Flames of Retribution
The faint rumbling noise echoed through the tunnel walls, allowing Jeanne to detect the approaching soldiers.
“Just a little longer. Just a little longer.”
If the goal was simply to escape, she could have lit the fuse right then and slipped away.
But Jeanne waited.
Though the trap alone wouldn’t inflict massive military damage on Rotinzel, it could still etch this event into their memory.
It would surely trip them up in future battles.
The footsteps grew steadily closer.
Before she lit the fuse, Jeanne exhaled a long breath.
With obvious tension in her expression, Divain asked cautiously, “Are you certain you can do it?”
“It’s a palace that should have burned to ash. To embrace the enemy and vanish with it… that would satisfy me.”
“Embrace the enemy and vanish?”
Jeanne answered without words, staring trance-like at the torch.
In her past life, the enraged citizens had stormed the palace and set it ablaze after abandoning it to flee.
Jeanne had witnessed it all.
The black smoke rising into the sky, the swirling ashes, the crimson flames—vividly reliving their fury and betrayal.
From that moment onward, Jeanne had hated fire.
“Her Highness?”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Jeanne snapped back to her senses at Divain’s call.
Jeanne brought the torch to the end of the fuse.
Crackle.
The fuse burned away in the flames.
Jeanne and Divain swiftly exited the tunnel just before the explosion.
Behind them, the tunnel collapsed with a loud crash.
***
After issuing orders to his subordinates to assault the royal palace, Nicolas leisurely sipped his tea in his tent.
Suddenly, chaos erupted. With his cup still in hand, he rushed outside.
“What is the matter?”
“A fire has broken out in the castle!”
His adjutant rushed to the tent and reported. The royal palace of Roire was engulfed in a scarlet inferno.
“Even I can see that from here. Put out the fire immediately and search the surroundings.”
“That… The fire started from the underground, and by the time we found it, the flames had already consumed all the passages. It was difficult to approach. Since we don’t know what’s happening inside, sending soldiers in might be dangerous.”
“Damn it.”
“If the enemy prepared more traps, this could lead to even greater damage. It’s about to rain, so it might be best to watch for now.”
The actual damage was minor—two knights and a few dozen soldiers.
Compared to the tens of thousands in the army, it was negligible.
However.
Crunch.
Nicolas gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
Absolute numbers weren’t what mattered.
The fact that he had been mocked by the lowly Bluisolites and had fallen one step behind Aaron burned all the way to his core.
Nicolas tightened his grip on the cup he’d been holding. It was a priceless porcelain vessel he had obtained from a city he had seized.
The force he put into his hand was so immense that the cup shattered like dry leaves—pop—and blood began to trickle from his palm. Yet he showed no sign of pain.
“How dare… How dare the vermin mock me?”
Red veins burst across Nicolas’s white eyes.
Aaron, who had come looking for Nicolas after the recent incident, saw him raging and clicked his tongue, then turned away.
Normally, he would have enjoyed the rival’s failure in private, but even his smile had vanished.
‘A country with more power than I thought. They had a royal family member remaining in the palace. Was she the bait?’
He had thought it would be only a distant descendant. Even if not the direct royal line, there was clearly at least one direct royal of Bluisol still alive. Aaron himself had confirmed it.
There was no guarantee that the one who had planned this was that royal, but simply the fact that he had dared to be there made him a target.
He could become a focal point.
‘If we don’t crush them completely this time, there will be trouble later.’
***
The exit was concealed by thick underbrush quite far from the royal annex.
Thanks to that, they slipped out of the tunnel without drawing the enemy’s attention.
But not long afterward, Jeanne and Divain ran into Rotinzel soldiers patrolling the nearby area in search of survivors.
They were not soldiers from Nicolas’s forces, which had thrown everything into capturing the palace, but troops from Aaron’s unit.
There were twelve in total.
The knight at the front issued the order.
“Inform your allies.”
“Yes.”
One of the rear soldiers fired a rocket.
Pii-yuung—
A small red flame soared high into the sky—a signal requesting reinforcements.
Jeanne frowned.
‘Now we’re in trouble.’
By delaying, the enemy’s arrival would complicate matters further. Jeanne drew her sword.
Shing.
“Kraaaaak!”
The leading strike was the best means to gain any advantage.
Like the wind, Jeanne rushed forward and sliced off one soldier’s head.
‘I’ll take that one’s head.’
Jeanne’s target was the commander of the search unit.
If the leader was dealt with first, the subordinates would fall into disarray.
Jeanne aimed for the knight mounted on the horse.
Clang!
The knight was no pushover.
He had already drawn his sword and parried Jeanne’s.
Jeanne, failing her first ambush, immediately retreated to Divain’s side.
“Tsk.”
The soldiers charged at Jeanne.
Jeanne scanned them with sharp eyes and moved her sword.
At every spot her blade passed, blood sprayed and limbs were severed.
While witnessing the gruesome scene, Divain did not close his eyes or turn away.
For it was not the duty of a retainer to turn away from the sight of the lord he would continue to serve.
“Retreat! This woman is mine. Form a circle!”
Already four soldiers had fallen, and the knight gave the command.
The knight dismounted and stood before Jeanne.
A faint brown aura rose from his sword.
Jeanne clenched her teeth.
No matter how Jeanne could face an opponent wielding aura without her own, clashing blades directly required utmost caution.
She brushed the incoming sword aside with her side to minimize the shock transmitted to her blade.
Jeanne and the Rotinzel knight exchanged several blows.
In trying to continue the fight while suppressing the clash of swords, it became closer to evasion.
By prolonging the battle like this, the disadvantage would be hers.
