Chapter 364
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (80)
#100 Their Circumstances: Circumstances of a Prince
“It’s the enemy commander! The enemy commander is there!”
A soldier of the Merdea Kingdom shouted loudly.
“Kill the enemy commander!”
“The Imperial Prince is over there!”
At the soldier’s voice, everyone around began targeting just one person.
“Yes, come.”
A surge of killing intent.
While a normal person would rightfully be afraid, the one receiving this killing intent was no ordinary person.
From birth, he had been exposed to countless crises, and each time he escaped through his own power!
He was Ignal Nel Karan, the First Prince of the Karan Empire, one of only two empires on the continent, and the closest to becoming the next emperor.
“I, Ignal Nel Karan, will be your opponent!”
“Kraaaaaaah!”
Ignal roared as he watched the enemy approach.
His cry resembled that of an enraged beast.
“Die, die, die!”
Those who knew Ignal Nel Karan would think this was a completely different person.
His usually calm eyes were tainted with madness, and his sword, which had been gentle and beautiful unlike his title as the Northern Conqueror, became simple but violent.
“Damn you Merdea Kingdom bastards! All of you die!”
Blue sword energy swirled around his blade before shooting forward.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Block it! Hurry and block it!”
“I-impossible!”
“S-spare me!”
The Merdea Kingdom soldiers who tried to block his path began to flee while screaming.
When one person fell, they weren’t afraid.
When ten people fell, they thought it befitting of one called the Northern Conqueror.
However, when the number of soldiers who fell to Ignal’s hand exceeded a hundred, the soldiers judged him to be an unbeatable existence.
“Damn it.”
Seeing this, the Merdea Kingdom commander gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
The enemy prince appeared to be only around twenty years old.
With his pretty face, he looked far from someone suited for battle.
“You monster of the Empire!”
To think someone with such a face would emit such madness and massacre soldiers!
Grinding his teeth, the Merdea Kingdom commander drew his sword and charged.
“I cannot let you pass here!”
Though the gate had already been destroyed and enemy forces were pouring in like a flood, the Merdea Kingdom commander couldn’t give up.
This is the border region with the enemy country, Raiko Kingdom.
If this place fell, the Empire bastards who joined hands with the Raiko Kingdom would trample the kingdom’s territory!
“You won’t pass here without getting through me!”
The Merdea Kingdom commander shouted loudly while indiscriminately cutting down the advancing Imperial army soldiers.
“Oh really?”
Shiver.
A chilling voice reached his ears.
Enemy. And a strong one at that.
“Then I’ll just have to kill you.”
“Ignal Nel Karaaaaan!”
In that instant, a voice so full of killing intent it could be mistaken for the voice of death itself!
The Merdea Kingdom commander who confirmed the owner of that voice charged at Ignal while emitting sword energy.
“I’ll definitely kill you, you filthy royal!”
Kill him.
Even if he and all the soldiers here died, he would kill that royal bastard!
If he could just kill him, the soldiers here wouldn’t be able to advance easily.
Since an Imperial commander and prince had died, they could buy time until they held the royal funeral and appointed a new commander.
Then the kingdom could buy time too.
During that time, they could gather the remaining soldiers to build defensive lines, and though it would hurt their pride, they could request support from allied neighboring countries.
Let’s die. Die for the motherland.
But take that prince’s head as a toll for the afterlife!
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
He gathered all his magic.
Sword energy, and power beyond that!
Though unstable, the sword aura forming on his blade symbolized a Swordmaster.
He hadn’t broken through the wall to become a Swordmaster.
He had reached the wall 10 years ago, and for those 10 years he had remained stuck before that wall.
But that wall was starting to crack bit by bit.
Though his whole body screamed and he felt pain like his internal organs would burst right now, he endured.
‘Just a little, just a little more!’
He was pounding on the wall.
He was pounding with his bare fists on the wall that he thought he could never overcome for years.
Even though both his fists were practically crushed, he keeps pounding!
