Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 555: Stay with me

"Little Astr, are you certain you still want to continue inspecting the army at the front lines?"

Inside Charlotte’s private bedroom in White Maple Town, Astrid lightly brushed aside her silver hair as she walked in from outside, accepting the hot tea handed to her by the woman.

"Mm, Kingdom of Velys refused to retreat, insisting on stationing their two knight orders in Rockster Village while using [Holy Bathed City of Radiance] as a shelter. There’s no doubt, they’re determined to fight us to the bitter end."

Such intense signals of war could still let one smell the scent of gunpowder hanging in the air, even from this distance.

Kicking off her delicate high heels, her two smooth, silky black-stockinged feet stepped into soft slippers. Astrid quickly approached. The head maid who had been silently following behind closed the parasol and bent down to neatly arrange her mistress’s discarded stilettos. Then, she removed her loafers, revealed a pair of long legs wrapped in white stockings, and stepped into the room.

"First, as the Regent of the Empire, second only to the Empress and above all others, my presence on the battlefield will help consolidate morale. Second, although Amalia passed the temporary bill mobilizing Arcanist mages, these peerless experts only obey the royal family and the Empress, ministers entrusted with imperial duties like myself, or royal princes at best. Duke Charles, despite being one of the Four Dukes, holds no formal authority to command them."

Since the founding emperor’s initial appointments, the Four Ducal Families of Valeria Empire had been explicitly restricted only by imperial authority. Even during wartime, those peerless experts cultivated at great cost by noble families could never take orders from peers of equal rank.

Call it outdated, clinging to the pride of old nobility if you will. Or call it pragmatism, they simply hadn’t fully tied their interests to those of other nobles or the empire itself. Either way, that was the reality, and also the limit of what Empress Amalia could achieve.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Charlotte nodded slightly. Her fair face, bathed in light, accentuated her already mature and captivating features, making them even more alluring. She smoothly took over the conversation, slowly sitting down beside the window desk.

"Third, Lyra is also at the front lines. Little Astr isn’t at ease leaving her to face war alone."

If the upcoming battle truly escalated into a full-blown war, even Peak tier Magnus couldn’t necessarily escape unscathed.

Based on Charlotte’s understanding of Astrid, at least one or two out of ten reasons she remained here were because of Lyra.

"Lady Charlotte saw right through me."

Astrid didn’t deny this, gracefully sitting across from Charlotte. Since this was temporary lodging in a town, the space was relatively limited. Charlotte had to lower her naturally crossed knees, her two legs sheathed in sheer stockings leaning together at an angle.

Yet even with such a small movement, their legs beneath the table accidentally brushed. Feeling a fleeting softness and warmth against her calf, Astrid tilted downwards. The silk fabric around the woman’s ankle had wrinkled slightly, telling her, indirectly, that the person opposite wasn’t bare-legged.

Lifting her red eyes, Astrid sipped her tea before continuing.

"There is indeed part of that... And when you think about it carefully, aside from the capital city with the tightest security, where else could be safer than the front lines guarded jointly by several Arcanist mages..."

The anti-flight magic arrays could indeed hinder targets from entering imperial airspace from high altitudes. However, if the target was an Arcanist mage, the latter simply needed to increase their altitude, greatly reducing the arrays’ effectiveness, perhaps reducing them to mere short-term warning functions.

In other words, currently no method exists to stop a Peak tier Arcanist mage from rapidly moving above a city and unleashing certain destructive spells. This was true for both the Kingdom of Velys and Valeria Empire.

"Indeed. If we can’t even protect the Regent’s personal safety, how can we possibly talk about future counterattacks and reclaiming lost territories?"

Regarding the frontline deployment, Charlotte, who knew part of the inner details, felt somewhat confident.

Aside from the empire’s top combatants, including Anthony, the dean of Elizabeth Academy of Magic, nearly half of the Arcanist mages had arrived at the second defensive line.

"Still, Little Astr, why are you so certain the Kingdom of Velys will deploy Arcanist mages?"

At the last military meeting, Duke Charles believed the probability of the Kingdom of Velys using Arcanist mages in combat didn’t exceed fifty percent. That figure didn’t sound particularly high, but when compared to the expected level of destruction such deployment could cause, it was already significant enough to warrant their attention.

