Day 22 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Dustor City, Grizzle Province

WITH the support of the reinforcement, they successfully pushed back the Lirsk army.

The tide of battle changed after the Northern Goldburg Army arrived. The wall of Dustor, as the capital of the province with greatest military prowess, was naturally not so easy to destroy, so it took quite a long time for the enemy to break them. During that time, their siege weapons killed many enemy soldiers at once. Also, Victoria killed the two Mudeorp, so the number of the enemy they had to worry about was cut down to half. With the arrival of the reinforcement, Forewood grasped victory in their hand. For this battle, at least.

So, for the time being, Lirsk should not attack anymore. Hopefully. Despite the little hope, the generals were still worried about Lirsk’s own reinforcement coming soon, especially after they had occupied Tamworth City and got their resources. But Victoria believed they at least wouldn’t be able to attack again this week. There was no news from the spies in Lirsk Kingdom.

Which was lucky, because the Crimson Corps assembly was in a standstill, too, for some reason. Victoria sent a letter for Alize in the capital to investigate what was going on with that. They should have started marching to Dustor by now, but her letters to the Lieutenant Nile, whom she asked to take the task, was unanswered. It started to make her worried.

But the thing that made her most worried now wasn’t that. Over two hundred soldiers were either injured, ill because of poison, or went crazy because of poison as well. It was obvious that there was some other force inside the Dustor City that was playing to weaken Forewood.

So, that meant there was a traitor—or more—among them.

And many of the higher military officers were convinced that it was the young Major Devan Andres. Which made Victoria rather angry. She believed in her judgement a lot, like how the two siblings that was threatened to trick her before were actually good kids—in the end, she brought them to the capital with her to send them to school and it seemed like they were quite talented. So that was why she insisted to prove that Dev was not the traitor.

Regarding Calathea and the other Dustor’s Blades members, she already gave them commands to keep watching over the trainees in the infirmary and those that had gone crazy and now locked in the dungeon. Victoria heard some of Blades’ members in the military was also affected by the aggressivity incident, which was truly unfortunate. Thankfully there wasn’t many, because Calathea had the tradition of calling her men early in the dawn for breakfast meetings. She heard this from one of Blades men that was assigned to report to her during the time that she was in the compound.

“I’d say, it was a blessing in disguise,” the man, who was one of the middle-ranked soldiers, said while rubbing his chest. “We usually complain that Leader asks for meeting before dawn even broke, but it saved our lives.”

Well, technically, only some people who suffered from aggression died because they fought each other. The rest of them were tied up and locked in the dungeon until they could solve the poison from the well.

That afternoon, after they pushed back the Lirsk troops, they had another strategy meeting, this time with the Northern Goldburg’s troop leader. “The Cacao province finally replied to our request of aid army,” General Adefine said. “Two hundred soldiers under Sir John Paulo, and another two hundred from Cacao Knighthood.”

Knighthood was a formal organization under the nobility. Unlike the military and the city guards, who were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense and the local government respectively, this organization was somewhat of a private army that a Duke or any other nobility with territory had.

Technically speaking, the Great General—that is, the Crown Princess, and the General of the Army, General Adefine, could demand for an army to be sent from another provinces. But political climate kept changing and the way the power worked also changed, as it was now held under the councilmen—most of them were nobilities. The military wasn’t as united and absolute as it originally was and governors of provinces could even meddle in them.

Just like how the Archduke of Nave and the Duke of Savire made it hard for reinforcement army to be sent from their territories, just to force her to promise a marriage first. Which was foolish, definitely foolish in her opinion. Victoria tightened her fists. Were they expecting an engagement party during war time?

Ridiculous.

All these politics made things harder than it should be. Those people from the provinces far from Grizzle just didn’t care because the war didn’t influence them directly. Victoria wondered if perhaps she should just get engaged to get an army, but she was very reluctant to do so. Both candidates were very undesirable to her, not to mention, she didn’t really want to marry… At least not during these times.

So, the fact that Cacao would send another four hundred soldiers was good news for her. It was just she didn’t know how many the enemy had. The spies they planted, Fox in particular, hadn’t sent any news back. It was worrying, to say the least, as Lirsk could strike down when they least expected it.

After the meeting ended, the lesser generals were going out of the room, while Victoria stayed and chatted a bit with General Adefine. “I am worried that Lirsk would let some more monsters out, General,” Victoria said while frowning. “Where do they get those two mud monsters?”

