Episode 88

After finishing breakfast, Lothania and I had a long conversation.

She particularly loved the story of how I slipped a note into a milk bottle and set it adrift. Her amazement at my ingenuity left me feeling a bit smug, though I tried not to show it.

Our chatter came to an abrupt end exactly two hours after Aiden had been dismissed—because he returned.

“Aiden, didn’t I tell you to go and rest?”

“I did rest.”

I told him to rest properly, not to take a short nap, but Aiden looked perfectly unbothered.

Knowing that sending him off again would just lead to the same result, I sighed and let it go. At least his face looked a little better than before.

I instructed a maid to call the chamberlain, Tito, then turned back to Aiden.

“Have all the capital guards returned?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. They’ve resumed their duties.”

“Submit a report on which territories the guards and imperial army searched. I need to summon the lords and offer them some reassurance.”

“Understood.”

“And what about the Zernia estate? Is it badly damaged?”

“We suspected there might be hidden spaces or underground chambers…” Aiden trailed off, glancing at me nervously.

The way he hesitated reminded me of a guilty puppy waiting for its owner’s scolding. Adorable, but his words basically confirmed they had wrecked the place.

If only the damage was limited to windows or furniture—those could be fixed easily. But if walls or floors were destroyed, major renovations would be needed.

Initially, I thought about sending Melbrid back to the Zernia estate since he didn’t want to return to Count Retain’s lands, but that wouldn’t work for now.

Allowing someone who wasn’t of royal blood to stay in the imperial palace—especially in the residence of a royal—was already a significant privilege.

While I wouldn’t punish Melbrid for Lian’s crimes, showing him such favoritism as the brother of the Empress’s kidnapper could stir dissatisfaction among the nobles.

Moreover… if the truth about Lian’s involvement in the deaths of Lothania’s father and aunt ever came to light, I couldn’t predict how Lothania would react.

Unlike my kidnapping, regicide was undeniably treason. Perhaps it would be better for Lothania and Melbrid to have some distance for now, but that thought felt more like an adult’s reasoning than a solution.

How I wished someone could tell me how to minimize the pain Lothania might feel.

“Your Majesty, are you all right?” Aiden’s concerned voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I offered him a small smile to ease his worry. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look well. Perhaps you should rest a little longer.”

“No, I slept plenty. Really, I’m fine.”

Despite my reassurance, Aiden’s face still showed concern, but when I smiled a little wider, he dropped the subject.

Returning home safely, I truly felt fine, but perhaps this lingering unease was the aftermath—a side effect of recovering from the serpent’s venom.

I glanced out the window, my gaze drifting toward the direction of the cell where that foolish venomous snake, who had bitten too many people and even himself, was confined.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. Tito and Vitrein entered together.

Seeing Vitrein wearing his black eyepatch always weighed on me, and his remaining eye was bloodshot, hinting that he, too, hadn’t rested.

These beasts of mine, I thought. Can’t they just be tied up and forced to sleep?

“Your Majesty, did you rest well last night?” Vitrein asked.

“You should take care of your own rest first, Vitrein,” I replied with a faint smile.

Vitrein chuckled and placed a few documents on the desk.

“The imperial soldiers involved in the search have returned to the borders. These reports summarize what we learned from the past fortnight regarding Diron’s war.”

“Good timing. I was curious. What about the royal guards?”

“They’ve reestablished contact and seem to be fulfilling their duties effectively.”

“Seem to be? Were the guards out of contact?”

“They encountered the Enser Empire’s forces while en route, resulting in a loss of communication. They eventually escaped on their own and are now actively engaged in the war.”

The chaos hadn’t been confined to me—it had been an uproar both at home and abroad.

I paused, setting aside the reports to focus on Vitrein’s explanation.

“Tito,” I said, pulling a yellow vial from a box I had taken from Lian’s supplies, “show this to the palace physician and ask if they can replicate it. It’s a painkiller.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And have the internal council add agenda items regarding the founding festival to tomorrow’s meeting. Without a chancellor, we’ll need to be thorough.”

