While I was wondering if I had heard correctly, Aden calmly looked ahead as he tilted his glass.

“What do you think about attacking and capturing or killing the Crown Prince when the opportunity arises to kill him?”

“…Though the possibility may be slim, if he is killed, it would be a great opportunity in itself. The Emperor is on his last legs, and with the Crown Prince dead when a man is needed to immediately succeed to the throne, factional struggles to establish a new emperor will break out and the war will be neglected. However, conversely, it could also give them a common enemy and instill a firm sense of purpose.”

“That means it could be either poison or benefit, I suppose.”

As Neser quietly nodded, Aden let out a chuckle.

“Even if you succeed in a life-or-death gamble, what remains afterwards is still a gamble.”

Aden ran his hand through his hair, curling only the corners of his mouth with a dry face.

“It’s utterly bleak.”

“That’s what war is. That’s why the reward for victory is so sweet, isn’t it?”

Aden simply nodded calmly at the irrefutable argument.

Meanwhile, the lights beyond the window were burning even brighter. Neser rolled his eyes and moistened his lips with his glass.

“It’s already the fourth day. They’re brazenly lighting fires and holding festivals at their camp. They’re indulging in alcohol and food on the battlefield, and proper guards aren’t even visible.”

“They’re tempting us to come over. To attack now. They’re saying we can rush in as much as we want since they’re this defenseless, that we’ll succeed if we come now. Something like that, isn’t it?”

Neser, who had been thinking similarly to Aden’s words, just nodded slightly.

As lips closed, silence descended.

In the darkness-filled space, as Neser quietly gazed out the window, he suddenly felt the passage of time.

50 years ago. Neser, who had just come of age, went to war following his father.

There, he fought battles against the imperial central army.

After overcoming near-death crises in a total of 23 battles, what came was only submission. It was frustrating, but there was nothing he could do.

As time passed, when he had a daughter and married her to the eldest son of the leader, Neser thought he had nothing more to wish for.

But his daughter left without fully enjoying her life, ravaged by the imperial family, and filling that empty space was Aden beside him.

Only his granddaughter, who resembled his daughter, remained.

Now he was waging war against the central army again with that granddaughter.

Whether it was the indifference of time or fate, he couldn’t tell, but seeing Aden who looked like his past self, Neser opened his tightly closed lips again.

“Your Grace. I apologize, but the proposal I made last time…”

“How many do you think can escape?”

“Pardon?”

Neser, who was about to bring up the proposal again with a voice tinged with concern, furrowed his brow at Aden’s words.

Aden, who had now emptied his glass, looked at Neser. Aden, who had been silently examining the dazed eyes, let out a low breath.

“There must be spies in the castle. As long as there are informants that can’t be perfectly filtered out no matter how much we weed them out, it will be difficult to take all the people in this castle.”

“Do you mean…”

Eyes wavering in confusion gently creased.

“Are you accepting my proposal to leave through the secret tunnel?”

Aden just nodded quietly.

Neser’s face was tinged with joy at the unexpected answer, but soon became confused again.

He couldn’t guess why Aden, who had stubbornly refused to leave with firm conviction, suddenly changed his attitude.

It’s not like he suddenly became afraid for his life.

It was strange because his previous attitude had been too resolute to call it a whim.

But he couldn’t ask for the reason. It was a hard-won affirmation. Whatever Aden’s reason for accepting the proposal, it didn’t matter.

Neser stroked his chin, pondering the answer to Aden’s question, and slowly raised his head.

“If we try to avoid the eyes of spies, about 500 people should be possible.”

“That’s far too few.”

“However, if we secretly slip out and supply food here and deploy additional troops, we can protect the people inside the castle.”

Neser hurriedly added words to Aden’s negative reaction.

Even as he uttered the hasty answer with his own mouth, he felt dejected knowing how absurd his words were.

Deploying additional food and troops was too optimistic a plan.

They would soon notice that Aden was gone, and would surely launch an offensive immediately.

Not to mention that the morale of the soldiers inside would plummet the moment they learned their master had abandoned them and fled the castle, in the worst case, they might even defect to the Crown Prince’s army.

The reason for trying to extract Aden despite taking all these risks was ultimately because he was more important than all of their lives.

“Don’t worry about the danger inside the castle. I will stay here and control the situation, so Your Grace should escape to my territory for now. You can regroup the remaining personnel there.”

To the extent of being prepared to throw away his own life meaninglessly.

Aden stared intently at the face of his maternal grandfather filled with determination, then turned his head.

