Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 186

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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 186
Edwin raised his hand, signaling a halt.
As the Imperial Forces’ blades, drawn with such momentum, slid back into their sheaths, a collective sigh of relief escaped the Aristocratic Faction’s ranks.
But the words that followed drained the color from some of their faces.
“I will accept surrender from all except those holding positions of Commander Rank or higher.”
The Amnesty Decree issued shortly after the Civil War was declared had not yet been revoked.
For those of Commander Rank and above, Edwin’s decision was a death sentence.
Those who belatedly cast down their decorative, nearly ornamental swords and knelt found Edwin’s gaze only growing colder.
They were not like the lower-ranking soldiers who had been dragged along by the greed of the Aristocratic Faction’s leadership against their will.
These were people of some standing within the faction—not leaders of the rebellion, perhaps, but certainly its accomplices.
The sins they had committed were too great to forgive.
“There is no recourse.”
Hearing Edwin’s words, the lower-ranking soldiers seized their former commanders with fierce eyes.
“You wretches! Let go!”
“Were you not afraid of future troubles?”
The commanders, pale and rigid as stone, thrashed about in a belated attempt to escape, but they could not break free from the soldiers’ iron grips.
The commanders were ignominiously dragged before the Imperial Forces and handed over.
A few soldiers who had crossed into enemy territory bare-handed, representing the rank-and-file, pleaded desperately.
“We never dreamed of treason. We were threatened—that if we fled, they would harm our families……”
“The people of the Western Region are also His Majesty’s subjects. We beg your mercy.”
The Western Region had suffered the least damage from the war.
Yet the soldiers were skeletal, as though they had not eaten properly in a long time.
The armor they wore was crude compared to that of the commanders, whose armor gleamed with such luster it seemed freshly polished.
Their appearance made it difficult to doubt their claim of forced conscription.
“My mercy depends on what you do.”
Edwin’s tone naturally softened.
The soldiers, finding Ed’s attitude more lenient than expected, surrendered their commanders without resistance and accepted their status as Prisoners of War.
Because the Aristocratic Faction had concentrated its forces along the western border, the number of soldiers deployed there was substantial.
When they were all taken prisoner, their numbers nearly equaled those of the Imperial Forces.
But when they were promised they would be sent home after the war, the soldiers abandoned all resistance, and despite their numbers, they proved manageable.
The captured soldiers were disarmed and held in the barracks where they had originally been stationed.
Though they were under watch and movement was restricted, their treatment was fair, and discontent was minimal.
The commanders were executed on the spot.
After the executions were complete, Edwin divided his forces.
Since the battle had ended before it truly began, the sun was still high in the sky.
‘I need to depart in thirteen hours……’
Edwin intended to conclude everything by day’s end.
He divided his army and dispatched units to the fiefs of the Aristocratic Faction’s key figures.
Since most of the Aristocratic Faction’s forces were concentrated at the western border, the fiefs were likely empty—a calculation that guided his decision.
Duke Camelot was the core of the Aristocratic Faction, but another significant reason was that the Ancient Teleportation Magic Circle existed within Camelot Territory.
Edwin’s army cut a direct line through the minor fiefs of the Western Region.
At the mere sight of the Imperial standard approaching in the distance, each fief hung a white flag from its gates.
After all, they had joined only out of fear of Duke Camelot’s displeasure.
Such small fry could be dealt with later.
After capturing only the lords and their heirs and sending them to the Capital, Edwin drove his army relentlessly to Camelot Castle.
The forces dispatched to the western border had either surrendered or been executed, and there was no messenger to carry word, so Edwin’s army arrived before any news could.
Camelot Castle, seeing the Imperial army approaching, hurriedly barred its gates.
Having never engaged in what could be called a proper battle throughout the entire Civil War, the Imperial Forces assembled their attack formation with keen anticipation.
Archers soon lined the castle walls in dense formation.
They were better prepared than several of the fiefs they had passed through.
The number of soldiers was also far greater than in other fiefs that had been left nearly empty.
