by Ryota Hori
Abandon them and run on my own? What would that give me? I doubt Tarja would even give me refuge in that case...
The only reason the kingdom of Tarja would give him asylum was because his wife was daughter to a family of Tarjan nobles. If he were to abandon his wife and flee, her family would never forgive him. Self-preservation bound his body. No matter which choice he made, they would all lead him to doom.
“Cast aside your weapons, General Albrecht!” One of the knights stepped forward. “Do so, or choose death!”
General Albrecht’s hesitation gave Helena’s knights the chance to surround him, rendering his situation completely hopeless.
Dammit!
The knights stood in his way to the forest, and it didn’t seem he’d be capable of breaking through. Any chance he had to either save his family or flee to safety has passed him by.
“What will you do? Will you stand by and watch us behead your wife and daughter?!”
Heartless words were once again thrust at General Albrecht. His wife and daughter had their hands pinned behind their backs, with swords aimed in their direction.
“Beloved...”
“Father...”
Both of their eyes appealed to him as a husband and father. This battle was already all but decided.
Making a riot here would give me nothing. Any attempt to resist would just give them an excuse to execute us. Vindication... So long as I get a chance to clear my name, I can manage something! If nothing else, Lupis won’t execute my wife and daughter!
Albrecht threw his sword to the ground.
“Very well.” Albrecht squeezed the words out from the bottom of his heart. “I... I submit.”
But as he said those words, his mind clung to his one remaining hope.
“Very good!” The knights gave a slight nod and raised their hands.
Several knights swiftly pounced on General Albrecht, and bound his hands with chains.
“““Ooooooooh!”””
“““We caught them! We have them!”””
The cheers echoed through the forest. Everyone raised their swords in the air in celebration.
“It’s finally over! A new age for the Kingdom of Rhoadseria begins!”
“Glory to Her Highness! Eternal prosperity to the Kingdom of Rhoadseria!”
The knights raised their voices in enthusiastic cheers.
“What will become of me now?” General Albrecht asked a nearby knight. “Where will my trial be held? Do you guarantee my safety until the verdict is handed down?”
“A trial?” the knight replied with a chillingly cold glare. “You think you’re in a position to demand a trial?”
“What? What are you saying?!” General Albrecht forgot he had just been arrested and tried to grab the knight. “I surrendered! I have a right to a fair trial!”
He only surrendered because he thought doing so would make Princess Lupis put him on trial. He wouldn’t be killed with no questions asked, and his safety would be guaranteed until the trial is decided. He counted on the princess’s kindness and gullibility, believing that, if nothing else, at least his family would be spared.
But this was all completely overturned.
“What is the meaning of this?! Did the princess— did Princess Lupis order this?!”
If that was the case, then General Albrecht had completely misjudged Lupis Rhoadserians as a person.
That’s impossible, that woman doesn’t have the capacity to order something like that...!
When taken too far, mercy was nothing more than naivete, and that was why General Albrecht only ever saw Lupis as a puppet to manipulate. If she really was capable of this, then General Albrecht had voluntarily walked into his own shameful, infuriating death.
Reality was even more heartless than he had imagined, though.
“No, that’s wrong!”
The knights surrounding Albrecht stepped aside, clearing the way. And down the path they opened walked a knight in white, clad in ebony armor, helmet and cape, in a composed step.
“You seem to be misunderstanding things... General Albrecht.”
“That voice... And that armor!” General Albrecht turned pale. “You’re Helena... Helena Steiner! How can you be here...?! You should be in the attack on Heraklion!”
The knight removed her helmet, indeed revealing herself to be Helena Steiner.
“Lady Helena Steiner? Rhoadseria’s Ivory Goddess of War?”
“Is this... really Lady Helena?”
Albrecht’s wife and daughter blurted out in surprise at Helena’s sudden appearance. They didn’t expect to meet a national hero here. Helena gave a gentle nod at the two women’s direction and raised a finger to her lips to hush them. She then returned her gaze to General Albrecht.
“Did you think I could not predict what you’ll be thinking?”
“You’re saying you anticipated what I’d do?! That’s impossible...! You could never do that!” Albrecht raised his voice angrily.
For many years, Albrecht had looked down on Helena as a lowly peasant, so he could never admit she saw through him so thoroughly.
“My... You’re as blind to reality as ever, I see. You overestimate your own abilities and look down on the skill of others... You haven’t changed one bit since the day we first met. But in reality, I have you captured and pinned down here. Isn’t that all that matters?”
“Shut up, you filthy plebe! I am... I am a descendant to house Albrecht! I cannot lose to the likes of you!”
Helena met Albrecht’s shout with a bitter smile.
You stupid man... You have ambition, wits, power and pedigree... How can someone blessed with so much talent be so foolish...?
“Not by you! Not by a plebeian like you...! You can never and will never be better than me!”
“You pathetic man... That’s why the former general nominated me as his successor over you. He knew your belief that you’re privileged, and that your conceit would eat away at this country... And he was right! Look around you! Look at how every knight standing here looks upon you!”
