Chapter 123 – Nienna Nelben (1)  

Nienna stared at Juan for a while, then made told the others while beckoning to them slightly.

“Everyone, give us some time to have a private conversation, would you?”

Hearing this, Suvole looked at Nienna with a flustered look.

“But General, that man is a wanted criminal. He might be dangerous, so please let me…”

A sudden burst of laughter could be heard from one side of the room even before Suvole could finish speaking. Hela was also giggling with her face covered with her hand, almost as if she couldn’t hold back her laughter, while at the same time, Horhell was also trying his best to put on a firm face. On the other hand, Sina just had a complicated look on her face.

Nienna looked at Suvole with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“For a moment, let’s assume that I can’t protect myself against him. Then, do you think you could protect me from him? I’m feeling a little ashamed if I really look that weak to you.”

“But…”

“Stop getting in my way before I pull out your tongue. Hela, please excuse us,” Nienna said.

“Of course, General. Horhell, tell me about what I missed during the time I was gone,” Hela said.

Hela and Horhell left the room, and Sina soon followed. Sina looked back many times, as if she was worried about Juan, but Juan didn’t even spare a glance at her.

Suvole moved toward the door as well; he had no choice. While leaving, he whispered something in Nienna’s ears.

“Don’t forget about our promise.”

“I won’t. But if you whisper in my ear one more time, I’ll pull out all your teeth.”

Suvole flinched upon hearing Nienna’s cold words and quickly ran out of the room.

Soon, Nienna and Juan were left alone in the room. Nienna brought out two cups and set them on the table.

“You don’t like alcohol, do you?” Juan asked.

“I don’t.”

“I knew it.”

Nienna poured some water inside the cups and placed them in front of herself and Juan. Then Nienna sat on the table to look closely at Juan.

“You seem to know me pretty well based on the way you talk,” Nienna said.

“You think?” Juan spoke calmly. “I’m the one who raised you. Of course I know all about you.”

Nienna neither seemed surprised nor did she laugh. She just looked at Juan with calm eyes as she raised her glass.

“You shouldn’t be saying things like that so easily. That reminds me of something. It’s one of the three most embarrassing things I’ve ever said. You should know what I am talking about if you really did raise me…”

“Your Majesty. You might be the one who raised me, but it was winter that gave birth to me.”

Nienna spat out the water in her mouth upon hearing Juan’s words, while her face turned red with embarrassment.

But Juan just continued speaking calmly.

“To be fair, you were only fifteen when you said that line. It would only be natural for you to say something like that at that age. But it is a little surprising that you think that what you said back then is one of the most embarrassing things you’ve ever said. I thought that it was a pretty decent expression. In fact, you’ve even said something better than that on one occasion. ‘There is a winter dragon’s soul entangled in my destiny…’”

“Stop… stop it. If you don’t stop, I’ll kill you to make you shut your mouth, no matter what your identity is!” Juan shrugged and raised both his hands. Meanwhile, Nienna’s silver hair just made her red face even more prominent.

“God damn it. I thought that Gerard went missing, and my dad was dead and buried forever,” Nienna muttered.

Juan inadvertently thought of an assumption that was ridiculous, and he wanted to deny it.

“That’s not the reason why you got yourself involved with the matter of the assassination of the emperor, is it?” Juan asked.

“Assassination of the emperor? What kind of bullshit are you talking about? I was waiting for backup support at that time. Had my dad come, it would have been the perfect opportunity to have a final showdown and close the Crack for good. I couldn’t even pay that much attention when I heard the news about Gerard, that asshole, stabbing dad because I was too busy fighting against tentacle monsters. I couldn’t even set foot in the capital when Barth was busy with the purge,” Nienna explained.

Juan stared at Nienna, but she didn’t seem to be lying. She wasn’t the type to lie in the first place—Nienna was the type of person who had the audacity to say something like, ‘Yes, that was me. So what are you going to do about it?’

“To be honest, all that I felt when I heard that my dad had been stabbed was ‘the time had come.’ The lives of dad and all his children were already like that—it wouldn’t be so strange if we got stabbed at any time anyway. It was just a surprise that it was Gerard who stabbed dad.”

“So you… never felt anything to be strange about the current situation of the empire at all? You know, about the situation that Ras was in?”

