◈ Episode 367 The Night of the Torch
Rudger laughed at the small commotion outside the door.
‘Yena and now, the personality is the same. That shamelessly stupid behavior hasn’t changed.’
“leader. sorry.”
Arfa lowered her head with a gloomy face as she looked at Ludger who had closed the door.
Rudger shook his head.
“It is done.”
“You opened the door to the person I should be most careful of.”
“I didn’t expect the other side to come so confidently, whose fault could it be?”
Rudger didn’t take it seriously, but Arfa still couldn’t suppress his apology.
“Still, you might have been exposed during the conversation we just had.”
“That won’t happen. Listening to the reaction, it doesn’t seem like they noticed anything suspicious.”
Arfa focused her hearing and overheard the sound beyond the door.
As Ludger had said, Queen Catherine only admired Ludger for being handsome, but did not seem to recognize Ludger’s true identity.
“Rather than that, is that person really like that?”
Clearly, Ekaterina did not have that kind of image when she first entered the hotel lobby.
He was a person who showed no reaction to his expressionless face.
The first impression was literally like seeing a cold glacier in the north.
lofty, cold.
The leader of the Kingdom of Utah and the nickname of the Frost Queen was fitting.
But when you hear the sounds coming from outside, your real personality is the exact opposite of what you showed in the lobby.
“It used to be worse.”
“More, worse?”
“At that time, I didn’t even pretend to be as lofty as I am now.”
“What kind of person is Queen Catherine then?”
When Arfa asked with a curious face, Rudger sighed and wiped his chin with his fingertips.
Ekaterina Volsvaya.
When I first saw her, Rudger’s first impression was simple.
this person. If he had come from the Kingdom of Durmang rather than the Kingdom of Utah, he would have been decapitated by the guillotine.
Should I say that she sounds like a typical bad young girl?
He was just such a person who was obsessed with beautiful jewelry and luxuries.
Of course, after talking a few times, I found out that my real personality wasn’t like that at all.
However, even taking that into consideration, Ludger’s evaluation of Ekaterina was not very good.
“I was dumb and stupid. It didn’t suit me at all as a leader.”
“yes? How did such a person lead the civil war to victory?”
“Because there are many great people around me. she is such a person She has a strange power to bring great people together. The reason Prince Alexei gnashed his teeth and went looking for her, even in that favorable situation, might have been because he was worried about that part of her.”
“Any great person, including the leader?”
“No way. I haven’t done much.”
The mercenary who led the civil war to victory didn’t do much?
Arfa didn’t understand that, but decided to just do it.
Mr. Hans said it to the point of rusting in his ears.
Leaders have a habit of belittling their own achievements too much, so don’t bother blaming what he says.
Arfa only lacked common sense, but she tended to put the teachings into practice quickly, so she acted as Hans said.
“Still, something is surprising.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think a leader would have chosen someone like that.”
You are such a person.
It was a terribly merciless evaluation for a word spoken to the queen of a country.
However, I was able to say that because I looked at people with a pure gaze.
In fact, as Arfa said, Ludger had similar thoughts.
“If you chose Queen Catherine, was the prince’s side much more serious?”
“If I had to argue, Prince Alexei was a much better person on the surface. Because he was the opposite of Ekaterina.”
Unlike Princess Ekaterina, who always had a strange laugh and behaved like an immature person, Prince Alexei was calm, intelligent, and eloquent.
He had a good reputation socially and was constantly engaged in external activities, imprinting a good image on many people.
“uh. If so, wasn’t the prince better?”
“You might think so.”
“But the leader chose the opposite option. Is there a reason for that?”
“Arfa. The evaluation of the public is not so easy to give. Everyone wears a mask.”
“A mask?”
“Prince Alexei looked like a good person on the outside, but on the inside he had a strong psychopathic side that couldn’t understand or sympathize with others.”
All the images he shows to the world are made up.
The real Prince Alexei was a cruel character.
He did not hesitate to kill good citizens if necessary, and he treated his subordinates who believed in him only as tools.
When a civil war broke out in the kingdom of Utah, the reason the civilians suffered the most was the indiscriminate forced labor of the prince’s faction.
And it’s because they purged those who didn’t follow it as an example.
“On the contrary, Princess Ekaterina, no, she is now a queen. She was a typical arrogant noble on the outside, but she had a warm heart that cared for others more than anyone else.”
At Ludger’s words, Arfa recalled the conversation Ekaterina had with her aides a moment ago.
Ekaterina’s attitude towards her aide seemed far from a hierarchical order composed of top and bottom.
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Rather, it is more like a friendly family or friend attitude.
It certainly doesn’t suit the behavior of a country’s queen.
That’s why I felt like an ideal existence that can only be seen in fairy tales.
“That’s why I decided to raise her hand in that cold land. She was like a flame.”
“A spark? How can a person become a spark?”
“… … figuratively.”
In an environment full of bitter cold, Ekaterina’s presence was like a powerful torch.
People were drawn as if possessed by the flames.
In the midst of a blizzard where it was difficult to see even an inch ahead, the existence of the scarlet flames was clear.
The gathering of great talents by her side was, perhaps, an inevitable flow.
“But I heard that Prince Alexei had an advantage in the early days of the civil war.”
“It actually was. Before the civil war broke out, public evaluation was focused on Prince Alexei. In fact, even that situation was created by Prince Alexei through behind-the-scenes work beforehand. He was moving with the assumption of a civil war from the beginning.”
When the civil war broke out in the kingdom of Utah, the hosages used to talk in unison.
In this fight, Prince Alexei will definitely win.
