Chapter 116 · The Turned Tide (2)

Alter felt a trickle of cold sweat running down his forehead.

The curse placed on Paeon had indeed used a medium. He had frequently gone in and out of Paeon’s office, using his sword, work utensils, and even the doorknob as mediums for the curse. To deceive that sharp man, he had even mixed in barrier magic that prevented detection of mana waves.

He had erased all evidence now, but the number of people who could enter and leave Paeon’s office was limited, so the odds of him becoming a suspect were high.

He quickly worked his head.

“…Even if the curse was cast over a long period using a medium, that does not clear the Kalisan prince of suspicion. Wasn’t that man receiving swordsmanship lessons from Sir Parsiel? He had plenty of opportunities.”

The king retorted.

“But did you not say you saw that prince attack Sir Parsiel, Count Alter? Did you not witness the curse being cast?”

“I do not know much about curses. I may have… been mistaken.”

“Mistaken?”

The king’s voice was so cold that even Alter, who feared nothing in the world, felt his chest tighten.

The king let out a deep sigh.

“I wonder if there might be an enemy from within.”

The nobles in the audience chamber were all appalled.

“An enemy from within…”

“If that is true, we must catch them immediately and bring them to judgment! They could be a spy trying to bring down Santra!”

“If Your Majesty thinks so, I will take charge of the investigation at once.”

Alter answered as calmly as he could, but the king waved his hand dismissively.

“What matters right now is not who did such a thing. It is whether we carry out the results of the negotiation.”

Meanwhile, Aquila was also greatly shaken. What she had thought was proceeding smoothly just hours ago had gone badly wrong.

The king’s sudden change in attitude was especially strange. He had clearly agreed to use that prince to pressure King Pereus. In fact, that was the only way!

And now suddenly invalidating the armistice terms?

‘Belus made a move.’

There was no way the king had made such a decision on his own. He wanted to bring Kalisa down more than anyone, and he took pride in the armistice terms he had barely obtained. He was not a man to concede so much.

That fox-like Belus must have whispered in his ear. He would have wanted to save Sir Parsiel somehow.

But she soon shook her head.

‘No… that is unlike Belus. It is too much.’

Belus was a cunning man. He too never did anything at a loss.

He had written all the armistice provisions himself. No matter how much he needed Sir Parsiel, he would never tear down the achievement he had built with his own hands all at once.

Especially when it was not even certain whether King Pereus knew the method to break the curse—how could he have proceeded with such a bold negotiation?

‘That child!’

A thunderous realization passed through her mind.

Just before coming here, she had heard that Ark Ellenoa had knocked down the royal guards and attempted to break into the Tower of Repentance. It must have been a scheme Princess Anastasia had orchestrated to meet the Kalisan prince.

At first she had thought it was a foolish act. The childish behavior of a young girl who had lost her reason. But looking at it now, everything had changed after that child visited the tower.

‘That child persuaded Belus.’

Aquila recalled her last encounter with Anastasia. She had looked into Anastasia’s eyes and felt a chill run down her spine. They were not the eyes of an eight-year-old child. She had felt as if she were facing her own sister. Whenever she had fierce arguments with Beatrice, Beatrice would look at her with exactly those eyes. Eyes of unmistakable contempt.

Seeing a child who looked exactly like her sister, like a copy, look at her that way was all the more chilling.

‘I underestimated that child too much.’

Until now she had thought Anastasia was clever for her age, but she had never considered her a genius. The very thought of it caused a reaction of rejection within Aquila. Her pride made her unwilling to admit it. That the little brat was her rival.

But the one who had completely overturned the board was the princess who was not even in this room now. It had to be Anastasia’s doing!

Aquila swallowed dryly and stepped onto the red carpet in the center of the audience chamber. She absolutely could not let that bastard child win.

“Your Majesty, you must think carefully. If you invalidate the armistice terms and Kalisa starts a war?”

She spoke in a soft voice.

“With no son held hostage, with the diplomatic severance lifted, what will you do if they join forces with another nation and invade?”

The nobles on her side chimed in one after another.

“That is right. To save one Sir Parsiel, we could lose the lives of millions of Santrans!”

The king asked.

“Then you all agree to let Sir Parsiel die like this?”

Count Ellenoa, who had always regarded Paeon as a thorn in his side, spoke up with a pretense of reason and calm.

“For the national interest, there is no choice.”

“…So that is what you mean.”

At the king’s silence, the audience chamber fell quiet as well. Everyone was busy watching each other, only rolling their eyes.

“Your patriotism, trying to think of the national interest no matter what, is truly admirable. If so, I will distribute this oath to you now, so sign it, all of you.”

The king gestured to Belus. Belus prepared to hand out the stack of white papers he was holding.

“What… oath is this?”

The nobles asked in confusion.

