Ch.402Chapter 402. The Most Efficient Method / Serpina

“Swen…?”

Serpina’s dazed voice called out to me.

Yes.

I slowly wiped away my tears, then approached her.

“Serpina. …From now on, there’s something I must tell you.”

“…What is it?”

“The story might be a bit long.”

“That’s fine.”

‘….’

This might be truly too harsh a story for her—

But at this point, if I deceived her even slightly, my entire plan could collapse.

It’s okay. She’ll be able to overcome this… Thinking that, I carefully began to speak.

“Serpina. You know well now that you cannot become the Unification Monarch, right?”

“…Yes.”

“And the person who will become the Unification Monarch… Yes. It’s Lady Luna. It has been from the very beginning.”

“From the beginning?”

“Yes. Since I first met Lady Luna.”

“…!!!!!!”

Serpina couldn’t hide her surprise and spoke with trembling eyes.

“First… met…?”

“Yes. When her territory was just Zeilant Castle. Before I even defected to the Brans army, when I first met her as the ruler of a small nation.”

“Since then… there has been a ‘Mind’s Eye prediction’ that has never changed even once.”

“That prediction was… that Lunarian would be the one to become the Unification Monarch.”

Starting with that—

I explained to her the essence of everything I had experienced until now.

From the moment I realized Luna would become the Unification Monarch and entered her service, miracles seemed to unfold as if the world was desperately trying to support Luna.

After defecting to the Brans army, betraying Lynn to switch allegiance to the Aeshus army, being abandoned by Yurie and coming to Serpina’s side.

Until the moment when the numerous flags of lords that had dominated the continent disappeared, and finally the continent was divided into two massive nations—the Lunarian army and the Serpina army—

Not once.

The prediction that ‘Lunarian Ineanne can become the Unification Monarch’ had never changed.

“…Is that really true?”

“Yes.”

“Then… what? What have we been… doing all this time…? What were all the lords fighting for…?”

“…It must be hard to accept. But it’s the truth. My Mind’s Eye… is never wrong.”

She would know better than I did that my words were never wrong.

“Then… even though I’ve been following your advice all this time, the reason I’m still losing is because Lunarian has been destined to be the Unification Monarch from long ago?”

“That’s right.”

“How can that be…?”

What must it feel like to learn that everything you’ve struggled for has been meaningless?

It must be a devastatingly miserable feeling that I dare not comment on.

Serpina sighed deeply several times… then looked at me with sorrowful eyes and said:

“So, not once has my fate ever changed.”

“Yes, that’s right. As long as Luna can become the Unification Monarch… you, Serpina, can never become the Unification Monarch.”

“Then… why did you stay by my side instead of leaving earlier?”

“…”

I lowered my head.

Yes.

I should tell the truth.

And convey my sincere feelings.

It will be okay.

Comforting myself with those thoughts… I revealed the cruel truth.

“Because the condition for Lunarian to become the Unification Monarch… was you, Serpina.”

“What…?”

“As long as the ruler of the Serpina army is Serpina von Einhart, Lady Lunarian’s destiny to become the Unification Monarch will not change.”

And that was the answer provided by the ‘Mind’s Eye.’

“So… I stayed here. To save you, Serpina. To allow my lord Luna, who promised to give me the world, to grasp it.”

“…”

Surprisingly, Serpina didn’t seem particularly shocked this time.

It seemed she had already vaguely read all my thoughts in her mind.

“I see. So that’s what it meant when you stayed by my side despite having a true lord…”

“…I’m sorry.”

“To me?”

“Yes. Just… sorry.”

In the end.

I apologized because I thought she would fall into great despair upon learning that I had stayed by her side not for her sake but for Luna’s.

Surprisingly, Serpina smiled warmly at me as if she didn’t mind at all.

“No. Swen, you stayed by my side until the very end.”

“That’s…”

“If you were truly only staying by my side for Lunarian’s unification, you would have had plenty of opportunities to leave. For instance, when I appointed Irene as a corps commander.”

“I believe… that actions, not words, show a person’s attitude. So, you don’t need to apologize.”

Then did she try to drive me out of this country for my sake despite knowing this?

Is this another aspect that makes her so characteristically Serpina?

Anyway.

Having successfully conveyed the cruel truth… it was now time to convey my sincere feelings.

“Serpina. I cannot give you the world.”

“…I know. And I understand. Even you, Swen, cannot overcome fate.”

“No.”

I shook my head vigorously.

“Think about what I just told you.”

“Hmm? …Ah.”

Just before.

I had asked her to ‘decide to pass the throne to me.’

And.

At the same time… Serpina, who had been maintaining her composure, spoke again with a suddenly trembling voice.

“Could it be…”

“Yes.”

The only way to twist the fate of the Unified Empire.

For her to step down from the position of ruler of the Serpina army.

And.

The moment the ruler of the Serpina army changes—the fate of the Unified Empire changes.

And, as if she had cleverly noticed what I was trying to say… she looked at me with pale eyes and said:

“If I step down from the position of ruler…”

“Yes. It changes. The fate that seemed impossible for us to change… can be changed.”

Thump, thump.

I feel my heart beating incessantly.

The beating of my heart means I am alive.

I confess in this moment: since being reincarnated into this world, I have never been so vividly aware of being alive as I am right now.

For Serpina’s sake.

For my wife Irene, and for Reika who is to be my wife.

For this world where I am living vividly, not just a world inside a game—

—To save my beloved Serpina, and to keep my promise as a retainer to Lady Lunarian.

“Serpina. I just told you that I cannot give you the world, right? But instead, though it may not be much of a substitute, there is something I can give you.”

