113 113 Ch. 35. How can the spring not come after winter? (3)

The king saw his eldest son.

An arrogant, defeated young prince.

It was just like me in the past. I thought I could save the kingdom from the depletion of the Empire and further bring it back to life. But it wasn't.

There was nothing I could do but hold on.

Throughout the centuries, the kingdom that had been plundered under the name of the Treaty had already become ManshinChang.

A great duty was imposed on all transactions that took place in the Kingdom, but the benefits were directed towards the Empire, not the Kingdom.

The unconscious tariffs cut off the footsteps of merchants who sought the kingdom, and the kingdom suffered from a chronic shortage of supplies.

Mines were everywhere, and the by-products of expensive monsters were overflowing, but the Empire Merchants couldn't get the price because they were exclusive. The empire deliberately reduced the royal power and empowered the nobles.

This caused the royal family to lose their tax rights to the nobles, and many businesses became famous.

The royal treasury went on a deteriorating path, and the nobles grabbed the territorial people and accumulated wealth.

The kingdom that united under the mighty power of the Leonbergers no longer existed.

All of that has happened over the last hundred years.

The east-south-west, north-west, and central twelve regiments were also not intact.

Of the twelve troops, only four were required to maintain a capacity of 2,000.

With the exception of the Northern Legion of Winter Castle, the Eastern Legion of the Red Salt Coast Fortress, the Southern Legion of the Fortress of the Southern N'Djamena, and the Central Legion of the King and the Four Legions, the other eight Legions were disheartened by the name of the regular army.

Less than half of the capacity was made up of troops, and even the majority of the troops were armed and armed with mercenaries who had signed long-term contracts with the nobles.

I heard that there was a disturbance in the north.

The king wraps his head in order to dispatch reinforcements immediately.

The southern troops of the border, which can be called Choi Jeong of the Kingdom in terms of armaments and armaments, were unable to clear the border, and the eastern troops, which could immediately land in the north using the fleet, were unable to even sail due to the pressure of the Empire.

The Northern Legion was already resident in the Winter Castle, so it was out of the question, and reserve troops made up of conscripts should be sent to the north to help.

All that remains is the Central Army, but even considering the royal power gap, it was not easy to determine the dispatch.

There were no Legions of the Kingdom that did not have feet tied.

Eventually, the king borrowed part of the Central Army and the Wireless Knights, risking the royal power gap. The squadron was filled with mercenaries at a tremendous cost.

That was for the best at the time.

I thought if we agreed with the nobles of the North, the kingdom's shield would be able to protect the North.

But that was an illusion.

The lords of the north remained motionless, and the winter castle eventually collapsed.

The Silver Lion of Winter Castle was killed, and the North was defenselessly exposed to the Orcs.

It had to be repaired in the north, but that was practically impossible. The only way to get rid of all the Orcs was by the Royal Family's troops, and the nobles in the Middle Ages will never send troops for the North.

So I spread my defensive line in the middle around the bridge that joins the Rheintes. The nobles of the central region, who fell on the back of their feet, gave their troops.

After hearing reports of an army gathering close to the line of defence, the king was able to take a breath.

I thought that a small army would be able to stop it with a narrow path.

Even that was a judgment mistake.

The King of Orcs, Warlord, had almost reached the Wadi border due to an unprecedented presence, and the entire kingdom of Jachith was about to be ravaged by Orcs.

If we look back now, it was not an exaggeration to say that the kingdom had been brought out before the nose of destruction.

The only thing that prevented his destruction was his first son, whom he hated with all his might.

He was also the eldest to starve the Orcs and defeat them. He also convened an army of northern lords who had turned violently to save the defensive line just before the end of the year.

Such an eldest son was asking him.

Why did you abandon the North?

Seeing the luminosity of the palace, he sighed.

There was so much to say.

The excuse was that the pressure of the Empire had weakened the power.

Dividing responsibilities allowed me to transfer responsibilities to the Balahard Changbaek family, which did not properly encompass the Baha 'i family.

