Chapter 40：Fate's Twisted Sense of Humour

"It's a trap."

Simon saw a sudden look of revelation grow on Victoria's face as she muttered something to herself. Of course, he was going to ask her what it was.

"It's a what my lady?"

"IT'S A TRAP!"

Bright stars flashed for a moment in front of Simon as Victoria shouted at him. Despite his dazed state, Victoria still went to give him orders.

"Order our men to retreat and regroup!"

When Victoria said this another round bright stars blinded Simon, forcing him to squint his eyes.

"Those are Ostrians out there! Our people! Our people that we are sending to their deaths! Order the retreat! Order the retreat this instant!"

As Simon was blinded by the bright stars, his ears were deafened by screams. The screams of men dying.

When Simon's sight returned to him, he found Victoria tightly gripping the reins of her horse with a scowl on her face . With that scowl on her face, she shouted at Simon.

"Then I will go myself!"

Before Simon even had time to react, Victoria already started riding off into the distance.

He tried to spur his own warhorse into action to chase after her.

Except, his arms wouldn't obey his orders.

Instead they were stiff and unmoving.

Simon felt his face strain as he tried to move his arms.

Something, anything.

But what could he possibly do?

After all, you can't change what has already happened.

Simon felt his chest rapidly rising and falling as he quickly opened his eyes, revealing a dark, empty room.

The only thing he heard within the silence of the room was the murmuring of a young child.

When Simon glanced to his right, he found a girl with fiery-red hair tightly hugging onto her pillow as she slept on her bed.

Her fiery-red hair symbolised her status as a member of the royal Steiner family.

That girl was Valintina Gandhart Steiner.

And she was the last living heir to the throne.

As for Simon? Well, his full name is Simon Delmont Ranslow and he is a knight.

More specifically he is a royal knight.

Previously he was the chief knight of the now deceased princess of Ostria; Victoria Grandhart Steiner.

Emphasis on the word 'was'.

With a sigh, Simon sat back up on his bed. With a tired voice, he spoke to himself.

"Again with these unpleasant dreams... what the hell is happening to me?"

Ever since the battle... no... the massacre of the Ostrians during the Ostrian invasion of Drussia there has rarely been a night where Simon had some proper sleep.

For almost an entire year Simon had to suffer through sleepless night after sleepless night.

Those 'stars' that Simon sees within these dreams were actually man made explosions.

Explosions made by the frightful Imperium of Drussia.

Although the Kingdom of Ostria has yet to confirm how the Drussians were capable of achieving such a terrible feat, they did confirm that the metal balls fell from the sky due to being fired from an elevated trajectory from a new special type of cannon developed by the Drussians.

From what snippets of information the Ostrians were able to gather, the Drussians called these cannons 'howitzers.' However, they were yet to uncover the howitzer's exact parameters and inner workings.

Other than these special cannons, the only other verified information that was leaked from Drussia was about the high level of nationalism within the general populace ever since the establishment of the Imperium of Drussia.

However, what surprised almost everybody was how surprisingly passive the Imperium of Drussia has been over the past year. Perhaps it was because they were busy dealing with internal affairs or they were amassing their strength within the confines of their borders.

Either way, everybody knew that it was only a matter of time until the highly militarised and nationalistic Drussians finally stepped out of their own borders for a full-scale invasion.

But, none of this was important right now.

What was important was that Simon ensured that Valentina safety made it to Fance.

With the Turkmen seemingly preparing to take advantage of a weakened Ostria, Simon along with a small contingent of royal knights were sent to escort Valentina on her journey to find safety and refuge within the Fench Empire.

Simon couldn't even imagine what would have happened if Valentina was still in Ostria when the Turkmen finally attacked.

As such it was imperative that Valentina safety made it to Fance.

Even if she was to make it there alone, that was better than her not making it at all.

With another sigh, Simon went to lie down back on his bed. However, just before he could-

Bang!

Within a few seconds, Simon's instincts already took over his body as he moved to protect Valentina who was cowering within the confines of her blanket.

"Wh-what's going on?"

As Valentina's whimpering voice reached Simon's ears, he already reached for the hilt of his sabre.

Within the next few seconds, more and more gunshots reached Simon's ears.

But these weren't the only sounds that Simon heard.

Although faint, amongst the gunshots, he also heard the sounds of swords clashing and men groaning in pain.

However, the most alarming thing he sensed was what he smelt.

It was the smell of dense smoke.

Within a few seconds, Simon was able to deduce everything that was going on.

"Bandits..."

"Bandits?.."

Valentina's frightened voice was all that Simon needed to realise not only seriousness of the situation but the horrible timing of it too.

