Ch.395Chapter 395. Reunion (1)

Silin.

She was a woman with whom I had a strangely shallow yet deep connection.

Our first meeting took place when I was stationed at Brans Army.

Somehow we were both assigned to the northern fortress under Irene’s leadership, then parted ways when she went to Aeshus Army…

When I joined Serpina’s army, she said she met Irene again.

She was truly a person whose relationship with me could only be described as “shallow yet deep.”

“Silin… Did she have a connection with you?”

“Yes.”

After I briefly explained the chronicle of our relationship, Serpina chuckled with interest.

“How amusing, Swen.”

“I also think it’s quite an interesting connection.”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

Serpina looked into my eyes and drew an elegant arc with her eye.

“You have so many connections with young women… That’s what I was thinking.”

“…Pardon?”

“Swen. You truly are a sinful man. I don’t think it’s just my imagination that four wives wouldn’t be enough to satisfy you.”

“…With all due respect, there’s nothing special between Lady Silin and me.”

“Whether she thinks the same way is another matter. Hohoho…”

After laughing briefly, Serpina suddenly adopted a very serious demeanor—

“I understand. I’ll proceed with prisoner negotiations immediately. While we’re at it, I think we can bargain for two people including Silin. …Though I’m not sure if they’ll agree.”

“We have prisoners on our side too, so our cards should be good.”

The problem was that we only had three prisoners from Lunarian’s army.

Perhaps Lady Serpina specifically mentioned three people because she knew this.

I considered using money, but due to the ongoing battles, our military funds weren’t exactly abundant.

“Prisoner negotiations for three people including Silin. Swen, you’ll be the envoy. Is that acceptable?”

‘….’

I casually entered a question into my mind.

‘Will this prisoner negotiation succeed?’

[It will succeed, but it won’t be very meaningful.]

‘….’

Intelligence 100 seemed to be betting everything on Lunarian.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so adamantly negative about Serpina’s army.

“Yes. I’ll do it.”

“Good. I’ll assign Irene and Reika as your armed escorts.”

“…Is that alright? I’m concerned about weakening our forces around the border.”

“The loss would be greater if I assigned inadequate personnel and lost you.”

…I see.

From my perspective, I was simply going to meet Lady Luna, but objectively speaking, this situation—venturing into the heart of enemy territory—was indeed dangerous.

“Understood.”

“I look forward to good news, Swen.”

After paying my respects to Lady Serpina and leaving the palace—

The evening sunset was already sinking toward the ground.

‘….’

When was the last time I met Lady Luna?

It felt like such a distant past that I could barely remember it now.

So much had happened since then.

Meeting Irene under Lynn, meeting Reika under Yurie.

Meeting Lady Serpina, feeling a fierce attraction to that tyrant… and confirming our feelings for each other.

Based on Intelligence 100’s predictions, Lady Serpina could never defeat Lady Luna no matter what.

If the war continued like this, Serpina’s army would eventually be destroyed—

And Lady Luna, who hated Serpina, would never forgive her.

So—

‘I have to step in.’

I had no intention of going against the fate of continental unification.

From the beginning, I promised Luna that if she trusted me, I would give her the world.

And she—based on various circumstantial evidence—still seemed to trust me.

What I wanted was to clear up misunderstandings and ensure Serpina would be treated leniently. That was all.

‘Let’s prepare.’

I slowly walked away.

Soon, I would meet the first monarch who had ever recommended me…

My heart was pounding at the thought of meeting someone I hadn’t faced even once during all this time.

This wasn’t excitement about meeting someone after a long time…

Fear.

This was fear.

For some reason, a chilling sensation ran down my spine.

‘…It’s okay. It’ll be fine. Nothing bad will happen. We can resolve everything through conversation. That’s the kind of person Lady Luna is…’

I reassured myself as I returned to my quarters.

It seemed tonight would be a long night.

* * *

Haizel Castle, located near the border of Serpina’s army.

This place, situated above Anel Castle, had recently lowered its yellow flag and now flew a bright light green flag after the recent battle.

And here, Monarch Lunarian had taken up position.

Unlike other monarchs who remained seated in their capital cities, she always stood at the forefront of battle—

Naturally, her location was always the castle closest to the border.

“My lord. A message from Raclaine Castle. They’ve completed conscription and secured 80,000 troops.”

Luna slowly nodded at Ginor’s words.

“Order them to begin training. Make sure the castle lord—”

“It’s Aski Hesna.”

“Right. We sent Lord Hesna… I got confused for a moment since we’ve appointed so many new castle lords.”

“Not at all. It’s understandable that you’d be overwhelmed, my lord. I understand.”

