EEA Chapter 8

The next day, Clint, having finished preparations for departure at the outer castle, sat in the outer castle's office to write final letters to the knights' families. Then came the sound of knocking at the door.

"Come in."

Clint spoke without even asking who it was. Soon the door opened carefully, and a woman wearing a veil entered.

"Knight Commander Clint."

"Ugh!"

Clint pretended to be startled. So Ailea hurriedly removed her veil.

"It's, it's me!"

"I know, Lady Ailea."

"What, what was that... You startled me."

Clint played a prank on his unexpected visitor with a mischievous expression.

"Did someone die? Walking around with that thing over your head. Others might think your husband died. Let's not make the perfectly alive Prince Roylin into a deceased person."

At that, Ailea laughed brightly.

"Sorry for startling you... I just stopped by to say have a safe trip."

"Ah, I heard. They said the hot spring water is good for your skin, so you should stay here for a while? I agreed with that too. Prince Roylin really has the makings of a devoted husband, doesn't he?"

At the word "devoted husband," Ailea felt a bitter taste spread in her mouth, but she didn't show it outwardly so as not to dampen his mood before departure. Clint continued,

"Even someone like me who has no talent for magic can share in that poison, so you'll recover soon."

"I see."

She, who had begged many times to call a doctor, simply smiled. And she said affectionately to Clint,

"I came because I wanted to say thank you since we won't see each other again."

"Why won't we see each other again? I'm not going to die. Was that a lie?"

When Clint spoke teasingly, Ailea shook her head.

"You will live. You'll live and return after reclaiming Geneta Castle."

"And then?"

And then I'll die. Before you return.

By the time you return to this outer castle two years from now...

She opened her eyes wide to keep from crying. When she smiled with her lips but said nothing, Clint asked with an unpleasant expression, as if interrogating her,

"If I live, why is this the last time? Am I going to hold some position if I survive? Then I'll see Lady Ailea, who will have become Crown Princess by then, several times. As you know, knights who receive appointments must stay in the imperial palace 30 days a year."

"That's right."

She forced a smile. Not wanting to lie that they would see each other often in the future, Ailea walked over and looked down at the letter Clint was writing, changing the subject.

"Are you writing letters to all the knights' families?"

"Yes. It's a dangerous expedition."

"May I read it?"

"No."

Clint refused curtly out of embarrassment. And thinking he might have been too harsh, he glanced at her to find her calmly nodding. Ailea was accustomed to being refused.

Despite his frivolous appearance, Clint had very elegant handwriting. It was neat handwriting created through much practice. Rumor had it he was a playboy and a scoundrel and a womanizer. But here, now, Clint writing letters to the families of nineteen knights excluding himself looked completely different from those rumors. He was an affectionate and scholarly man.

Ailea said,

"You're the only one not receiving anything, Commander."

"I'm an orphan anyway."

"May I write one for you?"

When Ailea asked, Clint lifted his head slightly to look up at her.

Even though he might go to war and die, she was always too cheerful. That should have been hateful, but somehow it wasn't. Clint handed Ailea a sheet of letter paper and a quill pen.

Ailea carefully wrote the letter, folded it well, and returned it to Clint.

The next morning, Clint had finished preparations for departure. Since a noble lady couldn't see off an outside man, she only waved her handkerchief once from the window.

Ailea was now left alone at the outer castle. She felt this place was more familiar than the imperial palace. She would spend two happy years with no regrets. She resolved this.

The mounted knight corps had already disappeared from sight, but she remained motionless at the window for a long time, as if waiting for Clint.

She wanted to see off for a long time the man she would never see again.

It took half a year for the Thillip Knight Corps to reclaim Geneta Castle. It took a long time, but in return, not a single one of the twenty knights was lost. Digging the tunnel that would pass under the castle gate required much time and effort. However, the joy of victory compensated for all past hardships.

The Green family, the original owners of the castle, first arranged comfortable beds for the knight corps to rest. Thanks to this, the knight corps lay in the good beds of Geneta Castle for the first time in a while.

However, there were wounded. No matter how good the strategy, twenty men was an extremely small number, and those twenty were essentially dependent on Clint's strength.

While fighting at the front and blocking a sword flying toward his subordinate, Clint got wounded on his arm.

Seeing blood seeping out from his armor as he headed to his sleeping quarters, Taren asked seriously,

"Commander, are you really alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go in and sleep, Taren."

Clint spoke as if nothing was wrong, rather as if annoyed. Only after Taren left did he groan and remove his armor. His arm had a serious wound. Since this was still a battlefield, he had pretended nothing was wrong for the sake of the knight corps' morale, but it was a wound severe enough that an ordinary person could have died from excessive bleeding.

