Late at night, Siana sat on the bed, carefully recalling the layout of Nevelga Castle. She knew even the smallest details of the castle, as she had often hidden or fled to various places when her father was in a bad mood.

However, among those places, there was nowhere her father would likely come. Her father would never voluntarily go to dusty, cramped places – places that wouldn’t draw people’s attention.

But she couldn’t meet her father where there were watchful eyes either. Usually, places with people were better as she would get hit less, but not this time. She had to meet her father alone.

Thinking that far, Siana realized she had been mistaken from the start. What good was it to be out of sight, when afterwards…

“…Really.”

She sighed deeply and clutched her head. Planning something she had never done before meant there were countless things to consider. It seemed even more so because she had only lived following others’ plans until now.

But she couldn’t give up on this plan. She recalled the words she had heard the last time she met her father.

“Your property? Where is such a thing?”

Not content with just marriage, her father said he would give away all her gold coins to others. Her gold coins!

The gold coins Siana had hidden under her bed were very special. They were proof that for the first time in her life, she had earned something other than beatings.

The thought of having to hand over money she had preciously saved without ever using properly to an unknown man made her feel so wronged she could cry. Siana really did wipe her teary eyes. She didn’t want to give even one coin to her father or the man her father approved of.

Sitting sadly, Siana opened the bedside drawer and took out the handkerchief she had put there. It was given to her recently by a kind lord with magnificent golden curly hair.

Instead of returning it to him, Siana had made a new handkerchief to give him.

Briefly recalling the lady’s warm hands and kind smile, Siana thought how enjoyable it would be to be friends with such a person. She wasn’t alone in thinking that; Anika had also said there was a place she wanted to go with her. For Siana, it was the wonderful restaurant in Galicia she had never been to.

Going there with Lady Anika would really be fun. Smiling with relaxed lips as she imagined happily, Siana remembered that the problem was not yet solved. Father! She felt as if cold water had been poured down her spine. Siana frowned, clutching the handkerchief. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with her father that he even interfered with her happy imagination.

I can’t stand it anymore. Siana recalled her father, who had always found a way to interfere whenever she seemed even a little happy. This is unfair. Even if he was her father, he had no right to hinder her like this in everything.

Father should have everything taken away too. Imagining the fine restaurant near the governor’s mansion in Galicia, Siana vowed. Her father should feel the same unfairness she felt. That very hot emotion she felt for the first time in her life blazed like a flame on cotton, heating up her chest.

Not knowing it was vengefulness, Siana mentally searched for a suitable place to fulfill this resolution. The firewood storage won’t do, the kitchen won’t do either. The pigment storage is even worse…

As she counted off one by one the places that had hidden her at least once before, Siana suddenly thought of one place. It was considerably more open than she had intended, but… that could even be an advantage.

My goodness, to think I came up with such an idea. Surprised by her groundbreaking thought, Siana looked down at the handkerchief in her hand. The ivory-colored handkerchief, still bearing a slightly unfamiliar scent, seemed to contain kindness just like its owner.

After gazing at it for a moment, Siana carefully folded the handkerchief and put it back in the drawer. For the first time, she had a feeling that everything in her life would go well.

“Don’t go up to the mountain range! Find another breakthrough!”

Looking back at his subordinates falling one by one in the melee, Hator raised his voice and shouted. It wasn’t good to reveal his position like this, but now he had no choice. If he kept his mouth shut, there was no telling how much worse the situation would get.

“Regroup! We have greater numbers! If we regroup, we can win!”

But amidst the chaotically collapsed formation, his cry seemed like an unanswered echo. Hator gritted his teeth as he watched his army, which he had cherished without neglecting even small details, being slaughtered. He couldn’t understand how the situation had come to this.

It was true that he had planned for an all-out war. It was the only way to break out of the isolated situation in the highland area.

However, he had intended to move cautiously. It was the worst strategy to clash with full force just because it was an all-out war. Rather, the more numerous the troops, the more care had to be taken with each order. Considering that Resda was being held hostage, that was the right approach.

But he had no intention of being led along as the opponent intended, so Hator had made plans including the possibility that the Gongwang would try to use Resda as a hostage to guide the situation. The Gongwang wouldn’t easily kill Resda under normal circumstances. If he had intended to do so, he wouldn’t have kept him alive until now, so it was a reasonable assumption.

However, when the armies clashed, the Gongwang brought out Resda first. And in front of everyone, he cut off his two arms and neck.

It was an obvious provocation, but since all the soldiers had already seen it, they couldn’t ignore it. In the end, Hator had no choice but to hastily modify his plans. And the Aglante army exploited that gap before the modified plan could be conveyed to each corps commander. That’s how the formation began to collapse.

It was then that one of the generals by his side, instead of Resda, whispered:

“Prince, you must take shelter. Keep in mind that reinforcements from the mainland will arrive soon. If you are harmed, there will be no one to lead them.”

It was a reasonable statement, but seeing his subordinates dying around him, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. As he hesitated for a moment, a general who had already suffered near-fatal wounds said:

“I know we can’t retreat to the mountains. My subordinate knows of a cave that leads to the foot of the mountain, so Your Highness should first escape there, and the army here can be entrusted to another corps commander to join up at the foot of the mountain.”

