Chapter 261

The Imperial Family made no secret of their intention to hold back the Maindulante forces at the County of Wicaster.

“They never did before, either.”

Watching the countless silver helmets rise and fall like waves in the distance, Cledwyn muttered cynically. Aidan, standing beside him, didn’t understand his lord’s words, but didn’t ask. He wasn’t particularly curious.

To him, his lord’s words weren’t something to be understood, but something to be revered.

Cledwyn knew the inner thoughts of his friend, whom he’d been with since childhood. He chuckled, looking at Aidan’s face.

“It means you and I have broken through the Imperial Family’s poorly built defensive line quite well. There are a few more opponents than usual today.”

This time, Aidan understood. He nodded.

“That is correct.”

“It’s better that they’ve gathered this many. Once we get past here, there are no obstacles to the Imperial Capital. Gathering this many troops is beyond their capabilities.”

Because a significant portion of that massive silver wave was soldiers sent by the McKinnon family for Joyce McKinnon.

“Let’s finish this quickly and go home.”

The adjutants standing around Cledwyn burst into laughter at his not-so-funny remark. Not entirely out of flattery.

“We should. How much do you miss Her Highness?”

“The first child is the most exciting. I felt like I had the whole world.”

“It’s infuriating when you’re exhausted and your husband isn’t by your side.”

A female adjutant who had given birth finished with a chilling remark. “Indeed, indeed,” the other adjutants with children chimed in.

The reason those who had once revered and feared their lord could now make jokes that bordered on rudeness and familiarity was because the Duke’s demeanor had softened considerably since the current Grand Duchess arrived. And because the fact that he had immediately provided food and drink to the entire army upon hearing the news of his wife’s pregnancy was, to all these people, oddly endearing.

‘Our lord is human too.’

‘Did you just realize that? I knew it when I saw the way he looked at the Grand Duchess.’

‘Keep it down, everyone. I knew it would be like this from the moment I heard Her Highness had come as an advisor.’

Of course, for us Maindulante people, when we meet someone we know is the one, the world changes…

There was also a desire to tease their lord, who seemed like a young man of his age for the first time, but their joyful murmurs carried another meaning.

The Maindulante succession was completely secure.

Yes, everyone thought this war had ‘started well.’ The Allied forces suffered almost no casualties, and the enemy fell like straw. The army at the height of its morale—especially the army that had set out to avenge years of humiliation—had no reason to question the necessity of this battle now.

However, on the other hand, they were also anxious. The fact that the Duke was fighting directly on the battlefield. Of course, even if something happened to the Duke, the Grand Duchess could rule… but after that? And this was a full-scale war with the Bistor Imperial Family, of all places. A bleak future came to mind in any number of ways.

So there were whispers that Cledwyn should retreat to the rear and Aidan should take the forefront. Their worries were now completely resolved.

The Duke always wins. Everyone in this army, and most of the enemy, believed that. His track record made such belief possible. But now, the Maindulante people could declare it with greater solemnity and peace of mind.

The Duke wins. Therefore, we win too.

The Duke’s direct participation in the war, which could be seen as reckless, had become the prelude to a myth. Cledwyn glanced at his subordinates, brimming with energy, and said briefly.

“We just need to time it right.”

The Count of Wicaster is fond of the McKinnon family, who are closely related to his daughter-in-law, so Camille will also put effort into the timing of the operation to make him testify that Joyce’s death was the Duke’s doing. Probably after the battle has begun.

While fighting such a large army, Cledwyn couldn’t pay attention to Joyce, so the special forces hidden in Parrish had to do well.

Cledwyn looked at the sun for a moment and estimated the time. And when he decided it was right, he raised his hand.

The clear trumpet sound announcing the advance echoed across the field.

❖ ❖ ❖

The sound of a trumpet faintly reached his ears from afar.

Joyce stared gloomily into his teacup. Being assigned to the front lines and facing a battle, yet still able to drink tea at leisure… It was clear headquarters didn’t expect anything from him beyond the role of a “rich man’s son.”

However, Joyce’s gloominess didn’t come from such trivial facts. He was worried sick.

About his sister, and the fact that he didn’t know where she was at this moment.

He knew it too. Dianne had escaped well before entering the demon’s den that was the Imperial Family. The Shadows of the Duke’s family that Nerys had sent reported that the escape operation was very successful. As both families had foreseen in advance, the former Marquess of Lykeandros had tried to kill Dianne, who would be an obstacle to his daughter, and Nerys’s subordinate, taking advantage of that opportunity, had taken Dianne into sole protection.

Joyce trusted Nerys. He trusted her friendship with Dianne and her abilities. So Dianne was probably under safer protection than anyone else in this world could provide.

But no matter how capable someone was, there were limits to what a person could do. If an unexpected situation arose, who could do anything from so far away?

Whether his own flesh and blood, his ‘baby sister,’ was comfortable—or whether she was facing other dangers in a place where even Nerys couldn’t do anything… Compared to such worries, his own safety wasn’t much of a concern.

‘I knew this would happen.’

The trip to Maindulante in the summer of last year. The torrent of advice Nerys had given him then had allowed the McKinnon Trading Company to stand at the pinnacle of the business world amid the successive collapses of the Empire’s existing powers. The growth of the trading company itself was due to the talent and effort of the McKinnon family, but without that accurate advice, they wouldn’t have been able to establish themselves as the Empire’s leading trading company so quickly.

It was just that the day had finally come when the last of her advice would be realized.

After almost dying at the hotel in Dreikum, he was prepared for his own life, and by extension his family’s lives, to be targeted again. Nerys’s prediction was roughly along those lines. A great upheaval would occur in the Empire in connection with her, and then the Imperial Family would surely target Dianne—her only friend and the owner of a huge dowry.