“You’re holding a meeting tomorrow?” Tito asked, surprised.

“I must. The festival is only a month away. Also, bring me last year’s materials on the festival.”

“But, Your Majesty, you should rest more…”

“I’m not ill. It’s better to sort these things quickly.”

Tito looked as though he had more to say but finally nodded and left. I moved to the sofa, where Aiden and Vitrein naturally followed, sitting across from me.

“Both of you will attend tomorrow’s council meeting. I’ll be addressing Lian’s punishment.”

“What do you plan to do with him?” Aiden asked, his voice calm but sharp.

“That will be revealed tomorrow. Now, tell me more about the guards.”

At my urging, Vitrein explained what had transpired at the border over the past fortnight.

The royal guards had been unlucky, intercepted by the Enser Empire’s army before even entering Diron.

They lost communication, and reports circulated that the guards had been wiped out.

Coincidentally, this happened on the same day I was kidnapped, with Vitrein occupied in Brincia. As the imperial commander, he had been consumed with searching for me, leaving no one to address the guards’ disappearance.

Eventually, the guards managed to escape independently, abandoning their reconnaissance mission to become a combat unit leading the frontlines in Diron’s war.

I wasn’t sure whether to praise them for their resilience or scold them for their recklessness.

Nor could I decide if the empire’s inability to act immediately on their disappearance was a stroke of luck or a mark of misfortune.

If we had mobilized the imperial army immediately to rescue the royal guards, it would have meant a more direct involvement in the war.

It might even have escalated into an all-out war between Enser and Belpator.

But in the current situation, no matter how active our guards were, it was difficult for Enser to hold Belpator accountable.

This was because Enser had launched a preemptive attack before the royal guards could even join Diron’s army.

“So, essentially, our royal guards were just taking a leisurely stroll in the vicinity, when Enser attacked first, and now they’re simply retaliating in self-defense?”

“That’s correct.”

“…And we’re just going to let it play out like that?”

“It seems Enser attacked because the guard numbers were small. If it had been a regular reconnaissance unit of ordinary soldiers, they might have been wiped out without a trace.”

Vitrein’s words about how narrowly our royal guards avoided being quietly buried clarified the situation for me.

It was a relief the unit was composed entirely of knights.

For a moment, I had wondered if everyone in Belpator—dogs and cattle included—was becoming a knight. But I had forgotten just how strong these beasts of the empire could be.

Despite fighting against a vastly larger Enser force, they had achieved a resounding victory and continued to demonstrate their valor.

It was commendable.

Moreover, this incident gave Belpator a distinct moral advantage.

In international disputes, nothing is more important than who struck first.

“Our royal guards have been through so much; we should at least send additional supplies. We can’t have them going hungry while so far from home,” I said with a smile.

The ever-perceptive eagle, Vitrein, responded with an answer that fit perfectly with my intentions.

“I’ll send an escort of 5,000 elite soldiers along with the supplies.”

It seemed the provocations from the Enser Empire and the unrest beyond the southern border could be resolved much faster than expected.

This would also be achieved with minimal forces and maximum impact.

Additionally, the royal guards would return, fortified with unbreakable camaraderie from surviving together on the battlefield.

Though there had been some nerve-wracking moments, the phrase “turning a crisis into an opportunity” felt fitting for this situation.

As I smiled in satisfaction, Vitrein, his expression shifting, repeated the question he had asked earlier.

“What do you intend to do with the snake? I’d like to leave after seeing his head roll.”

Though the royal guards were performing admirably, it wasn’t ideal for their commander, Vitrein, to remain absent from the southern border for so long.

Clearly eager to return, his sharp blue eyes glinted with an unmistakable killing intent.

Aiden, who had been calmly listening, wasn’t much different. His gaze burned with similar intensity.

Facing the venomous dog and eagle, I began recounting the story of Bonita, who was first bitten by the snake last autumn.