From the day that operational meeting ended, the three months I had been given passed with a fierceness that seemed to wring the blood dry from my veins.
With my life and my family’s safety hanging on the outcome of the expedition to the Kingdom of Laurent, I lived those three months more desperately than at any other time in my life.
“Can’t you get any lower, Harper! Whether you’re fake or real, in my gym, squat depth is rank!”
“A-aa-agh! I can’t, I can’t go any farther!”
“Impossible! You can do it! Have you deceived me again?”
“No, that’s—agh!”
My relationship with Arthur returned to how it had been before—no, after I had confessed my secret, we became even more unreserved with each other.
As if atoning for my sins, I was summoned to his gym almost every day and made to lift iron until my muscles felt like they would burst. In the afternoons, I went to the stables and took the reins of my beloved horse, Marengo.
I probably would not have to ride through a real rain of arrows in actual combat, but one never knew.
To become one with Marengo, I spent every day sweating as we raced around the drill ground.
“Now, Harper. These are the latest reports sent by our collaborators inside the Kingdom of Laurent.”
“…The king hasn’t appeared in public for several months now. That’s suspicious.”
“And one more thing. What we knew was wrong. The man they call the crown prince is, strictly speaking, not the crown prince. He’s merely the eldest prince. The bastard is the child of an illegitimate line, but in his later years, the king took in lawful wives… and had children. They’re still young, but…”
“—Then if he wants to become the true crown prince, he’ll have to distinguish himself somehow in this war.”
I reported to military headquarters early in the morning, put my head together with the generals, and worked out the details of the operation. Once the meetings ended, I went down in person to the dusty barracks.
“Well, well, Staff Officer Harper! You’re here again today!”
I mingled with the soldiers, covered myself in sweat and dirt, and learned firsthand how to operate the catapults.
In the end, carrying out this operation required the soldiers to execute it properly, and for that, someone had to run around on-site and raise their morale.
“What if, instead of just launching rocks, we mixed shards of broken pottery or metal fragments into the stones to maximize their lethality?”
“It’s a good idea, sir, but if we do that, the time it takes for the stones to reach the enemy lines will become variable.”
“Then let’s keep firing and measure the time.”
Together with the engineers, I weighed stones, pulled ropes with my own hands, and worked day and night to find the optimal trajectory.
When I had first entered the military, even the rank-and-file soldiers had looked at me with wary, uncomfortable eyes, calling me a fraud who had mocked the great empire. But as they saw me rolling around in the dirt and sharing meals with them every day, they slowly began to open their hearts.
“Just call me Harper, boys. I’m not royalty anyway, just the second son of a baron’s family.”
“Come on, you’re still a noble!”
“We’ll just call you Prince. ‘Staff Officer’ doesn’t sit right on the tongue, haha.”
One day, when we were resting after training, one of the veteran soldiers from the catapult unit came over snickering and drew a crooked crown in white dye in the middle of my iron helmet.
Even though they knew full well that I was a fake prince, calling me “Prince” now—not with contempt, but with half mischief and half affection—was their own form of comradeship.
“What kind of crown is this? Couldn’t you have drawn it a little prettier?”
“If I drew a real crown, I’d be asking to get cursed at! Just be satisfied with this much, Fake Prince!”
Occasionally, Crown Prince Maximilien also carved time out of his busy state affairs to come inspect the drill ground.
“Don’t die. Make sure you come back alive, Ian Harper. Your reserved seat is still empty, after all. We’ve finished preparing to make you work overtime like a dog over here.”
With that same villainous face, he would toss out such encouragement that sounded more like a curse, then leave.
I continued meeting with others, but not once did I get to meet Chloe.
“…I suppose I won’t see her before the expedition.”
It was because the emperor’s strict imperial command had been issued.
The palace where Chloe stayed was under heavy guard, and my access to it was thoroughly restricted.
Until I returned alive and proved everything, we were fated not to meet.
#
Thus, the long and dreadful winter passed, and at last spring came, green shoots sprouting from the earth.
The imperial capital was bustling with the fervor of the Harvest Festival, held every year in early spring.
In truth, it was said that this Harvest Festival originated in the barbaric days of the past, from a festival where our people prayed that the neighboring countries we planned to plunder would have good harvests.
