episode_0137

With the cooperation of Chairman Charles and the cooperation of the imperialist and neutral factions, the treaty of alliance with the United Kingdom passed the National Assembly more easily than expected.

“Hehe, Your Majesty the Archduke. I am truly thrilled that two countries that were at odds with each other have formed an alliance like this.”

I say this with a smile as I watch Edward, the ambassador of the United Kingdom, speak with tears in his eyes.

“It’s thanks to the Ambassador’s hard work.”

“Haha, I am honored that you said that. Now shall we begin the signing ceremony?”

At those words, I nod my head, take out a fountain pen, and sign the treaty.

-Sruk… Sruk.

In front of the members of the Imperial Council and Chairman Charles, Edward and I sign, exchange documents, and sign again.

-Sreuk… yourself.

Once the signing ceremony was over, the Empire and the United Kingdom officially became allies.

Edward smiles with satisfaction.

“Now Nicaea is no different from a rat in a poison. With the United Kingdom on the sea and the Empire on the land, what kind of enemy would there be?”

However, on the contrary, the imperial lawmakers do not look so good.

Although they are similar in terms of national power, in terms of national dignity, any country ranks above the empire.

Even though such an empire is said to be in a civil war right now, they probably won’t like this treaty, which seems to be nothing more than a request for help from the United Kingdom.

With that thought in mind, I control my facial expression and speak.

“Yes. First, let’s go to my office for joint operations with the United Kingdom.”

He heads to the imperial palace, almost dragging Edward, who wants to die here.

Inside a running carriage.

“So the fleet has departed?”

Edward nods and says to me.

“Yes. We have been informed that we have now entered the Tiber River.”

I nod my head at those words and get lost in thought.

The Adriatic landings were a relocation? It will start in about a minute.

“That’s a good thing. Roman is almost ready.”

More than 40,000 soldiers gathered in the vicinity of Roman.

In addition, there are 30,000 Grand Duchy troops deployed in Roman, including a giant army.

There was quite a lot of preparation to do as 60,000 people, excluding 10,000 people, boarded the United Kingdom ship this time, but it was almost finished.

“That’s good news. Haha, it feels good to imagine King Ioannes being embarrassed.”

“That goes for me too.”

Fortunately, the trap that had been set for a long time to catch Ioanes was not broken.

Well, if anything, William’s return to Roman means more options.

As I think about that, I imagine the fall of Nicaea and discuss the details.

***

I can’t stay still like this any longer.

Debian is a powerful man, not a loyal servant.

It’s hard to deny that he is clearly an outstanding person for the Empire.

but…

There is something very wrong with what he does.

Justice is important in the politics I grew up hearing about.

However, he is fed up with the behavior that does not pay attention to such things and only cares if the results are good.

To me, the problem is not that he bestowed the emperor’s domain on someone else.

When I first married him.

I admit that our relationship was very strained.

When I think about Debian every night, how much do I want to kill it?

But after that, somehow, we fell in love with each other.

At that time, no matter how much I said, I had a firm belief in him, and although I would have been angry, I would have believed him.

But he hid this until the end.

From what I heard, when Alexander, a member of the Council of Nicaea, publicly declared Yeongji’s engagement to Joy in the National Assembly, the fire broke out and the situation grew so out of control that even Devian could not do anything about it.

His deception does not end here.

After that, in order to somehow prevent them from getting into my ears, they stopped the servants from entering the palace under the pretext of searching for spies, and took the servants who had already left to the training center for security training under the pretext of protecting the royal family.

I don’t know why he wasted so much time…

In the end, he didn’t tell me the truth until the point he wanted to.

It’s as if you can’t trust me.

He says he loves me.

Now I don’t know if he really loves me.

Rather, I think it is right to deceive and say that you love someone.

I tried to appeal to him for love, but he never responded to it.

The same goes for marital relationships.

From what I’ve heard, men are creatures who want to do something when they have a beautiful woman by their side, even if they don’t love them…

He left me alone.

I am also confident about my appearance.

Not my personal opinion. Undeservedly, she was even said to be the most beautiful in the empire, so she must have been beautiful in his eyes as well.

He left me alone as if it was nothing at all.

For a long time.

Does he even love me?

No, then there is no way you can avoid a relationship with me like that.

What am I to him?

What crosses my mind is… isn’t I just a means of maintaining power for him?

He hates me and hates me on the inside, but isn’t he just not showing it and not having sex in order to maintain power?

That thought brings tears to my eyes.

It makes me think that his kind words and actions when he said he loved me were actually lies to maintain power.

If you’re going to be like this, why did you say that to me? If you’re going to do this, why did you do that to me?

There are degrees of playing with people’s hearts.

You are the devil… a devil who plays with people’s hearts and laughs.

I used to share a bed alone, but now I lay down in a bed I shared with him, and I close my eyes and get lost in thought.

To be honest, I still love him, or rather, I should say that I still have feelings for him.

There is no way the feeling of love will disappear in an instant.

I felt excited just by him looking at me.

I was happy just for him to talk to me.

Every moment I was with him was happy.

However, the feeling of love did not disappear, but another feeling grew within me.

A seed of hatred took root in my heart.

Little by little, the seed peels away and takes root in my heart.

I hate him.

I hate him so much.

He doesn’t trust me.

