Chapter 195: 104. Rose Darina
**
A carriage was passing through a coarse road in the countryside.
The skeleton horses neighed roughly every time the carriage they were pulling along clunked noisily. At the same time, refugees were quietly following the vehicle from behind while doing their best to lend support to each other.
Their number hovered around two hundred.
At first, there were only around one hundred people but the number kept growing little by little whenever the procession went past a village.
The survivors begged and pleaded to be saved, and after personally experiencing the ‘miracle’, they swallowed up their grievances and dissatisfaction to silently join the procession.
Every once in a while, they sneaked glances at the Seventh Imperial Prince, who was riding on a skeleton horse. Their gazes were filled to the brim with awe.
Charlotte observed the behaviours of the refugees and couldn’t help but feel complicated inside.
The Imperial Prince, who was labelled as a mangnani once upon a time, had transformed into someone adored and worshipped by seemingly everyone now.
She felt gratified and proud that she had been the first person to see his true nature before anybody else. But on the other hand, she became worried that he was growing further away from her as time went on.
‘Lord Angel, the Saint. And even the divine king…’
Those were the new titles people called him with.
She had been steadily growing stronger, but at the same time, it seemed like he had been getting further away from her reach.
She shifted her gaze back to Allen. He was currently riding on the skeleton horse and not inside the carriage like usual, after saying that he’d like to get some fresh air.
While riding on the undead creature, he spotted a dead crow on the road and commanded one of his skeletons to pick it up for him.
Allen placed his hand on the dead bird and injected divinity into it.
Wiggle…
The crow opened its eyes and began flapping its wings. He had revived the creature as an undead.
Feeling curious now, Charlotte asked Allen about it. “Is that a zombified crow?”
“Yeah. Necromancers tend to use these little guys as either scouts or to send letters to others.”
The Imperial Prince took out a small rolled-up parchment on his person and tied it to the leg of the zombie crow before commanding it to fly.
The crow beat its wings and flew away.
Charlotte asked again. “Where are you sending it to, your highness?”
“To my oldest brother and father.”
“…?”
“We now know that the kingdom of Lome is involved with Rose’s matter, but the flow of the events is heading in a completely unexpected direction. One wrong move somewhere, and the entire Heavenly Army might end up being toyed around by the schemes of Rose and the Vampires.”
And that’s why he was planning to make the Heavenly Army retreat back to the border region of the Theocratic Empire.
Although Allen’s authority alone wouldn’t be enough to move the Heavenly Army, convincing Luan should do the trick.
“Does that mean the Theocratic Empire will no longer intervene in Lome’s affairs?” Barus suddenly shoved the carriage’s door open and peeked outside, asking urgently.
The carriage should’ve been sealed pretty tightly, yet the First Prince seemed to have eavesdropped on the conversation between Allen and Charlotte.
“It’s just a stopgap measure, nothing more. Also…” The Seventh Imperial Prince stared at Barus and continued on. “The two opposing camps of Lome will need to stop fighting for a little while.”
The two camps – one for First Prince Barus and the other belonging to the Second Prince, Derian – had been fighting this battle for supremacy for a long time.
Making them stop fighting all of a sudden wouldn’t be an easy task at all, but it should still be possible to halt the warfare for a little while if the Theocratic Empire strongly pressured both parties involved.
Barus’s eyes opened much wider. His expression suggested that he didn’t expect the Seventh Imperial Prince to openly intervene in the matters of the kingdom of Lome.
Allen continued on, “If not, the Theocratic Empire’s intervention will only get worse.”
This whole incident was deeply connected to the Vampires.
Even if Raiden Behemoth, the dragon slayer, had retired from public life, he was still affiliated with the kingdom’s leadership. And if he was really providing shelter to Rose while hiding themselves in Lome, then the empire would never let this situation quietly slide by.
After all, the Theocratic Empire was gearing up for the possible invasion of the Vampires, and as such, it was inevitable that any matters related to the undead would receive its full attention.
In the worst possible scenario, the empire’s full-strength army would cross the border between the two nations. Barus was well aware of this point.
“I want the two camps to behave themselves until the investigation comes to an end.”
Barus could only nod slowly with a slightly-dazed face at Allen’s ‘suggestion’.
The First Prince of Lome had been tasting defeat over and over again for a while now, so this news was indeed a good one for him, and it’d also prove to be a small ray of hope for the refugees as well.
While listening to the Seventh Imperial Prince, Charlotte looked up at him. She noticed that his gaze was scanning the refugees even now.
‘I was right.’
The villagers up in the northern frontier, the fiefdom of Ronia, First Imperial Prince Luan, and both Humite and Aslan – and even the Third Imperial Prince, Ruppel.
Even if one could label his emotion as ‘pity’, he still found all sorts of excuses as his ‘justification’ to help them out.
He couldn’t pretend to not see the people suffering from hardships.
And that was why all those people had become captivated by him.
Luan, Hilda, Harman, the Holy Emperor, and all those countless subjects of the empire…
From their perspective, Seventh Imperial Prince Allen really did come across as the saviour sent by the goddess herself. At least, that’s what she believed.
