**Chapter 126**
* * *
“Sister, what is the matter?”
Neril’s servant girl, Saya, who had been looking down from beside her, turned around at the sudden movement.
“Just some lint.”
“Ah.”
Saya turned back. Her entire focus was fixed on the Rebels below the Castle Walls.
Everyone was in shock at the sudden appearance of the boy who had taken the leader’s head.
The Rebel camp was in utter chaos.
“You killed the leader! Theo, you traitor! You were a spy for the Royal Capital!”
The mercenaries Horols had brought charged at Theo to kill him. However, the commoners blocked their path.
“Do you know how hard Theo worked for us! There’s no way he would kill the leader without reason, or shout that it’s a fake rebellion!”
“Did you not hear what Theo just shouted? He said the leader was a spy who took the Regent Duke’s money! We have to look into that first!”
The Rebels split into two factions, facing off in a tense standoff.
The situation atop the Castle Walls was equally chaotic.
“Regent Duke, what is the meaning of what that man just said?”
“That you planned this? A fake rebellion?”
The vassals turned to the Regent Duke, demanding answers.
A member of the Rebels had killed his own leader and accused the Regent Duke by name. The circumstances were incredibly suspicious.
“It—it is a false accusation. They are trying to f-frame me—”
As the pale-faced Regent Duke stammered, barely able to speak,
*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*
A tumultuous sound echoed from the distance. The frantic sound of galloping hooves shook the earth.
“Aaaaah!”
“W-What is that!”
Soldiers were suddenly pouring out from a village located a short distance away from the Rebels.
It was Iason’s secret unit, driven out by a sudden surprise attack.
Following them, Giliphos’s thunderous roar resounded.
“Capture them! Do not let a single one escape!”
He and Dianzel’s Agema drove Iason’s unit toward the Rebels as if herding a pack of rats.
It looked as if Iason’s unit was also part of the Rebels, sharing the same cause.
“Do they have more reinforcements hidden there? They even look like elites!”
The people atop the walls were shocked that the Rebels had made such thorough, triple-layered preparations.
However, the Rebels themselves were completely unfamiliar with the soldiers fleeing toward them.
“Who are they? We’ve never seen them before!”
They looked at each other with bewildered faces.
“Are they not hidden ambushers the Royal Family kept to suppress us?!”
“It’s the Royal Capital guards! They’re enemies!”
Someone’s question eventually spiraled into a wild speculation.
Giliphos swung his mace once more, shouting menacingly.
“Even a corpse will do! Execute all those wicked ones who dared set foot on Baldina’s soil!”
“We’re going to die! Run!”
He was referring to Iason’s unit, but the Rebels, thinking he meant them, began to flee in terror.
Already thrown into confusion by the leader’s death, they had neither the composure nor the wit to figure out the truth of the current situation.
“What are you doing? Fight! You have to fight! Are you just going to die like dogs without even making a sound?!”
Seeing the Rebels disintegrate and scatter aimlessly, the mercenaries shouted urgently.
The noise was so thunderous that it even woke the fainted Birna.
“Ugh... nn...”
Birna opened her eyes as she regained consciousness. Her neck felt numb, and her vision was blurry from the thick dust.
Safely exiting the palace’s secret passage and seeing the white light... that was Birna’s last memory.
“Aaaaah! What is this...!”
She soon realized she was in the middle of enemy territory and was horrified.
Surrounded by soldiers holding terrifying weapons, her arms were bound, and there were even streaks of bright red blood all around her.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Birna shrieked as she discovered the leader’s severed head. A piercing scream echoed across the plain.
“Where is everyone! Mom! Dad! Save me! Everyone here is crazy!”
Tears streamed down her fine face. She kicked and struggled violently.
She couldn't believe she had been left alone among these Rebels.
Only then did she realize why her father had told only Medeia about the secret passage.
It was to hand Medeia over to the Rebels.
Medeia should be standing here right now. Not her!
“Medeia, I’m going to kill youuuu!”
A wicked curse spilled out, but unfortunately, she had neither the situation nor the leisure to make it a reality.
Because there was no one by Birna’s side right now. No one to rescue her from this chaos and take her back to the Royal Capital.
She hurriedly looked around.
‘That knight! Where is our family’s knight?’
But he was nowhere to be found.
Birna despaired at the fact that she had truly been thrown here empty-handed.
However, it seemed the gods had not abandoned her yet.
“Grand Duke! Castulo Grand Duke!”
It was because she spotted Iason running as if fleeing in the distance.
Though he was wearing a helmet, Birna recognized the horse he rode and his armor instantly.
“Your Grace! Save me!”
Birna shook her wrists back and forth.
Whether it was the urgency of needing to leave this place and go to the Grand Duke as quickly as possible, or because Theo had lightly nicked the rope with his blade earlier,
The rope binding her wrists snapped, and Birna was quickly freed.
She threw off the rope and plunged into the middle of the battlefield.
* * *
A short while earlier, from Iason’s perspective.
It was when the Royal Capital soldiers and the Rebels were facing off and arguing.
“We have captured the fake Princess!”
When Horols’s shout shook the earth and sky, Iason subtly revealed himself.
‘The time has come.’
Although the sudden appearance of Giliphos had temporarily halted the Rebels’ advance, Iason knew well that reality rarely followed a plan perfectly.
