TVLT 03

Chapter 3

Artizea had once breached the embankment of the Aba River in order to frame Cedric.

At the time, Cedric had been returning from the western border of the Empire after reorganizing the defenses there under Emperor Gregor’s orders.

The Emperor had sent an imperial envoy to order him to return the commander’s token and hurry back to the capital alone.

That was when Artizea tampered with the embankment.

A small city and several villages were swept away by the flood.

She had calculated that the population directly affected would be only around thirty thousand and decided it was acceptable.

The farmland would also be damaged, but it was a year of abundant harvests, so there was little chance that the entire country would face famine.

Cedric could not possibly have failed to make the same calculations Artizea had.

No matter how she looked at it, it would have been more advantageous at the time to leave the Aba River alone and obey the Emperor’s order by returning to the capital.

But Cedric did not.

The army was needed to prevent the flooding from spreading.

He successfully contained the flood with minimal casualties.

However, because he had acted as Commander-in-Chief without returning the commander’s token, he aroused the Emperor’s suspicion.

Artizea had done it precisely because Cedric was the kind of person who would act that way.

It had always been like that.

When Artizea discovered a village of rebels in the Grand Duchy of Evron and framed Cedric with it, when she plotted to drive out Grand Duke Roygar, and even when a plague spread, it was the same.

Even when Cedric knew that Artizea was behind it and knew what the consequences would be, he always ended up saving people.

And eventually, he was defeated and became a fugitive.

“Have some tea.”

The steward spoke politely and handed Cedric a metal cup.

Then he sat beside Artizea and slowly poured strong tea, heavily sweetened with sugar and milk, into her mouth.

Cedric drank his tea while sitting across from Artizea, as though they were simply having afternoon tea.

Staring at him, Artizea hazily remembered Lishia’s last words.

「If you ever happen to meet Sir Cedric, please tell him that Lishia lived without regrets.」

Lishia probably never wanted Artizea to meet him again.

If Cedric came face-to-face with Artizea, it would most likely be after he had ultimately lost and been dragged back to the capital.

But the current situation was the exact opposite of what Lishia had imagined.

Several years had passed, and Cedric was still alive.

His forces had not been completely destroyed, either.

It was Artizea who had fallen.

And now Artizea had been brought to Cedric’s military camp, where she was facing him.

If Lishia knew the situation now, she would want Artizea to deliver those words.

But Artizea could not keep the promise she had made to Lishia.

She could no longer speak.

When the steward had poured an entire cup of tea into Artizea’s mouth, Cedric suddenly stood.

“Let’s go.”

“……?”

Artizea opened her eyes and looked up at him in confusion.

Cedric approached and easily lifted her into his arms.

Unlike when Benya had carried her, Artizea struggled this time.

She was flustered.

But she could not resist the strength in Cedric’s arms.

He lifted her as though she were simply being held against his chest and carried her outside the tent.

Several knights in full military uniform hurried toward them.

They all looked unkempt from their long life on the run.

“Your Highness.”

“Grand Duke.”

“Where are you taking that wicked woman?”

“I have business to attend to.”

“We’ll carry her.”

The knights reached out their hands.

Cedric turned his body away from them as though avoiding their hands.

“Don’t talk about a person as if she’s an object.”

“What does it matter? You’re treating that demon far too well, Your Highness.”

“Stay here. I’ll go alone.”

“No.”

The knights looked horrified.

“What harm can the Marchioness of Rosan, who doesn’t even have her arms and legs, possibly do to me?”

“We don’t know!”

“That witch could cause disaster with nothing but her tongue.”

“Unfortunately, the Marchioness of Rosan doesn’t even have a tongue anymore.”

Cedric clicked his tongue as he said this.

He strode across the military camp.

Then he lifted Artizea onto his horse, holding her close as he mounted.

Since her body was no longer whole, there was no way to have her ride behind him, and this was simply the easiest way to move her.

Artizea shuddered.

She had never been this close to another person before.

The warmth of his body against her back was hot.

Cedric rode out of the camp with her.

A light drizzle was falling.

Looking at the mountains and streams, Artizea realized that they were in Barkwo, a region of the Grand Duchy of Roygar.

Barkwo was the Empire’s breadbasket in the east.

It could not compare with the vast plains in the west, but it had abundant water and a mild climate, allowing all kinds of grains and fruit to grow.

The finest wine in the Empire was also produced here.

But now, there was no trace of any of that.

Smoke rose from the blackened earth.

As they rode, the only things they saw here and there were broken ruins, not houses.

Bodies were scattered everywhere, but it was difficult to find the bodies of women.

The city had been destroyed as well.

Nothing remained of the city walls but ruins.

Survivors huddled beneath the blackened walls of their homes, staring at the two of them with hollow, darting eyes.

