The Lunarien Army Reveals Itself Once More on the Continent (3)
Before Karelia, who asked the question in a trembling voice, Vanessa bowed her head.
It was something that was going to come out eventually, one way or another.
She had two options: tell the truth, or lie.
If she told the truth, Karelia — a woman who valued honor above all else — would be shattered by the revelation. Even if Luna had chosen betrayal, Karelia was pure enough that she would never be able to accept that her own side had been the one to goad her into it. She would likely lose the will to fight. In the worst case, surrender itself could not be ruled out.
And so, for Vanessa — who dreamed of a continent under Karelia's rule — there was only one thing she could say.
A lie.
But instead of lying, Vanessa offered something far more shocking, as casually as if she were discussing the weather.
"Yes."
"What…?"
"I was the one who pushed Mets. I intended to eliminate Lunarien Iniang by any means necessary — whether she betrayed us or not. Everything was my own unilateral scheme. That is correct."
"H-how… Vanessa… what on earth are you…!"
Karelia's body shook violently, her face a mask of disbelief.
"If Mets is telling the truth… then Lady Luna never intended to betray me until the very end…!! How could you do something so despicable… to a woman who only wanted to keep her word? How could you do that so easily?!"
"Her very existence is a threat to our nation — and to you, my lord. Even if the method is base, my resolve to eliminate her has not changed in the slightest. And so—"
Execute me.
"What…?"
At the word execute, the whites of Karelia's eyes showed. She forced the reply out in a strangled, trembling voice.
Vanessa, for her part — the one pleading to be killed — looked utterly serene.
"I will take everything upon myself. Sever my head, lay bare every charge against me, and display it in the public square. The harsh military law I enforced that never suited you, my lord — the way I goaded Lunarien into betrayal — I will bear full responsibility for all of it. Then you need only offer the rebels another chance to reconsider."
Her choice was exactly what she had resolved: to throw her own life away.
Once everything was settled, her life was going to be discarded anyway, was it not? If she could safely eliminate the existence known as Lunarien, Vanessa would do anything.
Without a flicker of change in her expression, she looked straight into Karelia's eyes and spoke.
"Vanessa… what in the world are you saying…?"
"If you execute me publicly and then make a conciliatory gesture, our army stands to gain a great deal. We would recover the support of the people of our territories, which has eroded somewhat during the war preparations — and, crucially, we would reclaim the moral high ground from Lunarien Iniang. Having already committed betrayal, Lunarien herself — whose ambition is now plain for all to see — can never return to our side. But the generals who joined her are another matter. The officers of the Karelia Army prize honor and justification above all else. That will give us a decisive advantage in any battle against her."
"I asked you what you are saying…!"
"It is also true that my failure to properly understand the person Lunarien is what brought this disaster upon us. Therefore, I beg you to punish me severely — for acting without your leave and ruining everything. This is the moment to show the resolve of a sovereign."
"…Vanessa Trinity!!"
"My lord Karelia!!!!!!"
They raised their voices against each other, but even here, Vanessa's cry swallowed Karelia's plea whole.
"…I beg you, my lord. Do not abandon your dream of ruling the continent like this. This is an opportunity. Eliminate Lunarien Iniang — the greatest threat to you — and use that foundation to pacify the southern continent… and with your own hands, destroy that utterly wicked Serpina. Is there anyone but you who can bring peace to this land?"
Several minutes passed with no answer at all.
"…I."
"…"
"I cannot kill you."
Vanessa slowly looked up at her lord.
Karelia was crying.
"You, who have stained your hands with blood in my place time and time again… I cannot use you like that… dump everything on you… and kill you."
"My lord…"
Vanessa closed her eyes slowly.
She was clever enough to understand.
This was the decisive turning point for the Karelia Army.
If Karelia had chosen to kill her —
The Lunarien Army, stripped of its justification for rebellion, would have fallen into chaos and collapsed almost at once. Generals like Kyle and Tifa, who had stood with Lunarien from the beginning, might have held firm — but the officers who had once belonged to their own army would certainly have wavered. Just as Mets had said, every scrap of moral high ground had been handed to them by Vanessa herself. Their lord, even after suffering a betrayal, would have removed its cause and then appealed to those officers. The accumulated fury of the people in the territories would have been soothed to some degree by the disappearance of its source. And within the Karelia Army itself, Karelia would have demonstrated that she was not, despite appearances, a puppet of Vanessa — preserving her charisma as a sovereign.
In Vanessa's judgment, setting aside only the fact of her own death, there was no more efficient choice available to the Karelia Army in its present state. Moreover, no ordinary person would ever conceive of a scheme that staked their own life — so if Karelia simply kept her mouth shut, the fact that everything had been Vanessa's design could have remained a secret forever.
But she was clever enough to know this as well:
That Karelia would never use her that way.
That even when a chance she must not miss was placed before her, she was the kind of person who could not seize it — because she would rather keep her honor.
"However…"
"I do not wish to hear it… Vanessa. Speak no more. No matter what happens, I will not cast you aside. You, too… are a precious subordinate to me. Just as the others are… so are you, Vanessa. In the world I mean to build, there is a place for you as well…"
And this soft, yielding place —
This was precisely why Karelia could never catch up to Lunarien, who was capable of choosing betrayal when the moment demanded it.
That was why I tried to eliminate Lunarien.
I should have cut her life short long ago, even if it meant using far crueler methods.
Working under Karelia all this time, admiring her…
Perhaps, Vanessa thought, she had come to resemble her a little.
