“Choose whether to divorce or go to war. Karion!”
As Iana shouted, Karion grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the castle wall.
Below the castle wall, she could see Marsel, draped in a blue commander’s cloak, riding a horse in the distance.
Karion raised the hand that held her wrist high and mocked loudly.
“Lord Marquis Retchels, your beloved younger sister is here, yet you’ve brought an army with you?”
It was a blatant threat, an attempt to use her as a shield.
Karion’s uncle, who had followed him, was aghast at the sight of the magical legion.
“Lord Marquis Retchels, we are a family bound by marriage. Wouldn’t it be better to resolve this through dialogue?”
At that moment, Iana and Marsel’s eyes met briefly.
With his gaze still on her, Marsel raised his hand and commanded.
“Archers, forward!”
“Archers? What do you mean?”
Her uncle shouted in surprise.
Thud thud thud-.
At Marsel’s command, a low drumbeat echoed.
Thud thud thud-.
As the cavalry at the front parted to make way, the archers behind them formed ranks and stepped forward.
The archers were armed with steel bows designed for monster attacks, three times the size of regular bows.
“Lord Marquis, if you act so emotionally, it’s not just us who will get hurt; Iana will be hurt too.”
Karion shouted again, as if threatening.
But this time, Marsel paid no heed and commanded loudly.
“Archers, line up and aim!”
The archers at the front moved in unison, drawing their bowstrings.
Iana thought as she watched the scene unfold.
‘Brother really intends to attack.’
In a tense situation.
The sight of the archers ready to attack caused not only Karion and his uncle but also the outer castle knights, already intimidated by the magical legion, to stir uneasily.
The Ditrian family had not paid much attention to military power after their marriage alliance, trusting the Retchels family. The knights guarding the outer castle had their duties aligned more with security than war readiness.
Their gazes were uniform.
Complacency.
It was a look filled with doubt, wondering, ‘Could the Retchels really attack?’
Perhaps Karion shared that thought, as he provoked Marsel with a bold voice.
“Lord Marquis! If you truly don’t care if Iana gets hurt, then shoot.”
At that moment.
“Attack!”
The archers at the front shot steel arrows toward the castle wall.
Swoosh—bang! bang! bang!
The steel arrows flew in succession, piercing the marble statues placed atop the castle wall.
Crash-.
Statues the size of a person shattered with a loud noise.
Caught off guard by the unexpected surprise attack, the formation of the Ditrian knights on the castle wall collapsed.
Thud-.
Karion’s uncle, weakened, stumbled back and sat down.
“……!”
Perhaps startled, a severe tremor was felt in Karion’s hand that held Iana.
Iana looked up at him and whispered softly.
“Karion, you’ve ultimately chosen war.”
At that moment, Marsel looked up at the castle wall with a chilling voice.
“Count Ditrian, it was a statue this time, but next time it will be a real person.”
Karion’s uncle hurriedly got to his feet and shouted.
“Th-There is His Grace Duke Ervin in our castle! How can you speak of war? What rudeness is this?”
Marsel quickly urged his horse closer to the castle wall. He then stopped and shouted in a sharp voice.
“Is that so? Then we will camp here and wait until His Grace Duke Ervin leaves.”
“……!”
“Whether it takes a day, two days, or a month.”
At that moment, inside the Ditrian family guest room.
Charles stood with his arms crossed, looking out the window.
“Hey! Over there!”
At the entrance of the inner castle, Vera was chasing after Lou, who was running away quickly, and they were in a scuffle.
Charles watched the scene, lost in thought.
Knock knock.
A voice from a senior knight was heard along with the sound of knocking on the door.
“Your Grace the Duke.”
“Come in.”
The senior knight entered, briefly bowed, and then spoke.
“Your Grace the Duke, we received a message from the palace. His Majesty the Emperor has summoned you to the palace tomorrow.”
“I thought my brother wouldn’t meet me, but this is unexpected.”
Despite his calm voice, Charles’s face was dark.
The senior knight hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“……But will the Countess be alright? It seems she has been taken to the outer castle as a hostage.”
“Lord Retchels will do whatever it takes to save the Countess.”
At Charles’s words, the senior knight, who knew all about Iana’s situation, tilted his head.
“From Lord Marsel Retchels’s perspective, wouldn’t he want the Countess to die? That way, the fact that the Countess had magical powers would be buried.”
At that moment, Charles slowly turned and said.
