"Lord damn it all!!" Shouted Count Alfonso de Gissario as he saw his eldest brother Armando being murdered by King Esteban as well as the other two generals who accompanied him "Sound the horns and prepare for battle!"

Alfonso tried to act quickly in response to what happened at the negotiation table. He cursed in his heart at Armando whom he thought acted too rashly despite Alfonso himself not being privy to the offer the Rumasilian-backed Esteban had given to the Gissario which was no better than spitting on their faces directly.

The sudden death of their de facto leader sent shockwaves among the ranks of the Gissario army especially the newly conscripted levies who were quickly sent into panic. Some of the other commanders even started acting on their own, throwing the confused army into even more chaos.

"Everyone stay calm and get back into disciplined ranks!" Alfonso shouted out orders, but only the veterans under his direct command and some levies seemed to heed him. The other commanders seemed to have made him out like he didn't even exist which infuriated him. Most of them were the lower counts and barons who were only brought together by fear of Armando. Now that the Lord regent was gone, the unity of the army was in doubt.

While they were still in panic, the Rumasilians had managed to get their cannons to shoot at them and their lines remained disciplined despite the brief ripples caused by the injuring of their king. Such professionalism was to be envied.

Alfonso spat out curses as he saw the cannonballs heading towards his position, but luckily none hit him. In fact, it was actually a little fortunate for him as some of the cannons managed to crush their way through the bodies of the unruly and undisciplined commanders and nobles.

Alfonso calmed himself down and managed to get the men under his immediate command into a somewhat formed line. He made a signal towards the artillery corps of the army and they managed to return fire. The results of the return barrage, however, were underwhelming to say the least. They barely managed to hit several enemy soldiers on the enemy front line but that was very much it.

What made it even more embarrassing was that a couple of the cannons even exploded due to their poor quality and managed to severely injure their own crew. This embarrassment was caused by the fact that many of the cannons in the capital being severely old, remnants from the first war with Rumasil nearly a century earlier whilst the newer models were mostly put and focused on the ships and the colonies not to mention that most were stored in the armory of Siesia which was now under the control of King Esteban.

The artillery pieces were outclassed severely by the Rumasilian ones which were newly manufactured from the best of the Rumasilian cannon foundries and designed by skilled talents from the Aurosian Empire.

Soon after, the Rumasilian army began their march towards them. Alfonso opened his telescope and saw that the enemy had arquebusiers in their front lines backed by the famed Rumasilian pikes. Alfonso raised his sword to get his men in line. Being outnumbered, it was no surprise that the amount of gunners in their disposal were also inferior, but thankfully, their firearms weren't lacking in quality to their enemy’s.

The count managed to get his forces in line and prepared them to receive the Rumasilian onslaught. The Rumasilians were foreign devils in their eyes, with their incessant screaming and chanting as well as their audacity of bringing those damnable drums and flutes, playing away like they're in some sort of festival from hell.

The Gissario had managed to get their gunners on the front line, ready to return fire to the Rumasilians. Unfortunately, they were a little too late. When the Rumasilians were only a few paces away from the reach of their guns, they stopped and fired. The Gissario were caught by surprise by the slight superiority in range the Rumasilian guns had. This proved fatal as the Gissario ranks were riddled with a hail of bullets with countless soldiers dying.

After the first rank fired, the second rank continued until all four ranks of the Rumasilian arquebusiers shot their weapons before they quickly retreated to the back of the pikemen line which continued moving forward at the disarrayed Gissario army at a faster pace. The smokescreen caused by the arquebusiers made it so the remaining Gissario gunners couldn't get a good aim of where to shoot. In panic most of them just started to fire erratically in an undisciplined way towards the general position of the Rumasilian army.

Count Alfonso gritted his teeth. Such was expected of the undisciplined levies who only had the bare-minimum of training with most of them being regular laborers and farmers. The infantry at the back weren't much better anyways. Only a few thousand of the Gissario army were disciplined and well-equipped veteran soldiers. The rest of the levy infantry didn't even have proper armor, wearing mix-matched sets of breastplates with many of the pike-levies that were lucky enough to afford protection only equipped with poorly made gambesons.

