Chapter 190

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Mercy
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- “Commander, there’s someone here!”

A Sternheim knight reported to his superior, his voice strained.

Tension shot through the unit at the news that an outsider had hidden among them.

- “Looks like a foreign knight!”

That the person was a soldier meant this was the worst-case scenario. A spy? An enemy?

- “Report to His Highness the Grand Duke at once!”

- “Yes, sir!”

Infantrymen formed a circle around the wagon.

As soon as the perimeter was complete, four Sternheim knights leaped onto the wagon and seized Sir Elko, grain sack and all.

- “Got you, you bastard!”

- “There might be more than one! Search every inch!”

Sir Manfredi and Prince Alfonso were dragged out of the wagon one by one.

- “Bind them!”

Several knights rushed forward with ropes. Prince Alfonso closed his eyes.

*Is this… where my luck runs out?*

“What is all this commotion before we’ve even set sail?”

A familiar voice reached his ears. It was the ruler of Sternheim, Grand Duke Uldenburg, whom he had met once at the banquet.

And it was the Grand Duke who recognized Prince Alfonso first.

“You are…? His Highness Prince Alfonso…?”

He spoke in the Ratan common tongue. Prince Alfonso, bound tightly in ropes and forced to his knees on the port, lifted his head to look at the speaker.

His tangled blond hair and dark, slate-gray eyes met Grand Duke Uldenburg’s gaze.

“Your Highness, Grand Duke Uldenburg.”

The ever-composed Grand Duke now looked considerably flustered.

The heir to the Kingdom of Etruscan—an ally in the Holy War against the pagan monarchies, the barbarians—was kneeling at the feet of his horse, bound like a criminal.

As the prince of an ally, he should be released at once.

But he was also a ‘guest of the state’ of the Kingdom of Gallico, the sponsor of this Holy War… and a hostage.

And Grand Duke Uldenburg and his forces were still on Gallican soil.

“Your Highness. What on earth are you doing here?”

The moment the words left his mouth, Grand Duke Uldenburg realized he had asked a pointless question.

“This is no time for this. We are about to set sail for the lands of Yesak. Your Highness must return to Montpellier Palace.”

He could not defy his sponsor.

“Your Highness.”

Alfonso spoke, his voice cracking.

“Please, take me to Yesak.”

Grand Duke Uldenburg was at a loss for words.

“That is…”

“Allow me to join the Holy War, to go forth to Yesak and crush those pagan barbarians.”

Before the bewildered Grand Duke, a single tear streamed from the prince’s clear, slate-gray eyes.

“Did you not come as a guest of Gallico? You must return to your host. Your father would wish for his son to be in trustworthy hands, not to have run off to a battlefield.”

“My father!”

Prince Alfonso’s hoarse voice rose, cracking in several places, much like his own shattered faith.

“Abandoned me for his mistress.”

Grand Duke Uldenburg, who had a rough grasp of the situation, could only let out a low groan.

It seemed this young prince had finally learned that his own father had abandoned him.

Leo III’s refusal of Etruscan’s demand for reparations had many layers, but the bottom line was that he had refused to send his consort, Countess Rubina, to the Kingdom of Gallico, leaving his own legitimate firstborn son there instead.

The fact that he had even granted succession rights to his mistress’s son lent more weight to that interpretation.

“My cousin, whom Your Highness calls ‘trustworthy hands’,”

Prince Alfonso spoke at the opportune moment.

“Has broken faith and now seeks my life.”

“What did you say!”

Grand Duke Uldenburg was greatly shocked.

Prince Alfonso was Philip IV’s relative, and Philip IV was the king who had welcomed Prince Alfonso, dispatched as a diplomat.

Plotting to murder Prince Alfonso was a taboo that should never be crossed, regardless of which role he was in.

“Surely Philip IV wouldn’t go that far…. He is one of the proud monarchs of the Yesakgyo faith.”

“Do you truly think so?”

Alfonso said with a bitter smile.

