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Chapter: 82

Darkness was falling. Although the monstrous beasts hadn\'t yet swarmed in earnest, it wasn\'t a time to rest.

The archers\' fingers were raw from firing arrows, and the other soldiers tirelessly carried boiling oil.

The stench of the beasts\' flesh burning in the hot oil stung his nostrils.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord stared at the fortress gate with a weary expression.

The previous night had been the most grueling of all the battles so far. The soldiers\' morale had noticeably waned with the absence of just one, albeit reckless, prince.

He had to admit it. The prince had already become the fortress\'s spiritual pillar.

\'He is doing what I could not.\'

Self-reproach, self-disgust, and indescribable emotions churned within him.

He couldn\'t tear his eyes away from the fortress gate, where the image of the prince departing lingered like an afterimage.

\'It\'s my fault for being inadequate.\'

The Lord of Wolhan Fortress blamed himself for the discord within the fortress.

It was a mistake to allow Elder Son Gye-du to rebel against him, even though he knew he would.

He had turned a blind eye to Son Gye-du\'s recklessness, believing he owed a debt to his father, the previous Lord of Wolhan Fortress.

However, ignoring and covering up problems wasn\'t the solution. He had wanted to be a good leader, but the situation was like a candle flickering in the wind.

Son Cheon-geum slowly closed his eyes and opened them again. The twilight had deepened.

The time for a decision was approaching.

He had to make Prince Ikwon his ally. Not only was there no other choice, but his heart, facing the impending battle, also desired it.

Yet, the reason he had delayed the decision until now was because of a lingering concern.

The Fortress Lord lowered his head and looked at the ground.

\'What I found in His Highness\'s chambers back then was definitely the bellflower.\'

Even though it had been dried, ground, and made into a powdered tea, it was undoubtedly the bellflower.

He could recognize it immediately because the bellflower was primarily found in the northernmost region of the Northern Region, near Wolhan Fortress.

\'Why? How?\'

Why did the prince have the bellflower?

It might not have been for his own use. He tried to consider the possibility that he had it for use as a weapon.

But his reputation lingered in Son Cheon-geum’s mind. It wouldn\'t be strange for a scoundrel to dabble in drugs.

He had discovered this truth just as he was trying to overcome his prejudice against the prince. That\'s why the sense of betrayal was even greater.

But he hadn\'t confronted the prince about it. He knew he needed him.

"My Lord!"

Just then, someone came running. The Wolhan Fortress Lord raised his head.

"His Highness, the Prince has returned!"

The Lord of Wolhan\'s eyes widened at the news.

He immediately started walking. Maintaining his composure, he walked slowly at first, but his pace gradually quickened.

By the time he reached the fortress gate, he was already running.

A memory he had been suppressing resurfaced from the depths of his mind.

The day he entered Wolhan Fortress and realized the weight of the burden he had to shoulder. On that day, he resolved to bear that weight, even if it meant breaking himself.

The memory of that day overlapped with the scene unfolding before his eyes.

He would not leave this place, even if it meant death. This was where he was meant to die. That thought had never wavered, not even for a moment.

But loyalty was fundamentally about dedicating oneself to others or a group that cared for you.

He realized this obvious truth only now.

At the fortress gate stood the returned prince.

The dark twilight sky behind him seemed to be ablaze.

Perhaps that was why he felt such joy, as if he were seeing someone who had returned from the dead.

Behind him were more soldiers than he had expected.

It was possible that the darkness made their numbers seem larger than they actually were, but even considering that, it was a considerable force.

His heart pounded from running.

Logically, he knew he shouldn\'t completely trust the prince.

The prince must also have his own motives for being in Wolhan Fortress. Everything was a transaction, after all.

Even the previous Lord of Wolhan Fortress, whom he had once trusted and followed like a parent, hadn\'t truly cared for him. He had merely valued his supernatural abilities.

It was a petty sentiment for the Fortress Lord to harbor. To still cling to such a thing and let it fester as resentment.

These were pointless thoughts.

What did it matter if the prince had his own motives? Son Cheon-Geum was also using him. It was just a transaction.

But one thing was certain.

He wasn\'t someone who would abandon them and flee alone in times of crisis.

That much was clear.

* * *

When Yegyeong returned to Wolhan Fortress, the troops were preparing for battle once more. The monstrous beasts, having retreated momentarily, were approaching again.

Even from atop the fortress walls, they could hear the beasts\' roars carried by the wind.

The groans of the wounded filled the air. The stench was overwhelming.

The smell of blood from both beast and human, rotting and mingling together; the smell of flesh burning in oil; and the monstrous beasts\' foul odor.

The soldiers and commanders brought from Misa and Yeoan Fortresses were shocked by the scene.

The reality was vastly different from what they had heard in the letters.

The reports they received painted a picture of Wolhan Fortress holding its own remarkably well.

However, "holding on" didn\'t mean they were fighting in a comfortable environment.

It was still a battle, and blood and death were ever-present.

Many of the soldiers seemed to have already lost their composure, even though the battle hadn\'t started yet, and all they had seen were the remnants of the previous fight.

The commanders inwardly clicked their tongues at the sight, but they didn\'t want to believe that their soldiers were already terrified.

Meanwhile, Commander Gyo-hyeon, who had come from Yeoan Fortress, watched as Yegyeong dismounted his horse and spoke with the Wolhan Fortress Lord.