The Princess, wearing a sack over her head, was dragged onto the platform by the leader’s hand.
Iason frowned as he saw the Rebels handling her roughly.
‘To treat her so carelessly.’
As expected of a low-class pirate origin, he knew neither etiquette nor shame.
“Are you ready? We will charge over there shortly and rescue the Princess. You lot, sweep away those vulgar ones as you are.”
“Yes, Grand Duke.”
Beside him were the shadows who followed him.
However, when the sack was actually removed, Iason could not contain his shock.
His eyes widened, and he couldn't close his mouth.
“W-Why... why is the Young Lady there, and not the Princess...!”
Before he could even organize his confused thoughts, something even more shocking happened, as if everything until now had been nothing.
“The traitor has been executed! Regent Duke Claudio! Your plan has been exposed! The fake rebellion ends here!”
Iason’s eyes looked like they would pop out.
‘How did this happen? Who is that man again!’
Weren't all the Rebels supposed to be firmly in the Regent Duke’s grasp?
What happens if the leader is dead?
Just then, a subordinate ran over urgently.
“Your Grace, we have a problem. Our position has been exposed.”
“What? What do you mean—”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Iason snapped his head around.
A large, sturdy cavalry unit had stormed into the village where they were hiding and was destroying everything in sight.
As they were being searched out and poked with weapons, the hidden unit members had no choice but to fight back.
‘How did they know we were here?!’
They had ambushed Iason’s unit as if they had been waiting.
“Please flee. Their strength is unusual.”
Nord, one of the secret shadow guards who always protected Iason, whispered. He was the first to recognize the exceptional nature of those who had ambushed them.
Iason hurriedly looked around.
His soldiers were being killed silently by the spears and swords of the Baldina knights.
They were in a completely different league from Giliphos’s soldiers who had been dealing with the Rebels just a moment ago.
*Thud, bang. Thump.*
The sounds of his allies being struck by the Baldina army’s swords and falling from their horses hit Iason’s ears louder and heavier than ever before.
“Your Grace, this won't do. I will arrange an escape route, so please withdraw quickly.”
“No! We’ll be wiped out at this rate! Everyone, retreat! Get out of here and scatter!”
Iason screamed with bloodshot eyes.
The name of this shadow unit was the Varangians. They were the ones his father, the late Emperor, had left him before he died.
They were the ultimate weapon he had raised beneath his uncle’s notice, so that he could oppose him. They were not people to be lost so vainly here.
Just then, *Pft—!*
An arrow flew.
“Your Grace! Look out!”
Simultaneously with the guard’s shout, Iason reflexively swung his sword. However, the arrow was not aimed at him.
“Urk—!”
Nord clutched his neck where the arrow was lodged and fell from his horse. Blood splattered over his helmet decorated with laurel leaves.
“Nord!”
By the time Iason ran over, he, who had wide, staring eyes, was already dead.
“Who is it! Where did it come from!”
Iason urgently scanned the surroundings, but he couldn't tell the direction the arrow had come from.
Before he could even clear his dazed mind, the terrifying sound of cutting wind hit his ears again in succession.
“Ugh—!”
“Ha!”
Sud and West, who were to Iason’s left and right, collapsed.
They had suffered fatal wounds, their necks and chests pierced by arrows.
“W-What is this...!”
Several more arrows flew again.
The rapid firing that occurred in the blink of an eye pierced the guards as if to ensure their deaths.
In an instant, three of Iason’s four secret shadow guards were dead, having served as human shields.
Iason froze. Goosebumps broke out down his spine.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
A roar like the metallic sound of a wild beast echoed.
Iason could no longer maintain his facade of composure.
With a face distorted like a demon's, no one would have been able to recall the usually gentle Castulo Grand Duke.
“Who is it, who is it! Who is targeting me!”
Nord. Sud. West. And Ost.
These four guards were secret shadows who protected the direct line of the Kazen Imperial Family.
Those who existed while hidden in the shadows, yet simultaneously did not exist.
Even as guards were swapped over hundreds of years of history, their names were always the same.
They had protected that bloodline until now with blind loyalty to the pure imperial blood.
They did not intervene in any political matters and were only responsible for the preservation of the bloodline.
“Iason, they will not make you honorable or great, but they shall keep your life safe.”
Before he died, Iason’s father, the late Emperor, had handed over the Varangian unit and informed him of these four people's existence.
The fact that Iason had survived safely until now, even though his uncle Perdicas II had tried to eliminate the nephew who was an eyesore, was largely due to their efforts.
Since Perdicas II was not of the direct bloodline, he didn't even know of their existence.
They had also accompanied him silently like shadows on this trip to Baldina.
Even though they didn't lend their strength to inciting the rebellion with the Regent Duke, they still stayed by his side in the disguise of ordinary soldiers to guard Iason.
But to have known of their existence and selectively eliminated only the recluses...
‘It’s a trap. This is a trap aimed at me, not the Regent Duke!’
Iason finally realized.
The mastermind who had created this situation was someone who knew him and the Kazen Imperial Family very well.
His face turned pale.
However, the realization was late, and the cruel reality was unfolding before his eyes.
“Ost! We must get out of here right now!”
Without even time to mourn the deaths of his guards, just as he was about to gallop away frantically to save the one remaining guard.
“Castulo Grand Duke! Save me!”
A girl’s piercing scream was heard.