“Shut up! The former general had no eye for people! If he did, he never would have chosen a commoner like you over an heir to house Albrecht...! All of you! Don’t you think this is wrong?! That proud knights of Rhoadseria like you should have to be bossed around by a plebeian woman?!” Albrecht shouted and looked around.
But none of the knights agreed with him. If anything, they all eyed him with cold loathing.
“Wh-What’s gotten into all of you? Why are you looking at me like that?!”
The way the knights looked at Albrecht... It was the same gaze with which he looked down on the commoners. The only difference is that they were also thick with the hatred and scorn of the oppressed.
“You stupid, pitiful excuse of a man... They’re all low-ranking knights, of common descent. The very people you and the noble knights oppressed and extorted... You think they’re going to sympathize with you? In the end, you really can’t see past anything. You simply sit crossed-legged on your throne of status and pedigree, and never once stop to think of the people supporting your weight!”
Even among knights, some were children of longstanding houses of knights, while others were commoners who worked their way up to knighthood with sheer effort. However, the commoner knights had to pass through a gate of entry with a far, far smaller threshold. And that still required back-breaking effort to achieve.
But in Rhoadseria, even those who put in all that effort are faced with a distinct wall separating them from knights of noble birth. Seeing those of common birth struggle to finally attain some merit to their name, only to have it snatched away by a knight of noble birth, was an everyday occurrence.
The ones chosen to stand proudly in marching parades were always knights of noble descent. Meanwhile, those of common birth were left behind to do the chores backstage. Some of the knights present even had their lovers forcibly snatched away by a colleague.
Any attempt to report th
is corruption was only met with the guilt being pinned on them instead. Some were even outright court martialed for their trouble. The noble knights were always the ones to take the credit, while the commoner knights handled all the dirty work and took all the blame.
And all of that was because the general standing at the top, Hodram Albrecht, was a privileged, prejudiced, hard-headed knight of noble birth. The man in charge being corrupted meant his subordinates would inevitably be just as rotten.
“Shut up! We are not equal!” Albrecht’s emotions were getting the better of him, and his face was turning red with anger. “You commoners being allowed to become knights was a mistake to begin with! We merely let you become knights out of pity, so shut up, keep your heads down and do as we say!”
The things he was saying were growing incoherent, but everyone present understood what he was trying to say. That commoner knights should obey noble knights, like him.
“You really are an infuriating fool...” Helena said. “But, well, so be it... Today is the last time we’ll need to put up with your unpleasant attitudes...”
“You idiot! Do you intend to break national law...?!” Albrecht was unable to withhold his shock. “I have a right to stand trial!”
He himself had broken multiple rules until now. He unjustly distributed his human resources, sending people he didn’t like to guard remote regions. He embezzled military funds and took bribes from his personal merchants. He set up colleagues who got in the way of his promotions and pinned all the blame on them.
But when his life was approaching its end, he depended on the law. It didn’t matter how unreasonable of an act it was, because that was the only thing he had left to cling to.
“Oh, make no mistake,” Helena said with a smile outright dripping with irony. “It will go down in the records that Hodram Albrecht pretended to surrender, only to attempt murder on Helena Steiner. Left with no choice, she had to kill him in self-defense. And his family was cut down by the knights who assisted in his escape. And all of this is done... by the methods you were always so skilled at using... See?”
“That’s insane! Y-You call that justice?!”
“Justice? No, this isn’t justice... This is revenge... For the husband and daughter you took from me.”
Albrecht’s expression froze over at those words. His wife and daughter reacted with horrified shock.
“What are you saying?! I have no idea what you mean! I know nothing about your family!”
“Don’t try it... Five years ago, I beat it out of the slave merchant you hired, Heinz. And I have the witness who helped question him back then.”
One of Helena’s aides, standing at her side, nodded.
“I know nothing! I don’t know any Heinz! He was executed already, anyway! How can you prove it?! This testimony isn’t worth anything!”
“Beloved... What is she saying? Did you really... do that to Lady Helena’s family...?”
“Father...?”
Albrecht’s family looked at him with gazes of indignant doubt.
“Why are you looking at me like that?! I said I don’t know anything! Do you not believe your own father?!”
But the more he tried to make excuses, the colder their gazes became. It was obvious to everyone that Albrecht did it.
“You’re right. It can’t serve as proof... But you see, I don’t need proof. I just want to kill you...”
“You...” Albrecht finally noticed the madness in Helena’s eyes.
And at that moment he realized. Nothing he will do or say will help him escape her blade.
“Don’t worry... We’ll give your wife and daughter a quick death...” Helena said and drew her sword. “My daughter had to be raped to death by a slave merchant, but... That’s fine. I’ll forgive them with this.”
She then walked over to his wife and daughter.
“Wait! They have nothing to do with this!”
Albrecht tried to jump and stand in her way, but the knights pinned him down.
“Oh, I’d say they have everything to do with this. They’re your family.”
“Wait, someone! Anyone!” Albrecht cried out desperately for help. “Stop her! Sh-She can’t get away with this!”
But none of the two hundred people present would lend him an ear. They all wanted him and his family dead.
