Even after their first meeting, Yuri continued to visit the slums and show kindness to Asana.
Owing her life to Daisy, Asana did everything she could to repay Yuri’s goodwill.
Yuri’s intentions were clear.
So, Yuri became Asana’s employer.
“Did you come with Guillermo?”
“Yes.”
“He’s light on his feet. What about Gorio?”
“I warned him.”
“How?”
“I slipped a note by his bedside while he was asleep.”
“With a knife?”
“Yes.”
“Good job.”
Having increased her funds through Elaine, Yuri brought Gorio into the fold.
At first, Gorio tried to play games, but once Asana was sent, he obeyed without question.
“Gorio listens to you well.”
“I can’t stand him for no reason.”
“You two get along.”
To keep him from having second thoughts, Yuri regularly sent warnings through Asana.
Having shattered Gorio in her past life, she inevitably ended up tormenting him again this time.
An ironic twist of fate.
“Your Highness.”
Asana spoke slowly. She wasn’t one to speak first.
“Are you really going?”
“Yes.”
Asana was worried about him.
“Be careful.”
“Well…”
Yuri shook her head.
“You speak as if it’s someone else’s problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have to go too.”
Asana’s eyes widened, then quickly returned to their usual blank expression.
Though Asana rarely showed emotion, Yuri, having known her for a long time, could read her expressions to some extent.
Asana was relieved.
Like a puppy worried about its owner.
“You can keep up, right?”
“Anywhere is better than where I came from.”
The Assassin’s Order was hidden deep in the desert. So the grasslands posed no problem.
“Good. I’ll contact you again.”
“Yes.”
Asana vanished as suddenly as she had appeared. A strange technique.
Yuri had asked her how she did it, but Asana kept her lips tightly sealed.
There was a rumor from her mercenary days that the Assassin’s Order’s magic was actually a form of spirit magic.
Back then, Yuri had doubted the existence of spirits, but now, having experienced reincarnation, she no longer found it unbelievable.
“I’ll ask properly next time.”
Muttering to herself, Yuri placed her sword on the table.
Four daggers.
And one longsword.
With the necessary equipment ready, her confidence swelled.
“Okra…”
She found herself eager to meet him sooner rather than later.
The official campaign against the orcs was declared. Under the banner of the Allied Forces, the continent stirred. Those seeking wealth and fame headed east.
“Yuri, be careful out there.”
“Yes, brother.”
Before the departure ceremony, Cedric came to see her, worry etched across his face.
Yuri tapped her chest.
“Don’t worry. I’m invincible.”
“I know your skills, but I still worry.”
“I’ll make Briole’s name shine.”
“Good.”
Cedric adjusted his glasses and smiled gently. He said his eyesight had worsened lately due to his studies.
“You should take breaks from studying too. Take care of your eyes.”
“I will.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then let’s make a deal. I’ll study moderately, and you’ll be careful. Is that fair?”
“Alright.”
Yuri smiled brightly.
Seeing Cedric, she naturally pictured a bright future for Briole.
If only it weren’t for the Empire, they would have enjoyed unprecedented peace.
“Yuri.”
“Hmm?”
“Come here.”
Cedric pulled her into a hug.
Though Yuri had grown, Cedric was taller, his face buried in her shoulder. Warmth radiated from his embrace.
Her chest tightened for some reason.
Beyond Cedric’s shoulder, the Briole banner fluttered from the spire.
Watching the knights and soldiers lined up beneath it, Yuri steeled her resolve.
He had returned to the past to protect all of this.
“I’ll be back.”
“Good.”
Patting Cedric’s back, she walked toward the troops. The knights and soldiers looked at her.
Not as someone being sent off, but as one who belonged here.
“This lot have fierce looks.”
Few knights welcomed Yuri warmly.
A boy who had achieved nothing, yet burdened with their lives simply because he was a prince—who would be pleased?
“Your Highness.”
Jarred stood beside her.
“Sir Hernando is running late.”
“Why?”
“He drank too much yesterday…”
Surprisingly, Hernando had volunteered for the Allied Forces. It was good news to have a mage of his caliber join, but the reason made Yuri uneasy.
“I still don’t get it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did Hernando volunteer? There’s no gambling in the Allied Forces.”
“Exactly.”
Yuri shook her head.
Hernando hadn’t changed in five years.
Jarred, on the other hand, was different.
Yuri scanned him up and down.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
He had improved remarkably, already surpassing his past self.
Where before his eyes were dull and lifeless, now they held a firm resolve.
“You’ve grown well.”
“Thank you.”
“I raised you.”
“I grew up on my own.”
“No, I raised you.”
“Let’s just say that.”
Yuri snorted.
Jarred had no idea how pitiful she had been in her past life.
“Enough said.”
The one who truly grew was Yuri herself.
Though this was her second life, she had done it on her own.
“And also…”
Suddenly, someone approached.
At first, she thought it was a trick of her eyes, but he was walking straight toward her.
A familiar yet strange face.
Yuri tensed slightly, uncharacteristically.
This was the first time she’d met him in this life.
Close, yet distant.
Laurent Flandre.
He stood before Yuri.
In their past life, they had been entangled by many ties.
In the end, he had taken her head.
Recalling that scene unsettled her.
Who else had seen her headless body bleeding and collapsing but him?
“…”
Yes, this bastard was the one who beheaded her.
She found him suddenly more disagreeable.
Yuri arrogantly lifted her chin, raising an eyebrow as if to say, “Get to the point.”
“What is it?”
Laurent knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
“I wish to see the Third Prince.”
His politeness caught Yuri off guard.
“Uh, well, alright.”
Laurent continued.
“I have long wished to meet you.”
“Hm?”