“I understand your worry, Your Highness,” the General nodded. “There isn’t any guarantee, indeed. We can only wait, though… I believe Lord Marvin had some news?”

Marquis of Ferrough, Axel Marvin, was a young man in his twenties who held a territory of Ferrough City, Northern Goldburg, who was leading the army earlier today. He was known as a famous youth who reconciled the two parts of Goldburg and created peace between them, back in the strife a few years ago. He became famous afterwards, even though he was already famous as the heir to the Goldburg Duchy, and his talent was eyed by many factions in the Council.

Instead of answering, though, he looked towards Victoria. “I do believe Your Highness sent some letter regarding problems in Southern Goldburg’s towns?” He redirected the question to the Princess.

Victoria nodded in response. “I did send it to Southern Goldburg’s general,” Victoria replied, looking towards the Marquis.

“He reported to me, and I already asked him to send some men to those towns,” the Marquis said.

The mayor general nodded, too. “I have heard of that too. Southern Goldburg’s general sent some men to the towns you mentioned, but they haven’t come back, as far as I know,” he frowned.

“Yes, it is weird,” Axel said. “I suspected, perhaps… It was related to Lirsk.”

“How do you get to that conclusion?” Luz, who was sitting next to Victoria, asked him.

“The woods near those towns are the ones connected to Lirsk territory,” the young Marquis replied. “It wouldn’t be too hard if they want to send something through, as we didn’t really pay attention to those villages near the border.”

“So, Your Lordship means that it is entirely possible for Lirsk’s troops to mount a sneak attack to Goldburg?” Luz asked again.

“No, no, I don’t think a troop would be able to pass through the woods without making a ruckus,” Axel denied that possibility. “What I meant is that Lirsk has the ability to import the monsters from Reestra Continent.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow. “You seem pretty sure that it’s from Reestra?”

“Do you remember the monsters you wrote are in Duskbury, Your Highness?” He asked, and Victoria nodded. “Well, if I’m not mistaken, it should be the shadow monsters, creatures unique to Reestra Continent.” At the mention of the shadow monsters, the mayor general beside Axel sighed heavily.

“So, some of the soldiers you sent actually came back,” Victoria said and she observed their reaction. They looked pensive. “And they… died without wound?”

The Marquis smiled wryly. “Indeed, Your Highness is wise. Yes, some of them came back, but before they could say anything, they died.” It was mentioned in some books that the shadow monsters were capable of inflicting invisible wounds.

“If that was the case, then we really have to worry,” the Princess answered. “Those monsters from Reestra…”

“I don’t think they can get many of the monsters, though.” Ethan, her military advisor who had been silent all these times, suddenly spoke up. “If they do, it would be better for them to send all of them at once. The fact that they only sent two means they don’t have access to too many of those monsters.”

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“Perhaps, but I think it would be too bad for us to have more troops,” Victoria sighed. “Well, it does us no good to stay here and make the soldiers worry.”

“Then, I’ll go first,” General Adefine said. “Excuse me, Your Highness.”

Victoria nodded, and let the Marquis and his mayor general left as well. In the room, there were only the Princess and her two friends.

“This is a mess,” Ethan sighed.

“Yeah.” Victoria felt like banging her head on the table. “I begin to think that I might not be able to solve this without getting engaged.”

“Nonsense,” Luz answered quickly. “You still have the Corps.”

Ah, the Crimson Corps. She didn’t know what happened to it and was feeling quite worried now. “I hope they get here soon,” Victoria sighed. “Well, let’s go. Ethan, you’ll stay here?”

“Yeah, I’ll keep looking if we could outsmart the enemy,” he said, as his eyes weren’t leaving the map on the table.

Victoria nodded and walked out first, leaving Luz inside to talk with Ethan. She closed the door behind her and stood beside her guards who were waiting outside. Her eyes were observing the training field before her which was almost empty. There weren’t many soldiers left, so the generals used them to defend the walls.

As she waited for Luz, Victoria sighed heavily. She turned to Captain Lewis, who was guarding her today. “Do you think we’ll be able to defend Dustor?”

The Knightess was startled at her sudden question. “I… Of course, Your Highness.”

“I want to hear if you think we’ll be able to or not,” Victoria said. “Can we?”

“I believe so. We have a lot of troops defending the city walls,” Captain Lewis answered, this time more surely.

