In the late afternoon in Karo Province at the Bastari castle, inside the Duke Habanero's well-organized and tidy study, the Duke was busy taking care of the mountain of paperwork on his desk from the morning until now, when suddenly the door of his study was knocked on from outside.
"Excuse me, my lord; there's a new development at the Baraba Fort." A familiar muffled voice of his spymaster sounds from behind the door as Duke Habanero looks up from the paper he was stamping with sharp eyes. He had ordered his spymaster to immediately report to him as soon as the imperial army made a move, and they're finally doing something, it seems.
"Get in!" The Duke cried out as the door immediately opened and his spymaster in gray silk hurriedly walked in front of his desk with a couple of letters in his hand while Habanero waited with a serious expression.
"My lord, the imperial army at Baraba Fort has withdrawn their entire force as our soldiers are retaking the fort back, but the damage has been... very extensive, to say the least," the spymaster said, bracing himself for the duke's reaction that will soon follow before continuing. "The repair would take many months and many gold coins, and... the granaries were looted clean as well as everything that was valuable..."
"Motherfucker...!" And just like the spymaster expected, Duke Habanero's fingers tightened around his quill, snapping it in half as ink splattered across the parchment. His face is livid, his breath is becoming rough, and his teeth are audibly gritting.
The Baraba Fort was supposed to hold for years, but the opportunity to kill Zarking with magic was too tempting for the magicians at the fort at that time, and the result was the giant hole on the wall, and their target was barely hurt from the attempt. Habanero really wanted to strangle and kill the responsible magicians when he first heard about it, but he can't easily find their replacement, so he couldn't just get rid of them.
And with the hole in the wall, the fort defenders were quickly overwhelmed by the imperial army and had to retreat, leaving the imperial forces to freely strip all resources left in the fort bare like vultures before they just sat their asses in the fallen fort waiting for the reinforcement.
The Duke's jaw clenched in humiliation as he imagined the smug face of that stupid, insane emperor, who was probably laughing madly while talking shit about him after conquering the supposedly impregnable Baraba Fort.
"Fucking bastards..." The Duke growled, tossing the broken quill aside. His hand grabbed the piece of small white cloth and rubbed the spilled ink on the polished wood surface of the desk roughly. "And what was the reason they suddenly retreated? Did the mad emperor fucking randomly decide to stop his war campaign halfway and go home or something?"
"We can't know for sure with the mad emperor, my lord, but the imperial army seems to have withdrawn because something else is happening that can't be ignored and drew them away," the spymaster said, presenting his master with the letters filled with information from the spies in his hand as the Duke skimmed over the letters. "Our spies report big movements from the north border and suspicious movements from the east border."
"Fuck, are the Northern Empire and the petty kingdoms finally moving?" Duke Habanero hit his desk with clenched fists, his sharp eyes narrowing as his mind raced through possibilities.
'It looks like they're making a move because of Zarking, who kickstarted the civil war too early...' No matter how much he thinks, he could only arrive at one conclusion: that everything is spiraling out of control right now because of his failure to assassinate Prince Zarba, who later successfully sics his mad father at him somehow.
"If only the prince were dead...!" Habanero couldn't help but curse Zarba in his mind, and if he knew that his daughter was also obsessed with the prince and even helping him out, the Duke might just jump out of the balcony with frustration.
"What are the orders, my lord?" The spymaster inquires after waiting for the Duke to calm down a little.
"Hah! What can we do other than strengthen our defense and recruit more soldiers? We need to prepare for a long siege from the other country's army that is coming." Habanero sighed and leaned back on his chair as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with a tired expression.
He isn't even sure if he can endure the coming storm without losing an arm or leg. His trained soldiers and knights are wasted a lot on defense against the imperial army, and only the reserve soldiers and levies from the citizens now make up the majority of his force.
The only good thing is that the imperial army will be the one that has to fight the invasion armies first, and Duke Habanero hopes that they could weaken the invasion armies enough for him to repel them later with his allies' combined might.
"And what about the prince? What's the progress on that?" Habanero asked his spymaster after he calmed down, as from what he had heard from the report some time ago, that they were going to hit the prince's group when they were traveling on the Paramatta bridge after he invited the nobles of the Zenobia province on the plot to assassinate the prince.
