My Villains Episode 462
66. Prince Silver (17)
Near the watermill in the riverside village.
A dozen or so people were sitting around in a quiet empty lot. They were the main figures of the negotiating group who gathered to hear the story of the messenger who had been to the imperial military base.
“…is the emperor here?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Perched on the stump of a white willow, Prince Ulkar tapped the gilded parchment with his silver prosthetic hand.
“Surprisingly. Are you directly leading the advance party… What about the main team?”
“Probably the Minister of Cavalry is in command.”
The one who carried out the messenger mission was ‘Andros’, one of the most senior among the Prince’s personal guardsmen. In terms of horseback skills alone, he is a skilled soldier that is better than most knights, and his courage is not normal. Thanks to this, even when he entered the main base of the hostile army, he completed his mission without being afraid at all.
“Although I did not meet King Ruilix II directly, the meeting room that greeted me was full of unusual dignitaries, such as great nobles and marshals. Also, there was a guardian mirror between them.”
“Guardian? You mean the ‘Window of the Aurora’?”
“yes. He clearly heard an old nobleman calling him ‘General Fabio’. He will be right.”
The guardian is the pinnacle of all imperial knights and is responsible for the protection of the emperor and the imperial capital Miteltang.
‘Grimmons Koval’, one of the sword masters he defeated in Icebobalt, was also a guardian. Although he was close to 90 years old, he was a monster that boasted skills that far exceeded that of humans.
The retired Suho-kyung was that much, but how amazing is the active ‘Aurora’s Spear’ Fabio?
I heard that he had just passed the age of fire, and he would be wearing all kinds of valuable magic tools, so wouldn’t it be hard to find an opponent in the middle world?
“In addition, there were those who appeared to be ‘geombaek (劍伯)’ and ‘dragon slayer’. There was a woman who must have been the ‘Crystal Golem of Aringen’, and on the one side, there was an old woman with a sign symbolizing the ‘Chief of Linhau’ engraved on her robe and an archbishop in red.”
“… Bishop Hong?”
Princess Theodora, who had been standing on one side of the clearing watching the setting sun, turned her head this way. The clear light green eyes were wide open.
“Which of the three were you? If you accompanied the emperor, would you be Aramos?”
“I don’t know that, Princess. The main
talkers were Marshal Nadine and an old nobleman, and Bishop Hong was just sitting quietly. I just guessed through the doubles.”
“Is that so…
The princess was lost in thought, regretting it. Meanwhile, Prince Ulkar opened his mouth.
“I don’t know about the others, but if three master swordsmen came, including the guardian, there would be no doubt.”
“Judging from the fact that they were presented in front of the messenger, it seems that they did not intend to hide the existence of the emperor.”
“hmm. I think the same.” After agreeing with Lord Ariad, the prince turned to Andros again and asked a question.
“Have you sent the letter? What is your reaction?”
“I didn’t know that His Highness would show reconciliation, so everyone seemed surprised.”
“Of course it is.”
“They sent me out for a meeting, and they called me back in less than ten minutes. And he squeezed the answer back.”
Prince Ulkar raised the gilded parchment he was holding in his right hand.
“Is that it?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The prince nodded, looked back at those gathered in the clearing, and waved the thick parchment.
“It’s a serious matter, so he wants to talk to me directly. It was questionable because the sender was not listed, but it could be a personal letter from King Ruilix II.”
“…This will go faster than expected.”
The prince also nodded at the words I said with a confused expression.
“It should be a bit embarrassing, but there’s nothing wrong with it, right?”
“It depends on how things are going.”
I asked while chinning the parchment presumed to be the emperor’s personal letter.
“So where do you see me? How long is it on the other side?”
The prince licked his lips slightly and shook his head.
“That is not true. They say they’re going to arrange a place for talks outside the garrison.”
“…It’s good, but why do you think you’re sorry?”
“Why not? Of course, it’s fortunate that we accept it as a meeting rather than an audience. However, there is no way the emperor will come to the meeting in person.”