“Ah, of course I thought it was strange. But…” Nienna frowned with her arms crossed. “If you knew enough about me, you would know what I thought about all of it.”

“...You were probably busy fighting against the Crack,” Juan quietly said.

“That’s right. If I had been able to close the Crack back then, I wouldn’t be sweating in the middle of winter like this. I missed the best timing to close the Crack, and I’m just barely stopping it from ruining the empire right now. If I had left it unattended, the influence of the Crack could have crossed from the north to reach the center of the empire. If the frontline becomes any wider than it is now, the empire will not be able to handle the Crack anymore.”

“I see.” Juan nodded.

“I heard that Barth, Helmut, and Dismas are doing quite well in the rear. It’s true that I was surprised to hear that Ras was involved in the assassination of the emperor, but I was already surprised with Gerard. So I guess I was less shocked the second time.”

Juan felt that Nienna wasn’t lying. There was no reason for her to lie, and even if she was lying, her story lacked details.

Considering that she had never left the northern territory, Juan figured that Nienna had nothing to do with the assassination of the emperor.

‘The person who led the treason probably thought that Nienna wouldn’t care about the assassination of the emperor as long as she was left alone.’

As a result, Nienna was able to maintain her position as a General, unlike Ras, who was publicly branded a traitor. The Crack might have spread further or a civil war might have broken out within the empire if Nienna had come to the capital like Ras—after all, Nienna had made the right decision.

Nienna clapped her hands, indicating that she wanted to change the topic.

“Anyway. Seeing that you know me so well, you’re definitely not someone ordinary. Are you the man I’ve been waiting for all along?”

“The man you’ve been waiting for all along?” Juan tilted his head.

“Yes. Aren’t you here to make me pregnant?”

Complicated thoughts suddenly flashed through Juan’s head upon hearing Nienna’s question. Juan had prepared himself for many different situations and conversations he might run into when he met his children, but never once had he thought about a situation where his child would say such words to him.

After pondering even harder than he did when he fought against Nigrato, Juan was able to find a clue for Nienna’s sudden remark.

“Are you talking about a story involving the winter duke?” Juan asked.

“Yes, I am. There is a time when the North has a blizzard for seven days straight, and it is said that’s when the winter duke visits. The story says that the maiden becomes pregnant for no reason during that time, and gives birth to a silver-haired child. The legend says that the child would be called the child of the winter duke, and that the child will be a great help to the family if he is raised properly. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“...What makes you think that I’m?the winter duke?”

“Hm. Your appearance doesn't resemble the winter duke from the story, but you look a lot like the greatest man that I know. You also mentioned that you’re the one who raised me. That means you’re either His Majesty or the winter duke. It wouldn’t be too surprising even if His Majesty turned out to be the winter duke himself. So the bottom line is, you came to make me pregnant.”

“You are completely wrong. I don’t intend to make you pregnant at all.”

“So the boring conclusion is that you are His Majesty?”

Juan held his head; he was starting to get a headache. “Yes,” Juan answered.

“Then who’s going to take my virginity?”

“That’s none of my business. Can you take me seriously at least once? Wait. How old are you right now? Why are you…”

Juan felt that his encounter with Nienna was much more difficult and complicated than his encounter with Ras.

***

Suvole nervously hovered around the hall. His plan had been clear when the Order of the Capital ordered an investigation about Juan. He had thought that it was the perfect opportunity to wrap up the long-standing plan that had been orchestrated by Pavan.

Suvole recalled the time when he promised reinforcements for the Fourth Division in return for asking Duke Henna to pursue Juan. Duke Henna captured Juan by sending Horhell on a mission, and Suvole tricked the knight order which had crawled into the East to drop Horhell’s dragon. In return, Urkel succeeded in assassinating Duke Henna at the expense of several warriors of Arbalde. It was only natural for the civil war to intensify as both the dragon and Duke Henna were absent.

And at that point, Suvole dragged Nienna Nelben, who had long since been interested in the affairs of the northeast, into the civil war in the name of bringing in the reinforcements requested by Duke Henna. The Northern Army was smaller than the Capital’s Army, but they were the strongest army who had been honed on the battlefield. Just like that, the northeastern rebels as well as Duke Henna were both wiped out.

