“Your Highness, please don’t pull that off again!”

  “Bah. As if something awful happened,” Alexa shrugged with a smile. “If anything, what I did turned the tide of the battle.”

  “But still!”

  Lieutenant General Max Clausewitz’s complaints fell on deaf ears as Alexa turned to Adele, whispered to her something about preparing the manor they were in for negotiations, and then turned back to the distraught officer after Adele nodded and left.

  It seemed that Max was extremely worried about Alexa. So extreme were his worries that he rode out on horseback right after he received news about Alexa’s move to go to Rumpalz.

  But all of it would be for naught. After all, Alexa emerged unscathed. The mutineers have taken over the ranks of the so-called XLI Corps of the ‘Second Continental Army.’ They were responsible for assaulting the towns and villages held by the Royal Guard and Max’s battlegroup on the south side of the Rutherford Mountain Range.

  Unlike in other areas, the XLI Corps apparently struggled badly due to the open terrain and mud. In addition to the improved defenses of Alexa’s loyalist soldiers, the XLI Corps suffered horrendous casualties since the battle started.

  So high were the casualties that the XLI Corps officers ordered ‘forced attack’ measures, throwing wave after wave of their soldiers into the meat grinder in the hopes of wearing down the defenders. While bloody, it was working.

  By the time Alexa arrived earlier, the rest of Max’s battlegroup was already in retreat in other sectors. Down here, the units facing the XLI Corps only fared a little bit better than the rest, but they were otherwise already preparing to retreat.

  Until Alexa and Phoebe came. Their presence was just in the middle of the bloodiest waves sent by the XLI Corps, and with Phoebe healing hundreds of soldiers around Rumpalz, a mutiny broke out. Right now, the news was that the commander of the XLI Corps had been executed during a scuffle.

  With the saintess herself offering to heal everyone in the formation, and with Alexa giving them the chance to defect to her side without consequences, it was likely that the battered XLI Corps was going to turncoat on Henry’s side.

  That was why…

  “You can’t complain anymore about this,” Alexa replied to Max. “By the way, have you not received any news from my knight?”

  “Sir Wilhelm?”

  “Yes. I gave him explicit orders not to turn this war into a bloody mess.”

  “...W-we tried, Your Highness. But they were already preparing to push to the Schengen Region. It was untenable.”

  “So you chose to fight here.”

  “I was assigned to do that, yes. My mission was to make the enemy bleed as they broke through this mountain range before retreating and rejoining the rest of the 2nd Group Army for a counterattack.”

  “I see.”

  Alexa picked up her tea on the table and sipped from it. It seemed that Wilhelm was scheming for something to destroy Henry’s armies once and for all.

  And this guy, alongside his battlegroup, was his sacrificial pawn.

  Alexa had seen outside the result of Wilhelm’s plan. The enemy utterly outnumbered Max’s battlegroup, and the fight was only possible because of the terrain advantage they had over Henry’s armies.

  According to Max, right now, they were facing both the First and Second Continental Armies of the Free Republic. They were the original core of the 4th Group Army, reorganized and renamed for their new purpose.

  Their numbers had also swollen greatly, as recruits flooded their ranks. Combined, the First and Second Continental Armies were two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers strong. That wasn’t counting the Third Continental Army, which was a hundred thousand strong, though that one was stationed in the east, facing off against General Keitel’s 1st Group Army.

  “I cannot let all these troops be sacrificed for a petty power struggle,” Alexa explained to Max. “With mobilization, I am seeing numbers of soldiers that I can barely fathom. You understand that the numbers we have right now would be better off sent north to defend mankind, no?”

  “...I believe so, Your Highness.”

  “Right, that’s why I’m so, so disappointed!” Alexa pouted. “This battle alone probably cost us thousands of soldiers for no reason. I want it to end, so let me and Phoebe negotiate with the enemy. I will make them bend over with words.”

  “Sir Wilhelm is planning to destroy the First and Second Continental Armies.”

  “And I won’t let him do that. At best, I’ll only let him move the 2nd Group Army into positions that would threaten Henry.”

  “...You’re planning on cornering the enemy and giving them a way out?”

  Alexa smiled.

  “Indeed!”

  Then, after emptying her teacup, Alexa stood up.

  “Send a letter to Wilhelm about avoiding another pitched battle. For now, I have to talk to our unruly ‘enemies’ and get them back on my side, okay?”

  Max nodded, seemingly disinterested in correcting Alexa. When she left the room, with one of Alexa’s maids opening the door for her, Max silently muttered something to himself.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “That brat’s too naive.”

  Alexa heard that, but she didn’t care. After all, everyone always said the same thing. Alfred and Adele said the same thing when Alexa planned to go heal enemy soldiers on the battlefield.

  They thought she was going to be killed!

  But Alexa had [Civila Mandato] and [Rose Eyes]. Combined, she was essentially a master orator capable of moving the emotions of nearly everyone save for a few.

  That was why, she believed, she could pull this off.

  Naive or not, I’m not letting older men decide that the world’s fate can only be determined by blood and steel.