“But many of our siege weapons are destroyed already,” Victoria sighed. “Victory seems to be more and more faraway…”

She hadn’t even finished her thoughts when suddenly, there was noises from her right. As she turned, she saw Henry Sawyer, one of Dev’s subordinates, looking at her with relief. “Your Highness! Your Highness, please help, please help!”

It was only because Captain Lewis obstructed him that he didn’t kneel before her right away. Victoria frowned. “Speak clearly, what do you need my help for?”

“Your Highness…” He looked so relieved he almost seemed like he was about to cry. “The Major, he… he is brought to the level two dungeon!”

“What?” Victoria was startled. Those dungeons were located were reserved to some of the more vicious criminals, with the sole purpose of… torturing them. Victoria had once walked through it as a lesson from General Adefine and the stuff that was done there was a fuel for nightmare. “How did that happen? They haven’t even held a trial yet!”

Sawyer clenched his fists. “It’s General Palmer, he insisted that the traitor must be quickly interrogated… So, he brought the Major forcefully, he won’t listen…”

Victoria frowned. That Palmer sounded like a complete idiot. “Bring me there!”

“Yes!” Henry readily answered.

As they marched away to the underground jail—and subsequently, the dungeon, Victoria began to think that this might be too impulsive. After all, despite all the superficial respect they had shown her, all these military officials still considered her just a kid. She turned around and commanded one of her guards to report to General Krish while she went ahead.

They arrived in the dungeon after climbing down two flights of stairs. Right when she stepped her foot on the stone floor, she could already smell all the blood and urine all over the place. She winced. It wasn’t the first time she visited a torturing dungeon, but she couldn’t get used to it.

Captain Lewis hesitated, though. “Your Highness, this…”

“It’s okay,” Victoria replied. “Show me the way.”

Sawyer nodded eagerly and started walking forward. When they entered one of the stone torturing rooms, he ran in and started shouting. “Stop, stop it!”

Everyone in the room paused. Palmer Jr. looked at him and sneered. “You dare obstruct the extraction process?”

Victoria walked in after him. “Has the Lieutenant General approve of this ‘extraction’ process?” She asked lightly. But as her eyes swept through the man who was held in chains, she felt a bit of heartache for him. Whip marks were all over his body, causing him to bleed horribly, and she shivered when she imagined the pain. The young major looked half-unconscious already. Victoria snapped her eyes back at General Palmer, the older one of the Palmer men. “Has the trial even been held?”

“Your Highness!” Both men were startled. “Your Highness, you should not be here! This… this is not a proper place for you,” General Palmer stammered.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so do you think it’s proper to torture someone without a trial first?”

The younger of the Palmer men stepped forward. What was his name again? Torin Palmer, if she wasn’t mistaken. “Your Highness, this is military business. Since there is war going on, the traitor must be punished. Surely you agree. He must spit out who the other traitors are! This is to help the Kingdom, Your Highness!”

“And the regulation must be held up before everything, Colonel,” Victoria narrowed her eyes. “A trial must be held first before you can torture anyone.”

“But this is an emergency!” Torin’s tone took on a rather disrespectful turn, one that stemmed from disdain of her young age. “There is war going on out there!”

Her eyes twitched. “Do you take me for a fool, Colonel? Of course I know there’s war out there!”

“Then Your Highness must be aware that certain things can be bypassed!”

Victoria took a deep breath, trying not to explode. Palmer Sr. had kept his quiet, but he clearly stood behind his nephew. “Colonel, are you insulting me? I dislike doing this, but I have to remind you that I am still the Great General of Forewood! I studied under General Adefine for over three years. I know how military regulations work and I know a trial must be held first before punishment is applied, regardless of the situation. Unless, you just want to throw responsibilities...”

As the situation got heated, suddenly General Adefine came into the room along with General Krish Gale. “What is going on here?”

“Generals!” Victoria turned toward the General of the Army and Grizzle’s Lieutenant General. “General, these officers over here are doing things without following the regulations.”

General Adefine frowned and looked at her admonishingly. “Your Highness…”

“What do you think?” Victoria met his gaze and didn’t look away. She knew her mentor was thinking that she was being reckless.

While that was happening, Krish stepped forward instead. “Who allowed you do use a level two dungeon? My permission is needed for this and I don’t remember allowing you,” He narrowed his eyes. “Someone, come, bring the Major out of here!”

One of the soldiers who followed the generals in obeyed that order and brought the young major out. Victoria noted that in satisfaction. But before she could feel relieved for long, someone came running with the news that someone found the aggression poison.

