Chapter 348
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (64)
#81 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of a Certain Villain
What happened happened, but in the end, everything was resolved well.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say things are being resolved well?
“So what do you think would be the best course of action?”
Since we haven’t found a way to resolve the shock that little one experienced.
“Hmm…”
To be honest, I can’t figure out what should be done.
After all, I never imagined there would be an idiot who would lose to Duke Raisha.
Unless you were an underdeveloped single-celled organism like an amoeba, winning should have been obvious.
“Hmm…”
“Instead of continuing to say ‘hmm’, suggest a solution.”
Haha… It’s not such an easy matter, Your Highness.
Aren’t you passing this on to me because you don’t have a solution either, Your Highness?
I wanted to say that so honestly, but the image of the youngest prince collapsing while coughing up blood replayed in my mind, so I just held it in.
Now, about a method… A way to revive the prince whose pride has hit rock bottom after losing to Duke Raisha…
“There’s only one way, isn’t there?”
“Does such a way actually exist?”
At Her Highness’s expression asking if such a method really existed while tilting her head, I let out a deep sigh.
“Did you ask me to create an answer that doesn’t exist?”
“Well, we need to save my brother somehow.”
Your Highness? Your familial love wanting to save your brother is admirable, but shouldn’t you choose your words more carefully?
Can’t you see your brother’s face turning pale white again?
“Yes, there is one.”
For the sake of the youngest prince who might really hang himself at this rate, I should answer quickly.
“What is it?”
“A revenge match. There’s no choice but to fight again and win.”
“That’s…”
“Yes. It means we have to hand over the table we’ve so carefully set.”
We have to hand over a perfectly prepared table to someone else.
As a princess, it was bound to be a difficult decision. After all, it meant giving all the military achievements she was going to claim to her brother.
“What will you do, Your Highness?”
This isn’t bad for me at all.
Although I’ve had some hardships, it seems I’ve earned a certain degree of trust from the organization.
Rather, if things continue like this, I might receive some unreasonable missions as a loyal dog of the organization.
Starting with handing over Fort Pesra, I’ve been passing various information, big and small, to the organization!
It’s been extremely dangerous work where one wrong step could immediately lead to execution.
I wanted to stop here, so if the youngest prince could clean up the Merdea Kingdom, that would be helpful.
Since the organization knows there’s no connection between me and the youngest prince, they’ll consider the prince’s actions as unavoidable.
In other words, it’s good for the youngest prince because he can gain confidence and achievement, and it’s good for me because I can report to the organization that ‘it was unavoidable!’
“There is no other way, Your Highness.”
This will be quite a difficult decision.
After all, how much effort was put into executing the ‘Make Duke Raisha a Grand General’ project?
Many people struggled because one wrong move could lead to victory.
Although we tried to minimize human casualties when pretending to lose for the sake of giving achievements, we had to give up various material resources, including Fort Pesra.
Can all those achievements really be given to her brother?
Can she give up her own achievements and those of her subordinates who believed in her for her brother’s sake?
“Hah…”
The princess who had been contemplating let out a deep sigh and looked at the youngest prince.
“My stupid brother is causing too much damage.”
“I-I’m sorry, sister.”
Under the princess’s cold gaze, the prince could only hang his head low and stare at the ground.
“Your Highness is not at fault. This is all because we failed to take proper care of Your Highness…”
“Regardless of what happened, the highest person responsible for the unit is my stupid brother. Even if he was just a commander in name for the succession battle, he needs to take responsibility.”
“T-That…”
“A subordinate’s mistake is the superior’s responsibility. Whether it was your brother’s misjudgment or your misjudgment, in the end, the responsibility must fall on your brother.”
The Princess’s cold gaze made the Prince’s dedicated butler close his mouth.
However,
“Your Highness.”
“Ria, this is unavoidable…”
“No, that’s not it… According to Your Highness’s words, if Lord Ast does anything, wouldn’t that all be Your Highness’s responsibility?”
At Ria’s words, the Princess’s face became rigid.
“Ah…”
What’s with that expression?