“So, in a word, you say you’re sorry you couldn’t see the emperor?”
“Exactly. The Emperor is one of the most powerful in Middle-earth. I wanted to see him face to face at least once…
I was dumbfounded and gasped, but Prince Ulkar looked around with a face that didn’t bother him at all.
“We limited the number of escorts to one hundred, but we have seventy two, so there’s nothing to worry about. However, according to the diplomatic custom of the empire, only seven people, including me, can enter the meeting room.”
Prince Ulkar put together opinions and selected the people to attend the meeting. After that, the preparations for the meeting were completed by rechecking the parties to persuade the emperor or the emperor’s representative.
The next topic that came up was related to why I brought Heyla here.
“You saw a blood knight at the Imperial Garrison?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Private soldier Andros took a quick look at me and Heila before continuing.
“I was Eordan of the Baluin family.”
“If it’s Eordan, is that Lord Eordan who came as a messenger before?”
“That’s right.”
Sir Eordan was a blood knight belonging to the Ironscale Fleet, and he was a member of Baluin’s family and was quite talkative, so he acted as an envoy to Akele, the ‘blood white’.
It goes without saying that he is acquainted with Nana Heila, and Prince Ulkar also made a deal with Count Akele through Eordan when he was staying in High Castle, so he is familiar with them.
“Did they anchor the fleet on the coast and send envoys to the emperor… I can’t figure out what the plan was.”
It was only ten days ago that I heard the news that about 20 Irish ships were roaming the coast of Angst. It was the information that Deozen, who became the boss of Icebovalt’s gang, asked for it.
Then, the day before yesterday, news came that they had dropped anchor on the empty coast west of Angst.
“Do you have any guesses, sir?”
Prince Ulkar knows the exact identity of Heyla and me. That means they know that I am a blood-white child and that Heyla is the younger sister of Kaisis, the Duke of Ireland at the time.
However, it would not do any good to let people know such detailed identities – Zaha Kar and Baluin’s notoriety does not discriminate between national and local religions – Most of those under Prince Ulkar thought that Heila and I were distant relatives of the Duke of Ireland. only know It was for this reason that the prince called Heila a lady rather than a princess.
“well.”
I scratched my eyebrows and said what I knew.
“A while ago, when I was crossing the blade, I heard that they were chasing the ‘Witch of Hymn’.
“I know that too. But the emperor has nothing to do with chasing fish-men, right?”
“I see… Did you get stabbed when the emperor came while you were messing around?”
Baron Ruyan, who had been silently listening to my muttering, burst into laughter.
“You mean to look into the eyes of the emperor? Those Irish pirates?”
“I can see it.”
“Why is that? No matter how strong the empire’s army is, the pirates just run away to the ocean. There is no reason to complain to the emperor.”
“…Well, that’s true.” While I tilted my head, a handsome boy with reddish brown eyes continued to speak.
“This is my guess, but it may be that he expects us to stand up to the emperor and tries to take advantage of it.”
“A profit?”
“For example… you can blockade our shores, block our supply routes, and demand a hefty sum of gold in return. The servants of Ireland are all blinded by gold.”
Ruyan’s opinion was plausible, but it was immediately refuted by the blind old knight Lord Ariad.
“The blood whites are obviously brutal, but they are not foolish enough to openly commit acts of treachery against the kingdom. Also, if they really care about the emperor’s army, wouldn’t His Highness’ troops, who would have reached the plateau by now, be reluctant?”
“…Otherwise, that’s the case.”
When the boy baron closed his mouth with a sullen face, Sir Ariad reassured the prince.
“As I watched quietly, the point at which the advance party of the imperial army stopped marching was right after the small scale fleet anchored. This means that the Emperor’s army was also closely watching the movements of the Iron Scale Fleet, so at least there was no consensus in advance.”
“You are right. Then how should I deal with it?”
“Ignore it.”
