“Cecilus is responsible for the death of Yurine's mother Rie,” Yu said.

At first she was excited by Yu's offer of the duchy, but what he said next was too much for her to handle.

It was true that Cecilus was a bad person, even cruel, but would their father Leoral really commit this murder when he loved Rie so much?

She also knew that his father wanted Cecilus to marry Rie. Had Cecilus killed her to avoid marrying Rie?

“That's... A serious accusation,” Cornelia said. She was about to go on, but Yurine slammed her hand down hard on the table and strangled the words.

“It's not an accusation, it's the truth! Your bastard brother killed him because my mother rejected him! What did that vile life form think!”

Yurine's words made more sense than Cornelia's thoughts. Cecilus had always been a child who cried when he didn't get what he wanted.

But when had the subject of Cecilus and Rie's marriage ever come up and she had rejected him? Cornelia and Rie had only met once, at a ball, and she had never even seen Cecilus approach her.

“Though…” Cornelia began to think. “Probably Cecilus offered it to her as a favor and Rie turned it down immediately. It's possible this could be closed quickly while I look elsewhere.”

She didn't think his pompous brother would propose in any other way, and her father's thinking was so foolish that anyone in his place would have known at a glance that Rie would not accept Cecilus.

Apart from their station, the gap between the two was too great to ever close, and Rie was not just a few, but dozens of sizes too big for Cecilus.

“Even if he is your brother, this crime must not go unpunished and he must not be allowed to become Duke of Vermia.” Yu had taken Cornelia's hand after a brief discussion in which he had looked coldly at his proposal.

She knew he was doing it to convince her, but with her hand in his, there was no way she could refuse.

“You know Cecilus should not be a duke. Let's capture him and hide him during the war, tell the lords who ask about him that he has escaped, and stall him. When the war is over, we will try and execute him.”

He was talking about killing her brother. Cornelia didn't have the slightest shred of love for him, but he was still her brother.

“What we seek is justice and what is best for your people.”

***

“They must have Cecilus trapped in a pit by now.”

They had stopped the enemy soldiers' charge, but now the enemy was attacking with a hail of arrows as they prepared for a second attack.

Their shields protected them from arrows and Yu's alchemical potion prevented the walls from catching fire.

So they were somewhat protected from the rain of arrows, but the enemy's catapult fire had started again and it was not easy to protect them.

Some rocks crushed his men, others hit the walls. So much so that another part of the wall on Cornelia's flank was destroyed.

“God, help us...” he heard the voice of a soldier pleading with Azer.

She wasn't going to tell him because she didn't want to upset him, but Azer didn't care about the war in the Mora. If he cared, he would have rushed to help.

Azer was a god who abandoned his servants.

Cornelia got off her komodor and struck the animal in the waist. As the animal ran away, Sivina dodged away from the incoming arrows and approached Cornelia.

“The royal forces are moving men from their northern and southern flanks to the eastern flank for a second offensive. We need to ask for reinforcements too.”

Sivina took refuge behind Cornelia's raised shield. They had to get extremely close to each other to fit behind the shield.

“The enemy in the west has withdrawn, we can ask for reinforcements from there. They outnumber us, so reinforcements from the north and south would make those flanks easy targets.”

Sivina nodded. “I'll go get reinforcements.”

“I don't think it is necessary and I condemn you for your blindness.”

Sivina was about to stand up when she heard a voice and fell back to her knees. Cornelia also turned her head and looked in the direction of the voice.

“I bring a thousand archers and you don't even notice? You both have more experience than I do, yet you don't know what's happening on the battlefield.” Yu put his hand to his chest. “Be thankful that I am not your enemy.”

In his silver armor Yu Valarfin looked like a noble hero. Seeing him safe and sound warmed Cornelia's heart and she smiled slightly at his scolding.

“This is nothing to smile about.” Yu took off his helmet, took off his shield and put it on his horse, and they were protected from the arrows falling on them by Yurine's wind shield.

As he tossed back the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, he must have been unaware that he looked charismatic enough to make Cornelia fall in love with him again and again.

“I killed Shimey von Bishory,” he said coldly. Before Cornelia and Sivina had time to recover from the shock and ask anything, he continued. “He and Cecilus were planning to betray you, and therefore us. He was going to order his army to attack us.”

“What?”

Cornelia's mouth hung open. In her magenta eyes there was a surprise not seen even when she heard that Cecilus had lost Vermia.

