Chapter 8 – 0. Northern Twilight (8)
An army of one thousand and five hundred.
Climbing the mountain range beyond the snowfield, Kovin’s army arrived at the back of Lemoang Fortress. There were 1,000 troops under the command of the vice-count, led by these 500, equipped with the best elite and appropriate weapons in the Marquis.
“Look, Heroes of the North!”
Even if Amman thoroughly prepared for the cold, this place was the frozen land of Lemoang. The horse and soldier’s physical consumption would have been indescribably great as they turned their riders and returned to the rugged mountain road. Nonetheless, Corvin buoyed up morale with his speech as if he were a confidant of the Marquis Gerard, a veteran of the war.
“The end of Oriane, the wicked wicked woman who betrayed our trust and used us, is coming soon!”
The assassination of Gerard Lemoang, which occurred in this land in the past, was sudden. The high-ranking officials of Yeongji searched for the mastermind behind it for a long time, but with no results, and the incident eventually disappeared into history, leaving only rumors floating around.
And Corbin took note of one of the rumors left just like that.
“This is a new history of the frozen land, a temple!”
It is said that when someone dies, the first person to be suspected is his or her spouse her. Oriane Le Moin was famous for her original lack of power, and since there was no record of her being caught in a book of this kind during her husband’s lifetime, she passed on relatively quietly, but that was the case.
There were even suspicions directed against her that she was apparently the one who orchestrated her husband’s death.
“Rise up to recover the fortress and appease the spirit of the Marquis!”
“Wow!”
Ilcheon, a soldier who followed the vice-count, sang it first. The minority of a group is always swept away by the majority, so the remaining five hundred recruited from the fort soon followed him and began to respond. Because they also served Gerard Lemoang as their master in the past.
“Siege begins!”
Raising his sword forward, Cobain ordered the citadel besieged. The northern fort had no moat due to its geopolitical specificity. Naturally, if you took a gap where the boundaries were loose, you could climb up the ladder or use the secret passage leading to the castle.
‘I’m sure the aliens will be out of their minds since they’ll be attacking the front by now, right?’
Covin, with a fishy smile, crossed his arms and checked the citadel’s reaction. If he’s the quick-witted four barons, he’ll realize which side he’s on, and he’ll quickly stir up an infighting. Once that was done, Cauvin could take possession of the land without having to negotiate with his neighboring lords or trick the aliens.
‘Don’t worry too much, Oriane.’
In the meantime, I pretended not to be the case, but in reality, I became the number one Marquis Command.
‘Because I’ll always cherish you as much as you know that your years or the daughters you gave birth to are smooth.’
Eventually, 1,500 soldiers surrounded Lemoang Fortress. And less than a minute later, a soldier who seemed to be a messenger came running to the road leading south. They were not particularly armed, but in both hands they held a flag pole so large that it could be seen from afar.
“Pooh, it’s the flag of the Count of Poitiers!”
Someone recognized the herald’s banner and shouted. He was clearly a soldier wearing the official armor of the Margrave, but as someone had shouted, he was holding the flag of Poitiers, the nearest county in the northern vicinity.
“Stop!”
Corbin on horseback approached the messenger. Soldiers were mobilized for encirclement, and he was in the closest position to the soldier holding the flag.
“Clarify your identity and purpose, soldier!”
“Co, vice-count Kovin?”
The messenger recognized the sub-count and raised a salute. The pole hadn’t been put down separately. Carrying someone’s flag in Gaul meant that he or she represented the owner of the flag.
“My name is Antoine, the guard at Lemoang Fortress. We are on our way back after requesting reinforcements from the Count of Poitiers under the orders of Marquis Marquis Orianne.”
“What? Tell me more about it!”
“My wife dispatched the vice-count and immediately sent a request for reinforcements to the nearby territories. He’s heard that he’s probably promised to send soldiers from other places, so maybe in half a day more troops from the surrounding nobles will arrive.”
The messenger, Antoine, had Cobain as his respectful superior to him. And that meant that this soldier still did not know about my mutiny. In addition, the diagnosis was meant by adding credibility to the words that he sent a request for reinforcements to the nearby territory immediately after sending himself to the military.
“Boo, Vice Countess!”
Some of the officers who were besieging the citadel came running in a fright.
“What is going on?”
“There is the flag of the Baron of Lothringen!”
“There’s even Baron Brienne’s flag!”
Cobain could not contain his astonishment. Even if it was the count of Poitiers, the barons of Lothringen and Brienne were figures who served as a bridgehead for the central political world even in the north. In short, they were the checkers of the margrave faction, and as such, despite their low title, they boasted considerable military power.
‘It’s nonsense, how can you treat those bastards!
It was impossible unless they had promised to give away part of the territory. And if he expected to be in a situation where he might lose everything like he is now, anyone other than Oriane would have been able to make such a decision.
“Deputy Countess! Vice-Count Kovin!”
“What else!”
“The gates are open!”
It was a completely chaotic situation. As one of the officers reported, the door to the citadel was opening. At first, the four barons, who did not know the circumstances, called for joy, wondering if the rebellion had succeeded, but what appeared unexpectedly was an armed knight.
And they were the vassals of the Margrave Command, tightly bound from the rope he held.
Baron Marbeau, Hugues, Luson, and again La Vallee!