  I’ll show them the correct path that someone like me can pave.

  Hmph.

  +++

  “How is this possible?” Henry asked, angered.

  “Her Highness and Her Holiness—”

  “Don’t call them by their honorifics, you fool!” Henry seemed truly angered, but he composed himself in front of his staff officers. “Whatever, just give me the rundown.”

  “Alexa Theresa…she…” The general that Henry was talking to stuttered. “She arrived at Rumpalz in the middle of the battle. With the saintess’s help, they offered significant aid to our injured troops.”

  “That’s…how does that start a mutiny?”

  “Our officers on the ground tried to drive her away. The common soldier…had a different opinion on the matter.”

  Henry visibly fumed at that explanation, but he didn’t say much more.

  “I say, we postpone our assault.” One staff officer said. “We’ve had intel that the Army of the Leine is now on the move on our southern flank.”

  “So is the Army of the West. It seems that General Pascal is attempting to envelop our two armies.”

  “How troublesome.”

  Henry looked down at the map with increasing agitation.

  “How many corps did we lose?” Henry followed up with another question.

  “Only the XLI Corps has been affected by the mutiny. However, our position in the south is now off-balance, and the morale of the Second Continental Army is temporarily in question.”

  “I see. Abort our assault westward then. Let’s cut our losses.”

  Henry’s generals all saluted before leaving the meeting room. Once that was done, it was just him and Elisabeth left. Throughout the meeting, all she did was stand by his side to take notes.

  It was her new job. A few days ago, when Henry left her free to roam around and do whatever she wished, a man who declared his utmost loyalty to Alexa Theresa attempted to kill Elisabeth.

  That was the first one. Another attempt happened just a day later, and so, it became clear that Elisabeth couldn’t just disappear and escape the chaos.

  If she walked away from Henry and the security he provided, Elisabeth’s death was certain. She, after all, was who everyone blamed for the current conflict because everything started after her attempted regicide.

  As such, she was forced to stay with him. Even just peeling off with her own bodyguards wasn’t enough—the entire revolutionary faction was simply hard to trust.

  It was why Elisabeth decided to try influencing things with the only option she had. She’d work under Henry. At first, the man found her offer ridiculous.

  Quite frankly, even Elisabeth found it stupid. Make things work? How? But ever since she started doing this, she realized that it was extremely crucial.

  She was now at the forefront of everything that was happening. She had her eyes and ears on the affairs of the empire. When she finished jotting down everything, she now had a clear picture of what was happening.

  Henry was losing.

  Perhaps…if I play this right, I might find an opening.

  “Scheming already?”

  “Huh?”

  Elisabeth perked up, surprised by Henry’s question. Naturally, she quickly shook her head.

  “Of course not.”

  “You don’t need to lie, you know?” Henry poured wine in a glass. Then, he drank it in one go. “I recognize you’re a bit of a headache now that I’ve dragged you into my mess. But, so long as you don’t directly threaten me, I don’t mind if you run away.”

  “...Running away isn’t an option, Sir Henry.”

  “You were strong enough to deter the last attempts on your life.”

  “And what after that? I’ll still be a fugitive. Should you lose, I’ll be executed with you.”

  Henry laughed.

  “Executed?”

  “What?”

  “Do you really think that woman will execute any one of us?”

  Henry laid his back flat on his chair, looking up at the ceiling.

  “Maybe I’ll be dead once this is over. But you…all you need is to grovel at her feet for forgiveness, serve your time in some dinky-ass prison cell, and enjoy your life afterward. Well…assuming that you’re fine with being demoted to a commoner.”

  Elisabeth didn’t answer, allowing Henry to continue speaking.

  “As for me, I have my ambitions. I still have cards that I can play with. If I win, I’ll gain everything. If I lose, I’ll lose everything. You, on the other hand, no matter who wins—you’ll never come back as the heir to your father’s dukedom.”

  “I am here just to survive,” Elisabeth gritted her teeth. “Don’t misunderstand.”

  But…

  But I must admit, I hate that I lost that.

  It was my destiny. If only Alexa Theresa didn’t change, and everything went the same way, I’d be finishing school now, and then I’d be ready to take up my father’s mantle one day.

  But no.

  While Elisabeth fumed, Henry decided to drink down the remains of his bottle. When he was done, he stood up, and he curled his fist.

  “I’ll meet that bastard Wilhelm head-on. Mano-a-mano, whoever has the best army wins. I’ll make that Alexa Theresa girl cry first before losing.”

  He grinned at Elisabeth.

  “I suggest you try to find your own path now. If I lose, you probably shouldn’t be on my side.” He walked past her, patting her back lightly. “Live strong, alright?”

  Then, he was gone from the room.

  Elisabeth let out a long sigh. Maybe it was really time to figure out a way to appease Alexa Theresa before Henry’s insurrection fell apart.

  That was when ideas started to fall in her mind. The risk of dying was high, but…it might restore her lost honor.

  …If I can just backstab him at the right moment.

  A giggle came from her lips.

  “Even Alexa Theresa will be pleased, no?”