Chapter 171
Chapter 171
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 171
That evening, a banquet was held to celebrate Princess Yunias's recovery.
King Alsein and Princess Yunias entered the banquet hall. Eulji, seated beside Jin-cheon, spotted her and waved in recognition.
Princess Yunias acknowledged Eulji with a smiling glance and took her seat.
"Tonight, enjoy yourselves freely."
Jin-cheon opened the banquet with those brief words. King Alsein glanced around, then asked cautiously,
"But Her Highness the Yeolhu..."
The Yeolje and his Yeolhu had been expected to attend together, so Alsein's question was natural. But the moment the question left Alsein's lips, Jin-cheon's face visibly stiffened.
Seeing that, King Alsein and Princess Yunias both concluded something bad had happened. Yunias hastily changed the subject to dispel the awkward atmosphere.
"Princess Eulji is simply adorable."
"Indeed she is. She resembles His Majesty the Yeolje exactly. Hahaha."
The instant those words left their mouths, the expressions of the Imperial Guards near Jin-cheon began to shift oddly, and Eulji tilted her head.
"Eulji is... my—"
"Pardon?"
Jin-cheon had said something, but King Alsein, who hadn't quite caught it, asked again. Jin-cheon set down the meat he was eating and answered, enunciating every syllable distinctly.
"Eulji is my Yeolhu."
"......."
"......."
For the remainder of the banquet that night, Prince Alsein and Princess Yunias could not utter a single word.
The shocking night passed, and the next morning arrived.
During the morning court session as usual, Hailon entered bearing news. Mong Ryu-hwa's face noticeably changed as he examined the missive Hailon had brought in.
"What is it?"
At Jin-cheon's inquiry, Ryu-hwa folded the letter and answered.
"A message from Beron, who is operating in the Haian Kingdom... It says the Holy Empire and the Federal Empire are focusing their attention on the Reganza Mountains. He says this letter barely reached us because every road leading to the Reganza Mountains has been blocked. And the worse news is..."
Ryu-hwa trailed off and looked toward Prince Alsein and Princess Yunias.
"Speak."
Jin-cheon looked at Ryu-hwa and nodded. Ryu-hwa moistened his dry lips and continued his report.
"There is word that a rumor is spreading rapidly: that refugees—His Highness Alsein and Princess Yunias of the Kingdom of South Roselin among them—have slipped into this place. We must investigate further, but it is said that the Haian Kingdom intends to dispatch a large-scale search force soon."
"What!"
The moment Ryu-hwa finished his report, King Alsein and Princess Yunias recoiled in shock. They believed they had now placed Gauri in danger as well.
"Anything else?"
"Nothing."
Jin-cheon looked at the two agitated figures and spoke slowly.
"This was bound to come to light sooner or later. Do not trouble yourselves over it."
And with that, he calmly concluded the morning court.
Go Jin-cheon's thinking had proven correct.
In truth, King Alsein and the people of South Roselin had arrived in Gauri a week ago. The last ships to leave the port had set sail barely a month ago.
For matters to have already progressed this far meant that, more than any fault of theirs, their earlier trail was simply coming to light—and that was the accurate assessment.
But King Alsein and Princess Yunias, who knew little of how their trail had been tracked, could not help but feel they had placed yet another burden upon Gauri.
From Gauri's perspective, however, it was information that would have to be disclosed eventually. The timing was merely a little early.
Chapter 53 — The Enduring Spirit of Gauri
Princess Yunias was still staring with disbelieving eyes.
"This isn't just a matter of an age gap..."
A hollow voice slipped from Princess Yunias's lips.
At first, she had felt jealousy and envy toward the being known as Go Jin-cheon's Yeolhu. But the moment she saw that Yeolhu's true identity(?), everything melted away like snow, leaving only emptiness. Jealousy was out of the question. It was simply fascinating.
"Sis, what are you doing?"
"Ah, oh... mhm."
It must have looked odd: Princess Yunias, who had come out to play together, sitting by herself heaving one deep sigh after another.
Before she knew it, Eulji had dashed over to where Yunias sat and was staring fixedly with bright, wide eyes.
Struggling for a moment over how to answer, Princess Yunias simply replied as she normally would. It might have been a touch of pettiness on her part.
Gazing at Eulji, who was chattering away earnestly in front of her, Yunias began sorting through the data she had gathered from those around her, analyzing it in her mind.
Hobby — archery.
A hobby, they said, but recalling her first encounter with Eulji, the girl's skill was beyond the realm of a mere hobby.
If you gave her a bow and arrows and dropped her in the mountains, she could probably survive just fine on hunting. Naturally, Yunias had also confirmed her cooking skills.
The sight of her stripping a rabbit she'd caught somewhere in a flash, gathering branches, and expertly roasting it as barbecue. Or filleting a fish she'd pulled from the lake into instant sashimi using only a single dagger.
In a way, she thought, Eulji's hobby was closer to the word "hunting." It was, truthfully, a bit much for a girl of eight years old.
And as the Yeolhu of a nation, no less.
According to Gye Ung-sam's testimony, he passionately argued that it was all the Eulji Brothers' atrocities, but she heard from Eulji's own lips that the sashimi filleting method had been learned from Ung-sam himself.
Dislikes — the Air Throw Game and Flying Girl.
Princess Yunias, not knowing what that game actually entailed, could only be riddled with questions.
More importantly, she heard that the game was something only the Yeolje, Go Jin-cheon, would play with her. It somehow felt like a secret between Jin-cheon and Eulji alone, which soured her mood. So she made a resolution: she too would ask him to do it for her.
