Part 1
Zarmine's capital city, Rheagur, was built upon the intersection of several important highways that ran throughout the continent, and was a prosperous city bustling with merchant activity.
Thus, her residents naturally enjoyed a higher standard of living compared to the citizenry of most other kingdoms, and many of them were rather wealthy.
Furthermore, Zarmine's prosperity only increased as she won battle after battle against her numerous enemy kingdoms.
At the heart of the capital city was Gaenys Castle, an old castle that King Leygur had recently renovated.
It was a large and magnificent castle.
A deep moat filled to the brim with water encircled the castle twice, and its ramparts towered over the rest of the city.
However, despite the fact that it had been recently renovated, the castle could not be called an attractive one. After all, it was not decorated in any way.
The exterior of the castle's spires was comprised of the same stones that built its foundation, and neither the castle gates nor the ramparts held any extraneous embellishment.
This was because the castle's master, King Leygur, cared little about the appearance of his castle.
Kneeling before the king in a spacious audience chamber was the prime minister, Jagil, whose voice resounded across the hall as he presented his report.
Nothing covered the floors of this expansive chamber, save for a single crimson carpet that created a path from the entrance to the throne.
The chandelier that hung from the high ceiling and the numerous candles that littered the walls provided sufficient lighting, but the chamber still gave off an unshakably dreary and cold impression.
Neither flowers nor paintings decorated the area.
It was a rather desolate place to seat the throne.
"……According to the reports we received via Magic Vision, we have already taken King Douglass' head. All that is left to do now is to march into Sunkwoll itself. Your verdict please, Your Majesty."
Magic Vision, one of the many spells available to mages, could send images and scenes from one person to another no matter how far apart they were.
Thanks to that spell, Jagil could receive reports about the battle in almost real time.
In this day and age, it was a luxury afforded only to kingdoms that had the resources to employ mages in actual combat.
In any case, Jagil wrapped up his report and awaited his king's orders. Yet, King Leygur remained silent.
He waited for a little while longer, but eventually raised his head after receiving no reply.
The king, dressed in loose ceremonial robes make of sheer black silk, had his eyes closed as if he was asleep and was deep in thought.
Although his long, beautiful silver hair covered half of his face, King Leygur's attractive features were still immediately obvious.
"Your Majesty?"
Jagil called again.
Still, Leygur remained silent.
He couldn't have actually have fallen asleep, could he?
Left with little other choice, Jagil began to rise. But——
Leygur opened his eyes at that exact moment. He gazed down at his aging retainer in earnest.
Jagil shivered, feeling as if darkness itself had peered at him through the king's black eyes.
Hurriedly, he kneeled once more.
He did not wish to provoke the king's wrath. After all, the king had succeeded the throne by overthrowing his predecessor. He could easily take Jagil's head if he so wished. Just the other day, he had effortlessly cut down the reckless rebels that had conspired against him. Each of the rebels had been capable and skilled generals in their own right.
"I heard your report, but was there no word from Garblake about Rain?"
Leygur asked in a chilly voice.
Jagil lowered his head and said,
"none. Only that they had taken the enemy king's head."
Leygur began to scowl, as if something had been to his distaste.
And again, he began to ponder.
Jagil wracked his brain. He could not fathom what his king was thinking. His king was too heavily concerned about the commoner named Rain.
For Jagil, who was born of a noble lineage, a mere commoner without pride in his blood was of little consequence.
Rather, it made more sense to him to be wary of the noble named Ralphus.
But, utterly ignoring his reprehensions, his king gravely said,
"…….send a large group of assassins after Rain. Skilled ones."
"Sire. Assassins…… you say?"
"Indeed. Make sure to select individuals who have proven themselves on the field. As for their number…… select at least ten or more. Meanwhile, there is no need to advance further into Sunkwoll yet."
