The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness Chapter 583: No Retreat

The Blood Rose Knight Order temporarily lted into the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ shadows, becoming one of the night’s dark currents flowing toward that magnificent imperial palace.

But Celicia did not move for the mont. With a light leap, she sprang up to higher ground and looked into the distance.

The breeze stirred her skirt. Her silver-white hair swayed gently, like a snow-woman out of a story.

“I should go do what I have to do, too.”

Muen walked up beside Celicia. The faint, familiar fragrance lingering at the tip of his nose snapped his mind awake.

“You should know who our enemy is tonight.”

Celicia suddenly turned and asked.

“Of course. We’re already this far in. I’m not so clueless that I don’t even know that much.”

Muen narrowed his eyes as well—but he wasn’t looking toward the palace. His gaze went instead to the outskirts of Berland.

Tonight, their opponent was the Inner Council, but it wasn’t only the Inner Council.

Old nobles desperate to preserve their status. Opportunists hungry to grab more. And...

External forces that only wanted the Empire to descend into chaos and endless infighting—forces that didn’t care who beca emperor at all.

Every scher with their own agenda, every restless faction, would beco part of this terrifying storm tonight.

Albert was a smart man. If he dared commit sothing so treasonous, then he had certainly already united every force he could possibly unite.

And so, taken together, that was the true enemy they had to face tonight.

“If we round it up... we’re basically enemies with half the Empire, huh.”

Muen sighed.

“You could say that. Half the Empire.”

Celicia’s frost-flower lashes trembled slightly as she spoke softly.

“But since you know who our enemy is, you naturally know who our friends are. I’m leaving that side to you.”

“Don’t worry.”

Muen swept his bangs back and put on a shalessly cocky air. “Leave that kind of thing to soone as dashing and irresistibly charming as .”

“...I just hope what I see later isn’t you getting sucked dry by so woman whose background we can’t even trace.”

Celicia said coldly.

“...Am I that kind of man?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not!”

Muen patted his chest, looking righteously indignant at being slandered.

Was Muen Campbell the kind of man who went around ssing with anyone? His pure body, up to now, belonged only to true love!

“...I hope I misunderstood.”

Celicia withdrew her gaze. A faint flicker passed through her eyes, complicated thoughts flowing deep within. Her brows knit slightly.

“But compared to those things, what I’m more worried about is...”

“Hm?”

Muen looked over in confusion, waiting for the rest.

But Celicia suddenly closed her eyes and said,

“Forget it. Talking about it now is aningless.”

At this point, most threads—the movents and aims of every side—had already risen to the surface, plain as day.

Even the most deeply hidden Inner Council had completely stepped onto the stage, becoming perforrs beneath the lights, high-rollers at the gambling table.

And yet there was one thing Celicia still couldn’t understand.

“Father... what exactly are you trying to do?”

Celicia lifted her head again, staring toward the brightly lit palace.

“If your real goal was to bait out the ones hiding in the dark, those people have already jumped out. So why do you still have no reaction at all?”

“Or is it that... you truly have simply grown old?”

...

...

“Have you found Celicia yet?”

In the Throne Hall, Albert swirled his glass of red wine as he sat in that noble chair—one that had once been reserved only for the Empire’s master.

Once, he had to look up at this place.

Now he sat here, looking down upon all things.

“Not yet.”

Robin perched to the side, equally curious as it admired the palace’s rare treasures.

“That princess is very cautious, and she should have people stationed inside the palace as well. The mont things blew up on our side, she imdiately hid. The people we sent to surround and kill her ca up empty.”

“She hasn’t given up.”

“From the intelligence we have, yes.”

Robin replied, “We’ve already lost contact on Count Charles’s side. Several guard posts in the upper city have been attacked, and the families of those ministers also seem to have received word from soone—stirring.”

“You must find her, and then kill her.”

Albert’s voice turned grim. “We can’t let anyone threaten us.”

“Understood.”

Robin pulled back its playfulness and bowed respectfully.

“We will do our utmost.”

“I don’t want your utmost. I want absolutely no mistakes!”

A faint flash passed through Albert’s eyes. He suddenly asked,

“And the Campbells?”

“For the ti being there’s no unusual movent. They’re still under our surveillance.”

“I’m not talking about the Campbells in Berland. I’m talking about... the lion on the border!”

Albert’s tone sharpened.

“The hundreds of thousands of Imperial troops in his hands—that is the true threat!”

“Duke Campbell?”

Robin jolted. It flapped its wings and hopped in a little circle before the throne, then said,

“For now, we haven’t received any news of abnormalities from there. But the border is far. If he really does anything, we have no way to respond in ti.”

It continued, and the crude promotional line embedded in the original was omitted.

“Everyone around Duke Campbell is from the royal faction. We can’t plant any insiders at all.”

“No news... for now?”

Albert leaned back in the chair and rubbed his temple.

“Then go tell them—we agree to their demands.”

“Wha—”

Robin blurted in shock, “You an... agree to give those people Campbell territory, in exchange for their support and a ceasefire agreent? My l—Your Highness, this is huge. You should reconsider—”

“There’s nothing to reconsider. Everything is for the greater good.”

Albert said, “The Empire has thirty-nine territories. Losing one Campbell territory is nothing. When the Empire was founded a thousand years ago, it only had nine, and it still beat the surrounding nations into submission.”

“But you need to understand: if Celicia escapes—if she flees to that lion and gains his support, and the support of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under him—that will be the real headache!”

