Day 20 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

The Royal Palace, Capital City of Naveland

VICTORIA wrinkled her forehead as she read the parchment on her hand.

This was ridiculous! What in the world did ‘everything is fine here’ supposed to mean? She sent the message to Southern Goldburg’s military in hope that they could deal with the problems, but they said that everything was fine? Did they even check Nighweald Village and Duskbury Town as she commanded? Must she bring troops there herself?

She clenched her fist and punched the air in frustration. But she couldn’t go out of the palace.

She had been thrust into working all these reports and paperwork, both from military and civil side. But most of them talked about the impending war with the Kingdom of Lirsk. How Lirsk was horrible and didn’t have any justification for starting a war, how they hoped the military was competent and would handle this properly…

It was frustrating reading all these reports as the highest military command in name while not being able to do anything about it. Sure, she could give command, but… She preferred to check things on her own.

Or maybe it was just her desire to go out. She really hated being cooped up in the palace. Unfortunately, her own personal guards had been watching her very closely under the Queen’s command and she found no chance to escape.

She stood from her desk and walked to the window. The study room was placed in the third floor of the west wing, and from there she could view the back garden was filled with beautiful greeneries. Unfortunately, it was also filled with castle guards patrolling. There were guards posted even right under her window. That meant she couldn’t escape through the window.

When she was about to turn around, the wind picked up and entered through the opening. She looked up to the sky, and when she did that, she saw a white bird flew and landed on her arms.

Raising an eyebrow, Victoria took the small scroll tied on the bird’s legs, then put the bird down on the window sill. She walked away from the window to unroll the piece of parchment and read the short sentence.

4th company trainees fell unconscious on the training ground for no reason. -C

Calathea, the Grizzle’s Blades’ leader, had given her what she paid for: information. Victoria’s forehead was scrunched up in deliberation. Trainees? Was this part of Lirsk’s plan?

But would trainees even be useful in their plan? They were young and inexperienced soldiers. Rendering them unconscious wouldn’t be useful, would it?

This kind of thing wouldn’t be big during normal days, and there would even be attempt of cover-ups and it wouldn’t make it to the military report. During war was no different. People would be scared being implicated of being a traitor and tried to hide it as best as they could. She expected better this time, though, as the General of the Army were currently in Dustor’s military compound.

But what else could she do beside wait for reports? What could she do after receiving the reports? Victoria felt restless. These kinds of feelings made her loathe being someone with responsibilities, but she knew she couldn’t just discard everything.

Neither could she just stay here.

She burned the message from Calathea and wrote something on a small parchment. After rolling it up and secured it on the white bird, it flew away.

Heaving a sigh, she walked to the door, intending to go back to her bedroom, but suddenly Luz slammed the door open with a complicated expression. “Your Highness, there is an urgent missive from General Adefine!”

Victoria frowned. “Give it to me!”

She reached the missive from Luz’s hand and read it. Her scrunched up forehead went even tighter and she almost squeezed the parchment in her hand. “I have to go,” she muttered under her breath and went out with sure steps.

Luz ran after her frantically. Her personal guards which were in front of her room followed her as well, she knew that. But whatever, let them watch. She would go out righteously and no one would stop her.

“Victa… Wait…” Luz walked behind her. “Did… did the war start?”

“First attack on Tamworth,” Victoria replied tonelessly. “We faced something unexpected.”

Luz fell silent. “On his letter yesterday, Ethan said they already had a strategy to deal with it…”

“Something unexpected happened,” Victoria repeated, more forcefully.

As she walked to the Queen Regent’s study, she reviewed what she knew about the border. There was the Lucent River, a river flowed that divided the old Grizzle province into two. That wide river was now used as a natural border. On the north side of it laid the City of Tamworth, the biggest city in Northern Grizzle, second only to Dustor. As it was in the border, the city was surrounded by high walls as a defense mechanism. It was not very far from Dustor, the capital city of the province. In the map, it was right under it.

On the south side of the river laid Oxborne City. It used to have a good relationship with Dustor, but since taken over by Lirsk, it was also surrounded with high walls. From what they knew from spies planted inside, there were over five hundred soldiers guarding that city normally. Now that Lirsk was preparing to attack, they would’ve gathered their soldiers there.

