A Calculated Humiliation
My entire body was screaming.
It hurt. The scent of my own blood filled my nose. The dirt and dust of the street mixed into the wounds on my arms and legs, triggering an agonizing pain.
But I had to move forward. The priests of this world could cast holy spells; I wouldn't have to amputate my limbs over something like a bacterial infection.
I wouldn't die. No matter how miserable and painful this was, it wouldn't leave permanent scars.
Therefore, I had no choice but to press on. No matter how slow and pathetic my progress, I had to keep moving forward.
"Wh-who on earth is that...?"
Charm was, in essence, presence.
If a theater actor possessed high Charm, they could captivate the audience with even the most mundane performance.
If someone with high Charm sought to seduce another, they would steal their target's gaze through every gesture, word, kiss, and movement. They would make it so the target could think of nothing else, feel nothing else, but the captivating figure before them.
If a lord possessed high Charm, they would command the absolute loyalty of their subordinates. Their followers would not think of their own self-interest; instead, they would focus all their attention on the lord's will, vision, happiness, and pleasure.
And if such a person were offered as a sacrifice upon an altar, everyone would watch the ritual. Unable to tear their eyes away from the sanctity of the rite and the sacrifice of the offering, gods, otherworldly beings, spirits, and humans alike would have no choice but to watch the offering burn.
And right now, I had to be that sacrifice.
"Ugh... Ahhh..."
Countless eyes were fixed on me. They watched me crawl, dragging myself through the dirt, enduring this humiliation.
I was certain of one thing: this was not what Valerian wanted. She had only hoped I would lose my temper and turn back on my own.
She never intended to force another noble to prostrate himself and crawl before a massive crowd.
That was precisely why I had to do it. I had to show every single person in this castle that the Lord of Arcteria was enduring such humiliation just to offer an apology.
All for the victory I would claim one day.
"Ah..."
Valerian stared at Edrin, her mouth slightly agape.
Although the quality of the magically projected screen was poor, it was clear enough to show just how painfully he was crawling.
What... is this?
It was a sensation she had never experienced before. Edrin was moving in a direction that completely defied her expectations.
This was something no noble would ever do. It was even more unthinkable for the "Edrin Silverline" she knew from her intelligence reports.
Yet, he did it. No matter how much Valerian tried to deny reality, the fact remained unchanged.
Does that fool even realize his authority will plummet to the earth if he does something like that?!
She had already secured intelligence on Arcteria.
Even now, Edrin's half-sister, Irene, was carrying out purge after purge.
Most of them were incompetent, and the purges were laughably soft compared to the ones Valerian herself conducted, but it didn't change the fact that those people would have sided with Edrin.
A lord had to reign. Those who dared to stand above others had to suppress those they ruled through fear, terror, and authority.
A lord or a noble standing above others could not be stronger or wiser than everyone else. Just as kings and emperors solidified their power by granting authority to their bloodlines, a lord had to infuse authority into their own actions.
A noble who bowed his head to another could never command the respect of others, regardless of how noble or rational his purpose might be. He could not rule.
A noble risking their life for honor was, at least to some extent, a rational act.
Yet, he knelt. He did not seem foolish enough to be ignorant of what such an action entailed, and yet he did it anyway.
If this continues, I...
Valerian's brilliant mind began to formulate future plans. However, no matter how much she calculated, she could see nothing but a bleak future.
I cannot hide this.
If he had crawled here under the cover of night, when barely anyone knew of it, perhaps it could have been covered up.
But now, countless people are watching his pathetic display. They all know he is enduring pain and humiliation to apologize for his father's sins.
No matter how powerful my control is, I cannot silence the mouths of everyone who witnessed this.
Rumors will spread.
Rumors that Valerian forced a terrible, agonizing ordeal upon the newly coronated young Lord of Arcteria.
This is dangerous...!
Of course, Valerian was a lord who ruled others through infamy and fear. Simply adding another "reason to fear her" wouldn't normally be a problem.
However, infamy was only useful when it was controllable.
If there was a bandit group notorious for slaughtering everyone who resisted, people would not fight them in order to survive.
If they encountered them, they would surrender all their belongings just to stay alive. They wouldn't dare disobey their orders.
The bandits could avoid useless skirmishes, thereby preventing losses to their own forces and damage to the cargo they wished to plunder. That was beneficial.
But if the bandits' infamy grew too extreme, and rumors spread that they killed even those who surrendered, the story changed.
Merchants would avoid the bandits' territory altogether. If they did cross paths, they would fight to the death, burning their own cargo before they died.
That was a loss. In the long run, the bandits' cruelty and infamy would only shorten their own lifespan.
And the infamy Valerian would gain from this incident was an excessive, uncontrollable notoriety that brought her absolutely no benefit.
He hasn't resisted with an army, nor have I officially declared war. If I kill or harm a noble who has knelt to beg forgiveness for his father's sins...
As always, Valerian had intended to delay declaring a casus belli for as long as possible. To be precise, she planned to officially declare a territorial war the exact moment her army crossed the border.
The longer the official declaration was delayed, the more her enemies would waver or deny reality. Her black army would then sweep through like a broken dam, ruthlessly severing the necks of those who had refused to face the reality of Valerian's invasion.
But now, her tactic of "strategically delaying the declaration of war" was choking her own throat.
Since the army's movements could not be hidden, most people knew Valerian would soon invade Arcteria. Yet, no official action had been taken.
Thus, Edrin became a lord who had come of his own accord to apologize for his father's sins.
He had not lost a war against Valerian, nor had they even fought. He had come to apologize as an equal lord to another, with only a slight difference in title, not as a subordinate.
No. This won't work, no matter what I do...
It was true that Wilhelm had insulted Valerian, but in relations between nobles, mistakes were made, and apologies were offered.
Every noble—whether Valerian's ally, enemy, or neutral—would watch this event. And they would reevaluate her.
They would see Valerian as someone who would casually humiliate another noble using his father's sins as an excuse. They would believe that even if they did not oppose her and showed the most humiliating, polite submission possible, it would mean nothing.
Fear had to operate within rules and restraint. Forcing those ruled by strict control to obey commands—that was the fear of a sovereign. That was the infamy of a ruler.
A fear that operated in a way that others, the ruled, could not comprehend was not the fear of a sovereign. It was merely the terror of a monster.
Now, she would no longer be able to control other nobles through fear as she always had. Rumors of Edrin's actions would grow wings and reach the ears of countless nobles. None of them would want to align themselves with Valerian first, only to end up in "such a state."
"Hahaha..."
It was absurd. It felt as though the tower she had painstakingly built was crumbling to pieces all because of a single madman's stunt.
That man was dismantling the sovereign's infamy she had so carefully constructed, simply by crawling on the ground.
"Amusing."
Valerian bit her lip.
It was infuriating, but she still had to do what needed to be done.
She had to resolve the situation and minimize the damage.
"I will go myself."
"Y-Your Grace? In person?"
"Of course."
First, she had to stop this situation. She could not let that man crawl on the ground any longer. She had to make him stand up.
The conquest of Arcteria had to be abandoned. If she tried to conquer that fiefdom after this, it would only make her look ridiculous.
For now, she had to back down. She had to declare that his actions were not in vain, so that the other nobles who heard of this incident would know.
You certainly make things interesting, Edrin.
However, she had no intention of letting that man off easily.
That beast of a man who had completely shattered her plans.