If he can’t use his fists, then with his legs! If his legs are broken too, he’ll break through even with his head!
“Aaaaaargh!”
Blood starts flowing from his mouth due to the excessive use of magical power.
He suffered internal injuries from forcefully gathering magical power.
But he could feel that, though faint, a hole was being made in the wall.
“Die, Ignal Nel Karan!”
Although he is the commander of the Kingdom of Merdea approaching death,
His eyes were very clear and pure.
It was because he had gained enlightenment.
“……”
Looking at the commander of the Kingdom of Merdea, Ignal Nel Karan could feel it.
If he were to survive this battle, a new Swordmaster would be born in the Kingdom of Merdea.
But very unfortunately.
“That won’t happen.”
“Kuhek!”
The commander of the Kingdom of Merdea looked with disbelieving eyes at the short sword protruding from his heart.
“Coward… Kuhek!”
He tried to reach for the sword stuck in his heart, but before that, the sword was pulled out of his body.
“This is war. What’s cowardly about it?”
Ignal looked down at the enemy commander who had collapsed on the ground with a very cold gaze.
“The one who gets fooled is the idiot.”
“Your Highness…”
A man in black clothing approached Ignal’s side.
“Well done.”
“Not at all.”
The shadow guard who had been protecting Ignal in secret since a very young age couldn’t erase his bitter feelings as he looked at his master who had changed so much in such a short time.
“Are you alright?”
“Do you think I’m alright?”
The shadow guard couldn’t say anything in response to Ignal’s answer.
He had changed. He had changed far too much.
The Ignal Nel Karan he knew was someone who really disliked this kind of behavior.
He was someone who had the guts to carry on even when his life was in danger, as long as it wasn’t a fight he was certain to lose.
He wasn’t someone who would order an ambush in a situation set up like a 1:1 duel, dismissing soldiers when seeing an enemy commander step forward.
Even if it was an enemy commander, he was someone who respected his opponents and fought fairly.
As a guard, it was very concerning that the Imperial Prince would act in such a way, but to change to this extent!
Although the shadow guard was quite shocked, he couldn’t help but shake his head when he remembered the reason for the change.
‘How did it come to this…’
The shadow guard had never felt more strongly about the saying that ignorance is bliss.
Only he knew.
How much pain his master had endured after hearing the truth about Duke Raisha from the First Imperial Princess.
At first, he denied it again and again.
He checked with the Imperial Family and Emperor several times whether it was true, and received confirmation multiple times that the First Imperial Princess’s words were true, but he couldn’t believe it.
But the truth doesn’t change.
As time passed, the Prince had to accept the fact that he had been defeated by ‘that’ Duke Raisha.
He locked himself in his tent for days.
He didn’t eat, and requested his subordinates to give him time alone.
Only the shadow guard could see what the prince was doing.
‘You were deeply hurt.’
He cried. He cried and cried.
The ruler of the North, who hadn’t cried in any situation since he was five years old, wept pathetically.
He cried for his own inadequacy, and for the soldiers who died in defeat to that Duke Raisha.
Tears that kept flowing even though he didn’t eat or drink.
The shadow guard seriously worried if Ignal might die from dehydration from crying so much.
And those tears stopped only after receiving one letter.
-Your Highness, don’t you want revenge against the Kingdom of Merdea?
That letter came from Ast, who is under the First Imperial Princess and, in a sense, could be called the root of evil.
The shadow guard gritted his teeth upon seeing that letter.
Why did this situation happen in the first place!
It was because that person called Ast came up with the Project âMake Duke Raisha a Grand Generalâ, an operation that couldn’t have been thought of without being crazy.
Although the shadow guard wanted to secretly assassinate him, he decided to just watch because his master had stopped crying.
Ignal, who had stopped crying, read and reread the letter.
Although it didn’t seem very long, he went over that letter countless times.
After glaring at the letter for half a day, around sunset, Ignal went to wash his face using the basin that the soldiers had prepared in the morning.