"Understood…"
Does he really think that that man is so important?…… Jagil's burst of displeasure made him forget his fear of King Leygur for a moment. And so, forgetting himself, he said,
"it is true that Rain is a talented individual, Your Majesty. However, he is simply a mere commoner. Surely, he is not important enough for you to take him so seriously, Sire?"
The king did not respond immediately. But, after a little while, he muttered,
"…are nobles really that great?"
A cold sweat ran down Jagil's back.
He noticed his blunder. He had forgotten that King Leygur, too, had been a simple commoner who had appeared out of the blue around a decade ago.
"Please, please forgive me!"
Scared to the point that he could not keep his teeth from chattering, Jagil prostrated himself and bowed so deeply that his head touched the floor.
He heard Leygur rise from the throne.
Then, he heard the heavy sound of the king's boots draw ever closer.
Jagil thought that he could almost hear the blade of the magic sword cutting through the air to rest upon his neck.
"Your, Your Majesty! Please! I beg of you!"
Dark boots appeared right before his eyes. Unable even to muster up the courage to raise his head, Jagil simply continued groveling for forgiveness.
Some time passed. He was close to accepting his fate when he finally heard Leygur's voice.
"Jagil, you may raise your head"
said the king.
At the same time, he heard the swish of a cloak…… the king had returned to the throne.
Have, have I truly…… been spared?
Cautiously raising his head, he found Leygur sitting on the throne as if nothing had happened.
"Jagil."
"Y, yes!"
"You're still useful to me as a civil officer. Thus, I will forget your slip of tongue from earlier. And you will obey my commands to the letter…… understand?"
"Yes, Sire! At once!"
"Do not forget the fear that you are feeling now. I'll warn you only once: the next time you say something so senseless, I will have your head."
"I will not forget. Never."
Once again, Jagil lowered his head to the cold stone floor.
"That would be for the best,"
Leygur curtly whispered to himself. He added,
"Rain, show me your power. Do not disappoint me……"
His words were so quiet that they never reached his old retainer's ears.
~~*~~*~~*~~
– The courtyard of Cortecreas Castle, Rain's castle. –
Yuri walked through the path between the square flower beds with a light spring in her step.
More than ten days had passed since Yuri had arrived, and she had already warmed up to the castle's atmosphere.
She got along easily with the knights because many of them were ex-mercenaries like Rain, who, like Yuri, disliked stiff formalities.
Well, there were still people like Senoa, the aide, who she found difficult to get along with.
But Yuri had been assigned to Leni, the other aide, so she didn't have to suffer and deal with Senoa personally.
She rather liked Leni, so Yuri had no problems with the situation.
——Except for the fact that all Rain ever did was sleep.
Indeed, Rain had shut himself in his room ever since he had returned and had hardly ever left. He would come out from time to time only to grab a bite to eat or to drink alcohol, and it pissed her off.
This is hardly the time for that, she thought. As strange as it was, she found herself growing irritated at Rain's apparent reluctance to attack Zarmine.
It appeared that Senoa shared the sentiment, as the indignation in her eyes grew day by day. At this rate, she risked snapping at him once again.
Surprisingly, however, the other knights apart from Senoa put their wholehearted trust in Rain. He was popular with them too.
Most of them had even approved of Rain's decision to avoid fighting in the war. Their approval likely stemmed from the fact that most of the knights had once been mercenaries who saw little point in fighting in a war they couldn't win. It wasn't as if Yuri didn't understand the sentiment, but……
"tch. Geez, he really likes to mess with people,"
Yuri muttered as she kicked aside a pebble with a scowl on her face.
"Hm?"
She heard people cheering from somewhere.
Turning to the source of the noise, she found a crowd of knights near the ramparts. They had formed something of a circle and appeared to be engaged in some kind of activity.
Yuri walked toward the commotion without a second thought as her curiosity got the better of her.
"Oh!…… It's Commander Leni."
Leni stood in the middle of the circle holding two swords that were slightly shorter than normal. He was sparring with one of his men.
They appeared to be in the middle of sword training.
