Political Marriage Bed (1)
The castle gates were bustling with people from the crack of dawn. Four villages had received my request for troops and supplies to wage war against the Cluiston family, and now the representatives of each village’s leading houses were streaming into Lanchester Castle. Every house had sent its lord along with their heirs, most of them arriving with three fully armed cavalrymen and twenty infantrymen each, all rushing to aid their liege. When the forces from the four villages were added to the Kether unit guarding Lanchester Castle, the total came to fifty cavalry, two hundred infantry, and thirty archers. Among the cavalry, only five had been formally knighted. The remaining forty-five were squires yet to earn their spurs. The infantry situation was even worse—many of them were simple farmers. In any case, the number of troops we could mobilize immediately from the territory was two hundred and eighty. According to Olmati’s estimate, if the Cluiston domain staked its very survival on the conflict, they could scrape together up to four hundred men. We were still far short.
But we had vassals. I sent a letter to Luzen of Langdal ordering him to dispatch soldiers. He replied at once, saying he would leave only the bare minimum to defend his castle and personally lead one hundred and thirty troops to join us. With Luzen’s unit added, our total strength reached four hundred and ten. We had finally matched the number the Cluiston family could field if they went all out—but the problem was that we were the attackers. If they simply barred the gates and chose a defensive siege, four hundred and ten men would never be enough.
In the midst of all this, the one who eased my worries was Madame Marte. She had been staying in Lanchester at the time. The moment she learned I was going to war with the Cluiston family, she immediately visited slave traders in the surrounding area and bought every healthy slave she could find, forming them into a unit. Then she brought the slave troops straight to Sky Chamber and generously offered them to me. They numbered a full one hundred—men and women ranging from thirteen to sixty years old. Every one of them was already equipped with helmets, armor, swords, and shields made from relatively inexpensive materials. Madame Marte had paid for it all out of her own pocket. When you added the hundred slaves to the cost of their gear, she had spent what amounted to several billion won in Korean currency. Though they were slave soldiers who had never received proper training, a force of one hundred was significant enough to tip the scales in a war between minor territories. More than that, the intervention of a major backer like Madame Marte felt like I had used some kind of cheat spell.
“Thank you, Madame. Thanks to you, one of my worries has been lifted.”
“Hehe, I am always concerned for Your Lordship’s safety. The slave unit now belongs to you, so please use them however you see fit.”
I very much wanted to repay Madame Marte for her wholehearted support. The best gift for her would have been a date with me, but circumstances made that difficult. Instead, I gave her a plot of land large enough to build a grand mansion.
The next day, Luzen arrived in Lanchester leading one hundred and thirty troops.
“My Lord!”
He leapt down from his horse and knelt before me.
“I hastened here to uphold my oath of loyalty.”
“You’ve come well.”
I was so grateful that he had kept his word that I raised him up and embraced him. After exchanging a few light words with me, Luzen turned to look at his son, Tristan.
“You seem to have grown even more dignified in the few days since I last saw you.”
“I have been working hard to protect the Grand Lord.”
“Good. You’re doing well.”
Tristan, meeting his father after so long, looked on the verge of tears. But he stubbornly held them back, determined to show a brave face before his father. In any case, with Luzen’s arrival our forces were now fully assembled.
I immediately convened a meeting of all the houses. I gathered the lords who had rushed here from the villages in one place, intending to select talented individuals from among them and appoint them as officers of the army. Madame Marte also attended the meeting. Ever since she had presented me with the slave unit, she had been following at my side like a staff officer. I said nothing and simply accepted her behavior as natural.
“Can our lord truly handle this…?”
The dozens of lords seated densely around the conference room looked skeptical of their young, almost boyish-looking liege. Moreover, with the seductive Madame Marte on one side and the beautiful Dana on the other, they clicked their tongues, viewing me as some pampered child buried in women’s skirts who knew nothing of the world.
“Your Lordship should step back, and let us lords choose a supreme commander among ourselves! We have far more experience!”
Dressed in outfits that made them look like Vikings, they demanded a rough, powerful man built like a mountain rather than a pretty boy who seemed to have been raised in comfort. They shouted in unison that war could only be fought under a commander with years of experience who had been through every kind of battle.
“It’s not that we’re afraid to fight alongside you, but we doubt your ability! In war, the most terrifying thing is not the enemy, but an incompetent allied commander!”
