Aefia turned away from the war table, her eyes scanning the small group of elite knights standing at attention near the tent entrance. Out of the entire vanguard, she had handpicked just eight of them—men and women who could move without making a sound and didn't ask foolish questions.
"Listen up," Aefia said, stepping up to them with her arms folded. Her tone was calm, completely stripped of the dramatic flair she had used with the ministers. "I am splitting you into two small units. You aren't marching with the main force, and you aren't wearing your imperial crests."
The lead knight nodded once. "Understood, Your Highness. What's our objective?"
"You are entering the castle through the collapsed southern side, thirty minutes after the 'initial blast'," Aefia explained, pointing toward the map still spread out on the table. "Your job isn't to hold territory, and it certainly isn't to fight Kazimir's main guard head-on. You are going in under the guise of an independent assassin squad."
The leader raised an eyebrow slightly, though his posture remained rigid. "A decoy?"
"A very noisy one," Aefia confirmed with a slight nod. "You make enough chaos in the upper corridors to convince the royal guards that someone is actively trying to take the King's head. Break a few doors, trigger the inner alarms, and draw every available guard off the perimeter walls and straight into the main hall."
She stepped closer, her garnet eyes fixing on each of them in turn.
"Do not get greedy," she warned softly. "If you see Kazimir, do not engage him. The moment you hear the central courtyard gates give way from our main push, you fall back through the shadow routes. You aren't there to die for a distraction. Am I clear?"
"Crystal, Your Highness," he replied, bowing his head. "We will draw every guard in the keep to the third floor before you even step foot across the moat."
"Good," Aefia nodded, waving her hand toward the tent flap. "Go get suited up. We move at early dawn."
Once the eight knights slipped past the canvas flap into the dark camp, the sharp, rigid focus on Aefia's face finally began to crack. A heavy, bone-deep fatigue dragged at her limbs, making her steps feel twice as heavy as she turned toward their own tent.
She pushed open the heavy flap of her personal tent, the quiet sanctuary smelling faintly of sweet cedar and dried herbal salve.
A single oil lamp burned low on a small wooden crate near the corner. Without bothering to strip off her cloak or undo her boots, Aefia made her way straight to the low cot, sitting down on the edge with a quiet, ragged exhale.
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her head drop into her hands. Two minutes passed in total, heavy silence, the distant clinking of iron armor outside filtering in like empty white noise.
The quiet rustle of the entrance flap signaled Helio's arrival. He didn't say a word as he stepped inside, his boots making almost no sound against the dirt floor. He walked over to stand behind her, his gaze lingering on the tense, rigid line of her shoulders.
Without asking, his large, warm hands reached up to find the tight ribbon binding her dark hair into a practical knot at the nape of her neck. With careful, practiced ease, he unknotted the fabric, letting her thick hair spill freely down her back. Aefia let out a soft, subconscious sigh, her posture loosening just a fraction at the release of tension.
Helio stepped closer, his fingers sinking gently into her dark locks. He began to work his thumbs along the base of her skull, applying a firm, rhythmic pressure that slowly worked out the deep knots tied up in her scalp.
"Are you sure about this, Aefia?" Helio asked softly, his voice a low, steady murmur in the quiet tent. "Moving at dawn... it's barely been a day since you broke out of that cell. Your body hasn't even recovered from the cuffs, let alone the exhaustion."
Aefia kept her eyes closed, leaning back slightly against his touch as his fingers kneaded behind her ears. "If we give him twenty-four hours to organize the defense, Kazimir will lock down every entry route and start executing hostages. We hit him while he is still disoriented."
"I know," Helio murmured, his fingers moving upward, tracing gentle circles against her temples. "I am not talking about the strategy. I am talking about you. If what you told me about that encounter in the prison is true... about what he tried to do to you before you got out... rushing straight back into his throne room so quickly isn't just dangerous. It's reckless."
Aefia went still for a beat, the memory of the damp, cold dungeon stone and Kazimir's suffocating presence flickering briefly behind her eyelids. She reached up, placing her hand over his wrist, her grip firm despite her pale skin.
