The next morning, Astrid left very early, just as busy as in the past few days, without even a mont to spare for breakfast together in the courtyard.
Lyra woke up, washed her face, tidied herself, changed into her daily casual clothes, and pulled white silk stockings over her legs. Just as she was about to hand yesterday’s letter to a maid for mailing, she suddenly noticed another note on her desk.
[All the housemaids have returned to the manor and are ready for duty at any ti. Breakfast is prepared in the dining room, including your favorite sweet pastries and soft pancakes.]
[Once Lyra wakes up, the clothes changed yesterday should be mostly dry. Please gather and put them away for .]
Staring at the elegant, cold handwriting, Lyra blinked. She felt an unfamiliar smoothness under her fingertips, completely different from the rough texture of parchnt, more like dried, glossy ink. She flipped the note over to read further.
[Please don’t do anything strange to them.]
A simple line fell into her blue eyes, stirring faint ripples. Unconsciously, Lyra bit her lips slightly, her fingers montarily tightening.
Last night’s sensual vision had already faded, like a beautiful dream experienced millions of tis in sleep. Yet her heart is still pounded within her chest, and this thin piece of paper makes it beat just a little faster.
What strange things... Astrid was teasing again...
Lyra scolded herself inwardly, yet her feet instinctively moved toward the small balcony where clothes were drying.
Under the morning light, the pure white maid dress shimred with a gentle luster. The delicate patterns and soft fabric complented each other like a luxurious gift box decorating a velvet cake. The slender shoulder straps swayed in the breeze, and the pale white silk stockings clipped to the clothesline were slightly translucent, forming a peaceful, beautiful picture together with the black-and-white bows dangling down.
According to Astrid’s words... they should already be dry...
The air was faintly scented with lavender, the bath product Astrid usually used. Without even thinking, these clothes must have been washed along with her.
Hesitating for a few seconds, Lyra gently reached out to touch the maid dress under the sun. The smooth, silky texture lted under her fingertips, with not a trace of dampness remaining.
The dress was indeed dry. There was no reason for the rest to still be wet.
Her gaze swept past the more intimate pure white undergarnts. Sunlight pierced through the gaps in the lace trim, like colored light streaming through stained glass in a cathedral, casting layered patterns upon the heart of a devoted believer.
In the end, she still didn’t have the courage to reach out and touch them. The sword-shaped light mark on Lyra’s fingernail faintly shimred, and the clothes in front of her dissolved into specks of light, stored within the Light Sword’s independent storage space.
Maybe she’d find use for them later?
Looking at the now empty clothesline, Lyra suddenly thought of sothing else.
Whether clothes were dry or not didn’t necessarily require touching them, just activating elental vision to check if large clusters of water-elental particles would still suffice.
Then why had she been so flustered just now...
Probably just because it involved Astrid, her mind had gone a bit fuzzy.
She wasn’t so dumb knight!
Adjusting the pleated skirt with its bow, two delicate, small white-silk-clad feet stepped into shiny black little leather shoes. Lyra stood up and left the room, heading toward the private dining room ntioned in Astrid’s note.
By now, it has been nearly a week since she withdrew from the front lines. The severe blizzard predicted by Duke Charles was expected to sweep across the northern border with a cold wave in half a month.
...........
"According to reports from scouts, the Kingdom of Velys shows no signs of ending this war."
Inside the command room, Duke Charles, who had been shutting down between the second defensive line and Losterling City, sat at his desk, reporting the battle situation to the Empire’s regent.
"[Holy Radiant City]" is gradually advancing. Border nobles who had previously remained neutral are now becoming restless. The Church’s knightly orders have used every possible ans to dismantle the traps we laid. All their actions point toward one goal: to seize a piece of the empire as an outpost for their next attack before the blizzard fully arrives.
"If they plan to deploy Arcanist mages, this will be Velys’s final opportunity. Once the cold wave hits, even with [Holy Radiant City]’s support, the number of elite troops capable of advancing through raging snowstorms will be extrely limited, not to ntion those fragile supply units."
