The situation turning for the worse was not limited to the Aishus Army alone.
"Jesse is dead...?"
"Yes. After contracting that plague, he showed no signs of recovery and, in the end..."
Chel, who had been barely managing to continue the battle by exploiting the Aishus Army’s reckless pursuit of revenge, found everything coming to a halt, just the sa.
"I see..."
"What do you think we should do?"
"What else? Minimize contact with the corpse and burn it. Now’s not the ti to concern ourselves with formalities."
"Understood."
Jesse had been one of Chel’s lieutenants, always acting like his shadow since their ti in the Brans Army. It wasn’t that Chel didn’t value him, but in ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) a situation where a plague-ridden corpse could cause further devastation, it was better to abandon sentintality and prioritize containnt.
It was an age of chaos. Morality had long since beco lighter than a bird’s feather.
After sending the soldier away, Chel fell into thought.
"If those Aishus bastards are staying quiet, then they must be struggling just as much as we are... Maybe it’s ti to consider a ceasefire."
He considered negotiating for Jog Castle and Rambo Castle, both currently under Aishus control. In exchange, they could offer Alkanwood Castle and Mirage Castle—an appealing trade that would clearly be in Aishus’s favor.
From Aishus’s perspective, Jog Castle and Rambo Castle were nothing more than isolated enclaves. The only reason Chel’s army had managed to hold out against Aishus’s overwhelming force was by successfully creating those enclaves.
Besides, neither Jog Castle nor Rambo Castle were particularly valuable lands. To Chel’s forces, they were rely daggers pressed against the throat of their temporary capital. And in a situation where the plague had crippled their ability to fight properly, Aishus would likely find those enclaves more of a nuisance than an asset.
"Of course, it’s frustrating that we gain nothing in the exchange... but if we want two castles, we have to offer two in return. That way, they might actually consider it."
Overall, Chel’s army would be the ones at a loss.
Mirage Castle was one of the key fortresses leading to Kelstein Castle in the northern continent—undeniably valuable. And Alkanwood Castle, sitting right on Aishus’s newly ford border enclave, was sothing they desperately needed.
Compared to that, Jog Castle was just an obstacle standing in front of their temporary capital. It was a high price to pay, but—
"If there’s a mistake I made, it was underestimating how hard they’d retaliate for a single fallen comrade."
Even now, he had no regrets about killing Hernandorf. Letting soone of that caliber go free would have been the height of idiocy.
All the scheming in the world wouldn’t have changed the fact that so risks weren’t worth taking.
"Fine. Once the plague settles down, we’ll just take them back."
Resolving his thoughts, Chel called for a soldier.
"You there."
"Yes, my lord!"
"Bring soone from the castle. Anyone will do, as long as they can co imdiately."
"At once!"
First, he would attempt to patch things up.
Everything else could be dealt with later.
Chel thought of it so lightly, as if it were rely an afterthought—
But there was one thing he had failed to consider—
***
The royal palace of Langwood Castle.
"A ceasefire?"
At Yuri’s words, the armored envoy from Chel’s army bowed his head.
"Yes. Our lord proposes an exchange—Jog Castle and Rambo Castle in return for Mirage Castle and Alkanwood Castle, along with a formal ceasefire agreent."
"..."
Yuri silently observed the envoy, her expression unchanged.
Anima, the one she would have normally consulted, was bedridden, fighting for her life against the plague. This decision was hers alone to make.
...No. Even if Anima had been present, Yuri would have made the sa decision the mont she heard of the envoy’s arrival.
She had already made up her mind.
"Hah."
Hearing Yuri’s dry chuckle, the envoy felt sweat bead on his back.
...What was this?
An overwhelming, suffocating sense of unease filled the royal palace of Langwood Castle.
"Is that all you have to say?"
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
"Yes. We simply hope for a wise decision for the future of both armies."
Silence followed once more.
Finally, Yuri slowly parted her lips.
"Tell sothing."
"Please, speak."
"Was killing Hernandorf a wise decision from your perspective?"
"..."
The envoy knew.
A prisoner had been killed. A prisoner who was critically important to Aishus. And because of that, war had broken out.
Of course, knowing that didn’t an he had any say in the matter.
To an envoy, the decisions made by those above were like a maelstrom—one that swept them in, regardless of their will.
He couldn’t pass judgnt.
But his orders were clear—secure the ceasefire at all costs.
So the envoy bowed once more and spoke.
"It is an age of turmoil, Lady Yuri. Many have perished in this war. And now, with the plague ravaging our lands, the cries of the people only grow louder. Surely, we all wish for peace in this land. I implore you, let us make this decision together for the sake of the future."