Since none of his fellow knights have returned, it would be safe to assume that they were all either preoccupied or dead. As such, Simon's first priority was to make sure that Valentina escaped.

For a short moment, Simon turned his back to the door to speak with a scared Valentina.

"Hey. Do you know where our horses are kept?"

In response to Simon's question, Valentina only stood frozen in place, continuing to hide behind the quilts of her bed. With no choice, he shook her gently as he once again asked her the same question.

"Come on answer me. Do you know where our horses are kept?

"Y-yes."

This time, Simon was able to get a response. With some relief in his voice, Simon continued to question the young girl.

"Do you remember that 'trick' that you used to do with Victoria?"

Valentina paused to think to herself for moment before she responded.

"Do you mean the silent footste-"

"Shhhhhh. We don't want anyone else overhearing about it."

Valentina only silently nodded after Simon interrupted her. Soon after, Simon moved to silently open the window before he gave an order to Valentina.

"I want you to use that 'trick' while you make a run for our horses. If any of our knights are there, use my name to convince them that you must get out of here, if not just go on ahead alone."

When Valentina heard what Simon had to say, she was left completely speechless. For a moment it seemed like she completely forgot the impending danger she was in before she was able to make a response.

"But-"

"Just go!"

When Simon interrupted Valentina, she was once again left speechless. Soon with a look of mixed feelings on her face, the teary eyed Valentina nodded at Simon before hopping through the window and running off into the darkness of the night.

All without making a single sound.

As the sounds of death and destruction continued outside, Simon gritted his teeth together as he took his pistol musket from his personal drawer.

Gripping his pistol and sabre, Simon spoke to himself to strengthen his resolve.

"I failed you once Victoria... I will not fail you again."

...

With streams of tears running down her face, Valentina ran through the burning village as she made her way for the stables.

As the village burned around her, Valentina heard the sounds of men laughing maniacally and the ear piecing screams of women.

Nevertheless, Valentina only ignored these screams as she held her breath and ran, making sure to avoid the sight of the mad-eyed bandits.

Soon enough, Valentina finally reached the stables where their horses were being kept.

Still holding her breath, Valentina silently crawled into the stable through one of its many windows.

The first thing to enter her sightly nearly caused her to vomit on the spot.

What entered her sight was a bloodbath.

Spread out amongst the stable were dead bodies. Most of which were men dressed in raggedy leather armour.

The stable reeked of a foul smell as Valentina wondered about the stable, trying her best not to step onto one of the multiple pools of blood.

However, one of these bodies nearly made Valentina breakout into tears on sight.

Unlike the others, one of these bodies was dressed in the plate armour of a knight.

"Sir Timothy..."

Timothy was one of Valentina's favourite knights.

During these days on the run, where Valentina was feeling especially down, Timothy would always smile that smile that would always brighten up her day.

Now all that's left of that endearing smile was half a face that could barely be recognised.

It was at that moment that Valentina forgot everything that Simon told her or even the danger she was in.

Without even knowing it, Valentina already fallen on knees, crying silently to herself.

She crawled into a ball and cried.

"Father... Mother... Victoria... why did you leave me alone?.."

However, Valentina was not alone.

"Little girl? Are you alright?"

Soon a gentle voice reached Valentina's ears.

When she glanced at her right, she found a young woman.

Typically Valentina would have been alarmed or at least wary of this woman.

But this time, she did nothing.

Nothing but cry to herself.

"There, there, it's alright."

As the woman said this, she went to put Valentina within her gentle embrace. On the other hand, Valentina did nothing to stop her.

"That knight over there... was he your friend?.."

Without the will to even move her mouth, Valentina only nodded to answer the woman.

"Oh my... how horrible..."

The woman stopped embracing Valentina and instead softly placed her hands on Valentina's shoulders as she said this.

Her voice as calming and soothing as ever.

"I know that you must by scared? Are you scared?"

Valentina nodded once again in response.

The woman paused for short moment to seemingly think to herself before she once again spoke to Valentina.

"Do you want to come with me? I'll take you somewhere away from here... somewhere safe."

This time, instead of nodding silently, Valentina answered with her voice.

"Y-yes... please..."

As she said this, Valentina embraced the woman deeply within her arms.

It was a nice feeling, it felt almost as if Valentina was hugging Victoria or her parents.

Although Valentina knew that she shouldn't trust strangers, she felt that she was safe with this woman.

It was probably because of this woman's gentle and soothing nature and appearance.

In particular it was the woman's comforting eyes.

That pair of beautiful violet eyes.