Your War, My War (2)
Kristin stood leaning against the doorway, watching Theodora. In her arms, Maxim slept with his eyes closed, his face weary. Theodora’s hand gently stroked the face of Maxim as he breathed in a steady rhythm. He would not wake until at least tomorrow night.
“You’ve done well.”
Despite the words, Kristin’s voice could only be described as icy. Whether that voice carried warmth or the utmost chill, Theodora did not turn her head toward her. She simply nodded twice from where she stood.
“Thank you for giving me that needle.”
Theodora glanced at the slender needle resting on the shelf. Kristin’s gaze followed hers to the needle, its tip stained black. It was coated with an extremely potent sleeping agent. It had been quite some time since Kristin received that request.
After Theodora returned from Maxim’s engagement ceremony—after she had learned the entire truth about his curse—she had secretly sought out Kristin.
‘...What is it?’
Kristin had faced her with a voice far colder than it was now.
‘Help me.’
Without preamble, Theodora had gone straight to the point. Startled, Kristin had ushered her inside with wary eyes. Theodora had looked haggard. Kristin stood with her arms crossed, watching her. Theodora lifted her head and began to explain.
‘If Maxim participates in this battle… if he ends up fighting the Behemoth… he will undoubtedly use his aura.’
Kristin bit her lip and nodded.
‘Of course. I tried to persuade him not to join the fight, but…’
Kristin clenched her fist.
Theodora shook her head.
‘No. We need to send him somewhere safe. More definitively.’
Kristin could not refuse Theodora’s proposal. Yet, as if making one last attempt to dissuade her, she asked,
‘...You won’t be forgiven.’
Theodora shook her head firmly.
‘Even so, I don’t want Maxim to risk his life any further. I don’t want him in danger. Even if the engagement was forced, I hope he can live on with his fiancée, forgetting me, the knight order—everything.’
Kristin let out a deep sigh.
‘...I…’
Theodora did not seem willing to back down. In the end, Kristin had no choice but to agree with her words.
‘I will bear it all.’
‘You think I’d just let you do that because you offered to help?’
Kristin sighed again. Looking at them now, she realized how strikingly similar Theodora and Maxim were in their stubbornness. She swallowed the bitter feeling along with her breath.
‘So, what are you thinking?’
‘I have a plan. Just listen to me once.’
And so, here they were. Preparing a needle coated with a powerful sleeping agent had not been difficult for a mage like Kristin. The guilt of doing something so terrible to Maxim again was unavoidable. She had no choice but to endure it.
Theodora was brushing Maxim’s hair back from his forehead. Kristin could not take that place beside him. After all, it had been Theodora who stepped forward, declaring she would shoulder all of Maxim’s resentment.
“Maxim… will eventually be consumed by the curse, won’t he?”
Theodora said this while gazing down at him.
“Yes. It’s already too late.”
Kristin’s words were resolute. In her verdict, Theodora could find not even a sliver of hope. They both knew what kind of curse it was, even if Maxim himself had not yet realized it. A curse that stole one’s ego, erased memories, and reduced the body to something no different from a corpse.
“...To keep from harming Maxim any further, I suppose I must follow my family’s words, but…”
Theodora’s face twisted in agony. Now, she had to let go completely. Now that she finally knew the truth, now that she had only just managed a single apology.
“This time, I cannot yield.”
Yes. It was better to hide him somewhere he could never be found than to let him become a puppet without memory or self, reduced to a hunting dog of the Benning family. This was the first time Theodora had ever rebelled against her family and her father.
“I wish I could ask you to go with him… but I suppose that’s impossible.”
In a battle like this, the presence of mages was indispensable. Especially if that mage was as outstanding as Kristin.
Kristin nodded as if she already knew.
“We can only hope he arrives safely.”
Theodora’s hand caressed Maxim one last time. Then she rose from her seat.
“I’ll have to include Maxim in Count Agon’s departing procession.”
Maxim’s head came to rest on the pillow Theodora had gently set down. Kristin stared at him for a long moment. Then, with a hint of irritation in her voice, she spoke to Theodora, who could not seem to tear her eyes away from his face.
“By the way, was the kiss really necessary?”