"Huh. Commander Leni fights with duel blades,"
Yuri noted with a hint of admiration as she observed the match from behind the crowd.
The knight serving as Leni's opponent was breathing heavily and looked to be in a little pain. It was hard to believe, but it seemed that Leni was completely overpowering him.
Inch by inch. One step at a time.
The armored knight moved with determination. He crouched low and drew closer to Leni, hesitantly observing his commander all the while. Yet, Leni simply stood and waited.
Finally seeming to make up his mind, the knight swung his sword toward Leni's neck with considerable speed.
Clang!
Metal hit metal with a clear ringing sound.
Leni had stopped the deathblow with one sword and apparent ease. He held his other sword right up against the knight's throat.
Wow, I couldn't even see that! He's actually pretty strong……
Surprised, Yuri began to see Leni in a better light. She had thought that he was just some mild-mannered aide, but in actuality he had the skills to justify his position and then some.
"Alright, that's the end of this round. It's already noon, so let's wrap up for today. Everyone, dismissed!"
Leni ordered, fixing his slightly disheveled blond hair.
"Yessir~!"
The crowd cheered just like the ex-mercenaries they were and promptly dispersed.
"Commander Leni!"
Leni looked up and greeted Yuri with a smile when she jogged over to him.
"Whoa, Yuri! You were watching?"
"Yeah. You're really strong, Commander. I was impressed."
"N, nah. I'm not that great,"
Leni said with an embarrassed smile, blushing.
Then, he came up with a great idea and clasped his hands together and exclaimed,
"oh yeah! I was just about to eat lunch; wanna eat with me? I have plenty of extra food!"
"Thanks for the food!"
replied a hungry Yuri without missing a beat. She had never been one to turn down free food.
"Can I really have some?"
Yuri asked as they sat down on one of the many wooden benches in the area.
She asked only out of courtesy.
She had also nonchalantly left a bit of space between them as she sat.
"I brought sandwiches today,"
announced Leni as he happily unbundled a package of cloth with a bright smile stretched across his face. Inside it was an unexpectedly large lunchbox stuffed to the brim with sandwiches.
"Yay! Well, don't mind if I do."
"Go right on ahead."
Yuri quickly reached for a sandwich and bit into it without reserve.
"It's delicious!"
It was pretty good for a meat-and-vegetable sandwich. Yuri cradled her cheeks with both hands as she savored the flavor.
"Hahaha. Have as many as you'd like."
"Thank you soo much!"
Yuri devoted her undivided attention to the food for a short while.
When she had finally come back down to earth, she asked Leni, who had been watching her with a smile, a question that had suddenly popped into her head.
"Come to think of it, does General Rain participate in the training from before?"
"Hm~? Well, he only spars with us once or twice a year or so. He usually just avoids them. Says they're a pain."
Leni shrugged in slight embarrassment after meeting Yuri's curious gaze.
The gesture suggested that he had stopped trying to get Rain to practice with them long ago.
"Well that certainly sounds like him. ……I've been meaning to ask, Commander Leni, but between you and General Rain, who's stronger?"
Leni choked a little the moment Yuri asked. He looked as if he couldn't believe his ears.
"I don't even come close to reaching the soles of his feet. It's not even funny…… you shouldn't even be comparing us to begin with."
"Huh…… is the General really that strong?"
"…? Yuri, weren't you acquaintances with the General?"
Leni asked in bewilderment.
"Huh?! Oh, no, our fathers knew each other, but the General and I aren't really……"
Yuri quickly made up an excuse as she broke out in a cold sweat.
Luckily, Leni believed her. In fact, he almost looked happier than before.
"Huh, so that's how it is. Hehehe."
"Umm…?"
"Oh, sorry about that. So, you wanted to know if the General's strong, right? Well, 'course he is~. He's probably stronger than he lets on, even with all of his bragging."
Yuri opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"Are you——for real?"
"Yep. In any case, I'd never want him as my enemy. Compared to him, I'd take on Zarmine any day."
