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“Are you the third prince?” The man was dressed in opulent armor with gold inlay. The slits in the helmet revealed two black eyes staring at Hilda.
Hilda was dressed in chainmail over gambeson, as opposed to the fully-plated armored walking talking knight. Naturally, she appeared goofier than the knight in front of them.
“What exactly is an ignorant knight doing in the commander's tent?” Even if Hilda had guessed the identity, she chose to play dumb and yelled, "Guards, take this man out and give him ten lashes to educate."
After all this time, she had understood one thing very well. Even if nobody respected her as an imperial prince, the title carried a lot of weight. Naturally, she had learned to use that to her advantage.
“You?” The soldier next to the knight barked, “Do you know who he is?”
“Are you aware of who I am?” Hilda's voice had a slightly higher pitch.
However, the sudden yell caught the man off guard.
“The imperial third prince!” he stammered.
“Are you the empire's brightest sun? The emperor himself?”
“I wouldn’t dare.” The man was perplexed as to why Hilda said those words, which he quickly refuted.
"Then how dare you disrespect the imperial blood? Get down on your knees." Hilda gave the order while staring at the man.
“What?” Hilda's reasoning baffled both the man and the knight in full plated armor.
“Guards, take this man away. Twenty lashes for yelling at his army commander, thirty lashes for disobedience...”
Before Hilda could finish her sentence, the fully armored knight removed his helmet, revealing his blond hair and dark black eyes.
“I believe you should forgive my soldiers. He has no malicious intent.” The man responded with a smile.
“You are?”
“Joefred Eigen, Knight.”
“Oh! I understand now.” Hilda nodded with a smile. “It is normal for an ignorant knight to have a disobedient subordinate,” Hilda said, feeling the questioning glare. “Allow me to educate your subordinate on your behalf.”
A few soldiers had already formed a circle around the subordinate. “Take him out,” Hilda commanded firmly. “And add 50 more lashes for...”
“Your highness imperial prince, even if my subordinate is disobedient, there is no need...” exclaimed the knight.
“Stop!” Hilda interrupted, smiling at him. “You know who I am, and you dare to be disrespectful?”
The rest of his words became lodged in his throat. Joefred had already realized he had made a mistake.
Hilda, on the other hand, had no plans to stop. “Disrespecting the emperor's blood is disrespecting the emperor himself. Yet you dare to offend 'The Absolute' emperor?”
Joefred clenched his fist even tighter as the metallic gloves clanked. Even though he was enraged, he knew he couldn't make any more careless errors. Naturally, he couldn't see Hilda's bright smile.
“Kneel.” He glared at Hilda as soon as he heard the word. Hilda, on the other hand, kept smiling and said, “Kneel and beg for mercy. And I'm willing to let you go with only 50 lashes.”
*************
While Joefred stared at Hilda, who was sitting quite a distance away around another campfire, the memories from two nights ago were still fresh in his mind. And the wounds on his back were yet to heal.
'I will repay you for every insult.' In his heart, he swore. He was not the Eigen family's eldest son, so he would not inherit the noble title of 'Marques.'
So when the prince proposed a plan, he accepted without hesitation. He would be given the title of 'Baron' as long as he could take care of the bandits and this freak.
He was content, even if it was a low-level noble title. He was, after all, still young. He'd have a lot of opportunities to move up the hierarchy.
“My lord, they are on their way.” In his ears, a man whispered.
“Good.” His face lit up with a smile. Joefred nodded and added, "Tell everyone to back up slowly."
“Our main army had already started to move back.”
“Give the signal after establishing a distance of 200 meters,” Joefred said, glaring at Hilda. “Leave not a single one of them alive.”
Joefred's strategy was straightforward. In addition to the 200 soldiers who had followed him, he had another force. He had dispatched another 100 soldiers to disguise themselves as bandits and attack Hilda's army at night.
He would attack alongside his soldiers when Hilda's army was in disarray, and with a three-to-one advantage, it will be an easy victory. However, there was a minor issue.
*Awwoooooooo*
A violent howl erupted in the dark forest as soon as he stood up to rejoin his army. It shattered the forest's nighttime silence as people's cries grew desperate.
“Did the real bandit attack?” was the first thought that came to mind. After all, it wasn't surprising to find some escaped slave barbarians joining the bandit group.
“The cries are coming from the same direction as our fake bandit army.” As he stared in the direction of the wood, the soldier murmured.
“What is it that you are concerned about?” Joefred smirked. “Even if they are the real bandit, they will not be able to beat us.”
The soldiers surrounding Joefred realized the truth as soon as the initial fear subsided. Even if the real bandit arrived, there was no way the bandit could easily defeat their army.
‘And if we count the prince's troop,’ Joefred thought as he discovered Hilda and his soldiers had already recovered their weapons. Equipping herself with a pair of katar, Hilda came towards Joefred.