It’s the expression of someone who realized they made a huge verbal mistake?
“Your Highness, ‘a subordinate’s mistake is also the superior’s responsibility.’ That was quite a wonderful statement.”
As I spoke up, the Princess avoided my gaze.
Excuse me? Your Highness? Why are you avoiding my gaze?
“…Come to think of it, a subordinate’s responsibility seems to be the subordinate’s fault. Yes, brother, you’re not at fault at all.”
“Si-sister?”
While the Prince appeared bewildered by the Princess’ sudden change in stance, she smoothly ignored it.
“Yes, subordinates can make mistakes. A commander has tens of thousands of subordinates, so it’s impossible to take responsibility for all of them.”
Yes, that’s absolutely right.
The Prince and his dedicated butler looked with incredulous expressions at the Princess, who was nodding and convincing herself.
“So I’ll give you a chance. Defeat Duke Raisha.”
“Is, is that really alright?”
This was coming from the Prince who had heard about the tear-jerking Project Make Duke Raisha a Grand General.
It’s no wonder he’s surprised that she’s giving him the results of all that hard work.
“Because if you don’t, it seems like I’ll have one brother hanging himself to death tonight.”
The Prince bowed his head at the Princess, who was smirking.
“Thank you, sister.”
“No need for thanks.”
It was a touching scene.
A situation overflowing with familial love where she gives up even her own military achievements for her brother!
But our Princess is a being that doesn’t suit the word ‘touching’.
“However… If you lose again… You know what will happen then, right?”
Thanks to the Princess speaking in an absolutely chilling voice, the warm atmosphere of familial love quickly dissipated.
“O-of course, isn’t that obvious.”
The Prince, who was shivering at her cold voice, nodded and began to explain his strategy.
“Well, that should be fine.”
It wasn’t a bad strategy.
The plan was to lure the enemy who had already experienced victory, then use Imperial magical bombardment to divide the enemy forces, and defeat the fleeing enemies with troops that had been pre-divided.
However… It didn’t take long to realize that not everything would go according to plan.
“What did you say?”
The Princess wore an expression that seemed to say ‘what nonsense is this’.
“Your Highness… You’re making the same expression you make when Lord Ast speaks. We’re not alone here…”
Though Ria whispered quietly, since I was standing right next to the Princess, I could hear her voice clearly.
To think the Princess makes such an expression when I speak.
It seemed I would need time to clear up this misunderstanding with Ria after the meeting.
“Was my brother not human? Is that it?”
Despite Ria’s advice, the Princess didn’t soften her expression. No, rather, she started to frown even more.
“Defeat? Lost? To Duke Raisha? There weren’t even any misunderstandings this time!”
Is he really not human? Are they really blood relatives?
Everyone attending the meeting could only keep their mouths shut as they watched the Princess spout words that would be considered royal defamation if she weren’t royalty herself.
“Ast!”
When no one spoke, the Princess’ gaze fixed on me, who was right beside her.
Why me?
“What do you think? Do you think my brother is human? If he were human, how could he lose!”
Grind!
The sound of teeth grinding could be heard.
It was very rare for the Princess to show emotion in front of others.
In my years as her dedicated butler, I could count such instances on one hand.
That means the Princess must be quite shocked as well.
Yes, I understand.
She probably didn’t think her brother would lose to Duke Raisha.
But… Why are you asking me this!
If I answer here that I don’t think he’s human, it would be perfect royal defamation, and explaining the reason for the defeat would be very difficult.
Therefore,
“Wouldn’t it be better to listen to the full report first?”
I chose to slightly deflect the question.
“Is there any need to listen further?”
No, there probably isn’t.
Those words almost slipped out, but I managed to stop them just in time.
“There might have been some variables.”
“Variables? Even with those, we’re talking about Duke Raisha here?”
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s strange to lose even with variables.”
“I almost answered like that again.”
“There can always be unexpected situations, Your Highness.”
I barely managed to hide my true feelings as I spoke.
Thanks to that, it seemed the Imperial Princess’ tension had slightly decreased.
“Sigh… Very well.”
