Chapter 221: The Unexpected Guest (3)

“Whoo… let me think about it.”

Having said that, Milton rose from his seat. When Siegfried tried to stand up as well, Milton stopped him.

“Stay seated. There’s someone else.”

“Someone else?”

“He’s talking about me.”

Queen Leila appeared once Milton was finished. Siegfried sighed at her appearance.

“I was wondering why I didn’t see you.”

“There’s something I’d like to say to you, alone.”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been reluctant to talk to a beautiful woman.”

Having stood up halfway, Siegfried sat back down and Leila sat opposite of him.

Then, she glanced towards Milton.

“Please leave the room.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Unlike Milton who was a Master, Leila was a vulnerable woman. In other words, she didn’t have the strength to fight against Siegfried.

But Queen Leila was firm.

“My love, what you’re thinking won’t happen.”

As long as Siegfried’s purpose was a military alliance, he wouldn’t do anything insane like attacking Leila. But there was always that 1/10,000 chance, that was why Milton wanted to stay and protect her.

“Honey, didn’t you promise me?”

But at those words, Milton was forced to withdraw.

There were three people who wanted to meet with Siegfried. Because his purpose was so different from before and he was too secretive, they had decided to meet with him one-on-one. 

“Guess I have no choice.”

Milton left the garden. Once she was left alone with Siegfried, Queen Leila immediately got to the main point. 

“I only have one condition and you must promise to fulfill it.”

“How unprecedented.”

“Give me Claudia Vamos.”

Siegfried didn’t even blink an eye at her words.

“I don’t know who that is.”

“I believe I told you that you had to fulfill my condition?”

“I don’t even know who that is. How can I give you a person I don’t know? You’re asking for something impossible.”

“Enough. Just turn her over.”

“I repeat, that’s impossible.”

“......”

“......”

It was a battle of wills between the she-devil fox and the monster.

In the tense situation, Queen Leila began to talk again.

“If I think about your position, Claudia isn’t an important person. But you’re not handing her over… you’re trying to exhort as much as you can from me. Am I wrong?”

Siegfried smiled gently at those words and stayed silent. He was silently agreeing with her.

Claudia Vamos. 

To Queen Leila, she was the enemy of her family, but for Siegfried, Claudia was nothing more than a useful woman. She was a woman who believed she could wrap her skirts around men and manipulate them with her beauty. 

Truthfully, there were quite a few men that fell for it. The First Prince Skyt in the Lester Kingdom and later, Duke Derek Brans from the Strabus Kingdom. And once she obtained Duke Brans’ seal, she entered his house and once again found her position by mesmerizing his brother.

She was a cuckoo[1], pure and simple. Wherever she went, she quickly established herself a new name and new identity. She would take the position of the woman she would oust.

But, it was her mistake to target Siegfried. However talented she was at manipulating men, it was useless against him. Nothing worked on him.[2]

But Siegfried believed that he could use her. There were few women who could use the fact they were a woman as a weapon. That was why he had gotten her addicted to drugs and turned her into his pawn. 

In fact, when Siegfried had been an officer, many Republican high-ranking officers were enticed by Claudia and became Siegfried’s political backing. After using her like that a couple of times, she succeeded in luring over Duke McCarthy O’Brian of the Strabus Kingdom as her final use. 

Since then, he didn’t have a use for her and he fed her just enough drugs to keep her functional, but overall, left her alone. Currently, she was only used as a leash for Master McCarthy. She was worth nothing more than that to Siegfried. 

As long as Queen Leila was willing to offer more than Claudia was worth, he was willing to give her up. But, like she said, as long as he was going to sell her, why not as expensive as he could?

However, there was something Siegfried was misunderstanding. Queen Leila wasn’t a pushover. 

“As long as you turn over Claudia, I’ll give you something in return.”

“I still don’t know her, but I’ll listen to you anyway.”

“I won’t oppose the military alliance between the Lester Kingdom and the Republic.”

“......”

Siegfried’s expression stiffened for a moment. It was ridiculous; she wasn’t saying she would help create an alliance nor was she saying she opposed it. While Siegfried was trying to sell Claudia at the highest price, Leila was bargaining for the cheapest. 

The problem was…

‘I can’t reject it.’

Siegfried couldn’t reject her proposal. He had just about convinced Milton, but if Queen Leila was to object to it now? Then the military alliance would fail. 

Siegfried crossed his arms as he thought. He began to think about all the different possibilities. The conclusion he came to was…

“All right.”

He couldn’t do anything else but meekly agree.

Claudia didn’t have that much value to Siegfried. Although there was the possibility of using Claudia one last time, it wasn’t worth provoking the she-devil Leila von Lester. 

“I’ll send Claudia to the Lester Kingdom as soon as the war begins. Happy?”

“Yes.”

When Queen Leila rose from her seat, Siegfried spoke.

“You don’t want me to leave collateral or sign any documents? I could be agreeing with you and end up not keeping my promise, you know?”