“To me…?”

Even if.

The truth contained in the unavoidable fate given to her is cruel.

Believing that I can overcome it not with the predetermined fate predicted by Intelligence 100, but with my own sincere ‘heart’…

With such thoughts, to her whose eyes were filled with me:

“I’ll give you myself.”

“!!!”

“Serpina. I’ll give you… me, Swen. Even if I can’t give you the world, I can give you all of myself.”

I revealed my sincere feelings, created not by Intelligence 100’s predictions but by my own heart.

“Marry me, Serpina.”

* * *

“…!!!!”

With a start!

Luna, who had been in bed, got up with a pale face and looked around.

…A dream?

Though she couldn’t remember clearly, she felt as if she had had a terribly frightening dream.

For the past few days, she had been unable to sleep properly.

It could be due to the ongoing war… but the main reason was that she couldn’t stop thinking about what Ginor had said.

‘Lord Swen…’

Recently.

According to Violet and Francis, Swen still seemed to have feelings for our army.

But… it was strange. If so, why didn’t he come?

Wouldn’t everything be resolved if he just came?

Serpina isn’t evil? She wasn’t directly responsible for the tragedy?

Why does that even matter?

In the end, she was the greatest beneficiary of the historic tragedy that occurred in the Einhart family, and it was also a fact that she had brazenly declared “I did it” and made provocative statements toward the lords.

How could Swen possibly need to stay there just because she was an innocent person?

‘….’

Luna pondered slowly.

There was only one.

Only one possibility.

That Lord Swen, beyond pitying Serpina and feeling sympathy for her, harbored even deeper feelings—

—Crash!

The sound of a breaking cup brought Luna back to her senses.

…It seemed she had unconsciously picked up and thrown a cup that was on the table.

‘…Stay calm, I need to stay calm…’

Other women… don’t matter.

She never even thought of monopolizing Lord Swen.

Lord Swen was an extraordinary person. She sincerely believed he had the right to have a woman or two, including Irene whom she had met before.

But, anyone else might be fine, but absolutely not Serpina.

Right now, at this very moment, he’s by Serpina’s side, not mine.

My strategist who should have chosen me long ago is serving as Serpina’s strategist, and comes to me saying things like ‘our lord Serpina’—

How could I just let that go?

I absolutely cannot.

Serpina alone… I absolutely cannot accept…!

—Clench!

Luna clenched her fist tightly.

With just that, the room began to fill with killing intent.

This was not a rational feeling.

It wasn’t simple revenge either. It was a much more sticky, gloomy, and intimate emotion.

Jealousy.

Lunarian was intensely jealous of Serpina.

She was intensely jealous of the woman who had made the strategist she couldn’t keep stay by her side of his own accord.

That was the fundamental reason why she unconsciously could never accept Serpina.

If someone were to come now, they would be greatly surprised by the killing intent, so she tried to regain her composure when—

“My lord!”

“…!”

Luna immediately erased her killing intent.

Then, with the most peaceful expression possible, as if nothing had happened… she smiled kindly at the soldier who had come here after opening the door.

“What is it? Perhaps the enemy troops have advanced?”

…That doesn’t seem to be the case since there’s no red armband.

“No… it seems there’s been a major change in the Serpina army, so I came to inform you.”

“A major change?”

Could there be another internal rebellion?

That would be fortunate. If I deploy troops immediately and safely retrieve my Lord Swen— as she was thinking:

“It seems… Serpina herself recently gave a speech, and in it, she apparently expressed her intention to abdicate.”

“…What? Abdicate, what do you mean…?”

“I don’t know the details either… but specifically, she officially announced that she would transfer her throne to her husband and step back from the front lines to do her duty as a general of the new nation.”

What?

Transfer the throne?

—Wait.

Thump, thump.

Her heart.

Her heart began to beat wildly.

Like it was broken. Like it was about to burst.

Her spine felt not just chilled but as if it had been pulled out.

The throne…

To whom did she transfer it…?

Husband…?

Husband means… that, right?

It means she got married, right?

Well, it doesn’t matter who she transferred the throne to, right?

Nothing has changed. If anything, the name of the country will change from the Serpina army to the name of this husband character.

But why?

But why… am I sweating so much?

But why am I so anxious?

It’s okay.

It doesn’t matter who she marries.

Yes. It can’t be. It’s because of that strange dream. Because of the nightmare.

“My… my lord…?”

“Who is it?”

“Who… will inherit the throne?”

Looking at the soldier who was startled by the sudden killing intent, Luna smiled kindly again.

That smile. The kind smile of a wise ruler that boosts the morale of soldiers, qualitatively different from the tyrant Serpina.

The soldier naturally wiped away his cold sweat, thinking he might have misunderstood something, and said:

“Well, he’s already a famous person. A man who has served under her many times.”

And.

The soldier, in a matter-of-fact dry voice, muttered the name of the person who had inherited the throne of the Serpina army.

Luna listens blankly.

She listens.

She listenslistenslistenslistenslistens.

The name of the one who contributed at Serpina’s side.

The name of the one who always protected her.

The real power behind the Serpina army, with the great mage Reika and corps commander Irene on either flank.

That name.

Name, name, name, name, name.

Name name name name □■ name name na

me na■ □■ name name na□ ■me

name □■ name □■ name name □■

name name name na□ ■me name

name na□ ■me name name

□■name□■na□■menamenaname□■me

A buzzing noise rings in her ears.

A zzzzzzing sound scrapes inside Luna’s head.

The name of the one who inherited the throne—the name of Serpina’s husband—

The new name of the Serpina army——

———Luna’s world crumbles.