The Traitorous Prince - Chapter 22

Ice Fortress (3)

After the meal,

While the soldiers were resting, the knights gathered and started the meeting.

“First, I’d like to hear what happened in the royal capital. Would it be okay?”

Oros looked toward Shion. Shion nodded.

“First of all, there was a change in position, Prince Apoleon has gone missing, and the Commander of the Knights, Sir William, was killed.”

Shion pointed her hand at Huey. Huey straightened his back and was squirming with his posture.

“As a substitute, Prince Huey became temporarily Commander-in-Chief, and I was also temporarily appointed as the Commander of the Knights.”

“What do you mean, temporarily? I’m going to be the Commander-in-Chief from now on. Hehe.”

Oros, who was still listening, was still smiling, but his squinted eyes had a suspicious glow,

“I wasn’t in the capital at the time of the incident, so it’s my first time seeing you in person, but… Isn’t Prince Huey the one who was executed for treason?”

Huey jumped up from his seat and lifted his arms up.

“But I came back from hell like this! Ta-da ~!”

Shion explained coldly.

“He was in prison and was taken it out. Because, as you know, he has made some achievements on the Northern Front against the Brunhilt army.”

“No matter how much he did, for a traitor to be… Oh, I’m sorry.”

Oros quickly changed the subject as he glanced at the handcuffs on Huey’s hands.

“And Sir Shion became the Commander of the Knights, which is also amazing, isn’t it?”

“Because I was the Vice-Commander. The Commander was killed, so that’s what happened.”

“By the way, didn’t you become the Vice-Commander for stopping Prince Huey’s rebellion?”

Oros smiled clearly.

“This is very interesting. The traitor and the knight who stopped his rebellion are now the Commander-in-Chief and the Commander of the Knights.”

“The fate of the Kingdom of Eindel has reached that level. His Majesty has judged that it was not time to consider the past.”

“No, I want to argue!”

Suddenly, Huey pointed his index finger at Shion.

“…”

Shion looked as if she had chewed up dirt.

“At that time, the rebellion would have been a success if you had not betrayed me! Then I’d be King by now, and we wouldn’t have been invaded by the Brunhilt guys like this?”

“Why are you talking so proudly, when it’s about high treason…”

Shion, who shot back coldly, faced Oros again.

“… Anyway, the capital’s defense was successful and we destroyed the 3rd Corps of the Brunhi It Army.”

“What? Really? You destroyed the 3rd Corps?!”

Surprised by Oros’ cry, the soldiers also looked this way.

It was understandable. In the six months since the start of the war, there had been no news of a victory that had achieved this much.

“Yes. It was a meaningful victory. And the enemy Commander, Canis-”

“The enemy Canis unfortunately met his end!”

Huey suddenly popped out and pointed at Canis, cutting Shion’s words, and he introduced him cheerfully.

“Instead, I caught one of his guards!”

Shion and Kay blinked at a loss. What?

“…?”

They were stunned. Canis also blinked curiously.

“No, that prisoner is Cani…”

When Kay tried to say something, Huey quickly stuffed the remaining deer meat into her mouth,

“Whoa?!”

“That prisoner is one of Canis’ guards! Ahahaha!”

“Hmm, whoo!”

“Yes, it’s good, right? There’s a reason why I like deer meat! “Eat a lot, Kay~”

Hey laughed as he stuffed meat into Kay’s mouth.

‘Why is he hiding that it’s Canis?’

Shion’s curiosity was i mmediately resolved. The soldiers who were listening to the story from afar stood up with lively faces.

“What? He’s a Brunhilt guy?”

“…This dog…!”

“I’ll kill you!”

The soldiers rushed in, but Huey blocked them.

“Don’t touch him!”

“He is an important prisoner. Whoever touches this prisoner will be judged by military law. Go back to your seat!”

The soldiers roared, then turned around and returned to their original positions.

