Chapter 68 Part 6: Upheaval, Crisis

Lustrous red hair flowed down.

Several maids were busy brushing it.

She was a woman who was already approaching middle age, but her beauty defied the passage of time.

Two colors symbolizing authority.

Gold and purple were mixed together.

The Empress Savina, in such a splendid dress, was lost in thought as she looked in the mirror.

Her languid golden eyes sank into a deep shape.

She certainly hadn’t expected this.

Was her preparation insufficient?

‘No. Absolutely not.’

How could she have anticipated and prepared for that?

She was sure it was a perfect trap.

But an absurd variable had emerged.

In the end, the war for the throne was triggered.

It had already been a week.

The two forces were facing each other in the Nenyafol Forest in the north-central part of the empire.

Fierce battles were taking place, but that in itself was absurd.

The difference in numbers was fourfold. Yet the battle was evenly matched.

Every day, Leon whined.

He was her son, but he was pathetic.

Savina clicked her tongue for a moment and changed her thoughts.

‘Anyway, fighting is not my part.’

Each side had its justification.

First, the justification of the Second Prince’s side.

They had been attacked first.

[The Grand Duchy cannot ignore this situation. If the First Prince ascends the throne, the peace of the entire empire will be threatened again.]

Fortunately, they had a justification too.

The Second Prince had moved his troops in advance.

The Imperial Family denounced his intentions as impure.

In reality, what justification was needed when they had already clashed?

In the end, everyone realized the underlying background.

A battle was inevitable. It was bound to happen.

And both sides knew.

Justification only needed to appear plausible on the surface. That was enough.

Interpretation was up to each individual.

Naturally, political calculations would be involved.

“Preparations are complete.”

She began to move.

“Have all the lords gathered?”

“Yes. They are all gathered in the conference room.”

Savina moved her feet.

She was the Empress of this empire.

But she was not a strategist.

Similarly.

She was skilled in social maneuvering, but not in the ways of the battlefield.

If Savina’s status had been ordinary, she might have been just another woman with a bit of ambition.

But she was the Empress.

In the center of the insidious aristocratic society, she had felt and seen many things.

So she thought she knew what was truly important.

The oracle was an unexpected variable.

“Then we will repay them in kind.”

At her words, silence fell in the conference room.

“Do you have something in mind?”

In fact, all the lords gathered here.

They did not follow the First Prince.

A living power, a strong focal point.

They followed Empress Savina.

She slowly opened her mouth.

“How many troops can you withdraw?”

The lords exchanged glances.

“What do you mean…?”

“I mean, leave only the minimum number of troops on the current front lines.”

The empire was vast enough.

That meant that no matter how skilled a general was.

‘Cayron, even you.’

Could not foresee everything.

By the time they realized, unless they were truly gods, it would already be too late.

“What has been the biggest variable so far? In this battle.”

Slowly, the expressions of the lords changed.

“Could it be!”

“You mean…”

The Empress nodded.

“Bypass them and attack Arnad.”

Savina opened her mouth and gave the order.

Coldly lowered golden eyes.

“It must be done in secret.”

Of course, to do that.

“We must deal with the black sheep in the fold.”

Bang-

The door opened.

Armed knights stormed in.

“I trusted you…”

The Empress’s cold gaze turned to one place.

Marquis Gallia closed his eyes.

‘In the end, I was discovered.’

From a long time ago. From that moment.

It was a predestined fate.

It had already been two weeks since the war broke out.

The news was widespread throughout the empire.

The two princes had clashed.

And there were fierce battles every day.

In reality, many were watching from the sidelines.

“Still, wouldn’t the First Prince have the advantage?”

Of course, that was the general consensus, because even though the Saintess had appeared and she was the wife of the Second Prince, the battle for the throne was a completely different matter.

Those who had enjoyed vested interests wouldn’t simply give up.

There were too many intertwined interests.

Among the elite of the capital.

So, for now, the political calculations were more important than the Church’s warning, which didn’t yet feel real.

