The Forgotten Field - Chapter 212

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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 212
A pale hand traced with crimson veins pushed desperately against his chest.
Barcas gathered her wrists into one hand and pressed her head down onto his shoulder with the other.
How long had they remained like that? Gradually, the tension that had gripped his body like a drawn bowstring began to drain away.
I laid her down diagonally across the bed, completely exhausted, her breathing still ragged and harsh. I pressed the back of my hand against my forehead—thankfully, no fever.
I exhaled softly, and she lifted her damp lashes to glare at me.
“You’re horrible.”
Barcas showed no reaction. She lowered her eyes wearily, her voice fading to barely a whisper.
“And… I’m worse.”
* * *
The season of rest had deepened considerably.
A biting wind swept across the Training Grounds, frozen white from the snow that had fallen throughout the night.
Indifferent to the frost-sharp cold, Lucas swung a wooden sword while wearing nothing but a single tunic, then suddenly looked up at the sky.
Ash-colored clouds obscured the sun—more snow was coming. He stared at them with vacant eyes when a cheerful voice called out nearby.
“You truly remember nothing of how you came to be injured, sir?”
Turning his head, I saw Baredon perched on the fence of the training grounds, spinning a dagger in one hand.
Lucas exhaled with irritation.
“How many times must I say I don’t remember?”
“Yet you remember everything concerning myself, Miss Raina, and everyone else perfectly well, do you not?”
He tilted his head skeptically as he countered.
Lucas, who had been striking a training dummy repeatedly with his wooden sword, stopped and turned around.
“Are you suggesting I’m lying?”
“Not at all. It’s simply… difficult to understand.”
“I find it equally incomprehensible.”
Lucas fixed Baredon with a menacing gaze, then muttered in a despondent tone.
“It feels as though someone ransacked my mind at will. Memories surface sporadically, then fracture as if blocked by something. Especially…”
I nearly spoke of how my memories of the Wolf Beast that attacked me and its master remained shrouded in fog, but I closed my mouth. For some reason, I could not bring myself to voice those words.
I touched the scar on my neck and gazed toward the forest path at the edge of the Training Grounds.
According to the soldiers’ testimony, I had been attacked by the Grand Duchess’s Dire Wolf somewhere in that forest. And that woman had abandoned me to die and fled with the beast.
I could not fathom why each time I dwelled on this fact, it felt as though a hole had been torn through my chest. All I remembered of that woman was the fragmentary truth that our relationship had been terribly strained.
I vaguely recalled several fierce quarrels after Barcas returned to the Eastern Territories, yet the woman’s face remained obscured as if behind a veil.
Why had all my memories of her vanished entirely?
As I posed the question to myself, a sharp pain suddenly pierced my temples, and I clutched my head.
An instinctive revulsion swept through my entire body. It felt as though I must not recall anything concerning that woman.
“Are you well, sir?”
Seeing my face turn ashen, Baredon rushed over and asked.
I waved one hand to indicate I was fine.
“Just a momentary dizzy spell. Don’t make a fuss.”
“You’re not overexerting yourself and worsening your condition, are you? The High Priest said you should rest for a while longer.”
“I’ve been confined to bed for over a month. Surely that’s sufficient rest?”
Lucas responded irritably.
“If you’re so worried about me, stop pestering me from the sidelines and go handle your own duties. I’m drowning in work trying to manage both my responsibilities and yours—I’d need two bodies just to keep up.”
“I came to check when you might be cleared to return to active duty. But judging by your condition, it seems we’ll need to wait considerably longer.”
Baredon sheathed the dagger he’d been holding and exhaled a long sigh.
Lucas let out a hollow laugh.
“So you came here grilling me with all those questions to verify I’m not shirking my duties?”
“Given the intensity of the duties Young Master Lucas was handling, it’s a reasonable suspicion that you might be prolonging your recovery period to extend your rest….”
Baredon, who had been speaking glibly, suddenly fell silent. A trumpet blast rang out from atop the City Walls, announcing the arrival of an important guest.
Lucas turned his head toward the Castle Gate.
Accompanied by the thunderous clatter of hooves striking stone, five or six cavalry riders mounted on sturdy warhorses rode in formation into the Training Grounds.
