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It Was Empty, But It Was Full (2)
I was panicking in that unexpected situation, and the king hugged me even harder. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that, so I just wriggled my hands.
Then I relaxed my body; I could not resist.
The reason I stood still and accepted it was because I couldn’t dare shove the king, who had just returned, away from me – that was the only reason, really.
And that’s why I gently lifted my awkwardly hanging arms, knowing that if I acted all clumsy, it would feel awkward for the king. As I stretched out my arms and returned the hug, something snapped me awake: An unfamiliar scent penetrated my nose.
It was a dry scent I had already smelled in the north, the smell of medicine that was not completely covered by the smell of grime and dirt on the king’s body.
‘Shh~’
Just then, the king released his hands from their grip on my shoulders and withdrew.
“Good work. You did a really good job.”
A sudden hug and no harsh words; these were all actions that the king would not have normally done. I wondered what it was all about, so I narrowed my eyes and looked at him.
His hair had become stark white after the queen’s death, and wrinkles had taken over his face these past few years. His eyes were bright, but they conveyed a feeling of deep regret to me.
‘Snf,’ I smelled the air, my nostrils wide open.
A faint odor wafted over the smell of medicine.
“Ah…” I stiffened. “Are-”
“Your Highness,” someone called to me just as I was about to utter the question that filled my mind. He was the commander of the palace knights, Count Schmilde Stuttgart, who had served at the king’s side in the Empire. He shook his head quietly.
Not now, his sunken eyes were telling me.
“Let’s all go inside,” the king said as he grabbed my hand.
“Finally, my homage to his Majesty the King, who has returned safely from the campaign!”
“A homage to your Majesty the King and the victory of the Eastern Legion!”
While listening to the shouts of Maximilian and the kingdom’s nobles, knights, and soldiers, I merely followed the king.
* * *
“I have to take a break.”
After entering the capital and walking palace, the king went straight to his residence. He used the excuse of being tired. Maximilian, the Great Marshal, Siorin: No one questioned the king’s behavior. It rather seemed to them that the king felt a bit exhausted after returning from his long campaign.
“Now that his Majesty is also back, the negotiations with Teuton will soon end.”
“You don’t know how reassured I am now that his Majesty has returned.”
As I listened to the conversation between the Marquis of Bielefeld and Siorin, I slipped to the back of the room.
“Brother?” Maximilian called to me as he noticed me departing like a ghost, but instead of answering him, I turned and left through the door. I then went straight to the king’s residence.
“Your Highness, his Majesty is tired from the long expedition and has asked to remain undisturbed in his rooms.”
The palace knights blocked me.
“Get out of my way. I came here because I have something to say to his Majesty.”
Even though the palace knights’ faces looked troubled, there was no sign that they would stop barring the way.
“His Majesty has commanded that no one is to- Your Highness!”
While the palace knights talked, I mobilized my mana and broke through their barrier, opening the door to the residence. Once inside, I saw the king sitting on his bed. He was undressed, and his body wrapped in pure white bandages. When the palace knights saw his body, they looked at me, amazed.
“Well, your Highness…”
I ignored them and walked straight to the maid who stood next to the king.
‘Quap,’ I roughly ripped the basket she held out of her hands and took off its lid.
The stench stabbed into my nose, and it was the very stench I had faintly smelled in front of the city gate. But it wasn’t the reek that mattered right now. Inside the basket were bandages covered in blackened blood and pus.
“Explain,” I turned my head toward the king, “What are these bandages, and why is there pus and dried blood on them?”
The white-faced king looked at me.
“What are you doing, harassing my beloved maid?” demanded the king, and contrary to what it sounded like in front of the gate, his voice was very hard and weary.
And the king, whose face was as worn as his voice, gestured with his hand.
“Everyone, leave us.”
As she heard his words, the maid hurriedly lowered her head and left the room as if fleeing. The palace knights at the entrance who looked unsure of themselves closed the door as they departed. During all that, I was watching the bandages wrapped tightly around the king’s body.
“How could you not be prepared to prevent yourself from being hurt in the middle of the enemy’s territory? The protectors who stood by your side should have been capable enough to prevent this.”
The king looked at me and asked in an embarrassed tone, “Do you wish that I was more prepared?”
“I’m surprised to see you looking like this.”
The king smiled gently, a smile that did not fit the context.
