The Emperor's eyes lit up at the word prophecy. Deborah clasped her hands together as if trying to meet the Emperor's expectations and gave him the answer he had been hoping for.
“Yes. A bright future where we win the war.”
Bam.
Deborah came out of the Emperor's chambers and closed the door, letting out the breath she had been holding.
It was a breath mixed with relief at having deceived the Emperor and fear of the price of lying.
'This is enough.'
She clasped her hands together, straightening her posture to hide the shaking in her hands.
Then she thought back on what had happened a little while ago.
The Emperor was very pleased that Deborah could see the prophecy as he had expected, and that the prophecy she had made was showing his victory.
Deborah found it a little funny that the Emperor accepted her words without a single doubt. How could the Emperor of a country blindly believe what a young woman said?
Just as the Emperors of the past believed in the prophecies of the Oroz family, Graham of today also believed in Deborah's prophecy at face value.
As if he had no idea that Deborah would betray him.
'Foolishly.'
Deborah had a faint smile on her lips.
Contains a mockery of the foolish emperor.
'Victory in war...'
The outcome of this long fight was already decided.
Only the Emperor himself doesn't know.
Deborah looked up and out the window.
A white ray of light was coming down through the dark clouds that had gathered as if the sudden monsoon season was about to end.
Deborah smiled faintly at the halo she hadn't seen in a long time and recalled the prophecy she had had last night.
'The future I saw was...'
Then, for a brief moment, a glimmer of hope appeared in Deborah's eyes.
'Mother. Was the future you saw the same as the future I saw? If the future you saw and the future I saw were the same... If that's really the case...'
It was while Deborah was reminiscing about past memories.
A familiar voice was heard from a place where she thought there would be no one.
“What are you thinking?”
When she turned around, Ernest was standing in front of her.
He seemed to have been waiting for Deborah to come out of the room, as he stood up from where he was leaning against the wall.
“The prophecy of victory in war...”
Ernest took a step closer to Deborah.
“Is that prophecy really true?”
His red eyes were filled with a mixture of suspicion and anxiety as if he had been listening to the conversation between the three people.
It was the suspicion that Deborah, who was grieving over the death of the Duchess, was turning her back on the Emperor, and the anxiety that the real Oroz's prophecy had sided with his father.
Deborah, who had been staring at Ernest, answered.
"Well."
“Young Lady.”
But Ernest frowned at Deborah's evasive answer and urged her on.
“Do you think that is true, Your Highness?”
"...I am."
I hoped that was a lie.
But Ernest could not bring himself to say that he hoped the prophecy was false, knowing that Deborah would be in danger if it were false.
Did she notice Ernest's true intentions?
Deborah answered with a faint smile.
“Perhaps that is the answer Your Highness the Crown Prince is hoping for.”
“Then Young Lady...”
“And me.”
Deborah interrupted Ernest's words with a worried tone.
“I just said that ‘we’ would win.”
“...”
“It was never made clear who the ‘we’ were that would win the war.”
Only then did Ernest understand what she meant and let out a short sigh.
Deborah never said that the Emperor belonged to 'us'.
The Emperor simply interpreted her words as he wanted to hear them.
Only then did Ernest notice her intentions and let out a hollow laugh.
“I guess I was too naive about Young Lady.”
“The same goes for His Majesty the Emperor.”
Deborah smiled brightly at Ernest.
The reckless young Duchess, who used to blame others, is already dead. Now, all that remains is the successor of the Oroz family to avenge her mother.
“There isn’t much time left.”
The day when a ray of light pours down from the dark sky and covers the entire sky.
Deborah, who had been staring at Ernest, looked out the window again.
And that evening, Paulo's words that he had been preparing for a while were not a lie, as a plausible army was quickly assembled.
Finally, the end of this tiresome fight is in sight.
Meanwhile, Bellona and Carsis at the Jamesburg mansion waited for Isaac's next words.
Then Isaac, who was catching his breath, said what he had prepared.
“It seems like the deposed Emperor is preparing for war.”
"War?"
Carsis asked back in a surprised voice at Isaac's unexpected words.
He never thought Graham would go to war.