The lords of the north, who had abandoned their duties, and the nobles of the central region, who had crossed the ravine of the river, were also unable to be free from responsibility.

A monster named Warlord, who no one knew about, was overflowing with financial pressure and excuses.

But I couldn't get either of them out of my mouth.

By now, it's all just an excuse.

The king opened his mouth several times and closed his eyes and looked at the prince.

I realized that a frowned face, a sharpened eye, and a chattering face were not familiar.

And I didn't think about it long enough to recall where I saw that face.

Before he took over the throne, his face looked just like mine.

As soon as I realized that, the king was able to understand my eldest son for the first time.

It was just enough to recall the feelings he had felt for the former king.

Numerous concepts were pushed along with past emotions.

Among them was the self-esteem of his father, who shifted his responsibilities to a young prince who knew nothing and turned his back on reality, and the self-esteem of a narrow monarch who turned a blind eye to judgment mistakes and failures.

In that endless wave of emotion, the king closed his eyes.

The answer was set from the beginning.

If you cover the fruit with a ball, the prince will make up for his mistakes once and for all.

I should have admitted to it, but I didn't.

His guilt was not as great as that of his eldest son.

I lost the distinction between the ball and the corporation because I couldn't express my feelings.

I had to make it right now.

The king sighed a long sigh. In his sighs, he uttered his own childhood and sleepy feelings.

I was emptied and emptied again due to lack of time.

Only then could the king answer the question.

I did my best in a poor situation, but I felt like I had failed.

I tried to cope with a rapidly changing situation, but I didn't get things done right.

It's all the virtue of not leading the nobles properly as monarchs, the extreme of incompetence that I have not boldly determined.

The history of the kingdom, which may sound like a long excuse,

Perhaps it sounds like a sleazy self-rationalization of the royal difficulties.

The king just said.

And when all those stories were over, the prince stood up quietly.

There were no words of understanding, no words of accusation.

Instead of being conceived and silent, the king saw the prince who had risen from the throne with a fierce face.

The prince, who seemed to be leaving soon, remained for a long time.

“Five hundred people are trained to become full knights in winter. ”

Then, after a while, I said something unexpected.

The king's eyes widened.

“Some of them are known to His Majesty. ”

The prince's words were too forward-looking to understand.

“Guy Wayne Gust. ”

And the king, who was still listening to the prince, arose from his place without my knowledge.

Seeing such a king, the prince said,

“He and three hundred colleagues are in the winter castle. ”

The prince adds a word before the king asks,

“It's still an apprentice, but it will soon reach the level of a full apprentice. ”

The prince took his place.

Choke.

Until the moment the door was closed, the king could not rise from his place.

Before the prince leaves the room, a small whisper echoes in his head like a thunder.

‘When the time comes, it won't be too bad for His Majesty to make his own stand. ’

The king is completely frozen.

“Guerwain and the knights...”

I only repeated the same words a few times.

Then I dug myself up on the couch with my face torn apart.

“You don't even have a reason now...”

It's groaning or groaning or what you're talking about.

Nothing was clear.

* *

“Better. Off the throne. ”

In the words of the Horseman, the former palanquin stopped the wagon.

I opened the window and took a look at the royal statue for a moment.

The seat of the palace, which has been guarded for generations, has also come to an end. Although it was done a long time ago, he had no choice but to feel as good as he felt.

But niceness didn't last long.

“A man has to play in the big water. ”

He told the king that he would live quietly in the fallout, but he had no intention of doing so from the beginning.

He planned to exile the Empire and send his old age as a nobleman of the Great Kingdom.

Of course, I didn't plan on doing that from the start.

His family has served the Leonberger family for generations, and he has also been raised by his father as a faithful servant of the royal family.

It was about four years ago that his thoughts changed.

His family has been writing the Royal Book twice for a long time. He paid for his long dedication and service to the royal family, and the royal finances were withdrawn from the line that was not greatly diminished.

He was also looking at the book that day. To the extent that his own loyalty was not degraded, he intended to take very little of the royal property.

But I felt a sense of disguise.