Lunarian’s army had been engaged in back-and-forth battles with Serpina’s army.

Of course, that was just a figure of speech—the overall advantage and momentum belonged entirely to Lunarian’s army.

Indeed.

Serpina’s army was more powerful than any country they had faced before.

Though it was said that all the outstanding generals had died through dozens of rebellions… she had an enormous number of troops based in the northern continent—

And the most crucial element determining the outcome of war was troop numbers.

While Lunarian’s army had also secured a massive force of 300,000 by swallowing the entire Ohana army, they didn’t have an overwhelming numerical advantage over Serpina’s army—

Naturally, the battles between the two countries took the form of “slightly insufficient troops + excellent generals” VS “large army + new generals.”

And, at least until now, Lunarian’s army was winning by decision. They might have lost battles that didn’t affect the overall situation, but they had been consistently victorious in crucial battles that needed to be won.

Of course, in such a situation—

She could have shown some confidence as a monarch.

But Luna, far from being confident, only sighed deeply every day.

‘Still no news from Lord Swen.’

There had been no contact from him since his last letter.

At first, she considered sending a letter herself, but worried that correspondence from an enemy monarch might negatively affect him.

Of course, the fact that Swen had sent letters here first meant he was somewhat free from such concerns—

But there was certainly a significant difference between “sending” to an enemy monarch and “receiving” from one.

Additionally, Luna’s desire not to cause any trouble for Swen repeatedly thwarted her attempts to send a letter first.

‘If we continue fighting… will I be able to meet him?’

But if they met then, wouldn’t he ultimately be meeting her as a prisoner?

In fact, that was what Luna feared most.

If their reunion took the form of Swen being captured as a prisoner… she would have to acknowledge the truth she had been trying not to think about—that “Swen has no intention of leaving Serpina’s army.”

All she wanted was for Swen to come down as soon as possible.

Whether it was Irene or anyone else, it didn’t matter. If he brought all the people he cherished, Luna was prepared to give him unprecedented hospitality.

She knew this could provoke resentment from many people.

But.

Considering how the Lunarian army came to exist.

Considering how she was still alive—wasn’t it only natural to treat Swen specially?

Honestly, she didn’t care if her subordinates’ morale dropped in the process.

Furthermore, if anyone expressed excessive dissatisfaction and disparaged Swen—Luna was even thinking of exiling them on the spot.

No matter if they were her own generals, she could never forgive anyone who insulted Swen. Replacing execution with exile was, from Luna’s perspective, an extremely merciful treatment.

So.

If only Lord Swen would come down.

She could accelerate this battle.

She could proudly put his name in the vacant position of national strategist…

* * *

How many days had passed with such thoughts?

“My lord.”

A soldier approached Luna and knelt.

“What is it?”

“An envoy from Serpina’s army has arrived.”

“What? An envoy? From Serpina…?”

Luna turned to look at Ginor.

“I suspect they’ve come to negotiate for prisoners. There’s nothing else particularly to discuss.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. What I don’t understand is… whether they have prisoners they want back so badly.”

Ginor stroked his beard, then slowly nodded.

“Well, I suppose every single person counts in their situation. What will you do?”

No matter what, even if they were Serpina’s envoy—they were simply carrying out Serpina’s orders.

As much as she wanted to turn them away without meeting them, she understood intellectually that there was no need to go that far.

“Very well. Let them in.”

“Yes!”

A few minutes passed.

Someone steps onto the red carpet of Haizel Castle.

And——

“———!!!!!!!!!!!!”

——Fate arrived, so suddenly, so casually.

At least two people here could sense that fact.

“Y-you…!!!!”

Ginor beside her was the first to react.

This man who rarely showed surprise was now pale-faced and unable to close his mouth.

Luna… was still frozen, unable to say anything. It was as if time, as if the world, had stopped.

But.

The approaching man proved that this world had never stopped for even a moment.

Step, step, step, step.

The man’s footsteps filled the silent palace.

The man’s hair was white. A snow-white head uncommon for someone his age.

The cape he wore bore a distinct emblem. The emblem of the Einhart Imperial Family, symbolizing Serpina’s army.

And this man was… someone Luna knew all too well.

The very man Luna had been longing for.

“Ah… ah.”

From Luna’s lips, a small moan literally escaped.

It wasn’t spoken, but leaked out. The situation was so shocking that she couldn’t even properly form a sentence.

The white-haired man, as if anticipating all this…

Simply knelt quietly and said:

“…I present my greetings, Lady Lunarian.”

He quietly recited the line that any envoy would naturally speak.

“Today I’ve come to deliver a message from our monarch, Lady Serpina.”