“An oath swearing that if war breaks out again, every head of every house and all children aged fifteen and older will go to war.”

“…!”

“Of course, you must consider that Sir Parsiel will not be on that battlefield.”

They were struck dumb and stood there blankly. Even after taking the oath, they swallowed hard and glanced at each other. None dared to bring out their family seals.

Originally, when war breaks out, nobles must stand at the front. But all-out deployment was unusual. One or two children to carry on the family could be replaced by mercenaries hired by the nobles, but the oath they held stated that no substitution was permitted.

They remembered the last war. Whenever they fell into a serious disadvantage, it was Paeon’s efforts that pulled them back from crisis. There were dozens of battles where he alone swept away the enemy forces.

Battles in regions without him were often lost. That was why knights, every one of them, wanted to fight where Paeon was.

The nobles finally realized. That if they fought a war without Paeon, their survival rate would drop drastically.

They fumbled and cried out.

“Y-Your Majesty! This is too excessive a demand.”

The king was outraged at those words.

“You cannot even promise to go to war, yet you would have me discard Santra’s greatest strength? Are you making a fool of me? If you are so confident, it should be fine for you all to go to war together!”

“…”

As the nobles clamped their mouths shut with pale faces, the king’s arrow turned to Aquila.

“Aquila, are you also prepared to go to war if it breaks out?”

“Pardon?”

Aquila’s eyes went wide in surprise at the unexpected words.

“Your sister went to war despite being heir to the throne. You stayed in the palace then because you were young, but now it is possible.”

“Your Majesty, th-that is unreasonable. I managed the palace’s internal affairs in place of Sister Beatrice. I still do the same now…”

“That was then, but now there is Anastasia, is there not?”

“…!”

Aquila’s face flushed red with humiliation.

It was an utterly heartless thing to say. To send his child to the battlefield and have an eight-year-old granddaughter take over internal affairs.

As she was openly treated as yesterday’s news by the king, a flash of mockery crossed the nobles’ eyes.

“Why is everyone just standing there? Does no one intend to stamp the oath?”

“…”

A heavy silence fell over the audience chamber.

“Then I have no choice but to agree to this negotiation and carry it out.”

At that, one noble scraped together his courage and spoke in a cowering voice.

“Um… Your Majesty. F-first, what if we receive the method to break the curse, and then do not send the prince back…?”

“That is impossible. Kalisa demanded that the invalidation of the armistice terms be announced across five continents, including the continent of Tranquillum. If we do not keep the promise, only Santra will be made a laughingstock.”

The king clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“Those despicable bastards…!”

That noble seemed unaware that he had just said something even more despicable.

“If there are no further opinions, I must take my leave. There is too much to do, so I ask for your understanding.”

The king rose abruptly. No one opened their mouths until he and Belus left the audience chamber.

The sun was rising before anyone knew it.

◇ ◆ ◇

At dawn, the king came with the method to break the curse that he had received from King Pereus.

Breaking a curse was harder than casting one. Even after hours of effort, it was uncertain whether it could succeed.

“Can you do it, Lady Roktania? It must be your first time breaking a curse.”

“I will do what I can.”

Roktania answered carefully. And then a child’s voice rang out.

“I’ll do it.”

Anastasia said in a voice full of fatigue, rubbing her eyes. Everyone in the room was taken aback by her appearance.

“Princess, you barely slept a wink. Leave Sir Parsiel to Lady Roktania and rest more.”

Sierra urgently tried to stop her.

“Yes, Anastasia. It is a very difficult task. No matter how much of a magic prodigy you are, leave this to the adults.”

The king also coaxed her gently.

“I will do it.”

Anastasia did not break her stubbornness.

“Princess, you will need to use triple magic for hours. It demands tremendous stamina, and your mana could be depleted.”

Roktania tried to persuade her with a troubled face, but she spoke with blazing eyes.

“I can do it. First, give me the method. And since I can’t concentrate with people around, everyone please leave.”

They were startled once more by her resolute order to leave. She was probably the only person in the world to give the king an order to leave. Even Princess Beatrice, whom King Ferdinand loved most, had never done such a thing.

“P-Princess…”

Rosa broke into a cold sweat and grabbed Anastasia’s hand, but she shook it off.

“I’m fine. Lord Lux will protect me. If I truly cannot do it, I will ask for help.”

“Your Majesty.”

Roktania looked at the king, asking him to stop Anastasia, but the king hesitated and eventually permitted it.

“Very well, try it once.”

They withdrew from the room, overwhelmed by the child’s indescribable presence.

The king and Belus waited in the next room, and Sierra and Roktania decided to watch through the slightly open door.

Paeon was suffering greatly even while unconscious. His complexion had worsened over the course of a day, turning completely ashen.

Anastasia quickly scanned the method Roktania handed her. After murmuring it over several times to memorize it, she soon sprang up and approached Paeon.