Ch.418Chapter 418. Th… This……!

* * *

Garand Continent.

In an era of chaos where countless lords vied for power, there once existed two monarchs under the heavens.

Lunarian Ineanne, a woman of humble origins destined to ultimately devour the continent.

Serpina von Einhart, a woman who possessed every qualification to become a unifying monarch yet was abandoned by fate and could never achieve that position.

A woman who had nothing but her will met a white-haired strategist and reclaimed her destiny.

A woman who had everything yet was fated to atone for sins she never committed met a white-haired strategist and barely escaped from the depths of despair.

The destinies of these two women, bound to run parallel, finally began to intersect because of one man.

* * *

Seated on the throne in the temporary audience chamber of the base camp, Luna felt more excited than ever before.

She couldn’t help it.

She was about to tell Swen, who wanted to take Serpina with him, that Serpina alone could not accompany him!

For someone who had always believed in and followed Swen, this was her first and most ambitious rebellion.

‘Lord Swen…♥’

What expression would Lord Swen make when he saw her resolute stance?

How would Lord Swen, now a fellow monarch, view his former master who was brazenly defying his wishes until the very end?

Luna thought to herself.

Whether this made him hate her, pity her, or try to persuade her somehow—it was clear that any outcome would wound Swen, who was even married to Serpina.

But that didn’t matter. Even if it caused pain, leaving her mark on Lord Swen was an indescribably meaningful act.

Yes.

Right now

I am trying

to inflict pain

‘I’m trying to leave a wound on him…♥♥♥’

That’s why she was excited. Her stomach tingled.

That ‘thing’ which reminded her that she was a woman, not a man, rang incessantly—jing-jing, kung-kung.

Yes.

Even if, like before, Lord Swen were to come in person—

‘Ah… Lord Swen… please forgive me, who tries to hurt you just to gain your attention…♥♥’

“The envoy has arrived.”

Luna’s eyes curved into beautiful crescents, like a half-moon.

“Enter.”

And.

No sooner had her response ended than the door opened—

and she walked in slowly.

* * *

“So… I’ve been thinking about something.”

“Thinking?”

“Would you come closer for a moment?”

Serpina cautiously approached Swen.

And… she listened to his plan.

“I want to send you, Lady Serpina, as an envoy to Lunarian’s army.”

“…!”

Serpina’s eyes visibly turned golden.

Sending her, of all people, to the current Lunarian meant—

* * *

“The envoy has arrived.”

As the voice of Luna’s soldier reached her ears, Serpina tightly closed her eyes.

‘Swen.’

I trust you.

Because I trust you, I can throw even myself into this.

Yet why were her hands trembling?

The one who took her hand when she couldn’t easily move forward was—

“…Irene.”

“Lady Serpina. I am by your side. So please advance without worry.”

It was Irene, accompanying her as a mere escort rather than a warrior.

They already owed each other their lives. The bond that blossomed from that fact enveloped Serpina like a protective shield.

“I understand. I’ll trust you, Irene.”

“Leave it to me. No matter what happens, I will not make my lord… the husband I love most in the world, sad.”

“Enter.”

Just as Irene finished her determined words, a woman’s voice came from beyond the door.

That must be Lunarian Ineanne—the Red-Eyed Dragon of the South who had devoured Karelia and claimed more than half the continent, her husband Swen’s ‘true lord’—

The door opened.

Serpina carefully stepped forward.

* * *

Step, step.

One, two, three, four—

Serpina counted each step as she walked on the temporarily laid carpet.

“…!”

Serpina did not avoid the gaze of her husband’s true lord.

She met the ruby-colored eyes that had turned golden with her own golden eyes.

The ruby emitted an intense red light. The red light pierced her like a galaxy pouring down from the sky. Looking back later, all of this would surely seem like a dream.

In the heart of enemy territory, Serpina was aware of the presence following diagonally behind her. Irene. Swen’s shield, her shield, the one who would become their family’s shield was giving Serpina the courage to move forward.

And, finally—

A few steps ahead, Lunarian was seated.

The first meeting between the two women who once divided the continent.

However.

Now, at least she could not be equal to the being before her.

Monarch and subject. Before this insurmountable difference, Serpina quietly accepted her fate as a subordinate commander by carefully kneeling on one knee and bowing her head.

And.

The words Swen had spoken when he first met her.

Now, to the person who had first made Swen utter those words—

“Greetings, Lady Lunarian. I am Serpina von Einhart, a commander belonging to Swen’s army.”

Little by little, moving her lips.

Breaking the frozen space like striking it with a chisel.

“Today I have come to convey the opinion of our lord, Swen.”

And then, slowly raising her head—

“Lady Lunarian, our side’s—”

—CLANG!!!!

It happened too quickly to explain in words.

Like the moment light penetrates glass and spreads widely.

Like an old man’s wistful reminiscence of a brilliant moment from days long past.

In a moment too brief to perceive—that sound struck Serpina’s ears forcefully.

Serpina regained her composure and assessed the situation.

First, the sound.

For those living in chaotic times, this sound was not unfamiliar. The sound that dominated battlefields. The sound of metal objects clashing and fracturing. To be precise—the sound of swords colliding.

As the auditory puzzle that first stimulated Serpina was solved, her vision quickly grasped the situation.

Her sight provided slightly different information than her hearing. What she saw was—red hair.

The back of the small giant who had protected her, Swen, and countless soldiers.

The back of the woman who had wept while looking at her dying self.

The back of a woman who loved someone like herself filled Serpina’s field of vision.

Yes.

What stood before her eyes was—Irene Juliette.

The scabbard hanging at her waist was empty.

The shield protecting her loved one was, even at this moment, faithfully doing its duty without any rust.

“Please calm yourself, Lady Luna…!”

“…!!!”

Luna carefully pulled back the Adina Sword that had tasted blood many times.

Irene’s legs momentarily trembled as she faced the sword.

Some might claim this disqualified her as a guard, but the very fact that she could block the Red-Eyed Dragon’s sword proved she was already a warrior of considerable skill.

“Serpina… Serpina von Einhart…!!!”

The Red-Eyed Dragon’s eyes were boiling with rage as if they would devour Serpina.

Serpina, as she had done initially, did not avoid those eyes. For the sake of her husband who trusted and asked this of her. For Lunarian, her husband’s true lord.

Luna glared at Serpina as if she would shed tears of blood… and then, she uttered those words.

Words she had endured alone.

Words she thought were too irreverent even to speak.

This wasn’t simply speaking.

Luna spilled the words. Vomited them. Whatever governed her heart and will could not control it.

“You… you…!”

“…”

The monarch of Lunarian’s army, to the former monarch of Serpina’s army.

A girl who lost her sister, to a girl who shared blood with her sister’s enemy.

A person who had a white-haired strategist, to another person who had a white-haired strategist.

And—

“You thieving cat…!!!!”

—the one who was robbed, to the one who took.

* * *

‘…It’s about time.’

Having sent Lady Serpina as an envoy, I sensed it was time for me to step in.

I was still a bit anxious. Anxious, but… I knew I didn’t have the luxury to feel anxious.

For her sake, who trusted me completely despite being hundreds of times more anxious than I was.

For my lord who had believed in my words without doubt since the time I was a rolling stone with no proof, no achievements, and no foundation—

‘Let’s go.’

—this time, I’ll wield the weapon called ‘trust.’

With that thought, I moved toward what might be my final battlefield.