The King's Return (6)
With a single word from Luna, the familiar faces gathered once more in the audience chamber.
This time, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.
Where before only Violet and a handful of others had actively urged betrayal, now every person who understood the situation began pressing Luna for a decision.
"I, Mets, will gladly become Lady Luna's justification."
"……."
"We feel the same, Lady Luna. Please—decide!"
Luna closed her eyes and sorted through the present circumstances.
There was no question—a pretext had fallen into her lap.
Thinking back on Mets's words, this was a clear, unmistakable justification she never would have obtained had she chosen pure self-interest only moments earlier.
And yet.
Viewed coldly… there was every chance that claiming this as a legitimate cause would simply fail to stick.
Her opponent was none other than Vanessa. No matter how hard Mets insisted on the truth, Vanessa was the kind of person with the power to crush it whenever she pleased.
She enjoyed Karelia's complete trust; manufacturing public opinion would be child's play for her.
This scheme was not something Karelia would have devised.
It had almost certainly been Vanessa—acting alone, without her sovereign's sanction.
In the end, even if Luna rose up crying injustice, she would still be the one forced to wear the full stigma of traitor.
Luna's plan had been to wait for an opportunity that looked even more airtight.
But at this rate, her life might be in danger long before any better chance arrived.
And there was no guarantee such an ideal opportunity would ever roll up to her doorstep in the first place.
Even if she somehow preserved her life and managed to leave Karelia's army, could she ever again secure territory, troops, and supplies of this scale under another banner?
But all of that was only an excuse.
In the end, the choice to betray did not change.
Perhaps her heart would feel a little lighter. Vanessa had struck first, after all—she could dress it up as self-defense. A plausible enough reason.
Even so, wouldn't deciding to betray only prove that Vanessa's every action until now had been justified?
Perhaps the correct answer here was to summon her lord and speak honestly about the present situation.
As she had already reasoned, Karelia could not have conceived this herself—so she would surely take Luna's side.
Yes.
That was as far as Luna's judgment went.
Even in a situation like this, she would not betray. She would report the truth to Karelia and resolve the problem.
Had she asked no one's opinion, that was almost certainly the decision she would have made.
No.
To be perfectly honest, Luna—would probably have forgiven Vanessa.
And for the sake of Lady Karelia, who had believed in her, she would have shouldered everything alone and sacrificed herself. Not for her own sake, but solely for Lady Karelia's.
Others might call it foolish and dull-witted… but just as Karelia had been, Lunarien was someone who valued fidelity above all else.
But Luna no longer thought alone.
Beyond her own thoughts, that man always clung to her like a shadow.
"It's all right, Lady Luna. Please trust me. I will come back for you without fail."
He had said that.
That he would come for her without fail.
"My lord! Stay well! And if the chance comes—never let it slip away! I will return to your side no matter what!"
He had said that.
If the chance came, never let it slip away.
That man was waiting for her, was he not?
So when a justification had already rolled into her hands of its own accord, she could no longer cling solely to her own convictions.
What am I still hesitating over, even now…!
To turn on Karelia?
Even with a justification present, it was still not the proper conduct of a vassal.
The one who had created this situation was Vanessa. The Lady Karelia she knew would never simply overlook it—no matter how much she trusted Vanessa.
Karelia had handed her this position because she trusted Luna deeply.
That became even clearer when one considered that she had rejected the counsel of Vanessa, her own favorite.
To betray that trust… she might lose even the right to point a finger at Serpina ever again.
But.
Lord Swen threw himself into danger for my sake…
What good was it to keep waiting, endlessly weighing justifications, when the man who had already put his life on the line stood before her?
When Brans's iron boots had come crashing down on Zeiland Castle like a candle in the wind—
he had saved her life and her comrades' lives, and taken everything upon himself.
By this point, Luna had to seize this chance.
The very opportunity Lord Swen had spoken of so urgently.
She had promised she would never let it slip away.
"If one is to be the sovereign of a nation, one must be able to reach one's hand into filthy places. There are times when one must stain one's own hands with dirty blood."
Yes. After enduring even this, endlessly spouting righteous words is not the only correct answer…!!
Cecil had said it too.
That Karelia's nature was so kind and pure it sometimes worried her.
If she was to become a greater sovereign than the woman she currently served, she needed to take her strengths and discard her weaknesses.
Not to be swayed excessively by a single subordinate general.
And to hold a lofty, meaningful ideal in her heart until the very end.
