Chapter 8
Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Feigned Loyalty
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Entering the main hall, the first thing I checked was the minimap.
At its core, it displays the positions of enemies and allies, but it's also incredibly useful for inferring how others perceive me.
Those who see me as an ally appear in green, those who want me dead in red, and everyone else in gray.
Even without direct conversation, the colors shift on their own, so by comparing actual positions to the dots on the map, I can roughly gauge their attitude toward me.
As always, the kingdom's nobles were marked red, so I ignored them. What mattered was the empire's negotiation team standing slightly apart from them.
The team consisted of just two people, a man and a woman, marked red and gray respectively.
The older man was dressed in the formal attire of an imperial general, so his red marker suggested he'd clashed with me directly in battle. The woman, in typical noble lady's garb, was likely the diplomat.
I could write off the man entirely, but persuading the woman—who probably held no major grudge—seemed feasible.
Since the gray category encompassed a huge range of attitudes, she might be easier to sway than expected.
If she was truly sent by the emperor, as long as I didn't show anything too objectionable, she'd escort me to him without issue.
Of course, I had no intention of coming across as just some nobody.
I'd give it my all.
On the way here, I'd imagined the scenario.
What if I were truly a capable general devoting everything to the king, having fought tooth and nail to secure victory—only for it to be squandered by these nobles who'd never seen a battlefield?
They'd obeyed the king's orders at first, but after days locked in solitary, they emerge to find the king selling them out in a lopsided deal.
How would that feel?
They'd rage at the incompetent, repulsive nobles.
They'd feel frustration toward the king manipulated by those nobles.
They'd grieve for a kingdom doomed to fall.
I channeled those boiling emotions as much as possible, gazing at the king like a man still brimming with passion and lingering attachment to his nation.
"...Speak."
"Your Highness. Victory is within reach."
Back when I was being dragged away, I'd shown composure to Anna and the soldiers, assuring them it was fine.
Separate from my actual thoughts, a commander who valued peace highly would win favor with the conscript-heavy Ruth Kingdom troops.
But this wasn't the time for such passivity.
After arrest on unilateral orders, solitary confinement, and learning they'd already finalized handing me over to the empire—being led away meekly in ropes?
That would make me look like a mere tool, not a capable man.
Especially by imperial standards, where merit ruled supreme—a high commander's passivity was a massive strike against.
To earn the emperor's trust, I needed to speak up when it mattered.
It was time to voice the passion befitting my role.
"The invaders are starving and shivering in the cold. No successful supplies have arrived in the past two weeks; they're even wrapping themselves in the tents they brought just to stay warm."
"Victor, you are no lon—"
"Meanwhile, our kingdom forces are few but well-supplied, with morale piercing the heavens. No reinforcements are coming for them, so all that's left is for us to chase them down and annihilate the fleeing rats."
"The empire, bordering countless nations, has no spare troops. They must retreat to the original border—or beyond."
I fired off words relentlessly, even as others tried to interrupt midway.
I needed to appear overcome with emotion to the brim, so reacting to every disruption would ruin it.
Of course, I could snap at the interrupting noble, but showing aggression toward allies would harm my evaluation in any situation, so I ignored them utterly.
"The kingdom's young men have shed too much blood. To honor their sacrifice, this war must end in our victory."
I pointed at the empire's negotiation team, who watched me with evident interest.
At least until this negotiation ended and they dragged me back to the empire, I had to embody Ruth Kingdom's loyal servant, Victor.
Being overly soft to the enemy negotiators just to impress the empire would look suspicious.
"They shouldn't stand there with heads held high—they should be crawling on the floor, begging for our mercy."
"General..."
"The kingdom has no need to retreat, no reason to yield. The kingdom—!"
I clamped my mouth shut, as if choked by excess emotion.
I bowed my head like I might shed tears, wiping at my eyes with my hand.
"We... we can still fight...!"
I spread my arms in desperate appeal, kneeling before the king once more.
Throughout it all, my gaze stayed fixed on the king.
I knew full well that real power lay with his father-in-law, Count Vladimir Savinkov, and that noble consensus decided policy.
But I was emphasizing that my loyalty was ultimately to the king.
If the empire hired me, the patron would be the emperor.
"Just give me one week, Your Highness. If our brave soldiers strike their flimsy encirclement—!"
"Enough. The negotiations are already concluded."
Graciously, Count Nikolai Similoff stepped forward from among the nobles at just the right moment.