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“Tell our man to come back,” Joefred spoke quietly to the man closest to him. The man nodded and dashed away. Joefred retrieved his helmet and approached Hilda.
“It appears that the bandits had planned an ambush for us. We should...” But before he could finish his sentence, another scream drowned out his voice.
“Enemy attack.” Someone screamed from the direction of his main army. Joefred was taken aback as he returned his gaze to the dark mountain forest.
His sham bandit soldiers fought the bandits on one side, while his unsuspecting main army was ambushed by the bandits on the other. It was not one of the scenarios he was expecting.
“My lord.” The sudden scream broke his train of thought. As soon as he turned back, blood splattered all over his body.
“Even if you are scum, your men are willing to die for you. That is unexpected.” Even when Hilda spoke calmly, she did not stop attacking.
The self-sacrificing soldiers wasted her surprise attack. That didn't deter her. The soldiers behind her also assaulted the man behind Joefred.
“YOU!” Joefred screamed. He wasn't sure if Hilda was aware of his plan, but he couldn't afford to be careless.
However, before he could put on his helmet, a fierce attack from the katar knocked it off. Joefred quickly drew his long sword and deflected the other katar that was aiming for his head.
“What are you up to?” His green knight's aura continued to seep out of his armor, and the edge of his long sword shone brightly.
Nonetheless, every time his sword came into contact with the pair of katar, he was forced to take a step back. He couldn't understand how an intermediate knight with a similar aura could be so powerful.
However, it was the least of his concerns. As his main army retreated to gain some distance, he was left with about 30-40 soldiers, while Hilda's army retained their number.
Naturally, the number of his soldiers was dwindling at an alarming rate. And he had no chance of assisting them with Hilda's relentless attack.
“If my soldiers perish, you will perish as well. There is no way you will survive against the bandits with your pitiful number.”
“How are you so certain that the bandits will attack us?” Hilda's attack continued unabated throughout the conversation.
“You?” Joefred glared at her and asked, "You used your army as a phony bandit?"
“What makes you think I'll do something stupid like you?” As her katars drew blood from his cheeks, Hilda smirked. She quickly escaped the long sword's reach before asking, "Why would I waste my men when I could use real bandits?"
“Would you risk it?” Joefred tried everything he could, but Hilda evaded every attack. For those she couldn't, she'd deflect it with one katar, take a step closer, and attack one of his armor's weak points.
“Why should I not? If a mere knight like you dared to plot the assassination of an imperial heir, why wouldn’t I?” Hilda took a step back to put some space between herself and Joefred.
“Go, assist them.” Joefred realized he had lost all of his men only after Hilda had ordered her soldiers to march.
“Oh, my lord!”
One of her men wanted to say something, but Hilda didn't let him. “He's been poisoned already. It will not take long. You guys go hide when it's over.”
‘Poisoned?’ Joefred came to a halt as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. ‘When did she poison me?’
“It was an attack on your cheek,” Hilda spoke as if she knew what Joefred was thinking. “My weapon is tainted with the same poison that the bandit employs. It will take some time to take effect, but it will be easier to fabricate the cause of your death.”
“You!” Joefred growled, unsure of what to say. “Do you consider yourself a knight? Did you forget your knight's oath?”
“How can I forget something if I wasn't even aware of it?” Hilda had no intention of wasting her time trying to kill Joefred after poisoning him.
She kept evading all of his attacks, tiring him out in the process. “Even though I was trained as one, I was never ceremoniously instigated as a knight,” she explained.
“You are of imperial bloodline; how could you have conspired with these scumbags? How could you defy the imperial edict?”
“Why are you wasting your breath asking such meaningless questions?” Hilda noticed his movement becoming more sluggish with each attack. His breathing was becoming ragged, and the protective green aura around him had already faded.
“Please confirm one thing for me before you drop dead. Is that the eighth prince?”
As he swung his long sword, Joefred stumbled. He was having difficulty carrying his armor because the poison was affecting his body. Nonetheless, he laughed.
He couldn't stop laughing. "Is that all you can think of?" he asked, using his sword to support his body weight.
She frowned for the first time. Everything was going as planned; everything that happened was within her expectations. However, one sentence threw her off track.
"Didn't it happen to be the eighth prince?" Hilda inquired once more. His legs were unable to support his heavily blinded body and were forced to kneel.
Instead of fear, he had a happy expression on his face when he looked at her. Nonetheless, he remained deafeningly silent.
“If you tell me who it was, I'll give you a clean death and return your body to your house.”
“What would be the point? Is it even important what happens to me after I die?” As his body sagged on the ground, he inquired. But he didn't perish.
It took a few more moments for him to stop breathing. Despite this, he did not say a single word until his last breath.
“One day, the futile battle for the cold throne will undoubtedly kill me.” She could only sigh as she looked at the cold body.
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