The Courtesan

Chapter 71

KRON

He walked back to his throne and sat on it. He fetched a dagger not too far from his side and threw it forward.

“Kill him,” he said in a deadpan tone.

“I think such honor should go to you, my liege.”

“You captured him, you kill him. I will not be held responsible for killing a prince. The blame and honor can fall on you.”

What a capriciously selfish man. Camilla hesitated a bit, walked up, picked the dagger and walked back to me. It was a good thing Reid didn’t follow us in or he would’ve lost it immediately.

Camilla’s eyes found mine and I felt her reluctance radiate from a mile away. I looked at the man and he looked unamused, like it was a theatrical show he hated was being performed in front of him. He didn’t believe her. I had to do something, and quick.

Camilla was already in front of me. She raised the dagger and slashed diagonally across my throat. In a second, I felt my life flash before my eyes. One face was prominent in my mind; hers.

I tore through my bindings fairly easily, reached for the dagger, snatched it out of her hands, swept her off her feet and held the dagger over her head, breathing heavily. In my mind, there was only one thought.

I can’t die before seeing her again.

“... Your highness,” I hear her whisper from below. She looked terrified, holding on to her wires tightly.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

His clapping was drowned out by the vigorous beating of my heart in my chest. I maintained my position even though our plan was seen through. In my mind, Camilla was a viable threat to my life.

“Mind explaining this, Captain Ulna? Whoever you are?”

“I apologize. I was a little dazed.”

“Still going on with this facade?”

“This is not a facade, my liege. I am Commander Camilla Ulna of the secret forces of Prince Kron Lithonius.”

“... I didn’t want to believe it. Seize them.”

Multiple men in black jumped from the ceiling with weapons aimed at us. I poised the dagger to fight but before they got closer, all their heads lopped off. A fountain of blood sprayed around the blood, staining both of us. From outside, I could hear multiple thuds. Looking down at Camilla’s hands, they were bleeding from holding too many wires at the same time.

“I should’ve expected such from you. A brilliant plan.”

“Thank you my liege.”

“You shouldn’t call me that anymore. Isn’t it disrespectful to your prince?”

“As a spy, my loyalties lie in two places at once. It is my burden to bear. My prince is someone who understands those burdens, same as you, my liege.”

Standing up, I pulled Camilla to her feet. Camilla was expressionless but her fingers were shaking and not only from the pain.

“I loved you, Captain Ulna.”

“And you as well, my liege.”

The two were expressionless declaring their love for one another.

“If you’re seeking my head, I will not make it easy for you,” he says, drawing his sword. Reid comes in at that moment with my sword. He hands it over to me and stands beside Camilla.

“You are a wicked woman to the end.”

“... I guess I am.”

He grabs her, taking her out of the residence.

“You are a reckless prince. Bringing in three people for my head. I suppose I am not surprised with your recent actions.”

“I did not particularly come for your head. I came to spar with someone who possesses 50 percent of the strength of the War Generals.”

“... Pardon?”

“My father says War is where men display their inner beasts. I am looking forward to seeing yours, commander.”

“You are a lunatic.”

I rushed at him with my sword, aiming straight for his heart. He blocked the strike rather easily but my hand shook. He was strong. Mighty strong. However, that made me more excited.

I charged in straight, choosing the strategy of attacking as my best defense. In time, he felt the pressure from my continuous strikes and finally decided to attack back. It was overwhelming, the strength in every strike. However, I finally figured it out, at the expense of the pain in my hands.

“Vibrations. You use the vibrations of the floor and your sword to cause a lag effect. Am I correct?”

“You’re very observant. However, you are close.”

“Haha. I am afraid my arms cannot take any more.”

“Then it seems I would be reaping your head.”

“Sorry, it won’t be that easy. You see, Camilla left me a little treat.”

Scattered across the room were various threads that I could see quite well. With their help, I was able to limit his attack range while slipping through them myself. Continuous training with Camilla helped.

“... I hate how you casually call her by name.”

“I am sorry. We are quite close.”

“We were to be married.”

“She never informed me. Now I feel bad. Don’t worry, I too know what it feels to lose the woman you love.”

One more s***h and his armor finally dented. I pushed more, making even more dents in it. It was too reckless of me, fighting without any armor but I was without major injuries so I continued fighting.

“I… do not feel like playing anymore. This has been most unamusing. I will be leaving now.”

“What?”

Using both hands, he used the greatest vibration yet to knock the sword out of my hands. He pointed his greatsword at my throat.

“I despise men like you. I will have your head but not today.”

He kicked in deep into the ground and jumped out, creating a hole in the roof. He glared at me before going away. There was no way I could do that so I ran outside instead, passing Camilla and Reid. They followed me with worried expressions.

“What’s wrong?”

“He jumped out the roof and left.”

“What? How is that…”

“Possible? I didn’t think it was until today. Camilla, he was quite smitten with you. He said you were to be married.”

“I didn’t think it was important enough to tell you, your highness.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was” Reid butted in angrily.

“I don’t need you yelling at me. No one has ever expressed interest in marrying you.”

“How rude! I’ll have you know…”

“I never said I wanted to hear it. We are in the middle of something important.”

Camilla was back to being... Camilla. It was a huge relief. If she were to switch camps because she fell in love, it would be too troublesome.

“Did the takeover succeed?”

“Yes. Turia has been overwhelmed while you distracted the Commander. Now that he has escaped, I’m not sure if it would last for much longer.”

“No, it would. Father is leading the charge.”

“His majesty? Well, I guess we can be at ease.”

We finally took over Turia. It was an immensely reckless plan that tore the court apart with disagreement for many weeks before it was finally approved. While I snuck into the camp to challenge the commander, the other troops would sneak in and destabilize the camp from inside.

This plan was only possible because of Camilla controlling the wave of events inside the Turia Camp. making it so they were relaxed and not expecting an attack like this. It was so simple yet so effective. It was my first step towards victory.

“You are quite happy, your highness.”

“Of course. This is our first step to conquering Uramuth.”

“Turia is a small insignificant border though.”

“Shush, you witch. Let his highness celebrate in peace!”