So, in order to maintain good relations with the Kingdom of Utah in the future, you should line up with Prince Alexei.
Corporations, powerful nobles, military generals.
Everyone thought so.
Actually, the situation was going to flow towards that ending.
“However, the victory belonged to the princess in the end. The prince’s cold ambition to devour the north melted away in the hot flame.”
At the end of the civil war, Yekaterina, who fought on the front line holding the flag of the kingdom of Utah, was one of the most famous anecdotes.
A black-and-white photo accidentally taken by a war correspondent at that time contributed greatly to changing the perception of Yekaterina.
The photo was plastered on the front page of the newspaper, and citizens who were terrified by the civil war in the Kingdom of Utah gathered courage and began to support the princess.
Thus, the civil war in the kingdom of Utah, the [War of Frost and Torch], ended with Catherine’s victory.
“In the end, justice triumphed.”
“okay. The right one won.”
Rudger said as if it were someone else’s business.
But Rudger recalled that day like a memory.
Although I couldn’t call those fierce battlefield days a memory.
Because the meeting that changed the fate of at least one country was definitely memorable.
-Are you that mercenary?
Ekaterina approached Ludger, who was quietly taking in the fire with a rifle in her arms.
—My name is Ekaterina Volsvaya. People say she is the princess of tyranny and luxury.
Although he is a fugitive, he does not even think about hiding his identity.
Ekaterina looked at Ludger with confident, straight eyes.
─I need your strength.
Rudger was dumbfounded by Ekaterina’s attitude.
As a fugitive, with almost no forces following him, how dare he ask for help?
He wasn’t even a real mercenary in the first place.
In order to find the Relic Fragment in the Kingdom of Utah, he disguised himself as an easy-going person.
As a mercenary, he had no obligation to fight by Ekaterina’s side.
Rather, if it were a real mercenary, it would have been better to sell Ekaterina here and hand it over to Alexei.
It was not worth responding to, and it was right to ignore it, of course.
But Rudger asked involuntarily.
—I am a mercenary. If you want to request a request, pay the price. If you do that, you may be able to accept the request.
─No. Now I don’t have any money.
Rudger’s face became dumbfounded at those words.
─That’s shameless. Still asking for help? Rather, if I handed it over to the prince here, I could get more money.
-Are you sure?
-There’s nothing I can’t do. Do you still regret it?
─Oh ho ho! Then I guess I didn’t have eyes to see!
Are you brave or stupid?
Ekaterina did not reprimand the mercenary for not showing respect even in front of the royal family.
I just laughed it off and laughed it off.
─But I have no regrets!
─Why?
─All of this is what I chose. If something goes wrong, the responsibility is entirely mine. It’s a pity to fail, but shouldn’t we do our best not to fail?
—… … .
—So I’m just going ahead on this road.
Ekaterina, who declared so, did not show even the slightest hint of royalty.
To put it bluntly, he is a dreamer steeped in ideals and dreams.
‘okay. It didn’t look like royalty at all.’
In any case, if a person like this wins the civil war, she will become the queen of the kingdom of Utah.
A king who has no dignity and does not lord it over anyone.
How can a country led by such a person ever succeed?
but.
If it exists, it must be a warm country that can only come out of fairy tales.
—I said Princess Ekaterina.
─Yes. that’s right.
—In order to become a king, you must first learn the theory of monarchy.
─Yes? what is that… … .
——That means he will accept the request.
Rudger said that and slowly rose from his seat.
With the small burning bonfire at the center, Ekaterina met Ludger’s eyes and asked.
-Did you suddenly change your mind?
─Why? don’t like it
-I don’t hate it. If a talented person can help, I would welcome it. However, since my attitude has changed, I wondered if there was a reason, so I asked.
─I missed you. If that side becomes king, the country he will create.
Ekaterina responded with a smile as Ludger smiled and spoke.
-So, what’s your name?
Rudger’s expression crumpled at those words.
-You asked for a mercenary request without even knowing my name?
─Is the name important? ability doesn’t matter.
-I’m not wrong, but… … .
—But now that we’re fighting together, it seems like it’s worth mentioning the name. I’m also curious about the monarchy of yesteryear.
—Machiavelli.
Rudger grabbed his rifle and headed outside the cabin in a blizzard.
—Call me Machiavelli.
meeting of the two.
It became a turning point that changed the fate of a country.
* * *
Recalling that day, Ludger couldn’t help laughing.
‘I’ve been nagging him hard to become a good monarch, but he hasn’t changed at all.’
But it’s her because she hasn’t changed.
If it had changed, I would have been disappointed.
I felt relieved because he seemed to be doing well even after he left.
It seems that the twin brother and sister aide still have a bad relationship.
‘Shouldn’t I have said goodbye properly?’
Of course, it was already too late to think about that.
Rudger pretended to be dead during the battle, changed his identity and fled.
If they hear the news that this side is alive, rather than rejoice, they will feel betrayed and embarrassed.
In that case, it was best to just live as if each other were not together.
“Don’t just let me sleep. I have to move early tomorrow.”
Rudger said so and lay down on the sofa with his eyes closed.
Immediately, Rudger’s breathing changed evenly and he fell asleep in an instant.
Arfa remembered that story.
It is said that skilled people fall asleep within 5 seconds, and even a good 2 hours of sleep can keep you in peak condition.
‘But I heard that usually only those who are at the level of a knight can do that.’
Arfa was curious again, but Ludger, who could answer, was sleeping soundly.
Arfa lay down on the bed, leaving her regret behind.
Tomorrow was the day of 「Mysterious Night」.
