66. Your War, My War (2)

Christine was standing in the doorway, looking at Theodora. In her arms, Maxim was asleep with his eyes closed and a tired face. Theodora’s hand stroked Maxim’s face, who was breathing regularly. At least I won’t wake up until the next night.

“Thanks for your work.”

Contrary to the words she uttered, Christine’s voice could be said to be cold. Whether the temperature of that voice was warm or cold, Theodora did not turn her head in Christine’s direction. He just nodded his head a couple of times in place.

“Thank you for giving me that needle.”

Theodora looked at the thin needle on the shelf. Christine’s gaze also followed Theodora’s towards the black-tipped needle. A needle coated with a very strong sleeping pill. It had been quite some time since Christine had received that offer, the request.

After Theodora went to Maxim’s engagement ceremony, that is, after learning the whole truth about Maxim’s curse, Theodora secretly visited Christine.

‘…What happened?’

Christine faced Theodora with a much colder voice than now.

‘Help me.’

The reaper, Theodora, started with the main point. When Christine heard that, she took Theodora inside with a bewildered look. Theodora looked emaciated. Christine was looking at Theodora with her arms crossed. Theodora raised her head and began to explain.

‘If Maxim, if he participates in this battle, if he fights the Behemoth… he will definitely use his Aura.’

Christine pursed her lips and nodded.

‘I guess so. I tried to urge you not to join the battle, but…’

Christine clenched her fists and said. Theodora shook her head.

‘No, to be sure, we need to get Maxim to a safe place.’

Christine couldn’t refuse Theodora’s offer. But, as if trying to convince her one last time, she asked Theodora.

‘…I can’t be forgiven.’

Theodora shook her head resolutely.

‘Even so, I don’t want Maxim to risk his life any more. I hope it’s not in jeopardy… I hope. Even if it was a forced engagement, I want my fiancé to forget about me and the Knights.’

Christine sighed deeply.

‘…I…’

Theodora didn’t seem to back down. Christine had no choice but to agree with Theodora.

‘I’ll shoulder everything.’

‘Just because he said he’d help…Do you think I’ll leave it that way?’

Christine sighed again. Looking at it this way, the inevitable corners of these two people, Theodora and Maxime, were very similar. Christine swallowed the bitter feeling with her breath.

‘So, what are you thinking?’

‘I have a plan. Please listen to me just once.’

so now It wasn’t too difficult for Christine, the sorceress, to prepare a needle coated with a powerful sleeping drug. I couldn’t help feeling the guilt that I felt like I was doing something bad to Maxim again. He also had to endure.

Theodora was brushing Maxim’s hair. Christine couldn’t take her side. Because it was she who stepped out to shoulder all of Maxim’s resentments.

“Maxim, will eventually be consumed by the curse, right?”

Theodora looked down at Maxim and said that.

“Yeah. It’s already late.”

Christine’s words were firm. Theodora couldn’t find any hope in Christine’s sentencing. What kind of curse it was, Maxim did not yet know, but both knew. A curse that takes away one’s self, erases one’s memory, and turns one’s body into a corpse-like state.

“…In order not to cause further harm to Maxim, we must obey the family’s words, but…”

Theodora twisted her face in agony. Now, it should be completely off. Now that I know the truth, I’ve only apologized once.

“I can’t give in this time.”

yes. It was better to leave him hidden where he could not be found, as he would become a puppet with no memory and no self and reduced to the hunting dog of the Benning family. It was the first time Theodora rebelled against her family and her father.

“I’d like to ask you to go with me… but I can’t.”

In a battle like this, the existence of a mage was essential. Especially if that person is a brilliant wizard like Christine. Christine nodded knowingly.

“I just hope they arrive safely.”

Theodora’s hand caressed Maxim for the last time. Theodora then rose from her seat.

“I’ll have to include Maxim in the procession Count Agon leaves.”

Maxim’s head rested on the pillow that Theodora had lightly put down. Christine stared blankly at Maxim. Then, in a slightly annoyed voice, she asks Theodora, who can’t take her eyes off Maxim’s face as if she has no regrets left.

