Chapter 72: She-Devil (1)

Milton shared the information he had gotten from Kerber with Princess Leila.

“So you’re telling me that… Strabus Kingdom sent a large number of troops only to capture one man?”

Princess Leila couldn’t believe this. But Duke Palan, who had been next to Princess Leila, spoke up with a serious expression. 

“This may all be true, Your Highness.”

“Now that I think about it, didn’t you say you confronted this man, Siegfried, yourself, Duke Palan?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Duke Palan took a moment to reorganize his thoughts before continuing.

“After confronting him, Your Highness, I felt that Siegfried wasn’t a normal commander.”

“In what way wasn’t he normal?”

“Your Highness, your orders for that battle was for me to stop the enemy’s invasion.”

“That’s right. And didn’t you faithfully carry out that order, Duke Palan?”

“… To be honest, I was a bit greedy, Your Highness.”

“You were greedy?”

“Yes, Your Highness. When the enemy was right in front of my eyes, I couldn’t help but want to soundly defeat them.”

Duke Palan thought that if he could overwhelmingly defeat the invaders in the battle, he would continue to move north and drive out the Republican army from Lester Kingdom’s Northern region. But, he wasn’t able to do so because Duke Palan realized that the enemy wasn’t someone who was easy to defeat. 

“Whatever methods I tried to use, I couldn’t get through his defense. And although I tried to break through by directly leading the troops…”

“You mean, you failed?”

“We suffered heavy losses, Your Highness. Once I took a step back and looked at it again, I realized that not only was he counterattacking every single one of my attacks, but he was also wearing my own troops down.”

“……”

“It felt as though I was playing chess with a chess-master who was far better than I was. Whatever I did, nothing seemed to work. So in the end, I could only focus on defense.”

Princess Leila’s face turned serious as she listened to Duke Palan’s explanations.

“Siegfried didn’t have a lot of troops, and even with you, a Master, you couldn’t gain the upper hand? Is that what you’re telling me, Duke Palan?”

“If there was a Master in that army, then I would not be alive right now, Your Highness.”

Duke Palan’s words were the best compliment that could be given to an enemy.

“Siegfried… Alright. Fine.”

Milton gave a small sigh as he saw Princess Leila’s slight smile as she thought things through. 

‘The only reason this she-devil of a princess is reacting like that is because she thought up something evil… No, she came up with a great idea.’

Milton planned to leave all the small details to her now.

* * *

Although Duke Derek Brans was being treated with great hospitality in the Lester Kingdom, a part of him felt very uncomfortable.

“They’re dragging things out too long.”

Duke Brans hadn’t come this far to a distant country, leading a large army of 50,000 men, to enjoy a banquet. His purpose in coming here was to fight and eject the Republican forces that were currently stationed in the northern part of Lester Kingdom in order to stop them from moving further down south. His second purpose was to kill Siegfried, the man who was considered to be the most dangerous person. Of course, Strabus Kingdom planned to strong-arm the Lester Kingdom during the negotiations and demand they get paid, but that wasn’t a part of Duke Bran’s role. His role was to lead the army into war, and defeat the Republicans.

But the problem was…

He was in a foreign country and needed the cooperation of the Lester Kingdom if he wanted to wage a justified war. Of course, the Strabus Kingdom had an edict from the royal family of the Lester Kingdom requesting reinforcement. But, the First Prince who had issued the official document had committed suicide just before they had arrived. In such a situation, Duke Bran couldn’t trust a single sheet of paper and move his army willy-nilly to fight against the Republicans. 

He had to obtain an official declaration of cooperation from the Lester Kingdom but…

The problem was that Princess Leila, the current regent of this country, wouldn’t give him a clear answer, let alone have an official meeting with him. Duke Brans was frustrated thinking he would have to continue wasting time like this. And so, he decided he would meet with Princess Leila, whatever it took. In negotiations, the person who started first would generally lose more. However, Duke Brans could no longer meaninglessly waste time like this and decided to make the first move. But then, one of the Lester Kingdom’s assigned palace attendants came looking for him.

“Duke Brans, a guest has come.”

“A guest? Who is it?”

Duke Brans furrowed his brows. 

In this small country’s nobles ranking, Duke Brans was considered a noble above all nobles, either by status or by skill. And for that reason, the Lester Kingdom’s nobles had impatiently lined up to meet with him. But to Duke Brans, those nobles had been no different from an annoying fly buzzing around his head. But this time, it was different. 

“It’s Claudia, the wife of His Highness Skyt von Lester.”

“…I’ll meet with her.”

This wasn’t someone he could reject. The First Prince’s wife had been the one to give Strabus Kingdom the justification to step foot into Lester Kingdom. Since that’s the case, she would most likely be helpful.

“Yes, Duke Brans.”

Soon, the attendant appeared with a woman. The beautiful woman was dressed in a black robe with a veil covering her face. She gracefully greeted him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Claudia Lester.”

Duke Brans calmly responded.

“I am Duke Derek Brans.”

Once the two sat face to face, Duke Brans spoke.

“I heard about what recently happened. Please accept my sincerest condolences.”

“… Thank you.” 

As though she could barely speak, Claudia’s voice was weak and trembling. 

On the outside, she looked like a pitiful widow who was pretending to be strong even though her husband’s death had shattered her. Who would look at her and think that she had personally poisoned her husband?

“Why did you come to see me, My Lady?”

“I came to uphold my husband’s will.”