"Although the continuous fighting during this period has inflicted heavy casualties on the Kingdom of Velys, ultimately, these nobles simply haven’t obtained the land and estates they wanted, unable to recoup their sunk costs."

"In any case, it doesn’t seem worth sending their top-tier forces into life-or-death combat."

"After all, the kingdom nobles who possess Arcanist mages aren’t particularly afraid of ordinary rebellions."

Charles’s judgment was that this war, yielding no tangible gains, would greatly intensify internal conflicts within the kingdom, leading to severe internal chaos. The nobles feared the Valeria Empire would take advantage later to settle scores, so they must first penetrate deep into enemy territory to sufficiently seize wealth, addressing immediate needs and preventing internal collapse.

This required them to leverage the first-strike advantage of Arcanist mages for devastating military strikes. Even if the Valeria Empire responded, their army, already scattered, couldn’t reorganize in time, and dead soldiers couldn’t be resurrected.

The only information asymmetry here was that after Amalia’s new legislation, Valeria Empire had actually gathered numerous Arcanist mages, preparing specifically for such a scenario. If the Kingdom of Velys moved first with Arcanist mages, it would perfectly give the Valeria Empire a justified reason to counterattack without worrying about noble discontent.

"Lady Charlotte feels the fire hasn’t burned hot enough yet?"

"From a casual standpoint, probably most nobles think the same way."

This was also why the great nobles refused to place their Arcanist mages under the Empress’ command, and vehemently opposed their own side deploying Arcanist mages.

Their estates and lands hadn’t been touched by others, they weren’t about to place their lives prematurely within an Arcanist mage’s spell radius.

Hearing Charlotte’s words, Astrid lightly tapped the desk. Her slender body leans against the chair back, silver-white long hair cascading down to cover her fair shoulders.

"If considering only secular nobles, their threshold for deploying Arcanist mages is indeed far from being reached..."

In the original novel, this war ultimately began when the Valeria Empire, pushed back relentlessly, first played their trump card of Arcanist mages. The peak-tier Arcanist mage Anthony unleashed a devastating spell, destroying a critical military stronghold of Kingdom of Velys, marking the beginning of the war’s full escalation.

The Kingdom of Velys might be anxious, but they hadn’t yet reached this decisive moment.

Charlotte caught the hesitation in Astrid’s words. Her tea-colored eyes shimmered, her long, perfectly proportioned white legs elegantly leaning at an angle, the delicate arch of her feet covered in sheer silk reflects a soft luster.

"Setting aside secular nobles... Little Astr means the Church of Light?"

"Yes. Lady Charlotte spent some time in the Kingdom of Velys before, so you should know what kind of organization they are."

In the past, Charlotte had also studied in the Kingdom of Velys, even having brief contact with the previous Saintess. She was among the few people in the empire who had truly seen the wider world.

As Astrid finished speaking, her index finger holding the floral-patterned teacup simultaneously lowered. Her vivid red eyes reflected Charlotte’s face as she spoke softly.

"The Holy Pope’s motivations for war differ from those of secular nobles."

"He’s an uncompromising fanatic, concerned only with the scriptures and the god he worships. His reasons for launching holy wars are to spread doctrine, not to seize land or wealth."

Within the Church of Light, most believers believe war merely as a means of proselytizing, aimed at saving those lost souls without faith who refused to embrace the divine.

This could be sufficiently corroborated both from Astrid’s conversations with Monica and descriptions in the novels of her past life. In contrast, what nobles wanted were land and minerals, natural resources existing within the environment.

Of course, if they could use force to compel the labor of conquered commoners, that would be even better.

"In other words, the desires of the Velys King, the nobles, and the Holy Pope aren’t aligned. It’s just that, at this particular moment, their goals can all be achieved through war."

The teaspoon stirred the liquid surface, creating a faint vortex, as Astrid continued speaking. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"I’ve learned about the current Holy Pope’s character from Monica, and roughly understand the internal structure of the Church of Light."

"As Pope, he possesses the resolution for martyrdom. How could he be bound by secular constraints? His previous restraint was merely the church’s power not yet fully suppressing royal authority. Now that the Kingdom of Velys has initially completed religious unification, even the king can hardly question the Pope’s decisions."