But the direction flowed in the opposite direction.

Many nobles who were originally part of the First Prince’s faction.

Surprisingly, more than half of them declared neutrality.

It was definitely more than expected.

But because of that.

It was the Second Prince’s side that had the overwhelming advantage.

It had only taken two weeks.

For them to reach the vicinity of the capital.

In a way, it was treason.

To lead this many troops to the capital.

But the Emperor had died without a will.

Both princes had a claim to the throne.

The First Prince’s faction had attacked the Second Prince first, and the throne was still vacant.

[Therefore, this is not treason.]

No one bothered to refute the Second Prince’s claim.

Moreover, Second Prince Cayron Winslet.

He had one more justification.

The protagonist of the oracle, his wife’s will was with him.

[Please protect my husband.]

The will of the Church was ignored.

Apart from everything else, this was also a form of self-defense.

This was the nature of aristocratic society.

Individual speculation, and all political situations intertwined.

There was only the battle that was bound to happen anyway.

It just so happened that the time was now.

The numerous battles that had already passed.

The battlefield constantly moved downwards.

In other words, Caron’s side was at a great advantage.

But inside their vast camp.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

The lords of Elchen were seasoned veterans.

All of them had experienced war within the last few years, or at most, a decade.

“Something is strange.”

One lord said, his expression grim.

This was practically the last stop.

The capital was just ahead.

“The battles so far have been easy, so I thought this one would be different.”

“The last predictable stronghold. Or are they planning to defend the capital itself?”

It was Walter Bariang who spoke.

Someone raised a question.

“But one could also think of it this way. In the end, it’s a big risk.”

The Empire and Elchen were separate.

But they had worshiped the same god for a long time.

They had the most powerful justification.

The existence of the Grand Duchess, none other than Rosa Anencia.

“It must be a burden.”

Rumors among the enemy.

That divine protection was with the Second Prince.

Pavel recited the details.

“He cannot be killed even if one tries, and harming his body will bring divine punishment.”

Naturally, the enemy’s morale was at rock bottom. It had been like that for a while.

“Hmm…”

Caron was also deep in thought.

This was not the flow he had anticipated.

Things going well wasn’t bad.

But an unexplainable uneasiness lingered in his mind.

For the past few days.

Caron had been feeling this way.

Something truly unexplainable.

A feeling that he had missed something important.

Their consecutive victories. The capital was already within reach.

But Caron was already convinced.

This battle should not have ended so easily.

“…This is not right at all.”

Pavel agreed with him.

“I think we should halt the march for a moment and assess the situation.”

“…Rosa.”

Caron said.

Involuntarily, instinctively.

As if he had heard a whisper of fate.

It was only after he uttered it.

That a flash of realization struck Caron.

The one who had turned the tide of this battle.

The only one who could be his weakness.

Why had he forgotten?

The First Prince wasn’t a fool.

‘But if it’s the Empress, who is skilled in schemes…’

It was a conceivable method.

Almost at the same time. A messenger arrived in a hurry.

“Urgent news! Urgent news-!”

Caron’s expression vanished.

Urgent news at this point.

Bad premonitions always came true.

His face hardened so frighteningly that all the lords fell silent.

Thud-

The next moment.

“We must go! Immediately!”

Caron’s face contorted.

In the end, war had broken out.

From the moment the Emperor died.

It was a war that had already been foreseen.

But that didn’t mean such a war was to be taken lightly.

A long rainy season continued.

The sky was darkened.

Every time news of a battle arrived, Rosa was on edge.

‘Could it be, this time…?’

Could it be that Caron had lost?

She heard that he had won every time, but he wasn’t an omnipotent, invincible being.

Rosa trembled every moment.

Her heart became particularly fragile. Her emotional ups and downs became more severe.

She knew the reason.

Strangely, the news that had been constant suddenly stopped.

Still, no news was good news.

Rosa tried to have faith.

Her favorite bergamot tea.

The warm tea flowed down her throat.

Her belly, still slender.