Charlotte clenched her fists tightly.
‘Just a little bit more.’
In order to get closer to him, even if it’s only by a little bit, she simply had to get stronger.
She still needed more power.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
I was confident that when my letter reached Luan and White, the empire’s forces would immediately cease all intervention-type ‘activities’ in Lome’s civil war.
The kingdom itself would also stop the fighting in order to not piss off the Theocratic Empire, and to prevent any sudden about-turn in the empire’s attitude, the kingdom’s leadership would do their absolute best to find out Rose’s current whereabouts.
I glanced at the refugees following us.
All thanks to the effects of the Aztal rune, it seemed that their overall stamina had received a great boost. Even though the sanctuary declaration duration had ended some time ago, their steps looked fairly light and energetic. Oh, and their bodies were fully healed as well.
However, a problem still existed; drinking water could be dealt with my holy water somehow, but procuring food was another headache altogether.
It’d be tough for these folks to travel for long.
But then, while staring at the refugees, I felt something was off here. Why did it look like their numbers had gone up compared to before? And for some weird reason, why were they looking back at me with all those sparkling eyes?
What the heck? Now that’s a bit uncomfortable, isn’t it?
I avoided meeting their eyes. I could sense all those gazes pricking my skin, but I resolutely ignored them all.
Ahem, where was I? Right. And with this, Barus now owed me big time.
Not only did I rescue all these refugees, I even gave him a thin thread of hope that he could hold onto as well. For the sake of his kingdom’s future survival, he now had no choice but to wholeheartedly support my investigation into the Rose Darina incident.
“How much further do we have to go?”
When I asked that question, one of the escorting knights flinched a little in surprise and quickly looked at me. The knight, who was apparently named Sir Himel, looked up at me with respectful eyes. “We should arrive at our destination very soon, Lord Saint.”
Saint, is it…? Wow, it sure has been a while since someone called me that title.
While I was thinking this, our procession reached the section of the highway located on the top of a hill, and almost immediately, a silhouette of a distant fiefdom could be spotted way over yonder.
It was surrounded by many farmsteads and rural villages, and in the centre of them all, a fortress stood tall.
There it was, the village named Benice as mentioned by the leader of the revolutionary army, First Prince Barus Victoria.
I shifted my gaze over to him.
“Alright then. Oh, the First Prince of Lome, Baris Victoria.”
There was this one thing I gotta do from this moment on.
“It’s time for you to fully cooperate with my investigation.”
I needed to get properly started on searching for Rose’s whereabouts.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
Five days later.
In the camp of the Second Prince, Derian Victoria of the kingdom of Lome.
Derian, who was inside his office, was staring at his conversation partner with a pair of wide-open eyes. “What did you mean by that, your highness?!”
His conversation partner was none other than Luan Olfolse, the First Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire, who had, along with his father the Crown Imperial Prince, led the Heavenly Army to Lome.
At first, Derian was deeply pleased by the fact that the First Imperial Prince showed up here. He knew that if the Theocratic Empire decided to butt in, then the rebellion in Lome would be squashed in no time at all.
However, contrary to his expectations, the Theocratic Empire’s forces did not participate in the battlefield.
It wanted clear, irrefutable proof first, and thus, launched their own investigation. Still, Derian believed that, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. Them being here is already enough!’
Indeed, the Theocratic Empire sticking its nose in would surely pose an immense threat to the rebels. But now, even that became meaningless.
There was only one reason why First Imperial Prince Luan paid a visit to Derian today. It was to announce his intention of, “We are withdrawing our forces.”
“May I inquire as to why?” Derian asked while he did his absolute best to suppress his emotions that nearly forced him to shout out.
Unlike him sweating buckets of nervous sweat, Luan was the perfect picture of peace and tranquillity.
He replied nonchalantly, “Apparently, Rose Darina is not with the rebels.”
He didn’t even bother to stare at Derian. Actually, his languid gaze was mostly fixed on the maidservants next to them.
The maids realised that Luan was staring at them, and while blushing furiously, they lowered their heads.
“B-but, that can’t be true. There’s absolutely no doubt that my older brother, First Prince Barus, is protecting Rose!” Derian said while enduring the humiliation of being ignored like this.
Luan lightly waved his hand at the maids before glancing back to Derian and speaking up, “My youngest brother, Allen, has personally caught up with the First Prince of Lome, Barus.”
Derian’s mouth clamped shut.
“According to his investigation, Barus was not involved. Of course, this matter requires a further, more thorough investigation, but still…” Luan took out a document he had compiled earlier and pushed it towards Derian. “We’d also like the kingdom of Lome to declare a temporary ceasefire. We’ve concluded that there exists a troubling connection between this kingdom and Rose Darina, the ringleader of the conspiracy of high treason, as well as the Vampires.”
Derian’s complexion paled even more after hearing that. “H-how could that be…!”
“In case you decide to go against our wishes…” Luan interlocked his fingers and smiled refreshingly. “I believe that you know better than anyone that by choosing to go down this route, you’re giving us, the Theocratic Empire, a very good pretext to intervene in your internal conflict. Oh Derian Victoria.”