“You saw it yourself. My cousin flaunts his sins without a shred of shame and is utterly incapable of distinguishing between what he should and should not do as a good Yesakgyo monarch.”

“…”

“I realized at that banquet that he has no fear of God whatsoever.”

Recalling the sight of Philip IV and Princess Auguste, Grand Duke Uldenburg sighed. They were indeed a shameless pair.

Even to the Grand Duke’s eyes, which were not attuned to matters of romance, their relationship was clearly a step beyond that of an affectionate brother and sister.

Prince Alfonso appealed to the Grand Duke.

“I have heard from a reliable source that he has been putting small amounts of arsenic in my meals.”

Lariesa was not the most trustworthy person, but considering the amount of information she had access to, she was a reliable source.

“Your Highness, my world has collapsed. Those I believed to be devout were indulging in the worst of vices, and those I believed loved me have stabbed me in the back.”

The desperate appeal in Prince Alfonso’s low, hoarse voice was palpable as he pleaded with Grand Duke Uldenburg.

“Have I sinned against God?”

At the tear-filled gaze of the young prince, the forty-something Grand Duke could only respond with thoughtfulness.

“Son of a noble man, God sometimes gives us trials that are beyond human understanding.”

This young prince was facing far too many trials at once.

Sometimes in life, misfortunes come all at once.

As a man with more life experience, Grand Duke Uldenburg wanted to console the young prince.

“Hardship is not always the price for sins we have already committed. Often, it is part of God’s plan to make us greater people so that He may use us for greater purposes.”

Though these were far too grave matters to be simply bundled as ‘misfortunes,’ betrayal by men was a fate that anyone with a claim to the throne had to endure someday, in some form.

“‘Though your beginning was humble, your end will be prosperous.’ Recall the parable of Job of Hezaz. He had not sinned, yet God demanded proof of his faithfulness. After losing all his wealth and even his children to plague, and then falling gravely ill himself, Job, in his dire straits, never lost his faith. In any trial God sends, His good will is present. You must not yield, but wait for God’s salvation.”

Prince Alfonso responded to Grand Duke Uldenburg’s final words.

“Your Highness. Grant me the chance to turn God’s trial into an ordeal that will allow me to grow into a greater vessel.”

“…”

The prince’s slate-gray eyes looked up at the Grand Duke with desperation.

“Please, give me the opportunity to go to the land of Yesak, to take the lives of the pagans, and to serve and labor for God.”

Grand Duke Uldenburg was silent. Prince Alfonso pleaded with him once more.

“It is not just my own life at stake. My knights are with me.”

Behind Prince Alfonso were his two knights, also bound. One of them was one-eyed and missing an arm.

Grand Duke Uldenburg recalled the charge he had given his early-teenage son, whom he had left at home when he set out for Yesak.

*‘While your father is away, you will hold the rudder of the Duchy of Sternheim.*

*Take responsibility for your subjects and your country. Do not forget the disabled and the maimed, the widows and the elderly. Always care for them as you would your own family.’*

His twelve-year-old son, holding the Grand Duchess’s hand tightly, had nodded at his father’s teaching with a solemn expression.

*If I send this young prince back to the Kingdom of Gallico, can I face my young son with a clear conscience?*

“Please, Your Highness Grand Duke Uldenburg. If this is a trial from God, then salvation must be hidden within it. Help me find it by allowing me to go to the land where you were born! Extend your hand so that my knights may not lose their lives, but find a new purpose to which they can devote themselves!”

Tears streamed from the Etruscan prince’s blue eyes.

Objectively, it was nothing short of begging. But in Grand Duke Uldenburg’s eyes, it did not seem pathetic.

This young prince, even in this desperate situation, was doing his utmost to save himself and his men.

Pride, stubbornness, and feelings of superiority due to his station were nowhere to be seen.

“…Commander.”

Grand Duke Uldenburg both wanted and did not want to know how his own eldest son, left behind in his homeland, would act if faced with such hardship.