"That encounter is exactly why I can't wait," she said quietly, her garnet eyes opening, staring at the warm flame of the oil lamp across the room. "Leaving him alive for another night feels like leaving an open wound to fester. I need this finished, Helio. Once this case is solved... once Kazimir is dead and Mides is settled under the Empire... we will have plenty of time to relax."
Helio paused his movements, looking down at the top of her head. "Relax? You? I will believe it when I see it."
A small, genuine smile tugged at the corner of Aefia's lips, though her eyes remained soft and reflective. "I am serious. After all of this mess is over, I don't want anything to do with imperial politics anymore. I don't want to sit in endless council meetings listening to Vane whine about trade tariffs, and I don't want to handle another war map."
"So what's the grand plan, then?" Helio asked, resuming the slow, rhythmic massage of her scalp, his thumbs easing the ache behind her eyes. "Are you going to abdicate and become a hermit?"
"Maybe," she murmured, letting her eyes flutter shut again as a comfortable warmth spread through her chest. "I just want to find a quiet, rural area somewhere far away from the capital. A small house near the countryside, maybe near a forest or a coast where nobody knows my name. A place where the only thing I have to worry about is what to make for dinner."
Helio let out a low, soft chuckle, his breath warm against the top of her head. "A quiet rural life suits you surprisingly well. Though... you will probably get bored after two weeks and start re-organizing the local village militia just for fun."
"I will not," she grumbled, nudging her head back against his hand with a faint glare. "I am going to sleep for three days straight, and if anyone tries to wake me up with urgent imperial news, I will set their paperwork on fire."
She then shut her eyes and leaned her head back against his shoulder. "But if I do get bored... The city life is still available as an option. It will feel like we are back on Earth."
Aefia turned silent for a while. Then, turned her head slightly towards his face. "Speaking of which, don't you miss your family?"
He offered a smile, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I told you already. Earth life is far too chaotic anyways. Just be in a world which has something to do when you can't call asleep and don't want to reach for a screen. We are living in fantasy, and anyone would choose that over the reality."
She smiled, laughing quietly. "Fine. Then keep your promise forever and ever to come. I hate it when people leave me alone and isolated."
"Duly noted," Helio smiled, his hands moving down to gently stroke her loose hair one last time before moving to unclapse the cloak. He reached out, his knuckle lightly brushing against her cheek, his green eyes locked onto hers with a quiet calm. "Then let's finish this at dawn. So I can take you to that quiet house first."
He then eased the heavy cloak off her shoulders, draping it over the back of the small wooden chair before slumping right back onto the cot, leaning back on his palms while letting out a sigh.
"Alright," he said softly, "you have got the decoys set, the ministers sweating through their fine silk vests, and the main vanguard standing by. But what exactly are you doing during the initial blast? You haven't told me your actual entry."
Aefia leaned her chin in her hand, resting her elbow on her knee. A faint, mischievous glint returned to her garnet eyes, cutting through the heavy exhaustion weighing down her eyelids.
"Right before the hydraulic charge goes off," she said, her voice dropping into a light, almost conversational hum, "I am going to give Kazimir a little headache."
Helio raised an eyebrow, his green eyes narrowing in immediate suspicion. "A headache? Aefia, the last time you gave someone 'a headache,' you blew out three drainage shafts and nearly brought down an entire wing of the east palace."
"That was a minor miscalculation regarding old pipe pressure," she corrected smoothly, waving a dismissive hand.
"This is completely different. I am talking about a tiny, delicate spike through my blood link. Nothing lethal, mind you. Just enough of a sudden, disorienting thermal shock to knock him off his balance, drop his core temperature, and send his internal guard into a total, screaming panic. By the time he wakes up shivering, confused, and convinced he's dying of a mysterious plague—our eight 'assassins' will already be kicking down doors on the third floor."
Helio stared at her for three long seconds, his fingers instinctively pressing against the bridge of his nose as if trying to ward off an impending headache of his own. "You know, normal people usually send a formal declaration of war. Or a letter. Maybe a rude messenger."
"Letters are boring," Aefia smirked, her lips curving upward into a sharp, sarcastic little line. "Besides, ink doesn't give him that delightful sense of immediate personal regret. It's called efficiency, Helio."