“…Understood.”

“Please exchange helmets with me.”

Said the general, taking off his helmet and holding it out. It was a heartrending proposal, but it was a situation where he couldn’t refuse, so Hator did as he said.

Wearing the general’s helmet, Hator pulled the reins to one side. A cavalryman who had received orders from the general stood in front of him and began to gallop.

How long had they ridden? As they left the battlefield, everything became quiet. Hator tightened his grip on the reins at the faint sound of slaughter coming from far away. Although the war wasn’t over yet, there was something he could tell without having to judge. This battle was his defeat.

His mouth felt bitter at this mistake, the first in a very long time. He furrowed his brow. It was then that the cavalryman looking back shouted:

“We’re being pursued!”

Following those words, Hator looked back and recognized the identity of the helmeted knight at first glance.

“It’s the Gongwang!”

He was the only one who could wear armor engraved with the royal family’s crest. Even if it was a deception in wartime, it would be one of the king’s close aides. Hator, quickly assessing the situation, shouted:

“If we capture that one, we can turn the tide!”

At those words, several knights following behind turned their horses towards the Gongwang. However, the screams that soon followed proved that it wasn’t so effective.

When they finally reached the cave and dismounted, there was only one person standing behind them. Hator took off his helmet, turning to look at the man holding a sword still wet with blood. Only then did the man reach for his helmet.

As the metal fell to the ground, a pair of yellow eyes, the only ones left in the world, were revealed. Hator let out a bitter laugh at the situation where the beast that had bitten the neck of its kin was now aiming for his own neck.

The standoff wasn’t long. The cavalryman who had guided the way rushed at him first, and Hator joined in as well. The Gongwang pierced the knight’s neck without even exchanging blows a few times. Thanks to his accumulated experience and skill, Hator didn’t suffer the same fate, but after being pushed back for a few exchanges, he ended up inside the cave.

During the brief gap created by the change in space, Hator spoke:

“I have something I want to ask.”

The man nodded slightly as if to say go ahead.

“How did you plan for this situation?”

“I was lucky.”

“That’s not true.”

It was too favorable to the Brinwell army to be just luck. They had crossed the border with a comfortably sized army at the right time. The Gongwang had merely responded to that war.

Moreover, there were several traitors in his camp. Since he hadn’t seen any of them in today’s battle, Hator knew that the Gongwang had dealt with them all. He must have cleaned house on the night of the surprise attack on both sides. What was a crisis for him seemed to have been an opportunity for that man.

It was lamentable, but it was too late for regrets. Hator glared at the Gongwang without relaxing the tension in his body. It was then that the man added:

“Or maybe I was smart.”

And the Gongwang scanned the cave. Because he too used to assess situations in that way, Hator realized that the man was silently choosing a spot advantageous for fighting.

“Or maybe it’s because the prince underestimated me.”

“…So that was the factor.”

He had taken his opponent too lightly. Even knowing that he was different from others, he thought of him as a child and didn’t pay enough attention.

Hator sighed.

“It’s my fault.”

“I know.”

Everything that happens in war is the commander’s responsibility. From the lives and deaths of his subordinates to his own.

Idren considered how long it would take to behead the man. Although Hator was excellent in martial arts and seasoned on the battlefield, his own innate sense was not bad, and above all, he was younger. Hator was close to forty, and he… physically speaking, was twenty-three.

Physical conditions often surpassed experience more than one might think. Hator must know this fact too, which was why he was showing regret so openly. Idren roughly wiped below his eye where he had gotten a scratch from the few sword exchanges. Anyway, it was best to finish quickly and get out. Penrel would be confused by his absence.

Hator, who was standing against the cave wall, seemed to have similar thoughts as he gripped his sword and said:

“I will fight for the honor of Rognak.”

This is why those born noble are like this. Idren shrugged his shoulders at the man who seemed somewhat understandable at times but then did incomprehensible things. Resda was like that too, and now his master seemed to stake his life on similar things.

He replied to the man he couldn’t empathize with even if he turned back time several times:

“I won’t stake anything.”

Giving one thing and losing another was now tiresome. It might be different if things returned as they were given, but in his life, there were only things that never filled up no matter how much he poured into them.

Being human, he wanted to stop such self-depleting acts now.

“If I must say something… I’ll teach the prince a way to get revenge.”

And Idren stepped back one step to allow his opponent to lunge at him. He raised the corner of his mouth as he looked at one of the enemies he had been entangled with since his previous life.

“Try aiming for the next life.”

Just as I did. Before the unspoken words could finish in his mind, the man rushed at him.

By the time he had beheaded his opponent and come out of the cave, the sun was already up. Holding the bloody head of the man, Idren gazed at the sunlight pouring down on the red snow field spread out in the distance. His body, which he had quite overworked recently, only now began to ache slightly.

Anyway, this takes care of one thing. Now he just needed to return to the capital, root out the traitors, and cut off Gilrod’s neck. As Ophelia had said, he could even return before the year was out.

Idren smiled pleasantly at the feeling that everything was going well according to plan. In the distance, he could see Penrel calling out to him and running over.