At those words, Luzen flew into a rage. He drew his sword right there in the meeting room and declared that he would kill every last one of them and protect the Grand Lord by himself, looking ready to start swinging at the man beside him. Olmati hurriedly stepped in to mediate, and I quietly rose from my seat, looked around at everyone, and suggested that anyone confident in their skills should come forward and duel me. The lords welcomed the idea with enthusiasm, and Kelly quickly left the room to fetch the priestess Grace.
The first opponent was a bearded man named Dolgren, lord of the Coldstone family that owned a quarry in Mountree, one of the four villages. Though short in stature, he was solidly built with the powerful muscles of a stonemason. He charged at me swinging a double-bladed axe. I met him with Dragon Bone in my right hand and the Shai dagger in my left. I blocked the axe with Dragon Bone and sliced off Dolgren’s wrist with the Shai dagger. Dolgren, unaware of the dagger’s hidden length, looked utterly shocked that its reach could extend so far.
“H-how…?”
Grace rushed out, picked up the severed hand, and hastily tried to reattach it. When I easily won the second duel as well, the lords’ eyes began to change. Once Kelly revealed that I had previously swept through bandit groups alongside the Ryan Hart unit, they finally accepted me as commander without complaint and expressed their support. After that, we smoothly selected the army’s officers and concluded the meeting.
That night, Madame Marte came to my office. She had just finished bathing before coming to the bedroom, and a sweet, pleasant scent wafted from her. She had also deliberately worn quite a sexy outfit. Beneath a red silk gown, a sheer negligee that revealed her skin like dragonfly wings fluttered, fully displaying the seductive allure of a mature woman. I greeted her with a calm expression.
“What brings you here?”
“I’m sorry for visiting when you’re so busy.”
“You are always welcome, Madame. Please speak freely.”
“Thank you.”
Madame Marte smiled brightly, then soon wore a worried look.
“Um… have you consummated your marriage with Princess Irene yet?”
The unexpected question made me blink for a moment before I answered.
“No, not yet.”
“This is just an old woman’s concern, but I say it because I wish only the best for Your Lordship. Wouldn’t it be wise to embrace her before the war begins?”
Her advice was this: to strengthen our forces by making Princess Irene a member of the Richard family. She asked why I hadn’t impregnated her and then used that as grounds to request reinforcements from the king, further bolstering our troops. Though Madame Marte knew little of politics, her merchant’s eye and insight allowed her to view the situation with cold clarity. Her usual profit-seeking merchant nature had spotted Princess Irene and tilted its head in puzzlement.
“It would be a waste to leave her as she is. Who knows what flaw might appear in the merchandise while Your Lordship isn’t looking?”
At that moment, a dark thought flashed through my mind.
What if the enemy uses some unexpected strategy and we start losing? In that case, the last card I could play would be…
After Madame Marte left, I agonized for a long time. In peacetime I might have been a romantic who loved only one woman, but in wartime things were different. The desire to survive completely changed my perspective. The anxiety of impending war urged me on. Setting aside moral feelings and looking at reality with cold reason, in a situation where I could die at any moment, my survival instinct swelled endlessly. No matter how I looked at it, taking Princess Irene was the beneficial choice. I felt sorry for Dana, but what husband doesn’t feel a little guilty toward his wife because of work? That’s right. I’m simply doing what needs to be done. This is for Dana’s sake as well. If we win the war, Dana will be safe. Therefore, I wanted to use every card I could for victory, and Princess Irene could not be an exception.
Having made up my mind, I sent Haida to Dana to explain the situation, then headed for Princess Irene’s bedroom.
“You’ve come!”
Princess Irene greeted me with a delighted smile. There was no need to explain anything. When a lord visited a woman’s bedroom late at night, his intention to share her bed was obvious. A single meaningful look after the door opened was enough. Knowing this well, Irene quickly sent her maids away, let me in, and locked the door behind us.
She helped me undress, attending to me, but soon wore a regretful expression.
“I’m sorry. I started my monthly bleeding today and there’s quite a lot of blood. Still… if you don’t mind…”
She lowered her gaze. She was wearing a bulky undergarment like a diaper. I stared at her blankly for a while. Embarrassed, Princess Irene kept pressing her thighs together and blushing shyly. When my gaze didn’t easily leave her, she fidgeted restlessly, wiggling her toes. Should I just put it off until next time?