Leni frowned and began to tremble. Even just imagining Rain as his enemy had caused him to react.
So he's really that strong…… Yuri groaned to herself.
Leni continued in a serious voice,
"I bet he could even defeat a dragon. I've never heard of anyone who actually did, but the General probably could."
Whoa, now that's just ridiculous, Yuri protested silently.
Dragons were the most powerful species in the world by far.
Their magic, magic-nullification field, powerful breath, and overwhelming strength —no other living creature stood a chance against them. They were virtually invincible.
The legends of old stated that 'anyone who defeats a dragon one-on-one will obtain their strength and magical might.'
Many had believed the legends and had challenged a dragon since ancient times past, only to never be heard of again.
There weren't even whispers of rumors about anyone succeeding in the task. Dragon Slayers existed only in the songs of bards.
If anyone who could have defeat a dragon, it would have been the superior "daemon" race that had died out over a millennium ago.
Daemons, who looked no different from humans in appearance but wielded terrible magic and might, could have stood up against the mythical beasts. But they had died out a thousand years ago, while warring against humanity for dominance over the world, so it was impossible to be certain.
Leni smiled wryly as Yuri's face betrayed her obvious disbelief.
"I know it's hard to believe. But someday, you'll come to understand just how ridiculously strong he is too, Yuri. The General is superhuman."
"Right……"
——Well, I'm not denying that he's strong, but…
But I know…… Yuri softly shook her head.
No matter what Leni said, there was always someone stronger. And Yuri, who had been in Zarmine, had seen that ridiculously strong someone with her very own eyes. The image of the king with flowing silver hair was still fresh in her memories.
Countless criminals had been assembled to the execution grounds, and King Leygur had stood before them.
Had that been just for practice?
In any case, he had buried dozens of criminals in a sea of blood without sparing a single one. He was truly…… a monster.
I know…… That no matter how strong Rain is, he can't beat him.
The sandwich that had been in Yuri's hand suddenly disappeared while Yuri was lost in thought.
"Wha…?"
Yuri was dumbstruck only for a moment.
A horse's long neck had abruptly appeared between Leni and Yuri. Still chewing lazily, the well-bred white horse stuck its head into Leni's lunchbox and stole away the remaining sandwiches.
Then, it continued to chew in leisure.
"You, you stupid horse! You're Kris, aren't you?!"
The horse didn't respond, but Yuri felt that Kris was mocking her with a sidelong glance.
……Of course, it was just a coincidence.
"Ugh!—— this reallly pisses me off!"
"Hey there, Kris. You'll eat anything, as always, won't you? It's hard to believe that you're a horse. Want some of this too?"
Leni offered the horse the slice that he was holding. Kris quickly gobbled it up and thus, all of the sandwiches were gone.
"Wait a minute, Commander! Why are you spoiling the horse like that?! To begin with, why is there a horse here instead of being tied up somewhere?!"
"Huh? Um, well… The General ordered us not to tie up Kris in the stables. That's why Kris is free to roam about wherever she pleases."
"Why the heck did he order that?"
"Who can say…"
Leni nonchalantly tilted his head sideways. He probably did not harbor any ill will behind the gesture, but his unconcerned attitude served only to upset Yuri further.
"In the General's words, Kris is his beloved partner and a pegasus to boot, so it'd be rude to tie her up. But I wonder if pegasi really exist, though."
"That's not the problem here!"
Yuri slammed down on the bench in a burst of anger, causing Leni to immediately straighten up.
"S, sorry! You're absolutely right, hahaha."
Yuri shot a glare at him. Then, she abruptly stood up.
She put her hands on her hips and turned her piercing gaze to the offending horse.
"Kris! It's a great sin to steal other people's lunches! Understand?!"
The horse completely ignored her.
Kris snorted and turned away from Yuri after quickly surveying the scene to find that there were no more sandwiches left.