The Imperial Princess who sighed gave the order to continue the report.
“Ah, yes, Your Highness.”
The intelligence department member, trembling under the Imperial Princess’ cold gaze, began to continue the report.
“The reason for Lord Raid’s defeat was because the new magic bombardment developed by the Empire failed to succeed. Because of this, the enemy forces didn’t disperse, and instead, our forces ended up being scattered…”
“Wait. The bombardment didn’t work?”
“Yes, Your Highness. The Merdean army possessed staffs designed to counter our newly developed magic bombardment.”
“Already?”
The Imperial Princess’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Not just her, but most of the attendees at the meeting began murmuring in great surprise.
“As expected of the Kingdom of Merdea…”
“Their reputation as a military powerhouse wasn’t just for show.”
“To think they’d already developed countermeasures…”
While exclamations and admiration for the Kingdom of Merdea’s capabilities echoed throughout, I alone could feel cold sweat pouring down like a waterfall.
This is definitely the Organization’s doing! The Organization set this up!
Last time when the Organization asked how to counter magic bombardment, I secretly sent them a staff with detailed theoretical documentation attached.
They must have been able to make it since I included detailed theory. The Organization’s technological capabilities were beyond imagination!
“That would explain it. My younger brother’s strategy was to scatter the enemy with magic bombardment and then defeat them individually while they were in confusion.”
He would have dispersed our forces to attack the scattered enemy.
When the enemy doesn’t scatter, it becomes a dangerous method where our forces could be picked off one by one instead.
Since he was absolutely certain the magic bombardment wouldn’t fail, he used this strategy, so the moment the magic bombardment was blocked, defeat was practically guaranteed.
“95 percent of Duke Raisha’s orders are attack orders.”
“Yes, and the remaining 5 percent are retreats.”
“Lord Raid probably prepared only the thinnest of plans to attack the enemy, but when the magic bombardment failed, he couldn’t handle the undispersed enemy’s firepower.”
“For Duke Raisha to…”
Various discussions began breaking out everywhere.
Starting from how we would have been the ones defeated if the magic bombardment hadn’t worked, to comments about how Duke Raisha had grown too powerful to be taken lightly!
Only I, knowing about the connection between the Organization and Merdea, knew the truth.
I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut since the moment I spoke the truth, my public execution would be certain.
“What happened after that?”
“As you predicted, Duke Raisha’s undispersed forces advanced like a wave all the way to Lord Raid’s main camp. Lord Raid lost many troops and had to retreat.”
“How many?”
“At least 5,000 troops died, and over 10,000 are missing.”
There were more missing soldiers than confirmed deaths.
This likely means they couldn’t retrieve the forces hidden along the enemy’s retreat path.
If the prince had announced his retreat during the withdrawal, they might have survived, but if he didn’t notify them of the retreat, they could have been completely wiped out.
It’s very difficult to think about such communications in a situation of retreat.
They probably either died or were taken prisoner.
“Where is my brother now?”
“He is reportedly regrouping and reorganizing his forces near Meilard Castle.”
“I see…”
Meilard Castle meant he had retreated quite far to the rear.
That probably means he was that frightened by Duke Raisha’s movements.
“I never thought that there would be someone who would be defeated by Duke Raisha…”
Though various factors combined, in the end, it was a defeat by Duke Raisha.
Something no one had thought possible.
Since it actually happened, it would become a matter of concern.
“His Majesty said that since the enemy’s attack was stronger than expected, Your Highness’ forces should also cooperate to repel the enemy.”
Though that’s how it was phrased, interpreted it basically means ‘You raised this mess, so you clean it up.’
The Emperor knows about the Duke Raisha Grand General Project after all.
“Is this an Imperial order?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
An Imperial order. The Emperor’s command.
Even as an Imperial Princess, she couldn’t disobey it.
“Very well, tell His Majesty.”
Therefore, the Imperial Princess nodded, stood up from her seat, and declared confidently.
“That Ast here will handle Duke Raisha.”
…Excuse me?
“Understood, Your Highness. I will relay that to His Majesty.”
Why me again!
