Joyce opened his eyes, his mind still hazy.
Before the familiar ceiling of Parisher Castle came into view, it was Diane's face that caught his eye. His sister's face was as cute as ever, but she was sniffling, making him feel sorry for her. He thought blankly.
Ah, the kaleidoscope isn't over yet. Our baby couldn't be here.
It was disheartening, but not bad. The most beautiful scenery he knew in this world was everyday life with Diane's face. Wouldn't it be nice to see the most beautiful thing in the world before dying?
Since he was seeing his sister's face for the last time before he died, he wanted to say everything he hadn't said. Joyce, burning the fading flame of his life, managed to squeeze out a voice.
"Di, I love you..."
Diane's eyes widened. Tears welled up in her eyes. It felt like warm tears were actually falling on his face, and Joyce couldn't help but smile a little.
"I guess I'm seeing your face because I miss you so much. I'm worried, Di... if I'm gone, will anyone love you as much as I do? Of course, everyone will fall for you, but I don't want you to live even for a moment without someone who loves you most in the world."
Diane's expression slowly contorted. The tears disappeared from her face, which still had a roundness to it.
That expression is exactly like the real Diane's. Joyce was impressed. He continued to say what he wanted to say.
"You really... brought light to this world from the moment you were born. There was no baby prettier than you in the world. It's so heartbreaking to have to leave you like this... but please don't be sad, live happily..."
Finally, Diane's face in the kaleidoscope completely crumpled.
"Oh, come on, shut up, brother! You're so noisy, you're distracting the treatment!"
Slap. A rough hand, somewhere, slapped Joyce's mouth hard. Huh, this feeling is real too...?
He had been dazed even after waking up from being knocked unconscious, but his consciousness regained its reality. And at the same time, a terrible headache came upon him. Joyce groaned as he lay there.
The unfamiliar man with glasses who was bandaging his head sighed.
"You seem to be in one piece, judging by your speech. I told you I just fainted, didn't I?"
"Still, I just wanted to make sure."
Diane, surprisingly, spoke to the bespectacled man in a friendly manner, giggling. She then glanced at Joyce, looking embarrassed.
"Do you know how worried I was? Either beat those bastards quickly, or if you fainted, get up properly! Why are you talking nonsense as soon as you wake up? Where are you going? How old are you?"
Her eyes, which had been glaring, welled up with tears again as soon as the word "going" came out. Joyce groaned again, forcing himself to sit up.
He was lying in one of the bedrooms in Parisher Castle. The surroundings were clean, and he could still faintly hear the sound of battle trumpets in the distance. The only people in the room were him, Diane, and the bespectacled man, and he couldn't figure out what kind of combination this was.
Joyce asked, bewildered.
"Di? Is that really you? Why are you here?"
"I came when I heard you were in danger. I came out of concern, and it seems I came at the right time. It would have been a disaster if we had been late. No, what were you thinking, not having any guards around you? Did Liz tell you to do that?"
"No, I was told to have guards, but I was playing the role of bait properly..."
"Are you crazy!"
Diane slapped Joyce's arm, furious. It had only been a few weeks, but Diane's strength had increased. It hurt a little, but Joyce's mouth gaped open in delight.
"Our baby came to see if you were in danger? So, is this gentleman someone sent by the Grand Duke?"
Joyce spoke in a respectful tone, not knowing the bespectacled man's identity. The bespectacled man replied nonchalantly.
"I don't believe we've met, Viscount. I am here to attend to the young lady by order of the Grand Duchess. The men sent by the Grand Duke are currently outside, bowing their heads in shame for their incompetence."
"Ah, is that so?"
Joyce lowered his voice slightly, guessing the man's status was low due to the expression "attend to." However, he didn't treat him as casually as his own servant. If the Grand Duchess had sent him personally, the man would have some standing, and besides, it seemed like he was the one who had just saved his life.
'Diane's familiar attitude is a little unsettling, though.'
And something about this man felt off... as if he was after something very precious to him...
Well, Nerys had assigned him, so what could go wrong? Joyce decided not to worry about it.
After a while, Diane asked seriously.
"Brother, the Grand Duke is fighting right now. Aren't all our family's soldiers there?"
"Yes. It seems the Wickaster Earl was ordered by the Imperial Family to take them all."
"Does the Earl know about your current situation?"
"When the assassins attacked earlier, I made a big scene so they would see. So, he probably knows that the Maindeland army sent a detachment to attack me here. There will be people in our army spreading rumors that I died at the hands of the Maindeland army."
This was the kind of thing he couldn't just talk about because it was predictable. If the other side knew they were prepared, Joyce couldn't play the role of bait.
"What are we going to do! Won't our soldiers just charge at the Grand Duke and die?"
"That's exactly what the enemy is aiming for. It's okay. Don't worry."
His green eyes, regaining their sharpness as he slowly got used to the headache, sparkled.
"Since I'm alive, there's nothing else they can do. The Grand Duke won't touch our soldiers as much as possible, so we'll just join them when the enemy's victory is announced. Got it? We fought our best, but we lost and were captured. Like many other soldiers of the Maindeland army. The Imperial Family has no reason to punish your parents in the county."
And judging by the sound of battle fading into the distance, it seemed they wouldn't have to wait long.
Joyce smiled.
"I can finally show them what a family with money can do. You've probably laid out a bunch of soldiers in our path, haven't you?"
***
Tropur was uneasy.