Artizea stared blankly at the scene, unable to understand what had happened.

What had happened while she was imprisoned?

There could not have been a war in Barkwo.

“Barkwo ended up like this because twelve years ago, someone from here offered Grand Duke Roygar a plan to assassinate Lawrence.”

Artizea could barely breathe.

This was an unnecessary massacre.

Lawrence was already Emperor and had control of the Imperial Army.

His power was firmly established, and his authority as Emperor was stronger than anyone else’s.

Artizea had made it that way.

It had always been Artizea’s role.

Lawrence had to remain clean.

That way, he could maintain his legitimacy at any time simply by cutting Artizea off.

That was the duty Milaera had given Artizea.

Artizea had carried out that duty faithfully.

So now that she was gone, Lawrence should have become a complete Emperor.

“Are you shocked? Isn’t this a method you used often, Marchioness Rosan?”

Cedric spoke in a low voice.

“Whether something was necessary or unnecessary. I know that was how you decided whether to carry out a scheme. Lawrence must have decided that this was necessary, too.”

“……”

“Or do you believe that your judgment was absolute, while Lawrence’s was not?”

Artizea could not answer.

“If that is what you believed, then it is only natural that you were cast aside.”

With that, Cedric turned his horse around.

After that, Cedric formed a small detachment and traveled from place to place.

Artizea traveled with them as well, riding with the steward.

There were many other places in equally terrible condition.

No one was rebuilding the places where locusts had passed, the areas scarred by civil war, or the embankments that had collapsed.

The grain relief system had stopped functioning, too.

Refugees filled the roads, and disease was spreading.

Unburied corpses lay scattered everywhere.

The Empire’s political situation had not become a mess overnight.

Emperor Gregor had been self-centered and selfish, a man who valued his own authority above the lives of the people of the Empire.

The struggle for succession had thrown the country into chaos.

Artizea herself had taken the initiative in making that happen.

But she had thought everything would be fine once Lawrence became Emperor.

She had believed they could rebuild afterward.

When Lishia was Empress, there had still been hope in the Empire.

Even after her death, there had at least been attempts to do something while Artizea remained beside Lawrence as one of his greatest contributors.

But now, it seemed as though the Imperial Family had simply abandoned everything.

Artizea already understood what Cedric was trying to tell her.

Instead of condemning her with words like Benya had, he was showing her the consequences of everything she had done.

“Milaera is dead.”

He told her this on the day they reached a rebel village after crossing the frozen mountains of the north.

Artizea was completely exhausted, leaving her with little strength even to be shocked by the news.

“It seems she kept nagging Lawrence about his affairs with women.”

That was probably true.

It was not as though Milaera would have given him sincere advice about properly governing the country.

Only graves remained in the rebel village, with thousands of shadows from wooden crosses stretching across the ground.

The village was not actually inhabited by rebels.

It was a place where people had hidden after fleeing when Emperor Gregor falsely accused Cedric’s parents—his own sister and her husband—of treason and had them killed.

The truth was eventually revealed, and Cedric’s parents were posthumously cleared.

The warrants for the people who had fled were also lifted.

Even so, they had never left the village where they had lived together, relying on and trusting one another.

Lishia had also been from this village.

Cedric, who had lost everyone he could call family despite half his bloodline being connected to the Imperial Family, had found comfort in this village.

Artizea knew that, too.

That was why she had slandered it.

She had never known that they had made graves.

Had Cedric personally scattered earth over all these graves?

‘Did he bring me here so I could see this and reflect on what I’d done?’

Artizea could only wonder to herself.

Cedric stood on a hill overlooking the entire village and remained in silent prayer for a long time.

Then he took her back to the military camp.

“I don’t think even you could have known Lawrence would become like this, Marchioness Rosan.”

“……”

“I knew he was capable of very vile and dirty schemes. But once he entered the struggle for the throne, I could understand it to some extent. After all, losing meant something worse than death.”

Artizea desperately wanted to ask him something.

Why didn’t he ask about Lishia?

Why didn’t he ask how the saint he had been willing to risk everything to protect had died?

Milaera had been killed because of Lawrence’s affairs with women.

Cedric must know by now how Lawrence treated women.

If so, he had every reason to condemn Artizea for taking Lishia away from him and forcing her to marry Lawrence.

But he did not.

His firm expression was like a public statue standing in the middle of a square.

“But I never thought he would rule with such tyranny. Why? The Krates Empire belongs to Lawrence now. Does he have no desire to cherish what is his, to value it and make it prosper?”

Artizea could not answer even if she wanted to.

She had no tongue.

She lowered her eyes.

She wanted to know the answer more than anyone.

Why was Lawrence doing this?

“Devise a strategy.”

At Cedric’s next words, Artizea raised her head in shock.