It was undoubtedly just a coincidence, but Kris had turned just so that her lush tail slapped Yuri across the cheek. Then, Kris simply trotted away.
"Ugh. I hate that horse. I bet she gets it from her master."
Leni spoke up in an almost inaudible voice as Yuri stomped her feet,
"But I don't think that she's ever done anything against you, Yuri……"
Yuri purposefully ignored his comment.
At the time, Rain was laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling of his room on the highest floor of the castle.
There was nothing worth mentioning about his room, other than that it was rather simple for a room belonging to the lord of the castle. His bed was quite normal as well, and was not something grand and canopied like the ones that the nobles favored.
In the middle of the room was a round table with numerous liquor bottles on top of it.
Rain had emptied every single one of them himself.
"Oh, jeez,"
Raid said with a sigh as he unfolded the letter that he had already read multiple times yet again. It was a letter from Ralphus that had reached the castle the same time that he had, as if it had chased after him all the way.
Still sprawled out on his bed, he read the short letter again.
"Ugh."
Rain groaned no matter how many times he read it. He was beginning to get tired of Ralphus' good nature.
The first half of the letter was fine.
As always, Ralphus told him to stop drinking so much and to be wary of the plague, generally saying this and that as if he was Rain's mother. They were all things that Ralphus would truly say.
It was the second half of the letter that Rain had issues with.
Incidentally, Rain.
I have no idea how you came to be acquainted with Her Royal Highness the Princess, but her life will be in danger if we lose this upcoming battle.
As you two are close, I would like you to protect Her Highness and lend her your strength.
And also…… I don't want to meddle in your relationship with her, but take her age and position into account before doing anything rash (you know what I mean). Alright?
That is all.
""That is all" my ass; the hell?!"
Rain tossed the letter over the sideboard in a huff.
Ralphus was being unreasonable. And besides, while Ralphus had asked Rain in his letter to look after the princess, Rain had never even met her before to begin with.
Does he think that I'd actually lay my hands on this princess of his? I'm not so desperate that I'd lay my hands on a girl I don't even know.
To begin with, Rain could only imagine all too well what kind of joy the daughter of the stuffy old King Douglass would be.
He wanted to tell Ralphus to cut him some slack.
He already disliked nobles to begin with, so to think that he would lay his hands on royalty! And the king's daughter, at that! Surely, she was some bratty, stuffy, silly girl who couldn't even do simple housework.
Rain cursed his friend with every profane insult that he knew of. But all things despite, he knew that he would end up doing exactly what Ralphus had asked of him.
"Well, whatever. I guess I'll do something about the princess when I go to rescue Michelle,"
he muttered after he was finished complaining.
He pictured the beautiful, melancholy girl in his mind. He had promised. He would return for her no matter what.
But at the moment, Rain was more worried about Ralphus. After all, he was probably deep in the heat of battle by now.
At this point, things had undeniably deviated from Rain's calculations. Zarmine was exercising more caution against him than he had expected. According to Yuri, countless eyes surveilled his every move.
If he were to leave his castle, Zarmine's main force would be alerted immediately. That, in turn, would cause Zarmine to grow warier and prevent him from saving Ralphus.
Rain didn't care about King Douglass, who had used Rain for his own gain without a second thought, and the king's death would have been no skin off of his back. But he had to save Ralphus.
"It'd weigh on my conscience if I didn't. That's all there is to it,"
Rain muttered as if he was trying to convince himself that it was true.
In any event, he had debts that he still needed to repay. Ralphus had intervened on his behalf during the numerous occasions when the king had flown into a fit of rage against him, though he had never once asked Ralphus to do so.
Rain, too, had saved Ralphus' life once, but that didn't even begin to cover for what he still owed Ralphus.
And yet, Ralphus always worked to thank Rain for that one time at every opportunity, saying, "words cannot express how grateful I was that day. I will never forget what you've done for me."
He was truly too kind for his own good.
In fact, it made saving him a pain in the ass.