The blind old knight stared into the sky and said with a firm voice.
“I don’t care what Eiland is up to. Your Highness’ proposal has no choice but to be accepted by the emperor, so no matter what the conversation between them is, it will not be able to affect the general trend.”
Seeing as if there were no objections, the audience
just silently nodded.
“what do you think?”
“What 7”
“Scales Fleet.”
I lay sideways under the red curtain and looked at Heyla.
Her face was as expressionless as usual. Even so, he averted his gaze here and there, wondering what was so embarrassing. The purpose of suddenly hugging me closely must be to hide the naked body with red marks everywhere.
“What is the Ironscale Fleet?”
“Why do you think you are here?”
Heila responded in a low tone to the sudden question.
“It must be because of the fish people.”
“A fish man?”
The women showed different reactions to the bunch that attacked the bed at any time.
At first baffled, Atalanta seemed to have opened her eyes to a new taste. It’s not as good as me alone, but I think it’s not bad to be with Mungchi. It’s annoying on the outside, but that’s it.
Ellen, on the other hand, was absolutely unable to compromise. It radiated fiery anger as if it would burn me and the bundle right away, and even if I tried to extinguish it, it showed the same reaction as before when I came to my senses after a while.
And, unexpectedly, Heila felt ashamed of sleeping with Mung Chi.
As a noble woman, she has quite a lot of experience showing off her naked body to people of the same sex, such as attendants and servants.
Even so, when the bundle appeared while I was out, I would cringe as if I had been hit by a blizzard in winter. The playful bunch laughed and shook their bodies as they screamed when their sides were pricked.
It was my expectation, but rather than being ashamed of showing naked, it seemed that he hated showing others how he was different from usual – crying, squirming, drooling, rolling his eyes, or something like that.
So, when Heila slept with me, she used blood art to create canopies and curtains.
This cozy tent was a useful tool that not only covered the eyes of the group that was always hiding somewhere near me, but also blocked embarrassing sounds leaking out. It’s a bonus to make up for a shabby bed.
“Everything Ruyan and Ariad said is correct. Eiland doesn’t care about anyone as long as it’s at sea.”
“however?”
“But if it’s a situation where you have to go ashore, whether the opponent is the emperor or not, I’ll gladly bow my head.” “A situation where you have to go ashore?”
“It must be chasing the witch of hymns.”
I put on a puzzled expression, but Heila just blinked.
“Coming up to the land in pursuit of the witch of hymn?”
“I’ve been chasing you all along, so I can’t give up.”
“No, not that. Why do you come ashore to chase the fish people? We must search the sea.”
She said calmly, wiping the beads of sweat from her long eyelashes.
“Because fish people don’t only live in salt water.”
“uh? wasn’t it?”
“Most of the fish people can come and go in fresh water. It is easy to hunt, so it only lives mainly in the sea.”
“…I had no idea.”
“The Witch of Hymns must have gone up the river to escape the Silverscale Fleet. Oesuk chased it and went ashore. It is Ulkar who is occupying this area right now, but it seems that the emperor will soon take it away, so he must have gone there to seek cooperation.”
“Aha……
I nodded quietly and then narrowed my brows.
“But why didn’t you tell me earlier? knowing everything.”
“I didn’t get a chance to speak. I didn’t even have to say it.”
“It’s an opportunity, whatever. You didn’t even have to tell me?”
“Because Ariad’s conclusion is correct. Eiland has no influence on the negotiations with Emperor Zhang of Tang.”
“…Is that how it works?”
“huh. As long as the hymn witch doesn’t attack the meeting room.”
A little startled, I stared into Heila’s dark eyes.
“…were you kidding?”
“Hey, do you know how to joke? I think I’m hearing this for the first time.”
When we pinched her cheeks and teased her, she silently shook her head.
The day after a cozy night thanks to Heila’s Veil.
We left the riverside village after receiving a message from the imperial army that the preparations for the meeting were complete.
