The citizens shouted the queen’s name at the top of their lungs. Soldiers and knights held their spears and swords aloft at an angle, paying their respects to the queen and the Royal Family.

The Crown Prince walked silently through their midst, followed by the knights and soldiers escorting the queen’s coffin. There was no trace of the triumphant general who had routed the armies of the mighty Empire that threatened their kingdom.

It was certainly not the scene Maximilian had imagined. He had envisioned a boisterous festival, filled with cheers for the war hero and the brave warriors who had driven back the Empire’s overwhelmingly superior forces.

But he was not disappointed. On the contrary, emotion welled up in him time and again as he followed his brother along the capital’s main avenue. He could not help but admire him. His elder brother’s thoughtfulness in dedicating all the glory that should have been his to the fallen left him humbled.

When he expressed those feelings, his brother answered matter-of-factly.

“It’s the Ballorhard way.”

He said he had merely followed the customs of the fallen woman’s homeland.

After a long walk along the capital’s main avenue, they finally reached the palace.

“Welcome home, Brother. And congratulations on your victory.”

Celebrating his brother’s safe return at last, Maximilian relinquished his temporary place as master of the palace.

“Thank you.”

Once again, his brother merely nodded calmly.

As the members of the royal house returned, the palace began to resemble its old self. Of course, it could never be quite the same. Too many places stood empty.

The queen and her maids, the Royal Knights and the palace soldiers—none of them would ever be seen again after the war. Nothing could fill the void they had left.

Even so, the palace had undeniably regained some of its vitality. At its heart were the members of the Royal House of Leonberk.

“Brother! Brother!”

The Second Prince sought out his brother at all hours.

“Have you eaten? What’s a grown man going to manage when he’s that thin?”

The Crown Prince welcomed his younger brother without a trace of annoyance.

The Royal Knights and maids who had survived the war watched the two brothers fondly. The Crown Prince, hailed as the Young Lion of the North, and the Second Prince, praised as a saint: the most remarkable brothers in the kingdom’s history behaved no differently from the men of an ordinary household. Their warmth was simply a delight to behold.

The Grand Marshal, too, could never hide his pleasure whenever he saw the brothers together.

“There’s that sly grin again.”

The Crown Prince recoiled.

“More importantly, have you heard the news?”

Undeterred by the rebuke, the Grand Marshal played coy.

“What news? You’ll have to give me more than that.”

“A delegation from the Teuton Kingdom has arrived at an eastern port.”

“The Teuton Kingdom...”

“It once exerted influence over the various nations of the western continent and acted as their leader. The Empire has since broken its momentum, of course, so its prestige and influence are not what they once were. But it is still not a country to be dismissed.”

The Crown Prince looked interested.

“In fact, His Majesty has been courting Teuton for an alliance for a very long time. But given the kingdom’s circumstances back then, we had no choice but to tread carefully around the Empire, and little came of it.”

To be precise, Marquis Bielefeld added with a bitter smile, Teuton had simply ignored their envoys.

“They evidently did not consider us worth an alliance at the risk of giving the Empire a pretext to act.”

But his bitterness lasted only a moment. His eyes gleamed as he continued.

“Yet Teuton, which never answered no matter how many envoys we sent, has now sent a delegation of its own and indicated a desire to ally with us.”

Our victory in the war against the Empire must have changed their minds, he said.

“They are even willing to give us their beloved princess.”

At the marquis’s words, the Crown Prince’s face, which had been full of anticipation throughout the conversation, stiffened.

“Princess?”

“The delegation has come to arrange a marriage between our royal houses.”

Marquis Bielefeld added,

“After all, there is no surer pledge of an alliance than a bond of blood.”

The Crown Prince gave him an unenthusiastic nod of agreement.

“The one they want is the Young Lion of the North.”

The marquis smiled mischievously at the Crown Prince.

“You, Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince’s face twisted into a scowl.

As the Teuton delegation approached the capital, the city was thrown into an uproar.

“What? My brother has disappeared?”

