but the entire kingdom was reeling as a result. It would take some time before we were ready for another war.

I had known that all along. Even so, imagining the King of Dotrin cackling as he cut down imperial knights made me impatient all over again.

"The kingdom will be ready before next winter at the latest. Don't be so impatient."

The king admonished me as though he had read my mind.

"This is a struggle to bring down a vast empire that rules half the continent. It will be a long war, not something that ends in a mere year."

When I continued to fidget in my seat, the king spoke sternly. It did not matter in the slightest who began the war, he said. What truly mattered was who would end it.

I forced myself to sit still. As the king had said, this war would not be over anytime soon.

After that, I gave a few perfunctory answers to his questions and rose. News of the war had left me too restless to sit there for long.

"Then I shall take my leave."

I was about to leave his chambers when he stopped me with words that might have been either a warning or a threat.

"Do everything you can to look after your health. Do not abuse your body and injure yourself again. I will not entrust even a single soldier or knight to someone who does not value his own well-being."

"You need not worry, Your Majesty."

I confidently assured him that there was nothing to worry about. We had already repelled the imperial attack. Surely nothing else could happen now.

* * *

A visitor was waiting when I returned to my palace.

"You look far better than I expected."

The Teuton princess looked me up and down as she spoke.

"Disappointed?"

"Of course not. I can only keep pursuing my dreams if you remain well, Your Highness."

She smiled. It was not the innocent smile she had shown me when we first met, but a far more natural one, seasoned with just the right amount of ambition.

"Leaving now?"

The princess nodded.

"I've accomplished everything I originally came for. If I stay any longer, I'll only fret over matters back home."

"True. Things are too complicated for you to be away for long. Have a safe trip."

She frowned.

"Is that really all you have to say?"

"We're not that close. Were you expecting a tearful farewell?"

The sight of her pouting brought an involuntary laugh to my lips. Still smiling, I offered another farewell.

"Safe travels. I hope you accomplish everything you set out to do."

Only then did her expression soften.

"Thank you. I really wanted to say that. I don't think I'll have another chance later."

She stared at me, then strode over and abruptly held out her hand. I blinked at the unexpected gesture before belatedly understanding and taking it.

I gave her hand a casual shake and was about to let go when her small hand desperately tightened around mine. She squeezed hard, with what must have been all her strength—though it was pitifully weak compared to the grips of sturdy knights.

I gave her a questioning look. She huffed.

"It's not fair."

What wasn't fair? To me, the remark had come out of nowhere.

"What isn't?"

"You've given me so much that I can't even hate you. It hurts my pride, and it's not fair."

There was unmistakable resentment in her voice. She had been thanking me just a moment ago. Why was she acting like this now? I couldn't understand it at all.

I pulled my hand back, but hers stubbornly followed.

"What are you..."

I began to frown, then caught sight of her face and fell silent.

The emotions flickering in the princess's glaring eyes were terribly complicated. Something about them was so poignant that I quietly stopped trying to pull away.

"Ugh!"

She shook my unresisting hand furiously up and down. Only after quite some time did she tire herself out and let go.

"When we meet again, you won't be able to treat me so casually."

"Will we ever meet again?"

Apparently dissatisfied with that answer too, the Teuton princess huffed.

"Anyway, take care. You're still recovering, so there's no need to come see me off."

With that rather angry farewell, she turned away. I watched her head through the door, then smiled faintly and called after her.

"Goodbye, Hestia."

The princess flinched and stopped in the doorway. She stood there for a moment, then disappeared.

For some reason, I was relieved she hadn't turned around.

Looking at the spot where she had vanished, I murmured,

"Will I have to call her Your Majesty next time?"

I did not know what had changed in her heart, but the trait "the makings of a queen," still unawakened when she first entered the room, had fully blossomed in that final moment.

The Teuton Kingdom would probably soon see an age ruled by a queen. For some reason, I looked forward to that day.

"Still haven't broken that habit, have I?"

Perhaps I still hadn't shed the habits of my days as a sword. I chuckled to myself.

Two days passed.

Perched on the roof of a spire, I quietly watched the Teuton delegation depart.

The princess looked supremely self-assured as the king and nobles saw her off. She lacked nothing, whether as an envoy representing her country or as a member of its royal family.

After exchanging farewells with the king, she looked around as though searching for something. At last, her lips moved slightly and she turned away. Unfortunately, what she mouthed looked very much like a curse.

"Heartless bastard. You really couldn't even come see me off?"

I decided to pretend I hadn't seen the curse leave the noble princess's lips.

With the king and the other nobles bidding them farewell, the Teuton delegation passed through the gates. Duncan Seymour Tudor glanced briefly toward my spire, then turned sharply away.

Beginning with Teuton, the visiting delegations left the kingdom one after another, a few days apart. But our own nobles remained gathered in the capital, as though waiting for something.

All the while, Dotrin and the Empire continued to fight. Every few days, fresh news arrived.

Dotrin's wyvern riders had brought down this fortress. A legion of the Dotrin Kingdom had captured that stronghold.

Victory followed victory.

As those victories continued, I learned something astonishing. Dotrin had mobilized at least forty legions for this war.

I had known they had spent generations preparing for war. I had also suspected that the forces deployed in Dotrin's last defensive war had not been all they possessed. Even so, I was thoroughly impressed. I had known they were holding forces in reserve, but never imagined they had hidden away so many.

The Dotrin Kingdom's army advanced with unstoppable momentum. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the Empire's eastern territories fell into their hands.

"Even with a civil war throwing everything into chaos, this is a bit much."

However chaotic the central territories were, however badly the chain of command had crumbled, I couldn't understand how they could be this helpless. I began to suspect that the Imperial Army had something else up its sleeve.

I turned the problem over and over in my mind, but no answer came. In the midst of that fruitless pondering, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten and started in alarm.

"Oh, damn! Malcoy!"

Malcoy de Marseille: the last surviving royal of the fallen Marseille Kingdom, a former imperial legion commander who had been taken prisoner and defected to our kingdom—a genius of strategy and tactics.

"I thought that now peace had arrived, you had forgotten someone as insignificant as me."

Belatedly remembering his existence, I summoned Malcoy. He treated me with open hostility, just as he had when he was first taken prisoner.

After all my honeyed promises to give him a chance to exercise his talents without discrimination, I had forgotten he even existed. There was nothing I could say in my defense.

"Wait. Surely not, Your Highness. Did you actually forget I existed?"

Having stared at my face, Malcoy asked in disbelief.

I couldn't bring myself to lie my way out of it, so I kept my mouth shut. Malcoy stared at me, dumbfounded.

I avoided his gaze, my eyes darting everywhere else.