Everyone was in the palm of his hands—Suvole even felt a little pleasure that Nienna, who always acted so arrogantly, was nothing but a chess piece moving in the palm of his hand. This was despite the fact that he was only able to do all that he did due to Pavan’s orders and the support of the Order of the Capital.

Suvole intended to use Nienna’s authority to get his hands on Juan when Nienna took over the fortress of Beldeve at the end of this plan, since he believed that Juan would have no choice but to kneel down before Nienna and the Order of Fenrir no matter how powerful Juan was.

What was unexpected was that Duke Henna had somehow survived and that Nienna had taken an interest in Juan. It was unknown as to why Nienna was interested in Juan, since she had always been indifferent toward anything other than the Crack and war.

Suvole’s plan would only end up benefiting Hela if Suvole ended up missing out on getting his hands on Juan, since the northeastern rebels had been wiped out for no good reason. Suvole bit his lips.

“Stop roaming around like a dog that needs to poop. Come and have a drink with me, Suvole,” Hela said.

Suvole turned his head. Hela had brought two glasses and a bottle of alcohol and had a strange smile on her face.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Your Grace. I was very surprised when I heard the tragic news,” Suvole said in a careless greeting.

“Thank you for saying that, Suvole. But I bet you weren’t as surprised as I was the moment I found out that I wasn’t dead, even though I thought I had died.”

“I bet. Anyway, I want to thank you since I got to catch the black-haired criminal. As I also brought in reinforcements of ten thousand troops, our deal has…”

At that moment, Hela cut off Suvole’s words and opened her mouth before he could continue.

“Oh, yes. About Juan—I did have a hard time making him stay in Beldeve. Are you worried that General Nienna and Juan might have something going on between them inside the room? I didn’t know that you were into silver-haired women,” Hela said.

“Please be careful with your rude remarks, Your Grace,” Suvole frowned.

“Be careful with my rude remarks, you say? Your attitude is completely different from the last time when you begged me to pursue the black-haired criminal. I’m so scared. But you’re the one who has to be careful with your words from now on.”

Hela tapped Suvole’s chest as she held out a glass to him. Suvole unconsciously took the glass that was being handed to him.

“Because I heard that you’ve been talking quite a lot of shit to everyone,” Hela said with cold eyes.

The moment Suvole flinched, Hela filled his glass with alcohol.

“Have a drink, Suvole.”

“Your Grace. What are you talking about? I…”

“I said drink.”

Suvole gulped upon facing Hela’s fierce eyes. Suvole had never seen someone give such a piercing and threatening look with just one eye before. Behind Hela stood Horhell with his arms crossed as he, too, glared at Suvole.

Suvole emptied the glass filled with alcohol after hesitating for a while. Suvole coughed vigorously, since the alcohol was too strong.

“The Order of the Capital will hold you accountable if I die,” Suvole said.

“Are you afraid that I poisoned your drink? You must have done something that makes you feel guilty if you think that. Well, don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing that, at least not right now,” Hela drank from her glass in front of Suvole as if she was proving that the alcohol wasn’t poisoned. “Your problem is that you’re too arrogant. Did you really think that General Nienna is an idiot who knows nothing other than the Crack and war? I mean, I guess that’s true to some extent. But you looked down on her obsession with the Crack. You thought she wouldn’t interrogate a single warrior of Arbalde on the battlefield? Don’t you think that at least one of the warriors of Arbalde would have talked about you?”

“What do you mean…? I’m just…”

“Ah. Of course. You probably thought that the warriors of Arbalde who devoted themselves to the Crack would remain silent no matter what. But Nienna is a monster who tortures the beasts from the Crack to get what she wants. It’s a piece of cake for her to interrogate one or two of the warriors of Arbalde to find out everything she wants. She might not have the detailed information, but a little fragmentary information is enough for her to figure things out.”

“...Stop talking nonsense.”

“Nonsense? Did you think General Nienna hates you for no reason? Tell me. Why do you think General Nienna kept the fact that I’m alive a secret to you? Wasn’t the time the Northern Army arrived at Beldeve earlier than you expected?”

Suvole couldn’t answer Hela’s questions. Hela covered her mouth and burst into laughter.

“Now. I want you to answer another question. How do you think General Nienna would deal with a knight from the Order of the Capital who was in league with the Crack?”