“…”

The grudge against Brunhilt was deeply ingrained in the soldiers. They reacted like this when they heard the lie that the prisoner was a guard, so they would really have tried to kill him if they knew that he was Canis,

Oros looked suspiciously at Canis, but soon turned his head.

Not only were the Dragon Knights’ faces not widely known, but Canis’ impression had changed significantly due to the scar on his face.

And few people would believe that they captured a Dragon Knight alive in the first place.

“…”

Canis’ bright yellow eyes looked at the soldiers with unknown intentions,

“Well, we were in this situation, and now you want to hear about what happened in the fortress?”

As the situation calmed down, Huey, who sat down, asked.

“…I think I know the outline, but explain it from the beginning.”

The smile disappeared from Oros’ face, which always had a smile on it. Oros took a breath, lowered his gaze and slowly opened his mouth.

“Three months ago, we received intelligence thata corpsofthe Brunhiltarmywas heading west ofthe Kingdom. Itwasobviousthat theyweregoing to hit the Ice Fortress,”

Oros picked up a branch and explained by drawing a simple picture on the soil on the floor.

“At that time, the fortress had only 2,000 troops under Sir William’s son, Sir Gilliam. Sir William, who was in the royal capital, led me, Bianca, and 1,000 troops to reinforce the fortress.”

“Well.”

“At that time, Princess Luna went with us. It was to raise the morale of the soldiers. You know, she is popular.”

“What?”

Huey screamed.

“You took my sister when the enemy was coming?!”

“We thought it would take weeks even if they came…”

Oros bit his lower lip gently.

“But the day after we arrived at the fort, the 6th Brunhilt Corps arrived. It was our mistake to underestimate their speed… The battle began without a chance to evacuate the princess.”

Oros’ eyebrows trembled slightly, recalling the memories of blood clots.

“But the Ice Fortress boasts the best defense in the country. There were plenty of supplies. They kept coming, but there wasn’t much trouble for us.”

Huey, Shion and Kay held their breath.

“But when the battle reached its first month, there was an accident in which the eastern fortress collapsed. Enemies flooded in, and fortunately, the fortress was built with layers of fortresses, so we could have given up some of it… However.”

Oros paused for a moment. Bianca grabbed one arm of Oros.

Oros, who had been choosing his words for a long time with a brooding look, bowed his head.

“Recently, a third of the troops died in the process of abandoning the east and retreating into the canyon… Sir William, who alone held back the enemy, was killed.”

The faces of the soldiers around hi m were filled with grief.

“…”

Huey briefly recalled the stone-like face of the Commander of the Knights. He was one of the few men recognized by Huey. Huey really did not expect him to die so easily.

Shion nodded heavily.

“At that time, one of the soldiers who escaped reported to the capital, His Majesty was also deeply saddened by Sir William’s death,”

“…That’s right, His Majesty was very sad.”

Oros, who had a heavy heart, continued.

“For the next two months, the battle continued. Under Sir Gilliam’s command, we… We fought like hell, How many deaths, how many deaths, enough to give up counting.”

Oros raised his hands.

All his nails had been removed or smashed, and the color of his hands was dark red. He could not even imagine how much blood was on them.

“Half of the entire fortress was taken away, but we still fought for the core, We didn’t win, but it was worth it… Until that guy came here.”

“That guy?”

Huey tilted his head. Oros jerked his head up. His eyes were blazing with anger. There was a clear look of hatred that was 180 degrees different from the usual smile.

“The 2nd Corps of the Brunhilt army, led by their crown prince, came to their aid.”

Canis’ shoulder, which was listening from afar, flinched.

“The 2nd Corps is the most elite of the 6 corps that have invaded… We sensed that the time of death had come, and we were ready for the final resistance. But they stopped the offensive like a lie,”

There Oros stopped talking again, His haggard cheeks were trembling slightly.

“…And the waterway was cut off.”

“What?”

“The Brunhilt forces turned the direction of the river in the canyon that passed right next to the fortress. It would have been the prince’s operation by building a dam upstream. Damn it, so ignorant…”

Oros spoke bitterly, but Huey’s face flashed with brilliance. You changed the direction of the river?

