Two-Faced Princess

unedited

“And then?”

“What do you think happened next?”

“Paris must’ve been furious. He has huge insecurity toward both of you already. How dare they choose a mere subordinate over him, the supreme commander himself? He must’ve been dying to take up the challenge ….”

“That’s why he impulsively took up the challenge. It was a challenge that he didn’t have to accept if he thought about it rationally.”

Only then did Apollonia realize Rajan’s intention. They wanted to minimize the casualties as much as possible. Looking at the empire’s armed forces, it was only to be expected that a full-fledged war was going to break out soon. Since the tide of war turned in favor of the empire, Paris had no reason to accept the challenge. So they used this method to hurt Paris’ ego and provoked him into a duel.

“Seems like they’ve learned about Paris’ psychology through ‘Milon’s eye’. Who was his opponent? Was he a prince who’s a genius swordsman?”

‘Milon’s eye’ was famous for not only providing classified information but also going so far as compiling information about people’s psychology.

“In fact, there was no warrior on Rajan’s side that could match up to Paris. It was a situation where anyone on our side could win no matter what.”

“Then…?”

“The third royal princess stepped up wearing armor and helmet. There was not a single soldier with her, and the gate was closed again after she came out.”

“Third princess…I’ve heard about her somewhere.”

Apollonia recalled her memory. Among 20 Rajan princesses, there was one eccentric princess who was determined to tame every wild beast and wander around the continent. She was known as the Witch of the East.

“Does the Witch of the East wield a sword?”

“Obviously she isn’t up to par with Paris. There are many knights in this empire who are more skilled than her. But there was something that went beyond our expectation.”

Uriel’s eyes gleamed as if he was about to tell an interesting story. He hated Paris so much that he often showed his innermost feelings like this.

“What is it?”

“It was horseback combat…but never before have I seen such a huge horse. With wings on its back and size twice as big as a normal horse, I’d rather call it a monster.”

Apolloia wasn’t easily puzzled or surprised, but she almost spit into her drink when he said that.

“If it has wings, it has to be a monster, right?”

“That’s right,” Uriel concluded with a small chuckle.

“Pretty sure Paris wouldn’t back down.” A little smirk rose to her lips.

Five years ago, he couldn’t show his ability when the wolf monster attacked the hunting ground, and the spotlight went to Caelion and Uriel. Ever since that day he struggled to get rid of his disgrace. If the emperor hadn’t actively intervened, he would’ve been forced to kill the monster and lost his life earlier.

Uriel nodded.

“The Witch of the East was calmly riding the monster, but Paris was caught off guard and eventually fell off his horse.”

“In front of the soldiers?”

There was nothing more humiliating than that.

“But I heard that Rajan surrendered in the end.”

“The third princess held a sword in Paris’ neck and demanded a deal. She urged him to accept their surrender and withdraw his troops.”

Apollonia’s eyes grew slightly bigger.

“….That’s their intention from the start.”

“Yes. It was such a meticulous plan. There was nothing they could gain by killing Paris.”

“What are the conditions of surrender?”

“They literally just surrendered. They swore not to stand against the empire again. On the other hand, our side promised that we would not harm the city or take war prisoners, so we didn’t pillage the city. Even we agreed to remove the tax rate and custom.”

Apollonia’s eyes grew even bigger.

Paris wanted to compensate for the loss by pillaging the defeated country, but due to the opposition of Caelion and Uriel, and sometimes behind-the-scenes work involved, Paris couldn’t execute his plan properly a few times.

The war began because of the emperor’s tyranny and the opposition of many countries about the excessive tax. The emperor had to send Paris and his troops to subdue them every time and consequently went to war at a high cost. What was economically feasible was getting compensation for some of the costs of the war, the promise to comply with the previous tax rate, some war prisoners, and more benefits from custom duty. However, in the war against Rajan, he couldn’t even take any of them.

Apollonia was genuinely impressed by Rajan’s third princess. Not to mention there was ‘Milon’s eye’ as the basis of her plan. She made a brilliant plan based on Paris’ psychology and had great bravery to carry through with it. Apollonia rarely saw anyone like the third princess in her entire life.