Chapter 216
Chapter 216
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: 64. Empty Yet Full (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Caught off guard by the utterly unexpected situation, I floundered awkwardly, only for the King to pull me even tighter into his embrace.
I couldn't move forward or back, my hands fidgeting helplessly.
Eventually, I let my body go limp.
This was beyond my control.
The reason I stayed still was simply that I couldn't bear to coldly reject the touch of the King, who had wandered on the brink of life and death and finally returned.
That was all. Truly.
The awkward arms hanging at my sides—I slowly raised them just for that reason.
If I stayed in this awkward position, it would make the King uncomfortable too.
But as I reached out with those raised hands, I froze.
A unfamiliar scent pierced my nostrils.
The dry, earthy smell unique to northerners couldn't mask it—a medicinal odor.
Smoothly,
just then, the King loosened his hold on my shoulders and pulled back.
"You've done well. Truly."
The sudden hug, the affectionate words—none of it was something the King of old would have done.
Something felt off about it, so I narrowed my eyes and studied him.
His hair, turned stark white after the Queen's death. The wrinkles that had multiplied in just a few short years.
His eyes shone brightly, but even that piercing gaze felt unsettling to me now.
Sniff sniff.
I flared my nostrils and inhaled deeply.
Beyond the medicinal smell wafted a faint stench.
"Ah..."
I stiffened in place.
"Your Majes—"
"Your Highness."
Just as I was about to voice the questions flooding my mind, someone called out to me.
It was Count Schrumhilde Shtugart, Captain of the Royal Knight Order, who had accompanied the King all the way to the Empire.
He quietly shook his head.
Not now, his subdued gaze told me.
"Let's head inside."
At that moment, the King took my hand and led me forward.
"To His Majesty the King, returned safely from the expedition—our respects!"
"To His Majesty the King and the Eastern Legion's victory—our respects!"
I followed the King silently amid the cheers erupting from Maximilian, the kingdom's nobles, knights, and soldiers.
"I need some rest."
No sooner had the King entered the palace after passing through the capital's main avenue than he excused himself due to fatigue and headed straight to his chambers.
Maximilian, the Grand Marshal, Shiorin—none of them questioned the King's actions.
They seemed to think it natural for a king returning from a long campaign to feel weary.
"Now that His Majesty has returned, negotiations with the Teutons should reach a conclusion soon."
"His Majesty's return fills me with such relief."
I listened to Marquis Billefeldt and Shiorin's conversation before quietly slipping away.
"Brother...?"
Maximilian noticed my departure like a ghost and called out, but I turned away without a word.
And headed straight for the King's bedchamber.
"Your Highness, His Majesty is exhausted from the long campaign and has just fallen asleep."
The Royal Knights blocked my path.
"Stand aside. I've come to speak with His Majesty."
The Royal Knights looked troubled but showed no sign of yielding.
"His Majesty ordered that no one be allowed in... Your Highness!"
While the Royal Knight blustered, I mobilized my mana to shove them aside and flung open the bedchamber door.
There sat the King on the edge of the bed.
His upper body bare, wrapped meticulously in stark white bandages.
As I stared at that body, the royal physician spotted me and jumped in fright.
"Y-Your Highness...!"
I ignored the physician and strode toward a nearby maidservant.
Snatch.
I roughly seized the basket she held.
I flipped open the lid.
Whoosh.
A stench assaulted my nose.
The exact same foul odor I'd smelled at the city gates.
But the stench wasn't what mattered now.
The basket was filled to the brim with bandages soaked in black, dead blood and pus.
"Explain."
I turned my head.
"What are these bandages, and what is all this pus and dead blood?"
The pale-faced physician trembled before me.
"What good does tormenting an innocent physician do?"
Then came the King's voice.
Unlike at the gates, it sounded utterly weary and drained.
And matching that voice was the King's fatigued face as he waved me off lightly.
"Everyone, withdraw."