Theodora’s shoulders flinched. She hadn’t thought the woman would notice. Maintaining a calm expression, Theodora turned to face Kristin. Kristin’s cool green eyes stared directly into hers. She did not miss the way those stormy gray eyes trembled slightly.
“What are you talking about…”
She feigned ignorance.
“Really?”
When Kristin pressed her, Theodora gave up on making excuses and let her words trail off.
“Commander? I’m certain Senior has a fiancée—”
“I had to put the needle in his neck. There was no other way.”
Theodora’s face flushed red. At least make your excuses sound believable. Kristin narrowed her eyes and glared at her, but Theodora kept turning her head away, pretending not to notice. When Kristin tried to say something more, Theodora raised her hand as if to say enough and raised her voice.
“Hurry up! Just move Maxim already.”
When Theodora cut the conversation off with a firm tone, Kristin shook her head and left the room to call for the soldiers. Leaving quietly like this was probably the only courtesy she could offer Theodora.
After driving Kristin out, Theodora took one last look at Maxim lying asleep on the bed. Then, cautiously, she approached him and lifted his tunic. Countless scars were etched across the knight’s body. No doubt the wounds had increased sharply over the past few months. The continuous battles against monsters, the incident where they had fallen together. Maxim’s body had already been carrying an enormous burden, yet it had been driven mercilessly. Scratches, bite marks, cuts. Theodora traced each wound, reliving the pain they represented.
There was one scar in particular that stood out. It began high on his chest and ran all the way down to his abdomen. Theodora placed her hand over it. The curse engraved into that scar. Beneath it, a heart beat faintly. Theodora bit her lip hard, then slowly lowered Maxim’s tunic again.
I’m sorry, Maxim.
Theodora let the tears fall freely. Then she took his hand and pressed her lips to his forehead one last time. It was a farewell. For her, a true farewell in every sense of the word. Theodora released his hand. It slipped away limply.
“I’m going.”
Theodora left the room. Outside, the soldiers Kristin had called were already coming up the stairs.
“What is it, Commander?” the soldiers asked.
Theodora glanced back into the room. Then, steeling her heart, she turned to them again.
“...He is a casualty. Please prepare to transport him to the rear.”
On the day the Behemoth revealed itself, the war horns sounded throughout the grand hall.
Most of those considered the greatest talents in the kingdom had gathered. The army’s morale, facing its first large-scale deployment in a long time, was at an all-time high. From the elite soldiers guarding Kips’ snowy mountains to the combat mages dispatched from the Magic Tower, and even the knight orders boasted by renowned martial houses—all were present.
Among them, the most striking sight was the Benning family’s elite knight order at the very front of the entire force, their silver armor gleaming as their banners fluttered in the wind. The Benning family’s vanguard commander rode his horse with his visor raised, displaying the fierce expression characteristic of a knight.
Some among them had faced the Behemoth before. Others had survived the war fifteen years ago and now took up arms once more with renewed purpose. The tens of thousands of troops waited only for the order to march.
The supreme commander gazed upon the kingdom’s magnificent army and swallowed dryly. The thought of finally settling the score with the monsters of No Man’s Land—who had always threatened the kingdom’s back—made his heart beat to a rhythm different from usual. He had to remain calm.
It is time.
The staff officer’s whisper sounded like an echo from a faraway place. The supreme commander nodded reflexively. Then he drew the treasured sword at his waist, raised it high into the sky, and shouted with the loudest voice he could muster.
“All forces! Advance!!”
Drums thundered. The low, majestic sound of war horns pushed the soldiers forward. The army began to move. It looked like a massive river finding its rightful course and flowing onward.
Behind the advancing army, Count Neil Euler, the Chief of Staff, watched their departure and let out a sigh of relief.
“With an army of this scale and so many talented individuals mobilized, there’s no way they could fail to defeat a single monster called the Behemoth.”
The one listening to him was Baron Emil Bourdin. Emil Bourdin nodded.
“Indeed. Since the war fifteen years ago, the kingdom has clearly grown stronger. Many new knights have also been discovered.”
Emil Bourdin spoke in his usual calm voice, as if he harbored no worries.
“The kingdom will not be defeated.”