At that time, he should trust himself and send Dianne away from home for the time being. Nerys would use Shadows to extract Dianne from the midst of this power struggle.

The prediction didn’t end there. Nerys had subtly asked Joyce if he was willing to become bait himself, to reverse the operation of those who were trying to drive a wedge between the McKinnon family and the Maindulante ducal family.

Wasn’t it obvious? Joyce was born to be upright and principled. Once he decided something needed to be done, there was no such thing as being cunning. Moreover, if he could prevent his family from being harmed, he would step forward a hundred times.

However, this operation was dangerous. Where he was now was swarming with soldiers of nobles loyal to the Imperial Family, and any one of them could be an assassin of the Imperial Family. Even the Count of Wicaster had taken all the soldiers of the McKinnon family out according to the Imperial Order, so it was literally a situation where he was surrounded by enemies.

‘The Duke will take care of it, but still.’

How great a man was Cledwyn Maindulante, whom he had seen in person in Maindulante? And how many brilliant achievements had he made since this war began?

So Joyce was playing the role of bait, drinking tea in this leisurely Parrish Castle while Cledwyn’s main force clashed with the Imperial forces led by the Count of Wicaster. Hoping all this would end soon so he could meet his sister.

‘Di… you’re doing well, right? I can rest assured, right?’

It was then. A commotion erupted outside the drawing room where he sat.

Bang! Clang.

Chase him!

…Assassin!

Run!

The sound of something falling and breaking, and several people shouting at once. Joyce bit his lip.

‘This is it.’

His hand drew the sword strapped at his waist. A cold weapon he had learned to handle only for self-defense, but couldn’t wield well.

Tap tap tap.

Faster, lighter footsteps than usual approached the drawing room door. And when Joyce raised his sword and aimed it at the door—

Two men in black cloaks burst into the room like a flood.

The Duke’s royal guard, Platinum, would now be famous throughout the continent. As would the black cloaks they wore like grim reapers. Joyce chuckled at the attire, which made it obvious who they wanted to frame for the assassination. If they were rescuers from the Duke’s side, they wouldn’t have come dressed like that.

He had hoped the people from the Duke’s side would have taken care of it before something like this happened… Unfortunately, the timing didn’t seem to have worked out.

“Well, since my people are less skilled than Her Highness the Princess’s people, I can’t blame anyone else.”

Honestly, he was resentful. He couldn’t stop thinking.

If the McKinnon family could have protected Dianne themselves.

If they could have prevented the Imperial Family from seeing the McKinnon family as nothing but a convenient chess piece.

The Elandria family was still protecting Valentin Elandria, wasn’t it? Even if the ducal family decided to send that lady to the Imperial Family someday, the opinions of the family members would have been reflected in the exact timing. At least, that’s what Joyce thought.

But the McKinnon family didn’t receive such treatment.

‘Just a lowly family with money, huh.’

He was tired of it. Of not being something to be respected, meaningful, valued, or whose heart they wanted to buy. Of the Empire’s aristocratic society, where what mattered more than real power was how many generations ago one’s ancestors had been nobles.

‘So Mother and Father also bet on Lady Nerys.’

The McKinnon family’s decision to join Maindulante when the opportunity arose wasn’t just because of past favors. The Count and Countess were talented at selling good products to good buyers that others couldn’t see, and this time they were simply selling the McKinnon viscountcy to Maindulante.

However, there were bound to be sunk costs in business. This time, Viscount McKinnon himself was about to become that sunk cost.

“If I can make a good deal, I have no complaints. Even if I die, my parents will know who the real culprit is and will surely avenge me.”

Joyce’s eyes narrowed. The men in black cloaks rushed at him simultaneously, their indifferent eyes unmistakably accustomed to killing.

Clang!

Clash!

The swords held by the men collided with Joyce’s sword, making a terrible noise. He managed to block once with the teachings of the excellent masters he had learned from, but Joyce knew he would die before he could take a few more breaths.

By now, soldiers should have rushed in from outside. These men had already made a commotion, and even if it wasn’t a battlefield, this place was still a kind of military base. But the hallway was quiet. As if the earlier commotion had been nothing but a play to create witnesses.

A silver blade flashed before Joyce’s eyes.

Clang, clang, screech!

The blades scraped against each other, producing a chilling friction.

After a few exchanges of blows in an instant—

The opponent’s blade, not missing even the briefest opening, shot toward Joyce’s neck.

‘I’m going to die!’

Joyce felt it instinctively. Suddenly, he heard Dianne’s voice.

“Brother!”

‘This must be a passing thought.’

❖ ❖ ❖

“Brother!”

The dagger Talfrin threw narrowly saved Joyce just before his neck was severed. The sword the assassin dropped flew high into the air and fell, striking Joyce on the crown of his head like a ridiculous play. Dianne, seeing her brother collapse, screamed in horror.

The Shadows, who had just arrived in the hallway that had been cleared of blood in advance, filled the corridor. Talfrin raised one side of his lips, looking at the man in the black cloak who was still beside Joyce.

“I am very sorry that my subordinates were about to fail in their mission so foolishly…”

The Shadows who had infiltrated Parrish in advance, but were a step late because there were too many enemies, flinched. Silver Moon was not an easy opponent, so they felt wronged, but if Talfrin hadn’t arrived at the right moment, they would have completely failed in their mission. There was nothing they could say.

Talfrin bared his teeth a little more.

“Let’s discuss that later. Now, let’s start the party.”

A blood banquet, fit for the night.