Chapter 243 - Clouds of War Gather (3)

I jolted awake from a light sleep. Despite having only just woken, my mind was strangely clear. My restless heart refused to settle, and an inexplicable unease kept welling up.

Apparently, I could forget about getting any more sleep. I sat up in bed.

"Ngh."

A groan escaped me. Arms, legs, shoulders, back—every part of me ached and creaked.

I looked down at my body, covered in faint scars, then threw on a coat and headed straight out of the room.

"Your Highness?"

The Royal Knight's eyes widened at my sudden appearance so late at night.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm going out for a short walk."

"But why the sword...?"

Only then did I realize I was holding Twilight. I cobbled together an excuse: if the walk failed to make me sleepy, I intended to practice a little.

"I mean to walk alone. There's no need to follow me."

"The wind is cold. Please don't stay out in it too long."

Without suspecting anything, the Royal Knight stepped aside. I assured him I wouldn't, then went out into my palace garden.

I walked as though entranced. Past the devastated grounds, littered with trees and blades of grass cut and torn apart by sword aura, I walked and walked.

When I came to my senses, I was standing atop the highest spire in the royal palace.

A thick fur settled over my shoulders. Turning, I found Adelia looking at me with her usual steady expression. I had no idea when she had followed me.

"I can't stand nights like this."

Looking somehow subdued, she nodded and gazed over my shoulder. I followed her gaze to a night sky without a moon or a single visible star.

After staring into the pitch-black darkness, I turned my eyes back toward the distance, my hand ceaselessly tightening and loosening around Twilight's hilt. I stood that way for a long time.

A small cloud of dust rose on the far side of the darkened plain. A lone rider with a red flag fastened behind him—a messenger bearing urgent news.

The messenger raced across the plain without stopping, passed through the gates, and disappeared among the capital's buildings. A good while later, a commotion arose far below the spire.

"I was told His Highness the Crown Prince was here!"

It was Karl's voice.

Before long, footsteps pounded up the stairs, and Karl appeared at the top of the spire.

"Your Highness! His Majesty commands you to come to the Great Hall at once!"

Hearing the unprecedented stiffness in his voice, I muttered under my breath.

"I really can't stand nights like this."

* * *

By the time I reached the Great Hall, all the kingdom's leading figures had gathered. Their clothing was somewhat disheveled, as though they had come in a hurry.

"Your Majesty."

"You've come."

The king greeted me with a face as hard as stone.

I bowed my head slightly and surveyed the room. Every face was grim, but Vincent alone looked distinctly angry.

"As I've already said, Winter Castle's readiness is beyond reproach."

"And I'm telling you, I am not questioning its readiness."

Marquis Bielefeld was sweating as he answered Vincent, who was visibly struggling to contain his anger.

"I am asking you as a personal favor. Please calm down."

Vincent's expression remained cold despite the marquis's plea.

"All I meant was that we ought to check whether some very minor problem might have arisen in its lord's absence."

Seeing Vincent so unusually on edge, I looked for someone who could explain what was happening.

"A minor problem."

Even as my eyes searched the room, their exchange continued.

"Grand Marshal, do you understand what it means to connect Winter Castle to monsters appearing in the central region?"

Vincent looked ready to explode.

"That's no different from saying Winter Castle has fallen!"

No, he actually did explode.

"You spout that nonsense in front of its lord, and you dare tell me to calm down?"

He unleashed a torrent of abuse at the marquis.

"That is not what I meant!"

"Then what? What did you mean?"

Frustrated by Vincent's refusal to back down, the marquis raised his voice. Vincent shouted right back. Only then did I grasp the situation.

"Why do you insist on twisting my words—"

"Marquis."

Having assessed the situation, I stepped in without hesitation.

The marquis looked at me, and I quietly shook my head. Then I turned to Vincent and implored him with my eyes to rein in his anger.

Vincent stared at me before sharply turning away. He was clearly still seething, forcing down his anger only because he could not bring himself to ignore my appeal.

"It sounds as though monsters have appeared in the central region. Did I hear that correctly?"

Having settled matters, I addressed Siorin, whose expression was among the calmer ones in the room.

"An urgent report arrived stating that three villages in Branbrut County had been laid waste. Count Branbrut dispatched investigators, but the traces they found apparently did not look like human handiwork at all."

Siorin nodded and elaborated. The villagers had vanished without a trace, their whereabouts unknown. Only after searching everywhere had the investigators managed to find someone they believed to be a resident.

