Day 29 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016 - noon

The Royal Palace, Capital City of Naveland

VICTORIA didn’t think she would do this again.

Peering out the window, she saw that the guards were still there. Well, it was still noon, so it was understandable… But she didn’t want to tarry. Frowning, she turned around only to meet Captain Lewis’ eyes. The head of her guards came back to the capital a few days after her, still injured, but she resumed her duty a short time afterwards.

“Your Highness, are you running away again?”

Victoria avoided the older woman’s eyes. “No…?”

Captain Lewis’ lips twitched. “Then why are you scouting out the window?” She shook her head. “Your Highness, don’t you know how worried your mother was last time?”

Truly, Victoria didn’t intend to run away. She just felt like she needed to take care of some things that she couldn’t entrust to other people, but rethinking it, it was probably best that she didn’t run away again. “Okay, I’m sorry,” she said. “I suppose it’s better than I go out with permission.”

“It’s good that you realize it.”

Victoria secretly sighed, but she then went out of her study and made a beeline to the throne room. As usual, her mother was taking care of the kingdom affairs, but she welcomed her when she walked in. “My dear, how are you? Have you recovered?”

Victoria nodded. Beth replenished the magic of her pendant a few days ago, along with her last daily treatment. “It’s been a few days, of course I recovered, Mother.” Then, Victoria looked down a bit, fiddling with her fingers as if she was in a difficult position.

“What is it, is there anything you can’t tell me?” Her mother smiled. Victoria felt like ever since she got badly wounded, Queen Luna indulged her a lot. Usually, she was strict. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t run out the palace these past few days, too.

Victoria laughed. “Mother, here is the thing. I need to go out of the palace…”

Before she could finish speaking, the Queen cut her off decisively. “No!”

Victoria stiffened, clearly didn’t expect her mother to be so rude. “But…”

“The last time you go out, you came back with wounds,” Queen Luna said, her eyes looking up and down. “Heavy wounds. Clearly I cannot trust you enough to go out and come back unharmed.”

Victoria winced. Now that she put it that way.... “But mother, I am not going to do anything dangerous. I am just going to Braun.”

Braun was the capital city of the Cacao Province. It was under the authority of one of her uncles, the Duke of Braun. Her mother’s eyes widened when she heard that, as if wanted to protest loudly, but restrained herself from doing that. Victoria knew she would say it was dangerous, but this thing wasn’t something that could be said out loud. The palace walls had ears. “Why do you want to go to Braun?” The Queen asked calmly.

Victoria looked at her mother. “I am going to request Uncle to help.”

“What?”

The princess knew, of course, how silly her statement was. Help? It was already great if her father’s brothers didn’t conspire with the enemy. However, she couldn’t tell the truth because her mother would be even more against it. “Yes. I am going to persuade him to help the Kingdom.”

Queen Luna’s eyes bored into hers, as if looking through her. She was nervous inwardly, but it didn’t show on her face. As a princess, of course she was expert in controlling her expressions. “You are going to persuade the Duke of Braun to send aid for the Kingdom.”

“Yes.”

Unexpectedly, her mother laughed, which left Victoria dumbfounded. “Ah, my daughter has grown,” the Queen said smilingly. “If you want to go, then go. Remember to take the guards with you.”

Even as she went out of the throne room, she was still in a daze. She truly didn’t expect her mother to agree so easily. Victoria glanced at Captain Lewis who was walking behind her. “Say, did I hear that right? My mother let me go?”

Captain Lewis said respectfully, “Yes, Your Highness. I think she is proud that you are taking applying your diplomatic politic class seriously.”

Uh. Victoria felt a bit awkward as it wasn’t what she thought to do at all. “Okay…”

The trip this time, Victoria really didn’t intend to be a diplomat of peace.

The Duke of Braun had his private army, as the case with many nobilities. But the difference was the duke never really had a conflict with anyone after the power struggle years ago, so not many knew if his private army was capable. So no, Victoria didn’t really go because she coveted his private army.

Why would she, when she had the Kingdom’s private army at her disposal?

Truly, it wasn’t her intention to lie, but if her mother knew she was planning to go to the northern Forewood forest, she wouldn’t have gotten a green light.

Of course, this meant she needed to pull a stop at Braun, but it wasn’t a big deal. At most she just had to have a verbal battle with her estranged uncle.

The battle for the throne really left many injured and this uncle of hers was no exception. The Duke of Braun, formerly known as Prince Elbert, was the third son of the previous king, her father’s younger brother. He joined hand with the second son to topple her father’s, King Gilbert’s, right to the throne. Of course, both of them intended to fight each other afterwards, so no one was surprised that after their plan failed, they immediately turned against each other.

The second uncle of hers, formerly Prince Lambert, was given a territory in Edgefort and became the Duke of Midwall. King Gilbert didn’t do that without thought, as the strongest military general, the General of the Army itself, resided just outside of Midwall. On the other hand, the Duke of Braun was restrained by the distance between his territory and the Capital. Afterwards, her father just directly prohibited his brothers from ever get involved in politics and instead promoted the Council’s say in matters of the country.

Victoria often played in Edgefort when she was a child, as she was learning about military affairs under Adefine. So, she more or less had met this second uncle of hers. The former Prince Lambert never gave her a good face, but never kicked her out of his territory either. He probably couldn’t because she was there under her mother’s command.

But this third uncle… She never really met him. Perhaps she did when she was a baby, but then, as Braun was the furthest capital city from Naveland, she had never gone there. Her third uncle also never came out of his territory ever since he was crippled.

And yes, both her uncles were left crippled. Victoria didn’t know how fierce the battle for the throne could be, but learning from history, she felt a bit grateful that she didn’t have any siblings to contend with. Otherwise, matter could become bloody and, well, it wasn’t something she liked to see happening. After all, they still had an enemy on the outside. Should they really be fighting inside?

Victoria hadn’t really come to her senses when she arrived in her study. She called on the palace maids and ordered them to pack up for her.

The sooner, the better. She was just afraid she would be too late. []