“But circumstances were difficult, so I ask your understanding for only now greeting you.”
“Well… that’s understandable. It’s fine.”
Yuri swallowed hard. In their past life, he had come to cut her head off; what could this be about now?
“I have admired you.”
“What?”
Laurent lifted his head.
His eyes sparkled.
If he had a rough face, it would be one thing, but with his pale, delicate features, like a courtesan’s brother, his gaze felt overwhelming.
“Since hearing about the incident five years ago, I have always wanted to meet the Third Prince.”
Five years ago—the duel with the Empire’s heir to save Ena.
A heroic act, but few truly understood the circumstances.
In fact, it had been maliciously distorted.
Rumors said the prince nearly died in the duel, but the heir deliberately let him win; or that Yuri was so crushed afterward she became quiet.
Even the motive for the duel had been twisted in many ways, so Yuri’s reputation hadn’t improved.
There were reasons for the cold stares she received.
But Laurent seemed to know the truth of that event.
“Drawing your sword to protect your own—that was the very embodiment of chivalry.”
“I suppose I was a bit like that.”
“Yes. I heard the full story from my father, Sir Lian, who served His Majesty closely. Don’t pay attention to the foolish slanders.”
“Right, right.”
“Since then, the Third Prince has been my idol. I volunteered for the Allied Forces to meet you in person.”
“Well done, well done.”
“It’s an honor to fight alongside you!”
Though Laurent’s admiration was flattering, the relationship seemed to be progressing in an uncomfortable direction.
Yuri helped him to his feet.
“Oh, come on, get up, Laurent. I’ve heard of your reputation. They say you’ll surpass your father, Sir Lian.”
“Not at all. I still have much to learn.”
“I’m counting on you. The future of Briole rests on your shoulders.”
“You flatter me!”
“No, let’s do our best together.”
“Yes!”
“Good, good.”
“I’ll be going now. It’s been an honor!”
“Take care.”
After finally seeing Laurent off, Yuri took her place at the front of the knights’ formation.
She didn’t feel bad.
“Ha ha ha…”
Jarred gave her a strange look from the side, but she ignored it. That guy was so used to familiarity he’d forgotten his own value.
Soon, the sound of the horn echoed.
The knights straightened, and the soldiers raised their spear shafts high.
The departure ceremony was to be held under the watchful eyes of the nobles, with Yuri receiving the dispatch order from Fiore.
At last, Fiore appeared.
He stood at the highest spot on the platform, looking down at Yuri.
“Let us begin the departure ceremony.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an authority that commanded the entire area.
“Yuri, come here.”
Yuri climbed the steep stairs and stopped where she could look up at Fiore.
He held a neatly folded silk cloth. The dispatch order was surely inside.
The moment she received it, Yuri would become the commander of this expeditionary force.
The lives of all these soldiers would rest on her shoulders.
“Nervous?”
“No.”
“Look behind you.”
At Fiore’s words, Yuri turned around.
The entire unit came into view.
Spears raised toward the sky.
Tense eyes visible beneath helmets.
All of it was directed at Yuri.
The heartbeat and trembling breaths of every soldier formed a massive force aimed squarely at her.
Not all of them would return alive.
But at the very least, I won’t let them die without reason.
Is there such a thing as nobility in death?
There is.
In his past life, he had closed his eyes more ignominiously than anyone else.
So he vowed that such a death would never happen again.
He turned back to look at Fiore.
Fiore studied Yuri’s face intently.
“You’re not afraid.”
“Of course not.”
“Confident?”
“Yes.”
“Will you accept the deployment order?”
“Absolutely.”
A spark of life flickered in Yuri’s previously slack eyes.
“Then take it.”
At that moment, Yuri’s vision went black.
It was so dark he couldn’t see a thing.
Wondering what was happening, he looked closer and saw a pale shape approaching from afar.
As it drew nearer, it turned blood-red.
Yuri realized it was death itself. But he couldn’t move. An irresistible murderous force was advancing toward him.
Could he refuse?
No.
Something compelled him to move.
His core squeezed out mana. Veins connected, and a torrent of mana surged through his body, driving a single motion.
Thought and action happened simultaneously.
The darkness lifted.
Yuri blinked, dazed, lifting his eyelids.
Fiore’s sword, “Cold Wind,” was stopped by Yuri’s blade, “Guilty.”
A faint smile appeared on Fiore’s lips.
“You managed to block it.”
Yuri stood frozen, trembling.
“This is your deployment order.”
What exactly had he just received? Was this the level his father had reached?
It was a scene he had never even imagined.
Fiore’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“Return safely.”
“Yes.”
Yuri nodded.
Fiore hadn’t handed over a mere piece of paper—he had proven Yuri’s worth with a single strike.
The torn deployment order caught the wind and flew off toward some distant corner of Briol’s royal fortress.
“It’s all up to you now.”
Fiore left him there and descended the dais.
From now on, everything was entirely Yuri’s responsibility.
When had Fiore come to trust him so completely? He was truly a reckless man.
“Now then…”
Yuri could have simply descended the stairs and begun marching east.
But he chose not to. Instead, he stayed on the dais and looked over his troops.
They were all waiting for his words.
He smiled faintly and spoke.
“I am Yuri Briol.”
His voice echoed through the ranks.
The commanders’ gazes were strange.
He looked at each face—none showed any sign of welcome.
It didn’t matter.
Respect isn’t something you persuade or beg for.
“Believe in me.”
That was his only advice.
Everyone looked taken aback by his words.
Yuri laughed aloud, then raised Guilty high toward the eastern sky.
“All units, march!”
The troops began to move.
Yuri twisted the corner of his mouth upward.
This was just the beginning.
The empire would fail to achieve a single thing they desired.