Chapter 229 Nosedive

Several days passed since Dida left the mansion.

“He should be arriving in the east now.”

I muttered while handling my files.

Hopefully the alarm sounding in my head was nothing more than paranoia after all.

These were the thoughts going through my mind when Tanya knocked on the door and walked in.

“Excuse me, milady. There’s something I need to report to you.”

“Oh, has Dida sent a report over already?”

Tanya’s expression became stiff, a rare occasion. She shook her head.

“No. But it’s something very important.”

The way she looked made me unconsciously sit up straight.

“What on earth has happened?”

“The old Earl Monroe’s defense line is about to disintegrate…no, more accurately speaking it has disintegrated.”

Tanya’s words made my brain go blank in an instant.

Because of how chaotic I felt emotionally, it took me a while to understand what she was saying.

After I understood fully, I took a deep breath to calm myself.

“Are we sure about this?”

“It’s a report from a subordinate who’s infiltrated his ranks. Considering the time of delivery, it’s probably not outrageous to assume that the line of defense has already been broken through.”

“Tell me the specifics. What kind of situation caused this? What about my grandfather’s army? Has the reenforcement arrived?”

“At the moment there has been no bad news about Master…no, General Gazelle. General Gazelle’s army combined forces with Baron Messi and private troops, combating twice as many enemies quite successfully. But even though the reenforcements joined old Earl Monroe’s troops…”

“They still lost. Did the enemy send so many troops in that direction?”

“Yes. Rumor is that there are also quite a lot of properly trained military.”

“I remember that most of the troops attacking Baron Messi’s territory were civilians? Perhaps they guessed that Grandfather would ride out and acted in response. They probably knew that if the war happened in Baron Messi’s territory, our grandfather would ride out for the sake of an old friend. And then to suppress him with sheer numbers, they sent a wave of civilian troops…”

Organizing my thoughts, I blurted out everything I was thinking.

“So that’s why they waited before attacking Earl Monroe’s territory, in addition to sending far more properly trained troops that way. But hold on…no matter how many enemies there are, the reenforcements should also be quite numerous. How could they lose so quickly?”

“The people of Earl Monroe’s land have become allies to the Towair Kingdom.”

“What?”

I accidentally shouted out, standing up from sheer emotion.

Bam! I slammed my hand against the table.

Seeing how calm she was, I gradually became calm once again too.

I couldn’t let anyone but her see me letting my emotions out like this. Thinking this to myself, I spoke.

“Is it because of Earl Monroe’s tyranny?”

Tanya nodded shakily.

“To the people on that land, this war symbolizes release rather than invasion. The people had already given up: not just on Earl Monroe’s policies, but also on the Tasmeria Kingdom. So they decided to riot and become allies to the Towair Kingdom. Plus, there was also another inciting factor.”

“Divan and his companions, right?”

“Yes. Just like you said in the past, milady.”

“Me?”

“The course of this world is like a river. Even if each droplet wants to go in a different direction, they can’t counter the overall stream. Even if people don’t want to fight, they can’t possibly counter the power of public opinion as individuals. Unconsciously they end up following that direction, saying things like ‘that’s the only way’ or ‘there’s no other possibility’ until their thoughts are no longer even their own. You said that in the past. That’s probably the situation that Earl Monroe’s citizens were in. With the seeds of unrest and despair sown, nourished by constant inciting emotions, they’ve finally bloomed into rebellion. Although the first prince’s interference promises a positive change, it still wasn’t enough to uproot their existing preconceptions…at least that’s my guess.”

“True…”

They really were prepared, I sighed to myself.

When they first interacted with Earl Monroe, they were probably already ready to put into action their plan for inciting his citizens toward unrest.

So the national military and defense line was forced to retreat from Earl Monroe’s land.

“Hold on a moment. If this continues, doesn’t that mean that Baron Messi will be attacked from two different directions?”

“Yes. But what if other territories send reenforcements?”

“Do you think that’s possible? It seems more likely that they’ll focus on protecting their own territories.”

The territories surrounding Earl Monroe and Baron Messi’s lands now had no clue when enemies would descend upon them. Even though it wasn’t a guarantee, they probably wouldn’t accept requests for troops from other territories.

More importantly, those territories didn’t have the resources for it in the first place.

“Milady, something has happened!”

Accompanying a knock on the door, the wailing voice outside rang out.