Ch.299Chapter 299. Don’t… Bring Up Such Things Carelessly.

“You want to join the search party yourself?”

“Yes.”

In any case, if directly invading now isn’t an efficient decision for us, and if the reason isn’t within our army’s ‘internal’ issues including rebellion—

Then the cause must clearly lie with the enemy, the Aeshus side. That was my judgment.

At least at this point, that possibility seemed more likely, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes to make sure.

“Wouldn’t it be better to use someone else? If something goes wrong—”

“That probably won’t happen. Currently, the Aeshus army’s control over their territory is at rock bottom. It’s obvious they won’t have the capacity to capture me if I infiltrate. Even if I were captured, wouldn’t you, my lord, avenge me?”

I said that without much thought.

I thought Serpina would probably respond with a slight smile, saying something like “That’s true. Your death would essentially mean the destruction of the Aeshus army.”

“Swen.”

“…Yes?”

Serpina looked at me with an extremely serious and grave expression, far from any playful demeanor.

“Don’t speak so carelessly… about dying.”

“Swen, I don’t want… anything to happen to you. No matter what, I absolutely don’t.”

“If you weren’t here, I… I wouldn’t know what to do by myself from now on… So please, don’t say such things. I’m begging you…”

She held my hand tightly while looking up at me pitifully.

Seeing her as such a pure and innocent girl, with no trace of a ruler’s dignity or composure, I cleared my throat several times.

“I’m… sorry.”

“Yes. It’s truly something to be sorry about. As long as you understand that.”

“…Yes.”

As my face was somehow burning hot, I quickly changed the subject.

“Well, don’t worry too much. Even if I were captured, they wouldn’t kill me. No matter how desperate their situation is, they would lose more than gain by killing me. And I’m confident I won’t be captured at all, so please don’t worry about that either.”

“Of course I trust you, but…”

She continued to be restless and unable to regain her composure.

Is she really that concerned about the possibility of me dying?

In the midst of this, I noticed that the current Serpina strangely reminded me of Reika.

‘…Should I act similar to how I did with Reika?’

But unlike Reika, who was in many ways my equal, Serpina was someone so high above me that I had to address her with honorifics.

She wasn’t just my superior like Irene. She was a ruler. The ruler of a country. The head of the great Serpina army and one of the few remaining legitimate heirs of the former Einhart Empire.

I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate to do “that” to such a woman, but…

Still, I thought it might be okay.

I slowly… placed my hand on her head.

“…!!”

I gently stroked her yellow hair.

Serpina, instead of glaring at me… lowered her head and quietly entrusted her head to my touch.

The sparkling golden waves flowed between my fingers.

“Trust me, Lady Serpina. I’ll definitely return alive.”

“…”

Instead of answering, Serpina silently embraced me.

The weight of this woman who had the world at her feet was incredibly light compared to the crown she wore.

If compared, it would be no different than a feather.

The fact that even a woman known as a cruel tyrant was a human with a warm and soft body when embraced struck me to the core.

I stroked her long hair for a long time to calm her down.

Thump, thump.

—All I could do was deliberately ignore the heart that was beating more fiercely than ever since I held her in my arms.

How much time had passed like that?

Once Serpina had regained some composure, I immediately brought up the main topic.

“So, regarding the infiltration…”

“I already have something in mind.”

“Is that so? If it’s better than my opinion, I’m willing to follow my lord’s guidance.”

For a vassal to weigh their lord’s opinion might seem outrageous to a third party—

But Serpina nodded with a smile, as if she didn’t mind at all.

“What do you think of me, Swen?”

* * *

“Stop right there.”

This was the third checkpoint.

Once we passed this inspection, we could infiltrate Balhart Castle.

As I had been doing all along, I adjusted my wig, pulled my hood over my head, and stuck close behind her.

“Identify yourself.”

“I am Ariyan, the Second Guild Master of the Mihail Guild.”

The guard examined the badge the woman showed him for quite some time.

“Hmm, the badge seems to be in order.”