Everyone looked at the soldier who brought in the news in surprise. The soldier motioned for everyone to follow him, so they did.

The group climbed two flights of stairs from the dungeon. While they walked, the young soldier was answering questions about the substance they found—the one that caused all the aggressive attacking mayhem yesterday.

When they got to the surface, the General asked, "Where is it found?"

"At Major Andres' office, sir."

Palmer didn’t dare to blatantly glare at her, but she knew he would. She could feel the glances sent her way. Inwardly, she felt relieved for the young major. Had the soldier reported about it inside the dungeon, she wouldn't be able to keep Dev safe with the excuse of following regulations.

Okay, well, everyone knew she rarely followed rules. She only insisted on them when it benefited her purposes, and it did now.

Now that she knew, her head began to spin. She believed in her own judgement, and she believed in the young major. He was so suspicious on their first encounter. Of course, it could’ve been an act, but it would be too elaborate of one, although she wouldn’t put it past Lirsk. Was he perhaps threatened, like those children in the alleyway? They were sincere in not wanting to die.

But she didn’t think so. A more likely scenario would be someone was trying to frame Dev. Victoria didn’t want to point any fingers, really, but the two Palmer men were just so adamant about Dev being the traitor. Why was it? It couldn’t be that a simple dislike would make one to accuse and torture others, could it?

"Then search the room carefully," Adefine said. "Also, prepare for a trial, General Gale."

"Yes, sir," Krish Gale nodded.

Adefine turned his head towards her. "Your Highness, would you come? We have to talk."

Victoria nodded and followed the General of the Army to his office; Captain Lewis following behind her. The Knightess kept watch outside the room as she entered the office with the General.

Victoria sat down on the chair in front of the desk, while the General sat behind it. "Your Highness," the General said with a sigh. "You are being quite reckless."

Victoria kept her eyes on the desk. This mentor of hers didn’t usually scold her, not because she was a princess, but because it wasn’t his style. He didn’t consider getting angry a good way to teach a lesson. His disappointment was enough of a tool to make her feel awful. "I just don’t want someone innocent to die accidentally on a torture board, General."

The General sighed. "I have to admit that what General Palmer doing wasn't right, but you know yourself that these things happen. You don’t have to go down there yourself. You could just send your guard."

"Would that have the same impact as me going down myself?"

Adefine fell silent. "Well, no," he said, sighing. "I’ve seen this lad you're trying to save. He's a good one. He isn’t a noble but he rises fast, making it easy for people to hate him."

"Particularly those Palmers?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't been in Dustor long enough to know for sure, but General Gale did say that those two have a certain... rivalry."

Victoria nodded. Adefine had only been here the last few months because of the unrest with Lirsk—she didn’t actually expect him to know anything. But that put things to a bit of perspective. "I'm sorry that I'm reckless, General. But falsely accusing someone without even bothering to follow military rules isn’t exactly a model behavior. I don’t think my bodyguard can stop that without my presence."

"Still," Adefine sighed, "what would your mother say if she knew I let you into a torture dungeon?"

She stared at him, her eyes twitching. "It won’t be the first time."

Adefine chuckled. "That was for your training, and I've bore the brunt of her anger already. I don’t think I can do it for the second time."

"So, you’re just scared of my mother's scolding," Victoria nodded. "Well, she won’t know if no one tells."

Adefine pointed at the door. Victoria groaned when she remembered her bodyguard. "That’s why I'm calling you here to scold you. At least Her Majesty would know that I didn’t approve and won’t be angry with me as much."

Victoria sighed. "Oh well. I'm sure she knew what would happen when she allowed me to come here and solve the war without getting married."

General Adefine stared at her.

"What?"

"You know that’s just her indulging you, right?" the General said. "She didn’t really expect you to… 'solve' the war."

Victoria nodded. "Of course, I know. And… maybe not the whole war, but this battle. This battle, we must win. We must defend Dustor at all cost. Maybe then she would believe I have the making of a Great General."

Adefine sighed at her stubbornness. "Lirsk had ransacked all the other villages near Tamworth,” the General said. “They are ruthless. They are not an easy opponent, Your Highness.”

"Which is even more reason we shouldn’t let him pass through Dustor," she replied. "Then they can’t ransack every other village."

"The situation doesn’t seem that positive."

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Is the General of the Army doubting himself?"

The general straightened his back. "No, of course the victory will be ours," he said. "I just want to prep you that victory has a high price."

"General," Victoria said, "victory is literally my first name." []