Episode 184 Krafte War – Winners and Losers (2)
“Congratulations on your victory.”
Cecilia said, pouring a glass of champagne and handing it to her.
“You don’t mind if I don’t embarrass you this time, right?”
Eris accepted the cup with a bitter smile, as it was still refreshing to remember how she coldly refused the tea offered to her by the dwarves in the Alpine Kingdom.
“I will think of it as a week of mourning, not a week of celebration.”
Cecilia was silent for a moment and then nodded slightly.
“If you think so.”
Cecilia said, holding out her glass.
“…for peace between the two countries.”
Eris answered while receiving a toast.
“…I hope that those who have fallen can rest in peace in the arms of God.”
The two half-sisters almost moistened their mouths and put down their glasses.
After a moment of awkward silence, it was Cecilia who broke the silence first.
“Now you have become the queen of Francia in name and reality. “I’d be happy.”
“…Not really.”
Eris’s answer was so heartbreaking that Cecilia frowned.
“Isn’t it the throne of a powerful nation that everyone covets?”
“It is the National Assembly that rules that powerful country. “I am a queen who does not rule.”
“under.”
Cecilia let out a laugh.
“Are you planning on coming all the way here and pretending to be a saint while claiming to be a puppet? “You know very well that you are not like that.”
Eris kept her mouth shut, so Cecilia continued speaking.
“It’s hard to describe the miracles you performed in this war, and you stood on the front lines to prevent the defeated army from collapsing. “Isn’t this possible because you know very well that the people of Francia will never back down from you?”
Eris nodded gently.
“that’s right.”
“I, the Kaiserin of the Empire, will not have that much influence because I am a queen without real power. Moreover, the Marquis de Lafayette, who supported you during this war, has become almost a legendary figure. If you put your mind to it, you could easily turn something like the National Assembly into a scarecrow.”
Cecilia twitched the corner of her mouth.
“And yet, even after coming all the way here, you’re just playing around like a saint and have no interest in power?”
Eris remained silent for a moment and then slowly opened her mouth.
“To me, the throne of Francia is nothing more than an inconvenient position that prevents me from moving as I wish and brings about annoying marriage talks.”
Cecilia looked at Eris for a long time as if she were looking through her, then laughed self-deprecatingly.
“The position I coveted even as it put the empire in jeopardy was only worth so much to you.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s true, sister.”
Cecilia raised her hand and touched her forehead.
While Cecilia was silent, Eris spent quite a long time sipping champagne.
When the seemingly endless glass of champagne was almost empty, Cecilia spoke again.
“You said you blamed me.”
-I blame you, Your Majesty. Probably the people of the empire are like that too.
Eris nodded quietly, remembering what she had said.
“I also said that I mourned the people who died in the war caused by my greed.”
“is it so.”
Cecilia asked, smiling self-deprecatingly.
“But then why did you end the war?”
“Because there’s no point in shedding more blood?”
Cecilia tilted her head further in response to Eris’ immediate reply.
“Thanks to the fact that Frangia defeated the Krafte army and ended the war without entering the Empire, I was able to regain what I had to lose in this war.”
Eris didn’t answer.
“Within the empire, the feudal lords who frequently rebelled were subdued by force, and the support for the throne that had been promised to Krafte for his participation in the war was returned to us on the condition that we would step forward and proceed with peace negotiations.”
Cecilia looked at Eris and said.
“Funny enough, the one who gained the most from these peace negotiations was the Empire.”
“You’re the one who asked me to win for all of us.”
Seeing Eris answering calmly, Cecilia bit her lip and then opened her mouth again.
“You are the one who answered that you would fight as one of them, not for us, but for the Franzians.”
“What’s the problem? We decided to receive war costs as compensation. He permanently gave up the throne of Francia. “That’s enough for me.”
“…Even at your victory banquet, you often say things like that while looking like you are mourning the people who died.”
Cecilia said that and clapped her hands making a clap clap sound.
As Eris looked on with puzzled eyes, the maid entered the room and began to take off Cecilia’s dress.
“Ji Ji, what are you doing now?”
Eris was startled, but her expression hardened when she saw the jet-black clothes that Cecilia was wearing underneath the stripped dress.
The imperial empress, wearing mourning clothes, spoke softly.
“The ugly husband I loved passed away not long ago. “Little brother.”
“I’m sorry…”
Cecilia laughed at the words Eris said half-consciously.
“You act like a saint until the end. However, if the war had continued, the fact that the emperor was dead would not have been hidden until the end. “The support of the electors whom I had subjugated at best would have all waned if they had known that the emperor had died during the war.”
Cecilia smiled, looked at Eris with a completely expressionless face, and asked.
“I really want to ask. You had the opportunity to destroy the empire like a sandcastle and achieve complete victory for those who fell in this war, but you gave it up yourself to protect ‘my’ empire. … Can you really not regret it?”
* * *
Charles II, standing with both hands on his cane, still looked confident, but his body and face showed signs of complete exhaustion.
“So are you satisfied?”
Is he satisfied that the war he wanted so badly ended in defeat after spilling countless blood?
“Well, it was a relatively satisfactory war.”
“As a result, His Majesty’s fame and honor were completely tarnished. “Your Majesty has clearly led your kingdom astray.”
“Right.”
No, do you agree with this?
I was a little dumbfounded and opened my mouth, and the king gave me a light nod.
“I express my gratitude, Marquis de Lafayette.”
“…Where on earth was there something to be thankful for in this conversation, Your Majesty?”
“You broke the burden. It was a complete defeat. In doing so, he clearly proved that Jim was wrong.”