The count shrugged his shoulders as he felt the battle was already lost and it was hopeless to continue on fighting. He made his way from the frontlines to the back in the hope of being saved from the onslaught of melee battle with the Rumasilian soldiers.

And sure enough, the two armies clashed. The Rumasilian pike formation met with the Gissario's and they quickly got into a melee. The Rumasilians had placed their gunner ranks right behind of the pikemen and they provided support fire. The Gissario had long abandoned their tactics as most of the commanders and captains at the front were killed. For every Rumasilian they killed, the Rumasilians killed five back. It didn't help that the Rumasilian army at the frontlines were well-equipped with plate armour and they donned their trademark golden masks while roaring and murdering.

It didn't take more than a quarter hour for the Gissario frontline made of the untrained levies to break as they dropped their weapons and turned tail. This started a chain-reaction amongst their soldiers and soon, all the levies and militia were routing and leaving the battlefield leaving the few thousand veterans to fend off against the mighty Rumasilian army on their own without conducive support from the gunners or pikemen.

At first, the veterans looked like they could hold on for quite a bit, but under the relentless attacks from the Rumasilian pikes and gunners, they began to falter and when Valantine finally advanced forward with the heavy infantry who were still fresh, the whole Gissario army completely broke. They had no more will to continue their fight and dropped their weapons to run, losing their senses. But despite that, there were some who lost their sanity and began killing indiscriminately. These soldiers were dangerous as they managed to fell a good number of unprepared Rumasilian soldiers, but they were quickly dealt with.

Count Alfonso had completely given up on the situation and turned tail to run as his life depended on it. He did not care whether he had to trample his own levies on the way, but he was adamant on escaping back to Valencei where he could hope to hold off their advance or at least escape discretely.

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However his hopes were dashed as he saw the Rumasilian cavalries heading his way. It seems they had made quick work of the Gissario horsemen. It didn't take long for the entire army to be surrounded and the running soldiers to be cut down.

Looking at the hopeless situation, the count tore a piece of the white linen-shirt he was wearing underneath his shirt and tied it to the edge of his sword sheath. He then waved it relentlessly above his head while shouting, "I surrender! I surrender! Long live the king! Long live King Esteban!"

It was but a brief moment before the other soldiers noticed that their commander had surrendered before they stopped running and dropped their weapons to the ground and raised their hands in defeat as well. Just like that, after hours of fighting from the morning to the evening, the battle had ended. It was a complete victory for the Valamen side.

The last of the Gissario soldiers had dropped their weapons and threw their hands up in the air. The Rumasilian allied army roared and shouted in glee at their victory as the music on their side played louder in a triumphant tune. The Gissario had been defeated.

***

"And so, after tallying up the amount of casualties, we have reached the number of about a little more than a thousand dead and a few hundred more severely wounded with the rest either completely fine or merely suffering a few minor injuries on our side." Vald said as he read from a newly-made record on the results of the battlefield.

It has been hours since the battle had ended and the Rumasilian army decided to make camp on the flat plains of the former battlefield to rest their soldiers and horses. They weren't quite rushing anymore seeing as how their enemies had been so unceremoniously defeated.

The important officers and officials of the allied Rumasilian-Aerlish army were gathered in the main tent of King Valasaire. The people were seated on a large carpet on the hard ground although they were supplied with soft pillows to sit. One would expect the tent of a king to be a little bit more luxurious but King Valasaire insists on practicality above all else with his tent, though large, consisting of only a low table for them to discuss things and a few simple sleeping bags.

Vald and the rest were reporting the details of the outcome of the battle. Out of the ten thousand soldiers of the Gissario, none managed to escape being either captured and taken captive or otherwise killed. King Esteban had ordered for the release of the levies and conscripts but was adamant on the execution of the veteran Gissario soldiers. And so, after the men were rounded up, the thousand surviving veterans were stripped of their armor and put to death by the gunner squads.

None of the nobles who supported the Gissario were spared either. The de facto leader of the remains of the Gissario army, Count Alfonso, was personally executed by the king along with the rest of the Gissarios that went with Lord Armando to the battlefield who were summarily hanged with little trial. Nearly four dozen nobles were killed that day.

