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Chapter: 80

Yoo Geung entered the room, carrying a box in his hands. It was the same box that we had painstakingly brought from Wolhan Fortress.

It was just a plain wooden box. From its appearance, one couldn\'t tell what was inside.

The Lord of Misa\'s expression clearly showed his displeasure at my allowing Yoo Geung to enter so freely.

Whatever. I ignored his passive protest and beckoned with my hand.

"Place it here."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Yoo Geung placed the box in the center of the table. The Lord of Misa looked at it curiously. Yoo Geung stepped back.

"What is this?" the Lord of Misa asked, his voice laced with unease.

"Seeing is believing. You\'ll know once you see it."

I grasped the lid of the box and opened it. Inside, a single lump was wrapped in a plain cloth, tied like a bundle.

The cloth was a dark, reddish-black. However, the unstained knots stood out with their white color.

Even the Lord of Misa would have noticed that the cloth was originally white, not red.

"Th-this is...?"

The Lord of Misa looked at me with a bewildered expression. Instead of explaining, I untied the knots with my hands.

The blood, which had dried during the journey to Misa Fortress, no longer stained my hands.

Finally, as the knots came undone, and the cloth slipped away, revealing the contents within.

It was the head of a monstrous beast, its fur bristling, having died some time ago. Its eyes, which remained open in death, were now clouded and white.

"Eek...!"

Crash-!

Startled by the sight of the dead beast\'s head, the Lord of Misa abruptly stood up, knocking over his chair in the process.

Perhaps due to the commotion, murmurs could be heard from outside the reception hall.

I let out a chuckle.

"Why are you so frightened by this?"

At my words, the Lord of Misa\'s face flushed red. It seemed he was ashamed of his display of fear.

However, what he should truly be ashamed of wasn\'t his momentary fright, but something else entirely.

"We have to see this every day. Hundreds of these creatures gather and attack our fortress."

It was a scene I had witnessed just this past dawn. Torches blazed on the fortress walls, and beneath them, the monstrous beasts attacked.

Their roars and the groans of the wounded still rang in my ears. The rough breathing of the beasts and the scraping of their claws against the walls were still vivid in my memory.

Could this man possibly understand the tension of those moments, where we couldn\'t even properly mourn the deaths of our comrades for fear of losing morale?

"If Wolhan Fortress falls, where do you think these creatures will go? They\'ll come here, to Misa Fortress. Isn\'t that an obvious outcome?"

Wolhan Fortress was the strongest wall. No other wall could withstand the sharp claws of the monstrous beasts for as long.

The fact that no other fortress wall was as strong as Wolhan\'s meant that if Wolhan fell, the fortresses south of it would be defenseless.

The attacks of the monstrous beasts were relentless, and their mindless strength was formidable. The repercussions of Wolhan\'s fall were unimaginable.

"Are you unaware of the fearsome north wind, or have you simply forgotten its harshness?"

Of course, the endless hordes of monstrous beasts wouldn\'t be able to advance southward indefinitely. But by the time the situation was resolved, the Northern Region would be devastated.

If that were to happen, even victory would be meaningless. Who would celebrate a victory achieved only through loss?

Moreover, summer was approaching. It wasn\'t a good time for fighting.

The casualties would be even greater. If the corpses of the monstrous beasts rotted near the villages, disease could spread.

Even if they couldn\'t endure the summer and retreated, when the weather turned cool and winter approached, the number of monstrous beasts wouldn\'t decrease.

It was said that even more beasts descended during the winter when food was scarce.

"Your Highness, please calm yourself. I am not saying that I will not send reinforcements," the Lord of Misa said soothingly, his voice cautious.

"Then what are your intentions?"

"I am merely saying that I need to discuss this first."

"And what about the lives that will be lost while you\'re discussing?"

I rolled up the sleeve of my injured arm, revealing the still-unhealed wound. The Lord of Misa\'s eyes widened.

"You can recognize what caused this injury, can\'t you? Do you need an explanation?"

"...No, Your Highness."

The Lord of Misa\'s eyes wavered.

Still, he didn\'t say he would reconsider.

"You shouldn\'t forget that the peace you enjoy exists only because Wolhan Fortress stands strong.

* * *

The prince left the reception hall. However, the monstrous beast\'s head remained on the table. The stench from the carcass filled the room.

Perhaps it was due to the prince\'s imposing presence, but the reception hall, which had seemed spacious before, felt strangely small now.

The Lord of Misa wanted to open the windows for ventilation, but they seemed too far away, and he couldn\'t bring himself to stand up.

"Open the windows," the Lord instructed.

Clank-

A servant opened the windows. As the outside air flowed in, the stench lessened slightly.

"It\'s unpleasant to look at, so remove it as well."

The Lord of Misa pointed at the monstrous beast\'s head. The servant made a troubled face, then reluctantly collected the box.

Even after the servant removed the beast\'s head, the stench lingered. It was an intense stimulus for the Lord of Misa, who had never experienced a large-scale battle with monstrous beasts.

"I heard he was the worst kind of scoundrel..."

That was another shock as well.

It was Prince Yegyeong himself.

They said he was a drunkard from day to night and prone to beating people up. His treatment was so harsh that, apparently, court ladies and eunuchs alike couldn\'t bear it and ran away.