Maximilian stared at the reporting Royal Knight in disbelief.

“Where could he have gone at a time this important?”

Arwen Kirgayen, who had been standing back with an apologetic expression, stepped forward.

“He left only this letter...”

Calling it a letter was generous. It was little more than a scrap of paper.

「There is something I need to bring back. I’ll make a brief trip to the North.」

Maximilian gave a hollow laugh at that single line, without a word of explanation.

“Of all times, why now...”

His brother had always done as he pleased, but his timing could not have been worse. Their guests were almost at the capital, and those guests happened to be the delegation from Teuton, the kingdom their royal house had spent so long courting.

Even an ordinary delegation would have warranted their rushing out to welcome it. But this one was led by an extraordinarily important figure.

「Duncan Seymour Tudor」

He was so famous that even the Second Prince of a frontier kingdom, unfamiliar with foreign affairs, knew his name.

「The Teuton Kingdom’s Only Duke」

「The Reigning King’s Only Elder Brother and Most Trusted Adviser」

「Master of the Rose Thorn Knights, Counted Among the Strongest Knightly Orders in Existence」

「The Finest Knight in the West」

Whether by birth or by the renown he had earned throughout his life, he was a truly formidable figure. Royal blood notwithstanding, a second prince with no particular office was in an entirely different league.

Nor was Duncan Seymour Tudor the delegation’s only distinguished member.

「Hestia Neumann Tudor」

The eldest daughter of the Royal House of Tudor, and the princess most beloved by the reigning king of Teuton.

Though not as renowned as Duncan Seymour Tudor, she, too, was well known across the continent.

「The Most Beautiful Rose in the Garden of the Royal House of Tudor」

Most of her fame concerned her natural beauty, of course, but she was an important figure in her own right. The reigning king of Teuton’s favorite daughter was not someone to be taken lightly.

Yet all the important people in the kingdom that was supposed to receive them were absent. The king still needed some time to return from his expedition, and the Crown Prince acting in his stead was nowhere to be found.

It was enough to drive Maximilian mad. He immediately ordered someone to bring the communication crystal linked to the North.

[“Are you saying His Highness the Crown Prince has disappeared?”]

The lord of Winter Castle had not even known the Crown Prince was missing.

[“He seemed to be staying put for once. Why would he suddenly leave?”]

Maximilian briefly explained the circumstances: they had recently received word that a delegation from Teuton had reached one of the kingdom’s ports to explore a marriage with the Crown Prince, and his brother had vanished just as they were about to arrive at the capital.

[“It sounds as though he deliberately ran aw—no. One could almost suspect he has gone into hiding for a while to avoid an occasion he has no desire to attend.”]

Maximilian wholeheartedly agreed with the lord of Winter Castle.

“What can he be thinking? Surely he knows that, born a prince—and the eldest legitimate son at that—taking a wife and producing an heir are also important duties.”

[“When has he ever concerned himself with such things? All he has in his head is war, war, and more war.”]

Every word the lord of Winter Castle spoke was true. That only made the situation more bleak.

Though the Empire was embroiled in civil war and unable to look beyond its borders, many nations still feared its displeasure. For Teuton to send a delegation under such circumstances was no small matter.

For the kingdom, which the Empire had all but cut off from the world, this was the first official visit by a foreign delegation. For the world beyond, it was a significant event: one of the many nations cowed by imperial oppression had finally taken the first step.

Moreover, the purpose was not merely to foster friendship, but to arrange a marriage between direct members of the two royal houses. If it went smoothly, the kingdom could gain another ally bound by blood, alongside Dotrin. No effort would be too great in giving them an honored welcome.

Yet the Crown Prince who should have received these important guests had vanished. Maximilian would have supported his brother unwaveringly even if he had danced naked in public, insisting there must be a reason. But this time, even he could not help resenting him.

「Still, he said he was going north, so I doubt he went anywhere else. I’ll send the Rangers out immediately to inquire after his whereabouts.」

“Would you? If you find him, please persuade him to return to the capital as quickly as possible.”