‘So Duke Camelot sent the private soldiers of the other Aristocratic families to the western border while keeping his own household guards intact.’
It was a strategy worthy of Duke Camelot—pathologically obsessed with his own safety.
Edwin sneered.
“Shield bearers, advance!”
At Edwin’s command, soldiers wielding shields as tall as themselves pressed forward.
In moments, they overlapped their shields vertically, forming a defensive wall.
No arrows fell until the Imperial Forces’ shield bearers had formed a complete line.
The knights on the wall, flustered, rushed the archers.
“What are you doing?”
“Shoot now!”
“If you don’t want to die where you stand, shoot immediately!”
Unable to withstand the pressure, the archers began, one by one, to draw their bowstrings.
But whether from poor aim or some other reason, the arrows came weakly, falling far short of the Imperial Forces and sticking uselessly into the ground.
Anyone could see they had no will to fight.
The shield bearers advanced slowly, occasionally blocking stray arrows.
If they reached the gate and breached it, the Imperial Forces’ victory would be assured.
As the Imperial Forces drew closer, the voices of the knights urging the archers grew harsher.
Yet, conversely, the hands of the archers drawing the bowstrings trembled visibly.
It was not exhaustion from loosing a mere handful of arrows.
They were trembling with fear, almost unconsciously.
Edwin observed this and clicked his tongue softly.
Duke Camelot, as a core leader of the Aristocratic Faction, was to be made an example of—not pardoned lightly.
Yet Edwin also understood that the ordinary citizens of Camelot Territory bore no guilt.
‘They must have been simple subjects, once.’
Edwin pushed through the circular formation created by the shield bearers and stepped forward.
As he deflected a few arrows shot nearby, the halfhearted barrage ceased altogether.
The knights on the wall, seeing their chance, roared furiously and seized the archers’ arrows.
But Edwin drew his sword first.
Just as at the western border, a golden Aura blazed across Edwin’s blade at Camelot Castle.
The knights aiming at him, confronted with a realm beyond their imagination, cast down their bows and collapsed in despair.
Edwin raised his arm lightly, as if to release the Aura.
Seeing one terror-stricken knight turn and flee, the others quickly followed suit.
The archers, watching their overseers flee first, wasted no time discarding their weapons and running.
After confirming that no one remained on the walls as intended, Edwin drew his sword in a single motion and shattered the gate.
The castle gate, reinforced with iron plates more than a finger’s breadth thick to withstand a siege, broke apart with a deafening crash.
The sound reached even the knights and soldiers who had fled some distance away, sending them scrambling faster.
Though Edwin felt a slight weariness from summoning his Aura twice in succession, his stride toward the broken gate remained assured.
The shield formation quickly dispersed, and the Imperial Forces poured into Camelot Castle in Edwin’s wake.
Edwin issued orders to the knights who had pressed closest behind him.
“Divide into four groups and advance toward the gates of each direction. Priority is the capture of Duke Camelot and his household. Kill any who resist, but spare those who flee or surrender.”
The orders were given flawlessly, as always.
The knights bowed formally and dispersed.
Edwin, accompanied by knights serving as his guard, made for the Secret Passage that Lina had discovered.
Edwin’s instinct told him with certainty that Duke Camelot would attempt to escape through the Secret Passage.
It was a route Blue Hawk had already investigated, yet under the present circumstances, it remained the best path for flight.
Since Edwin had already memorized the castle’s interior layout, his footsteps did not falter.
True to Edwin’s expectation, Duke Camelot was just attempting his escape through the Secret Passage.
Abandoning his family and all his retainers, fleeing alone.
Edwin regarded Duke Camelot with eyes full of contempt.
Quick to take offense and prone to rage, Duke Camelot bristled at Edwin’s gaze, then forced a bitter laugh as he suppressed his anger.
“Am I not His Majesty’s benefactor? If you would only overlook this once, I shall live quietly hereafter.”
This was Duke Camelot’s second shameless plea.
“A benefactor, you say.”
Edwin twisted his lips into a smile.

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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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