"Hohoho! As expected, God is working through us. I've never felt God so close before."
The Empress didn't seem to want a more detailed explanation, so she offered more congratulations and then ordered the waiting servants to open the doors of the hall.
The 'invited' nobles and court officials who were waiting outside came in and took their seats, and Matthias, dressed in splendid clothes, walked in confidently.
Gabriel recited a prayer befitting the coronation and placed the imperial crown on his head. Everyone in the hall bowed their heads tremblingly and shouted long live.
However, all of this, which had been so anticipated, felt only boring to Gabriel. All that filled his mind was worry about Asha's safety.
'Surely she wasn't in Pervaz, was she?'
The magic circle drawn in Pervaz Castle was a door connected to the magic circles drawn all over the abandoned land.
The plan was to detonate the magic of the abandoned land, causing the demons and barbarians to run wild, and then open the magic passage.
Since Pervaz Castle would definitely be scorched, Gabriel had told Asha to evacuate in advance. He didn't want her to get caught up in it either.
'She seemed to like me too, so she must have followed my orders. Yes, let's believe that. God leads the faithful people on the right path.'
Gabriel clutched the pendant of the tree of wisdom on his chest.
Nothing had ever gone wrong with his plans before, so he decided to believe that it would be the same with Asha.
* * *
The sound of large horseshoes pounding the ground thundered through Pervaz like thunder.
Carlyle, who had first returned to Pervaz with only the cavalry in a hurry, was about to be relieved to see that the Pervaz territory had not suffered any damage.
However, as soon as he reached the place where Pervaz Castle could be seen, his sense of relief was quickly replaced by a sense of bewilderment and tension.
The guards who were supposed to be standing at regular intervals on the castle wall were nowhere to be seen, and bloodstains of unknown origin were splattered here and there.
The soldier who arrived in front of the moat shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Open the gate! His Highness Carlyle Evaristo has arrived! Open the gate!"
In the past, as soon as Carlyle entered the territory, the guards of the castle would have finished preparing to meet him by now, after being informed in advance by the lookout on the tower. But now, there was only a terrible silence.
Carlyle couldn't stand it and ran to the front of the castle himself.
"Open the gate now!"
At his cry, a soldier's head briefly appeared above the wall and disappeared. And then, after a short while, the gate slowly came down with an unpleasant creaking sound.
Until the door came down, Carlyle couldn't stand still and paced back and forth in front of it.
Thud.
The ground shook briefly as the gate hit the ground.
However, Carlyle and his party, who had been waiting for the gate to open, froze at the smell of blood and the sense of despair emanating from within Pervaz Castle.
"No way...!"
Carlyle, who had been staring at the castle with a hardened face, broke the silence and started to drive his horse.
"Asha Pervaz! Where are you! Asha!"
The figure of Asha, who had always waited for him beyond the gate, lined up with his warriors, was nowhere to be seen. Carlyle called Asha's name several times.
The square of the castle was littered with the bodies of humans and beasts, and there was hardly any movement to be seen.
Carlyle's hand, which was holding the reins, began to tremble slightly.
"Is there no one here!"
As he shouted as if he was vomiting blood, a soldier, who seemed to have barely opened the gate with his own strength, limped over.
"Your Highness...."
Only then did Carlyle realize his presence.
"What is this! Explain!"
"Your Highness, calm down! This soldier is also seriously injured!"
It was Lionel, whose beard had grown bushy from running from Zyro to Pervaz without rest, who stopped Carlyle, who seemed about to lose his mind.
The soldier, not caring that he was in front of the prince, plopped down on the spot and muttered.
"It is said that strange magic circles were drawn all over the castle. Suddenly... the savages and demons from the abandoned land appeared from there...."
"Magic circle?"
He nodded weakly.
"No one knows who drew it or when it was created. They were drawn only in very inconspicuous places."
"So, Countess Pervaz... uh, how...."
Carlyle couldn't finish his sentence as his lower jaw trembled involuntarily.
The soldier started to shed tears, and Carlyle clenched his teeth.
