Queen of Revenge - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54
“Why are the patrol units that left this morning taking so long? This is my grandson’s first deployment, and he wasn’t even mentally prepared when they dragged him away. How can the sun be setting already…?”
“Silence. Didn’t I tell you it was an order from above!”
A white-bearded Village Elder with a hunched back clung to the Guard Knight, pleading through tears.
“It’s not just my grandson, sir. The Fortress Army soldiers are precious sons of our Winterbark Village. Before, there was always time to send word to families before deployments, but now they’re being conscripted indiscriminately, and the families’ worry is beyond measure—ugh!”
The Guard Knight kicked the Village Elder’s shin with all his might. The old man screamed in agony and collapsed.
“They’ll return once their mission is complete. How dare a commoner like you question anything? Have you lost your mind? If you want to complain, go find your foolish Commander!”
The Guard Knight wore different armor than the Fortress Army soldiers. His breastplate gleamed as if brand new, and his cloak bore not a speck of dust.
Iolet kept her eyes fixed on him as she asked Franz.
“I’ve noticed something odd since earlier. Aren’t those Guard Knights from the Fortress Army? Why do they dress differently?”
“Ah, they’re reinforcements sent from the Capital.”
“Which unit do they belong to?”
“That is….”
Franz hesitated for a moment.
Given the sensitive nature of the matter, this wasn’t information to divulge to outsiders, especially not to a foreigner.
But the beautiful woman before him was no outsider. She was none other than our Commander’s wife!
“The 3rd and 4th Companies of the Capital Defense Army 1st Battalion, directly under the Second Prince. They arrived at the Fortress around this time yesterday.”
“…!”
A chill ran down Iolet’s spine.
The Second Prince had sent reinforcements. She’d been caught on the hook!
“Did the Second Prince come himself? Is there any word of the other princes coming—”
“Why is someone who isn’t even military personnel inside here in the first place? Is this how discipline is normally maintained in this place?!”
Iolet hadn’t even finished her question. The Guard Knight, still seething with anger, raised his boot to trample the Village Elder’s chest.
At Iolet’s signal, Lucian moved forward like lightning.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
The Guard Knight flew backward from the powerful kick to his ribs. Dust billowed up in a haze.
The Fortress Army soldiers watching rushed forward and surrounded the Guard Knight.
“Stop! This man is the Village Elder of Winterbark Village. He’s also the official responsible for supplying provisions to the Fortress!”
“What?! You dare strike me for that? Do you not know I’m a Guard Knight appointed by The King himself…!”
Taking advantage of the commotion, Iolet lowered herself before the fallen Village Elder.
“Are you alright, sir?”
The Village Elder, clutching his shin, lifted his head. His wrinkled face was drenched with tears.
“I’m, I’m fine. Who might you be, young lady…?”
“Just a passing traveler who stopped by. Franz, help this gentleman up, would you.”
Franz, who had been fidgeting, quickly helped the Village Elder to his feet.
“Well then, please go inside, Village Elder. Once the Commander returns, I’ll hurry and bring Noah to visit you.”
“No, I’ll wait here. I came as a representative of the village. Don’t mind me—go about your business, my friend.”
Iolet withdrew a handkerchief from her pocket. As she placed it in the Village Elder’s hands, he hunched his shoulders and murmured.
“Thank you, young lady. You seem like someone of great importance, yet I’ve shown you such an unsightly sight….”
“Please, don’t worry about it. Use it freely.”
I led the Village Elder beneath the tent canopy, where we settled side by side on simple camp chairs.
After wiping away his tears and drinking a cup of water, the old man seemed considerably more composed.
His eyes grew distant with melancholy as he gazed out at the bustling military camp.
“My son died the year the Northern Fortress was built.”
A group of soldiers rushed past us. Some recognized the Village Elder and offered their respects. He returned their greetings with a weary wave.
“He worked under the Commander. Of course, Kairon Winterbark wasn’t the Commander back then….”
“I heard the Fortress was completed five years ago.”
“The completion was five years ago. The initial foundations were laid seven years before that—around the time Kairon Winterbark recovered.”
Recalling something, the old man let out a hearty laugh.
“I never imagined that boy, who arrived in such a wretched state, would become the Commander.”
“A wretched state?”
I asked in surprise.
The Village Elder nodded gravely.
“He arrived in a prisoner transport cart. A fifteen-year-old boy, slashed to pieces by blades—his eyes, limbs, even his insides were torn to shreds. His abdomen was so crudely stitched that his organs spilled out between the gaps, visible through the wooden bars of the cart….”
“….”
“In all my years, I’d never witnessed such horror. The soldiers even spoke of how several of his organs had already been sold off. In that moment, humans terrified me far more than the Demon Tribe ever could.”
I was rendered speechless. Of all the stories I’d heard in my life, this was the most horrifying.
Kairon Winterbark had never shared such gruesome details with me.
“Yet despite that condition, the boy survived. His vitality was extraordinary. But it was clear to everyone that he was beyond saving, so the soldiers abandoned him in the Unregistered Territory, cart and all.”
“But then how did he….”
“The villagers and I went searching for him in the Unregistered Territory.”
“Did you find him?”
“No. We were terrified the Demon Tribe would pursue us, so we couldn’t search for long. We could only pray that even a small fragment of bone would be swept away by the blizzard and return to us. …Yet that boy came back alive ten days later.”
“He returned on his own?”
“Yes. And he walked back on his own two feet, perfectly sound.”
The old man sighed, as if still amazed by the memory.
I couldn’t accept it so calmly. Was such a thing even possible?
A boy abandoned in the Unregistered Territory in a state of near death, returning alive?
The Village Elder’s story was becoming more like a soliloquy.
“In every way, he was extraordinary…. His strength, his beast-like instincts, even his intellect. Within a few years of his return, he gathered people and organized the Security Force, then completed this Fortress as if by miracle. Since then, far fewer have died senselessly….”
The Village Elder turned to me with a faint smile.
“Thinking about it calmly now, if our Noah is on patrol with the Commander, perhaps there’s nothing to fear after all. I find myself believing in that.”
“I believe in him too.”
I spoke with conviction.
“Belief holds power. And hope. Life unfolds as we believe it will.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
The old man’s face grew noticeably more at ease.
“Thank you for listening to an old man’s tales, miss. I should go help the physicians with their work.”
The Village Elder rose from his seat.
Iolet watched the hunched figure of the Village Elder receding among the wounded for a long while.
“Let us head inside now. The wind is biting.”
Lucian urged her quietly.
Franz, who had maintained his silence, offered his suggestion carefully as well.
“Shall we go to the Commander’s Office first? That, what was it again. Those dried leaves that noblewomen are said to enjoy—we’ve prepared some, what was it called again.”
“…Black tea?”
“Yes! We’ve prepared that as well. We even managed to procure teacups. Haha.”
A sigh escaped me.
A place where even tea and teacups had become luxuries. I understood now why Kairon Winterbark had called this ‘the place where humanity reveals its ugliest nature’.
Humans reveal their true colors under extreme circumstances.
‘Which is precisely why this place is ideal for dealing with princes.’
Just as I had surmised from Kairon Winterbark’s report, the Second Prince had taken the bait immediately. Yet to achieve the optimal outcome I desired in this place, I would need one more prince.
That was when it happened. A sharp horn trumpet blared from the Castle Gate.
The heavily sealed gates of the Fortress began rising with a ponderous rumble.
The patrol unit that had departed for the Unregistered Territory had returned.
A stench of blood unlike anything before permeated the air. Iolet sensed instinctively that matters were unfolding in an ominous direction.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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