Be that as it may.
If her lord could not make the decision, then so be it. There was still a mountain of work Vanessa had to do.
After the formal raising of arms, Cain Nerkis — Kyle von Aingart — declared his support as smoothly as water flowing downhill. When Mets revealed to everyone the secret orders that had been given to him, the dark green banner over Teppelo Castle was replaced by a luminous light-green flag.
In the process, every single officer stationed at Teppelo Castle pledged themselves to the Lunarien Army — an opening so favorable that, from Lunarien's perspective, it could scarcely have been better.
But.
No matter how thoroughly they had stripped the stores of supplies, no matter that a force of some ninety thousand — by no means negligible — stood ready —
That did not mean they could immediately overwhelm the Karelia Army, whose national power dwarfed theirs several times over.
"You say they have deployed troops along the border?"
"Yes. Roughly one hundred and ten thousand appear to have been mustered."
That they would force additional conscription had been within their predictions — but turning conscripts into usable soldiers always required time. The forces now massing were almost certainly scraped together from the existing garrison troops of the territories.
Ninety thousand against one hundred and ten thousand. The defending side naturally held the advantage… but the greater problem was that this was far from the end of it.
"On top of that, there already seem to be signs of fortresses being constructed in the surrounding area."
"I see…"
Their range of movement was constrained. Even if they wished to move their forces first, finding a truly decisive moment was no easy task.
And for Luna, that was not the only problem.
"How are the negotiations with the Ohana Army progressing?"
"They show no intention of even coming to the table. Nothing we offered seemed to make a difference."
The Ohana Army, sitting directly at their rear, made it plain they had no interest in speaking with them at all.
"The lord of the Ohana Army is a remarkably transparent person. It seems they mean to wait until both sides are exhausted from fighting the Karelia Army, then scoop up the spoils for themselves."
"And you think Vanessa will simply sit still and allow that?"
Hearing that, Violet hesitated for a moment, then carefully parted her lips.
"…This is only my conjecture."
"Please, speak."
"I am carefully considering the possibility that… inducing the Ohana Army to think that way may itself be Vanessa's scheme."
"You mean she is steering them toward attacking us in pursuit of those spoils?"
"Rather than pouring every last ounce of their own strength into destroying us, they may calculate that even a potential enemy's hand is useful if it can be borrowed… or so I suspect."
"But from the Karelia Army's perspective, that would mean we — this territory — could fall into Ohana hands, would it not?"
"I imagine they consider that an acceptable price."
At those words, Luna's eyes widened slightly.
"They would lose a single castle — but if it meant eliminating you, my lady, as a potential threat, then handing one castle over to the Ohana Army would be a bargain they could live with."
"That…"
"Frankly, if I were asked who would be more frightening given equal power, even someone as inexperienced as I can easily see that it would be you, my lady. I do not believe a person of Vanessa's caliber would fail to see the same. And once you carry the brand of having betrayed your lord, the Ohana Army is hardly likely to employ you in any high position… We would all almost certainly be executed."
"…"
"Viewed from that angle, Vanessa's scheme — however unavoidable its circumstances — does not particularly conflict with their interests. Recovering this castle themselves would be ideal, of course… but if circumstances prevent it, then this is the alternative."
Listening to Violet, Luna fell into thought.
Then… are we simply to wither and die here?
First, they needed to repel the initial invasion adequately, then swiftly seize at least one of the territories under Karelia's banner. But if the Ohana Army came flooding in during that window… if they failed to secure a territory in time, the dream they had just unfurled would crumble into scattered fragments. Every person who had trusted her and followed would have their heads displayed on pikes, and history would remember them as nothing but cowardly traitors.
"What will you do, my lord?"
At Violet's question, Luna sank into thought for a moment.
They had raised their banners with high spirits, yet in many ways the situation was against them.
Even so, Luna was not deeply worried.
Because soon, Lord Swen would come.
Lord Swen will come for me. He promised he would. Once word of our uprising spreads across the continent, he will come at once.
If Lord Swen were at her side in a moment like this —
He would surely offer some solution she had never even imagined, saying, This is the most efficient course.
And so Luna waited.
Believing firmly in the words of the man who had sworn he would return to her side no matter what.
"For now, there is no need to move first. We will wait for the right moment."
"…Understood."
Violet looked as though something still troubled her, but she did not go so far as to contradict her lord's judgment.
To break through a defending force of ninety thousand, one hundred and ten thousand would not be enough. They would need to bring a vastly greater army. And for the Karelia Army — which had been all but stripped of the strategic supplies needed to wage war smoothly — launching an immediate assault on this place would be a heavy burden in its own right.
Factor in the formidable defenses of Teppelo Castle, and their side was not yet short on time.
The Ohana Army, too, would be reluctant to commit a large force first. The Hesna Army could suddenly turn its blade on them at any moment.
Of course.
In Violet's assessment, if they simply held out to the bitter end, they would still be at a disadvantage. As time passed and grain and troops gathered in proportion to Karelia's vast territories… their own narrow holdings would leave them clearly outmatched. But with a mind that had only just taken its first steps as a strategist, she had no good idea for breaking the deadlock.
It's all right. Lady Luna must have a plan. She is a cautious person.
And so, each holding slightly different thoughts —
Time flowed on without destination, and flowed on again.
Days became weeks.
Weeks stretched into still longer stretches of time.
And no matter how long she waited…
The white-haired strategist Swen never appeared before Luna.