But her gaze involuntarily drifted there.

Pregnancy. To think she was pregnant.

‘There’s a baby…?’

Really?

Here, inside her belly?

It was amazing no matter how many times she looked.

She would be a mother, and Caron a father.

A child with the two of them as parents.

It felt so unreal and bewildering.

‘I… am really going to be a mother?’

Finally, Rosa realized.

She had completely become a woman.

In reality, her way of thinking, her behavior. She had become a woman a long time ago.

But now it was truly irreversible.

Because she had become a real woman, capable of conceiving a life.

It was obvious when she had gotten pregnant.

[You are about three months along.]

It must have been that day.

Two weeks after her first experience. On the night the festival ended.

“I thought it was a safe day.”

She had her reasons.

“Subtract two weeks from the expected period, then subtract another week or so…”

That week was supposed to be the ovulation period. That was what Rosa knew.

Freya was surprised.

“Oh my, didn’t you know about the later ovulation period?”

At the mention of ovulation, Rosa’s face turned red.

“Did I, misunderstand?”

“Yes.”

Freya nodded.

“That week is also part of the ovulation period, but a few days after subtracting two weeks, that’s also a woman’s ovulation period.”

What an absurd thing to happen.

She had been embarrassed to ask others, so she had looked it up in the archives.

This was the consequence.

If she had really been a woman, she would have known such a fact naturally.

But it was too late.

Rosa had accepted Caron during her ovulation period.

And they had been very intimate, several times in a row.

‘Caron…’

Cayron Winslet.

Rosa liked him.

She thought of him as the only man for her.

In reality, liking and loving.

She didn’t know the boundary between them.

But since Caron wanted to hear that she loved him.

She told him she loved him.

Only after saying it before and after did she realize.

A feeling that was greater than liking, a feeling that she couldn’t hide.

‘If that is love……’

Clearly. She loved Caron.

He was that important to her.

At least among all beings in this world.

There was no one more meaningful to her than Caron.

‘I’m sorry. Father. And Roadl.’

Even more important than her family.

In her mind, Rosa imagined.

Caron, and her.

Smiling children of the two.

When she opened her arms wide, a small child ran up and hugged her.

“Mom, look at this!”

In that imagination, Rosa smiled automatically.

Caron, who had been watching from afar, soon approached them.

And just as Rosa had hugged the child, he quietly hugged her from behind.

Such a harmonious family scene.

It was embarrassing, but it was an imagination she had dreamed of for a long time.

Only now, her role had changed to that of a wife in that imagination.

It was quite embarrassing.

But it didn’t feel bad.

Rather, there was even a slight feeling of excitement.

Her child. Caron’s child.

‘Both of our child.’

It was hard to get used to, but she was really pregnant.

Rosa wouldn’t know.

In fact, even though she said it was awkward, her expression was full of happiness.

Sometimes, there was fuss.

“Freya! Freya!”

“What is it, Your Grace.”

Freya was startled by Rosa, who came running in one breath.

“Just now. I think I felt a kick…!”

Then Freya understood the situation.

“Sigh. Your Grace.”

She gently took Rosa’s hand and led her.

“How many times has it been? I’ve told you many times. You shouldn’t run when there’s a baby in your belly.”

“But I really felt it.”

Freya found such a Rosa cute.

“They say it’s normal.”

Rosa was three months pregnant.

Usually, at that time, women can feel the baby’s movements.

“It felt like a kick-“

“It must be a healthy boy.”

Having small conversations about the child helped to forget the overcast sky and the unsettling situation, even if only for a moment.

But what on earth had happened?

“Big trouble, Your Grace!”

Hamel came running with an urgent expression.

“The enemy…! The enemy!”

His breath was ragged, his face pale.

“The enemy. They’re coming to Arnad!”

Rosa stood up abruptly.

Boom-boom-

A large drum sounded.

The city walls of Arnad had fallen.

The beacon on the stone tower was ablaze.

A force of two thousand of the First Prince’s troops surrounded the city.