It was not something that Brunhilt would do. Those northern salamanders were crazy about fighting, not the type to use their brains. This tactic was too d isparate.

‘Their crown prince?’

An unknown enemy that had not yet been encountered suddenly approached. Huey’s heart was pounding. He got goosebumps on his forearm. How smart would he be? How strong would he be?

‘What kind of guy is he…?’

Huey licked his trembling lower lip with excitement with the tip of his tongue.

“Three days after the water was cut off, the stored water ran out, and five days later, the soldiers collapsed due to dehydration. And…”

Oros made eye contact with Bianca.

“…”

Bianca’s face, listening to the story, was pale. Oros, who smiled at his wife, continued.

“On the sixth day, Sir Gilliam ordered me and Bianca to organize a separate party and get water,”

There were only three knights in total, but the situation was bad enough to ask two of them to get water? Shion and Kay groaned,

“…”

Huey was just listening.

“We have no river, so we got out of the drain of the dried fortress, and up the canyon… We headed up the river where they stopped it. After we had put water in a bag and when we went to return to the fortress, the enemies were already flocking into it.”

“At that time, the fortress had already fallen, right?”

“Yes, sir. It was too late to go back. We didn’t know what to do after that, we were wandering around… and we met you.”

Huey looked around Oros, Bianca, and the soldiers.

“You’ve been through a lot. Everyone.”

“It’s just miserable to survive like this.”

Oros gave a long sigh.

“Will the soldiers in the fortress, Sir Gilliam, and Princess Luna be safe?”

“…”

Huey patted Oros on the shoulder with a glum expression.

“Well, what can I do because I’m worried now?”

Oros looked at Huey with a startled face.

“Prince Huey…”

“In two days, our main forces will come. Let’s join forces and strike them, and take the fort back!”

Huey grinned and held his hand forward.

“Will you all help me?”

Oros, who looked at the hand blankly for a moment, smiled and held it.

“Of course, my prince.”

The two men shook hands firmly.

Shion breathed out a small sigh of relief at the sight.

If they could join the knights scattered around in this way, it would not be Impossible to rebui Id the Knights and drive out the enemy. Huey yawned and looked up at the darkened sky.

“It’s already quite late ~ Shall we sleep now? There’s a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir. You must be tired of coming all the way here, we’ll stand on the night watch.”

“Oh, really? Thank you!”

Huey looks back at Shion and Kay, and winked.

“We’re going to get close to the fortress tomorrow. Stay alert, and sleep tight tonight!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Huey took a blanket from the horse’s luggage and laid it on the floor, and he fell down on it just after.

It seemed that the half-day hike was quite difficult earlier.

Looking down at the prince, Shion and Kay shook their heads and prepared to camp, Oros, Bianca, and the soldiers also began to prepare for the camp.

“…”

On the other side, the prisoner Canis was looking down at Huey with deep yellow eyes.

* * *

Just before dawn.

Huey opened his eyes.

“Wow, I slept well.”

Huey, who woke up yawning, rose up rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“Oh, I need to pee.”

I’m going to hurry up and go back to sleep. Huey, who pulled himself out of the blanket thinking like this, found something strange.

“…?”

Oros stood by his bedside. With a sword in his hand.

“What? What is it?”

When he rubbed his half-awake eyes and looked around, soldiers were surrounding the bonfire.

With everyone in arms,

“…”

Bianca, who stood far behind, was lowering her head.

As if she cou Id not bear to see this sight.

A cold sweat ran down Huey’s back. Shion and Kay were still fast asleep by the bonfire.

The soldiers’ swords and spears were pointed at their necks.

“What are you doing, Sir Oros?”

Huey tried to ask calmly, but the end of his voice was slightly shaking.

“Something similar to what you did before.”

With a smile that was kinder than usual, Oros raised the sword in his hand,

The smile in his eyes… It was really like a fox.

“Rebellion.”

Oros struck the sword down without hesitation.