‘As fast as possible. End it with a single strike.’
It required a calculated risk.
Jeanne dove into the knight’s sword range and closed in.
The distance was so close that their breaths could be felt.
The knight’s sword flew toward her again.
Jeanne caught the knight’s sword with only her left hand while pulling Otklere, hidden in her right pocket, from her bosom.
Thud.
With the silent movement of a assassin, she drove the short sword gifted by Fabian deep into the knight’s neck.
The Rotinzel knight looked at Jeanne with disbelief.
“Ker- kurk.”
Blood poured out from his neck, completely soaking his armor.
Jeanne roughly pulled out Otklere.
Plop.
The knight’s knees buckled.
As soon as the battle ended, Jeanne raised her sword to inspect it.
“Tch. Messy.”
Jeanne had a hobby of collecting swords.
She was far from extravagant, yet this was the only way she spent royal assets.
After many battles and having lost teeth, with large cracks forming in the middle, losing its once-glorious shine for a long time, this sword was still one of her collection items.
If she had clashed with the enemy knight a few more times, it might have shattered completely.
‘I haven’t felt the difference in aura for a long time.’
It was natural that the sword shattered after clashing with aura using a non-aura blade. If it had been a lower-level sword, it would have broken long ago.
Fortunately, it endured while she fought, but the sword could no longer be used.
Fortunately, she had another sword on hand.
She had brought one of the swords she collected when leaving the palace, and it hung at her waist right now.
But to fight countless battles ahead, it would not suffice.
“A stronger sword is needed.”
***
Some time later, after joining the knight unit that had exited first, Jeanne and Divain immediately set off to move away from the Rotinzel army.
Once they reached a safe place to catch their breath, Jeanne asked Divain, “Will you be able to answer if I ask what I meant by the sudden situation earlier?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. If you couldn’t light the fire, I was prepared to do it instead.”
“Did I seem that weak?”
“That has nothing to do with strength or weakness. The palace itself is a historical relic, and at the same time, Her Highness’s home. It’s not easy to burn something like that with your own hands. I was only trying to ease that burden a little.”
“Is that so?”
Heat could still be felt from afar. Jeanne watched the burning palace with complex emotions.
The palace, with hundreds of years of history, was slowly dying in the flames of war.
The palace named Argent, which had glowed white like the silver palace of legend when bathed in sunlight, vanished within the flames.
All that remained now were black, charred ruins.
Even as night approached, the flames showed no sign of dying down.
“Soon soldiers from the enemy who will be searching the surroundings will come. We must go now.”
“Understood.”
Jeanne stood in place for a long time, watching the palace engulfed in flames before finally turning at Fabian’s words.
Aaron, who had seen the signal rocket she had fired earlier, would send more soldiers.
Jeanne and her group moved toward the mountains near Roire.
They were tired and exhausted, but to shake off pursuit, heading there was the right choice.
Even if the enemy chased them, the terrain of the area was something the Second Knight Order knights knew far better.
Thanks to experience ranging from hunting grounds to training fields.
They would spend the night in the mountains. It might not be just one day, but perhaps several. But that could be considered later.
Jeanne sat some distance away from the knights. A clearing in the mountains allowed a clear view of the sky without the trees blocking it.
Divain approached Jeanne.
“Will you be all right sleeping in the mountains?”
“I can’t go back to the palace, can I?”
“Still, as a noble royal family member, staying in such a place… There should be a commoner’s house nearby where the enemy’s gaze doesn’t reach. We can’t all stay here, but Her Highness alone….”
“It’s dangerous. I don’t want everyone to suffer because of me. And sleeping while looking at the stars might be a lucky and good way to rest.”
Jeanne smiled faintly.
Before regression, when the full-scale war began, she had participated as a knight rather than a royal. It was a luxury to expect special treatment.
She had slept amid corpses on the battlefield before. This was fine for a bed.
Jeanne bowed her head and looked up at Divain, who remained standing.
“Then when do you plan to stop looking down on the royal family?”
“When else would I look at you like this?”
With a mix of teasing, Divain answered playfully and sat beside her.
It was still early summer, so the evening breeze was cool.
Divain spoke up.
“There is some truth in Sir Fabian’s words.”
“Do you think I was reckless too?”
“In a way, like a scale. When gains and risks are balanced on both sides, it was leaning toward the risk side.”
“Then why didn’t you stop me from the beginning?”
“Her Highness would have refused no matter what I said. Why would I waste my effort?”
“If you can’t speak properly.”
Both of them laughed at the same time. Soon, Divain put away his smile and spoke more seriously than ever.
“Princess Jeanne, you are not simply yours alone.”
“Yes, as a royal born and having lived enjoying everything royal entails, my life isn’t solely mine.”
Jeanne lowered her gaze. The image of the citizens who had burned the palace after abandoning her in her past life lingered before her eyes.
It was an action born of mixed disappointment and resentment toward the royal who had abandoned them. They had been abandoned first by the royal family, so they couldn’t even properly make excuses.
In her previous life, to regain their trust, she had had to prove it on the long battlefield.
“But there was no other way. To earn their trust for everyone, I had to take the lead first so they would follow me believing in me.”
Jeanne spoke calmly, her eyes sinking deep.
Building trust step by step from the beginning was easier than regaining lost trust. Jeanne knew that better than anyone.
Divain looked at her and relaxed his expression.
“I won’t say her Highness’s actions were correct from a military perspective. But she did well.”
“Divain.”
“I hope that heart of yours continues until the end.”
Divain stood up. And, unlike himself, he bowed deeply with respect.
“Thank you for earlier.”