With that request, Maximilian rose from the crystal.

“I should never have told him. This old man let his tongue run away with him.”

Grand Marshal Bielefeld, who had come after belatedly hearing the news, kept blaming himself.

“The person responsible for receiving the delegation could hardly welcome them without knowing the purpose of their visit. You did nothing wrong, Grand Marshal. Please do not blame yourself.”

“That is true, but... Ah, what are we to do?”

“In the worst case, I will have to receive them in his place.”

“We ought to be showering them with hospitality. Instead, it seems we will begin by offending them.”

Marquis Bielefeld kept giving hollow laughs, his dismay plain on his face. Maximilian’s expression was no different.

“We can only hope my brother returns in time.”

But his hopes were cruelly dashed. There was no sign of his missing brother’s return. The lord of Winter Castle, who had promised to inquire after him, could report no meaningful results either.

And so the day of the delegation’s visit arrived.

“It seems my brother really isn’t coming.”

With a sigh, Maximilian left the palace to welcome the delegation.

After he had waited briefly at the city gates, a group of riders galloped across the distant plain and reported that the delegation was close to the capital.

“See that they have no cause to call the kingdom’s army and knights inadequate!”

At Maximilian’s stern command, the capital’s defenders and the Royal Knights checked their ranks once more and straightened.

“The delegation is in sight!”

Maximilian strained his eyes across the plain. There was the Teuton delegation.

A hundred Teuton knights kept a vigilant watch in all directions despite the close escort of the kingdom’s knights and cavalry who had ridden out to meet them. Clad head to toe in brilliant red armor, they could only be the Rose Thorn Knights, renowned across the continent.

“They truly live up to their reputation.”

Maximilian could not help voicing his admiration.

But it seemed he had admired them too soon. The truly impressive figure was not among the hundred mounted Rose Knights.

Amid the Rose Knights stood a four-horse carriage, with a middle-aged man seated on the driver’s bench.

“Ah...”

The instant Maximilian saw him, he knew. That was Duncan Seymour Tudor, the finest knight in the West.

There was no mistaking him. He was like a giant.

From the moment Duncan Seymour Tudor appeared, the kingdom’s knights could scarcely breathe. Even some of the fearless Royal Knights let out stifled groans.

Then several figures stepped in front of the kingdom’s knights, who were being crushed beneath Duncan Seymour Tudor’s presence. They were the kingdom’s Silver Lions—his brother’s knights.

A quiet force rose from Arwen Kirgayen. Bernardo Eli asserted his presence defiantly. Only then did the kingdom’s knights draw long breaths and restore their shaken composure.

But that was all. Even with the Silver Lions, who had won such distinction in the war against the Empire, stepping forward, the kingdom’s knights could do little more than catch their breath.

Duncan Seymour Tudor’s presence still dominated the entire area. Beside his, the Silver Lions’ presence was little more than fireflies before the moon.

Maximilian could not suppress a sigh. He had heard that until recently, Teuton had not even considered their kingdom an equal partner for an alliance. That had made him all the more determined to greet them proudly, but everything had gone awry from the very first encounter.

There was nothing to be done. Duncan Seymour Tudor was a true monster.

Maximilian forced his expression under control and stepped forward. At that very moment, an immense force began to swell.

An enormous presence suddenly rose from behind the gates. At the same instant, Duncan Seymour Tudor’s presence, which had been bearing down on the kingdom’s knights, dissipated as though it had never been there.

“Ah...”

Maximilian’s heart began to pound. That tremendous force rising behind him was all too familiar.

He turned his head.

“Brother!”

There stood the kingdom’s Crown Prince, whose return he had awaited so desperately.

“I’m a little late.”

The Crown Prince passed through the gates and came to stand beside Maximilian.

Then he clicked his tongue.

“How foul.”

It was utterly absurd, he said, for guests who had supposedly come seeking friendship to threaten their hosts.

At last, the Teuton delegation reached them.

“Welcome to the Leonberk Kingdom.”