"Count Similoff. I asked His Highness's will."
"Haha."
This Nikolai was the epitome of a Ruth Kingdom noble.
Which meant,
"His Highness has no need to speak. We chose negotiations because of your incompetence."
"...What?"
Unlike Vladimir—who knew the truth but ousted me for some hidden reason—Nikolai genuinely believed the kingdom was at a disadvantage.
He lacked both the tact and the brains to mince words.
Nikolai strode confidently right up to me, looking down.
"A commoner like you wouldn't know, but the imperial army numbers in the hundreds of thousands."
His lecturing tone, the habitual classism spilling out.
He was perfect as a sacrificial lamb for showy outrage.
"Even that 'flimsy' encirclement has 40,000 men. Even mustering our full strength, we barely hit 30,000."
Every word dripped with the view of war as mere numbers games, but instead of refuting, I clenched my fists and trembled.
Like a man who could lash out any second but was barely holding back.
"Besides, do you know how much war costs? Supplies and provisions pouring out like water, you—"
As the finishing touch, Nikolai extended his right index finger to poke my forehead.
With perfect pretext handed to me, there was no reason not to act.
-Thwack!
"Ugh!"
"...I understand."
I rose, grabbing his outstretched hand and twisting it viciously.
"Gaaah!"
"Scum like you clouded His Highness's vision. So that's how it was."
I twisted his wrist just short of breaking, spotting the gaudy rings crammed on his fingers—sans pinky.
Ruby, sapphire, emerald...
The glittering gems sparked an idea, which I put into action immediately.
"You make excuses about money and supplies..."
I yanked off a few rings and shoved him aside.
"...but your hand drips with greed. Surely you know one such jewel could buy hundreds, thousands of arrows."
I held up the sparkling rings to the chandelier's light, showing them to everyone while sweeping my gaze over the kingdom's nobles.
They all flinched, hiding their own jewelry on hands and necks—a sight to behold.
"In His Highness's presence, I won't take your life... but."
"Y-You dare... Argh!"
Still with fight left, as he pointed at me accusingly, I hurled the rings at Nikolai's face.
He scrambled to gather the fallen rings, then bolted back into the nobles' midst.
Judging the mood, I'd asserted enough dominance. I knelt to the king again.
"Your Highness!"
"Uh! Yes."
"The Royal Guard captain said... you arrested me to send me as a prisoner to the empire. Is it true?"
I already knew, could predict the answer, but asked the king directly.
I deliberately let my voice quiver slightly, straining my eyes to redden the rims.
"...Yes."
"The empire demands we hold captured territories and pause the war for a year. Is even that true?"
"Yes."
I raised my voice gradually, as if emotion welled up uncontrollably.
These questions seemed prepped; the king gripped his throne's armrests tightly but answered without hesitation.
"...Your Highness."
Now for the finale.
Having shown unyielding loyalty thus far, I needed to reveal a crack the empire could exploit.
If they saw me as rigidly principled to the end, they might not even bother recruiting me.
"Is all this truly your will, Your Highness? Sending me to the empire for a mere year's truce?"
"..."
I posed the question that would seal it all.
To draw an answer that would shake even the most devoted vassal.
"Y-Yes, it is."
The king, blinking anxiously, gave the exact response I'd anticipated.
"...Ah."
I let out the prepared sigh.
There was no denying it now.
The kingdom's king had confirmed with his own mouth that he'd sold out his subordinate.
A lord discarding a retainer first was grave, then or now.
Once broken, trust shatters easily; a leader who'd abandon one retainer loses all faith.
And if that retainer was blameless?
The leader's competence itself came under fire.
Conversely, the betrayed retainer gained de facto absolution.
Even overthrowing or seeking vengeance on their former lord.
Some might call drawing the blade excessive, but the thirst for revenge? Everyone understood.
It was precisely the situation I desired most.
I'd emphasized our advantageous position multiple times; I hadn't erred.
I was simply being forcibly handed to the empire by the nobles—and the king they controlled.
And not to some neutral neighbor, but to the very enemy we'd been crossing swords with.
More blatant than the infamous "empty lunchbox" death sentence.
Lucky for me it was all an act; a truly loyal general would feel what?
Betrayal?
Despair?
Injustice?
"..."
Sometimes, silence speaks loudest.
Without a word, I let my head droop limply.
Glancing at the minimap, I saw the gray dot had turned green.
Slumping like a man lost to despair, the wary Royal Guard approached and bound me.