He couldn't help it. Tropur, the lord who had lived lavishly here until last winter, had died under very suspicious circumstances. At the same time, the ethnic conflict that had not been brought to the surface until then had begun to be discussed openly, creating an atmosphere where the people of the territory suspected and guarded each other.
The situation hadn't improved even after the noble Lady Mariah, a descendant of the Imperial Family and the lord who ruled over a vast territory including Tropur, had come down personally after a long time. In fact, things had gotten worse in some ways.
Especially since Lady Mariah had completely ignored the Imperial Army's demand to take her back to the Imperial Palace.
"Lady Mariah! This is not in your best interest! The Imperial Family has already issued a decree! If you continue to refuse, they will bring you by force! Don't make me disrespect you!"
The Imperial knight had been shouting at the gates of Tropur's castle for a week.
Tropur's castle, with its long history, was half a fortress. The large area surrounded by high walls could accommodate a considerable number of soldiers, and the drawbridges on all four sides could be raised over the still-functional moat, easily cutting off the outside world. As an old territory, a fairly large residential area had formed outside the castle, but all the really important facilities were inside the castle, so they could keep people inside and lock the gates as they were doing now.
As it had been for a week, no answer came from the castle. The Imperial knight was going crazy.
He was from a family that had been loyal to the Imperial Family for generations. That was precisely why he was entrusted with such an important mission, but it also made him feel very burdened. What if the Lady Mariah really didn't come out and he had to break down the gate and enter?
For him, who had received a good education all his life, the situation of having to break down the door of a woman's house, even an elderly one, and even more so a member of the Imperial Family, was as unrealistic as being ordered to cut off his own arm.
'Still, it's their own fault.'
After all, the Imperial order had been given. The Emperor was bedridden, so they were simply calling the Crown Prince's order an Imperial order. Whether he cut off his own arm or his own neck, he had to obey the order. Nevertheless, he had wasted a week here because of a slight sense of rejection he couldn't shake off.
"Lady Mariah! You know you can't hold out forever! I've already turned away twenty merchants who came to do business today!"
Tropur was a city that lived on trade. And for those who traded, money always had to flow like blood. To be locked up in a fortress with no farmland, while the Imperial knights, who were free to travel, were outside, wasn't that a sure way to starve to death?
He couldn't understand the other side's actions in many ways, but the knight was confident that he would not fail his mission. Seeing the guards on the wall looking down at him with no change in expression, he finally made a difficult decision.
"Attack. Even though she is an elder of the Imperial Family, she has defied the Imperial order, so she is a traitor. Don't forget that we have nothing to fear."
"Yes!"
The order was quickly relayed to the Imperial troops brought by the knight. Boo-boo. A short trumpet call sounded.
The attack was carried out in two directions. Those who would swim across the moat jumped into the water, and those who would use ropes hooked a rope with a hook at the end to a giant crossbow. Whizz! The hook was shot towards the top of the wall with a piercing sound.
'Yes, we must no longer see her as an elder of the Imperial Family, but as a dangerous person who defies the Imperial order even in a time of national crisis.'
She had already defied the Imperial order once in the Imperial Palace and fled here, hadn't she? Seeing the brave soldiers approaching the castle quickly, the knight steeled himself.
But what met his eyes next was not a beautiful sight of the Imperial majesty standing tall.
Whizz! For a moment, it felt as if the sky had been completely covered in black. Confused, the knight realized only a moment later that the objects raining down on them were arrows.
Screams erupted.
"Shields! Shields above your heads!"
Well-trained soldiers quickly raised their shields as instructed. But not everyone could raise their shields in time.
"Aaaagh!"
The soldiers who were hooking the ropes to the wall screamed. The moat turned red. Even without shields, they were armed. Helmets, armor, gambesons... But the ones who had stepped forward now were only lightly armed, as they were meant to climb ropes and swim.
The rear wasn't safe either. The knight gritted his teeth and looked up at the wall as his aide screamed, hit by an arrow that flew through the gap in the shields.
"Attacking the Imperial Army!"
The guards who had been looking down at them impassively for the past week chuckled. A new figure emerged from among them.
The figure was a man who looked to be in his early middle age at most, with a lively face, but he had a deep wrinkle in the middle of his forehead, as if he had suffered in his youth. The knight shouted at him.
"Do you intend to rebel against the Imperial Family, Lady Mariah! Not only have you defied the Imperial order, but you have attacked the Imperial Army! You are guilty of a crime that deserves immediate execution!"
The man laughed and shouted back.
"Do they pick Imperial knights based on how stupid they are these days? You tell me the answer and then expect something in return?"
The knight's jaw dropped. So did the Imperial soldiers with him. From the top of the wall, more scathing words poured out.
"Why, can't you imagine that an Imperial knight can be ignored? We don't have many memories of being protected by the Empire, you see. We're never allowed a trial, but we have to listen to demands for taxes all our lives. That's how we become guys like us, with no respect at all."
Only then did the knight realize who he was dealing with. He trembled and shouted.
"Redan!"
Those immigrant bastards who cling to the Empire! At the knight's words, the Redan man bowed theatrically.
"Congratulations, sir, on finally figuring it out. You came to impose taxes on us again, as if you've entrusted us with your money?"
Well, that was the ultimate goal of this operation. The Redan man coldly observed the knight's gaping mouth and raised his hand.
"Keep firing. We can't let outsiders run wild in our land!"