“No... Please... Help me...” Tears welled up in his daughter’s eyes.
She realized the severity of her father’s sin, and just how hated he was by everyone else. The fact that none of the knights present showed her any mercy was proof of that.
“Goodbye... You’ve done nothing wrong, but... Luck wasn’t on your side. I’ll at least make sure you don’t suffer...”
“Stoooooooooop!”
Albrecht’s scream echoed in vain. Helena brandished her sword up grandly, and then swung it down at the girl’s neck. The daughter’s body grew limp at once, falling backwards to the ground, smearing it with crimson blood. Helena then swung her blade back, this time cutting his wife through the heart.
“You bitch! My wife! My daughter! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill youuuu!” Albrecht hollered, his eyes wide with rage and saliva frothing from his mouth.
But several knights held him down, and he couldn’t budge at all. His eyes alone burned with black, raging flames of anger.
“Yes! Those are the words I wanted to hear! This is why I clung to life until now!” Helena said with an innocent smile as she walked up to Albrecht.
Now... It’s over... It’s finally over... Beloved... Salia... You can rest in peace now, right...? Your grudges are finally repaid...
She was finally about to be set free of the regrets and resentment she had to carry for a decade. She could see her husband and daughter in her mind’s eye.
“This is how it all ends... Hodram Albrecht!” Helena held up her sword.
“Damn it! Not to you! Not to a commoner!”
This was how Hodram Albrecht, general of the Kingdom of Rhoadseria and ringleader of the rebellion, met his end. And this was also how the civil war that tormented Rhoadseria for months came to a close.
Chapter 5: A New Battlefield
“...What am I to do...?”
Princess Lupis turned her gaze outside the window of her room in the capital of Pireas. She was dressed in a pure white dress with a deep cleavage, which accentuated her feminine beauty. Her ladylike grace was such that one wouldn’t believe that just a few days earlier, she was the same princess general who strode through the battlefield in full armor.
However, the sorrow in her eyes deprived her beauty of any brightness. A deep sigh escaped her lips. Outside the window, the tumult of the cheering townsfolk reached as far as the castle. They all rejoiced, filled with hope at the end of the rebellion and the beginning of Princess Lupis’s rule.
With Helena’s sword claiming the lives of General Albrecht and his family, Rhoadseria’s civil war ended. Having joined the rebels halfway through the conflict, General Albrecht was killed, and the true ringleader, Duke Gelhart survived. There were certainly some parts to the story Princess Lupis wasn’t quite satisfied with.
But she couldn’t deny that with Albrecht’s death, Rhoadseria managed to preserve its dignity. All that mattered for the majority of the citizens was that the villain of the conflict was brought to justice by their new queen, and that the fighting had come to an end.
A month had passed since the rebellion ended. But rather than being as hopeful as the people around her, Princess Lupis’s heart was tormented by anxiety.
“Father... am I truly a rightful ruler for this country...? Am I truly, when every action that man takes makes me waver so much...?” Lupis asked her father, time and time again.
A dead man, however, couldn’t offer her any answers. She asked her father, knowing he couldn’t answer. That alone displayed how wrought with concern her heart was.
Another sigh escaped her lips.
“Your Highness...” Meltina watched her sorrowfully.
W
ith Lupis’s coming coronation, Meltina would be inaugurated as captain of the royal guard. Normally, she would have to attend to the duties of that role, but she remained at Lupis’s side all the same. She served as her aide, doubling as her personal secretary and escort, and so taking over the role of captain of the royal guard wasn’t all that difficult for her.
But right now, Meltina cared more for Lupis’s anxieties and how to dispel them even a little bit.
Sentencing Sir Mikhail to house arrest was a painful blow, indeed... I’m not sure that I alone can support her... But...
In terms of smarts, Meltina wasn’t much different from Mikhail, but he was ten years her elder, and that wasn’t an age difference one could simply disregard. Meltina was quite the prominent knight, but Mikhail also had more influence over the knights, too.
The civil war ended, and Lupis was about to be made into Rhoadseria’s new sovereign. But that didn’t mean the foundation of her administration was solidified. She needed trustworthy people to make her rule firm. But Mikhail was under indefinite house arrest in his estate in the capital.
When the rebellion came to a close, Duke Gelhart abided by his promise and released Mikhail from his custody. Lupis and Meltina had considered returning him to his former station, of course, but those around them didn’t approve of that.
Ryoma hadn’t done anything wrong in particular here. Mikhail’s punishment was postponed to begin with, anyway. He was only spared with the expectation that his future accomplishments would offset his failures. But he failed a second time, breaking orders and acting on his own authority in an impatient scramble to gain merit.
Try as they might to protect him, Lupis and Meltina couldn’t spare Mikhail from Count Bergstone and the rest of the neutral faction’s questioning.
“Meltina, is it really impossible to reinstate Mikhail...?” Lupis asked for what was probably the dozenth time. “We can demote him if need be, but perhaps we should undo his house arrest...”
It had been half a month since Mikhail was sentenced to house arrest, and she’d asked that question time and again since. Meltina held back a sigh as she shook her head silently.