*Would my child also beg an invader, like the Prince Alfonso before me now?*

*Or would he hold on to his noble pride as a descendant of rulers and resist to the end? Would my son, too, be brought to his knees, weeping before another?*

The Grand Duke had left the Duchy of Sternheim defenseless and embarked on this fruitless expedition to exalt the glory of God.

He believed it was his duty and the path to eternal bliss for future generations. But he also knew.

On a secular level, the Duchy of Sternheim’s strength had been greatly diminished by his departure. He knew he had exposed his son to danger.

“How many hours until we set sail?”

“Three hours at most, two at the least!”

“Ensure silence from everyone around here and load all the cargo as quickly as possible. We set sail immediately.”

The Grand Duke would never allow his son to be put in such a situation.

He prayed that the good deed he performed today would one day return to his own flesh and blood.

“…What should we do with these men?”

“Move them to the flagship. Give His Highness the Prince a first-class cabin and the knights second-class cabins.”

After giving instructions in a language Prince Alfonso could not understand, the Grand Duke looked at the prince and said quietly,

“Prince. Let us go. To Yesak, the land where the Prophet first descended.”

***

Palais de Montpellier was in an uproar over the fire that had broken out at dawn.

It was soon discovered that Prince Alfonso and his party had fled. The security officers, desperate to find the prince’s party before the news reached Philip IV, searched the palace high and low, but failed.

Prince Alfonso was hidden within Grand Duke Uldenburg’s unit, beyond the reach of the security officers.

“Such insolence!”

Philip, who was only informed of Prince Alfonso’s escape after the morning’s departure ceremony, did not hide his fury.

“How dare you hide what happens in this palace from me?”

He raged at the head of security in a high, thin voice.

“Th-that is… because Your Majesty had an important event ahead, we did not wish to disturb you…”

The fire had started around four in the morning. The incident was reported to Philip IV at ten in the morning.

Only six hours had passed. But Philip did not see it that way.

“Captain of the Guard!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Do you think I should show mercy to your subordinate?”

The Captain of the Montpellier Royal Guard realized his life hung on his answer.

He immediately prostrated himself on the floor and shouted loudly.

“No, Your Majesty! Have him killed! That man deserves to be torn limb from limb, and I, too, cannot escape responsibility for this failure of management! I beg for punishment!”

Philip IV, his face as hard as a white serpent’s, called the next person.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The second-in-command of the guard, tense, answered. Philip gave his orders dryly.

“Have the head of security for the guest quarters torn limb from limb, and send the Captain of the Guard to the gallows.”

It was exactly as the captain had requested. Everyone in the room drew a sharp breath, but no one was bold enough to show it.

“You’re the Captain of the Guard now. Do a good job.”

“I… I pledge my loyalty!”

***

Hearing that the Captain of the Guard had been replaced that morning—the former having been swiftly sent to the gallows—and that the reason was a fire in the palace at dawn and Prince Alfonso’s escape, Duke Odo felt a sense of unease.

“My dear Bernadette. Is Lariesa safe in her room?”

It seemed the palace believed the fire was the work of Prince Alfonso and his party, but Duke Odo suspected there must have been an accomplice on the outside.

“Lariesa? I imagine she’s sleeping in her room, isn’t she?”

At the Duchess Bernadette’s carefree reply, Duke Odo suppressed his rising temper and decided to go to his daughter’s room himself.

He needed to check.

“Her Highness just finished her bath and has gone to rest.”

The answer he received, however, was bizarre. Unable to restrain himself, Duke Odo asked his daughter’s lady-in-waiting.

“Does Lariesa normally bathe in the morning and take a nap in the middle of the day?”

“Her Ladyship may be bone idle,”

It was her wet nurse, Madame Eugénie, who answered. She added spitefully,

“But I didn’t raise her to be so undisciplined as to bathe in the morning and nap at this hour.”

His mood soured, Duke Odo shouted.

“Bring Lariesa to me, now!”