Ch.659Tension Between Two Women

======[ Meiharin ]======

“Meiharin. According to recent rumors I’ve heard, someone has ordered the Blue Banner Army, which was clearing the eastern part of the Barun River, to return to Ordos… Have you heard anything about this?”

Biyashen, who had invited Meiharin to her tea room, put down her teacup and spoke in an admonishing tone.

As Orhan’s first wife and the First Empress of Aishan, Biyashen was a woman in her late forties approaching fifty, yet she still maintained her undiminished beauty.

Her upswept hair, though slightly faded in color, remained as smooth and elegant as silk, and her stern yet melancholic face was without a single blemish.

Though she couldn’t completely halt the passage of time, as evidenced by the faint wrinkles beneath her eyes, aside from that, no one would guess she was forty-nine years old.

The Second Empress, Meiharin, disliked this fact.

Unlike herself, who spared no effort to maintain her beauty, Biyashen preserved her youthful appearance without special care, and this seemed to mock Meiharin.

In truth, Biyashen’s appearance wasn’t the only thing that displeased her.

The natural dignity permeating Biyashen’s every gesture, her roundabout way of speaking, and Meiharin’s own position requiring her to show respect to this unpleasant woman—she disliked it all.

It was close to the envy a duck with painted white feathers might feel toward a swan.

Thus, Meiharin’s response carried a subtle edge.

“You seem to know without asking. Yes, I ordered it.”

Meiharin gently curved her narrow eyes and slightly raised the corners of her mouth. It was a smile like that of a snake.

“Moving troops without the Kagan’s approval—such recklessness mistaken for boldness reminds me of someone. I wonder if that child is doing well.”

Biyashen slightly narrowed her eyes as she brought up Amin.

It was a clear rebuke and threat. A suggestion that when Orhan returned, could she bear the responsibility for recalling the Blue Banner Army without permission.

Meiharin, maintaining her smile, slightly parted her lips to take a sip of tea before setting it down.

‘No poison in it.’

Meiharin’s smile deepened.

‘Well, a woman who considers maintaining Aishan’s order and laws as her mission couldn’t poison me within the palace. Would such a thought even occur to her?’

After pausing momentarily as if enjoying the tea’s fragrance while actually checking for poison, Meiharin spoke again.

“I’m different from Amin. That child foolishly went against our husband’s wishes and hindered him, but I’m calling back the Blue Banner Army to protect Ordos and ensure our husband on expedition has nothing to worry about.”

That was her justification, at least.

“I too have sharp ears for rumors, and lately I’ve heard the atmosphere among the conquered tribes is unsettling. Suppressing them before they fall into delusion and cause disturbances is precisely following our husband’s order to stabilize the Great Plains, don’t you think?”

“A wife’s virtue is to trust her husband.”

An unexpected response. Meiharin slightly twitched her narrowly opened eyes.

‘What is she saying now?’

After a moment’s consideration, Meiharin finally understood Biyashen’s meaning.

Despite the presence of the Ordos garrison troops left by Orhan, calling in the Blue Banner Army suggested that Meiharin’s stated justification was mere self-rationalization, and furthermore, an action that showed distrust in Orhan’s judgment.

‘Unnecessarily speaking in riddles…!’

Clicking her tongue quietly enough that Biyashen couldn’t hear, Meiharin tilted her head slightly at an angle and replied.

“Well… I hear he lost an arm to a notorious patricide and was defeated. Wouldn’t he welcome having thousands of reserve troops nearby?”

With thousands of Blue Banner troops, they could stabilize the unsettled atmosphere in Ordos after the defeat, and perhaps even test the Wall’s defenses after the Imperial Army pursued Aishan’s main force and left it vulnerable.

Wouldn’t Orhan be more satisfied having such forces stationed in Ordos, ready for immediate deployment if needed, rather than wandering far east beyond the Barun River?

“That woman, that woman always causes problems… Her mother was the same.”

Biyashen sighed faintly while handling her teacup. It was an unusually direct tone for her. Imelia and Haschal—those two were beings that made even Biyashen lose her composure.

Not because of the jealousy of a first wife who lost her husband’s affection, but because she believed those women had clipped Orhan’s wings.

The sword named Imelia had softened Orhan’s strength, transforming the wolf of the plains who burned with rage and ambition into a mere ordinary man.

And the sword that woman had forged in her womb, Haschal… was a sharp weapon capable of piercing the heart of Aishan itself.

For Biyashen, they were women she could never view favorably.