"A resident is a resident. What do you mean, someone they believed to be one?"

"Well, they did find someone, but not alive. It was a corpse. Its condition was so appalling that they could barely tell it was human, much less identify it as a villager."

His face somewhat pale, Siorin added,

"They said it looked as though something had eaten part of it and discarded the rest..."

"Count Branbrut concluded that monsters were responsible. Worried that something might have gone wrong with the northern defenses, he sent a messenger at once. Have I understood correctly?"

"That is precisely it, Your Highness."

I frowned at Siorin's answer. These ominous premonitions of mine never failed to come true. Damn it all.

I looked at Vincent again. His anger had yet to subside, and I understood it perfectly.

Even while I stayed in the sun-warmed palace, discussing the past with the king, Vincent had been battling monsters in that harsh fortress, dwelling on the horrors of those days.

His feelings toward the Royal Family and the other nobles had not changed in the slightest since that day. Had I not been staying in the palace, had I not been fighting on one imperial battlefront after another, he would never have bothered coming to the capital to announce his intention to join the war.

Given Vincent's ill feelings toward the kingdom, it was only natural that he should be furious when the marquis linked the monsters in the central region to Winter Castle right in front of him.

The king knew this too. That must have been why he remained silent despite Vincent's insolence in raising his voice before him.

The marquis could hardly have been unaware of the circumstances either. But given the gravity of the situation, he could not afford to be anything less than thorough, and had no choice but to invite Vincent's wrath. Perhaps he was taking that resentment upon himself in place of the king, who owed the Ballorhards a debt.

"Marquis. I forbid any further mention of Winter Castle."

Though I could guess his intentions, I had no choice but to side with Vincent for now. The best I could do was silence the marquis before Vincent's old resentments boiled over again.

"Your Highness, this is a matter of vital importance to the kingdom's safety. I am well aware of your faith in the lord of Winter Castle, but given the gravity of the situation..."

"I will not repeat myself. From this moment on, I will not tolerate anyone in this room questioning Winter Castle's readiness. Its defenses were never so lax in the first place."

Cutting him off, I spoke firmly.

"Nor did the monsters that attacked Branbrut County come through the North."

Everyone in the Great Hall turned to me at once.

"And Branbrut County will not be the only place where villages have suffered such a fate."

I was certain. This was only the beginning. What had happened in Branbrut County would be repeated everywhere.

All manner of inhuman things would emerge to tear the flesh of the helpless and drink their blood. Beings incomparably tougher and more cunning than humans would demolish their castles and burn their cities.

Then they would pile up human corpses and gather the rubble of fallen castles and cities to build kingdoms of their own.

"How could such a thing..."

The kingdom's dignitaries paled at my words.

"It's a pity. With just a little more time, we could have prepared better."

The inhuman races had arrived far sooner than I had expected. The Silver Lions and Iron Lions had only just assembled; I had only just begun honing their blades. It was bitterly, bitterly regrettable.

But not everything was bad.

"Four hundred years ago, the monsters that lived in this land were all but wiped out."

I looked at Vincent. The blood the Ballorhards had shed for centuries had seeped into those walls, making them a fortress nothing could break.

"The survivors were driven north, and to this day a single fortress keeps them from marching south."

Honor to their devotion and sacrifice.

"And it was relatively recently that the Warlord and Overlord, who might have posed a grave threat, were slain."

Honor to the victories they had won.

Meeting my gaze, Vincent squared his shoulders with pride. I watched him, then continued.

"Thanks to them, far fewer of those creatures will infest our kingdom than other regions."

This land, once the most dangerous place in the world, was now the safest. The bitter irony almost made me laugh.

"By other regions, you mean...?"

"The Empire or anywhere else—it makes no difference. They will all be thrown into turmoil."

Looking at their rigid faces, I told them the law of the world that would soon be upon us: fail to fight and win, and you would die; fail to hold the enemy back, and you would be destroyed.

The kingdom's dignitaries looked at me. Some watched keenly, as though trying to separate truth from falsehood. Others already had eyes full of concern. Still others regarded me with nothing but unwavering faith. All of them were watching me.

I met their gazes, then turned to the king. Looking him straight in the eye, I told him to send messengers to every noble in the kingdom and have them prepare for the danger.

"Grant me leave to depart the palace."

And I added one more request.

"I shall teach the vermin that dare invade our kingdom who rules this land."