The Abandoned Prince Heals an Enemy Soldier on the Frontlines, Only to Discover She’s the Seventh Imperial Princess - Chapter 26: Side - Agarham Kingdom

Chapter 26: Side – Agarham Kingdom

“What in the world is going on here!?”

In the royal capital of the long-standing Agarham Kingdom—

Inside a grand meeting room at the heart of Agarham Castle, King Hecton sat surrounded by the kingdom’s top officials.

But instead of a calm discussion, Hecton was shouting furiously at them, his frustration rising by the second.

In his hand was a report from the kingdom’s navy.

“You said naval battles come down to numbers! Isn’t that what you told me, Minister of Military Affairs!?”

“Y-Y-Yes, y-your majesty! That is correct!”

The military minister—who had originally proposed the naval invasion plan—flinched and trembled under Hecton’s furious voice.

Over the past few years, Hecton had grown into a young man.

He had a handsome face, but there was a harshness to him—an intimidating aura that left the other officials completely on edge.

“T-The initial plan did call for overwhelming the empire’s ships with sheer numbers. Their ships are faster than ours, yes—but they don’t have many. We believed that with more than five times their numbers, we could manage somehow…”

“But that’s not how it turned out, is it!? Why the hell did wyverns show up in a naval battle!? Weren’t those things only ever used on land!?”

“I-It seems… they may have combined warships with runways to launch them from the sea… And since we didn’t send any anti-air mages with the fleet, seventy percent of our ships had their sails burned and became unable to move. The remaining thirty percent were damaged so badly they’ll take a long time to repair…”

“The kingdom’s ships were equipped with large ballistas, weren’t they!? Why didn’t you shoot the wyverns down!?”

This time, it was the Supreme Naval Commander who answered in place of the shaken Minister of Military Affairs.

“The ballistas installed on our ships are designed for naval combat. Trying to hit a wyvern flying high and fast through the air with them is… extremely difficult. No—let’s be honest. It’s impossible.”

“Then why didn’t you send anti-air mages with the fleet!?”

“Because Your Majesty did not approve it. I had advised we begin training air-combat mages as a precaution in case we ever encountered the empire’s dragon knights at sea.”

The Supreme Naval Commander calmly shifted the blame with a straight face—clearly implying “this is your fault.”

Beside him, the Minister of Military Affairs was sweating bullets.

Hecton clenched his teeth with a sharp “Tch!” and roared in frustration.

“Silence!! That naval battle was a total disaster!! At this point, we’ve got no choice but to attack the empire by land! Hurry up and put together a strategy!!”

“A-About that…”

“What!? Are you defying my orders!?”

“N-Not at all!! I wouldn’t dare! It’s just… we don’t have enough supplies for the army—mainly food… At this rate, our forces won’t be able to fight for more than three months.”

“W-What!? How did that happen!? We’ve never had any problems before!!”

Hecton was clearly shocked, but the Minister of Military Affairs nervously offered an explanation.

“U-Until now, we’ve been relying on aid from other countries to cover our food and equipment needs… But ever since the empire stopped waging war, the other nations have cut off support.

They don’t want to risk angering a sleeping dragon by helping us. Maybe… could the Foreign Minister try persuading them to resume aid?”

“…That won’t happen.”

“W-Why are you so sure?”

The Foreign Minister answered clearly, without hesitation.

Known for always speaking bluntly, he didn’t hesitate to touch on topics that might anger Hecton.

“It’s true that the kingdom is more advanced than the surrounding nations. That’s why we stood at the front lines against the empire for so long. As a shield protecting others from imperial aggression, we had a clear justification—and that made it easy to gather support from neighboring countries. But now, the only justification we have is revenge. Meanwhile, the empire is operating under a different banner—”

“Foreign Minister!!”

“…It’s too late to tiptoe around the truth. So let me just say it. The empire is claiming they’re simply restoring the throne to the rightful heir—the former crown prince. No other country will speak out against that.”

“Gah! That man just keeps getting in my way!!”

Hecton slammed his fist down, his voice rising in fury.