Numbers were perfect, and there was no problem with the records going in and out, but I felt awkward not knowing where.

He immediately took the family's book and compared it to the royal book.

The ledger was perfect, but there were subtle contradictions between the books of the family.

At first, I just thought someone was impatiently conquering royal supplies. In the royal stables, I secretly tracked down the book with the idea of blocking the hole.

Tracking was not easy. When you trace the movement of the laundered material between two and three pieces, the wall appears without breaking. However, he tracked the book without giving up, comparing it to the family book.

After a year of tracking, I finally learned the final destination of the supplies.

But I wasn't happy at all.

Every man had a prescribed vessel, and in the brokerage there were truths he could not bear. His case was just that mate.

Surprisingly, the royal family secretly fostered more than three hundred knights.

The number or the royal secret that I had to touch was too heavy for him. I couldn't stand the thought of others noticing that they knew the royal secrets.

The royal family was not a problem. I won't let his family, who have been loyal for generations, know that the royal family knew a secret.

The problem was the Empire.

I had nightmares of being kidnapped, tortured and killed by the Empire's scrutiny every night. He suffers from extreme neurodegenerative symptoms, and his vigilance for nightmares and realities becomes ambiguous.

It was a stalemate that was going to dry up.

So he would rather go to the Empire's ambassador and make a mistake.

The relationship with the Imperial Ambassador began at that time.

The guilt of the smuggler was covered by a foolish prince.

At first, I couldn't sleep in guilt. But things were already irreversible, and the Empire's ambassador demanded his confidentiality endlessly.

I repeated it a few times so that my guilt became pale, and at some point I didn't even feel it.

When I came to think about it, I even thought that the choice was right.

It was so much better to live as an empire nobleman than to be caught in the back of the Leonberger family for life. There was nothing in the plan to get out of the crown like being chased here, but it wasn't a big deal.

Four years ago, I was promised the royal pride of nobility and territory of the Empire, and all I had left was to spend a splendid lifetime out of this boring countryside.

"Hmm?"

Thinking about the rosy future, he realized that the wagon was not moving at any time.

“There is no one else. ”

“Yes. Better. ”

“Why did the wagon stop? ”

“I can't see the mercenaries who decided to join us yet... It's coming right over there. ”

In the horse's words, he slipped open the wagon door and went outside.

A horde of hordes of horses were approaching, cutting through the darkness and pressing their cloaks. He remained smiling kindly.

It was too much attitude to welcome mercenaries.

I had to.

Horse mercenaries, in fact, are the Knights and Soldiers of the Empire that Marquis Montpellier gave him specially. You will be a nobleman of the Empire in the future, but it would be nice to keep close friends on the way.

The horsemen that ran in the dust stopped in front of him.

Due to his drastic maneuvers, he turned over the dirt, but he didn't even cough out his hateful inner color.

“Lord Ahl? Or Lord Theon? Anyway, you did a great job running horses on a dark night...”

Welcoming the knights of the Empire with a glamorous face, he stiffens and curls.

The face of the man revealed under the torch was neither of Ar nor of Te 'Horn.

“Until I welcome you here. It's not a good thing. ”

The man who was wearing the cape,

“Why are you here...”

The prince wetted the hood and said,

“Those you've been waiting for are not coming. ”

The moment he heard it, he realized.

That the Empire's ambassador sold himself out.

As soon as the situational judgment stands, he falls to the floor.

“Your Majesty! Please don't commit a woo that misses a big thief to catch a small thief! ”

Then he desperately begged, not knowing the dirt was entering his mouth.

“Huff.”

Then I heard a scream.

After twitching his body, he squeezes out the courage he doesn't have and opens his eyes.

“Huff.”

One of the bloody men fell down.

He opens his eyes. I couldn't believe it.

It was the Marquis of the Empire who would lay down on the ground and weep willingly.

"Big thief, little thief. ”

And the prince sat down, and lifted up his eyes, and asked him, Who is the great thief, and who is the little thief?

And I want to add a word.

"Only a small thief can risk his life. ”

One of them said that he would spare only one light sinner.