For a prince to be known as a scoundrel, he couldn\'t be an intelligent man. Even if he tried to use his foolish brain, his limitations would be obvious.

He had assumed that the prince would give up after a few sweet words. He also thought that, given the prince\'s unexpectedly youthful appearance, he could be easily persuaded without any harshness.

However, the prince wasn\'t easily swayed.

The advisor, who was about to enter the reception hall, heard the Lord of Misa muttering to himself and spoke.

"How did it go?"

"It doesn\'t seem like it will be easy."

"But according to the rumors, Prince Ikwon is..."

"Whether those were just empty rumors or a smokescreen intentionally spread by Prince Ikwon himself... we can\'t know for sure here."

He couldn\'t believe the former. The rumors had spread throughout the country. A rumor of that scale couldn\'t have been fabricated from a few of the prince\'s mistakes.

Even if it was negative, it was still fame, and gaining notoriety wasn\'t that easy.

However, he couldn\'t welcome the latter possibility either.

It would mean that the Prince was in such a desperate situation that he had to portray himself as a scoundrel. As a prince, he lacked nothing in the world.

But to create such rumors at the cost of his own reputation...

\'No way.\'

The scoundrel prince. The most urgent desire of Prince Ikwon.

It was to seize the throne.

"Chaos and Dool accompanied His Highness. Did you confirm?"

"Yes, I saw them."

Although the prince didn\'t bring many people, he was accompanied by those in key positions in Wolhan Fortress. This couldn\'t have happened without the Lord of Wolhan\'s approval.

It was a greater favor than allowing him to bring dozens of soldiers.

At the very least, he could be sure that the relationship between the Lord of Wolhan and Prince Ikwon was amicable.

"The Lord of Wolhan probably sent them himself."

"Doesn\'t that mean the Lord of Wolhan has chosen Prince Ikwon?"

"It\'s not certain, but it\'s a possibility."

Wolhan Fortress had been the leader of the Northern Region until now. Although they weren\'t pleased with this fact, they didn\'t have the power to overturn it.

As the Lord of Misa Fortress, he had to understand the implications of the leader of the Northern Region supporting the scoundrel prince.

"What will \'he\' say...?"

The Lord of Misa thought of Son Gye-du. They had known each other for a long time, but they weren\'t close.

However, he knew that Son Gye-du disliked the Lord of Wolhan. It was impossible not to know, considering how obvious he made it.

"He won\'t be happy about the alliance between the Lord of Wolhan and Prince Ikwon."

However, the Lord of Misa Fortress had never sided with Son Gye-du. As the Lord of a fortress in the Northern Region, his own comfort relied on the strength of Wolhan Fortress.

Therefore, it was better for him that the current Lord of Wolhan, with his supernatural abilities, remained in that position. Without those abilities, even the purest bloodline would be meaningless.

"It\'s strange for the monstrous beasts to descend from the mountains at this time of year, isn\'t it?"

"Indeed. It\'s not winter when food is scarce, so why are they attacking the fortress now...? It\'s a very rare occurrence."

The Lord of Misa calculated in his head. He couldn\'t imagine Wolhan Fortress falling. It was the tallest and strongest barrier in the region...

"Does glory eventually fade with time?"

It was a moment when his pride as a native of the Northern Region cracked.

In reality, the main causes of this situation were the unusual timing and ferocity of the monstrous beasts\' attacks, coupled with the fact that it was the farming season...

But it was difficult for him to accept this objective truth. The shattering of his pride was more an emotional matter than a factual one.

"Do you think we should send troops?" the Lord of Misa asked his advisor.

The Lord\'s opinion was the most important, and the advisor\'s was the second most important. The need for a meeting was just an excuse.

"It seems that the Lord of Wolhan has decided to support His Highness, Prince Ikwon."

"That\'s right."

"If they support His Highness, there\'s only one possible outcome, isn\'t there?"

"...Indeed."

A crushing defeat or a grand victory.

Death or claiming it all.

Having his own thoughts confirmed by someone else left a bitter taste in his mouth. Although the capital was far away, he couldn\'t be happy about the unrest in the country.

"I don\'t know what the Lord of Wolhan sees in Prince Ikwon, but he has never made a wrong choice. You know that, don\'t you?"

It was true. The Lord of Wolhan Fortress was someone who had never failed.

Although he hadn\'t achieved any great successes, the Lord of Misa, who had observed his actions from a similar position, knew how difficult it was to be a leader without any missteps.

The Lord of Misa recalled the injury on the prince\'s arm. It wasn\'t just a scratch. It was clearly an injury sustained in a life-or-death struggle.

He briefly imagined the prince fighting with his life on the line. It wasn\'t a difficult image to conjure.

However, it was hard to expect a prince from the capital, especially one with a reputation as a scoundrel, to genuinely fight for the Northern Region.

The more he thought about it, the more conflicted he became.

He simply hoped that he wouldn\'t have to participate in the war himself. The peace of the Northern Region and the prosperity of his fortress were important, but his own safety always came first.

The Lord of Misa sighed.

"Inform the His Highness that we will send troops. We shouldn\'t keep such a busy person waiting."