Likes — alcohol...
Princess Yunias thought it a somewhat unsuitable item for an eight-year-old to like.
She had even heard that Eulji had perfected the judo pouring technique from Eulji Uru and had created a new form for the Gauri Wedding Ceremony.
Hearing that she had devised a new ceremony form, Princess Yunias began to see Eulji in a new light.
'She might be a genius...'
What she fears — Go Jin-cheon.
In this aspect, Princess Yunias could only think that a child is still a child. Of course, Yunias naturally had no way of knowing that Eulji had her pants pulled down and her bottom spanked by Jin-cheon whenever she misbehaved. She simply assumed Jin-cheon was unexpectedly strict about discipline.
What she wants most — making a baby.
At this entry, Princess Yunias had even begun to doubt Jin-cheon's thinking.
Of course, she'd learned that Dae Mu-deok constantly sang that the Yeolje's line must continue, and that Eulji had thus developed some strange sense of duty without really understanding, so she was able to set aside her doubts about Jin-cheon's thinking.
Tilting her head amid these scattered thoughts, Princess Yunias saw that Eulji had come right up in front of her and smiled as she spoke.
"Come here. I'll braid your hair."
"Okay!"
Surprisingly, she likes this sort of thing too.
The problem was that if you braided it prettily, she didn't run to Jin-cheon to show it off—she ran to Yeon Hwi-garam. But in reality, it wasn't that she didn't like him; the issue was that Jin-cheon's reaction was always so dull. When Eulji had her hair braided and went to ask Jin-cheon about it, his answer was always the same monotone: whether braided or not, he'd just say, "You braided it," or "You didn't braid it." So it was no fun.
By comparison, Yeon Hwi-garam responded well, so Eulji preferred him.
"Eulji."
"Mm."
While Princess Yunias braided her hair, Eulji sat with her eyes closed, humming a tune. When Yunias called her name, Eulji answered without stirring from her seat.
"I— if I... were to say..."
"Mm."
"...that I want to live with His Majesty the Yeolje, would you allow it?"
Half hoping, Princess Yunias slowly swallowed and posed the question with great care.
Fortunately, Eulji's answer was, as ever, a single "Okay."
Hadn't Jin-cheon said before that to marry him required the Yeolhu's permission? And hadn't she just obtained that permission from Eulji in a single stroke?
"Heh."
"Sis, why are you laughing?"
"No reason."
But Princess Yunias thought the time was not yet right.
* * *
King Alsein was conferring with Marquis Baikal and Baron Bels. The thrust of their discussion was that they must, at the very least, avoid becoming a burden to Gauri.
"In truth, the only remaining troops we have are roughly two thousand survivors from the Eastern Army and around one thousand survivors from Altareng Fortress. The rest are all ordinary civilians."
"Mm."
At Marquis Baikal's report, King Alsein fell deep into thought. He felt they needed something to serve as a catalyst.
Personally, he wanted to entrust their forces to the Gauri army.
Where else could you find soldiers as strong as the Gauri army?
The problem was Marquis Baikal, who stood before him.
He too was a renowned commander, second to none in battle. The king knew full well that to suggest handing over the training of his own nation's soldiers to a foreign state right in front of him would be an insult no sovereign should offer a loyal vassal.
While King Alsein was wrestling with this, Marquis Baikal cautiously spoke up.
"Your Majesty, I was considering whether we might entrust the training of our soldiers to the Gauri army."
"Marquis!"
Baron Bels was taken aback by Marquis Baikal's words.
King Alsein, too, was surprised, but believing the old marquis must have his reasons, he looked toward him and waited.
Seeing King Alsein's composed demeanor, Marquis Baikal smiled a bitter smile and continued.
"There are several reasons for entrusting the soldiers' training to the Gauri army. The first is that we must eliminate the defeatism that has taken root deep in the hearts of our Eastern Army soldiers."
There was sound reasoning in Marquis Baikal's words.
The once-proud Eastern Army had become little more than a name after continuous battle, and under those circumstances, they had ultimately followed their king into exile. What they needed now, desperately, was confidence. And in that regard, the Gauri army was the optimal match.
"Continue, Marquis."
King Alsein nodded, waiting for his next words, and Marquis Baikal spoke again.
"The second reason is that we now share one vessel with Gauri. You recall the report we received during the recent assembly of officials great and small, yes?"
There was no way he could forget.
King Alsein smiled a bitter smile.
Marquis Baikal looked at King Alsein with an understanding gaze and kept speaking.
"If an enemy invades Gauri, we too must aid them with what small strength we possess. To do so, we urgently need unified command and unified training. Would mixing soldiers trained under entirely different systems be highly effective?"
"It could only be lower. It would certainly be different from forces that shift organically because they received the same training."
"Precisely. And from a political standpoint, we are too deeply indebted. We must show that we intend to repay even a little on this occasion. Lastly... I do not believe I can forge our army into one like the Gauri army. If that is the case, it is far more practical to have our soldiers learn their training methods, so that we may later introduce—or at least incorporate the merits of—their training into our own."
When Marquis Baikal finished speaking, King Alsein nodded, his expression deeply satisfied. It was a sign of agreement and permission. Once a plan is made, one must move swiftly.
"Proceed as Marquis Baikal intends. And I wish to learn more from His Majesty the Yeolje."
"An excellent intention. All of this will serve as the cornerstone for reclaiming Roselin in the future."
At the old veteran's trustworthy words, King Alsein steeled his resolve and rose from his seat first.