Of course, now it had become a peaceful event that genuinely prayed for good harvests within the empire.
And with the celebratory fireworks of that Harvest Festival, the great imperial army of one hundred and fifty thousand finally marched out toward the Kingdom of Laurent.
#
Amid the procession of the vast army that shook the very earth, I moved west as part of the central army led by Victoria and the senior generals.
After roughly three weeks of marching, the imperial army arrived on the western plains overlooking the rugged mountain range of the Kingdom of Laurent.
“Your Highness! An envoy has arrived from the Kingdom of Laurent!”
Before the battle had even begun, an envoy came from the enemy camp.
The empire and the Kingdom of Laurent had fought countless wars and shed much blood, but the empire held deep respect, as warriors, for Laurent—the only nation on the continent to have ever stopped them. Laurent, too, observed basic courtesy toward the great empire. Thus, exchanging envoys before the opening of hostilities had long been a custom.
In the commander-in-chief’s tent of the central army, a high-ranking noble envoy dressed in the splendid ceremonial attire of the Kingdom of Laurent bowed respectfully before Victoria.
“I have come to convey the will of His Majesty, the King of the great Kingdom of Laurent, and His Highness, the Crown Prince. Before meaningless blood is shed, if the imperial army will peacefully withdraw its troops and retreat, we would gladly…”
It was the formal demand for withdrawal that marked the beginning of every war.
Victoria, too, took a sip of tea with a calm face, then politely refused.
“I receive His Majesty the King of Laurent’s will with gratitude. However, the sword of the great empire has already left its sheath, so we will gladly see you upon the plains before your walls.”
At the composed refusal, the envoy also nodded bitterly, as if he had expected it.
Victoria set down her empty teacup and said,
“Since you have sent an envoy, it would be proper for our side as well to observe courtesy and send an envoy to Laurent’s camp in reply.”
“Of course. We will await the imperial army’s envoy.”
It was the moment I had been waiting for.
I, who had been standing quietly in the rear, stepped forward.
“Your Highness, if an envoy is needed, I will go.”
At my action, the generals in the tent pretended to flinch in surprise.
“No. It’s dangerous. What will you do if some mishap occurs in the enemy camp?”
“Your Highness.”
I stubbornly met Victoria’s gaze and spoke with emphasis.
“I must be the one to go.”
At the firmness in my eyes, Victoria clicked her tongue, but pretended she could no longer refute me.
However, the envoy from the Kingdom of Laurent, who had been watching us, swept his slanted gaze over me from head to toe and cleared his throat without hiding his displeasure.
“Ahem, ahem! Your Highness, Commander-in-Chief. Forgive me, but may I offer a word?”
“What is it?”
The envoy lifted his chin and spoke in an arrogant voice.
“To observe the proper courtesies before the opening of war, our Kingdom of Laurent sent me, a court count, as envoy. And yet the empire’s envoy in response is… a mere young junior officer who does not even wear proper insignia? I would ask that the empire send someone of suitable rank.”
At being treated as a young officer, the generals looked around, clearing their throats.
It was not as though we could give a long-winded explanation of my status in this situation.
Just as I was about to open my mouth and make up something suitable—
Victoria, who had been sitting with her legs crossed in her chair, suddenly snorted and spoke.
“Insufficient rank?”
Victoria shot a frigid glare at Laurent’s envoy.
“The imperial son-in-law of His Majesty the Emperor of the great empire is deigning to come in person, and you say he lacks the rank to meet with your side?”
“…Pardon? Im-imperial son-in-law? Do you mean His Majesty the Emperor’s son-in-law?”
The envoy’s eyes went wide in shock.
In that instant, the senior command of the imperial army inside the tent, including General Karl and General Vane, also froze as they inhaled sharply, wondering what nonsense this was.
If it was about the marriage talks with Princess Chloe, weren’t those currently on hold?
While everyone was thrown into confusion, Victoria rested her chin on her hand and, in a voice brimming with confidence, dropped a bombshell in the middle of headquarters.
“Yes. See to it that you receive him properly.”
She pointed at me with her finger and declared,
“This man is my husband.”
“…??!!”
Time inside the tent came to a complete halt.