Aden, who had been prepared to throw away his life, who had tried to throw away his life in this war, now wants to live.

However, he still didn’t know if it was right for that determination to be at the expense of so many lives.

I am different from my father.

He wanted to be different from his father who had abandoned his wife and chosen the clan.

Aden, who let out a long sigh, looked at Neser.

“Prepare to escape through the secret tunnel.”

Aden, who had returned to the appearance of a cold commander, left his last words to Neser and turned around.

Neser, who was watching Aden’s back as he left the room, put down his glass and raised a respectful salute.

Until the door opened and closed. That hand did not lower and remained firmly raised.

Ludmila, passing through the corridor, stopped when she saw Raminov walking from the opposite direction.

Raminov’s eyes narrowed as she stopped in place and bowed her head.

Those following behind him carefully retreated after reading the situation, and likewise, the surrounding servants quickly scattered.

In the corridor that had suddenly become a space with just the two of them, they stared at each other.

The silence that seemed like it would drag on was broken when Raminov, who had been standing still, moved his steps.

Closing the gap that had opened, he approached and stopped in front of Ludmila.

The Grand Duke with his sturdy build looked down at Ludmila, narrowing his eyes.

‘Why should I do that?’

Raminov’s voice answering the bold proposal made by Ludmila who appeared before him echoed in his mind. Ludmila didn’t even blink at that.

‘Behind the Grand Duchy’s back lies a vast prairie. Over 10,000 barbarians are rushing across it. You don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to. In two days, you’ll hear that the first gate of the Nedbeun Mountains, the entrance to the prairie, has fallen to the Khans. Then you’ll have no choice but to believe it, whether you want to or not.’

Ludmila’s voice continuing with unwavering eyes felt like cool air even though it was midsummer.

The vast prairie. One of the most important places, practically the lungs of the Grand Duchy, where crops and livestock were raised.

The Khans were rushing towards it.

Why? Why bother when the Grand Duke hadn’t even participated in the war? Such questions arose, but recalling the records from 50 years ago, it wasn’t that surprising.

Before the Khans were subjugated, the Grand Duchy had bordered the Khans and suffered from raids several times a year.

Because of that, they had built gates at the entrance of the prairie to defend against barbarian attacks.

The barbarians were knocking on that place again.

‘Can you defend against that attack in two days?’

The Grand Duchy, which had drastically reduced its military spending as it was no longer exposed to attacks after 50 years, didn’t even have 5,000 standing troops.

Even if they hurriedly gathered soldiers and hired mercenaries, it would be difficult to face the Khans who had crossed the prairie in just two days.

Especially not with a number of 10,000.

Even if they requested help from the capital, there weren’t enough soldiers, and it was the same for the vassals.

He couldn’t understand how Ludmila had managed to draw in the barbarians who didn’t even listen to Duke Habertz.

But the soldiers he had dispatched confirmed that Ludmila’s words were not lies, and at that moment, Raminov had no choice left.

“The parliament and senate have decided on a ceasefire. The Crown Prince also seems willing to accept the ceasefire and has sent notice that negotiations will soon proceed.”

“That’s a positive answer. Thank you for your help.”

Help? How brazen to do something close to blackmail and say that.

The corners of Raminov’s mouth twisted crookedly, but it was better than having the Grand Duchy ravaged, so he had to endure.

“When do the barbarians plan to withdraw? It’s been over two weeks since they set up camp in front of the gate.”

“They’ll leave when the ceasefire agreement is finalized and the war is definitely over.”

The idea of protesting to the end in front of the Grand Duchy was outrageous, but there was no way to drive them away immediately.

Raminov sighed and nodded, then turned around. But he stopped abruptly after moving a few steps past Ludmila.

“But why go this far?”

Ludmila, who had turned slightly, stared at him.

“When the ceasefire is concluded, regardless of the outcome, the Khans will eventually try to walk the path of independence again. But the Imperial Princess is still part of the imperial family. If this comes to light, you’ll be tried for treason. Aren’t you afraid of death?”

Ludmila remained calm even at his question.

Quietly turning her head to scan the beautiful scenery adorning the outside of the window with her eyes, Ludmila smiled faintly.

“Have you ever died, Your Grace?”

“What an absurd question. Do you think I have?”

“Then you won’t be able to understand whatever I say, Your Grace.”

Ludmila smiled gently at Raminov, who narrowed his eyes, then bowed her head respectfully to him who let out an incredulous sneer before withdrawing.

Raminov, who stared blankly at her retreating back, only shook his head slightly.