At his words, the physician bowed hastily and fled like a rabbit. The Royal Knights dithering at the door shut it and left as well.
Even then, my eyes remained fixed on the bandages wrapping the King's body without a gap.
"Did you think I wouldn't prepare for wounds venturing into the heart of enemy territory? This much, I fully anticipated."
The King spoke calmly as he regarded me.
"You call this 'fully anticipated'?"
"I suppose my state has shocked you."
The King smiled softly, mismatched to the situation.
"The wound is somewhat serious, but it's improving, so no need for concern."
A lie even a child wouldn't believe.
I'd seen it with my own eyes.
Those bandages crusted with black blood and pus couldn't have come from a healing wound.
Black blood and pus like that only oozed from flesh rotted to the core.
"Your Majesty..."
"This trifling wound will leave no trace soon enough."
"Your Majesty."
"So no need for you to make a fuss."
"Your Majesty!"
Before I knew it, my voice rose sharply. But the King didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.
"Many died. If a king like me whines over a minor scratch, how will those men rest in peace?"
Looking at his impassive face, a fire raged inside me.
"This isn't a minor scratch!"
I couldn't hold back and bellowed.
"I'm alive. I've returned. That's enough."
What was enough? What had become of him? It left me suffocating.
"Your Majesty..."
"I'm weary. I need rest now—off with you."
With that, the King lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.
Soon, even breathing steadily.
I lingered there for a long while before finally leaving his chambers in defeat.
"Your Highness."
Waiting outside was Count Schrumhilde Shtugart, Captain of the Royal Knight Order.
"We should relocate."
As if reading my mind, I led him straight to my palace.
"From now on, no one approaches this area."
At the Old Knight's words, Kals Yulihi glanced at me.
Nod.
I nodded, and Kals promptly led the Royal Knights to seal off my palace.
"Your Highness knows best, but he is flawless as a candidate for next Captain of the Royal Knight Order."
Normally, I would have eagerly agreed about my knight, but not now.
Instead of chiming in, I locked the door.
Then asked the Old Knight,
"The Wyvern Knight clearly told me His Majesty was safe. Did she lie to me?"
Jin Katrin had repeatedly assured me that both the King and the Eastern Legion were unharmed.
Yet the King, supposedly fine, had returned with wounds so severe he couldn't even treat them, festering away.
I could only conclude Jin Katrin had lied.
"The Wyvern Knight did not lie. His Majesty's injury happened afterward."
The Captain of the Royal Knight Order explained the circumstances with a grim face.
Immediately after slaying the Empire's First Prince, the kingdom's forces and the Sky Knights deemed their objectives exceeded and began withdrawal.
But at that precise moment, the Emperor mobilized the imperial family's elite legions and knights. As expected of the Burgundy imperial house, their reserves were formidable, sparking fierce combat.
Thanks to the astonishing prowess of the Sky Knights and Dotrin's king, they barely carved an escape route, but the sudden shift forced the Sky Knights to separate from the kingdom's main force.
"Intelligence came in that the Empire's fleet, preserved from the Fire Dragon's rampage, was targeting our lines. One misstep, and the Eastern Legion would be isolated deep in imperial territory."
The Empire's tactic—luring enemies deep then sealing retreat routes to inflict damage—remained unchanged after four centuries.
"Thus, the Sky Knights and Dotrin's monarch detached urgently to intercept the imperial fleet."
One difference: the Wyvern Knights were with the kingdom.
But the Empire, already battered by the Wyvern Knights, surely hadn't overlooked them.
"It was a trap."
"As Your Highness says. Soon after the Sky Knights departed, the imperial assault intensified."
As expected.
"We anticipated it to some degree, but returning to the kingdom without ships was impossible. We knew and still had to endure. It was a brutal fight. I can hardly believe so many returned alive."
The Captain paused, looking at me with a complicated expression.
"It would have been impossible without His Majesty."
The Old Knight's gaze grew distant as he spoke.
