Homecoming
"Victory tastes sweetest when shared with those who matter most."
People rarely died from twenty lashes.
However, the problem was that the target was none other than Samon Claudio—blood relative of the Regent himself.
Catherine felt as though she might faint on the spot. How could they flog her noble son, who had never been struck even with a flower petal?
"Mother!"
"It is according to royal law! Does Claudio consider itself above the law?"
Despite the Regent's furious protests, the Queen Dowager did not waver. Instead, she met his eyes with icy resolve and issued her command.
"The punishment will be carried out in the square before the palace gates."
Show the people how Duke Claudio is beaten like a common slave?
This was a warning from the Queen Dowager to the Regent—clear and unmistakable.
This palace is not yours. You harbor vain ambitions. Leave now, while you still can.
The Regent felt the weight of countless eyes upon him.
If I push any further, I'll reveal my true intentions to everyone watching.
Now was the time to accept the Queen Dowager's warning and demonstrate restraint.
"...Yes. Claudio will obey the royal command."
The Queen Dowager gave a curt nod of satisfaction.
"Come, Medea. Let us go."
While the assembled courtiers exchanged uncertain glances, Samon was dragged away—and he went utterly berserk.
"Let go of me! How dare you lay hands on me! Release me! Father! Father!"
Amidst his son's anguished screams and the people's scrutinizing stares, the Regent swallowed his humiliation whole.
His fingernails dug painfully into his clenched fists, drawing blood.
The Campane Plains stretched vast and bloodied beneath the early morning sun.
A fierce battle raged between the allied tribal confederation and the army of Valdina.
When the Lhasa tribe fell, the remaining tribes realized their turn would come next—and so they united, launching a desperate surprise attack against Valdina's forces.
Blood dripped steadily from the swords of King Peleus and his royal bodyguards.
"Haa... Your Majesty, the enemy's numbers keep growing. Leave this place to us and prepare to retreat."
D'Angel spoke while wiping the sweat streaming down his face.
A growing sense of crisis gnawed at him—they might not be able to break through the densely packed siege.
"I will not abandon my soldiers and flee alone. Have the reinforcements arrived yet?"
Peleus's face remained cool and composed, as though the sweltering heat of battle could not touch him.
"Your Majesty is correct—the enemy's encirclement is tightening. Commander, I will personally escort His Majesty and carve out a retreat route."
"Granted."
D'Angel nodded at Vice-Captain Pavel's proposal.
"..."
"Your Majesty, we have no time to waste! If Your Majesty falls, we all die like dogs!"
Pavel shouted upon noticing the brief hesitation in those cold blue eyes. Enemies fell in droves before Pavel's ferocious blade.
They were proving on this vast plain that the legend—one Agema warrior could face two hundred enemy soldiers—was no exaggeration.
"Your Majesty, this way!"
Pavel, having shaken off their pursuers, pointed toward the high mountain range. Peleus nodded in agreement—he needed to assess the situation from higher ground after this sudden ambush.
Peleus turned his mount and spurred it forward, following Pavel closely.
"Your Majesty, through here."
Pavel, who had entered the wooded area, signaled that they were approaching the target location.
Forgive me, Your Majesty. The Regent demands that I sever Your Majesty's lifeline here.
Where Pavel now led Peleus, assassins lay hidden in ambush.
The moment the King set foot there, he would never return to Valdina alive. Pavel offered a silent apology to the master who trusted him without the slightest doubt.
Forgive me, comrades. No reinforcements will come. I sent them false orders.
Pavel glanced back toward the encampment where fierce combat still raged.
In exchange for betraying his master and brothers-in-arms, Pavel had been promised the rank of general. As an Agema, he couldn't claim the royal guard's treatment was poor—but it was nothing compared to the Regent's offer of lifelong wealth and hereditary titles.
"Your Majesty, it would be best if we retreat to that position and assess the situation from there."
"Agreed."
Peleus stepped forward without hesitation.
But nothing happened.
That's strange... I clearly sent the signal.
"I'll go first."
Pavel, looking puzzled, dismounted and walked ahead cautiously.
Still, nothing happened.
How did this...?