“The wound was a bit serious, but it’s getting better. So, there’s nothing to worry about.”
one of the nobles continued It was a lie that even a child wouldn’t believe in. Our allies flee, and we’re
I had seen it with my own eyes: Bandages smeared with dried blood and black pus, secretions that would never flow from a wound that was healing. Such discharges were likely came from rotting, festering wounds.
“Sire…”
“There will not be even scars left, soon.”
“Sire.”
“So you don’t have to fuss about it anymore.”
“Sire!” I shouted in a voice that I did not know I had raised, yet the king did not raise an eyebrow.
“Many have died. Should they have closed their eyes forever while their king is screaming and moaning about his small wounds?”
As I looked at the king’s innocent face, a thousand curses rose from inside me. “It isn’t a small wound!” I cried out, no longer able to stand it.
“It is because I survived it. It’s enough for me to be back here.”
The king wanted me to believe that, because he had returned alive, he was merely suffering cramps.
“Sire…”
“The journey was hard. I need to get some rest, so go out,” the king said and laid back on his bed, closing his eyes. And he soon began to breathe evenly. I stayed there for a while. Then, powerless to do anything else, I left the king’s bedside.
“Your Highness.”
When I left the room, I found the commander of the palace knights, Count Schmilde Stuttgart, waiting for me.
“I think it would be better for us to talk somewhere else.”
I asked Nogisa to follow me to my palace.
“From now on, let no one approach this area,” Nogisa ordered, and Carls Ulrich looked at me. When I nodded, Carls immediately led the palace knights and closed off my palace.
“Your Highness must know all too well that Sir Ulrich would be a good man to become the next commander of the palace knights,” Nogisa noted.
Under normal circumstances, I would’ve been glad to hear someone compliment my knight without hesitation, but not now. Instead of responding, I walked up to the door and locked it.
Then I asked Nogisa, “The Wyvern Knight clearly told me that his Majesty was safe. Did the Wyvern Knight lie to me?”
Jin Katrin had told me several times not to worry, as both the king and the Eastern Legion were in good condition. But the king, who Jin said was fine, could scarcely be touched, as he had returned with festering wounds. I had no choice but to think that Jin Katrin had lied to me.
“The Wyvern Knight did not lie. His Majesty’s injuries occurred only after the knight had left.”
The commander of the palace knights started explaining the situation to me with a firm face.
He explained that, immediately after the First Imperial Princeps was killed, Leonberg and Dotrin’s armies had already begun their withdrawal, judging that they had already exceeded their intended purpose. It was at that time that the emperor mobilized the elite army and knights serving under the imperial family. The strength of the imperial family’s elite troops was not easy to face, and a fierce battle took place.
Nogisa then said that the Knights of the Sky and the King of Dotrin were able to open a way because of their awesome might, but a sudden change in circumstances forced the Knights of the Sky to fall away from Leonberg’s main army.
“Information came to us that the imperial fleet, which had preserved itself from the fire dragon’s carnage, was sailing, aiming to land an assault directed at the front lines of Leonberg. If they managed it, our Eastern Legion would become isolated in imperial territory.”
The Imperial Army’s tactics to forcefully damage the enemy by blocking off their retreat after drawing them deep into imperial territory remained unchanged. The strategy they had used four hundred years ago was still being used now.
“At once, the Sky Knights and the lords of Dotrin hurriedly fell away from the main army to stop the imperial fleet. If I had one wish, it is that the Wyvern Knights remained with our force. However, the Empire had already suffered enormous damage from the Wyvern Knights and was acutely aware of their existence.”
“It was a trap.”
“Your Highness’s words are correct. Shortly after the Knights of the Sky left, the imperial offensive became even more intense.”
It was as I had expected.
“We didn’t expect that either, but it would’ve been impossible to return to the kingdom without ships, so we had to push through. It was a terrible battle. It is incredible that so many of our troops have returned alive.”
The commander of the palace knights paused for a moment, then looked at me with a face filled with complex emotions.
“It would’ve been impossible without his Majesty’s presence.”
Nogisa’s eyes became distant.
* * *
The Imperial Army had begun their assault in the morning and were constantly beating against Leonberg’s army. Eventually, the situation became so dire that the king and the leaders gathered in the command tent.
“Sire! Now is the time to fall back!”