“By the way, didn’t we have to kiss?”

Theodora’s shoulders trembled. Did you think you wouldn’t know, this woman? Theodora looked back at Christine with a feigned composure. Christine was staring straight into Theodora’s eyes with cold green eyes. Christine did not miss the slight trembling of those dark cloud eyes.

“What are you talking about…”

pretended not to know

“really?”

When Christine questioned, Theodora stopped making excuses and blurted out her words.

“Captain? I’m sure you have a fiancé…”

“I couldn’t help but put acupuncture on my neck.”

Theodora blushed. Make excuses that are just like excuses. Christine narrowed her eyes and glared at Theodora, but Theodora turned her head away, pretending not to notice. When Christine tried to say something more, Theodora raised her hand and raised her voice as if to stop.

“hurry! I’m going to move Maxim.”

When Theodora cut off the conversation in a strong tone, Christine shook her head and left the room to call for soldiers. Quietly leaving the room would still be considerate of Theodora.

After kicking Christine out, Theodora laid down on the bed and looked at the sleeping Maxim for the last time. Then, sneakily, she approached Maxim and took off the top. Countless scars were carved on the knight’s body.

The scars on that body must have increased significantly over the past few months. A series of battles with monsters, the incident of falling with Theodora. Maxim’s body was already overworked under an enormous burden. Scrapes, bites, cuts. Theodora pointed out each wound and ruminated on the pain.

There were particularly notable wounds. It was a long wound that started from the chest and continued to the abdomen. Theodora put her hand over the wound. The curse engraved on the scar, above the curse, was a weakly beating heart. Theodora bit her lip and then took off Maxim’s coat again.

I’m sorry, Maxim.

Theodora let the tears flow. Then he took Maxim’s hand and kissed him on the forehead one last time. It was goodbye. For her, a farewell in the true sense of the word. Theodora let go of Maxim’s hand. The hand slipped helplessly.

“I’ll go.”

Theodora leaves the room. Outside, the soldiers Christine had called were coming up into the room.

“What is it, Captain?”

the soldiers asked. Theodora glanced around the room. Then, after hardening his heart, he turned his head to the soldiers again.

“…he’s injured. Please prepare to transport them to the rear.”

—

The day Behemoth appeared,

The horn of the beginning of the war resounded in Daejeon. Most of those who fly and long within the kingdom were gathered. The morale of the army ahead of the long-awaited large-scale march was rising as it went up. From the elite soldiers guarding the snowy mountains of Kips, to battle mages dispatched from the Mage Tower, to the knights of renowned samurai.

The most notable among them were the elite knights of the Benning family, who stood at the head of all the troops, wearing silver armor and flying their flags. The vanguard of the Benning family, with his visor up, was showing a strong expression unique to a knight on a horse.

There were also those who encountered the Behemoth. There were also those who survived the war 15 years ago and jumped into battle with a mission again. Tens of thousands of troops were only waiting for orders to advance.

The commander-in-chief swallowed dryly as he looked at the mighty army of the kingdom. The heart of the commander-in-chief, who should have been calm, was beating at a different beat than usual at the thought of going to a settlement with the monsters of the no-man’s land that had always been aiming at the back of the kingdom.

We must go now.

The staff’s whispers were like echoes coming from far away. The commander-in-chief nodded reflexively. Then, he pulled out the sword from his waist and raised it high into the sky, shouting with the loudest voice he could.

“All troops! Corsair!!”

The drums are ringing. The low, majestic sound of the horn pushed the soldiers forward.

troops moved. It looked like a huge stream of water finding its place and flowing into it. Behind the advancing troops, Earl Neil Euler, who was in charge of the Chief of Staff, sighed in relief as he watched their advance.

“A army of that size and that amount of talented people were mobilized, but it doesn’t mean that we couldn’t defeat one of those Behemoths.”

The one listening to those words was Baron Emile Bordain. Emile Bordain nodded.

“Yes. From the war 15 years ago, the kingdom has definitely grown stronger. And many new articles were also discovered.”

He said in his usual calm voice, as if he wasn’t worried about Emile Bordain.

