Ch.189Chapter 189. Her Proposal

After a while.

News arrived at Castle Rose from the dispatched occupation forces that the rebels had been suppressed.

The destination was Castle Linenheight.

The number of soldiers deployed to subdue the rebels was about 1.3 times the number of rebels stationed to defend the castle.

This was truly an astonishing figure considering it was a siege battle. Generally, it was common knowledge that siege attacks required at least twice the defending forces, as they were overwhelmingly more difficult than defensive battles.

The commander-in-chief of the attacking forces was Irene Juliette.

Her performance truly lived up to her reputation as a “siege specialist.”

As she had boldly declared, the rebellion itself was suppressed with almost disappointing ease.

From the beginning, it was nearly impossible to overthrow Serpina’s army by simply taking over a normal-sized territory and castle in the northern continent.

Of course, if the continent had been completely empty, things might have been different… but the occupation forces didn’t advance, and their reckless challenge was crushed without even blooming.

In any case, my advice had proven correct once again. Without commanders or troops, they would certainly have suffered a much greater blow than they did now.

Celine, the leader of the rebels and former lord of Castle Linenheight, was found hanged.

Her suicide note, vowing to curse Serpina even in death, was burned along with her body on Serpina’s orders.

What could have been the source of such resentment that drove her to force a rebellion despite clearly having no chance of victory?

What bothered her so much that she threw herself at Serpina like a moth to a flame, prepared to lose her life?

The one who could answer that question was no longer in this world.

And—

Having succeeded in proving herself, Irene became a triumphant general through this battle.

I heard that she had personally rushed to save one of her adjutants who was in danger at the front lines.

Though I had told her several times not to push herself too hard, from her perspective it probably wasn’t excessive… still, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy about sending Irene to the battlefield.

In fact, I could sense that the officers’ opinion of her had improved significantly since she saved the adjutant’s life.

If previously the prevailing attitude was that she was still an outsider to be rejected, now many more people considered her one of their own.

“As you commanded, I have resolved the rebellion at Castle Linenheight.”

Serpina rose from her lord’s seat and approached Irene, who was kneeling before her sovereign.

Then, right in front of her—she knelt on one knee to meet Irene at eye level.

“You’ve worked hard, Irene. I will never forget your dedication.”

“My lord…”

Irene’s purple eyes sparkled for a moment.

A female knight raised to protect someone, desperately yearning for recognition.

Having never received proper encouragement, let alone recognition, no matter how much merit she earned, this moment must have been especially meaningful for her.

“…I only did what was expected of me.”

“No. While serving me as my loyal subject might seem natural at first glance, risking your life to fight for your lord in times like these is something of great value. I will never forget that, Irene.”

Watching Irene gradually integrate as a valuable talent for Serpina’s army evoked mixed feelings in me.

Seeing her finally receive recognition after all her thankless hard work made me happier than if I had been recognized myself…

But increasingly, Lunarian’s face kept appearing in a corner of my mind.

Someday, I might have to leave this place.

Irene would follow me without hesitation. That’s why I worried more. I didn’t want to make things difficult for her.

Though I had initially approached her simply thinking “it would be good to have a powerful general,” she had now become one of my most precious people.

Still, for now…

I should be content just watching Irene’s proud expression.

A few days later.

A mass execution of captured commanders who had sided with the rebels was held at Castle Rose.

Serpina once again had to take the lives of those who had once served her with her own hands.

How many times had she repeated such acts until now, and how many more times would she have to repeat them in the future?

After the execution, a schedule was finally set for returning to Castle Einhart.

Originally, only I, Serpina, and the armed forces who had come as reinforcements were supposed to return—

But perhaps due to Serpina’s personal consideration, Irene was also able to return to Castle Einhart with me.

It seemed General Irian would take charge of managing the occupation forces here. He could be trusted with the task.

And now, I—

“Should I understand this to mean that no rebellion will occur for the time being?”

In the carriage heading to Castle Einhart.

In this extremely private VVIP space with heavy escorts because the monarch was riding in it… I was sitting next to Serpina, keeping her company.

