Chapter 366
Side Story – Memories an Imperial Princess (82)
Princess POV
“They really aren’t moving.”
“People who value their lives the most typically prioritize their own survival over the country’s.”
“You’re not talking about yourself, are you, Ast?”
“……”
“Why no answer?”
“Ha, haha! Because it’s such a ridiculous question, Your Highness. Did I seem like that kind of person?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“Why don’t you try making an excuse?”
I stared at the silent Ast with very cold eyes.
“…Excuse? I’m not that kind of person, Your Highness.”
“Then why can’t you meet my gaze?”
“Ha, haha! Because I’m concentrating on thinking about a brilliant strategy that just came to mind, Your Highness.”
I can’t help but sigh at the sight of Ast desperately avoiding my gaze.
“If you think you’ll lose, you absolutely shouldn’t use it.”
“I would be grateful if you did.”
“…You’re not even making excuses?”
Well, I suppose it’s fine since we’re winning right now.
“The advantage is on our side. The First Prince is rampaging madly. The inland of the Merdea Kingdom is being destroyed, and His Youngest Highness will clean up afterward.”
“Yes, that was all according to your plan too.”
Though I tried to hide everything about Duke Raisha from my brother, Ast revealed it all.
Upon hearing this truth, brother denied reality at first, but as more evidence gathered over time, he eventually disappeared from sight for a while.
However, Ast brought brother back out into the world.
And not just brought him out normally, but in a state of mad rampage as if under berserker magic!
None of his past self remained – the one who had always assessed situations calmly and waged war.
He handed over the overall command to other commanders and led the vanguard himself, attacking the enemy as his instincts guided him, while the enemy was helplessly overwhelmed by those attacks.
“Well, thanks to that, the war with the Merdea Kingdom ended quickly, didn’t it?”
“Yes, it did end quickly.”
Thanks to that, two royal family members suffered major psychological damage, but Ast seemed to brush it off as unavoidable.
It was their own doing, after all.
“We’ll likely capture Merdea Castle within this week. Shouldn’t we also capture Fort Mebelis to match that timing?”
“How?”
While Fort Mebelis is counted among the Merdea Kingdom’s finest fortresses, there were many ways to capture it.
If we just wait like this, they’ll die of starvation inside, and if we attack directly, there will be major casualties but we could capture it somehow.
But with Ast, it would be different.
Not these basic strategies, but rather an unthinkable strategy that no one else could conceive.
A strategy that leaves listeners speechless from absurdity and makes victims collapse with high blood pressure while grabbing their necks!
“I have a way.”
Ast naturally fulfilled my expectations.
“First, we’ll need to leak something.”
“Again? What on earth do we need to give in this situation?”
“We’ll need to pass on information about our army.”
“Do you understand what you’re saying?”
Information about the army is something that could cost an individual their head at the least, and at worst could cost the heads of nine generations of their family.
Since information can determine the outcome of war, it’s basic protocol that even revealing the smallest piece of information during wartime is punishable by death.
Ast, who values his life more than anyone else, surely must know this.
“Just what are you trying to pull? And how much information are you planning to give to the enemy?”
“Top secret among top secrets.”
“What?”
Top secret means the destruction of nine generations is confirmed if revealed, and anything above that could cost the heads of everyone in their village.
“What are you trying to give to the enemy nation?”
When I glared at him with a deeply furrowed brow, Ast smiled as if it were nothing and said, “It’s an operation that only a very few in the imperial family know about.”
“Ah…”
Suddenly one operation came to mind.
The operation known only to a select few among the royal family.
The operation known only to a few commanders within our army currently at war with the Merdea Kingdom!
“Ast, you…”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As if confirming my thoughts, Ast showed the same smile as before, but one that exuded an evil aura.
“Duke Raisha, the Grand General Creation Project. I will release information related to that.”
It was a historic grand operation where we created the enemy’s Grand General, one that would be remembered in continental history.
“To the Merdea Kingdom?”
I could tell without looking what would happen if that was released to the Merdea Kingdom.
“No.”
“Huh?”
But contrary to my expectations, Ast did not say he would release that information to the Merdea Kingdom.
“What did I say earlier?”
“You said you’d hand over military information, didn’t you?”
“That’s not what I said first.”
“First?”
What Ast said at first.
“First, it needs to be stolen, right? Stolen? From where?”
Not giving, but stealing.
That meant not that we would hand over the information we had to someone, but that someone would take the information we had.
The Merdea Kingdom currently doesn’t have that capability.
Other kingdoms had no reason to recklessly steal information from the Empire and the declining Merdea Kingdom.
Then who would steal our military information related to the Merdea Kingdom?
Who on earth?
“There are people who really love that kind of thing. People who are connected to the Merdea Kingdom!”
Although Ast didn’t reveal who it was until the end, I decided to believe his words because he had accomplished things so far.
And sometime later.
Someone really did steal our military information.
#103 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances an Evil Organization
“It’s here.”
Several men in black clothes looked at one place.
An ordinary tent.
But according to information, it contained the Empire’s secrets.
“Can we trust Naran? He has risen to a very high position in the Empire. This could be something he’s doing to betray the organization.”
One of those blended into the darkness glared at the tent with suspicious eyes.