Watching him, the Foreign Minister sighed heavily in his heart.

(This man really is hopeless… Reyshel would’ve been a better king than this.)

The Foreign Minister had once been part of the former king’s faction—the same group that supported Reyshel as crown prince.

At the time, he had strongly opposed the idea of Reyshel becoming king.

After all, Reyshel had shown no real interest in politics—

For better or worse, he just didn’t care.

He clearly cared about the people…

But that alone didn’t seem like enough to rule a kingdom.

(Looking back on it… it makes sense that Prince Reyshel never showed interest in politics.)

The previous king had absolutely adored Reyshel.

He was kept away from the public eye and interactions with others unless he asked for it himself.

Honestly, you could say he was half-imprisoned.

(Maybe it would’ve been better to overlook Prince Reyshel’s inexperience and let him learn after becoming king… No—It’s too late for that now.)

Right now, the king of the kingdom was Hecton.

And his position had become firmly secured.

(Well… except for his reputation among the people.)

At this point, the citizens openly mocked Hecton, calling him a foolish ruler.

And honestly, they weren’t wrong.

He wanted to restart a war that had already ended—just to save face.

But more than anything…

“Your Majesty, perhaps it’s time to end this war for revenge and offer a peace proposal?”

“You want me to just accept defeat after having my fiancée stolen!?”

“T-That’s not what I—”

It had only been about a month ago.

Hecton’s queen, Eliza, had run off—

And the entire kingdom had laughed at him for it.

That humiliation was what had driven him to push for this revenge war against the empire.

“Tch! That’s enough for today!! Find a way to defeat the empire—fast!!”

With that final outburst, the kingdom’s officials left the chamber one by one.

Once he was alone, Hecton slammed his hand down on the table.

“Damn it!! Reyshel… I’ll never forgive you!!”

Hecton had always hated his older brother.

Not because of anything Reyshel had done.

He just… gave him the creeps.

You could call it instinct. A gut-level rejection.

“Of all times, why did Mother have to fall ill now!?”

Hecton’s mother—the former king’s concubine—was currently bedridden with a strange illness.

Even skilled healing mages hadn’t been able to cure her.

It wasn’t life-threatening, at least not yet, but it was said to be a particularly troublesome disease.

He hadn’t been allowed to see her for a full week.

Up until now, she’d handled most of the politics in his place—

And her sudden absence had only made Hecton’s reckless decisions worse.

Just then—

“Being king sounds like a real pain, huh?”

“W-Who’s there!?”

Someone had taken a seat in one of the chairs the officials had just vacated, casually propping their feet up on the table.

From the voice, it was clearly a woman.

She wore a hood pulled low over her face, casting it in shadow so he couldn’t see who she was.

“Where are the guards!? Hey! Someone get in here!!”

“Oh, don’t bother. I’ve already cast a barrier spell—no one can hear you from outside this room. It’s just you and me now.”

“W-What do you want!?”

“What do I want, huh…? Hmm, let’s see…”

The hooded woman let out a quiet laugh.

“To put it simply—assassinating the Empress of the Empire. She’s in the way.”

“…The Empress of the Empire?”

“Yep. I even sent over fifty highly trained assassins, you know? But all they managed was landing one hit with a cursed blade carrying a death spell. Even that super-powerful curse couldn’t take her down thanks to her insane life force. And somehow, she ended up healing from it, too.”

“W-What are you even talking about…?”

“…Just stuff on my side. Anyway—You and I have the same goal. So I’ll be nice and share something with you… A way to destroy the Empire.”

A method to take down the Empire—

A nation so powerful it could conquer the continent if it wanted to.

Hecton held his breath.

“W-What is it? This method…?”

“—Hero Summoning.”

“Hero… summoning…?”

The woman’s lips curled into a crescent-moon grin as she let out a low, mocking laugh.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

Author: “So… what kind of hero is even going to show up, huh…”

If you thought, “Neither of these brothers are cut out to be king, lol,” “This afterword is suspiciously casual,” or “Looks like someone else is about to join the cast,”—Please consider leaving a comment, bookmark, ★ rating, or a review!