I chewed my bread noisily and casually struck up a conversation with General Alfonso seated across from me.
“General, back at the Imperial Command, I heard of your reputation until it was drilled into my ears. The overwhelming martial prowess and tactics you displayed against the Imperial Army in the past were truly astounding.”
At my blatant praise, General Alfonso stopped swallowing his bread and made a puzzled expression.
“Hehe. I am grateful for the praise, but… are you not a subject of the Empire? I must say, it feels peculiar to see you openly praise the enemy commander like this.”
“Ah, to be honest.”
I lowered my voice slightly and gave an amiable smile.
“I am a hostage from the south who was brought to the Empire not long ago. I became the Prince Consort not because my abilities are outstanding, but because I was lucky enough to catch the eye of Her Highness the Imperial Princess.”
“What? You were originally a hostage?”
“Yes. The top brass of the Imperial Army are fiercely territorial, so I have been having a hard time. Not long ago, I got tangled up in an unpleasant affair with that gentleman called Count Grey, and I nearly lost my head.”
The moment the name Count Grey left my mouth, General Alfonso’s eyes widened, and soon a hearty roar of laughter erupted from him.
“Hahahaha! Count Grey! You mean that uptight, viper-like bastard! I am the one who left that hideous knife scar on his face!”
“Aha! So you have already avenged me in advance, General!”
We faced each other and cackled like old friends reunited after a long time.
After laughing for a good while, General Alfonso reined in his mirth and looked at me with warm eyes.
“You are too modest, Duke Harper. I know all too well how harshly the Imperial royals treat hostages from weak nations. That you survived that hellish environment and even rose to become the Prince Consort is proof that you are truly an extraordinary and outstanding man—not mere luck.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
I felt genuinely delighted by the sincere acknowledgment from the enemy commander’s mouth.
In this moment where we praised, laughed, and chatted without pretense, I too was sincerely fascinated by this giant of a man, rather than performing a thoroughly calculated act.
But.
‘…Get a grip on your expression.’
Whenever we chatted amicably, the face of the Crown Prince, who had been forced to sit at my side, was rotting away more and more.
At a meeting with an envoy where he should have been the protagonist, the sight of a mere general talking over him with a high-ranking official of the enemy nation was unbearably unpleasant.
In the end, unable to endure it, the Crown Prince set his spoon down with a nervous clatter.
“…The dust makes me lose my appetite entirely. I shall go to the Command first; join us once you have finished your meal.”
Without waiting for a response from either me or General Alfonso, the Crown Prince rose and walked out of the tent.
General Alfonso watched the retreating figure of his liege and smacked his lips with a bitter aftertaste, but we finished every last bite of the remaining meal and even devoured two apples each before slowly returning to the Command.
Inside the Command tent.
Toward the Crown Prince sitting slouched in the seat of honor and General Alfonso standing ramrod straight at his side, I resumed an official envoy’s expression and drew the state letter from my breast.
“Now then, since we have filled our stomachs, let us begin the official duties as an envoy. This is the will of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Empire.”
I read the surrender appeal in a dry voice.
“‘If the Kingdom of Roland swears to become a vassal state of the Great Empire, and pays a fixed annual tribute, aside from dispatching an Imperial Governor to the territory, we guarantee that the people of Roland will suffer no oppression or harm…’”
It was the formal surrender appeal that heralded the beginning of every war.
Having heard the entire contents, the Crown Prince and General Alfonso expressed their refusal, as they always had—polite yet firm.
“We appreciate His Majesty the Emperor’s mercy, but our Kingdom of Roland has no intention of abandoning the independence and freedom we have maintained for centuries. Tell him we shall meet on the plains before the castle walls.”
“Understood. That was expected.”
I nodded and flipped the parchment over.
“Ah, and should you accept the surrender… the Empire has added that in gratitude for responding to the Great Empire’s benevolence, General Henry Alfonso and his house shall be granted the kingship of Roland in perpetuity.”
“…What?”
The Crown Prince’s eyebrows twitched.
He jumped up from his seat and shouted in a shrill voice.
“What did you just say?! What of the treatment for our royal house of Roland?! What in the world are you offering our family?!”
“Uh… according to the document, the royal family of Roland is to be granted the ducal title of Northern Roland.”
“What! Are you speaking with a sound mind?!”
The declaration of bestowing the throne of Roland solely upon the House of Alfonso was the Empire’s blatant scheme to sow division—completely dethroning the Roland royal family and establishing General Alfonso as Roland’s new ruler.
I blinked my eyes innocently, as if I knew nothing, and swiftly extended the document toward the Crown Prince.
