Chapter 9 – Episode 9. Astrid Enters
Loyalty has limits.
The nation is the monarch, and since the monarch was a soldier, the loyalty of the knights was high, but there was a limit to that loyalty.
And the limit of that loyalty is different depending on how the target of loyalty treats them.
Knights who live for honor and die for loyalty are like the main pillars of the military empire of Einhafen, and from an early age Leopold grew up learning how to treat knights as a monarch.
However, as Kreuz and Wolfgang get older, they retire one by one, and now the Royal Guard, Silver Guard, Copper Guard and Bronze Guard are all seniors. It was a new force that grew up listening to their heroic stories.
In other words, Leopold did not have the close ties he had with his predecessors.
Such baseless loyalty was not very high, and Creutz was always worried about it.
But that’s the story so far.
It was night.
The time to end the day, this night when the darkness fell, came fairly even to the imperial palace where the emperor resided, and at the end of the frantic internal affairs, the emperor of Einthofen, Kreuz, finally finished the day’s work and went to bed.
After taking off her gown and handing it to her maid, the emperor, who changed into her pajamas, defeated all of her maids and approached the bed. The crystal ball placed next to the bed began to flicker blue.
– Loyalty bound by blood to His Majesty the Emperor.
A woman’s voice came from the other side of the crystal sphere.
The voice of a soldier who is low but calm, and if you want to be blunt, has the discipline.
“Yes, it is me. Report.”
Kreuz, who so naturally directed the crystal ball, sat down on the bed, and the events from the departure from Wolfgang’s Mitterien estate this morning until now were organized by time slot and flowed out in the voice of a woman inside the crystal ball.
“Huh.”
It was lunchtime, when Astrid approached her escort and handed out her own food.
And Leopold, who readily accepted Astrid’s behavior and shared the imperial family’s food, mingled with her knights and ate together.
Whoever sees it, the desirable crown prince and his wife.
The actions of the two were reported to Kreuz, and Kreuz raised his hand and touched his beard.
A smile that could not be hidden appeared on his face.
Like the concentric circles drawn by a stone thrown into a pond, the small smile gradually grew and eventually turned into a big smile, and Kreuz smiled.
After a while, Kreuz, who was delighted by tapping his stretched knee, barely stopped laughing at him.
“Yes, yes. Yes. By the way Wolfgang, that friend raised a daughter amazingly. They say it’s a leopard in the snowfield, so it’s true. She is like a woman who will become the mother of all people. Leopold, it’s your blessing. It’s your luck There is nothing lacking as the empress of the empire!”
It was satisfactory.
It was more than satisfactory.
She was like the daughter of the Mitterien family, the frozen shield that protects the northern part of this continent.
A woman who exposes her teeth to her enemies.
A woman who is infinitely tender to her children.
The Leopard of the Snow Field – Astrid von Mitterien.
“Leopold, you are truly blessed. Good, very good I am blessed with a daughter-in-law.”
Even after that, the sound of laughter did not leave the emperor’s bedroom for a long time.
*
There are things you have to fight for and things you can’t do, and that was the situation Astrid was in right now.
“No matter how you look at it, His Highness would like to sleep here.”
“Are you going to make me a laughing stock, Astrid von Mitterien?”
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t call me that?”
“It’s just calling names. Like someone who wields a greatsword, he understands with a broad mind, but?”
‘I’m pouting.’
They said it was wider than a sword, but why are you doing that?
Astrid frowned slightly, then shook her head gently.
Certainly, it wouldn’t look very good if Leopold slept in the carriage and Astrid camped outside.
It would be better to make concessions at this point.
It was only from Astrid’s point of view that being cared for by a man, and it was something she really hated when the target was Leopold, but it was unavoidable because she was still in the other person’s position.
“Your Highness, please have a peaceful night.”
Astrid, who had changed into a purple evening dress, bowed slightly to Leopold.
After washing her face, she left her hair undone for her bedtime, and thanks to her bowed head, shiny silver hair flowed like silk down her slender neckline, revealing the pure white nape of her neck.
“Sleep, I hope you have a restful night.”
What happened?
Astrid looked at the back of the prince as he hurriedly exited the carriage, and Astrid laughed.