Luan didn’t bother to beat around the bush. He directly pressured Derian without holding back.
Although the term he used was ‘intervene’, what he was threatening with was the full force of the empire potentially crossing the border without permission and invading the kingdom.
This was the power of the one ruling over the whole continent – the power to look down on a royal prince who might one day ascend to the throne of his kingdom, and ruthlessly suppress such a person.
That was the Theocratic Empire.
Derian had no choice but to bow his head at Luan’s powerful pressure, all the while fighting off a tide of shame rising up in his heart. “…P-please, give me some time to consider.”
He was only nineteen this year. He didn’t have the necessary confidence to oppose the Theocratic Empire on top of already battling his older brother.
Derian gritted his teeth and held his head.
“Very well.” Luan nodded to express his consent. “I’ll give you three days.”
Derian flinched at that and looked up.
Luan snickered as he finished what he wanted to say. “Please do your best to come to a favourable decision during that time period. Well then. Ladies, may I request all of you for your kind assistance?”
Luan and the maidservants soon left the office.
Derian wordlessly stared at the door Luan had left through.
One minute, three, then eventually, five minutes had gone by in silence.
Once he determined that the First Imperial Prince was gone for good, he angrily flipped his desk.
“Uwaaaaahk!!!”
He violently kicked the chair he was on, then even yanked his sword out and began slashing and cutting down everything his eyes could see.
The expensive-looking couch was torn apart while various flower vases shattered into bits. He roared out in anger for a while before holding his forehead and panting laboriously.
“How did this happen?! Answer me, Raiden Behemoth!”
Derian angrily shouted out again.
The darkness of the shadow cast by the walls suddenly began wiggling like a worm before taking on the shape of a person. The shadow manifested into an actual, physical body of a man, and he stepped forward into the light.
He seemed to be in his early to mid forties.
This man was the dragon slayer who sold his soul to the Vampires and acquired everlasting life in return.
…The one and only Raiden Behemoth.
He bowed his head at the Second Prince, who should’ve been nothing more than a livestock to him. “It seems that the attempt to assassinate the First Prince has ended in failure.”
“You told me that we could kill him by using the Vampires!”
The First Prince, Barus, had been on a losing streak. Out of desperation, he would’ve been forced to grasp at straws. As a result, he should’ve been on his way to Rost, hoping to get the ‘dying of old age’ Raiden on his side.
Once Raiden the Vampire had heard about such information, he commanded Baron Lava to turn every living being found in that village into zombies.
Unfortunately for them, though…
Raiden muttered out, “…It seems that the fool failed his mission.”
The individual feared the most by the Vampires, Seventh Imperial Prince Allen Olfolse, seemed to have decided to butt in.
With things like this, assassinating the First Prince of Lome would be next to impossible now.
“The Theocratic Empire might invade us at this rate. Bloody hell! Before something like that happens, I might as well… the Second Crown Princess Consort…!”
It was right at that moment.
The bookshelf of the office trembled briefly and slid to the side.
Derian flinched in surprise and clamped his mouth shut. His tense face turned towards the secret passage revealed by the moving bookshelf.
“What about me, your highness?”
A seductive older woman stepped out of the passageway and walked closer to him. She asked Derian with a troubled expression on her face while stroking her cheek.
“N-no, that… that was…” Derian shook his head. He avoided meeting her gaze and lowered his head. “It was nothing important, my lady.”
The woman, Second Crown Princess Consort Rose Darina, walked forward with light, cheery steps. She got close to Derian and gently stroked his cheek. “Don’t be too tense, your highness.”
“H-however…”
“We have a bright future ahead of us.”
Rose leaned in closer and gently smoothed over Derian’s hair.
He moaned under his breath. “Future, you say? But the Theocratic Empire has already realised that the Vampires are connected to this matter. One wrong move from us, and the royal household of Lome might get…”
“Please calm your worries. They won’t live for long, after all. On the other hand, your highness will soon become a new Vampire, and…” Rose softly held Derian’s chin and turned his face closer to hers before whispering in his ear, “…Such things won’t apply to you anymore.”
“…”
“At the shortest, ten years. But at the longest, twenty. By then, the Theocratic Empire would’ve surely become ours.”
Derian’s trembling hands barely managed to push Rose’s seductive hands away. “How can you be so certain about this?”
“Don’t you see that it’s plainly obvious? Wouldn’t you agree, Sharin?”
Rose called out to her ‘maidservant’ standing in the darkness of the secret passage behind her.
The maid gingerly stepped forward with a deeply pale complexion.
Her head was lowered while cold sweat constantly trickled down her skin. Her hands that were visibly trembling from fear, were cautiously holding her swollen belly.
Derian swallowed back his dry saliva at this sight.
Rose leaned in again and whispered into his ear.
“After all, we have the inheritor of the Imperial Family’s bloodline, the child of the Third Imperial Prince, by your side, don’t we?”
< 104. Rose Darina > Fin.