Then he began to compose himself while looking in the mirror, and once he looked somewhat like his usual self, he burst out of the barracks and headed to the dining hall.
Ignoring the surprised soldiers and officers, he ate and then called all the officers for a meeting.
Although it was quite a long meeting, it could be simply summarized like this:
-Attack the Kingdom of Merdea with help from the Kingdom of Raiko!
The contents of the letter sent by Ast were simple.
It was a request to attack the main camp of the Kingdom of Merdea, which had few troops, while they would hold most of the enemy forces.
Along with an apology for the unintentional harm caused by their strategy, and offering to give credit for conquering the royal castle of the Kingdom of Merdea.
It must have been a blow to Ignal’s pride.
But he had lost too much to only care about his pride.
Although it was shameful and infuriating, he couldn’t take his anger out on the First Princess and her subordinates.
Because it was Ignal Nel Karan himself who had overestimated the opponent, became afraid, and as a result was defeated by none other than ‘that’ Duke Raisha!
That’s why Ignal took out his anger on the Kingdom of Merdea.
From the Kingdom of Merdea’s perspective, it might have seemed a bit unfair.
The First Princess and Duke Raisha were the ones who caused it, yet they were the ones bearing the brunt of his anger!
“Clean it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
The battle was coming to an end.
Their only hope, the commander, had died in an ambush, and the remaining soldiers began to fall, unable to cope with the sudden surprise attack.
“Destroy it, destroy it all!”
Ignal was still growling as if his anger hadn’t subsided.
He destroyed everything in his path to vent his anger.
This land was promised to be handed over to the Kingdom of Raiko anyway!
Even if it gets destroyed, the Kingdom of Raiko, not the Empire, will restore it!
“Kill them before they surrender! If they surrender, we’ll have to spare them!”
Ignal, who had beheaded the commander and stuck the head on his sword tip, raised his sword high and shouted with magical power.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
At Ignal’s actions, the soldiers’ morale soared to the heavens, while conversely, the morale of the Kingdom of Merdea’s soldiers plummeted to rock bottom.
Their only hope, the commander, was dead!
No, what was even more frightening was the enemy commander who was openly saying to kill them before they could surrender because they couldn’t kill those who surrendered!
“I-I surrender!”
“Please spare my life!”
The soldiers of the Kingdom of Merdea began throwing down their weapons one by one.
“Tch.”
As Ignal looked at this scene with what appeared to be genuine disappointment, he spotted a group of enemy soldiers still fiercely resisting.
“Perfect!”
Thud.
With a light swing of his sword, the commander’s head that was stuck on the sword tip fell precisely where that group was.
“Aak! General!”
“You damned Imperial bastards!”
Perhaps due to their deep loyalty to the commander, the enemy soldiers began resisting even more fiercely while shedding tears of blood, and Ignal started charging at them with a maniacal smile.
“……”
And there was someone silently watching Ignal’s behavior.
“Is that really His Highness the First Prince of the Empire?”
“Y-yes, it is.”
It was the General of the Kingdom of Raiko, their ally who had agreed through negotiations to jointly invade the Kingdom of Merdea.
“From what I know, he was said to be the most level-headed and gentle among the Empire’s princes…”
“Well, that…”
“If he’s the most gentle, what are the others like?”
He watched Ignal’s fighting back figure while trembling.
Such a madness-filled appearance that even made him, a Swordmaster, fearful!
To think that such a person was considered relatively level-headed in the Empire!
“As expected of the Empire!”
The General of the Kingdom of Raiko, who uttered words that could be taken as either admiration or criticism, called for a messenger after the battle and asked him to deliver this letter to the King in the capital as quickly as possible.
-The Karan Empire is full of war-crazed madmen, so we must never provoke them into a fight.
It was a moment when the (infamous?) reputation of the Karan Empire began to spread.
Oh god knowing all the insanity Ast caused is even more hilarious.