“We are surrounded by enemies! We can endure no more!”
The nobles were screaming. Horror filled their eyes as they watched Leonberg’s forces surrounding the command tent greeting the Imperial Army in a violent exchange of swords.
“Not yet!” the king bellowed, dismissing the nobles’ requests that were so close to frightened screams. “If we pull out now, our retreating rear will collapse! That’s what our enemies want!”
The king drew back his bowstring and released it.
‘Wheeik~’
The arrow flew toward an imperial knight who was battling a palace knight, and the imperial scrambled to lift his shield, blocking the arrow. It was, indeed, a very agile response by one of the Burgundy Imperial Family’s elite knights. The palace knight was also an elite warrior who had been born to wage war, however. The palace knight did not miss the opportunity and stabbed his sword into the imperial knight, who fell to the ground as blood gushed from him.
The king again drew back his bowstring, but just when he was about to loose another arrow, one of the nobles blocked his front and shouted, “Sire! The enemies are aiming for your Majesty, not our retreating allies! Only your Majesty does not know this!”
“The most important thing right now is not the firing of arrows to kill imperial knights!” another noble screamed.
No matter how urgent the situation was, such remarks crossed the line.
“Stop talking!” came the angry shout of Count Schmilde Stuttgart, commander of the palace knights, who had cut down two enemy knights who were pressing against the line with a single stroke of his sword. These nobles would normally retreat when faced with the cries of Nogisa, but not this time.
“If the king’s judgment is clouded, you should correct it, Count Stuttgart! Why are you just watching things unfold!”
On the contrary, one of the more powerful nobles came out and even rebuked Nogisa.
“Do you really want to die!” the old knight shouted, and the nobleman replied without missing a beat.
“I do this because I want to live! You still don’t know! If we go on like this, it means annihilation! How the hell can you not know it!”
Rather than arguing with the commander of the palace knights, the nobles were now shouting at the king. The king had been firing arrows without paying heed to the nobles’ uproar; he now lowered his bow.
“Peh! We have to fall back!” shouting, “ Otherwise, we all die! all about to die!”
“No matter what, our main unit goes nowhere,” the king said as he looked at the shouting nobles. He said so in a terrifyingly dry voice.
“What does that mean?”
While the nobles frowned, finding the king’s words to be outrageous, the sound of a horn came from far away.
“Sire! That’s the sign that Count Willowden and the Templars have all safely left the battlefield!” Nogisa immediately reported to the king.
“Are there any stragglers?”
“Most have left the battlefield or are on the verge of leaving!”
The nobles interrupted, unable to bear the tension.
“Now, all that needs to be done is for your Majesty and us to flee!”
“If we wait, we all die!”
The king suddenly laughed coldly at the panicking nobles.
“That won’t be so bad.” The king’s voice was heard with exceptional clarity, even amid the noisy tumult.
“Huh, your Majesty?” “What are you saying?” the nobles asked the king with grim faces.
“I said it would better for you all to die rather than living and harming the kingdom.”
“Sire- I am not sure what the hell your Majesty is talking about.”
“You men think you’re innocent just because you still have your necks attached,” the king said in a frozen voice. “It would’ve been easy to take your heads as punishment for your sins, but then I would be creating hatred for the royal family in the hearts of talented young people who now live for Leonberg. I have saved you in the hope that the same people who now support the Crown Prince would not bear the sins of their fathers for all their lives.”
“Sire is now the time to be considering our past-”
“Let’s save ourselves! I’ll die if I stay here,” one of the nobles shouted and turned to flee – but he couldn’t take a single step. Nogisa and his palace knights had already surrounded the nobles.
“Rather than living and corrupting your children, rather than being executed, fight fiercely here. Then your children will be treated as loyal citizens.”
The nobles started shouting in greater fear.
“Don’t you see the Imperial Army in front of you now!”
“If we continue enduring this, your Majesty will not be safe!”
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” the king said as he looked at the nobles.
“In retrospect, my reign has been one of surrender and compromise. If my reign continues, opportunists like you will dominate Leonberg again. I am not suitable for the kingdom of light that my son will create.”
The king wasn’t about to flee.
“All I could do for my son was to sail away with those who sat like festering boils upon Leonberg.”
A great fervor burned in the king’s eyes, though he was outwardly calm.
“I and all of you will die here today for the future of Leonberg.”