“I merely read the document exactly as it was handed to me by the Imperial Command. Please verify it yourself.”
The Crown Prince snatched the document away and scanned it roughly.
Only after reading it did he realize it was genuine; his complexion flushed bright red with anger and humiliation, and he began to tremble with his mouth tightly shut.
General Alfonso, realizing the situation was turning bad, protested to me with a clearly flustered expression.
“What in the world was that?! While I am honored as a warrior by the Empire’s high opinion of me, how could you commit such rude sowing of discord before His Highness the Prince!”
Not flustered in the slightest by the hero’s thunderous rebuke, I instead bowed at a perfect ninety degrees and apologized respectfully.
“If I have caused offense, I offer my sincere apologies, General. I am but a mere envoy; I merely recited the words like a parrot as ordered by the Imperial high command. Please generously forgive the discourtesy of the command.”
At my clean apology, General Alfonso could no longer vent his anger and only bit his lip.
But my true target was not Alfonso.
I gauged the Crown Prince’s expression while keeping my head bowed.
The Crown Prince glared at me with rage-filled eyes, then slowly turned his displeased and suspicious gaze toward General Alfonso standing at his side.
‘The enemy ignored the royal family and promised a mere general the throne.’
The poison of the scheme had begun to completely devour the brain of the young Crown Prince, overflowing with an inferiority complex.
“…Enough. If your business is finished, withdraw now.”
The Crown Prince waved his hand nervously and gave the order for dismissal.
“Stay in the tent tonight, and leave the castle the moment the sun rises tomorrow. I shall have an attendant prepare quarters for you.”
“Thank you for your consideration. I shall take my leave.”
General Alfonso, who had been staring at the back of Ian Harper as he left, thought for a moment and abruptly placed his hand on his sword.
“Your Highness, we must kill that man right now.”
The Crown Prince, who had been glaring at the departing envoy with an unpleasant expression, turned to Alfonso in surprise.
“No, General, what do you mean? He merely read the Empire’s official document. Why would you say to kill him?”
“This is not the Empire’s doing. It is that man’s doing. I am certain this entire scheme of sowing discord sprang from his head.”
“No, that cannot be… He is nothing but a green, young fledgling. He may be somewhat handsome and good with words, but that is all; he does not look like one who would devise such stratagems.”
“You are mistaken, Your Highness. This is purely my intuition, but if we do not kill him now, we will greatly regret it on the battlefield.”
“But General, although Roland and the Empire have fought for two hundred years, neither side has ever killed the other’s envoy. No matter how hostile our feelings, killing an envoy is the ultimate of taboos!”
“Even if it means breaking that taboo, that man must die, Your Highness.”
As General Alfonso drew his sword halfway with burning eyes, the flustered Crown Prince began to offer excuses.
“…If he truly is the Emperor’s Prince Consort, how do you intend to handle that?”
“Handle it, you say? We have fought the Empire for two hundred years. Is it not too late to speak of peace now?”
“No, but still…”
The Crown Prince bit his lip and pondered for a long while before speaking in a small, cringing voice.
“…If something as dishonorable as killing an envoy happens while I am here on the battlefield… the parasites clinging near Father will clamor that I am unworthy. Starting with that vixen, they will say I am unqualified to be the next king.”
“That is not a matter to be discussed on the battlefield, Your Highness.”
“…General, then let us do it this way.”
The Crown Prince let out a deep sigh and spoke to General Alfonso as if pleading.
“Please say that the House of Alfonso supports me. With just that, I can become the next king without question. If you do that for me, I will not care whether you kill him or not.”
Despite the Crown Prince’s plea, Alfonso did not bat an eye and shook his head.
“Your Highness, have I not told you countless times? I am a soldier, and a soldier’s role is solely to crush the enemy before him according to the orders given from behind. Who gives me orders is not my place to meddle in, nor something I should meddle in. Have I not already sworn that I would not involve myself in political strife?”
“…So the General will not heed my words until the end.”
The Crown Prince let out another deep sigh and slumped into his chair with an exhausted face.
Alfonso, watching that scene with a troubled expression, thought for a moment and then offered a proposal.
“Or else, Your Highness, even if I do not behead him… I believe I could interrogate him personally. Let me do so tonight. Will you permit it?”
“Interrogation? Do you mean to torture him?”
“No. I believe it must be done man to man.”
General Alfonso grinned and pointed toward the castle.
“We shall get thoroughly drunk and bring out our true feelings. Will you permit it?”
“…I permit it. I shall trust the General.”