When she heard that, Queen Leila turned to look at him with her brightest smile.

“Try it.”

“......”

As she turned back around and left the garden, Siegfried thought to himself as he watched her back.

‘Let’s just turn her over.’

He felt like he’d have to pay an unspeakable price if he unnecessarily provoked her. Whether it worked or not, it was obvious that it would become very troublesome. 

“So Milton Forrest lives with a woman like that. How admirable.[3]

If it were Siegfried, even if he was offered a million gold, he wouldn’t agree. 

At that moment, one last person entered the garden.

“She’s ah bit difficult to live with.”[4]

“You are?”

“Don’t pretend not ta know. Ya know everything, don’t ya?”

“......”

Bianca plopped into the seat across from Siegfried. She was the last person who had business to conduct with him.

She sat and looked at him before speaking.

“Ellie doing aight? If ya say ya don’t know someone like that… Ima put a curse on ya.[5]

Siegfried sighed before asking.

“Are you going to ask me to turn Eliza over too?”

“If I ask, ya gonna do it?”

“No, that’s impossible.”

It was different from when Leila was demanding Claudia. Eliza was someone who was essential to Siegfried. Starting with the elixir used by the Ghosts, she was one of the secret cards that Siegfried could use at a crucial moment. It was impossible for him to meekly hand her over just because Bianca wanted her. 

“Well, that’s what I thought.”

Bianca poured tea into her cup then gulped down the lukewarm tea. She drank it like cold water without savoring the scent. 

“Well, I didn’t expect that ta happen anyway.”

“......”

“I came here to tell ya something about Ellie.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not really important… no, it’s important if ya think it’s important… mm, I’d feel bad if I didn’t tell ya.”

“What is it that you want to say?”

“I want ta check something first. Have ya ever done that with Ellie?”

“......”

This was the first time Siegfried had ever seen a woman speak so bluntly.

“Yes? No? Ya a big boy, don’t be coy and just say it.”

“No. And I don’t plan to.”

Bianca sighed when she heard that.

“Thank God.”

“Again, what are you trying to say?”

“That’s um… oh, I’ll just tell ya. Don’t be shocked.”

“Just say it.”

Siegfried believed that whatever he heard, he wouldn’t be shocked. But…

“As a matter of fact, Ellie…”

Siegfried’s expression stiffened as Bianca began to explain. No, not just his expression; his entire body stiffened.

Once she was done explaining, Bianca refilled her cup with tea and drank it down in one shot.  Then she turned to look at Siegfried, who had frozen in shock.

“In fact, that’s why she was chased out of her hometown.”

“......”

“I thought I should let ya know. Take good care of her till I can kill her.”

Having said everything she needed, Eliza left. Left alone, Siegfried seemed bewitched. He muttered to himself. 

“That’s… that’s ridiculous…”

What on earth did he just hear?

***

“Silver Sage, we’re all set, sir.”

After Siegfried’s massive retreat, the Imperial Army had to stop advancing, but they were finally able to move again. They had sufficient supplies and sent an advance team ahead to secure their route. WIth 500,000 troops, it had taken two months to prepare, but that was fast enough.

“Mm, good. Give the command to move forward.”

“Yes, sir!”

Following Antras’ command, the Imperial Army began to advance. The Empire was slowly beginning to occupy the land that was formerly the Strabus Kingdom’s territory.

‘As long as we finish it properly, we can lay the foundation for the Empire to remain strong for the next 300 years.’

Antras believed that with this, he was almost done with his job. The war could be won as long as the Republic was tied down in the North and constantly attacked while the Lester Kingdom in the West was diplomatically kept in check. He believed that the Republic would collapse in three years at most. And once the Republic collapsed, they could diplomatically pressure the Lester Kingdom and turn them into a vassal state. 

In the meantime, he had created plans to divide the Lester Kingdom. He planned to fuel the resistance against the monarchy in the Northern region of the Lester Kingdom and drive a wedge between the royal family and the Grand Duke by using the kingdom’s dual power structure. 

‘Not too shabby, considering that it’s my final achievement in life.’

With that thought, Antras calmly leaned back in his carriage.

However...

“Silver Sage! Sir, where are you?”

A messenger rushed forward on his horse, looking for Antras. 

“What’s the problem?”

Antras opened the carriage’s window and looked at the messenger’s red face. 

“The Lester Kingdom has attacked the Imperial Army, sir.”

“......”

Even the great Antras’ could do nothing but widen his eyes.

1. Cuckoo birds steal other birds’ nests. They’ll lay their eggs in other birds’ and once the eggs hatch without the nest owners realizing it the new cuckoo will drop the other eggs out of the nest. They’re evil birds.

2. The raw used 이빨도 먹히지 않다. It’s used when someone is trying to do something they’d never be able to do.

3. The raw used the word 용케 which is a shortened form for 용하다.

4. Supposed to be talking in 사투리, dialect

5. The raw had this as a separate line with its own quotation marks, but I believe Bianca says it, so I put them together.