"...That’s your answer?"
"..."
The envoy remained silent.
"Peace. What a lovely word."
Yuri muttered it over and over, as if testing its weight in her mouth.
Then, she rose from her seat.
The envoy tensed as she stepped toward him, each footfall echoing ominously in the chamber.
‘...!!’
At that mont, he realized—
This was his last chance to speak.
"L-Lady Yuri, please, I beg you to reconsider—"
His plea was never finished.
Instead—thud—his head rolled across the floor.
"...There’s no place for you in my peace, fool."
Yuri wiped the blood from her blade and called for a soldier.
"You there."
"A-ah... Y-yes, ma’am...!"
"Send this man’s head to Chel. And include a ssage—never utter the words ‘ceasefire’ in my presence again."
"A-ah..."
The soldier trembled at the scene before him.
"What are you waiting for? Get it done."
"Y-yes, ma’am...!"
A ceasefire?
Not once had she ever considered such a thing.
Yes, many had died in this war.
But the Aishus Army still held the advantage over Chel’s forces.
Once this wretched plague subsided—once Anima recovered and the weather ward just enough to stabilize their supply lines—she would retake Alkanwood Castle, secure their logistics, and march straight for the capital.
"Hernandorf... I swear, I’ll let you rest in peace. Just wait a little longer..."
And so, she sharpened the blade of her vengeance once more.
***
――Her wish had been rendered aningless.
Tragedy continued to find her, without pause.
"What... what do you an, Epinnel?"
"It’s exactly as I said. Emma..."
Epinnel swallowed back tears, her trembling voice barely able to continue.
"Emma... started showing symptoms of a high fever. Three hours ago, she began coughing up blood."
"Why? Why all of a sudden? She was fine! She wasn’t even near Anima, let alone any of the infected...!"
"I don’t know. I don’t know... The doctors confird it, though..."
Following Anima, who was already on the brink of death—
Emma, the one who had been fighting harder than anyone to avenge Hernandorf, had also fallen to the plague.
A plague with a relatively low infection rate—
Yet one with an undeniably high fatality rate.
Two of them.
‘Ah...!!!’
Thud.
"Y-Yuri...!"
Yuri’s lifeless eyes lost focus as she collapsed to her knees.
Our vows. Our oaths. Our mories.
The world of the five of us—
Was crumbling beyond repair.
***
"That damned woman!"
Chel, upon confirming the severed head of his envoy, slamd his fist against the armrest of his throne in rage.
‘To suffer the humiliation of having an envoy murdered... and to be unable to do anything because of this plague...!’
He had tried to resolve things as wisely as possible, but his golden window of opportunity had long since passed.
There was no way he could simply swallow this insult and do nothing.
Who started it? Who was at fault? That didn’t matter anymore. Just as Yuri had felt, Chel was now so consud by fury that he couldn’t imagine sharing the sa sky with her any longer.
‘The mont this plague subsides, I’ll take command myself and personally sever that wretched woman’s head.’
And then—
"M-My lord...!"
A soldier rushed into the chamber, his face stricken with urgency.
Chel’s expression imdiately twisted in irritation as he snapped at him.
"What?! I told you not to disturb unless it was urgent!"
"I-it’s...!!!"
Chel’s fury gave way to shock the mont he saw the soldier’s right arm—more specifically, the crimson armband wrapped around it.
A ssenger.
And if even a ssenger had co running in person—
There was only one possible aning.
"Lord Carlints... is marching toward Highzel Castle with sixty thousand troops...!"
‘Carlints, you fool...!!!’
Chel bowed his head in disbelief.
‘A full-scale attack... while the plague is still rampant? Is he insane?!’
At a ti when every effort should be spent preventing the spread of disease, he was mobilizing a massive force for an all-out assault—
It was nothing short of suicide.
‘Carlints... You actually dared to... against ...!!!!!’
But—there was nothing he could do.
Just as Yuri had, he had no choice but to swallow this humiliation and try to salvage the situation however he could.
Neither Chel, who had been caught off guard—
Nor Yuri, who had already lost two precious comrades after making just one decision to attack Serpina’s forces—
Could have known.
That all of this had begun from nothing more than a ruler posing a question to their strategist—
A single question, one that was destined to be correct.
[Is retreating the border troops to Kelstein Castle the most efficient course of action?]
[Yes.]
And from the mont a strategist with 100 Intelligence delivered an irreversible, infallible prediction—
Any nation except the one that strategist belonged to—Serpina’s Army—had lost the ability to achieve anything at all.
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