We sat side by side in the narrow carriage, not facing each other but right next to each other.

Perhaps because I was closer to her than ever before, or because this was her personal carriage,

the intense citrus scent that seemed to permeate my body swirled around inside.

“I cannot say that with certainty… but you can think of it as this decision not being detrimental to us.”

Since hearing about the “Mind’s Eye,” Serpina had been keeping me by her side all day, asking questions about most of her decisions.

At first, she asked if a rebellion would occur, but that was truly beyond my knowledge.

My previous predictions about rebellions were merely speculations based on hindsight, not actual forecasts that “a rebellion will occur.”

The reason I could answer like that was—

because the result showed that this “decision to return to Castle Einhart” was the right one for our army.

It wasn’t something like [An excellent choice] or [Couldn’t be better], just a simple [Yes]—

But if it had been a harmful decision, it would have shown [No], so it was natural to consider this the correct answer.

“I see…”

Serpina nodded with interest, then smiled and said:

“Swen. You must have had a hard time too.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I’ve been testing your ‘Mind’s Eye’ for days, but there were only a few questions you could actually answer. Organizing your thoughts within such constraints must have been quite difficult.”

Her words were true.

I had received many questions over the past few days, but there were few opportunities to worry about whether I should be honest.

Most questions resulted in [Unknown] outputs.

Which meant I didn’t even need to lie to her.

“The Mind’s Eye is certainly an outstanding ability, but it has more limitations than I expected. You’ve done well to offer advice under such circumstances.”

“As I’ve mentioned several times, it’s merely miscellaneous knowledge.”

“Didn’t I tell you just days ago that excessive modesty becomes poison?”

She said this and then covered her mouth as she laughed amusedly.

…She’s beautiful.

I thought Irene was beautiful, and Reika too, and even Lunarian from before was certainly not lacking in appearance—

But setting everything else aside, if it were purely a contest of beauty, I don’t think any woman could surpass her.

I turned my head slightly, fearing that if I kept staring, I too would fall under her spell.

“Well, there will be many opportunities to test it in the future. We have plenty of time for that. Hehehe…”

“…”

It was strange.

My heart… ached.

This wasn’t the first time I’d heard such nuanced words from Serpina.

When I heard similar talk before, it only bothered me slightly without evoking any particular emotion.

But now… every time I heard Serpina speak as if assuming we would continue together, it felt like a stone was dropping in a corner of my heart, making me feel suffocated and pained.

‘I mustn’t be swayed…’

I must not forget the promise…

After all, she was someone who believed my words without any conditions or tests.

Lunarian was the one who trusted my words and abandoned her country to rely on another nation.

How could I forget my promise to her?

Serpina, either unaware of my complicated feelings or deliberately pretending not to notice—

Very smoothly brought up “that topic.”

“It seems there will be much to do when we return to Castle Einhart.”

“Isn’t that always the case for someone in the position of a monarch?”

“Generally yes, but this time it will be quite difficult. Once again, I’ll have to deal with those who follow me.”

“Pardon?”

The keyword “deal with” gave me a strange sense of unease, but Serpina shook her head lightly and said:

“It will be more like persuasion than dealing with them. Some will certainly appear who cannot accept it.”

“What matter requires such persuasion?”

From some perspectives, Serpina’s viewpoint might seem like that of an ideal leader, but this world fundamentally had monarchy as its most common political system.

In other words, when the monarch says “do it,” you just do it. Sometimes rebellions occurred when people couldn’t accept that, but most ended in immediate execution.

Moreover, she was the monarch of Serpina’s army, the successor to the former Einhart Empire. Even if rebellions continued from those who couldn’t acknowledge her, her every word carried far more weight than that of other lords.

Despite this, what could be so controversial that she would need to use the word “persuasion”?

Serpina fell into thought for a moment, then suddenly turned her head to look at me.

For an instant, her lips captured my attention again.

The moment I had kissed her… once again stirred me.

Perhaps as punishment for having such impudent thoughts while she was about to bring up an important matter,

Serpina’s proposal was indeed radical enough to invite opposition from many.

“Swen. I’m thinking of appointing you as the National Strategist.”