The troops in Dustor weren’t few either. Usually there were also around five hundred soldiers, to balance it out with Oxborne’s thousand, as to prevent them from attacking. Despite also raising their military power these last decade, it wasn’t as significant, because Forewood’s territory was so vast and problems were aplenty. Forewood didn’t really focus their funds to the military. Both the Queen Regent and the Council assumed that Lirsk had settled down with the peace treaty—there wasn’t even a thought to recapture Lirsk. Of course, some councilman with big ambition suggested it, but her mother the Queen Regent only seek for a peaceful reign.

It was just a peaceful reign was no longer possible.

Victoria shook her head. She was one of those who advocated improving their military prowess, and somewhat succeeded in doing so, but not as successful as she wanted it to be. What the missive stated… Victoria grunted. She was annoyed now. Her mother wasn’t a bad ruler, no, in fact, she was better than most of the monarchs in Forewood history.

But her mother was too… Timid, for lack of better words. Not in her behavior, but in her decisions.

Arriving before her mother’s study room, she stood straight, ignoring the two guards who stood guard beside the door. “Victoria Ulysses, seeking audience with Her Majesty!”

It only took a few seconds before the door opened. Her mother’s lady-in-waiting, Janet, opened the door for her with a bow. Victoria thanked her as she walked in without losing her momentum. “Your Majesty, I am going to Dustor!” She announced loudly.

The Queen Regent looked up tiredly from her work. “Why do you have to be so willful…”

She stood straight. “Your Majesty, have you received the missive from General Adefine?”

Her mother sighed heavily. “Yes, I have…” The Queen’s hand was on her forehead. “You don’t need to go personally.”

“I’m willing to.”

The Queen muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘at least she asks permission’ before raising her head to look at her. “Why is it that you always want to go out of the palace, Victoria?”

Victoria didn’t look away from her mother’s eyes, but she had no answer to the question. Perhaps it was because deep down she sought freedom, but responsibilities tied her. Or maybe it was because of said responsibilities that she had to be out of the castle. Either way, she couldn’t stay coop in safety and warmth of the royal palace. From her childhood she always found a way to go out and escape.

The Queen knew that too. She looked back down at the parchments on her desk. “Fine. Go if you want to,” she said at last. “Just remember to bring your guards.”

Victoria bowed down. “Yes, Your Majesty.” And then she turned and walked away with Luz following behind her. She was aware of her mother’s eyes on her back, but she didn’t stop until she was out of the room.

And then she looked at Luz and grinned. “The all-out approach worked better.”

Luz sighed. “Well, at least you didn’t sneak out…”

Victoria shrugged. “Let’s go. We’re going back to Dustor. Don’t you miss your Ethan?”

Luz glared at her, but Victoria ignored it. She waltzed into her bedroom and picked her military uniform from her wardrobe.

“Would Alize and Rex be able to come?” Victoria asked as she changed her outfit, with Luz assisting her.

Luz shook her head. “I don’t think it’s possible for Alize. Her vacation days had ended, after all.”

"We can bring the city guards... but it wont be wise," Victoria mused. “Well, what about Rex?”

“Maybe Rex would come along, I’ll let the servants send a message.” Luz wrote something on a small piece of parchment, then walked out of the room. “Lisa, send this to the Count Anderson’s house, to the oldest son.”

“To Mr. Rex?” The maid, Lisa, asked.

“Yes,” Luz replied. “Make sure to get a reply right away.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Victoria herself started to pack.

She only brought few belongings, including her common iron sword and her prized bow. It wasn’t like she would fight personally, she just felt like bringing some weapons would be beneficial in case of trouble. Other than that, she brought a few outfits suited for the occasion, including a spare military uniform with an additional strip.

Luz went back into the room. “Who else will be coming with us, Victa?” She started helping her pack.

Victoria was busy checking her sword. “Call in Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Nile.”

Luz looked at her in surprise. “Yes,” but she replied readily and went out again, this time to speak to the Princess’ personal guards.

It didn’t take long for Luz to go back with an armored knightess and a man in tunic military uniform on her tow. The Knightess, Agatha Lewis, was a woman in her late thirties that held the rank as the head of her personal guards. She was also married to the family that had always been personal guards to the royal family for generations.