She knew, Shimey von Bishory and other members of House of Bishory supported Cecilus, but were they so horrible that it was treason?

“When I learned about their move, I put all the pieces in place. The difference in troops between us and the enemy is a little more than ten thousand and we have the advantage of space. It was risky for them to attack us in such a situation. Ten thousand troops is not a small difference, but it is not enough to decide the fate of the war given the positions. That is, unless they make a sudden raid.”

Yu was right. When Cornelia defeated General Lien Yachi Long, the difference in troops between them was much greater than that.

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“I was putting myself in their shoes and thinking, ‘why would I attack the hill in this situation?’ It was hard to come up with a logical answer because territorial advantages were important even in the computer games I played. So unless they were very confident in their army, their move was illogical. If I were them, I would have bombarded it with rocks until morning and killed everyone inside.”

Cornelia was thankful that her enemies were not as cruel as Yu. Although all sides in the war resorted to tricks, Yu Zao and the soldiers he led were honorable enemies, which Cornelia could not deny.

“But if they have men on the inside, their move is not unreasonable. The Bishorys inside would betray while they attacked from the outside. You, the only man who had defeated the Crown, would be taken hostage, and the morale of the people would be destroyed by your fall into enemy hands. The petty lords ruled by the cathedrals would probably join Yu Zao in such a situation. You are a hero to the people, your influence is great.”

Cornelia was not interested in heroism, but she was flattered that Yu said she was a hero.

“But back to the beginning, it could have been Bishory soldiers, not us, and you could have been shot in the back. You need to have a better command of the area and be in constant communication. Don't let me see this mistake again.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Sivina said mockingly. “You are so good at giving orders.”

“I mean... Coming from the twenty-first century, I'm ahead of people in some things. I also took an organization class.”

She didn't understand half of what Yu was saying, but if he was talking, it must have been important. Of course, the fact that she didn't understand him still didn't change.

“Our enemies are probably waiting for the Bishory betrayal right now. They may believe that things are going well for them. They will wait a long time and when the Bishorys don't act, they will think they are the ones who have been betrayed. I thought they would have at least ten thousand reinforcements to their aid by now, but since their plan is to crush us from within, they may retreat to the city...”

Yu was silent for a moment and watched the battlefield as the arrows struck the wall of wind and scattered. For Cornelia, Yu was now both a hero and a very clever man.

As the wind whirled around them, his golden cloak billowed and his brown hair waved. He had his left arm around Yurine's waist in front of him and was holding the horse's halter with his right hand.

“But that can't have been their whole plan. Tonight, after pushing a little harder, they will withdraw. If they don't enter the city, we can assume that another army is waiting nearby.”

When he saw the enemies charging towards them, he raised his arm and lowered it. The archers fired their arrows with burning tips at the charging enemy and Yu continued to speak.

“And if they get angry, they might take the option of doing what I would do and wipe the hill off the map. Let's try to buy some time tomorrow morning with negotiations and by then at least finish the tunnel to the enemy headquarters. I have prepared some poisons, which I will try on the prisoners tomorrow.”

Sivina sighed, stood up and went to Yu's side as Yurine widened the wall of wind and brought them into the space. She took his hand holding the halter and the gesture made Cornelia pout.

“I think good things about you and...” Realizing what she had said, she put her tongue to his cheek and thought for a moment. “And you may have convinced me about the poison, but please don't say such things. Besides, torturing prisoners of war is a war crime.”

“It's a war crime if we lose, not if we win.”

“I said before that other people's bad deeds don't give you the right to do bad deeds, and this is like that. Just because you won't be punished doesn't give you the right to do it.”

“Oh, Sivina. Please don't make things difficult.” Yu gestured again with his hand and the archers took a few steps away from each other and started shooting at the enemy again. “I'm doing what I have to do, that's all.”

Yu looked towards the enemies beyond the walls. She saw something that Cornelia could not see because being busy of admiring Yu’s face. Sivina let go of the horse's halter and climbed down.

As Yu was taking Yurine down, Cornelia heard the voice of one of her men.

“THEY'RE RETREATING!”

As these two words quickly spread across the hill, some soldiers started laughing, others threw themselves down on the dirt floor to catch their breath.

“The last time Link joined, he pissed them off, didn't he? We don't want him at the meeting tomorrow, we don't want them to get angry again and just attack with rocks. I will attend instead.”

Sivina began to smooth Yu's tangled hair with her hand, even though Yu didn't ask her to. She hid her smile, but Cornelia could see how pleased she was.