Recognizing the Roem Knights’ emblem embroidered on their cloaks, Lucas immediately dropped his wooden sword and rushed toward the Castle Gate.
“What brings you here?”
As he called out loudly, the man leading the group turned his head.
A familiar face. His name was Edrick Lubon, wasn’t it? He was a man who frequently came and went from Laedgo Castle as an Imperial messenger.
He dismounted smoothly and offered a respectful greeting.
“Forgive us for arriving without notice. We have come to deliver a message from His Majesty the Emperor.”
“A message from His Majesty?”
When Lucas cast a skeptical glance, the man nodded with a stern expression.
“A popular uprising has erupted across the Northern Region. As delays in suppression risk the situation spreading further, His Majesty has commanded all regional lords to dispatch reinforcements immediately.”
A wave of agitation rippled through the Soldiers. The Emperor’s messenger swept his gaze around and declared loudly.
“The Eastern Territories are no exception. The House of Grand Duke Sierkan must immediately obey His Majesty’s command and participate in the suppression!”
* * *
The Grand Duke appeared in the Meeting Hall an hour after the emergency assembly was convened.
Barcas crossed the Hall with his usual impeccable composure and settled into the Upper Dais, and the murmuring chamber fell silent in an instant.
Since the incident with the problematic Dire Wolf subjugation, the Grand Duke had been confined to the Separate Building, handling all official duties through written correspondence.
This was his first public appearance in nearly a month. Naturally, the Retainers’ gazes upon him were laden with deep suspicion—a concern that he might refuse the Emperor’s command.
“Issue mobilization orders immediately to the Southeastern Region. Additionally, I will deploy four thousand Lance Cavalry to the Northern Region.”
After carefully reading through the Emperor’s letter, I finally spoke.
One of the Emperor’s messengers seated at the far end of the long table abruptly stood and raised an objection.
“His Majesty commanded the deployment of an additional ten thousand troops!”
“The House of Grand Duke Sierkan has already sent eight thousand cavalry to the Northern Region. With the Eastern Territories’ security still unstable, I cannot spare an additional ten thousand soldiers.”
“But the Eastern Territories have over fifty thousand…!”
“Dispatching an additional four thousand troops means we’re already committing nearly a quarter of our total military strength to the Northern Region.”
I cut off the messenger’s words decisively.
“This is an excessive demand. If you wish to avoid losing the hearts of the Eastern Territories’ people, accept four thousand and relay this counsel to His Majesty.”
At my words, which carried a subtle threat, the other messengers’ faces hardened like stone. But I paid them no mind.
I rose to my feet with unwavering resolve, making clear that no further objections would be tolerated. Seeing this, Edrick Lubon hastily spoke up.
“What should I convey regarding His Majesty’s strict order to appoint you as Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Allied Forces?”
My pale blue eyes flickered toward him. Then came a terse reply.
“Tell him I accept with utmost gratitude.”
With those words, the Grand Duke turned and exited the Meeting Hall once more.
Only then did murmurs ripple through the chamber, breaking the suffocating tension that had gripped it.
While his Retainers engaged in heated debate over the matter of recruiting an additional four thousand soldiers, the Imperial messengers began rising from their seats one by one.
Baredon, who had been sitting quietly at the end of the table observing the situation, rose to his feet to escort them to their Residence. He could have entrusted them to the Servants, but he could not allow whispers to spread that the Emperor’s messengers had been treated with negligence.
He approached the Imperial Elite Guard with a courteous demeanor and addressed them.
“Please follow me. I shall show you to your chambers.”
“Thank you.”
Edrick Lubon replied with measured politeness.
Baredon led them out of the Meeting Hall. At that moment, a low voice called out from the Cloister connected to the Main Castle.
“You there—come speak with me for a moment.”
Baredon turned his head and spotted the Grand Duke leaning against a pillar in the Cloister, his eyes widening in surprise.
Edrick Lubon pointed to himself with a questioning look.
“You mean me?”
“Yes.”
The Grand Duke emerged from the shadows and replied in his characteristically detached tone.
“There is something I wish to ask of you separately.”

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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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