Count Euler nodded vigorously.
“Yes. We must not be defeated. His Majesty has even assigned several knights from the Royal Guard and elite soldiers to protect the capital. We cannot betray His Majesty’s expectations and devotion.”
A born sycophant. Emil Bourdin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Chief of Staff. Or perhaps a man of integrity and loyalty, unmoved by the immense power of his position. Whichever it was, he was simply curious how that expression would change from now on.
Just then, Count Euler frowned as he watched the marching soldiers, as if something seemed strange.
“It looks like Count Benning sent quite a few soldiers after all. To think so many remain even now.”
In truth, they were not advancing. Even as the soldiers departed, they held their positions throughout the Royal Capital and the Royal Palace. Something was off. That was what Count Euler thought.
“...Hey, Emil.”
Emil Bourdin turned to him with a faint smile.
“Yes, my lord?”
“Why are the Benning family’s soldiers still remaining over there?”
Emil Bourdin shrugged.
“Who knows…”
At that cryptic tone, Count Euler’s face hardened as he stared at Emil Bourdin. His voice trembled slightly with fear.
“Emil… what exactly is the Benning family trying to do right now?”
Emil Bourdin smiled faintly.
“Didn’t you say it yourself? The Royal Guard protecting His Majesty now has gaps in its forces, and many of the troops that were guarding the capital have joined the expedition.”
The color gradually drained from Count Euler’s face.
“Truly… truly… you… you and the Benning family…”
“You misunderstand. The ones who protected the capital are gone. If some external force were to attack the capital now, could we truly defend His Majesty?”
With that, Emil Bourdin spread his arms wide.
“We are simply taking on the rightful duty of protecting the capital. What is there to be so worried about?”
“You’ve gone mad… completely mad…! The Benning family is the kingdom’s protector—have you no fear of such disloyalty…!”
Emil Bourdin let out a soft chuckle.
“Not at all, Chief of Staff. As a noble protecting the kingdom, and as a member of a martial house, this is the most natural judgment. If the Benning family—one of the kingdom’s greatest martial houses and guardian of the Second Prince—failed to fulfill this role, that would be the true disloyalty.”
At Emil Bourdin’s twisted logic, Count Euler’s face contorted.
“Do you think the loyal Royal Guards remaining in the palace and the soldiers protecting the capital will simply stand by?”
Emil Bourdin shook his head.
“Who knows? Wouldn’t obstructing those who seek to remain loyal to the palace also be considered disloyalty—an act of treason? And besides…”
Emil Bourdin’s cold eyes gleamed.
“Do you really think this is all there is?”
The sound of grinding teeth could be heard. Emil Bourdin, knowing the Chief of Staff’s mindset was one of true loyalty, smiled with satisfaction.
“Damn bastards…! You’ve been secretly raising troops…!”
Emil Bourdin feigned ignorance, as if he had no idea what he was talking about.
“Can the palace truly be protected with only that many soldiers?”
“What the hell are you saying now!”
The furious Chief of Staff finally lost his patience and roared. Emil Bourdin’s attitude remained perfectly serene.
“They’re coming now.”
Count Euler looked in the direction Emil Bourdin indicated and spat out a horrified cry.
“Those are… mages from the Magic Tower…”
Several figures wearing hoods were slowly approaching the palace. They wore the robes commonly used by mages. Count Euler’s thoughts finally reached the realization that the Benning family and the Magic Tower had formed an alliance. He staggered backward, away from Emil Bourdin.
One of them had already appeared beside Emil Bourdin. When did he get up here? How? The Chief of Staff looked around in confusion. The hooded man glanced at Count Euler, then turned to Emil Bourdin.
“The preparations are complete, Baron.”
“I am grateful for your decision, which always considers the kingdom first.”
“Not at all. I am simply following, in admiration of the loyal Count Benning’s conduct…”
Emil Bourdin and the hooded mage put on a ridiculous theatrical performance, then turned their sneering smiles toward Count Euler, who was trying to slip away.
“I will give you a chance, Chief of Staff.”
Count Euler realized this was no longer the time to worry about the Behemoth. Emil Bourdin extended his hand.
“What will you do?”