The moment he surveyed the terrain, he froze.
He found all the assassins who had been lying in wait among the hidden pits—dead.
"Isn't this the sight you were anticipating, Pavel?"
A frigid voice sounded from behind, and D'Angel's blade struck Pavel down.
*Thud.*
Pavel collapsed to his knees.
"Traitor! What did you hope to gain by selling the lives of your lord and your brothers?!"
Why is the Commander here—he should be fighting the tribes...
Only then did Pavel see his former comrades emerging one by one from behind the corpses of the slain assassins.
Cheering erupted from the base of the mountain.
Pavel turned his head involuntarily toward the sound.
There—as though nothing had ever threatened them—Peleus's army was crushing the tribal confederation utterly.
Thanks to Pavel's deception, reinforcements that should have been moving south were now flooding in like a tidal wave, obliterating the enemy forces.
As if all the previous danger had been nothing but an illusion.
"This... this is... how...?"
"I wanted to confirm it. Whether you had truly turned your back on us."
Peleus's blue eyes gazed down at Pavel with cold indifference.
"Ten years together—wasted."
"Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness, I—"
Before Pavel could finish his plea, Peleus's impassive blade fell.
His severed head rolled across the forest floor.
A miserable end—fitting for a traitor.
"We have captured the traitor!"
D'Angel's triumphant shout rang out over Pavel's lifeless body.
"Haa... I surrender. King of Valdina, I beg for mercy."
At last, the chieftains knelt in submission.
The surprise assault and coordinated attack the tribal alliance had so ambitiously planned ended in catastrophic failure.
Ironically, their confederation had the unintended effect of gathering the scattered tribes of the plains together—allowing Valdina to subdue them all in one decisive blow.
At the crossroads between life and death, their choice was obvious.
Peleus walked forward across the bloodied earth.
A clear, vast, fertile land—where Valdina would spread its wings to their fullest potential in the years to come.
Father... your wish has been fulfilled.
Peleus bent down and kissed the earth reverently.
An unmistakable aura of piety emanated from the young King. At last, the banner of Valdina was planted firmly in this soil.
"VICTORY!"
"We won! The war is over!"
It was Valdina's triumph—bringing an end to the Ten Years' War.
"If Her Highness the Princess had not warned us in advance, we would have been annihilated in this battle."
Beside the traitor's severed head, D'Angel shook his own as though still dizzy from the revelation.
Who could have possibly known that the insular tribes of the plains would unite—or that their vice-captain, whom they had trusted implicitly, would conspire with the Regent and betray them?
Even if they had somehow escaped the encirclement through sheer force, what if they'd lost all the Agemas—the royal guard, Valdina's elite warriors?
Even if we'd won, it would have been a hollow victory—worse than defeat.
D'Angel was genuinely astonished.
"Has Her Highness Princess Medea perhaps awakened divine powers? Otherwise, how could she know this battlefield so intimately from Valdina, tens of thousands of miles away?"
"D'Angel. Do not speak so carelessly."
For the first time, a frosty command fell from Peleus's lips. That beautiful face turned solemn—brooking no argument.
If even a whisper spread that Medea possessed foresight, the Holy Land would come running immediately.
They were always eagerly awaiting the birth of a new Saint to strengthen the faith that had spread across the continent.
"The war has finally ended... and I can finally see Dea."
Peleus had absolutely no intention of losing the sister he had barely come to know—surrendering her to the Holy Land once more.
At that moment, an officer came running.
After Peleus had selected the troops and commanders to stabilize the newly conquered territories—
"Your Majesty, preparations are complete. We must send word of our victory to the homeland."
"There is no need."
Peleus shook his head.
Rather than lingering to savor his victory, he mounted his horse once more.
How long he had waited for this day.
What Peleus had longed for was not the fleeting moment of triumph.
It was the moment when he could complete his father's legacy—and return to his younger sister.
Now that he had achieved that goal, he would hesitate no longer.
"We return to Valdina."
"YEAH!"
The soldiers roared in unison.
After wandering foreign and barren lands for so many years, their longing for home had reached its absolute peak.
"We're going home! We're finally going home!"
"To our homeland—WOOOOO!"
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