While the man in uniform, Lewis’ second-in-command, was also a knight. Brentley Nile was a man in his mid-thirties that also came from the Queen Regent’s maiden family. It could be said that he was Victoria’s relative from maternal side, although they couldn’t say what relative exactly, because the relation was quite far.

Both of them bowed deeply before Victoria.

“Rise, Captain, Lieutenant,” Victoria said. “I am going to need you both as I am going to Dustor.”

Captain Lewis seemed quite surprised. “Well, I thought you’re going to leave us alone again, Your Highness,” she smiled.

Victoria winced. Indeed, she had been leaving her personal guards behind most of the time. They were supposed to follow her everywhere, but she disliked it. She escaped the palace a lot and her guards just couldn’t find her, which had led to a lot of punishment back then, but nowadays, everyone knew they couldn’t keep up with her. Even her personal guards that were tasked to watch her knew that she would eventually escape the palace despite them watching her like a hawk.

But this time she would go out of the palace righteously. Victoria smiled in satisfaction towards herself.

“Anyway, we’re going to Dustor City,” Victoria repeated again. “Captain, I have to trouble you to pick four most capable of your men, aside from the both of you, of course.”

The Knightess bowed her head. “Of course, Your Highness.”

“You’re dismissed,” the princess said. “Lieutenant, please stay back.”

Captain Lewis only looked back a bit, but she walked out all the same. Luz closed the door after she went out and stood there to guard.

Lieutenant Nile looked at her. “Is something wrong, Your Highness?”

“How’s the reassembly of the Crimson Corps I asked you to do a few days ago?” She asked with a frown.

The whole Crimson Corps was consisted of the elite soldiers of the kingdom, trained in cavalry and archery, and was under the Grand General’s command. It was said that one person could face ten enemies at the same time, dyeing the battlefield crimson with blood. The training was grueling and only the truest knights could join. They were assembled on the first year of her father’s, King Gilbert’s, reign, and had proven their worth during the battlefield on the first war with Lirsk a decade ago. When her father was assassinated, it was said that every single one of the Corps went crazy and killed enemies each with just a single blow.

People thought they had been disassembled, but in fact the Crimson Corps still existed and still trained extensively every day. It was just they were scattered in positions in Capital City of Naveland and its surrounding towns, so enemies would think that Crimson Corps was no more, and they could be a hidden weapon.

Lieutenant Nile was, in fact, an old General of Crimson Corps. He was positioned as Lewis’ second-in-command, this obscure position, so people won’t notice his disappearance if Crimson Corps would be needed again.

“I’m working on it, Your Highness,” Nile replied. “It’s been a bit difficult to gather those from the surrounding towns, though, as it would be noticeable if they all gather at the same place.”

“Just make them all to go straight to Grizzle, to Dustor City,” Victoria commanded. “We can reassemble there.”

Nile frowned. “But, Your Highness, are we in such hurry?”

Victoria smiled grimly. “We might need your service sooner than we think,” she answered. “Tamworth is currently barely holding on. The Corps would be needed.”

Lieutenant Nile nodded. “I understand.”

“Then keep working, Lieutenant. You don’t have to go with me to Dustor, you can come later with the Corps. Well, you’re dismissed.”

He bowed deeply and left the room. Before Luz could close the door, though, Lisa, the maid, walked in front of it and handed a small piece of parchment. Luz thanked her and walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. "Rex is busy with a whole load more weapon orders he need to take care of," Luz read the letter. "I guess it would only be us then."

Victoria nodded. “Yeah, make sense. I guess people are paranoid with the war here and starts to stack up on weapons.”

"What actually happened, Victa?" Luz put the parchment on the desk, then turned towards her with a troubled expression. “You even reassemble the Crimson Corps?”

"The City of Tamworth is barely holding on, as I said," she replied. "Lirsk deceived us, deceived our spies. Their Oxborne City had a thousand troops."

Luz frowned. "Well, that’s not good.”

“Yeah, we need to get there as soon as possible.”

And with that, Victoria made her righteous escape out of the Royal Palace. []