“I’m doing all of this so the Empire doesn’t descend into infighting! For that, a small sacrifice is only natural!”

“Of course, whether they can actually take it depends on their own ability. Officially, we can’t just hand it over. That bla can only fall on Duke Campbell’s head!”

“...Understood.”

After a mont of thought, Robin lowered its head and accepted.

“I’ll carry the ssage at once.”

“Go.”

Albert waved a tired hand.

“Yes.”

Robin did not linger. It quickly flew into the night.

But nothing returned to calm.

Albert suddenly clutched his forehead, feeling a tearing, splitting pain in his mind.

It was as if so terrifying force from far away was following a faint, unseen connection, trying to rip his soul to shreds.

Fortunately, as black veins like capillaries surfaced beneath his skin, the pain was suppressed again, and that soul-link was severed outright.

“Still not giving up, you bitch?!”

Albert snarled, fist clenched as he slamd it into the throne’s armrest.

“Need help?”

A voice ca from the shadows of the throne.

“No. Do what you’re supposed to do!”

“Don’t worry, Your Highness... oh, right. I suppose I should start calling you ‘Your Majesty’ soon.”

The voice ca from a vague, drifting patch of shadow, laughing darkly.

“Just watch. It’s all about to be finished. Soon. Very soon...”

Albert raised his head.

The Throne Hall was vast and lonely, and it was not bright.

All the lamps had been extinguished, making the entire space feel as if it lay beneath the roof of the underworld.

And in the center of the hall, a dozen figures sat shoulder to shoulder in a circle.

They wore black clothes so sealed and layered they were nearly airtight. Both hands were raised as they chanted in unison.

Their voices were hoarse, yet the sound was like a demon’s hiss, an elf’s weeping, a child’s laughter...

Eerie—and drawn out.

At the very center, a dead branch floated, like sothing picked up at random from so forest.

But under the black-robed chant, rings and rings of shimring ripples slowly spread from the branch—brilliant gold waves that diffused, lted, and sank into the palace’s shadows.

As if... searching for sothing.

“Yes. Soon...”

Albert stared at it all. The face that had once been calm and handso was now filled with undisguised excitent and ferocity.

“Soon... I’ll find you...”

...

...

“Campbell! Co out and fight!”

“Trash! Coward! Do you love hiding in your mother’s arms and drinking milk that much?”

“I say don’t call yourself the Lion King—call yourself Little Kitty! Little Kitty, co out and fight!”

Outside the command tent, blood-red surged to the heavens.

There seed to be no boundary between day and night here—only a curtain of blood-clouds covering the entire sky.

And behind those roiling blood clouds, several enormous silhouettes faintly appeared, using clumsy human speech to spit all kinds of obscene taunts.

But inside the tent, Duke Campbell was perfectly calm. By the light of the only spell he could use—a low-grade illumination spell—he read a letter sent from the Empire’s center through expensive spatial magic.

This place was smothered in demonic blood aura, and sound-transmission stones were difficult to connect. Only this costly thod could deliver ssages in ti.

“My lord.”

The adjutant approached.

“Everything is prepared.”

“Prepared? Prepared for what?”

Duke Campbell set the letter down and raised a brow.

“O-Of course... preparations to withdraw temporarily.”

The adjutant said, “I’ve already learned what’s happening in Berland. Right now the old nobles who’ve always been at odds with us have the upper hand. To be safe, we should withdraw for now, or we’ll inevitably be stabbed in the back.”

“So you want to abandon Imperial land and hand it over to those things that are neither human nor ghost?”

Duke Campbell’s expression cooled.

“N-No. I an at least retreat to Campbell territory. That’s our foundation. We can advance or—”

“Enough. Don’t say any more.”

Duke Campbell’s tone was mild, but it made the adjutant shut his mouth imdiately and lower his head.

“Do you know why, for so many years, the Empire has been able to press those ghost-things down and beat them?”

Duke Campbell asked.

The adjutant shook his head, then hurriedly nodded.

“That’s right. Besides the fact the Imperial army stationed here is elite, there’s another extrely important factor.”

Duke Campbell clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the huge map hanging behind him as he spoke slowly.

“Those ghost-things live in the abyss and have always wanted to crawl out. But crawling out isn’t so easy. The Imperial army holds the terrain advantage. As the saying goes, fighting from high ground against low ground—so long as we hold the elevation, I can command with my toes and still keep them pinned.”

“But if we really let them crawl out—even if it isn’t Campbell territory, even if it’s only a tiny patch of ground—driving them back down later will beco difficult.”

“Those fat pigs in Berland, who’ve never even seen a demon, won’t understand sothing like that.”

“W-Wuh...”

The adjutant choked up as if he wanted to say sothing.

Duke Campbell looked at him. “Speak.”

“B-But what about Berland?”

“Berland...”

Duke Campbell’s expression turned complicated. He let out a soft sigh.

“We can only trust them. As for what cos after... we’ll talk about it after.”

“Even if the Duchess curses to death and makes kneel through a hundred washboards.”

“My lord...”

Looking at Duke Campbell, the adjutant rarely saw even a trace of weakness from a man like a lion.

“So put away your little thoughts.”

Duke Campbell abruptly turned. His expression was cold and fierce.

He drew his treasured sword and pointed it at that sky-flooding red. His mane-like beard trembled as he roared like a lion king.

“Pass down my command! The entire army arms up and marches! Push the battle line forward another ten miles! If those ghost-things want to fight—then we fight!”

“Yes!”