‘What! Why are you guys out there!’
‘Ooh, we got hit too.’
‘What the fuck!’
Cobain couldn’t hide his embarrassment. The soldiers who followed him were no different. Seong Chae-byeong Oh Baek, who had doubts about the sudden withdrawal, postponed the battle, feeling that the situation was going to turn out of the ordinary, unlike Il-cheon under the sub-count.
“Listen, traitors!”
So the knight who captured the four barons shouted loudly.
“I am the lord of the Marquis of Lemoyn, the knight Romuald, the representative of Lady Oriane!”
His name His was Romuald. He was a hero of Limousin and a knight reputed to have no rival in the kingdom.
“If it’s Romuald, he’s a member of the Dior family… ?”
“He led the great offensive in Limousin last year!”
The soldiers surrounding the fort were agitated. Meanwhile, in the direction of the highway, more messengers than before waved their flags high. It was decisive evidence suggesting that the situation had changed.
“You are now going against Lady Orianne, the rightful ruler and representative of this land! Because of that detestable sub-count’s tricks!”
The Seongchae-byeong on the Kovin side looked back in unison. Recalling the vice-count who had shouted triumphantly a little while ago, he cast doubtful eyes on whether that was true.
Unfortunately, he didn’t answer right away. In the process of suppression, it may have been that they were confronted and suffered, or it was because the appearance of the four barons who were dragged in as supercorpses and this situation were so dreamy that they did not have a sense of reality.
“But it is not too late! Surrender those who want to live! Lay down your weapon, and your life will be spared! Those who resist will fall to this sword!”
“It’s the sword that Margrave Gerard used!”
The soldier recognized Rom’s sword and shouted. It was Antoine holding a flag right next to the vice-count. And, of course, this was one of the orders he received earlier. Otherwise, how would he have recognized at once that the weapon raised from this distance was the Marquis’s?
A soldier’s morale is contagious.
Charter, cause, and cause!
“What! Were we traitors then?”
“I knew it! The vice-count tricked us!”
“Get him! For Mrs. Oriane!”
A mass desertion of disarmed soldiers took place. Most of them were 1,000 soldiers personally led by the vice-count. Of course, there were still people with weapons in their hands, but they didn’t have the will to resist.
“You should go with me, vice-count!”
“Let go, let go! These guys!”
It was only that they were soldiers, most of whom had been recruited from the citadel, who were trying to prove their unwavering loyalty after capturing the mounted vice-count.
* * *
It was a landslide victory without shedding a single drop of blood.
1,000 soldiers who followed the vice-count were disarmed on the spot, and 500 castle soldiers who were instigated by him were pardoned, considering that they had captured and offered Covin. However, given the seriousness of the work, it would have been only after the administrative procedures had been completed that they would actually be released.
“This is the purpose of the ten soldiers who asked me to borrow it.”
One thousand five hundred soldiers were distributed throughout the territory and detained. The vice-count and the four barons were specially imprisoned in the dungeon where Rom was imprisoned. Since he had no intention of killing him, he allowed a few sets of clothes and blankets to make it bearable.
“I really didn’t know you could do all this…”
Temur and his coalition of Camag tribes returned to the snowfields. As they said, their departure was unreasonable, so they agreed to return with the delegation in a few days and deal with the matter of disposing of Kovin’s party and future work.
“Open your chest. All of these are achievements made through her decision her.”
“I’m not stupid, Sir Dior.”
Oriane chuckled, bringing her hand her to her mouth her. The hostility I had felt towards him just three days ago seemed to have disappeared. He was, after all, a man who got rid of the old worries of the border Baekryung, so how could he not do that?
He was, much less, the one who could betray as much as he wanted for his own self-interest in his in the process of resolving the situation.
“On the one hand, I am worried. You may not know Count Poitiers, but Baron Lothringen and Baron Brienne are among the longtime political enemies of the Margrave. If you find out that they have used their own flags, you can file a formal protest.”
“I plan to crack down on the mouth.”
“You can use that as a pretext to threaten this place.”
“In case something like that happens, it’s okay because I’m there.”
Oriane blushed. It was because of Rome’s remarks of her that were like confessions. Certainly, the conversation the two were having now was too romantic for words spoken in the lord’s office. Even from the standpoint of a Marquis deputy and a wandering knight.
“Can I take that as an expression that you will continue to work hard for this land?”
“Of course.”
It was already sunset outside. It was time for the chilly northern night to come. So Oriane Lemoyn got up from her seat without knowing it and went to Rome. To this magical knight who made even the rudeness of the past feel like his loyalty to her.
“Why? Is it because you lifted your skirt?”
Despite his tall beauty her, Rome’s face her, which was rugged with scars, showed a rare smile.
“You know me well.”
“Isn’t that just not enough to pay off?”
The beautiful margrave’s wife moved closer to the knight who fought for her. Romed hesitate for a moment, then said while shaking his head slightly.
“He is like that too. Of course, I didn’t mean to do it once.”
“Bad people…”
Side, this time, the kiss that started voluntarily joined the two. It was an act of clear friendship. However, the lack of tongue-tingling or body-touching seemed to be more about mental communion than physical pleasure.
“I’m thinking of inviting you to dinner tonight, how about it?”
“I’m glad, but for now, focus more on this side.”
Like any intimate lover’s relationship.