Because he had already beheaded many of the Emperor's supporters through the petty battles of the past, there were hardly any of his close associates left.
Because of this, he knew that the Emperor would engage in covert operations rather than an all-out war, such as poisoning food or sending assassins at night...
But there were still forces supporting Graham that were strong enough to start a war.
Carsis clenched his fists and asked, realizing that he had missed something important.
“What’s the basis? I know that the Duke Philosykos don’t have private soldiers. Even if they were secretly raising private soldiers, if they had enough private soldiers to start a war, there’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed.”
Isaac then relayed the report he had received from the spy in Gertz.
“Yes. The number of private soldiers prepared by Duke Philosykos was not that large. However, as Gertz’s movements have been unusual recently, we have observed them closely and have discovered that young men and a large amount of food are flowing into Gertz from the territories adjacent to Gertz.”
Bellona, who had been listening to Isaac in silence, answered.
“Then they will aim for the time when we are here in Hamelon, not in the capital.”
“...”
The two people's lips were tightly shut as if they agreed with Bellona's words.
That would be the case, because if they were going to launch an all-out war, now would be their only chance.
When Carsis and Bellona came to Hamelon, they left the capital with only a minimal number of troops to protect them and prepare for any untoward incidents.
This was because there were still remnants of the rebels left, and there was concern that the capital might be attacked while the two were away from the palace.
“So how many troops have been identified?”
Carsis was the first to break the silence and pressed Isaac for an answer.
“I think it’s around 1,000. It’s not a large number for an all-out war, but considering that we only have 200 soldiers, we’re woefully undermanned.”
Even including the private soldiers of the Jamesburg family, there were only about 300 people.
It won't be easy to gather a thousand soldiers by gathering all the private soldiers from the surrounding territories friendly to Carsis, but it will at least buy time until additional troops arrive.
After thinking about it, Carsis gave orders to the two men.
“Jason, you send men to the capital immediately to provide additional troops. Leave only the bare minimum in the palace. And Isaac, you request private troops from the lords of the surrounding fiefdoms.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Jason and Isaac, realizing that the situation was serious, quickly left the place.
Then, in the somewhat crowded basement, only Carsis, Bellona, and Hazel, who had her eyes closed in the coffin, remained.
“There really isn’t much time left now, Carsis.”
Bellona, who had been quietly looking at the door through which the two people had exited, opened her lips.
“This will be our last fight.”
The long-awaited vengeance is right before their eyes.
Her gaze, which had been resting on Carsis for a moment, slowly moved away.
Towards Hazel's coffin, which lay behind her.
And one step at a time, one step at a time.
She walked towards Hazel.
"Mother."
Then she reached out to the dead Hazel.
Bellona's hand, which was burning hot with enthusiasm that everything would soon end, brushed Hazel's cheek, which had become as cold as ice.
“I trust you, Mother.”
The words you said to me as you were dying.
So please watch from above.
“The Emperor’s miserable end.”
A hot flame flashed through Bellona's eyes, which had been filled with sorrow, and the curtain of the war to finally end everything opened.
The army prepared by Duke Philosykos, with Ernest at the head, left Gertz and headed towards Hamelin.
One day, as the march continued with heavy tension due to the imminent war, Ernest, seeing that the sun was setting, ordered his soldiers to pitch tents on the plain to make a temporary shelter.
Ernest, who was watching the barracks being built quickly, looked at the Emperor who was entering the first completed tent. To be exact, it was the Riventia Graham was doing.
'You still don't know?'
That the necklace he was wearing was a fake Riventia.
Contrary to Ernest's belief that he would soon realize it, the Emperor seemed unaware that the Riventia he had handed him was a fake.
'For some reason, even fake Roventia seemed to have some effect.'
Originally, those who inherited the blood of Clepius could sense the unique and special energy felt in Riventia.
However, Ernest was not born with powers like his successors up to now.
That's why he couldn't tell at first that the Riventia that Bellona gave him was fake.
But Graham, his father and Emperor, was different.
He was the most worthy of the Clepius family.