With those words, Claudia began to explain her situation…

The deceased First Prince had originally requested reinforcements from the Strabus Kingdom in order to defeat the Republicans who had taken over a region of Lester Kingdom, but ultimately fell into depression and had committed suicide. So, she, as his widow, would help Strabus Kingdom win the war against them in order to fulfill her husband’s will. 

“That is… the only thing I can do to atone for not preventing my husband’s death.”

Duke Brans nodded as Claudia spoke through her tears. 

“I see. I can understand your intent.”

Duke Brans believed Claudia’s desperate appeal was reasonable.

‘She must have loved her husband a lot.’

But Claudia was internally making fun of Duke Brans for falling for her acting.

‘Doesn’t matter whether they’re royalty or a Master, all men are the same.’

Whatever a beautiful woman says in tears will be taken as the truth. Claudia knew this very well from experience.

‘It’d be foolproof if I whispered in his ear while we were in bed… but that’d be too much right now.’

Claudia was a bit regretful that she was currently known as a widow. But that was okay. She had already prepared something that would help convince Duke Brans.

“It’s a bit humble, but I hope this would be useful to you, Duke Brans.”

Claudia handed over a sheet of document to him. Duke Brans looked at her in shock once he saw it. 

“My Lady, where did you get this?”

“Would this be of help?”

Duke Brans gave her a bright smile. 

“It’s definitely helpful. I feel so relieved that it feels like an aching tooth is gone.”

Duke Brans was delighted.

“I’m glad it’ll be of use.”

“Truly, thank you. If there is anything that I could do to help you, please do not hesitate to tell me, My Lady.”

Mentally, Claudia gave herself a wicked smile.

‘I’ve been waiting for those words.’

She pondered for a bit before speaking.

“This might be a difficult request but… may I ask?”

“Of course, please speak.”

“Then, to be honest…”

Upon hearing Claudia’s request, Duke Brans nodded and admired her.

“You really loved your husband.”

“He was my other half… no, he was my everything.”

“I understand. I’ll accept your request, My Lady.”

Claudia smiled at him from behind her veil. 

‘Nice. That’s half done now.’

Duke Brans created a moment for him to meet with Princess Leila.

“I’m sorry for asking you to meet with me so suddenly.”

“No, it’s alright, Duke Brans.”

The two perfunctorily greeted each other before Duke Brans got straight to the point. 

“Princess Leila, as you know, we came to this country to annihilate the vicious Republicans that’s currently occupying the Northern part of your country.”

“Yes, and thank you for that. Unfortunately, my brother, the one who requested reinforcements, has died, and my father, the current king, is deeply ill that even I, his daughter, cannot see him.”

Princess Leila sighed as though it was regretful.

“Although I am temporarily in charge of the country’s affairs, it is only temporary and informal. My authority cannot allow you to wage war in our country, Duke Brans.”

This was the very reason why Princess Leila still hadn’t given Duke Brans the permission he needed for the war. Unable to find a single gap in that logic, Duke Brans hadn’t been able to convince her and just had to accept that decision. 

But, things were different now. 

“There’s no need for you to worry, Princess Leila. As you can see here, I have the handwritten document written by His Majesty himself.”

Duke Brans handed her the sheet of paper. It was officially recognizing the reinforcements from Strabus Kingdom and wholeheartedly agreeing to the cooperation between the two of them in this war.

“Where did you…”

“Although he might not want to see his daughter, your king seems to have met with his daughter-in-law.”

“……”

Her expression hardened. 

‘That she-devil.’

Princess Leila had kept a constant surveillance over Claudia. But, Claudia seemed to have taken advantage of a gap and secretly came up with this plan. Fortunately, Princess Leila had already prepared for something like this. 

Although it wasn’t an edict written by the king, she couldn't continue to stop Strabus Kingdom.  It would also be unreasonable to ask the Strabus Kingdom’s troops that had been mobilized and sent to Lester Kingdom to return back to their own country. In that case, there was only one method left. 

‘If it’s something I can’t avoid, let’s just meet it head on.’

Keeping her posture straight, Princess Leila spoke to Duke Brans.

“Since the king has commanded, I will do my best to cooperate.”

“Um, and I express my gratitude to you.”

Duke Brans looked a bit confused when Princess Leila easily agreed to cooperate with him.  But, he immediately refocused and said, “Speaking of cooperation, a member of the royal family expressed their intention to join my military and participate in the war. Would that be alright with you?”

At that moment, Princess Leila knew exactly who Duke Brans was talking about. Usually, people might think it would be the Third or Fourth Princes, whose presence in the court was low, who threw themselves into the battlefield hoping to gain some achievements, but…

“Isn’t my brother’s wife a very courageous person?”

‘More like reckless and audacious.’

Princess Leila’s words struck home. Duke Brans had used the phrase, “a member of the royal family,” but Princess Leila had instantly figured out it was Claudia.

“Yes, she expressed her intentions to join the battlefield in order to fulfill her deceased husband’s will.”

This had been Claudia’s request to Duke Brans. In order to personally fulfill her husband’s last will, Claudia asked the Duke to allow her to follow him to war. 

‘I’m positive that she just wants to leave because she’s uncomfortable saying in the Capital when I’ve taken control of the court.’

Right now, the opponent Claudia was most reluctant to deal with was Princess Leila. This wasn’t because Claudia was the widow of the First Prince who had been Princess Leila’s competition. Rather, there was history between Princess Leila and Claudia. Although she didn’t have any conclusive evidence, Princess Leila was convinced Claudia had been deeply involved with the death of her mother and brother.