“What happens once can happen again. The myth of Unyielding Flesh is now a thing of the past. If by chance Aishan’s main forces are defeated again… the conquered tribes won’t hesitate to rise up.”

Looking at Biyashen, who was uncharacteristically displaying her hatred and contempt openly, Meiharin smiled with satisfaction at having disturbed her composure.

“Who the tribes that rebel against a weakened Kagan will target first… I don’t need to tell you, do I?”

Even without Meiharin’s explanation, Biyashen knew well.

If the khans of other tribes dared to rebel, it would mean Orhan had fallen and Aishan’s main warriors had suffered near-annihilation.

In such a situation, the tribal khans would primarily target Ordos, the capital of Aishan, and the Kagan’s wives. Once they claimed those two prizes, they could assert that they had succeeded and absorbed Aishan.

In other words, Meiharin was essentially saying that she was calling the Blue Banner Army to protect both of them, so Biyashen should keep quiet.

“Such a confident smile. Dahamei always smiled like that too. Though she rarely smiled after her remarriage.”

“Indeed. With so many guests attending that wedding, I wonder why. I hope you’ll teach me someday, Lady Biyashen.”

“……”

“Well then, I should take my leave. I feel ashamed for taking up too much of your precious time, Lady Biyashen.”

Having returned threat for threat, Meiharin rose from her seat without erasing the smile from her face.

Meeting with Biyashen usually gave her nothing but displeasure, but this encounter had provided her with a satisfaction as sweet as fruit preserved in honey.

Knowing that with the Blue Banner Army’s return confirmed, all Biyashen could do was bark.

‘The command of the Blue Banner Army belongs to Sahakal, and with Orhan and Targiyan invading Dane, they have no way to intervene in matters here for the time being. If Orhan perishes or mutually destroys himself with the Empire, your future will be nothing but barking like a dog until you become one. You’d better pray hard for Orhan to return victorious.’

Meiharin smiled.

It was an ominous smile, like that of a snake.

======[ Haschal ]======

During our march toward the Dane border region, alternating between marching and camping, I spent all my free time training.

Not by building strength through repetitive lifting of boulders like Nigel’s crude method, nor by honing skills through repeated sparring like Joshua, Frederick, and Heinrich.

My training was much more static compared to theirs. To others, it might have looked like I was just staring blankly while holding a sword.

– CRACK!

A sharp explosive sound. The blade of the black iron sword in my grip shattered into pieces. Dark metal fragments flew in all directions.

Ah, I did it again.

I clicked my tongue, tossed aside the sword handle that was all that remained, and drew a new black iron sword. Since I had anticipated the sword breaking, I still had seven spare black iron swords left.

Originally there were twenty, and thirteen of them had already become fragments piled like caltrops on the ground.

“Oh my, another one broken…”

Leonore, who was taking a break and watching me, wiped the beads of sweat from her neck with a cloth and sighed.

“Young lady, you’ve broken nearly a hundred black iron swords now, and do you know how much that costs… If you’re going to break them anyway, wouldn’t it be better to practice with steel swords? The quartermaster’s complexion has been turning the same color as those swords lately.”

“Those won’t work for practice.”

I answered while summoning the lightning of Karma of Murder to the newly drawn black iron sword.

With a crackling sound, crimson thorns leapt up and danced along the blade.

Hwibuk. A technique of Karma of Murder where the lightning penetrates what is cut by the sword, tearing the inside to shreds.

This part was perfect… but what came next was the problem.

I took a deep breath and concentrated all my nerves on the blade, attempting to create new lightning by overlaying the power of Karma on the deployed Hwibuk.

– CRACKLE…!

As new lightning was added to the lightning already raging on the blade, mixing—

– CREEEEAK!

No, rather than mixing, they tore at each other and scattered.

Instead of the overlapping forces blending to become a stronger power, they attacked each other, offsetting and exploding, leaving only massive strain on the blade.

– CRACK!

Predictably, the black iron blade couldn’t withstand the shock and shattered.

‘This isn’t easy…’

[Simply layering them doesn’t stabilize anything. You need to layer at least three Hwibuks on top of each other and suppress them to maintain balance without offsetting or rupturing while they collide with each other. How could that be easy?]

Hersella, who had awakened quietly yesterday, offered unhelpful advice while clicking her tongue.

Easy to say, but overlaying Hwibuk felt about as difficult as grafting three rabid dogs together and making them play train.

It wasn’t a technique I could master with just a few days of practice.

Besides, even the black iron sword couldn’t perfectly withstand the strain of just two layers of Hwibuk.

…It seemed today’s training would also end without significant progress.