Because since his days as Crown Prince, he was a man who controlled the five Dukes in the palm of his hand with his powerful authority that could not be tolerated by others.
“Yes. A bright future where we win the war.”
***
Bam.
Deborah came out of the Emperor's chambers and closed the door, letting out the breath she had been holding.
It was a breath mixed with relief at having deceived the Emperor and fear of the price of lying.
'This is enough.'
She clasped her hands together, straightening her posture to hide the shaking in her hands.
Then she thought back on what had happened a little while ago.
The Emperor was very pleased that Deborah could see the prophecy as he had expected, and that the prophecy she had made was showing his victory.
Deborah found it a little funny that the Emperor accepted her words without a single doubt. How could the Emperor of a country blindly believe what a young woman said?
Just as the Emperors of the past believed in the prophecies of the Oroz family, Graham of today also believed in Deborah's prophecy at face value.
As if he had no idea that Deborah would betray him.
'Foolishly.'
Deborah had a faint smile on her lips.
Contains a mockery of the foolish emperor.
'Victory in war...'
The outcome of this long fight was already decided.
Only the Emperor himself doesn't know.
Deborah looked up and out the window.
A white ray of light was coming down through the dark clouds that had gathered as if the sudden monsoon season was about to end.
Deborah smiled faintly at the halo she hadn't seen in a long time and recalled the prophecy she had had last night.
'The future I saw was...'
Then, for a brief moment, a glimmer of hope appeared in Deborah's eyes.
'Mother. Was the future you saw the same as the future I saw? If the future you saw and the future I saw were the same... If that's really the case...'
It was while Deborah was reminiscing about past memories.
A familiar voice was heard from a place where she thought there would be no one.
“What are you thinking?”
When she turned around, Ernest was standing in front of her.
He seemed to have been waiting for Deborah to come out of the room, as he stood up from where he was leaning against the wall.
“The prophecy of victory in war...”
Ernest took a step closer to Deborah.
“Is that prophecy really true?”
His red eyes were filled with a mixture of suspicion and anxiety as if he had been listening to the conversation between the three people.
It was the suspicion that Deborah, who was grieving over the death of the Duchess, was turning her back on the Emperor, and the anxiety that the real Oroz's prophecy had sided with his father.
Deborah, who had been staring at Ernest, answered.
"Well."
“Young Lady.”
But Ernest frowned at Deborah's evasive answer and urged her on.
“Do you think that is true, Your Highness?”
"...I am."
I hoped that was a lie.
But Ernest could not bring himself to say that he hoped the prophecy was false, knowing that Deborah would be in danger if it were false.
Did she notice Ernest's true intentions?
Deborah answered with a faint smile.
“Perhaps that is the answer Your Highness the Crown Prince is hoping for.”
“Then Young Lady...”
“And me.”
Deborah interrupted Ernest's words with a worried tone.
“I just said that ‘we’ would win.”
“...”
“It was never made clear who the ‘we’ were that would win the war.”
Only then did Ernest understand what she meant and let out a short sigh.
Deborah never said that the Emperor belonged to 'us'.
The Emperor simply interpreted her words as he wanted to hear them.
Only then did Ernest notice her intentions and let out a hollow laugh.
“I guess I was too naive about Young Lady.”
“The same goes for His Majesty the Emperor.”
Deborah smiled brightly at Ernest.
The reckless young Duchess, who used to blame others, is already dead. Now, all that remains is the successor of the Oroz family to avenge her mother.
“There isn’t much time left.”
The day when a ray of light pours down from the dark sky and covers the entire sky.
Deborah, who had been staring at Ernest, looked out the window again.
And that evening, Paulo's words that he had been preparing for a while were not a lie, as a plausible army was quickly assembled.
Finally, the end of this tiresome fight is in sight.
***
Meanwhile, Bellona and Carsis at the Jamesburg mansion waited for Isaac's next words.
Then Isaac, who was catching his breath, said what he had prepared.
“It seems like the deposed Emperor is preparing for war.”
"War?"
Carsis asked back in a surprised voice at Isaac's unexpected words.
He never thought Graham would go to war.
Because he had already beheaded many of the Emperor's supporters through the petty battles of the past, there were hardly any of his close associates left.