As a rule, Ralphus would never abandon his homeland, Sunkwoll.
In other words, Rain could only keep him safe by forcing Zarmine to retreat.
After all, that idiot, Ralphus, was a passionate type of idiot who would even take on an army numbering in the tens of thousands alone without a second thought.
'I wonder if Gunther's doing well?'
Rain ground his teeth at his inability to act. Perhaps it had been a mistake to have gotten himself put under house arrest on purpose.
Perhaps he should have accompanied that dumbass of a king, even despite all of the disadvantages.
"Fina…… did I make the wrong choice?"
Rain asked in a quiet voice. But then—
Crash!!
Someone had opened the door with a ridiculous amount of force without even knocking. Or rather, they had kicked it open.
Rain turned his head to find Yuri blocking his doorway with her feet spread apart.
"Hold it right there!"
She jabbed her pointer finger in his direction and continued,
"who the heck is Fina?!"
"……Eh?"
"Don't "eh?" me!"
Clad in a blouse and a skirt, Yuri made a rude entrance into Rain's room and stomped up to the foot of his bed. It was difficult to tell who the real master of the castle was.
Then, she blurted out,
"and what's up with your attitude? How much longer are you gonna just lie there and stare at your empty liquor bottle? Get your damn act together! You're such a slob! This is why you got put under house arrest to begin with! And do something about that damn stupid horse of yours!"
"Argh!! You're so annoying!!"
Her abuse seemed like it would have continued for quite a while if he let it, so Rain interrupted her and began to get up. He continued,
"I'm in the middle of thinking about something important right now! I don't have the time to deal with you. If you need to come see me, do it when you have something extremely important to say or when you're wearing something skimpy and see-through!"
"What the heck are you talkin—— Hey, don't sleep on me!"
"You're a loud one, aren't you?"
Rain, who had been on the brink of falling back into his sheets, begrudgingly got up again.
He sat up on the side of his bed and looked towards Yuri, who was still standing next to him.
"So, what do you want? I knew you were there because I felt your presence, but why are you going around eavesdropping on other people's rooms?"
"Oh phooey, it's not like you had anything to hide in the first place. I was all fired up to come here, you know. Oh, and who's Fina?"
"……Quit jumping around all over the place. I have no idea what you're talking about,"
Rain half-heartedly pointed out before suddenly coming up with a great idea and breaking into a smug smile.
"Wh, what. Why're you smiling like that?"
Yuri asked in disgust as she took a step backwards.
"Nah, it's nothing important. You know, going off of your black hair and eyes, you're originally a commoner from Sunkwoll, aren't you?"
"……So what of it?"
"I'll get right to the point. ——Are you interested in switching sides?"
Yuri held her breath and blinked her light green eyes. She stared at Rain with a blank look. She's taken the bait, thought Rain. He pressed on,
"you're only spying for a living, not because you actually want to, right? It's pretty hard to survive as a commoner in this country. But as long as you're paid, there's no reason for you to have to work for the enemy, is there?"
"That's…… well… It's not like I enjoyed doing it."
"Right, exactly. So how does twenty silver a month sound?"
"Twenty silver…… that's fifty-thousand taran? Hmm~ How about a little bit more?"
Yuri began to lean forward in excitement.
"Twenty-one silver, then."
"Hey, you're pretty stingy with your numbers, aren't you? You're a man; show off your wealth a bit more!"
Rain scowled and shook his head.
"Idiot. The lord of a castle should always be frugal. ——How about twenty-five silver?"
"Says the guy who drinks expensive liquor all the time! Think about my younger sister's…… I mean brother's school tuition!"
"Who cares about guys?! Alright, how about I buy your future prospects as a woman too for thirty silver! Just take it already, you thief!!"
"Deal!"
Yuri clapped her hands together with a sparkle in her eyes.
Then, she nestled closer into Rain's personal space and asked,
"you're really gonna pay be thirty silver a month, right?"
"Yeah. But you better work hard to earn your keep."