“May we enter then?”

“No, wait a moment. I have some things to process…”

At the guard’s words, the woman gave a sly smile, then handed him a small pouch and said:

“How thoughtless of me.”

“No, that’s not what I meant… Ahem. You may enter.”

We easily passed the guard and finally reached Balhart Castle.

‘It’s been a long time.’

Balhart Castle. Though not as significant as Anel Castle, it was a place that stirred various emotions in me.

Yurie had made arrangements for me to live together with Irene here.

After that, Yurie didn’t use me for important matters—and naturally distanced from central politics, most of what I did during my time with the Aeshus army was serving as Reika’s mentor.

Though “mentor” sounds nice, I was really just taking care of Reika, but well… looking at it objectively, it wasn’t such a bad time.

It’s not like I was obsessed with success and fame, and frankly speaking, until Lady Luna raised her army, I lived much more comfortably than when I was with the Brans army.

Although I never imagined she would make the unprecedented decision to sell me to the Serpina army.

“It seems we’ve entered without any trouble.”

As I was organizing my thoughts, the woman in front of me turned her head to look at me.

The one who accompanied me on this infiltration was Ioline Al Caskie, who looked exactly like my former roommate at Einhart Castle.

“Thanks to you, we were able to infiltrate safely.”

“Not at all. I only did what I had to do. As a noble of the Al Caskie family, I naturally know methods of disguising one’s identity.”

I wondered what kind of noble family required their daughters to know methods of disguise, but since her help was indeed valuable, I didn’t press the matter further.

Asking Ioline for help was Lady Serpina’s idea. Apparently, she had heard various stories from Irian, who had talent in espionage and infiltrated various places when he first entered service.

It was quite impressive that she remembered what was merely a passing story from one of her vassals…

Anyway, thanks to her efforts, we were able to successfully infiltrate as members of the “Mihail Guild.” The Mihail Guild was one of several guilds backed by the Al Caskie family—moderately sized but not too famous, making it perfectly suitable for hiding.

“Still, thank you. Even though Lady Serpina is the ruler, unlike your other siblings, you’re not officially her vassal. Given that this is an infiltration mission with potential dangers, you could have easily refused.”

I’m sure if she had refused, Serpina wouldn’t have forced her. Despite her public image, Serpina was that kind of woman.

At my words, Ioline shook her head and smiled.

“Not at all! I should help if I can. Especially when it’s a request from you, Lord Swen…! And I’m so happy to be able to spend time with you after so long.”

She said this while slightly blushing and lowering her head, which made me feel somewhat embarrassed and avert my gaze.

Regardless, Ioline continued to chatter cheerfully to me with a bright smile.

“Brother Jenis has long left the mansion, and Brother Irian hasn’t been at the mansion lately either. I’ve been feeling quite lonely by myself… so I’m glad to be of help like this. Thank you for seeking me out.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t me who sought her out but Lady Serpina—

But seeing her eyes sparkle as she spoke, I didn’t feel the need to correct every detail and simply nodded in response.

“Anyway, you must be tired from the long journey… but let’s look around right away. We need to observe quickly and leave as soon as possible.”

“Leave it to me! I’ve been training my stamina since that day…!”

And so, I surveyed the surroundings of Balhart Castle with Ioline and the soldiers.

* * *

What I discovered during the patrol was that the expressions of the territory’s residents were uniformly gloomy.

Of course, there had been a severe plague in the central continent, but Balhart Castle, being relatively to the east of the central region, hadn’t been hit that hard. Even during the war with the Chel army, it hadn’t been directly engulfed in the flames of battle. So why was public sentiment so low?

My pondering didn’t last long.

Before long, I could easily see why things had gotten this bad.

‘That, that is…’

A massive construction site that made me doubt my eyes.

The fact that such a large-scale construction was suddenly taking place in the middle of the capital was an action that could not possibly be related to battle preparations.

Seeing countless residents and soldiers being forced into labor, I could easily sense it.

That Yurie had once again made an unimaginably foolish decision.