He gritted his teeth, remembering his defeat at the hands of the reckless prince. During the entire journey from Yeoan Fortress to Wolhan Fortress, he had glared at the back of the prince\'s head.

\'Even so, he\'ll surely just stand back and watch.\'

There was no way the prince would personally join the front lines. After all, the most precious thing to those in high positions was always their own safety.

It was certain that the prince would be no different.

Gyo-hyeon, along with the other commanders, attended the meeting.

The meeting was held under the leadership of the Wolhan Fortress Lord.

However, the atmosphere was strange. Of course, the mood couldn\'t be good during wartime, but...

What he found odd was that the meeting revolved around the prince.

The Wolhan Fortress Lord had taken a step back and merely listened to the prince speak, and the commanders of Wolhan Fortress never once contradicted him.

It was incomprehensible.

He had heard that the prince was barely past twenty. How much battle experience could he possibly have at that age?

Moreover, this was the prince\'s first time in the Northern Region.

What did he know, having lived a life of comfort in the capital, to be giving orders like this?

Questions arose in the minds of Gyo-hyeon and the other commanders. No matter how they thought about it, there was no reason for them to follow the prince so readily.

The meeting, filled with questions, concluded, and Gyo-hyeon headed towards the fortress wall. But the direction the prince was heading was strange.

The prince was also heading towards the wall.

One of the Wolhan commanders spoke to the prince.

"I wish you good fortune in battle, Your Highness."

The commander bowed his head slightly, and the prince, placing a hand on his shoulder, replied, "You as well."

The commanders from the other fortresses were astonished by this sight.

Even with his reputation as a scoundrel, he was still a prince. Yet, a mere commander had casually spoken to him, and the prince had responded.

They couldn\'t help but be taken aback by their seemingly friendly interaction.

Confused, the commanders climbed the wall and took their positions. During the meeting, the battle had already begun.

"————!"

"Fire!"

"Uwaaaagh!"

Gyo-hyeon surveyed the battlefield. Though not as intense as the front lines at Wolhan Fortress, Yeoan Fortress was also a fortress in the Northern Region. He was relatively familiar with skirmishes against monstrous beasts.

However, he had never witnessed such a massive horde.

An unimaginable number of beasts kept surging forward, like an endless tide.

"Tsk."

Goosebumps prickled his skin. He clicked his tongue, trying to suppress the instinctive feeling of being overwhelmed.

Even just observing for a short while was an exhausting sight. How could anyone even begin to investigate the cause of this beastly surge under these circumstances?

To investigate the cause, they would need to approach the direction from which the beasts were pouring, but in this situation, that seemed like a pipe dream.

"Hey!"

Just then, the prince\'s voice rang out.

Perhaps because he had been glaring at the back of the prince\'s head during the entire journey to Wolhan Fortress, that voice was now more familiar to him than his own wife\'s.

Gyo-hyeon turned his head almost reflexively.

"If you want to die, go die somewhere else!"

The prince, standing on the fortress wall, was grabbing a soldier by the collar and berating him.

The prince\'s angry roar was so loud that even Gyo-hyeon, standing quite a distance away, could hear it clearly. It was loud enough to even cut through the roars of the monstrous beasts.

The anger wasn\'t just in his voice, either. The prince\'s face was flushed red, as if he was truly enraged.

It seemed Gyo-hyeon wasn\'t the only one curious about what was happening, as other commanders and soldiers were also looking at the prince.

"I-I apologize..."

The soldier, his collar still in the prince\'s grip, apologized meekly. But the prince\'s anger didn\'t subside.

Gyo-hyeon clicked his tongue inwardly. He had seen that soldier fighting just moments ago.

He had a favorable impression of the soldier, who fought with unwavering spirit and without regard for his own safety.

He had personally witnessed the soldier getting scratched by a monstrous beast\'s claws, bleeding, and nearly collapsing, only to rise again and continue fighting. It seemed the soldier was eager to achieve merits in battle.

Gyo-hyeon couldn\'t help but view the prince, who was now chastising this soldier, in a negative light.

So he was a scoundrel, after all. How could he, in this situation, demand things to suit his own whims?

Just then, the prince roughly released the soldier\'s collar and declared "You disregarded your superior\'s warning, so you have no right to be here. Get down. I\'ve remembered your name and face, so don\'t think I won\'t recognize you if you try to sneak back up."

His demeanor was quite cold. Gyo-hyeon noticed something then. The prince\'s body was drenched in blood, and he was holding a sword.

\'Did he perhaps save that soldier? And... a prince remembers a mere soldier?\'

After sending the soldier down from the wall, the prince returned to the battle.

He swung his sword, cutting down monstrous beasts, and ran across the wall. He was fully immersed in the battle, no different from any other soldier.

The prince had personally saved a soldier. He couldn\'t have imagined such a thing, unless it were the other way around.

Above all, Gyo-hyeon was shocked to realize that he had been wrong in assuming the prince would just stand back and observe the battle.

Gyo-hyeon stared blankly at the prince in the distance.

It was a different gaze from the one he had directed at the back of the prince\'s head while coming to Wolhan Fortress.

So engrossed was he in watching the prince that he almost got injured by a monstrous beast climbing the wall.

And he, too, ended up being scolded by the prince.