It was a playful suggestion.
They were going to eat at the same place anyway, and the academy they were going to go to was actually a military academy, so Astrid suggested that it be better to camp with the knights.
And Leopold who readily accepted it… However, all the guards vehemently opposed Astrid’s accommodation, so Astrid was forced to sleep in the imperial carriage and Leopold camped.
“I didn’t mean to.”
Involuntarily, Leopold was pushed into a difficult path.
Will Leopold, who grew up completely unaware of hardships and is the flower in the greenhouse, be able to spend a peaceful night?
Astrid felt a little sorry for her.
‘I didn’t expect to accept it as it is.’
It really was.
*
“Because it’s okay.”
“Show me where.”
Again, the next morning.
In the carriage, Leopold grimaced, complaining of a pain in his back.
He said it was fine, but from Astrid’s point of view, it wasn’t fine at all.
“So why are you so stubborn because I sleep outside?”
“I’m a guy too, how do you make a girl sleep outside? Then, what would you like to hear from your father?”
“Thank you for your words.”
She didn’t want to be treated like a woman.
From Astrid’s point of view, she was doing it somehow, but she didn’t want to be treated like this.
It doesn’t make sense that army reservists can’t camp.
“I guess I look like a woman.”
At those words, Leopold opened his ax eye and glared at Astrid.
“Then are you a woman or a man?”
“Is that so? I want you to treat me like that.”
“That’s you-“
There, Leopold’s words suddenly cut off.
Even after waiting for a while, Leopold’s words didn’t seem to follow. When Astrid tried to ask what I was, Leopold sighed.
“… You are really good at talking. Not a single word.”
“Please tell me that you speak well.”
“Okay… “
Sukyoung is not something everyone does.
For Leopold, who had grown up comfortably in the imperial palace his whole life, staying overnight must have been a very difficult ordeal.
“If you go to the academy, there must be more training than this.”
“Astrid, aren’t you afraid? They say there are so many drills that even men can’t do.”
“Why, Your Highness, were you scared?”
“What does that mean again?”
‘Oops.’
Unconsciously, the language of the original world came out.
I don’t know how that might have sounded to Leopold’s ears, but anyway, it’s not a word that’s used here right now—
“It’s the dialect of the northern barbarians.”
“It must mean something bad.”
“You got it right. Congratulations.”
Away from Leopold’s glaring gaze, Astrid shied away from him.
*
It was a week’s journey.
In the meantime, I heard that Leopold had adjusted to the camp quite a bit, and on the last night he was also on duty.
“If you do that, you’re quite a soldier.”
Looking at Leopold who said confidently, Astrid laughed, causing a commotion again, but it was a fairly safe and peaceful journey nonetheless.
“Your Highness, I can see the castle walls.”
Einhafen’s capital, Persant.
Like the military empire of Eindhafen, all the gateways to Persant were surrounded by tall walls, and it was called the “Wall of Persant Welcome”, Meaning that if you come from afar and see the wall now, you will come to Persant. Rampart.
“Looking at the illusion wall… Oh my, it’s finally here.”
“Oh,” Leopold stretched his body loudly, and there was a crunchy, bone-to-bone sound.
“Oh, it’s refreshing.”
Next to Leopold, who sounded like an old man, Astrid stretched his neck and looked up at the illusionary wall.
High.
High, big—- gigantic.
Even from a distance like this, large stone blocks were piled up one after another, and the fortress walls soared high enough to pierce the sky.
It was a great momentum indeed.
As the carriage moves, the wall of illusion that approaches closer and closer shows off its majesty and presence.
In front of them, in front of the castle gate, a long line of wagons.
A wall so huge that the wagon looked like a matchbox.
“Your Highness, I will enter the palace right away.”
“Not so.”
As it is an imperial carriage, there is no need to wait to pass through the castle walls.
The carriage took a different road, not the road lined with other carriages, and headed for the imperial checkpoint, not the castle wall checkpoint.
‘But why doesn’t my doctor ask?’
He didn’t even say that he would accompany him to the imperial palace, and he didn’t even ask.
Of course, I wasn’t saying I wouldn’t go, but Astrid was annoyed inside.
It’s pure.