“If anything happens to the Countess, Ren, the Retchels family’s horseman, and the maid Vera who came with them, I threatened to expose the Retchels family’s misdeeds.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
The senior knight sighed in relief.
“We should wait outside the territory under the pretense of visiting His Majesty. If I leave the Count’s castle, Lord Retchels will be able to push harder.”
“Then the morale of the Ditrian family will drop. I will prepare to return to the palace immediately.”
After the senior knight left, Charles looked out toward the outer castle and spoke softly.
“All we can do now is watch…”
Flap flap-.
A flock of black birds flew up into the sky.
A sense of impending war hung over the Ditrian outer castle.
Karion’s uncle spoke to him with a worried expression.
“They say they will wait until His Grace Duke Ervin leaves; what should we do about this?”
“……”
Karion was silent, seemingly lost in thought. Instead, Iana, who was standing beside him, answered.
“Brother will never back down. Karion, if you go any further, you will lose too much.”
“……”
Karion quietly looked at her.
“You will have to bear your pride, your family’s reputation, and an enormous war fund.”
“Count!”
At that moment, a guard rushed over to the castle wall, looking urgent.
Karion and his uncle approached the guard, leaving Iana alone.
‘What are they discussing?’
Iana thought as she watched Karion, who was listening seriously to the guard’s report.
She caught a glimpse of the words ‘His Grace Duke Ervin,’ but she couldn’t understand what they were discussing.
However, after the guard finished reporting, Karion and his uncle argued for a long time.
Then Karion approached her with a determined expression, as if he had made a decision.
His uncle hurried after him, trying to stop him.
“Karion, it would be better to wrap this up and maintain the alliance…”
Karion stopped and said firmly to his uncle.
“There’s no turning back now. If we back down clumsily here, it will only make us look foolish.”
His uncle looked around and spoke in a hushed voice.
“So you intend to go to war against the Retchels magical legion?”
“No. Even if we negotiate, we need to break their momentum first.”
“How do you intend to break the morale of such a large army?”
“I will show you from now on. Iana, come here!”
As soon as Karion finished speaking, he grabbed Iana’s wrist and pulled her to the edge of the castle wall.
Iana and Karion stood precariously at the edge of the wall.
“Lord Marquis, why go to war? If you want to restore the honor of the Retchels family, you only need to kill me.”
Karion, while saying he would kill himself, wrapped his arm around Iana’s neck and hid behind her.
“……!”
At the direct call for an attack, Marsel hesitated.
“But you must shoot well. If you miss, it won’t be me but the poor sister of the Marquis, Iana, who will die.”
Karion smirked maliciously.
Iana, who had been quietly listening, shouted in a cold voice.
“Shoot! Brother. Even if you miss, I won’t blame you.”
“What?”
“It’s better to die than to live with a man who takes a child who is like a sister as a mistress!”
“Iana!”
Karion shouted.
At that moment, Marsel gestured to a senior archer draped in a red cloak while mounted on his horse.
The senior archer slowly stood up on his horse. He then moved his body widely and drew back the bowstring, aiming a glowing magical bow at Iana and Karion.
“It’s a magical bow!”
The Ditrian knights on the castle wall were greatly agitated.
The Retchels magical legion did not use artillery in battle. Instead, they developed and utilized weapons forged with magical power.
The attack power of weapons forged with magical power was stronger than that of artillery.
Iana stood in front of Karion and said mockingly.
“Trying to take me hostage is your perfect miscalculation, Karion.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Flap-.
The archer’s red cloak fluttered in the wind.
As the wind gradually calmed.
The archer released the arrow he had gripped tightly.
Swoosh-.
The arrow sliced through the air, flying toward the two with terrifying force.
As the arrow flew, Karion, who had been so confident, immediately crouched down to avoid it.
Since he had his arm around Iana’s neck, she ended up crouching down with him.
Bang-!
The steel arrow flew over their heads and struck the empty watchtower post with great force. The watchtower soon collapsed with a loud crash.
When Iana looked back, Karion had a dazed expression.
Seeing that, she scoffed.
“Don’t be scared. The mages haven’t even moved yet.”
“Forward, mages!”
Marsel’s voice was heard commanding from below the castle wall.
At that moment.
Karion’s uncle stepped forward to the castle wall and shouted loudly.
“This is where the two families end.”
“Uncle!”
Karion shouted as if trying to stop him.
“Then let’s end this with a divorce. The enmity between the two families…”