Even someone as exalted as a princess couldn’t publicly declare herself a faithless heathen before everyone. The extent of the Church of Light’s infiltration into the populace over these years was evident.

"So don’t worry, the Holy Church will make their move."

Noticing her nail touching the teaspoon handle, the thin, hard keratin clearly visible under the light, Astrid slightly narrowed her red eyes, only now realizing she’d been away from the capital for quite some time.

It truly was difficult for Amalia. Having just ascended the throne not long ago, she’d left him alone in the imperial palace, buried daily in official documents.

Charlotte nodded thoughtfully after this, then spoke after a moment’s pause.

"Dealing with magitech devices for so long, I nearly forgot about these intricate political maneuvers."

Years ago, Charlotte would probably have realized the reasons immediately, without needing Astrid to explain.

It wasn’t that Charlotte’s political intuition had weakened. Rather, now that there was Astrid Calliste, the Empire’s Regent, matters of political scheming no longer fell to Marquise Charlotte to handle.

She only needed to focus on utilizing her talents, studying magic, occasionally fighting powerful enemies, and normally advancing magitech reform.

Hearing this, Astrid shook her head, a slight smile at her lips.

"Everyone has their expertise. Lady Charlotte is simply deeply immersed in magical research, without extra time to gather such information or understand the specific circumstances of enemy nations."

"Otherwise, you’d surely see things even more clearly than I do."

In a certain sense, she possessed a semi-omniscient perspective, she even knew roughly about Brennild’s existence. Thus, logically deducing the sequence of events wasn’t difficult.

In Astrid’s view, the Kingdom of Velys was merely a pawn for that entity. Whether they won or lost didn’t matter, so long as sufficient mortalities were caused, becoming nourishment for Its awakening.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Charlotte fluttered her eyelashes, gazing at the other’s elegant tea-drinking posture. Suddenly, she felt as if Astrid was somehow taking care of her on a political level.

Thinking carefully, there wasn’t really an issue. With Astrid’s current lofty status, if she needed anything in her research, she’d still need Astrid to intervene and facilitate matters.

She distinctly remembered telling Astrid years ago that if the latter wished to continue living a life of luxury, she could rely on her more.

Unknowingly, the young protégée she’d watched grow up had become someone capable of standing on her own, and even the dynamic of who took care of whom had adjusted reversed.

"Little Astr is just too good at winning people over... always saying all sorts of sweet words..."

"I’m not some naive girl who believes everything I hear. In terms of political talent, I truly fall short of both Little Astr and that newly appointed Empress."

Charlotte was better suited to be a teacher, a scholar, rather than an imperial noble who calculated every move based on interests and managed the overall situation.

Charlotte openly admits this. Yet as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a strange sensation, as if she were somehow acting coquettish with a junior.

It was good that Astrid could be independent... Why did she end up acting like a young girl instead?

She’d long passed that age. She was an old woman now.

Shaking her head with self-amusement, pushing away these odd thoughts, Charlotte took a sip of tea as well. Her elegantly crossed legs shifted slightly, accidentally touching Astrid’s.

"Stay here with me for a while. I still want to discuss more with Little Astr about your previous theories on arcane factors."

In reality, what Charlotte truly thought was that only with Astrid constantly within her sight could she feel truly at ease.

"As you wish, Lady Charlotte," Astrid replied.

The young girlfriend who hadn’t reached the final step needed coaxing, and the lonely imperial aunt also needed care, grasping both was what constitutes wholeness.

Since Lyra hadn’t arrived yet, spending more time with Charlotte would also count as not favoring one over the other.

Calling for the head maid to refill two more cups of tea, Charlotte retrieved the magic focus rifle Astrid had used on the magitech airship, speaking softly.

"Astrid, I’ve improved this rifle for you. Use it for self-defense."

"When fully activated, it can breach a Peak tier Magnus’s mental shield."

Although limited by material strength, rendering it unusable after a single activation, having an extra layer of protection meant having an extra layer of security.

She well remembered Astrid’s mental energy reserves weren’t particularly high. Sometimes she’d run out of stamina halfway through. Using some tools wasn’t a bad idea.