Once magical protection is lost, anyone, or any pack animal, will struggle to maintain normal life functions on the subzero tundra.
Even with so-called faith as support, people still need to eat. Without adequate supplies, even the strongest frontline forces will collapse.
At that point, harvesting them wouldn’t require swords. The snowflakes drifting from the sky will beco their graves.
"So Duke Charles, your assessnt aligns with mine, you also believe they will make a desperate final push in about a week?"
Astrid propped her cheek with one hand, her long, shapely legs clad in finely patterned black stockings elegantly crossed under the table. Her delicate, semi-sheer midnight-blue stilettos embracing her tender, alluring feet, revealing a sliver of her smooth, chocolate-like instep. Intricate silver carvings extended from the black heels like tallic ornants decorating warm, polished jade.
"The Empress’ arrangents are based on this very consideration. She has mobilized several Arcanist mages to set up nurous anti-air magic circles around the second defensive line. Even Arcanist-level mages will suffer temporary magical disruptions and ntal exhaustion when affected by these arrays."
The forr aims to disrupt wind-elent magic used to propel flying mages, while the latter targets Church Knights capable of projecting solidified ntal energy. This dual defense will give the enemy quite a headache.
In contrast, Magitech flying vessels, though similar in appearance, operate on a completely different principle and remain unaffected by the anti-air arrays. These sky-bound behemoths rely on elental particles released from stored crystals for propulsion. This process is unrelated to magic spells that require mana, and thus remains unimpeded by the anti-air fields.
Duke Charles nodded slightly, his dark eyes calmly observing the silver-haired regent before him.
"Since the war began, both sides have voluntarily sealed their borders, halting intelligence exchanges and leaving us in the dark about Velys’s internal situation."
No large rchant caravans traveling back and forth, no hunters going to neighboring villages to sell furs and ga, the only way to learn about the enemy’s internal affairs is through captured prisoners.
However, the obvious problem with interrogating prisoners is that these previous attrition-based siege battles differ from field battles. As the defending side, Valeria Empire rarely captures enemy soldiers, making it nearly impossible to extract intelligence from them.
Even if a few soldiers are captured, they’re unlikely to be high-ranking mbers of the knightly order. These faith-driven knights probably don’t even know what they’re truly fighting for, let alone possess insider knowledge.
"Still, even with our limited understanding of Velys, and without a fanatical belief system like the Church of Light, purely from the perspective of war benefits, their king will struggle to maintain control."
"Throughout human history, every aggressive war without tangible gains has backfired on its instigator, without exception."
The northern winter is long and brutal. A cold wave lasting over four months will be enough to cause internal collapse in Velys, a kingdom that hasn’t achieved significant battlefield victories.
No matter how much propaganda they spread at ho, if they don’t gain tangible benefits, the nobility will grow dissatisfied. Noble dissatisfaction will trigger a chain of unrest, pressing the king above and oppressing the commoners below.
After all, the Kingdom of Velys has long been a powder keg.
"As long as we withstand their final, desperate assault, Velys will inevitably descend into civil war before spring arrives."
Astrid softly picked up where Charles left off, her icy red eyes fixed on the man across the table.
"And then, it will be our opportunity."
On Iris’s side, Astrid had already hinted to Monica, advising the more moderate noble factions not to stand out too much, to avoid being purged early by the warming faction.
Let them lie low for a while. These war-hungry nobles, deprived of the expected war spoils, will eventually turn on each other.
"Speaking of which, I haven’t asked Duke Charles about your stance on this entire war."
Astrid’s fingers lightly tapped the table, her seductive, vibrant lips parting.
"If Her Majesty wishes to counterattack Velys at this mont, what would you do?"
In the original novel, the blonde tyrant Amalia was able to militarize the empire largely due to the support of Duke Charles and the tacit approval of the Velmont family, who had profited greatly from the war.
