Prediction
"……."
As he offered no particular reply, Serpina pressed him in a slightly colder tone.
"Not only around Amir Castle, but even beyond the river, not a single enemy banner is in sight. We have already sent out scouts three times, and every report has come back the same. I believe enough time has passed. No matter how I turn it over, I cannot see the Asius Army invading through that route with nothing to gain."
Had they been caught completely unprepared, they would certainly have been shaken.
Perhaps Amir Castle, with its lax defenses, might even have been seized in an instant.
But that would have been all.
Blocking the river to cut off their supply lines and then retaking Amir Castle would not have taken much time.
Being sucker-punched by the Asius Army might have been irritating, true enough — but that was a secondary concern at best.
"You told me to see what I could not see, did you not?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Looking back on it now, I can only think you strung together a string of plausible-sounding sentences simply to paper over the situation."
It was hardly the first time she had watched someone scramble before her eyes, clawing for advancement by any means available.
Yes. Not the first time at all. And if that were the case, then this man named Swen would prove to be nothing more than that sort of person either.
Serpina looked down at him.
From the way he kept his head bowed, she could read no agitation whatsoever.
At the same time, the conviction that still radiated so strongly from him even in this situation threw her heart into disarray.
Just what… is he thinking?
As that thought was forming—
At last, Swen slowly opened his mouth.
"My lord. The first thing I wish to tell you is—"
And at that very moment, a soldier came rushing urgently into the audience chamber.
"My lord, General Zephyr has arrived. He says there is an important matter he must report at once."
The instant she heard the soldier's words, she glanced toward where Swen stood.
He had closed the mouth that had been about to speak, and was silently addressing her without a word.
It's all right to let him in for now… is that it?
Barging in during an audience could, depending on the circumstances, be taken as a breach of etiquette—
But Serpina nodded as if she did not particularly mind, and answered.
"…Let him enter."
Zephyr was a general stationed at Amir Castle.
He possessed no particularly outstanding abilities, but he was reasonably skilled at training troops — a common sort of officer who held the barracks in the rear.
And such an officer had raced all the way to Aingart Castle claiming something urgent?
"Zephyr. I did not expect to see your face today."
"M-My lord…"
Kneeling before her, Zephyr spoke while slightly out of breath.
"I have something to show you, and so I dared to come in haste to the royal castle. Please forgive—"
"Spare me the empty formalities. What is it?"
"Th-This was discovered…!"
Zephyr held something out with both hands.
Serpina rose from her seat and examined what he had offered.
"…!!"
Rarely for her, her eyes went wide, the whites showing starkly.
In Zephyr's hands was — an emblem.
It closely resembled the double-headed eagle that symbolized House Aingart… yet three diagonal lines were drawn slantwise across the bottom of it.
This was the emblem that Serpina's second elder brother, Sidmid von Aingart — who no longer existed in this world — had raised when he took up arms against the eldest, Algot von Aingart.
The reappearance of an emblem that had vanished into the back alleys of history meant…
—That the ghosts of the dead Sidmid had risen once more, seeking to seize Serpina by the ankle.
After the Emperor of the Empire died suddenly—
Before the full-scale rise of the feudal lords had even begun.
There was a force that raised a banner of rebellion against Algot von Aingart, the eldest son whom everyone had naturally assumed would be the successor.
It was none other than Algot's second younger brother, Sidmid von Aingart.
With the support of his third younger brother, Stadel von Aingart, and his eldest younger sister, Lilirose von Aingart, Sidmid rose up declaring that the Empire could not be handed over to the eldest son Algot, and began competing with him while backed by roughly three-quarters of the Empire's noble houses.
In the midst of that fratricidal struggle between brothers born of the same womb, sharing the same blood—
The youngest sibling, Serpina von Aingart, who alone had stood a step removed, had been running herself ragged in her own way, trying somehow to reunite the shattered imperial family.
But the very reason she could serve as a kind of dove — the complete absence of any power base of her own — meant her efforts could not shine particularly brightly.
The brothers' intrigue eventually crossed a line, reaching the point of destroying each other's power bases.
The event that stood at the climax of that was the tragedy at Piviola Academy.
An inhuman operation that massacred every faculty member and student inside the academy — even though it was obvious there would be nobles who supported him among them — and then obliterated the academy itself as if erasing it from the records.
From that incident onward, Algot and Sidmid became people who could never again stand together.
Even for Serpina, who had been running herself ragged trying somehow to end this political strife — she found herself in a situation where there was nothing more she could do.
Not long after the tragedy.
Serpina, for the first time, defied the ringleader of the incident — Sidmid, her second elder brother.
"Brother. Why… why would you do such a thing?! What did the people there do wrong—"
Piviola Academy was a rather prestigious academy, with many children of the nobility enrolled.
Among them were people who had spent their childhood with Serpina.
It was not only her. Surely Sidmid, too, had acquaintances there. Beyond acquaintances, children of powerful houses that supported him had also been there.