Now that the rain of arrows had stopped, she stood up confidently and stepped between Yu and Sivina. It was her first time playing this game of love and Sivina knew Yu better than Cornelia, but she was not about to lose.

It was frowned upon for nobles to marry non-nobles, but Cornelia had decided that if she ever married, it would be for love, and Yu was the only one she wanted to marry.

“I understand that you think about Yu,” Yurine said. “But keep your focus on the battle because you will not win Yu, but at least you will win the battle.”

Then she raised her arms for Yu to pick him up. “Yu will win the battle for you, though.”

Yu was silent as he held Yurine in his arms. He was neither embarrassed nor bothered by what Yurine had said. He didn't seem to care about Cornelia and Sivina's feelings.

This lack of reaction hurt Cornelia, but she could understand it.

“With two people who love him, he's going to hurt one of them no matter what he does, right? I can't say whatever he does, though...” He glanced at Sivina out of the corner of his eye. Her sea-green eyes shone when she was next to Yu. “But no... I mean... it's not appropriate... I mean...”

As she thought about it, the color of her cheeks became the same shade as her hair and eyes. Yu was like alcohol that prevented her from thinking clearly.

“Mr. Valarfin!” They heard the voice of a young man approaching them on the rino. It was Jaime von Salamon. “I met Master Link on my way to you, and he says there is an army on its way here! What shall we do?”

***

“Holiness Long...” One of the cathedral girls ran her hand over Yashin Huo Long's chest while the other had her head between his legs.

“Holiness Long...” She kissed Yashin Huo's neck and went upstairs, ecstatically calling his name.

Yashin grabbed her head and lifted it up and kissed her lips, while the other girl started to take off her top.

“Ahem...”

Another girl's voice broke the focus of all three. While Yashin Huo waited, the other girls hurriedly got up, straightened their clothes and quickly left the tent, passing on either side of the red-haired girl.

“You know I need to be motivated before the battle,” Yashin Huo said. He was annoyed to be interrupted, but it was not bad that it was Akalda. “Will you make it up to me?”

Akalda walked over with a sinful smile to seduce Yashin Huo and sat on his lap. It was always nice to feel her plump buttocks.

Akalda put one arm around his neck and moved her hips back and forth while Yashin Huo smelled her red hair. The movement was driving Yashin Huo crazy, he was about to kiss her when Akalda pulled back and put her finger on Yashin Huo's lips.

“Uh-uh... His Eminence is waiting, we shouldn't keep him waiting.”

“Bastard won't mind if we make him wait a while,” Yashin Huo said and pulled Akalda's finger to his lips.

Akalda let him kiss her for a while, while Yashin Huo cupped her breast.

He was aware that she was a prostitute. She was using her body to control people and make them do what she wanted but he was okay with that.

He had never wanted her for himself, it was just that her body drove Yashin Huo crazy, and fucking the woman next to him without the cardinal knowing made him feel great.

When Akalda pulled away from his lips, she had a mischievous smile on her face and her emerald eyes sparkled. After licking Yashin Huo from neck to ear, she got off him.

Yashin Huo didn't like to leave it unfinished, but Akalda spoke again.

“If you do well enough to please me, we can do more,” she said and winked, then left the tent.

Yashin looked to his right. To the right of his armchair was a coffee table with a goblet on it. He hit the goblet with the back of his hand and it crashed to the floor, shattering as the wine spilled out.

“Fucking Tempo bastard...”

He stood up and started to get dressed, but he couldn't wear the plate armor on his own. So he shouted angrily.

“Where are you! Come here!”

Hearing Yashin Huo's voice, two squires rushed into the tent. Both were members of the Long Clan and both were Yashin Huo's nephews.

He was angry because he couldn't relax and he wanted to take it out on them, so he hit the shorter of the two nephews with the back of his hand.

“Why don't you come right faster!”

Both boys, like Yashin Huo, had blond hair and reddish brown eyes. That's how Longs looked in general.

His anger at the two boys was pointless and there was no logical argument behind what he said to them. They had both entered the tent as soon as he called for them to come, but Yashin Huo was angry and could not let it go without hitting someone.

“I- We apologize,” said the taller of the nephews.

“Keep your apology to yourself,” Yashin Huo said. “Hurry up, I won't wait for you.”

He turned around and imagined the royal soldiers he would slaughter to vent his anger as his squires fitted him with his plate armor. There was nothing in this world that satisfied him more than making love and killing.