The other men nodded at his words.
The Empire’s major secrets being in such a place.
It didn’t make sense logically.
“According to him, due to the great war, secrets that should have been stored in the Empire couldn’t make it to the Imperial Palace. He said they’re moving the secrets now because they’ve gained the upper hand in the war with the Merdea Kingdom.”
One of those blended into the darkness spoke about what he knew.
Then the man who first suspected Naran raised an objection.
“That’s information everyone knows. What I’m saying is, can we trust Naran himself?”
“You think it’s a trap?”
“Yes.”
The two men blended into darkness looked at each other.
“Why can’t you trust him?”
“He’s too high up to trust. High enough to abandon the organization.”
“……”
That was right.
Even the man who had trusted Naran couldn’t help but agree with the opposing side’s words.
Naran, who had entered the Imperial Palace for a simple mission, had risen far too high.
He had achieved great merits on the battlefield as one of the First Princess’s right-hand men, one of the Empire’s power players.
Merits that would allow him to establish his own family line and live as nobility if he wanted!
If it were oneself in that situation, could one avoid betraying the organization?
Probably not.
A hundred out of a hundred would betray the organization and live as nobility.
Not everyone lived in darkness by choice.
After all, they too once dreamed of living in the light!
“But… He has shown us trust until now.”
Even so, he wanted to believe in Naran.
In this life where one might die at any moment, if you can’t trust even your comrades, who can you trust?
“So we too must show trust.”
“……”
At his words, the man who couldn’t trust Naran lifted his head to look at the sky.
A dark sky where even moonlight was hidden by clouds.
Just like their lives.
“Damn it.”
The man who had been looking at the sky briefly spat out a harsh curse and looked at the all too ordinary tent.
“Fine. He’s done well until now, so it would be too much not to trust him just because he did too well. So we should keep believing. Well… If not, we’ll prove it by dying.”
“Are you thinking of dying? I was planning to report while staying alive.”
“Hah! Good for you being so great.”
Other organization members smirked watching the two men.
Indeed, if evil organization members can’t trust each other, who can they trust!
“Let’s go.”
At one person’s words, everyone blended into the darkness and hid.
“Kuk!”
“Keok!”
As reported that even soldiers were composed of ordinary people to keep secrets, the soldiers guarding the tent were too weak.
Howling’s assassins let out small sighs watching the soldiers collapse without even resisting.
It was too easy, far too easy.
Thinking positively, the information was true; thinking negatively, this could be a trap!
“If it’s a trap, survival is the top priority.”
Other members nodded at the assassination leader’s words.
If this is a trap, it means Naran has betrayed them. In that case, they must report this fact to the organization as soon as possible!
“Huh…”
But the organization members who entered the tent couldn’t hide their dejected feelings.
“Was it real?”
Inside the tent they entered with determination were only piles of documents.
They checked everywhere thinking there might be hidden assassins or traps.
But the tent only contained documents.
“The documents could be fake. Verify them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Even the assassination leader hadn’t expected this.
What was the reason for just watching the members fight?
In truth, even the assassination leader didn’t trust Naran 100 percent.
No, more precisely, it was because he didn’t trust the Empire.
The Empire, which the organization had fought against for a long time, was too powerful!
The assassination leader thought there was a good chance Naran had been deceived by the Empire.
That’s why he didn’t think they could obtain the Empire’s information this easily.
No, he still couldn’t believe it.
Until that document was discovered.
“T-this…”
There was lots of information, but it was all information the organization already knew.
Because they had steadily planted people over a thousand years, Howling’s reach extended quite high.
However, there was one secret that even Howling didn’t know about.
“Is this a trap?”
The contents written in the document were so unbelievable that he thought that for a moment.
Making another country’s grand general into someone they wanted!
Giving up an undefeated record and giving merit to the enemy for that!
The content was so unbelievable that he thought it was a trap, but because it was so unbelievable, that suspicion disappeared.
Because if it were the Empire, they would have made a more plausible trap!
“W-what should we do?”
Still shocked, one of the assassin’s voices was trembling.
That’s how shocking the contents were.
If this was true, the organization had been digging in the wrong place.
Because until now, they had been investing all their power in supporting the Kingdom of Merdea, or more precisely, Duke Raisha!
“First… Let’s take it.”
They began gathering all the information they didn’t know.
Until the spatial magic pouch they borrowed for this mission was full!
After gathering more than a third of the confidential documents in the tent, the assassins returned to the organization at full speed.
“T-this can’t be…”
And Marvel Swift, the director of Howling’s Intelligence Bureau who verified the information they brought, could only gape in astonishment.
“This is false! This can’t be true!”
Although Marvel Swift shouted this, he realized everything matched up perfectly when combined with the information he knew.
It was a trap.
An incredible trap unprecedented in history.
“T-this can’t be…”
The more they investigated, evidence that the confidential documents were true began to emerge.
It was ruined. Everything they had invested in Duke Raisha was ruined.
“Damn it…”
They realized too late that they had backed the wrong horse.
Now there was only one option left.
“Burn the line.”
The only way was to eliminate Duke Raisha and erase information about the organization!
And so the evil organization Howling began to move to bring down Duke Raisha.
