Chapter 69.2
Kyle's eyes widened then slowly calmed down.
"I've shown you something embarrassing."
His silvery eyelashes were delicate, as if they were made of ice, and they looked exquisite in his pale light blue eyes.
"I think it's only polite to return home quietly after His Royal Highness Arnold rejected me, but I can't just give up here."
"...Didn't you think that was dangerous? Even though we aren't at war now, a victorious nation like Garkhain can overturn the situation. I'm sure Prince Kyle has heard of the battle in which His Highness Arnold, during the war, beheaded all the royalty of the hostile country, right?"
"That's..."
Kyle caught a glimpse of Kamil, the knight guard, standing at a distance.
Realizing Kyle's reservations, Rishe said, "Don't worry. Even if that knight overhears our conversation, His Highness Arnold won't hear it."
The knight guard, Kamil, was from the favelas.
He was a knight of Arnold's knight guards and was normally obligated to report to Arnold everything that happened to Rishe.
But Kamil was the only exception.
He was so impressed with the measures Rishe had recently taken for the favelas that he offered to help her.
Even Rishe's kidnapping by Theodore instigation, Kamil and her handmaid, Elise, worked together to help her.
As someone with a fiancé, Rishe shouldn't talk to Kyle alone.
But if he were an ordinary knight guard, the report would have reached Arnold.
Therefore, she's been waiting for Kamil to come as her knight guard after the shift in guards. Unexpectedly, he came around earlier than expected.
When Rishe glanced at Kamil, he bowed and stood as far away from Rishe as possible.
Kyle waited for it and then spoke.
"I've read about the national affairs that His Highness Arnold got involved in, and it is clear that he put the people first in his measures. There's no doubt that he's a wise ruler...I suspect that his mercy is even extended toward the enemies during the war."
"...Please enlighten me."
Even Kyle was aware of it. Although he had such certainty, Rishe waited for his words.
"I'm a royal who is supposed to protect his people, but I know nothing about the battlefield — So that's all in my imagination. However, a battlefield is supposed to be much harder to move around on if there are more wounded than dead."
"..."
Kyle was right.
If your comrades have died, you have no choice but to leave them behind and move on.
It was traumatic and heartbreaking, but it wouldn't really lead to a decline in strength.
However, this wasn't the case with the wounded.
Once a comrade was injured on the battlefield, the knights would help, rescue, and protect him.
That was less power devoted to the battle. As a result, their troops might be wiped out to protect their wounded comrades.
"Perhaps that's why His Highness Arnold was so 'effective' on the battlefield, when he brutally killed enemy soldiers. One look at a soldier and you know he's doomed; few would less likely to stand up to him to save him. Even less is willing to fight for the survivors. Killing the royals rather than capturing them could also be seen as an attempt to reduce the sacrifices of the knights who're willing to risk their lives to take them back, in addition to putting an end to the war..."
Rishe nodded at Kyle's thoughts, who should know nothing about the battlefield.
Prince Kyle is still brilliant. The way he stands by a mere merchant and scholar, and his current battlefield theory...He has an accurate analysis and concept for situations that he hasn't experienced himself.
If only he hadn't been so sickly.
And if the world wasn't at war so often, he would surely be known as a wise ruler.
"I agree with you."
"Rishe-dono..."
His Highness Arnold's brutal killing of his enemies in the past wars has a purpose. It's not surprising to save the majority at the expense of extreme sacrifices.――......And because of that, he said it would be better for him to invade Koyor before his father, Emperor Garkhain, catches wind of it.
Arnold was kind.
And because of his kindness, he didn't have qualms in choosing war and murder.
That was why she thought she had to stop it.
Kyle once again excused himself in front of Rishe.
"I'm sorry to speak to a woman like this...Besides, even if His Royal Highness Arnold is in fact a brutal man, the plan I must take remains the same."
"Defend Koyor at all costs, even at the risk of your life."
"!"
"...I'm sure you'll say that, am I right?"
She looked up at Kyle, who looked up in surprise, and smiled sadly.
["I want to protect this country. I will do everything I can to achieve that."]
["That's probably the greatest duty I have ever had, having been born to die."]
He said so and joined the ranks of the unwanted war.
"I used to think that I should risk my life to protect what is important to me. But there's no doubt that's not good enough."
Remembering what she told Fritz earlier as well, Rishe continued, "Because the life of the person you wanted to protect is going to last a long time after that."
At that moment, she heard a gasp from Kyle.
"Adversities in life don't come only once. They are just as much a danger as they are a blessing as you overcome the current hardships."
As they talked, she recalled the royal family members she served as a knight.
They risked their lives to protect and defend their precious princes. They weren't afraid to die for them. With that in mind, they stood on the battlefield and fought with their swords in their hands.
Rishe now knew better that that was a bad move.
Emperor Arnold might have caught up with the feeling carriage.
Their allies, who had escaped, might have betrayed, and they eventually lost their lives.
If one of the knights, just one of them, survived, they might have been saved from such difficulties.
"I learned that Garkhain knights are strong because they fight with the spirit of 'survive and protect at all costs', rather than 'die nobly there to protect'...They are taught to fight and live even if they lost a limb or can no longer hold a sword."
And it was no other than the Crown Prince, Arnold, who devised such a training method.
"Please, Prince Kyle..."
Rishe looked into Kyle's eyes and instead of 'Your Highness Kyle,' she called him that same way she once did.
This was how the people of Koyor addressed him. It was sort of a friendly nickname for the royalty. It might be somewhat impolite for Rishe of this world to call him this.
But Rishe dared to say it.
"First off, I hope Prince Kyle can strike a small alliance with me."
"Alliance, that's..."
"To persuade His Royal Highness Arnold, I need your help like no other for the sake of the alliance between Garkhain and Koyor."
Rishe said and spread a paper she hid on the desk.
She wrote it in a hurry after parting with Arnold on the balcony last night. Kyle gulped as he looked over the plan.
"Miss Rishe, what on earth are you..."
"I can't provide you with any details. But I'm sure that with you, Prince Kyle, we can make this plan a reality."
"But I don't think this will convince His Highness Arnold. On the contrary, I'm afraid he won't spare a glance at it."
"No."
Rishe denied resolutely.
"I don't know if His Highness Arnold will nod his head...But if this plan works, he will definitely listen."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Of course because..."
She straightened her chest and smiled.
"...I am His Highness Arnold's future wife."