Because of this, he knew that the Emperor would engage in covert operations rather than an all-out war, such as poisoning food or sending assassins at night...
But there were still forces supporting Graham that were strong enough to start a war.
Carsis clenched his fists and asked, realizing that he had missed something important.
“What’s the basis? I know that the Duke Philosykos don’t have private soldiers. Even if they were secretly raising private soldiers, if they had enough private soldiers to start a war, there’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed.”
Isaac then relayed the report he had received from the spy in Gertz.
“Yes. The number of private soldiers prepared by Duke Philosykos was not that large. However, as Gertz’s movements have been unusual recently, we have observed them closely and have discovered that young men and a large amount of food are flowing into Gertz from the territories adjacent to Gertz.”
Bellona, who had been listening to Isaac in silence, answered.
“Then they will aim for the time when we are here in Hamelon, not in the capital.”
“...”
The two people's lips were tightly shut as if they agreed with Bellona's words.
That would be the case, because if they were going to launch an all-out war, now would be their only chance.
When Carsis and Bellona came to Hamelon, they left the capital with only a minimal number of troops to protect them and prepare for any untoward incidents.
This was because there were still remnants of the rebels left, and there was concern that the capital might be attacked while the two were away from the palace.
“So how many troops have been identified?”
Carsis was the first to break the silence and pressed Isaac for an answer.
“I think it’s around 1,000. It’s not a large number for an all-out war, but considering that we only have 200 soldiers, we’re woefully undermanned.”
Even including the private soldiers of the Jamesburg family, there were only about 300 people.
It won't be easy to gather a thousand soldiers by gathering all the private soldiers from the surrounding territories friendly to Carsis, but it will at least buy time until additional troops arrive.
After thinking about it, Carsis gave orders to the two men.
“Jason, you send men to the capital immediately to provide additional troops. Leave only the bare minimum in the palace. And Isaac, you request private troops from the lords of the surrounding fiefdoms.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Jason and Isaac, realizing that the situation was serious, quickly left the place.
Then, in the somewhat crowded basement, only Carsis, Bellona, and Hazel, who had her eyes closed in the coffin, remained.
“There really isn’t much time left now, Carsis.”
Bellona, who had been quietly looking at the door through which the two people had exited, opened her lips.
“This will be our last fight.”
The long-awaited vengeance is right before their eyes.
Her gaze, which had been resting on Carsis for a moment, slowly moved away.
Towards Hazel's coffin, which lay behind her.
And one step at a time, one step at a time.
She walked towards Hazel.
"Mother."
Then she reached out to the dead Hazel.
Bellona's hand, which was burning hot with enthusiasm that everything would soon end, brushed Hazel's cheek, which had become as cold as ice.
“I trust you, Mother.”
The words you said to me as you were dying.
So please watch from above.
“The Emperor’s miserable end.”
A hot flame flashed through Bellona's eyes, which had been filled with sorrow, and the curtain of the war to finally end everything opened.
***
The army prepared by Duke Philosykos, with Ernest at the head, left Gertz and headed towards Hamelin.
One day, as the march continued with heavy tension due to the imminent war, Ernest, seeing that the sun was setting, ordered his soldiers to pitch tents on the plain to make a temporary shelter.
Ernest, who was watching the barracks being built quickly, looked at the Emperor who was entering the first completed tent. To be exact, it was the Riventia Graham was doing.
'You still don't know?'
That the necklace he was wearing was a fake Riventia.
Contrary to Ernest's belief that he would soon realize it, the Emperor seemed unaware that the Riventia he had handed him was a fake.
'For some reason, even fake Roventia seemed to have some effect.'
Originally, those who inherited the blood of Clepius could sense the unique and special energy felt in Riventia.
However, Ernest was not born with powers like his successors up to now.
That's why he couldn't tell at first that the Riventia that Bellona gave him was fake.
But Graham, his father and Emperor, was different.
He was the most worthy of the Clepius family.
Because since his days as Crown Prince, he was a man who controlled the five Dukes in the palm of his hand with his powerful authority that could not be tolerated by others.
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