Barcas, who stopped his steps in front of the threshold, looked back.
Lucas, with a raised face, approached him and continued to speak vigorously.
"If you can't forgive my sister-in-law for betraying you, you'd rather go through the divorce process at the request of your vassals. If you leave my sister-in-law like this, there is no reason to maintain a marriage that is just empty."
When Barcas didn't answer, Lucas took a step closer and raised his voice.
"Even though you covered up all the accusations, distrust of my sister-in-law has already become deeply rooted in the hearts of the Easterners. They won't show open hostility to my brother, but your vassals will never recognize my sister-in-law as a Grand Duchess. It would be better to send her back to the imperial family..."
A dull moan came out from between his brother's lips, who was proudly screaming.
Barcas, who mischievously twisted his chin, said calmly, as if he were talking about a casual conversation.
"What is better for her. What do you know about talking so carelessly?"
A strong grip tightened on his chin, and a pent-up moan flowed out of Lucas mouth.
Barcas, who looked down at him with cold eyes, continued in a calm tone.
"Don't meddle presumptuously. My wife's whereabouts are under my control. It's not a problem for you to talk about."
"...Then, are you going to continue to isolate my sister-in-law as you do now?"
Lucas shook his hand roughly and shot at him.
Barcas twisted his mouth.
"Why do you care about her situation?"
"I'm just...!"
Lucas, who was about to shout, suddenly shut up. Barcas, who looked down at his brother biting his lip with cold eyes, unable to find a response to him, warned him in a sad tone.
"Let's understand it with good faith advice just once. But there is no next. It's better not to test my patience too much."
With that, he turned his back and left the conference room.
Just in time, the east wind that came over the city wall scraped his face roughly.
At the end of his gaze, as if attracted by something, he saw a citadel towering above the inner wall.
He stared at the window of the bedroom where she was staying with frozen eyes. It seemed that her slender silhouette was reflected through the darkly shaded glass window.
In an instant, the word 'isolation' thrown by his brother caused an unpleasant reverberation in his mind. Barcas turned his head as if to shake it off.
Even if her life here was unfortunate, she could not be sent back to the Imperial court.
It was obvious how the illegitimate Princess who was expelled from the position of Grand Duchess in the scandal would be treated.
The swarms of jackals who want to look good to the Prince will not leave her alone, and Gareth, who is full of poison, will put her in a corner as if he has been waiting. And the Emperor, as always, will just sit on the sidelines.
The Empress will not care about her daughter's life anyway. Nope. She must be trying to take advantage of her daughter.
Remembering her hanging dead on a falling rock, Barcas clenched his fists.
The Empress knew that her daughter might be in danger, but without batting an eye, she pushed her on a pilgrimage.
She could never be left unattended under the influence of the viper-like woman again.
In the end, there was only one conclusion he could reach.
Staying here is her best bet. The only place on the continent of Robiden where the influence of the Empress and Crown Prince does not reach, Kalmor is here.
Barcas, who had shaken off even the slightest hesitation, immediately took a step towards the military commander.
At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind me.
"Your Excellency."
Turning his head, Barcas spotted his direct subordinate, Regen, approaching him with a steady step.
"The Investigation into what you have instructed is over. This way..."
The man, who was rhyming in a cautious tone, took the lead along the inner wall.
Barcas silently followed his men. The man only opened his mouth after passing through the back door of the castle and entering the backyard.
"As Your Excellency said, a secret passage has been discovered in the basement warehouse of the main city. As a result of checking with a detection tool. It seems that it has led to the mouth of the Armund Forest."
Barcas listened to his explanation and stepped into the warehouse building connected to the garden.
As he went down the stone stairs, he saw a dark warehouse loaded with various storage items inside the iron door.
Barcas strode into it and found a wide passage in the boudoir where various valuables were displayed, and carefully examined the inside.
A huge dire wolf had a straight tunnel wide enough to pass through.
"There was an elaborate device hidden in the stone wall. This decoration must be pulled in a certain direction to open the entrance."
Regen said, pointing to a metal torch hanger installed near the entrance.
Barcas tried to pull it aside. With a clang, the bricks moved at will, and the entrance to the passage disappeared like a persimmon.
He turned the handle back to the side. With a slight noise like a clockwork turning, the secret passage reappeared in an instant.
"The dwarf who designed the castle played a prank."