That’s what I’m thankful for. I really don’t understand this guy.
“Jim was very proud of the Krafte Kingdom’s opinion that the army owned the country, but Heinrich was not so pleased. Now, those who will serve my nephew as king will not find fault with Henry for not following my policies.”
“…It would be like being denied His Majesty’s entire life.”
“Jim also knew that his country was not normal. If such a burden had failed, it would have been denied. “If he succeeded because he didn’t meet an enemy like you or was lucky.”
The Great King smiled deeply.
“Wouldn’t those who believed that only my way be correct continue to lead the kingdom according to my teachings? Even Jim would have failed like this, and if his descendants had led the country in the same way as he did, destruction would have come at some point.”
This man is truly amazing in many ways.
The great king bowed his head to me, who could not help but admire me, and said.
“So Jim thanks you. “I have no regrets in Jim’s life, but at least I was able to embrace his mistakes and let him go.”
He knows he was wrong and feels fortunate that future generations will not follow him.
Nevertheless, I have no regrets.
Charles II the Great is, after all, this kind of person. It probably won’t change until the day I die.
I laughed out loud.
“Yes, Marquis de Lafayette. “Now that Jim has answered, will you, as the winner, be generous and answer his questions?”
“Tell me, Your Majesty.”
Charles II grinned and opened his mouth.
“If it had been Jim, it wouldn’t have ended so smoothly.”
I smiled and answered.
“These are subtle words for someone called the High King of Krafte, who ordered the Crown Prince to participate in the war against demons.”
“ha ha ha!”
Charles II burst out laughing and hit the floor with his cane.
“right! “My actions were possible because I never even thought that you would push me and the kingdom to the brink of destruction.”
Charles II said, looking at me with his bewildered eyes.
“however! The winner has the right to win. If you brought Jim and Krafte into ruin, then you, as the winner, have the right to take from the loser! Moreover, it is an insult to Jim, who showed generous treatment in a war waged solely for his own ambitions, risking his position as the strongest human being.”
This is also really crazy awesome.
Is this justice no matter what the winner does?
“At least from what I see, you wanted to completely surpass the Blue Knight.”
I also flinched here.
“The opportunity has been placed in your hands. The victory was clearly yours, and if you had achieved an overwhelming victory over your enemies, the Kingdom of Krafte would have been trampled under the feet of your war boots if you had so wished. “Perhaps it would have been possible for this entire central continent to be placed under the Frangian flag.”
The great king is talking as if he is talking about someone else and not his country.
“If that had been the case, you would have remained the greatest conqueror in human history, someone who could not even be compared to the Blue Knight!”
No, this person may have wanted to see the great empire built by the strongest man more than his own country.
“I challenge myself because there is a place to conquer even if I cannot reach it. “Much more so to end the war by giving up complete victory when a place that can be conquered and reached is right in front of us.”
Charles II looked at me intently and asked.
“Why did you make that choice? As someone who has refused to settle and challenged all my life, I cannot help but be disappointed that you, who broke that burden, chose to settle for reality.”
“Besides, you barely intervened in the peace negotiations and did a good job signing them?”
Charles II answered confidently.
“It is my duty as the King of Krafte! Since Krafte’s soldiers joined Jim’s challenge, if you decide to negotiate peace, I had an obligation to end this war and hand over the kingdom to my nephew, even if only for the sake of future generations.”
And then he added with a smile.
“However, deep down, I was more looking forward to the end in which I was killed while holding back your overwhelming offensive until the very end.”
under.
He was an old king who wanted to die fighting until the end on the battlefield, even if he was destroyed and his kingdom was destroyed.
The great king looked at me intently and asked.
“Tell me. “Why did you give up when you were faced with the most perfect victory, a feat that would overwhelm the Blue Knight, whom you had hoped to overcome?”
* * *
Eris glanced at Cecilia and answered.
“I don’t regret it.”
Cecilia made no reply.
However, Eris just gave a penetrating look as if trying to gauge whether she was sincere.
“Yes, as you said. Receiving compensation does not bring back the dead. We must be sad and mourn their deaths. But that doesn’t mean they won’t come back even if you continue the war while blaming your sister.”
Eris’ voice is calm.
“A war aimed at making people pay for resentment and blood only returns more resentment and more blood. “Are you saying that the defeated empire was saved through peace negotiations?”
Eris spoke in a very calm tone.
“That’s good. “At least it means that my sister, who said she regretted it but did not reflect on it, did her best for those who lost a lot because of her.”
“…I just kept the throne of my husband and my child.”
“I see. “If so, please fulfill your responsibility for the people of the empire who fell to protect the throne.”
Cecilia’s face eventually distorted.
“You are stubborn until the end. Even though I feel no value in what I covet and resent the empire, I do not seek revenge on it. “Did you want to act like such a noble saint?”
Eris shook her head.
Pierre de Lafayette answered the Maharaja.
“Because the victory I dream of is not like your Majesty’s. Because the honor I desire is different from the glory for which His Majesty the King sings.”
The victory that the great king speaks of, the glory that the great king sings of.
It’s the same as what Raphael Balian wanted.
However, Pierre de Lafayette took someone else’s hand, not Balian’s.
Pierre de Lafayette said.
“I chose to be a protector, not a seeker of glory like the Blue Knight or Your Majesty.”
Esiliste Liliane de Frangias said:
“It’s not that noble or that you don’t feel any anger. However, I hope more for the happiness that the survivors will find than for the emptiness I will feel as my personal emotions are released in the sea of blood.”
two people said
“So we have ended this war. No matter how it may seem to you, at least we have already achieved the complete victory we hoped for.”
