CH 348

Barbara See’s Through Mia’s Plan (What Plan?)

When the wolfmaster came back, the sun was just starting to come up. He got off the horse, he gave a quick and brief report.

“They escaped. We’ve failed.”

Barbara let out a deep sigh.

“Bah, I knew it, but good grief…”

She walked up to Citrina, who was standing alone and looking bored, and hit her in the face.

“Ow—”

It was a short, sharp sound. Caught off guard, Citrina lost her balance. A violent tug on her arm put her back on her feet. Barbara pulled her close.

“Cursed child… Useless…”

She was going to hit her again when the wolfmaster stopped her.

“We don’t have time. The enemy is getting help. They’ll soon come after us.”

“…Help coming? Do they now? Where did you hear that?”

“No one in particular. They talked about wasting time.”

“Stalling… Since they said it where you could hear it, it’s likely a trick. This is why I hate working with people who think with their swords instead of their brains. Stupid. So stupid,” Barbara spat, and then she pushed Citrina’s shoulder hard.

Citrina fell backwards and landed on her tailbone, which hurt. With one hand, she nursed the pain while the other held her swollen cheek.

“And you, lady, what a stupid thing you’ve done. So stupid.”

Barbara looked down at her full of contempt.

Citrina made no reply. She instead spoke in a quiet whisper.

“So… Bel got out of there safely… That’s good…”

“How could you be so completely stupid?” Barabara asked again. You’ve been had, milady. You fell for the Great Wisdom of the Empire’s clever words.”

“Did she? How so?” The wolfmaster asked the question.

She gave him a roll of the eyes. “Isn’t that clear? The moral pressure was used by the princess. She exploited Milady’s sense of right and wrong to manipulate her.”

“Exploited her? How?”

“Do you still not remember what the princess did? She looked at milady straight in the eye and told her, ‘I believe in you.’ Right after she was shown irrefutable proof that Milady had been lying to her the whole time. In that situation, who in their right mind would say that? No one. Unless they had a different reason. Don’t you see? All of this is the princess’s plan. By giving milady complete trust, she hoped to make her conscience so heavy that it would crack. And she did well. Because she saw how weak this worthless child’s will is…”

“Barbara, that’s not true… It was not a trick. She had faith in Rina. She honestly bel— Mmm!”

A hand closed around Citrina’s cheeks and stopped her. She didn’t try to fight back when Barbara pulled her face close to hers and glared at her. In the end, her look of resignation made the annoyed attendant sigh.

“Ugh, I should have stopped training you to be a Serpent a long time ago. A real Serpent wouldn’t have cared about such things, of course. But a Serpent failure like you can’t help but fall under her spell. Oh, you awful thing… Oh, yes, that’s right.”

Barbara stopped and smiled as an idea came to her.

“That smoke… How did you learn to do that? Did the princess teach you?”

Citrina’s silence after that was enough of an answer.

Barbara shook her head.

“Which means that, because you helped her get away, the Great Wisdom of the Empire decided to let you off the hook in this case. By doing this, she’s done you a bigger favour than you’ve done her, and she plans to use this debt to get the House of Yellowmoon for herself. After all, the Duke of Yellowmoon is at best average and mediocre, just like you. I don’t think it will be hard for the princess to persuade him.”

The wolfmaster’s eyes got narrow.

“Then what are we going to do with the girl? Kill her and give the wolves her body? We could also let everyone see the body. It will send a message. Traitors must be killed no matter what.”

He reached for the handle of his sword, but Barbara stopped him by shaking her head slowly.

“People like you may not understand logic, but I can tell you that what you want to do is not a good idea.”

“Why? Kill her to make a point. It will send a strong message to those who are against us.”

“Do you have those ears for show? Remember, if you can, how the princess said that even if she died here, that wouldn’t be the end of her?”

He looked at her with doubt.

“I do remember. But surely that’s just the empty threat of a cornered prey.”

Barbara shook her head again.

“There’s a lot wrong with the way you think. No, of course not. Or are you really saying that the Great Wisdom of the Empire, who put down the Tearmoon and Remno revolutions before they got started, would use the language of a sore loser?”

She asked, and the sarcasm in her voice showed that she was sure of the answer.

“What did she mean then?”

“The wise know how to make use of death. There have been a few kings in history who were so smart that they even used their own deaths to help their grand plans move forward. I fear our particular Wise Princess was planning something similar. She almost certainly planned to use the fact that she was going to die soon in some way. The simplest possibility that comes to mind would be…a banner, for example. Her death could strengthen the bonds between her allies…perhaps even rally them further against us in their anti-Serpent efforts. Even so, the princess was sure that her will would not die, even if her body did.”

After all of that talking, Barbara put her hand around Citrina’s thin neck.

“Nngh…”

Her nails dug into the soft skin, making the person grimace.

“And those who would get something out of their own deaths would never let someone else’s death go to waste, right? If milady dies, the princess will have another weapon to use against us. Don’t you see? If we kill milady here, we will be giving her what she wants. She will use it to make people want to get even.”

Barbara looked at Citrina straight in the eyes.

“The Duke of Yellowmoon loves his daughter a great deal. If you kill her, he will come after us. You can be sure that the Great Wisdom of the Empire won’t miss out on such a great chance to build up her army.”

“What do we do then? Take her with us and teach her to be a killer?” the wolfmaster asked with furrowed brows.

Barbara rolled her eyes.

“In case you forgot, that’s what got us here in the first place. We don’t need a killer who can’t even kill her own friend. She would only cause trouble.”

She let go of Citrina quickly and casually, as if she hadn’t just been trying to strangle the girl.

“But she isn’t worthless. We can still use her, but we have to do it the right way. We will make this girl the knife that cuts the ties between Mia Luna Tearmoon and her friends.”

She looked at Citrina again with a wicked smile.

“Traitors must be killed. That should be obvious. But we also need to make good use of their death. Any way you look at it, we should run away before they send men after us. Time is running out, and I’ll need a lot of it to get everything ready…”

—

Unfortunately, they did send men, so Barbara’s plans would fall apart quickly. A lot sooner than she had thought. They didn’t go after her, though.

Instead, they were strategically placed somewhere else.

Together with Citrina and the wolfmaster, Barbara left Belluga and headed north. Soon, they reached the border with Sunkland, but it was already guarded by Sunkland cavalry. The placement was so perfect that it was as if someone had known exactly where they were going to try to escape and put up a blockade to stop them.

In fact, Mia and her friends did not come up with this smart plan. They didn’t have enough time to go back to Saint-Noel and give the necessary orders. Even her reliable right hand, Anne, who worked hard behind the scenes and often set the stage for future success, couldn’t take credit for it.

No, this is what her left hand, Ludwig, made.

Barbara looked at how exactly their path to safety was being taken apart and smiled.

“Mia Luna Tearmoon, do you think you’ve put us in a corner with this?”

The patrol troops of Sunkland were not easy to beat. The wolfmaster might still be able to break through their lines on his own, but with her and Citrina along, it would be impossible.

After quickly figuring out what was going on, Barbara made a choice.

“Well, since it’s come to this, I guess I don’t have much of a choice… I would give my life to make enemies of the Serpents fight each other.”

So, the wolfmaster and Barbara went their separate ways. Barbara took Citrina with her as she went towards the Yellowmoon domain, which was the only place that could still give them an advantage and a safe place to stay.

—

Barbara didn’t know it, but the path to the Yellowmoons had been left unguarded on purpose. It was a hole in the capturing net that was getting tighter and tighter.

And Mia had no idea that her left hand had been especially busy in the background this time.

Both of them didn’t know that dawn was slowly breaking over the long night of conspiracy.