Some nobles agree to participate, some are too cautious to get involved, but Habanero believes it is more than enough force that he has gathered to kill the prince already.
"Everything is proceeding as planned—Count Valtor's forces and the others are already mobilizing toward Parramatta Bridge to set up an ambush," the spymaster said, adjusting the collar of his shirt. "Our agents also confirm the prince's path has not changed, as he is still going to the bridge."
"All the mercenaries, bounty hunters, assassins, and noble forces have been informed; now they only need to wait for the prince to come." He then hesitated slightly before adding something that he heard from the report, "Though our observers report the prince's forces include escort knights who move with uncanny coordination—"
"It doesn't matter, powerful escort knights or not, they'll drown in bodies that we have prepared." Habanero waved a dismissive hand, not knowing that his force is the one that is likely going to drown in bodies instead. "Let Valtor throw all his force and mercenaries first. If they are still somehow miraculously lost, then we can just clean up whatever's left with our assassins. I just need Zarking's spawn to be dead before he escapes our influence to the other country."
"As you wish, my lord. Then excuse me." The spymaster bowed slightly as the Duke waved at him casually before the spymaster left the study, leaving Habanero alone with his thoughts.
"I need a drink..." Duke Habanero mumbled as he glanced at all the stacks of papers that were still left for him to take care of while wondering how that lunatic Zarking handled the paperwork. He just can't imagine the mad emperor doing it obediently like a sane person...
÷×÷×÷
Meanwhile, at the beautiful garden inside the Bastari castle, Seraphina is having tea with her mother, Lady Madina Bubba Bastari. A beautiful mature fair-skinned woman with a voluptuous figure, long wavy blonde hair, and the same blue eyes as her daughter.
Madina is dressed in a blue dress with a low cut and a golden necklace and earrings that have red and blue gemstones embedded in them.
"Well, what got you in such a bad mood, Sera?" Lady Madina asked her frowning daughter, who always looks irritated recently even though she was so annoyingly bubbly before.
"It's nothing, Mother..." Seraphina huffed as she stirred the tea furiously while thinking about what she has learned from her witchy friend recently. She was so shocked and dazed for a few seconds when she heard what Helga told her.
'For some reason Helga got scared, though, after I asked her for more details...' She thought back to when she visited the self-proclaimed fortune teller tent. It went without saying that the Duke's daughter was actually grabbing her friend's neck with both hands when she was "asking" for details...
And what she learned from Helga is not pleasant at all since her darling prince apparently has two women with him; one of them also seems to be his slave-wife, a half-elf magician.
'Damn it...!' Seraphina is so jealous of that woman; she also wants to be Prince Zarba's slave-wife!
"There's really nothing, hmph...!" Seraphina said it again before she drank all her tea in one gulp, and then the old maid nearby carefully poured the lemon tea in the empty cup of Seraphina after she put the teacup down on the table under the amazed eyes of her mother.
Seraphina didn't even care that what she just did was basically broadcasting that there's something troubling her to her mother; she was too busy fantasizing about her prince Zarba and how she would show that slave-wife of his, if she ever met Xin, that she will be Zarba's wife as well and there's nothing the half-elf could do about it!
"Sera..." Lady Madina sighed at her daughter and set down her own teacup with a clink. She could see that her daughter was lost in her own fantasy again—likely about the crown prince Zarba, whom the silly girl had been obsessed with ever since that ill-fated imperial yearly ball.
Madina has known of her daughter's obsession since her daughter always spoke about Prince Zarba this and Prince Zarba that when she was spending time with her daughter. It's nothing new to her.
'How ironic that my husband hates the Zigma dynasty, but my daughter is actually falling in love madly with one...' Seraphina's mother thought with a wry smile. She wonders how furious Habanero will be if he learn about his daughter feeling for the prince...
"Hehehe~." While Lady Madina was musing, the sound of creepy giggles made her look at the source of the noise.
"Seraphina, you are being vulgar!" Madina couldn't help scolding her daughter after noticing Seraphina begin making a lecherous expression that lady shouldn't be making and having to wake her up from her daydreaming so her daughter doesn't embarrass her in front of the servants.
"Ah...?! I-I didn't do anything...!" Of course no one there believes her obvious excuse.
"You are already twenty; be mindful of your surroundings for crying out loud." And then the sermon starts, and Seraphina can only shrink back and listen with small whimpering noises...