Clint poured the strong liquor they had brought for him to drink onto his arm. As alcohol entered the wound, terrible pain rushed in. Breaking into a cold sweat, he began roughly sewing up the gaping wound with thread and needle. He clenched his teeth so hard that his gums were about to be injured. The pain from the gaping wound was so great that he barely felt the pain from the needle pricks.

After roughly suturing it, he tightly bound his arm with the clean white cloth he always kept ready. He wanted to faint, but if he fainted like this, it seemed like he would go straight to the afterlife.

He tried to think of something, but no thoughts came. As he lay on the bed, he discovered the black poison spreading on his hands. Then he remembered the letter he had received from Ailea.

Needing something to keep his mind focused, he opened the letter he had received from her.

"Womanizer, come back for your women."

"This woman."

From the very first sentence. For the first time on the battlefield, Clint smiled. The pain was momentarily forgotten. And he read the rest of the letter.

"I'm sorry and grateful that you took away some of my pain."

"Be happy."

"Your warmth brought me joy."

"Ailea Elgar Yuliana."

"Why does this woman keep... acting like she's about to die soon."

Clint unconsciously crumpled the letter. But soon he was startled and carefully smoothed out the letter again. And he folded it the way Ailea had folded it and put it in his chest.

Clint had found it somewhat puzzling that Ailea would be left alone at the outer castle after he and the knight corps departed. Even the porters who had brought her had gone somewhere.

He had thought casually that they would probably arrive after he left and had come to the battlefield.

As he lay back on the bed with his pain somewhat subsided, one sentence kept floating in his mind.

"Your warmth brought me joy."

He got up from his place.

"Damn. What warmth is there for a woman who's going to become Empress after enduring even an unwanted kiss."

Like a woman who had lived her whole life in cold places. Clint couldn't understand at all where in himself she had felt warmth.

Clint mercilessly crumpled his handsome face as he looked at his black left hand.

It must be because of these black spots. That's why Ailea is depressed.

It wasn't even as if the engagement had been broken because of it, and it didn't seem like a particularly difficult disease to cure. So why write such a sentence to make a person so troubled? When she should be eating well and living well in a good castle.

In a good castle.

...Is she eating well and living well?

Ailea's body that Clint had held before was as light as a starving child. She certainly wasn't eating well. Most importantly, by now she should have married the Crown Prince, but there hadn't even been news of that.

Clint thought he might have been mistaken all this time.

Perhaps my being sent to Geneta Castle had nothing to do with Ailea at all. It was just that the moment Roylin wanted to drive me to the battlefield happened to coincide with the timing.

"Since we won't see each other again, I came because I wanted to say thank you."

Recalling her affectionate voice, Clint did some mental calculations. If he rode all night, he might be able to reach the imperial palace.

He wanted to confirm whether she had safely returned to the imperial palace. He also wanted to know if Ailea smiled at least once a day.

Forgetting his pain, Clint came outside and mounted his horse. In the pitch-black night, Clint, who had briefly ridden out of the camp, hurriedly stopped his horse.

A soldier from the Green family who had been standing night watch was dead from an arrow, and soldiers carrying the flag of the Kanna Empire were approaching from a distance.

Clint urgently turned his horse and entered Geneta Castle, shouting,

"It's a surprise attack! Close the gates and get out!"

The knights hurriedly armed themselves and rushed out. It was a surprise attack aimed at when they had taken Geneta Castle and were resting in exhaustion.

At Clint's command, the armed knights firmly closed the castle gates.

All castles in Teniac had one important common feature. The side facing the direction of the imperial palace was easy to attack, while the opposite direction was difficult to attack. This was to make it difficult for enemies to capture but easy to reclaim.

Geneta Castle too was very solid on the south side facing the Kanna Empire, but the part facing the imperial palace—that is, the north side—was open, making it somewhat disadvantageous in war. So the Kanna Empire soldiers had circled far around Geneta Castle to launch a surprise attack from the north.

Judging a frontal confrontation dangerous, Clint led the knight corps and the Green family to escape behind the castle. They systematically hid in the forest right behind the castle. When the Kanna Empire forces arrived at the empty Geneta Castle and were bewildered, the Thillip Knight Corps in turn ambushed them.

Clint killed or captured all the enemy forces that had launched the surprise attack.

What could have been a major loss due to the enemy's surprise attack instead became an opportunity to achieve merit.

The next day, Clint immediately fought a battle with the Kanna Empire's Eaton Castle, which had sent the ambushing soldiers. The battle was prolonged, and Clint ultimately could not visit the imperial palace.