In that process, the stigma she would inevitably wear no matter how she protested her innocence—the judgment that she was a cowardly woman who stabbed the lord who had trusted her so completely in the back—was something Luna herself would have to bear.
Just as Swen had sacrificed himself for them.
In the first place, how could she dare put something as trivial as other people's opinions before a man who had been willing to throw even his own life away for her?
Only then did she understand.
That in the moment of choice, she might have been hiding behind the words "the correct and most efficient method" and running away.
Such a method might well exist. But Luna was not Swen. Guessing what he would have said was inevitably different from hearing him say it himself.
In that case, she at least must not make him wait any longer.
Whether he was with the Brans Army, or—as the rumors said—with the Aesus Army, or now with Serpina's forces, or somewhere else entirely… the man who kept waiting for her.
Only after thinking that far did the tangle in her mind and the faint tremor in her body finally settle.
Lord Swen.
I am always in your debt.
In the moments I must decide, in the days I must endure—everything… I have come this far because of you.
So.
I cannot make you wait any longer.
I cannot break my promise to you.
I want to see you again as soon as possible.
I want to talk about important things. Like those days, I want to speak openly about so many things.
Not only matters of state, but other things too. Once more, I want to draw dreams and a future with you.
If you are by my side, I believe I can build the nation where everyone is happy that I have always dreamed of.
My one and only strategist in this world. My Lord Swen.
I will keep waiting. I will be waiting—
"Everyone."
At the sound of her voice, pitched a shade lower than usual—
even if the others could not tell, Tifa, who had spent so long at her side, knew at once.
That Luna had finally steeled herself for a kind of resolve.
"For now, I will draw as many supplies as possible from our lord. If I frame it as preparation for war, they will not refuse, and I should be able to gather a considerable amount. Once the soldiers arrive, I will summon all of you again, so please gather here. And… take care that nothing we discussed today leaks beyond these walls."
"Lady Luna. Does that mean…?"
"Yes."
At Cain's question, Luna nodded and spoke.
"Once the troops are stationed in the castle, once we have stockpiled as many supplies as possible, and once the order to invade is given—"
Luna's ruby-red eyes began to blaze as though they had swallowed the sun itself.
What burned within them was the will to become the unifying sovereign even if it meant wearing a filthy stigma. Conviction. And a thick longing for someone, a clinging emotion.
"I, Lunarien, will raise the banner of the Lunarien Army once more."
—You must come back to my side. You must.
The obsessive vow of a woman who had endured and endured for months…
was now driving her to bear everything and move.
From that day on.
The first thing Luna did after making up her mind was to demand supplies. The logic was simple: she would be facing multiple territories alone, and therefore needed more than ample resources.
It was not so strange a request, and so Karelia's side sent gold and military provisions to Teppelo Castle without particular suspicion.
Stores accumulated over the long years of peace without war.
An enormous quantity—enough to fight for several months while commanding this vast host.
And then, several weeks later.
At last, as planned, some ninety thousand troops entered Teppelo Castle along with several generals.
"Gail Arend, reporting to the castle lord."
"Seria Jail, reporting to the castle lord."
"Forgive my lateness. Mugendorph, reporting to the castle lord."
Luna rose from her seat and welcomed the three generals who had arrived with the army.
"Welcome, General Gail. General Seria. General Mugendorph. You have all come a long way—thank you for your hard work. As supreme commander in the coming war, I may prove lacking in some respects, but I ask for your full support."
"How could we refuse? On the battlefield, we will regard the castle lord as our sovereign and fight. Simply give the orders. We will win without fail."
"Hearing you say so is a great reassurance."
Luna smiled brightly, then turned her head and asked,
"Mets. Is the banquet I mentioned ready?"
"It is prepared."
"A banquet? There was no need to go to such trouble…"
At Gail's words, Luna answered with a soft, smiling face.
"You have all come such a long way, have you not? Resting the body before a war is extremely important. The soldiers will be tense as well, so I hope you will all rest thoroughly today."
"If you put it that way…"
Certainly, even if a general like himself could manage without it, giving the soldiers a day of rest rather than driving them endlessly was important for maintaining morale.
From Karelia's army's perspective, this would be their first real battle in a very long time.
"Come, come. All three of you, this way."
And so, after the three generals followed Mets toward the banquet hall—
Francis quietly approached her side and asked,
"Lady Luna. Shall we proceed as planned?"
"……Please."
Hearing the firmness in Luna's voice, Francis felt it all over again.
That something truly irreversible was about to happen.