"The lord... th, the lord...."
Carlyle and Lionel's throats gulped dryly.
"This time too... she protected the castle... It was like a swarm of demons pouring out, but... she didn't back down...."
"Of course the Countess would."
"If it weren't for the lord, Pervaz... would have been completely wiped out this time. But thanks to the lord... we avoided the worst."
At the words that the worst had been avoided, Carlyle clenched his fists.
"Where are the survivors?"
"They are all too busy with the damage recovery. There are many injured people... they are busy with the treatment...."
"Then the Countess must be directing the recovery."
If that was the case, then he was willing to forgive the sin of not looking out even though he had come. He wanted to go in and quickly pat Asha on the back, who was busy without a moment to spare, and tell her that she had worked hard and that she should rest now.
However, the soldier shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
"The lord was also badly injured... and now... She is lying unconscious...."
Before the soldier could finish his words, Carlyle started running into the castle.
The castle gates and steps that he had become familiar with over the past two years seemed strange. A dark aura seemed to be hanging all over the place, and the groans of pain and hurried voices coming from afar made his spine tingle.
As he entered the lobby of the castle, everyone's eyes turned to him.
"Yo, Your Highness Carlyle...?"
Someone, who had been squinting at him with his back to the light, muttered.
Only then did everyone realize that Carlyle had returned and rushed to him. Kneeling at his feet as if they were clinging to their last hope, they all prayed for the same thing.
"Your Highness! Please save the lord! The lord...!"
"She is the one who went to war with Your Highness, risking her life! Please, please save our lord!"
Carlyle felt like all the blood was draining from his body and his head was becoming empty.
However, as a prince, and as the one who was to become the emperor, he had a duty to be their light and their god.
"Show me to the Countess."
Then an old woman with disheveled hair but sharp eyes stood up.
"Follow me, Your Highness."
At a glance, Carlyle recognized her as Della, the head maid of Pervaz Castle. However, she also seemed to have suffered a serious injury on one arm.
"Shouldn't you be getting treatment here?"
"I lost my husband and only son to the war. If I lose the lord here as well, what is the point of living? So please let me serve my master until the very end."
She was determined, but her words brought tears to the eyes of those around her. Carlyle himself felt like he could just sit down and weep with her.
'How dare they attack where my wife is? Whoever did this, I will never let them get away with it! Never! Never!'
Carlyle gritted his teeth as he followed Della.
There was a certain etiquette to fighting.
Even in the heat of battle, while it is acceptable to cut down an opponent like a demon, it is forbidden to attack the rear where women and children are located.
And Carlyle's enemy had broken that taboo.
"Here we are."
The place Della led him to was the room that Carlyle used to use.
"The lord's room on the first floor was completely destroyed, so we had no choice but to bring him here."
On the bed he used to sleep in, a person lay as if dead. There was no sign of groaning.
Literally, it looked like she was dead.
Nina, Asha's personal maid, who was standing next to the bed, stood up and nodded, wiping away her tears. It seemed that she had just been crying and wiping Asha's body with a towel.
Carlyle, who had come all this way at a fast pace, froze and couldn't move recklessly.
"You may come closer."
Only at Della's urging did Carlyle come to his senses and slowly approached the bed, taking in a forced breath.
"Asha."
Even at his voice, Asha's closed eyes did not move a bit.
Carlyle wanted to feel only joy at seeing that face after so long, but she was too pale. Even more so than when she first appeared at the palace to demand the war compensation.
"Where… is she hurt?"
"There are many places where her flesh has been torn or cut, and it seems that her bones have also been broken in several places. However, there are no major wounds that would endanger her life."
"Then why?"
"At the end of the battle, a barbarian stabbed her with something strange… I don't know what to call it, but a strange black smoke… something like that."
Nina's explanation furrowed Carlyle's brow.
"Black smoke…?"
"Yes. Some of the elders say it was 'magic', but I don't know for sure. She has been unconscious since then, and her pulse is getting weaker…"
Nina's voice trembled with fear at the end of her sentence.