Charles, a noble who suffered the most from the war and one of the Four Dukes who lost the most land and wealth, once let his hatred override his reason, turning a blind eye to his army’s atrocities and abuses against civilians, allowing them to commit cris far worse than those of the Church’s knightly orders.
Although Charles eventually changed his mind under the persuasive words of the Holy Knight Lyra and the letter hidden in his daughter’s sword hilt, it couldn’t be denied that for a ti, hatred had consud his entire being, and he directed his burning rage towards innocent people.
"I will fully support all of Her Majesty’s military actions," Charles replied.
Not only because the person asking him now was Astrid Calliste, a royal princess closely connected to the Empress, but also because of his own genuine resentnt.
If Velys didn’t pay a proper price, this military aristocrat would have no way to face the common people under his rule or the soldiers who once helped expand the empire’s borders alongside him.
Astrid nodded in approval upon hearing this, her voice gentle.
"Excellent answer, Duke Charles."
"I have exactly the sa intention."
She couldn’t fully trust Monica or Iris to handle this properly. The forr was still only the Saintess and would need to overco the Pope to reform Church doctrine. The latter was a royal princess, and might show sympathy towards war criminals related to her by blood.
The Valeria Empire needed a force capable of launching military operations, whether rely as a deterrent or as a powerful entity able to penetrate deep into enemy territory and bring war criminals to justice.
Not to ntion, behind Velys might lurk a certain "god," Brennild, silently watching humans slaughter each other while secretly amassing strength.
"Now that the border has been breached by Velys, most nobles have felt the threat and are voluntarily contributing resources. The Empress’ pace of army consolidation has accelerated significantly."
"Duke Charles, I trust you know what to do?"
The room for maneuvering here was far from small. The Empress could use the war to suppress noble demands and weaken their power, while Charles could use this opportunity to replenish troops and build strength for a future counteroffensive, protecting their own property and lands, the imperial nobles would certainly do their utmost. But when it ca to prosecuting foreign war criminals, rather than directly profiting from seizing neighboring lands, they wouldn’t be particularly enthusiastic.
Unless, of course, the Empress was willing to distribute the vast majority of Velys’s reparations to them.
Hearing the implied aning in Astrid’s words, Charles fell silent briefly before responding.
"I understand, Your Highness the Regent."
With that, Charles took a stack of papers from his drawer and handed them to Astrid.
"These are the deploynt plans for the second defensive line. All the details you requested, down to each minor noble’s territory and exact troop distribution, are included here."
"I’ve already reviewed them once. There are no significant errors. I leave them to your inspection, Your Highness."
Astrid nodded, slowly softening the black-stockinged leg she had been resting on her knee.
"Mm, thank you, Duke Charles."
"You will always be the most loyal ally of the Valeria royal family."
...........
After finalizing the details with Duke Charles, Astrid imdiately set off for Charlotte’s workshop, shared lunch with her, then followed her aunt to the magitech flying vessel’s parking area.
It had been converted into a magical workshop dedicated to developing magitech devices and improving magitech airships. The previous retreat operation had indeed allowed the empire to preserve most of its fighting force thanks to the flying vessels, but nurous issues had erged during actual flight.
For example, external protection needed enhancent, and cannon accuracy was insufficient.
Collaborating with Charlotte on the design improvents of the magitech airships, by three in the afternoon, the pre-arranged afternoon tea ti arrived. Astrid bid farewell to Charlotte and headed to a noble residence in the city center, using the tea invitation as a pretext to discuss the upcoming war with the local count, modified using her status to pressure him.
Once everything was settled, night had already fallen. Glancing at the ti, 5:30, Astrid slightly furrowed her brow.
No matter how rushed she was, the ti left for herself was still so limited.
"Ask Lyra if she’s had dinner yet," Astrid softly whispered to Elise before stepping into the carriage.
"If not, I’ll take her out for a stroll later."
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