In the same night, after Duke Wulfgang left.
The rain did not stop, it softened toward dawn, but it never truly stopped, It simply became a steady whisper against the windows of the council room.
"You are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers again, my lord." John who stood at the edge of the Kriegsspiel board speaks, he's currently acting as an umpire with maddening composure.
I was playing my own army.
Elena commanded the speculative forces of the Prince.
I insisted on simulating the worst case scenario, as I prepare myself for the worst possibility.
Five thousand men under my banner, professional infantry armed with rifle and machine gun along with a disciplined artillery corps, but with limited ammunition and also no cavalry worth mentioning except horse pulling artillery around, repositioning them.
Against me, Elena assembled a monstrous tide. One hundred thousand levies drawn from Western Middenland and Suddenland along with twenty thousand men at arms and at least two thousand five hundred knights. The numbers were spawn from our (Highly) speculative minds, especially an advice from Nikos, my advisor.
Technological superiority loses its power when drowned under an avalanche of bodies.
The first round of simulation ended with my artillery smashing their advance brilliantly, then we simply run out of ammo and got overwhelmed .
The second round ended with my flanks folding inward like paper, after their knight smash their way in like a hammer.
The third round ended with both the first and second round's tactic being utilized simultaneously by Elena with such a speed and ferocity befitting that of a mercenary's Condottiero.
I bled them heavily, shattered their vanguard and inflicted disproportionate casualties.
Then the ammunition ran dry, and they just coming till my formation buckled.
Again and again.
"In three weeks," I said quietly, staring at the board where my blue blocks of units had been swallowed by red "does anyone have an idea on how to fix this?" I asked.
Elena stepped forward first, her expression steady. She then lifted several wooden pieces and placed them on either side of my army's position.
"Hire mercenaries," she said. "I can contact their captains, I knows them personally. They could secure your flanks."
"Are they trustworthy?" I asked.
She tilted her head slightly. "Probably, If you pay them well."
"I am in deep-debt," I replied flatly. "I cannot pay them."
"Just ask Valeria for assistance, I can arrange it, but I must travel to Venetia for several days." Elena said.
"Then go and explain everything to Valeria in my stead." I said.
"Affirmative, my lord." she answered as she reorganizing the board, which now including mercenary in my formation.
I turned to John.
"And you?"
He did not hesitate.
"Please, don't trust the Princess or her underlings to provide support any further."
I looked at him. "Explain."
"Sire," he said, crossing his arms, "did you not see how Duke Wulfgang treated you?"
I said nothing.
He leaned forward slightly. "You are an asset to them and nothing more. If their own forces are delayed, they will prioritize themselves."
"And your suggestion?"
"Lady Arina," he said. "Integrate her forces with ours and also her vassals if possible, they gonna obey your commands for sure."
I blinked. "Why?"
The silence in the room thickened.
Elena looked at John.
John looked at me.
Daisy, who had been quiet in her corner all night, stared at me with perplexing disbelief.
"Sire," John said slowly, "she likes you."
"She admires my style of leadership?" I asked.
"No sir, I mean she likes you romantically... By the Divine, how have you not realized this!?!" he speak in teasing tone and with a smug smile as if he's watching a child discover what love is.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Then it struck me.
The volunteers she sent without negotiation. The way she insisted on calling me "Darling".
"Oh," I said.
Then louder.
"OH!!!!!!"
Elena pressed her fingers to her forehead. "How dense can you be?" she whispered in frustration.
John grinned. "Please sire, go to Ursunia tomorrow, I will handle Vindia's mobilization for you. You go there and be… persuasive."
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He gave me a thumbs up.
The rain finally eased as the sun began to rise.
I had three weeks, until full-blown conflict.
And apparently, a lovestruck marquise to persuade.
------
Before I knew it, I was on my way to Ursunia.
The rain had faded into a silver mist that clung low over the wide fields of northern landscape, turning the world into a half-finished watercolor.
My carriage wheels hissed over damp dirt roads of Euraska, as my mind asking the big question.
"Since I didn't know anything about love, I never have a girlfriend, everything I know is from either a novel or an anime which are both unreliable sources of knowledge. How could I persuade her to provides me with even more men and material?"
Three weeks to prepare for a civil war that could swallow the kingdom whole and somehow all I could think of now are lady Arina's puppy-like eyes and her cute voice, I have to take an advantage of an innocent woman who's in love with me to further my own agenda, that's a terrible thing for me to do.
I leaned back into the carriage seat and stared at the ceiling.
"How had I not noticed?" I asked myself.
The way she said "Darling" the last time we met is such a give away that's It make me look like idiot for not realizing her feeling.
I covered my face with one hand as John's smug grin replayed itself in my mind like a slideshow, mocking me for being so dense.
By the time my carriage rolls into a proper road, the mist had lifted.
Ursunia revealed itself in full.
The city rose from the frostbitten earth like a hymn carved in brick and gold. Onion domes crowned red towers. Golden icons shimmered atop cathedral spires. Arched windows caught the midday sun and hurled it back at the heavens in defiance. Such a Eastern Europe, Byzantine-coded splendor.
At its center stood the palace... or maybe a really big mansion.
Redbrick walls. Broad domes. It's a structure too fortified to be called merely decorative and too ornate to be called purely defensive.
