With many regiments advancing towards the palace, Lorenzo knew his time was limited. His guards were all that remained, and they were only 300 strong. In a fantasy-driven world, he may have been able to hold out and triumph against such a force. But realistically, they would get slaughtered. Nevertheless, they fought to the bitter end.
From the balcony above, Lorenzo Visconte watched his guard fall one by one, their bodies strewn across the rain-slicked stones. He did not flinch. When the breach finally came—when grenadiers crashed through the gates and into the grand hall—Lorenzo descended the stairs alone.
None of his loyal soldiers remained; their corpses decorated the breach. Foreign soldiers speaking a foreign language surround him with their muskets raised. General Lasalle was the commanding officer present and used an interpreter to translate his message.
"Do not try anything foolish, my King wishes to meet you."
Lorenzo coldly nodded, not wasting his breath on some foreign General. While he was in captivity, the conquering soldiers rounded up all of the people in the palace. Servants, advisors and nobles were gathered in the grand hall.
When Victor and Alphonse arrived at the grand hall, they noticed Lorenzo in front and centre of all the prisoners. His distinct blue hair stood out from a distance. When Alphonse was surveying the room, he noticed the absence of Lorenzo's wife and two sons. Nor did he see Lorenzo's bitch of a mother.
Alphonse, his brother, for the first time in over two decades, the pair were face-to-face. "Your men fought bravely," Alphonse said at last, resting his hand on the hilt of his sabre. His voice was flat, but there was something like sincerity in it.
Lorenzo gave a faint, weary smile. "Bravery," he replied, "is all that remains to a man who has lost everything else." He stepped closer to his half-brother, his gaze steady. "Roma is yours, Brother. But you will find her empty. She yields only her stones. I am recognised as the true ruler of Zandar."
For a moment, only the rain spoke. Then Alphonse smirked, "No city is ever empty," he said. "It remembers."
Outside, the bells began to toll—slow and mournful, though no hands pulled their ropes. The sound rolled through the broken streets. Lorenzo looked up, past the decorative-styled glass window to the sky beyond, pale and distant. "Then may it remember me kindly," he murmured.
When the soldiers stepped forward to take him, he did not resist. The great doors of the palace swung open, and the light of morning spilt across the hall. More of the Luxenberg Army's commanders began to enter, marvelling at the palace.
For the first time in weeks, Roma was quiet. Only the bells endured, carrying the memory of the fallen through the smoke, tolling the death of one's—and the birth of another.
With the siege concluded, the immediate task is to rebuild and consolidate. The siege had claimed the lives of 100,000 Red Visconte defenders, with the rest remaining as prisoners of war. As for the besiegers, they only lost 50,000 men; two-thirds of the men killed were overzealous Green Visconte soldiers who rushed into combat.
Soldiers began to clear the rubble, and civilians were slowly returning to their homes. Aid and compensation were given to those who were affected by the siege. Widows, orphans and homeowners whose houses were damaged were taken care of.
Alphonse was now setting up his court in Roma. Matteo Vigni, a stalwart friend of Alphonse, was appointed as his Minister of Foreign Affairs. Victor thought that the appointment was not warranted since he found Matteo to not have an aptitude for diplomacy, but he did not say anything.
Alphonse's cousin, Luca Sozzini, was appointed as his Minister of Finance. With the power of the Sozzini family. Alphonse could have a great financial backing, like how Pietro Garbisi backed Lorenzo. Other important positions were filled by nobles and aristocrats who were suited to their roles.
It had been two weeks since Lorenzo had been captured, and the continent of Zandar began to face a massive shift in power. Marquis Garbisi, who was harbouring his sister and his nephews, proclaimed that Lorenzo's eldest son, Giovanni, was now the rightful king of this land.
Supporting Giovanni was his great-uncle, Marquis Tomasso Florent and his grandmother, the former Queen Maria. Aside from the Marquises and their vassals, there were no other Counts of the Red Visconte faction that declared for Giovanni. Many of them were quick to write letters of surrender and recognise Alphonse as the true and rightful ruler of Zandar.
This was to be expected as the tides of war had shifted dramatically into Alphonse's favour. With his ally, the Kingdom of Luxenberg, they had marched all the way from the north into the heart of the continent, conquering cities and defeating the Red Visconte Army.
Although Alphonse was distracted by organising his court and deciding on what to do with the lords who were flocking to his side, it was Victor who was focused on the remaining enemies. He could not trust the capability of the Green Visconte Army to crush the remaining resistance. Through this campaign, Victor had seen firsthand how undisciplined they were. It would only take a keen strategist to defeat them.
Garbisi and Florent were two powerful families, and they could not be taken lightly. With the amount of money between them, they could hire an army of mercenaries to bolster their ranks. They could equip their men with the latest technology and bring across supplies that could have them last for years.
For the meantime Victor could not act, Alphonse was too caught up in his internal problems that he had little attention for the external ones. Without Alphonse, Victor could not access the spy networks the Green Visconte faction had been using. Instead he had to begin organising his troops to deal with the enemy, but before he could make any progress on that, a dormant player on the continent had emerged.
Arriving at the Visconte Palace was his Holiness, Pope Constantine IV.