Some of the rebel noblemen were crying and kneeling begging for their lives but to no avail as their lives were forfeit in the eyes of King Esteban the moment they stepped into the battlefield against the allied army. King Valasaire and King John had given the rights to deal with the war captives fully to King Esteban.

Valamar had inquired the young king if it was alright to just murder half the noblemen of Provaria like that to which Esteban only shrugged and said it was necessary for the stability of the new regime but he said that he would not transfer the punishment of death onto their wives and children so long as they surrender when the forces reach Valencei.

After the meeting, Valamar went to his and his wife's tent where she laid on a bedroll while caressing her stomach which had started to become a little visible thanks to her pregnancy. Cassandra was happily chatting with Vera and Amara who were also in the tent. She had asked to retire earlier from the meeting at the main tent due to fatigue to which King Valasaire had his daughter accompany her in the tent.

"My lord, has the meeting finished?" Cassandra asked as she sat up and welcomed her husband with open arms

Valamar responded in kind as he embraced her and kissed the top of her head.

"It has, though there'll be a ceremony later tonight." Valamar said as he sat himself beside his wife

"Well, now that the dear husband is here, why don't we take our leave?" Vera said as she clasped her hands and looked towards Amara who was wearing a cloak

"It's okay to stay." Cassandra said

"It's alright. Besides, you two need some time alone between husband and wife. Me and Amara here also have things to do in the Boruniruma ( Daughters of Ruma ) tent. And also... watching you two getting all lovey dovey just makes me a teenie-weenie little sick."

"We'll be taking our leave, Your majesties." Amara said as she bowed slightly

When the two left, Cassandra immediately leaped on Valamar as she kissed him vigorously, putting herself on top of him, pinning him to the bedroll.

"Careful now, dear! The little one might be disturbed in there!" Valamar said with caution

"Don't worry too much, my lord! Our child is not so weak as to be damaged from a little shake." Cassandra replied as she laid herself to her husband's side and snuggled up to him, burying her head into his chest whilst Valamar caressed her head.

"Today was a rough day." Valamar said

"It's a blessing you weren't injured like His Majesty." Cassandra said "I was so worried seeing you on the frontlines like that."

"Speaking of which, you're quite the obstinate one, I see." Valamar said as he flicked her forehead

"Ouch! My lord, what was that for?!" Cassandra said in slight surprise and annoyance as she looked at Valamar with a confused expression."

"Don't act like I didn't see you riding about at the front of your company knee-deep in danger." Valamar looked at his wife seriously to which she only blushed and looked aside sheepishly "Who knows if a stray bullet would've hit you back there. You had my focus split. Even though you were chasing down fleeing opponents it still could've put you in serious harm."

"I'm sorry about that, my lord." Cassandra said as she again buried her face in Valamar's warm chest

"You're a bad girl, making me worry like that." Valamar said with a mischievous smile "And bad girls, in my experience, need proper disciplining."

Valamar kissed his wife passionately which caught her by surprise, his hands reaching for her breasts and rear.

"My lord! What about the baby?!" Cassandra still tried to retain half her decency against her husband's sudden advances though she herself knew she was pining to be loved "Isn't it risky?!"

"Shouldn't be much of a problem, dear. Not when it's still this early... As far as I know." Valamar answered though he was still pondering a little, stopping in his tracks "As long as I take care not to put much pressure in that area, the baby will be fine... Why, my father, when my mother was pregnant with Valerie-..."

As Valamar was starting to get off track, Cassandra immediately reset the mood as she returned his kiss and quickly undressed him with much gusto. Valamar made sure he didn't press on her stomach as he in turn started to undress his wife.

Unfortunately, their time would be cut short as a voice came from outside the tent.

"You kids best wrap up whatever it is you're doing in there." It was his father's voice "Knocking her up when she's already knocked up won't increase the chance of having twins up in there. Trust me, I tried. Anyways, get ready. The ceremony's going to start."

Valamar and Cassandra looked at each other for a while before bursting out laughing and recomposing themselves. Cassandra gave her husband a peck on the lips before the two got up and fixed their clothes. They soon went out of the tent where Valasaire was waiting along with the others.