Lucian didn't stop there. Glancing around at the surrounding lords, he added,
"The same applies to all of you. Even if your remonstrations were offered out of loyalty, you still offended His Highness the First Prince, the Commander-in-Chief, and you must accept the consequences that come with it. There is absolutely no need for you to defend me."
"Ah, n-no…"
"Even so…"
"I'll say it again: I understand this decision and have accepted it. So please make sure no needless remarks are made."
With that firm warning, Lucian stepped out of the tent. The color drained from the lords' faces.
He'd phrased it politely, but wasn't it essentially a warning that if they tried to put him back at the vanguard again, he wouldn't let it slide?
At this rate, there would be no way later on to change the First Prince's mind under the pretext of acting for the sake of House Valdeck.
Damn it. What are we supposed to do now?
What else? We can only entrust our fate to the Eight Gods of Heaven.
Maybe I should just incur His Highness's displeasure myself and withdraw—
Do you want the entire house to be marked? Don't do anything foolish and stay put.
Amid the lords' murmuring, the marquis staggered to his feet.
How in the world had things come to this?
At the start, all he'd wanted was to end the war quickly and keep costs to a minimum.
Now, costs be damned—he was facing the prospect of watching his house's finest elites be squandered for nothing.
"If only we hadn't been so sharp with him from the very start."
If we had at least acknowledged Lucian's words to some degree—paid them lip service, saying he had a point—
we could have argued that this was exactly the situation we'd been worried about and pushed to turn back.
But once we openly confronted Lucian in front of everyone, that option was effectively gone.
Now, no matter how things turned out, the only path left was to stick with that idiot of a First Prince.
…Come to think of it, hadn't they said that a ruler who is too clever, or too foolish, is equally bad for his retainers?
The marquis recalled a saying his father had taught him long ago.
A clever ruler keeps his retainers firmly under his thumb,
while a foolish ruler drags his retainers down into the pit he falls into himself.
Most of his late father's advice had become flesh and blood to him over the years,
but that saying alone he had never truly understood.
After all, the more foolish the ruler, the easier he should be to manipulate—so shouldn't that be a good thing?
"So that's what it meant…?"
Reflecting on the image of himself being dragged into that pit, the marquis let out a hollow laugh.
Thinking the First Prince was an idiot and easy to handle, he had pushed him forward—only to get his own ankle caught as a result. Everything was his own doing.
All he could do now was pray that the pit he was falling into wasn't too deep.
*** 华
Despite the First Prince's tyranny, not a single person stepped forward to defend Lucian.
Or rather, to be precise, even if they wanted to, they couldn't.
Neither the First Prince who had issued the order, nor Lucian himself, wanted that to happen.
In a situation like this, speaking up in his defense would only earn them the enmity of both sides.
So the lords, swallowing their frustration, could only watch as Lucian was cast aside.
All of them, that is—except for one.
"Brother, this is not right."
The next day, when they were about to discuss once again how to advance, the Second Prince—who had remained silent until now—stepped forward.
As he straightened his previously bowed back, his tall, well-built frame and striking appearance stood out clearly, unlike before.
At the sight, the First Prince's face twisted sharply.
"You've been quietly watching all this time—why are you suddenly making a fuss now?"
"At first, I thought that after a day passed, Brother would cool down and rescind the order."
"And since I didn't, you had no choice but to step in? On what grounds? Do you even have a position that gives you the right?"
The Second Prince had merely followed along as the First Prince's aide and held no official post.
In terms of rank, he stood right after the First Prince, but that didn't mean he was in a position to interfere in a council of war.
Even so, the Second Prince did not shrink back and met the First Prince's glare head-on.
"I have no position. But as a member of the Imperial family, I have a duty to help my brother when he strays from the right path."
"What did you say? Strays from the right path?"
"Yes. The Valdeck Grand Ducal House—the Empire's greatest contributor and most loyal vassal. Even if they made a mistake, they should not be treated with such disregard. Yet you cast them aside simply for speaking the truth. I beg you to reconsider your order."
"So now you think you can lecture me? Are you saying you know the right path, and I do not?!"
The First Prince screamed in a fit, but the Second Prince did not stop speaking.
Instead, as if pleading for his loyalty to be recognized, he dropped to one knee and raised his voice even louder.
"No one is perfect. There are times when one must have the courage to listen to those around them and correct a wrong decision."
"Silence! From the looks of it, you must be scared because the Valdeck forces are pulling out. If you're that afraid, then you stay in the rear as well! I'll handle the rest myself!"
"Brother!"
"Prepare to march! Advance as quickly as possible, secure water supplies in the next village, then push on to Bodiam and take the castle!"
As if unwilling to hear another word, the First Prince abruptly brought the council of war to an end.
At the sudden clash between the two princes, the lords wore awkward expressions.
Who would have thought the Second Prince—who had kept a low profile and stayed out of sight until now—had such a side to him?
What was that just now? Genuine remonstration? Or a calculated move to stand out at this opportunity?
Does the Second Prince covet the Emperor's throne, or does he truly have no ambition at all?
If it had been a trivial matter, there might have been murmuring, but this was far too grave an issue to speak of lightly.
Amid the uncomfortable atmosphere, the lords kept their mouths shut and left one by one.
Lucian had just stepped outside the tent along with the others when—
"Lord Lucian."
The Second Prince, Cedric, approached him with an apologetic expression.
Lucian promptly lowered his head toward the approaching Cedric.
"I pay my respects to Your Highness the Second Prince."
"There's no need to be so formal. I came to apologize as it is—if you bow like that, it only makes things more awkward for me."
"Apologize? What could Your Highness possibly have to apologize to me for?"
