Sister I am the Queen in This Life [Novel] Chapter 157

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: The Invasion of the Gallican Army
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"His Highness the Prince."

Raphael answered smoothly, hiding his disappointment. As the blood drained from his face, he felt as if he were wearing a mask, able to respond without showing a hint of agitation.

"He seemed terribly busy. There were so many people that anything more than a formal exchange was impossible."

It was true. Alfonso had looked as if he didn't have a moment to spare.

"It's as if he's so overwhelmed with sudden responsibilities that he hasn't even had a moment to grieve."

Giulia added from the side.

"The shock will probably hit him all at once later."

"I suppose it will."

Ariadne lowered her head with a pained expression.

"I see……."

With Giulia present, they couldn't delve into a deeper conversation. It seemed Raphael hadn't divulged the secret between the prince and Ariadne to his sister either.

"The funeral proceedings will last a total of twenty-one days. Perhaps once things settle down, he'll have some time to quietly sort through his feelings."

"I suppose so."

Ariadne nodded. Since she was not a member of a high noble family, let alone any noble family, she could not go to the royal palace to offer her condolences.

She would only be able to join the common people in prayer after the Queen's body was moved to the Grand Basilica of San Ercole.

If she could, she would have written a long, heartfelt letter immediately, but Alfonso's situation was all too predictable. He would be greeting guests during the day and sweating over administrative duties he was handling for the first time at night.

It was too cruel of Leo III not to even look in on him. He should have at least assigned a high-ranking noble to co-preside over the funeral arrangements.

‘Then again, the Queen's family isn't in Etruscan…….’

The high nobles who assisted with funerals were usually from the wife's side of the family. Well, to put a positive spin on it, one could see it as a father's attempt to solidify his son's position.

‘……I'll send a letter late next week.’

After about a week, the most urgent matters would likely be handled, leaving only the more troubling issues. Perhaps then Ariadne could be of help to Alfonso. After all, she was well-versed in the very tasks Queen Marguerite used to manage.

"Thank you for visiting today. I'll prepare some decent tea foods for your next visit. I was so flustered I couldn't even host you properly."

"Seeing you is what's important, not the tea foods."

Giulia replied. Raphael, for his part, felt a simultaneous pang of disappointment and a flicker of hope at Ariadne's words. A dismissal already, yet it came with the promise of a future invitation.

"We should be going now."

He rose from his seat and brought his lips close to the back of Ariadne's hand. He was so close she could feel his breath. Ariadne's eyes widened slightly. She wasn't wearing gloves.

Giulia poked her brother in the side.

- "Manners!"

She grabbed Raphael's wrist and, pulling him out of the drawing room, offered a deliberately bright farewell.

"Thank you for having us! We'll see you again soon!"

After the Valdesal siblings departed like a storm, Ariadne sat in her chair for a moment, mapping out her schedule.

‘Next week, I'll write to Alfonso. And as soon as Her Majesty the Queen is brought to the Grand Basilica, I'll pay my respects, even if it's just as a common mourner.’

Although Ariadne was not a noble, her father's influence would likely allow her to pay her respects on the first day the Queen was laid in state, before the crowds of common mourners arrived.

‘I can meet the Valdesal siblings again late next week or early the week after. By then, there should be more updates, about the assassin and other things.’

It was a reasonable plan. But Ariadne, too, had no idea what was about to unfold.

***

On the seventh day after Queen Marguerite's death, the Kingdom of Etruscan was finally beginning to move past its initial shock and sorrow, preparing to bid a solemn farewell to their Queen. Couriers had been dispatched, and flags of mourning were raised across the nation. The entire populace donned black mourning clothes and observed a period of grief.

Every corner of the countryside was quiet, the atmosphere subdued. So when a shepherd in the Gaeta region saw a company of heavy knights in silver steel armor emerge, cutting across a rippling wheat field, he assumed it was a mourning procession sent from the central government.

"But why are there so many of them?"

The column of warhorses, however, was far larger than any honor guard. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred… The shepherd's eyes grew wider and wider.

"There are well over a thousand!"

He squinted, trying to get a better look at the soldiers. The surcoats they wore over their armor were not a color commonly seen in Etruscan. Blue lilies were embroidered on the knights' bright yellow surcoats.

"The Kingdom of Gallico……?"

The shepherd frantically began to gather his flock. This was no place to linger. Being near soldiers, any soldiers, could lead to trouble. That was true even of their own army, let alone a foreign one.

He hurriedly herded his small flock of fewer than a dozen sheep and rushed toward Gaeta Castle, taking a back road that was less traveled.

"We're in trouble! The fields are swarming with soldiers from the Kingdom of Gallico!"

"What? Gallico?"

The people of Gaeta Castle didn't believe him at first.

"Aren't they just lost soldiers? It happens from time to time."

"Don't shout so loud while everyone is in mourning. Our poor Queen."

Gaeta was a territory on the border with the Kingdom of Gallico, and since the lands were adjacent, encounters were frequent.

"No! Do you think I'd make such a fuss during a period of national mourning over something like that? There's an incredible number of them, and their gear is gleaming! They're not the border soldiers we usually see! They're all knights!"

"What did you say?"

The shepherd's words gained credibility only after another witness came forward. It didn't take long.

"Hah!"

A sentry on the castle walls spotted the company of knights in silver armor approaching the castle.

"Unidentified heavy cavalry approaching! Yellow surcoats… It's the Gallican cavalry! Five hundred… one thousand… estimated at about fifteen hundred!"