Its official name stretched on in ceremonial syllables, but everyone simply called it the "Bear's Den".
As my carriage passed through the gate, Ursunian soldiers in heavy cloaks and Papakha hat snapped to attention, their discipline was different from mine, less drilled, more hearty and crude. They hurriedly let me passed through after they saw my family crest.
The carriage rolled to a stop before the Bear's Den.
The doors opened.
Cold air flows across my face.
And there she was.
Arina's short frame poke out from the balcony, her emerald green eyes shining with pure happiness as she saw my carriage rolls in.
Immediately she waves her small hands at me with enthusiasm before she runs back into the palace and quickly descended down the stairs.
"Darling!" she called, warmth blooming in her voice like a hearthfire in winter as she barge out from the front doors. "You did not write ahead!"
"I just thought that a surprises visit are much more exciting." I replied as I stepped forward and bowed.
She immediately ran in embraced me tightly, It was not subtle at all.
"You look tired." she murmured against my shoulder.
"Things happen." I answered tiredly with a uncomfortable smile.
She leaned back, studying my face. "Is his majesty dead already?" she ask with a serious tone.
"Yes."
Her eyes sharpened. "Come," she said. "we will speak inside."
The Bear's Den interior was a cathedral to Ursunian pride. Mosaic floors and walls adorned with icons framed in gold. Massive hearths roared along the corridors, filling the air with cedar smoke and warmth.
We were led to a private solar beneath one of the broad domes. Light filtered down from high arched windows, painting her in amber and red.
She dismissed the attendants with a flick of her fingers.
We were alone.
"Tell me everything," she said.
I did.
About both King's death and Wulfgang's ultimatum.
She listened without interruption, fingers lightly tapping the arm of her chair.
When I finished, she rose and walked toward the window overlooking the city.
"You need soldiers?" she asked quietly.
"Yes."
"You need horse?"
"Yes."
"You need supplies?"
"Yes."
She turned to face me.
"And so you came to me."
"I did."
She smiled faintly.
"Because I am such a dependable girl?"
"You are."
She raised one eyebrow.
"Only strategically?"
There it was.
I stood and crossed the room slowly, deliberately.
"Arina," I said, softer now, "Your fiefdom are strong and you have many vassals, I want your full force at my side in the coming war."
She stepped closer.
"You speak as a tactician."
"I am one."
She searched my face.
"And as a man?"
The air between us thickened.
War demanded calculation, but this was something else entirely, even difficult than an actual war.
I took her hand, It was warm despite the northern chill of her homeland.
"As a man," I said carefully, "I trust you."
Her fingers tightened slightly.
"That is not what I asked."
She moved closer still, close enough that I could see the reflective light in her shining emerald-green eyes.
"Darling," she said, voice barely above a whisper, "do you know why I aids you?"
"Yes."
"And why I did not demand repayment?"
"Yes."
"And why I insisted on addressing you informally?"
"Yes."
She tilted her head.
"Then say it."
I exhaled slowly.
"Because you love me."
A smile curved her lips.
"And?"
"And I was too dense and blind to recognize it."
She laughed softly. Not mocking, just simply amused.
"Да!" she said. "You were."
I placed my other hand over hers.
"I will not insult you by pretending this visit is purely romantic."
"I know" she replied.
"I need your full military support, with all your vassals marching for me" I said plainly.
Her gaze sharpened again.
"You ask for much."
"I do."
"You ask me to place my own fate in your hands."
"I ask you to place it in our hands."
She studied me for a long moment.
"And if you fail?"
"Then I fail with everything on the line."
She stepped even closer, so near that our foreheads nearly touched.
"You are using every weapon you possess right now, huh?" she murmured.
"I am."
"And also using your charm, what a naughty man."
I allowed myself the faintest smile. "Am I succeeding?"
She considered this gravely, as though judging a tournament bout.
"Partially."
"Only partially?"
"You have yet to deploy your final maneuver, Mister tactician."
"And what would that be?" I asked, confusingly.
Her eyes flicked to my lips, and I immediately know what she meant.
Direct and unapologetic, as I expected from her.
"Convince me." she said.
I cupped her cheek gently.
"Arina," I said, voice low but steady, "I do not come to you as a manipulator, understand?"
Her breath hitched, I leaned in slowly, giving her every opportunity to step away.
She did not.
And thus our lips met.
It was deep and fierce and unmistakably hers lead. The kind of kiss that felt as passionate as a blazing hearthfire amidst the great blizzard.
When we finally parted, she rested her forehead against mine.
"You are truly a dangerous man." she whispered.
"So I have been told."
She laughed softly, then pulled back.
"Very well!" she said, her voice shifted to a leader mode.
"You shall have full command of the entire Euraskan forces. My vassals will answer your summons and my men shall secure your flanks. That's Including the most elite of knight in my homeland, the famed "Winged Hussar"."
Relief surged through me, sharp and electric.
"But," she added.
There was always a but.
"When this war is over," she said, stepping closer one last time "we will discuss what this alliance truly means."
I smiled.
"looking forward to it."
"Son of Euraska, will be ready to march for you within a week."
That's even better than I had hoped.
And also a lot easier.
-----
Later, When I departed that afternoon, Ursunian's war banners were already being prepared as the bells of Ursunia's church began to ring for midday prayer.
And thus, my army now shall march alongside the great bear of Nordenland.