"I wished to say that I'm sorry for not being able to restore your honor. My apologies."
"You needn't concern yourself with it."
"How could I not? When a loyal servant of the Empire is treated with such disregard…"
"That's not what I meant."
Watching Cedric continue to look apologetic, Lucian gave a faint smile.
"I meant that since you've already achieved your objective of withdrawing to the rear, there's no need to add anything further."
For a moment, Cedric froze where he stood.
Just as Cedric was about to flare up and demand what on earth he was talking about, Lucian added,
"His Highness the First Prince is truly walking a perilous path. With the Grand Pact annulled, we have no way of knowing how the enemy will act—yet he is heading straight into the enemy's trap."
"So you're saying I used you for my own safety?"
"You must at least have heard that I did not want anyone to defend me. Even if you hadn't, there's no way someone as astute as Your Highness wouldn't have known."
"Lord Lucian, it seems you are laboring under a serious misunderstanding."
Cedric looked Lucian straight in the eye as he spoke.
"I stepped forward solely because I feared the relationship between sovereign and vassal might be irreparably damaged. I did not make use of you for my own safety. You may insult me if you wish, but it would be troubling for you to think you were exploited."
"If my words offended you, I apologize. But since things have turned out this way, I suppose I should begin preparing to march as well."
"Preparing to march? By my brother's order, you're supposed to remain in the rear, are you not?"
"But isn't that likely to change soon? If the order is given, I'll head out as reinforcement at any time, so please don't worry."
With those ambiguous words, Lucian turned his back and walked away from Cedric.
Cedric could not take his eyes off Lucian's retreating back until he disappeared from sight.
***
A short while later, once Lucian was gone, Cedric relaxed his stiff expression and let out a sigh.
"Lucian Valdeck… he is truly a frightening man."
–Frighting, you say? To my eyes, he's nothing more than an insolent fellow. Not only does he fail to recognize his lord's true worth, he reaches his own conclusions at will, does he not?
Cedric's shadow writhed, and a low, muffled voice flowed out.
It was a bizarre sight, as though someone were hiding within the shadow and speaking from it.
Cedric slowly strolled toward a secluded corner and addressed the shadow.
"An insolent fellow, you say. How laughable. If anything, in that exchange just now, he pointed out my insolence."
–…My apologies, but in my dullness, I find it difficult to grasp Your Lordship's meaning.
"The fact that I used him is something anyone with half a mind could figure out. But discerning what comes after that is a completely different matter."
–What do you mean by what comes after?
"Stepping in to save my brother."
Everything had already gone off the rails from the original plan.
Could the First Prince, Claude, really succeed in suppressing the rebellion simply by pressing forward with superior numbers and troop quality?
"Impossible. Even if no one dares say it aloud, everyone knows it. This suppression will fail. My brother will surely be defeated. The question is how disastrous that defeat will be."
If the enemy merely crushed the coalition army and captured Claude, that would be the best possible outcome.
But if, blinded by hatred, they lost all restraint and cut off Claude's head instead…
it was a scenario Cedric didn't even want to imagine.
"If it ends with nothing more than the Empire's prestige being tarnished, that would be fortunate. In the worst case, His Majesty might be blinded by rage and wipe Krepfeld off the map—scraping together every last shred of the Empire's remaining strength. And after that, what do you think would happen?"
The Empire was already short on reserves.
If it tore out even its remaining pillars in a fit of vengeance, it would no longer hold and would inevitably collapse.
That was why Cedric had to save Claude at all costs.
As long as Claude was alive, the Emperor would somehow be able to cling to his reason.
"Once my brother experiences defeat and his life is threatened, he'll come to his senses and retreat. Still, to be safe, we need to send reinforcements at the right moment."
–Don't tell me… the one you intended to send as those reinforcements was that man?
"No other force would do—one thousand elite troops of the Valdeck Grand Ducal House. More than enough to rescue my brother alone in a crisis."
Having roughly grasped how things were unfolding, Cedric had first invoked Lucian's name and withdrawn to the rear.
There was no need to stick his neck out in a dangerous place and invite trouble.
At the same time, he approached Lucian, who held real military power, hoping to foster some measure of personal goodwill no matter what it took.
In an emergency, isn't it best to make a request after building rapport, rather than crushing someone with authority?
"But he saw straight through all of my thoughts. Not only that I invoked his name as an excuse to withdraw, but also that I appealed to sincerity to win his goodwill—and even that I intended to later rely on that goodwill to ask him to save my brother."
"When he said at the end that he would begin preparing to march, he was mocking my actions. Telling me not to put on an act of sincerity after doing something he never asked for. That even without such theatrics, he would provide troops when the time came, so there was no need to worry."
Letting out a deep sigh, Cedric looked up at the sky.
Had he ever had his schemes so completely seen through like this before?
He had always believed himself second to none when it came to manipulating people through strategy.
"Truly, the world is vast. It's embarrassing to realize how I once strutted about, thinking myself something special."
–What do you intend to do?
"What do you mean—about Lord Lucian?"
–If he's such a dangerous man, wouldn't it be better to deal with him in advance…
"Enough. If you stir up a hornet's nest for no reason, neither you nor I will come out of it intact."
Cedric gave a bitter smile at the shadow's words.
This was a man who had fully unraveled his schemes and then boldly laid them out before him.
If he had revealed his true thoughts despite knowing he would be watched, then he must have prepared his countermeasures thoroughly.
"If he becomes an enemy, he'll be more dangerous than anyone else. We must make him an ally—no matter what."
Above all, securing someone of that caliber as an ally would surely be of great help when the time came to ascend the throne.
Cedric's eyes gleamed with the acquisitive hunger for talent as he looked toward the place Lucian had left.
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