The imperial forces that struck in the morning hammered the kingdom's army relentlessly.
By now, they had pushed right up to the command post where the King and high command gathered.
"Your Majesty! It's time to withdraw!"
"Hold any longer, and we'll be surrounded!"
The nobles screamed nonstop.
Terror filled their eyes as they watched the troops around the command post clash fiercely with the imperials, swords flashing.
"Not yet!"
But the King dismissed their near-pleas with a single word.
"If we pull out now, the rear of our retreating allies will collapse! That's exactly what the enemy wants!"
The King nocked an arrow to his bowstring and drew.
Whoosh.
An imperial knight grappling with a Royal Knight raised his shield to block an arrow.
A swift response worthy of the Burgundy imperial elites.
But the kingdom's Royal Knights were battle-hardened veterans too.
The Royal Knight seized the brief opening and thrust his sword home.
The imperial knight crumpled, spraying blood.
The King nocked another arrow.
As he released, one noble blocked his path and shouted,
"Your Majesty! The enemy wants our retreating allies? No—they want you! Are you the only one who doesn't see it?"
"Shooting arrows to slay imperial knights isn't what's important now!"
An outrageous remark, even in crisis.
"Mind your tongue!"
Count Schrumhilde Shtugart, Captain of the Royal Knight Order—who had cleaved through two intruding enemy knights with one stroke—roared in fury.
Nobles who would normally shrink at the Old Knight's bellow stood firm this time.
"If the King's judgment is clouded, shouldn't you correct it? Why stand by?"
One noble of considerable standing even stepped up to rebuke him.
"Do you court death?!"
The Old Knight bellowed murderously, but the noble shouted back undaunted.
"We want to live! Don't you see? We'll all be slaughtered! Why can't you understand?!"
His words seemed aimed more at the King than the Captain.
The King, who had loosed arrows heedless of the nobles' uproar, finally lowered his bow.
"Your Majesty! Withdraw! We'll all die! Allies or not, we're done for!"
"Your true colors never fade, do they?"
The King remarked, eyeing the shrieking nobles.
His voice was chillingly dry.
"What do you mean..."
As the nobles frowned at the cryptic words, a horn blared from afar.
"Your Majesty! Signal that Count Willoden and the Iron Lions have safely withdrawn from the battlefield!"
The Old Knight reported swiftly.
"Any remain?"
"Most have escaped or are on the verge!"
Unable to wait, the nobles interjected.
"Now just Your Majesty and us need to escape!"
"Delay, and we're dead!"
At their frenzy, the King suddenly smiled coldly.
"That wouldn't be so bad."
His voice rang clearly amid the chaos.
"Y-Your Majesty?"
"What did you say...?"
The nobles gaped at him.
"Scum who only harm the kingdom even alive—better they perish here outright."
"Your Majesty, what are you—"
"Did you think your heads still sat on your shoulders because you're innocent?"
The King's voice was ice-cold.
"Punishing you for treason would be simple, but it would breed resentment toward the royal house in the hearts of talents needed to serve the kingdom. Hoping your sons wouldn't bear their fathers' sins, I spared you."
"Your Majesty, this isn't the time to dredge up the past..."
"Let's save our skins first! We'll die here!"
One noble bellowed and turned to flee.
But he couldn't take a single step.
The Captain and Royal Knights had already surrounded them.
"Better to die honorably here than burden your children with shame. Then they'll be treated as sons of loyalists."
The nobles cried out in fear.
"Can't you see the imperial forces right there?!"
"Hold out like this, and even Your Majesty won't survive!"
The King regarded them and said,
"Just what I hoped."
The imperials surged right to their noses, yet the King was serene.
"Looking back, my reign was all submission and compromise. If it continued, opportunists would thrive again in the kingdom—a glorious realm that child will build has no place for me."
But no.
"All I can do for him is exit alongside the kingdom's boils like you."
His seemingly serene eyes blazed with fervor.
"You and I will die here today—for the kingdom's future."