"Right. Efficiency," Helio muttered, letting out a heavy, suffering sigh that sounded like it came from the very depths of his soul. He looked genuinely aged by about five years in the span of thirty seconds.
"So, to recap: you raise the alarm on purpose, make Kazimir think he's having a sudden medical crisis, and draw every guard inward to protect his bedchamber. And while they are frantic, distracted, and running around like headless chickens in the upper corridors...?"
"I walk straight through the front gates myself," Aefia said casually, as if describing a completely mundane morning stroll to the local bakery.
Helio went completely, terrifyingly still. His elbows nearly gave out. His eyes widened just a fraction, a look of sheer, unadulterated trauma flashing across his face.
"You... what?" he choked out. "Did I hear that correctly? Or did the lack of sleep finally cause me to start hallucinating your worst possible ideas?"
"I walk through the front gates," she repeated, enunciating each word with exaggerated patience as if speaking to a child.
"I make myself the ultimate bait. The moment Kazimir crawls out of his room, rubs his eyes, and realizes I am standing right in the middle of his ruined courtyard, he won't be able to resist coming down to face me himself. His pride is far too fragile to let him hide behind his remaining lords while I am within arm's reach."
"Aefia, you broke out of a damp dungeon not even twenty-four hours ago!" Helio practically hissed, leaning in closer, his hands gripping her knees with a mix of desperation and outright panic. "You had raw marks on your wrists, you have eaten only one bowl of stew, and you are casually suggesting you stand in the middle of an enemy stronghold, waving your arms around like a target on a shooting range! Are you entirely out of your mind?!"
"I am not waving my arms around," she grumbled, tilting her head with a faint glare. "I am standing there with supreme poise and elegance. There is a vast tactical difference."
"You are going to give me a heart attack before I even reach thirty," Helio groaned, dropping his forehead directly against her shoulder. "I survived even your brother's ridiculous pranks, but you are actively trying to put me in an early grave."
"If you die of a heart attack now, I am leaving all your paperwork to Felix," she threatened lightly, reaching up to poke the top of his head. "So get up. You are being dramatic."
He slowly lifted his head, his face a portrait of deep-seated emotional scarring. "I am not being dramatic. I am reacting with appropriate horror to a plan that belongs in an asylum."
"It's a brilliant plan," Aefia countered, leaning back slightly and folding her arms. "I am forcing him to declare a full-scale war right there in front of his own court. He thinks he can play political games, hide behind technicalities, and pretend he didn't try to bleed me dry in a cell. But once he steps into that courtyard to strike at me, the trap springs. The remaining vanguard units will move in from the perimeter, sealing every single exit."
She reached out, her fingers lightly tracing a line along the rough wooden edge of the cot.
"We corner Kazimir, his loyalist guards, and every hesitant, spineless lord who refused to surrender," Aefia continued, her tone shifting seamlessly from sarcastic banter to cool, terrifying calculation.
"With Kazimir neutralized and the ministers trapped inside our perimeter, the entire Mides government collapses in a single morning. No prolonged civil war, no drawn-out sieges across the provinces, and no wasting imperial resources on endless negotiations. The lords will have no choice but to sign the capitulation terms on the spot, and Mides officially becomes part of the Smod Empire."
Silence stretched across the tent. Helio stared at her for a long moment, taking in the quiet, absolute confidence radiating from her garnet eyes. The sheer absurdity of her strategy was only matched by the chilling reality that it was almost guaranteed to work.
Slowly, the intense tension in his shoulders began to break, giving way to a low, breathless chuckle that sounded half-amused and half-resigned to his fate.
"You make orchestrating a complete, ruthless kingdom takeover sound as simple as moving chess pieces," he murmured, shaking his head in quiet disbelief as he reached up, his hand gently tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear.
"It is chess," Aefia smiled softly. "Only with real crowns and significantly worse players. Now... let me sleep for two hours before I have to go flip the board and ruin Kazimir's entire life."
"Two hours," Helio agreed softly, leaning forward to press a tender kiss against her temple, his voice full of quiet, unwavering devotion. "I will wake you when the charges are set. Try not to conquer any more empires in your dreams."
"No promises," she muttered, pulling the thin blanket up to her chin and drifting off before he could even stand up.