The Captain of the Gaeta Castle Guard was horrified when he received the report.

"The gate, close the gate!"

After ordering the gate shut, he gave another panicked command.

"No, no, before that! Send a messenger! At full speed, send a report to San Carlo! Gallican cavalry, fifteen hundred strong, have crossed the border and are in a standoff before the walls of Gaeta! Go!"

Leaving the safety of the castle, a swift horse galloped south across the plains as if on wings.

***

"What did you say!"

The reaction in San Carlo upon receiving the messenger from Gaeta was not much different from that of the castle's captain of the guard.

"The Kingdom of Gallico?!"

Leo III, dressed in black mourning clothes, was so overcome with rage he could barely breathe.

"Those bastards! How dare they!"

Prince Alfonso, who had been discussing funeral rites on the floor below, rushed up to the King's audience chamber upon hearing the news. He, too, agreed that the Kingdom of Gallico had crossed a line.

He rarely saw eye to eye with his father, but Gallico's shamelessness—causing such a scandal with Grand Princess Lariesa, and now sending an army across the border before the funeral was even over—was unforgivable.

"After I treated them so well! They repay kindness with enmity!"

Of course, the specifics of their anger differed. As Leo III raged, the Countess Marquez brought his attention back to reality.

"Your Majesty, the Lord of Gaeta is absent, so his wife and the captain of the guard are defending the castle."

The Countess Marquez, in charge of foreign affairs, had already received the messenger's report. The Marquis Valdesal, who handled domestic affairs, added.

"The siege has only just begun, so no food shortages have been reported yet. However, with the wheat harvest just around the corner, and considering Gaeta Castle's usual situation, it is certain they do not have a large stockpile of grain within the walls."

"What are we to do!"

"We must send an army to respond……."

The Count Contarini, in charge of justice, bit his tongue before he could state the obvious. When a foreign army invades, the most common-sense response is to send one's own army to fight back.

But the Kingdom of Etruscan currently had no available central military force.

He changed his proposal instead.

"Perhaps the forces of the Margrave of Gaeta, stationed at Gaeta Castle, could hold off the Gallican soldiers……."

Leo III's face brightened as he asked.

"Are their numbers sufficient?"

But this, too, was a ridiculous notion.

"The Margrave of Gaeta's forces consist of about two thousand five hundred infantry, a respectable size."

The Marquis Valdesal, sensing the mood, added.

"…However, judging by their surcoats, emblems, and the time of their appearance at the border, the enemy is presumed to be the Montpellier Heavy Cavalry."

The Montpellier Heavy Cavalry. The Kingdom of Gallico's pride, the strongest force on the central continent. They were the secret behind the Brienne dynasty's victory in the civil war against the Capetian dynasty, which had dragged on for over fifteen years. Few strongholds could withstand their devastating central charge.

He added cautiously.

"The Margrave of Gaeta is currently in San Carlo to pay his respects to Her Majesty the Queen… While the troops in Gaeta Castle are decent soldiers, they will not perform at their usual level without their leader."

The troops at Gaeta Castle were neither exceptionally well-trained nor superbly equipped. But unable to say so directly to Leo III, the Marquis Valdesal subtly shifted the topic to morale and strategy, adding the nuance he wished to convey.

‘The forces of Gaeta Castle cannot defeat the Montpellier Heavy Cavalry.’

But Leo III took his words at face value.

"How long would it take for the Margrave of Gaeta to return at top speed?"

It was one complication after another.

***

Ariadne received this news just one hour later. Swift dispatches had arrived from both Cardinal de Mare and Raphael de Valdesal.

The Cardinal had tossed her the information with a casual, "Just so you know," while Raphael had explained everything in meticulous detail, adding a postscript: "Be sure to burn this after you've read it."

But that was not what Ariadne focused on.

‘So the Kingdom of Gallico has finally invaded…!’

In her past life, the Kingdom of Gallico had first demanded reparations from the Kingdom of Etruscan, and only when that was denied did they send troops to the border.

‘This time, they skipped all that and went straight for it. What's the difference?’

Two things had changed. First, the engagement between the prince and the grand princess had not been finalized. Second, because the Queen was assassinated by an unknown merchant while Countess Rubina was locked in the dungeon, Countess Rubina's guilt was not as certain as it had been in the last life.

Both were butterfly effects stemming from Ariadne's actions.

‘I can't be sure which of the two caused this.’

But for some reason, she felt it was because the engagement had failed. Judging by the Kingdom of Gallico's behavior so far, they were shameless and would brazenly do whatever it took to achieve their goals.

‘Just because Countess Rubina seems a little less suspicious doesn't mean she's been cleared of the charges. They could easily insist on her guilt if they wanted to. They aren't the type to alter their plans over such a minor detail.’

But to send an army across the border just because an engagement with the prince failed…? Something didn't feel right.

However, Ariadne decided to focus on the more practical aspects.

‘This life is different from the last.’

The key factor that led to the most critical event in her past life for the Kingdom of Etruscan—the permanent loss of the Gaeta region to the Kingdom of Gallico—had changed.

‘Right now, the Margrave of Gaeta is in San Carlo.’

In her past life, when the Gallican heavy cavalry appeared at the border, the Margrave of Gaeta surrendered without a fight and offered his entire territory to the Kingdom of Gallico.

‘If he returns to Gaeta, the territory will be handed over to the Kingdom of Gallico.’

She had to stop him before that happened.

- *That's right.*

The Golden Rule whispered.