Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1814
A few months after the failed Northern invasion attempt, VI Hasan Arfas, Lord of the Arfas Dynasty ruling the South, launched an attack to conquer the Western Territories with 4,000,000 soldiers.
The army was divided into four:
1. The Main Army under the command of VI Hasan.
2. The 2nd Army under the command of VI Hasan's half-brother, Hüseyin Arfas.
3. The 3rd Army under the command of VI Hasan's brother-in-law, Halit Farsan.
4. The 4th Army under the command of VI Hasan's 17-year-old son, Ahmet Arfas.
VI Hasan Arfas knew that the Kislavein Dynasty had lost too many soldiers, first in the Pleyciys rebellion and then in the Northern attacks. He thought he could conquer the West using even just a quarter of his army.
Furthermore, IV Orsman Kislavein, the ruler of the West and the most powerful man in the world, was fighting in the Eastern Territories and could not send support.
VI Hasan's plan was simple: he would enter the Western Territories from four different directions with his divided army and conquer the West.
However, Ricardo knew an attack would come from the South.
After defeating the Northerners, Ricardo made a peace treaty with the new Turvig Dynasty Lord, Jarl V Ülgen Khan.
The peace treaty involved approximately 1,500,000,000 gold in war reparations and a ten-year non-aggression pact.
V Ülgen was III Kayra's eldest son and had ascended the Turvig Dynasty throne after his father was killed.
After making peace with the North, Ricardo turned his attention south. He stopped by the Kislavein capital, Kislathor, on the way. The people had heard of Ricardo's successes. On Seliarnevre's orders, they had prepared a grand welcome ceremony for him.
Ricardo entered the capital amidst cheers. His mother, Seliarnevre, greeted him in front of the palace.
"Welcome, my heroic son. Your victories have made us all, and most importantly, our Dynasty, proud."
Seliarnevre's eyes were filled with pride. Before her son set out on the campaign, she had been very anxious, her chest tight every second, struggling to breathe. She listened to every news from the front with fear. But the news of her son Ricardo's crushing victories against both the rebels and the Northern invaders had soothed her heart and brought peace to her soul.
Since the rebellions and invasions began, Seliarnevre had tried to train new troops. Though difficult, Seliarnevre had prepared a new force of 150,000 soldiers for war. There were another 500,000 soldiers training in reserve, but they were not ready for hot combat.
Since they were in public, Ricardo and Seliarnevre greeted each other with the respect befitting Dynasty members.
"It has been a long time, Mother. Your praises honor me." "It has been a long time,my son. It is you who have honored us all."
If they had been alone, they might have embraced for a long time to make up for lost time, but they were not an ordinary mother and son. One was the Dynasty Heir, the other his mother.
In the Banquet Hall, Seliarnevre had thrown a magnificent feast for her son, who would stay for a day. The table lacked only bird's milk.
As Ricardo and his companions enjoyed the delicious food and drinks, they felt the strange yet peaceful happiness of being under a secure roof again.
After filling his stomach and cleaning his hands and mouth with an alcoholic wipe, Ricardo turned to his mother with curiosity and a bit of guilt. He thought for a long time about how to start. Whenever he tried to speak, the words stuck to his lips, and the words he wanted to say wouldn't come out.
"Mother," said Ricardo hesitantly. "Lady Maressil,she..."
Before Ricardo could finish his sentence, he more or less got his answer by looking at his mother's face. "Lady Maressil...she committed suicide," said Seliarnevre in a low, choked voice.
Ricardo wasn't surprised; he had been expecting news like this.
Lady Maressil Gilliberdi, the 3rd Concubine of IV Orsman, belonged to the Gilliberdi Dynasty, which ruled a small town. Her life was destined to change one day with the arrival of a messenger in the town.
This messenger announced the ascension of the Kislavein Dynasty's new Lord, and all Dynasties, great and small, were invited to the coronation.
Maressil and her family also attended the ceremony. There, she met IV Orsman, who would become her future Master, for the first time.
When Orsman, or Orlando as he was known before ascending the throne, placed the crown on his head, he declared himself Lord of the Kislavein Dynasty, IV Orsman, and took his seat on the throne.
After the ceremony, at the feast, Orsman announced the women he would take into his harem. Among them, Maressil entered the harem as the Third Concubine.
All her sons had been killed at very young ages by the other wives and concubines in the harem. Until the throne war at the Blood Academy, not a single one of her sons had survived. She had only one surviving child: her daughter, Cierra.
Cierra was Maressil's only surviving child. So much so that she prayed day and night to the Spirits of her Ancestors for having been born a girl.
When Cierra turned 18, she married Wilheim Pleyciys, the Lord of the Pleyciys Dynasty.
Maressil was both happy and sad. The daughter she had doted on for years had slipped from her arms. And before committing suicide, she had thought:
"If only... if only I had prevented her marriage..."
Even if she had wanted to, Maressil couldn't have prevented it because this marriage was the order of the Dynasty Lord, and the Lord's order could not be questioned.
When the news first arrived that Cierra had been killed by her husband, Wilheim, she had a nervous breakdown and wreaked havoc.
"Haaaaaa aha ahhhh Damn you, Wilheim! Damn you! Damn you!"
That day, she cursed Wilheim's soul until she collapsed from crying and exhaustion.
Months later, when the news first arrived that Wilheim had been killed by Ricardo, she was grateful to Ricardo for avenging her daughter and was very happy. But her joy was short-lived.
On the day the city of Pleven was destroyed, Ricardo had mercilessly slaughtered the 2,800,000 people living there. Among those killed was Cierra's son, Oscar.
Having lost her daughter and now her grandson, Maressil Gilliberdi lost her last will to live and hanged herself.
As Ricardo listened to Maressil's life story, he felt guilty for having her nephew Oscar killed. His heart tightened. Ricardo began to feel all the emotions he had killed off in his past life as Harloumen.
"Did I do wrong?"
Ricardo spoke in a very low voice, so low that even his mother sitting next to him, watching him with worried eyes, could barely hear him.
Seliarnevre gently placed her hand on top of Ricardo's, which was clenched so tight it was almost bleeding.
Ricardo relaxed at his mother's gentle touch and her soft hand. The annoying words gnawing at his brain no longer echoed. Calmed, Ricardo began to think like a ruler, as he always did.
"I did what was necessary," said Ricardo with a cold and confident air.
Ricardo stood up slowly, with the grace befitting an Heir. Everyone in the Banquet Hall stood up, bowed their heads slowly and respectfully, and waited for Ricardo to leave the hall.
When Ricardo left the hall, he felt the gentle breeze of the warm summer winds in the palace corridors, illuminated by the lamps.
"Summer is ending, huh."
Another summer was ending. Ricardo thought he hadn't understood anything from this summer. In the nine months spent with the Kerbel Forest, the Pleyciys Rebellion, and the Northern Invasion, Ricardo hadn't even found time to breathe. And now, he was about to set out on another campaign with 350,000 soldiers to repel another invasion.
"Sigh... I'll probably take a long vacation after this campaign."
Ricardo was planning a vacation. But what did fate have in store for the Heir of the Kislavein Dynasty?