He doesn’t love me.

He is the one who deceives me.

I really hate it so much.

But I love him.

I don’t know why I’m doing this either.

But one thing is certain: we cannot leave all political affairs to him like we do now.

Because I don’t trust him either.

In the current situation where we don’t know what his intentions are, we can’t entrust everything about the empire to him.

To put it bluntly, if he is a demon worshiper, it may lead to the resurrection of the demon king.

So… first, we will take all of his power back.

Then, if I hate him, I’ll kill him, and if I still like him… I don’t know then.

“So I can’t just cry like this…”

So I fulfilled my duty.

Wiping away the dried tears, I get up from the bed and head to the bathtub.

***

Ioannes, Alexander, Sabinelli and several other military officers are in the tent.

Everyone gathered here looks at the large war map and ponders it.

They each look at the map and ponder their thoughts.

“The defense is thicker than I thought.”

Currently, they have not been able to take a single fortress from the Kingdom of Eren or the Kingdom of Bohemi from the Duchy of Dupol.

In a way, it is natural.

This is a front line deployed by removing the troops from Boheme and the plains of Jarl, so it is only natural.

Ioanes, who has a time limit in this situation, feels anxious.

He heard that mercenaries have departed from Babylon, but he needs to make the most of it before then, but at the moment, he is only wasting time, so Johannes can’t help but feel anxious.

“What should I do?”

First, I want to quickly target Kancho, the center of the front line, but it is difficult to penetrate easily because it is the thickest area.

Savinelli, seeing the overall situation, speaks with a smile on his face.

“Hmm… Excuse me, Your Majesty Ioanes, but where is the enemy’s supply warehouse?”

“It’s probably in Kancho.”

Since Cancho is the hub that supplies supplies to the fortresses, it is probably natural. Savinelli is already nodding.

“I also think the same way. We are currently building a large army, so supply is not smooth. Probably the same goes for the enemies. In this case, it seems better to surround Kancho, prevent it from supplying supplies nearby, and block each major fortress.”

Alexander frowns slightly at those words.

“If you just surround Kancho, it will be too time consuming. Also, relief troops will definitely come from other fortresses. Rather, target the weakly defended Valencian fortress first.”

Savinelli says those words with a smile.

“If you are foolish enough to send a rescue soldier, it would be better.”

Savinelli’s hand circles over the four forts around Cancho drawn on the map.

“All of these places are not far away, but if you occupy this hill, you can easily notice the enemy’s movements. So, if you leave your troops here and defeat them when the relief troops leave, the fortress’ defense will be weakened accordingly. If rescue soldiers do not come, you may end up in big trouble if you rush in.”

Ioanes thinks that what Savinelli says makes sense.

‘We cannot ignore the enemy’s fortress and enter Bohemian right now. However, if the capture of Kancho is delayed and time is delayed, it is dangerous.’

“First of all, let’s do as Savinelli says this time. General Bernstein: Listen, I will give you 30,000 soldiers. Surround Kancho and have them consumed by the relief soldiers who are trying to save them.”

When Ioannes gives an order to the blue-haired man, the man kneels down on one knee and speaks.

“I accept orders.”

“Your Majesty, in this operation, not only General Bernstein, but I also want to go personally.”

Ioanes speaks with a puzzled look at Savinelli’s words.

“Are you talking about this? But you…”

Ioanes, who has always cared for Savinelli, feels uncomfortable letting Sabinelli go, but on the other hand, understands his desire to make a contribution.

‘Sabinelli would also like to establish military merit. If he is wise and sharp, I can leave him in charge, but…’

“This is the strategy I came up with. majesty! I hope you can give me credit too.”

Looking at Savinelli who got up from his seat and lowered his head, Ioanes spoke as if complaining.

“You say you want to go, how can I stop you? Obey the orders of Count Bernstein Savinelli.”

“Yes! I will follow your orders.”

After giving that order, Ioannes looks at Alexander and says:

“Okay, is there any new information?”

“General Agrippa, who is currently a person of note to the enemy, is preparing for war in the Grand Duchy and has not made any moves yet.”

Savinelli answers those words.

“That’s strange…”

Alexander also agrees with Savinelli’s muttering.

“That’s right. Clearly, the general who turned the war around in a single turn in the anti-imperialist civil war is at the rear of this war… There must be something.”

‘Savinelli and Alexander are quite right in their concerns.’

No matter what anyone says, if one were to pick the greatest general of the Grand Duchy, it would be Agrippa.

“Then, has there been any information from spies about why he isn’t moving?”

Alexander sweats slightly at those words.

“There is currently no information received, but… judging from the fact that they are transporting an unusually large amount of military supplies to the port, it seems that they are planning to pass through Roman and come to Dupol, or go around the Lloren Mountains and join the Dupol front.”

The opinion presented by Alexander is an extremely standard move, so Alexander, seeing that no one is questioning it, speaks cautiously.

“Hmm… It will take about a month to pass through the Lloren Mountains and come to Daegun.”

The room becomes quiet at Alexander’s words.

They will know that it has to be that way.

If we can’t conquer Bohemia within a month, we have no choice but to lose this war.

“One month… Once the mercenaries pass the Jarl Plain, there will be enough time to occupy Bohemi.”

Everyone nods their heads heavily at Ioanes’ words.