“The kingdom will not be defeated.”

Count Euler nodded broadly.

“yes. can’t be defeated His Majesty the King has also attached some of the knights of the Guard Knights to elite soldiers who guard the capital, so it shouldn’t lead to betraying His Majesty’s expectations and sincerity.”

A born flatterer.

Emile Bordain narrowed his eyes and looked at the chief of staff.

Or, a person of character who is not swayed by the enormous power of being the chief of staff, and loyalist.

Either way, I just wondered how that expression would change now. Coincidentally, Count Euler frowned at the advancing soldiers as if they were strange.

“Earl Benning seems to have sent quite a few soldiers. There are still that many soldiers left.”

To be precise, it wasn’t advancing. Even while all the soldiers were leaving, they were defending their positions throughout the capital and palace. Something was strange. Count Euler thought so.

“…Hey, Emil.”

Emile Bordain smiled and turned to Count Euler.

“Why is that?”

“Hey, why are Count Benning’s soldiers still there?”

Emile Bordain shrugged.

“I do not know…”

Hearing that enigmatic voice, Count Euler looked at Emile Bordain with a hard expression on his face. The voice trembled a little with fear.

“Emile…what are the Bennings trying to do?”

Emile Bordain gave a slight smile.

“Didn’t you tell me? The escort knights guarding the royal palace also had a gap in their strength, and many of the troops guarding the royal capital also participated in the war.”

The blood began to drain from Euler’s face.

“Goodbye…goodbye… are you… going to Benning with you…”

“You are misunderstanding. Those who guard the royal road have disappeared. If some cheater attacks the royal capital right now, will we be able to properly protect the palace?”

so,

Emile Bordain stretched out his arms.

“It’s taking over the rightful mission of protecting the capital, so what are you so worried about?”

“Crazy, crazy…! The Benning family are the guardians of the kingdom, so they aren’t afraid of such disloyalty…!”

Emile Bordain let out a smile.

“No, Chief Secretary. As a noble who protects the kingdom, and as a member of a samurai family, it is a very natural decision. If the Bening family, the guardians of His Highness the 2nd Prince and one of the best samurai in the kingdom, does not fulfill that role, then that would be disloyalty.”

At Evil Borden’s sophistry, Earl Euler’s face distorted.

“Do the remaining palace guards and the troops guarding the royal capital know how to stay still?”

Emile Bordain shook his head.

“Well, can’t we call it a group of disloyal and cheating people who stop the act of being loyal to the palace? And…”

Emile Bordain’s cold eyes flashed.

“Do you really think this is all there is to it?”

I heard the sound of grinding my teeth. Emile Bordain, knowing that Count Euler was loyal, smiled as if satisfied.

“Damn them…! You were secretly raising soldiers…!”

As if he didn’t understand, Emile Mordin made a fuss.

“Can you trust only numbers and protect the palace?”

“What are you talking about again!”

Chief of Staff Roh Han finally lost his patience and raged. Emile Bordain’s demeanor was uniformly peaceful.

“Here he comes.”

Count Euler, who looked at the place Emile Bordain pointed to, spat out words mixed with astonishment.

“Those are… Wizards of the Mage Tower…”

I saw several people wearing hoods and slowly approaching the palace. It was a robe often worn by wizards. Count Euler’s thoughts finally went crazy with the fact that Beninga and the Mage’s Tower were united. He withdrew, hesitantly, from Emile Bordain.

One of them had appeared next to Emile Bordain before he knew it. When did you come up here? by what means? The chief secretary looked around in bewilderment. The hooded man looked at Count Euler and then turned to Emile Bordain.

“I’m ready, Baron.”

“I appreciate the decision to always think of the kingdom.”

“What, I am just admiring and following the attitude of the loyal Earl Benning…”

Emile Bordain and the Wizard of Hood put on a play that wouldn’t even be funny, and smiled at Count Euler, who was about to sneak away.

“I’ll give you a chance, Chief Secretary.”

Count Euler realized that it was not the time to worry about the Behemoth. Emile Bordain was holding out his hand.

“What would you like to do?”