Regen readily agreed.
"Even the previous Grand Duke did not know about the existence of this tunnel... It seems clear that they were secretly made by slaves brought in during the Age of the nations."
"Were there any other concealment facilities?"
"I tried to investigate it carefully with a detection tool, but nothing additional was found."
The man, who had posted the report in his characteristic taciturn tone, observed Barcas's expression and carefully asked for his intentions.
"What should I do?"
Instead of answering, Barcas scanned the darkness of the tunnel with deep, deep eyes.
The fact that such a secret passage existed in the vault where only the hostess of the castle held the key would render the alibi he had painstakingly built up for her obsolete in an instant.
Barcas looked back at him with cold eyes.
"How many people know about the existence of this secret passage?"
"It's just Rabomir and me."
"You did a good job."
Barcas, who praised him in a dry tone, added coldly.
"Be careful not to leak information out, and close this passage immediately."
As if expecting such instructions, Regen shook his head with a calm face.
Barcas left his men behind him and went straight out of the basement. As he stepped out of the building, the wind was stronger than before, scattering his hair.
Barcas, who had roughly scratched his hair, habitually looked up at her residence and then turned away.
***
At dawn the next day, Barcas, who was about to set out, climbed onto the saddle.
In front of the gate, hundreds of vassals gathered to see him off.
Barcas's gaze, which was closely examining the orderly line of mounted horses, reached the officials.
At the head of the ranks stood Lucas, who had a war of words the day before, and Raina, who had to be confined to an annex for a while.
As he dragged the horse in front of her, his sister lowered her eyes as if she was uncomfortable. Lucas, on the other hand, greeted him politely with a calm face, as if nothing had happened.
"Good luck, brother. Please come back safely."
Barcas, who responded by tilting his head, looked around the training ground.
She was nowhere to be found. Feeling bitterness in his mouth, he slowly turned his horse.
Eventually, the gatekeeper blew the trumpet loudly.
Outside the wide open gate, the knights began an orderly march.
Barcas, who was at the forefront of the road and crossed the field, suddenly turned around when he reached the middle of the hill.
A bluish dawn light was pouring down over the towering citadel.
Only one season.
The short months that made him excited about hope, and the painful frustration that awaited him at the end, flashed like embers in front of his eyes.
As if erasing it from his mind, he spurred his words vigorously. And he mocked himself, who expected that something else might exist in this empty life, and cut out even the remaining lingering regrets.
"I have sent a telegram to the lords of the northeastern region in advance. If even one traitor enters an uprising, we will be able to immediately mobilize the available troops to suppress it."
As they passed through the plain and reached the mouth of the birch forest with white bones, Beiroff approached him and carefully took his luck.
Barcas, who had been opening the flask and holding his mouth, let out a soft sigh as he stole the corners of his mouth.
"Suppression by force is the last resort. We must prevent a civil war from happening in the East at all costs."
"Are you going to negotiate with the traitors?"
"You can't waste all your power when you need to keep the North in check."
Barcas, who closed the lid of the flask and tucked it into his saddle pocket, responded in a dry tone.
"If you offer to cover up your sins in the line of recovering your territory and title, you will obediently back down. Unless you're an idiot."
"They are those who betrayed their monarch because of a few pennies. Common sense may not work."
"At that time, bloodshed is inevitable."
Barcas, who responded in a blunt tone, spurred the horse again.
The journey was smooth. Perhaps thanks to the security measures that were maintained throughout last summer, there was not only a group of marauders, but in the fall, there was a boring march where there was not a single dragon subspecies monster, such as Wyvern, that could be found.
Thanks to this, less than ten days after departure, they were able to escape the vast forest and reach the open plateau.
"Let's take a break here."
When Barcas, who stopped his horse near the pasture, gave the order, the bell knight blew the horn to signal.
Soon after, the knights who followed in an orderly manner came down from the saddle all at once. Similarly, Barcas, who came down from the top of Tork, immediately unfolded the map and double-checked the terrain.
At that moment, the sound of horns echoed from the bottom of the gently stretched ridge.
Turning his head, Barcas narrowed his eyes as he spotted thousands of cavalry rushing in from beyond the smoke fog.
Even from a long distance, he could clearly recognize the flag of the Roem Knights.
"Why did the imperial army go to the east..."
Beiroff muttered in a bewildered voice.
Comments
Post a Comment