"Okay! This is great~. Now I can stop lying to my sister——I mean my brother!"
Yuri jumped with joy. Apparently, she had kept the fact that she was spying to make ends meet from her family. She had probably felt horrible about it, too.
"Oh, but——"
"What's up?"
"What were you planning to do…… if I turned down the offer?"
Yuri tilted her head to the side in a cutesy manner.
Rain broke out into a wicked grin and replied,
"I would have told Zarmine that you'd switched sides anyway. Then they'd stop employing you even if it wasn't true. I wasn't planning on giving you much of a choice to begin with."
"……You're just plain evil, aren't you?"
Yuri opened her mouth in a show of disgust.
To the contrary, Rain seemed pretty pleased with himself as he took her insult with stride.
And then—
Lights began to flicker around the center of the room and began to take shape.
"Magic Vision?" asked Yuri.
Before Rain could answer, the lights converged and took the shape of a man with sharp eyes.
Of course, the actual person in question was actually quite far away.
"……Who's that depressed guy who looks like he's given up on life?"
"Later, later. This is an important report,"
Rain briskly brushed Yuri off.
Judging from the timing of his appearance, the report must have to do with Ralphus' rescue.
"Reporting, Lord Rain,"
the somewhat blurry image of Gunther bowed respectfully and greeted Rain, giving credit to Rain's suspicions.
~~*~~*~~*~~
Shelfa was all alone in a garden deep within the heart of the royal palace. Galfort Castle was currently enveloped in a veil of silence. There had been a commotion until just yesterday as its inhabitants made plans to flee, but now there was hardly anyone left to be seen.
Shelfa leaned against a tree near the small pond at the edge of the garden and gazed over the surface of the lake.
This was her favorite place.
It was a quiet place to begin with, but it was especially silent today.
The only thing that she could hear was the sound of the wind rustling the tree's leaves overhead.
She could not hear the sounds of people talking to one another or the hustle and bustle of daily life, even though it was currently noon.
"This castle has truly become empty…"
Shelfa muttered.
She knew what had caused the silence. Two days ago, the senior statesmen had received news of Sunkwoll's defeat through Magic Vision.
Although they had not believed it at first, each and every one of them had fallen into despair as they received more detailed reports of the battle.
All of the high generals who had participated in the battle, save Ralphus, had died in battle. To top it off, her father the king had been betrayed and killed.
A strict gag order had been imposed on that information, but rumors of it had spread in the blink of an eye.
It was impossible to seal the lips of man.
According to the rumors, the senior statesmen, starting from the chancellor downwards, had been going around saying things like, "to think that Lord Ganoa would…!"
Shelfa thought it was ridiculous.
She had always disliked Ganoa. In fact, she had recently grown to hate him even more because he had always looked at her with dirty eyes during the rare occasions they had met.
Shelfa had not been surprised at all when her ladies-in-waiting told her that Ganoa had betrayed Sunkwoll.
After all, he was the type of man who would do something like that.
Her father had never had the ability to discern the true natures of his men……
"Father……"
With a soft sigh, Shelfa tried to picture her late father's face.
However, she could not no matter how hard she tried. Her father had rarely met with her; she was lucky to see him even once a year.
She could only remember him glaring at her with hatred in his eyes during the few times she did get to meet him. And she barely had any memories of talking with him.
In all honesty, Shelfa wasn't that upset about her father's death. Though she did get somewhat depressed whenever she thought, 'I must be a fairly cold person'.
I want to see Rain……
This wish occupied most of her heart. She was truly relieved that Rain was still alive.
Three years ago, Shelfa had met Rain for the first time and had opened up her heart to him after brushing upon his kindness.
Ever since that day, Shelfa, who had always been lonely, had begun to believe that she was no longer alone.
Natually, she had never forgotten even a single moment of that day.
Shelfa closed her eyes…
…and promptly recalled those precious, nostalgic memories……
~~*~~*~~*~~