It was not solely for such humanitarian reasons, either.
Perhaps sensing that he had made a move that was close to a political blunder as well, Sidmid began lashing out at Serpina in a fit of temper.
"Shut up! There was no other way! To stop that idiot brother from inheriting the throne, I had to somehow reorganize the factions!"
He was shouting as if he would devour her, eyes blazing—
But she somehow overcame that oppressive force and looked him straight in the eyes.
"But… killing people meaninglessly like this… someone who would become emperor shouldn't do that!"
In that moment.
Slap!
Serpina's cheek turned bright red.
Sidmid spoke coldly, as if he would wring her neck if she said one more word.
"…Do not speak out of turn. Do you understand?"
"……."
Serpina could say nothing, and tears fell to the floor.
It was not because of the pain from being struck—
But because of the despair that it could no longer be resolved by peaceful means.
I remember.
Elder Brother Sidmid's eyes, that looked as if they would devour me.
I couldn't do anything.
I couldn't stop anything… I couldn't protect anything.
And now, once again.
Once again it has appeared before my eyes.
As if mocking me for having accomplished nothing, it raises its head once more and glares at me.
While I remain resigned, that gaze sinks into the abyss—
And from the darkness, it glares at me fiercely.
That gaze grows ever stronger.
At last it turns red.
It is the color of reeking, fresh blood. The color of a life fading away.
Serpina… you bitch… you bitch killed me…!
No.
No, Brother. I—
You bitch killed me!!!
That's not true, Brother! I, I was only, Elder Brother Algot…!!
You!!! Me, my younger siblings…! You — don't tell me you planned this from the start…!!
No.
No, no! It wasn't me!
I didn't do that.
Elder Brother Algot, he… me…!!!!!
Like that.
In this pitch-dark place.
At the moment when every gaze, every voice came rushing to tear her apart—
—My lord!!!!!
A sudden, somehow warm voice wrapped around Serpina.
This… is not a word meant to stab me.
It is a word that holds me.
The moment she realized that, in a place that was entirely black, it alone was radiating pure white light…
"…Ah."
When she came to her senses—
She realized that the white-haired man, Swen, was holding her wrist and looking at her.
"My lord. Please calm yourself."
"…Swen…?"
That's right.
I called him here to speak with him.
And midway through, Zephyr suddenly barged in…
"Please calm yourself, my lord. Nothing has happened."
"Ah…"
"Are you all right?"
Only after hearing Swen's voice once more did Serpina realize.
That she had briefly fallen into a temporary state of panic.
That the moment her trauma over the past had surged up upon seeing the emblem Sidmid had used… the one who had called out to her was Swen.
And strangely—
She felt that her body, which had been trembling continuously, had calmed.
Why was that?
Why… did that voice feel so warm to me.
In that moment, a scene from a dream she had dreamed over and over again flashed through her mind.
The image of herself smiling and talking with Swen, in a place where a beautiful sea could be seen…
"My lord…?"
Only after being asked again — did she feel her reason returning quickly.
"…Forgive me. For a moment… I seem to have been a bit unwell."
"Not at all. I am glad you have calmed down."
As Swen naturally took a step back, the kneeling figure of Zephyr came back into her field of vision.
"Forgive the sudden disturbance, Zephyr."
"My lord. I am fine. More importantly, what I must tell you…"
"Yes. …Where was that emblem discovered?"
To Serpina, who asked in a trembling voice, Zephyr bowed his head deeply and spoke as if apologetic.
"With the new troops having been reinforced at Amir Castle, we were able to properly patrol the territory. Among them, something seemed to have been discovered by chance, and upon examining the location… we were able to find subversive elements."
"What…?"
They had discovered subversive elements.
No — more precisely — with the new troops having been reinforced, while properly patrolling the territory, they had discovered subversive elements.
Don't tell me…!!!
Realizing something, Serpina froze right where she stood.
"However, it would be best to station the conscripted troops in the territories where they were conscripted. That appears to be the most efficient method."
"You are saying that stationing troops in such a remote place is an efficient method?"
"Yes."
Passing through the scene from the Opinion Proposal Meeting, Jena's voice brushed through her mind.
"There is something a little odd about Swen's opinion. That is… I am not sure how to explain this, but… I would say I get the feeling that he is deflecting at the important points. Or that he is developing his logic not from the essence but from rather peripheral points…"
"Swen's opinion did not seem to be that we must stop the Asius Army, but rather that we must station troops at Amir Castle."
The puzzle pieces in her head began fitting together one by one.
He knew… that it would come to this… all of it…?
She slowly turned her head and looked at the face of Swen, who had supported her.
His expression was utterly unshaken.
As if he had known from the beginning that it would turn out this way—
Like a solitary, noble crane, even a sense of ease could be felt in those gray eyes.
Seeing that, Serpina's feelings were — as if she had been struck by a bolt from the blue.
Her body trembling once more, she muttered as she realized what the white-haired man had truly been arguing for.
Swen — had known everything.