novelraw Chapter 209 : Anna’s Backup Plan
Chapter 209 : Anna’s Backup Plan
Chapter 209: Anna’s Backup Plan
Akar had, according to Yam’s orders, arrived at Red River City one day after the messenger.
It was already nearing March, and Monica’s due date was approaching, which made her mental state somewhat unstable. Even so, she took one to two hours each day to handle the affairs of the entire Red River Territory, and she even made adjustments for some situations in the Red Eagle Territory—under normal circumstances, as the marquis of the Red Eagle Marquisate, Monica could not interfere in the specific affairs of her vassal territories, but because it was a special wartime period, according to the laws of the Tyrella Kingdom,
the Monica Marquisate had the authority to demand certain mobilizations within its marquisate’s vassal territories.
Put simply, under the premise of a war conscription order, Monica could requisition resources from non-direct territories, including troops and personnel, portions of food supplies, and small amounts of military materiel.
White Mountain Territory and Gem Territory were now basically aligned with Monica’s camp; the two sides were in an interdependent state, so they supported Monica wholeheartedly; Bayor Territory, being on the war front, naturally had no way to refuse; but Forest Territory and Red Soil Territory were less prudent—however, since those parties were willing to pay, Monica did not plan to deal with them for the time being.
What truly gave her a headache was Eaglehead Territory.
That land belonged to the Kasein Family; long ago it had been granted to Tyrot Kasein, so the territory that had been in Tyrot’s hands for decades should have been Monica’s firmest rear. But this time, as Monica used thunderous measures against those local elders and merchant guilds who had meddled and remotely manipulated affairs in the Red River Territory, that rear suddenly fell into disarray, which made Monica suddenly realize that, over the past decades, the people running Eaglehead Territory were not only her father but also a host of Kasein family elders.
Because the merchants whom she had struck down with her thunderous measures were tied into networks involving both the traditional faction and the bloodline faction, the backlash and resistance this time were unprecedented.
When Akar arrived, Monica had just finished handling a batch of administrative matters regarding those merchants.
She quickly skimmed the letters Akar had brought and furrowed her brow: 「Has the supply situation at the front become this dire?」
「It’s not the front.」 Akar sighed. 「The Aust Empire set a trap in Bayor Territory. They had dispersed and hidden an army of more than five thousand across Bayor Territory, attempting to wait for a major battle to erupt at the front and then strike destruction in the rear.」
「But that plan was accidentally discovered by Aches, so we fought them in a large battle, annihilating about two thousand enemies and capturing nearly a thousand.」
「However, our side suffered many casualties as well; currently, due to a severe shortage of medical supplies, we were experiencing a large number of non-combat attritions.」
Monica was slightly stunned when she heard Akar: 「You captured over a thousand?」
「At first, yes, but now there were only a little over seven hundred left.」 Akar shook his head. 「We were losing about thirty people a day. Given the current supply reserves, in less than a month those prisoners would all be dead. — Now the weather was getting warmer; if the wounded weren’t treated, we’d have to use a lot of manpower to dig graves.」
Yam’s greatest worry was that corpses would cause an epidemic, because Ion had reminded them many times—this was experience he had learned during his service in the Southern Army.
So for those dead prisoners, Yam burned their bodies outright.
But he could not do that for the militiamen from Gem Territory and White Mountain Territory. And dragging those bodies back to their homes was obviously unrealistic, so they could only dig pits and bury them on the spot, then scoop a shovel of earth to preserve, waiting until after the war to bring them home to their families.
This was the best solution Yam could think of.
Monica drew a deep breath and nodded: 「I will handle it as soon as possible. You should rest here for a few days.」
「No, Marquis.」 Akar shook his head. 「Yam asked me to bring several letters back to White Mountain Territory, and there were also some things to ask our father about—he served in the Southern Army for a long time, so he had experience.」
「Very well.」 Monica nodded. 「When do you plan to depart?」
「Immediately.」 Akar answered. 「I will report to Baron Anna first, then depart at once.」「Mm, then go on — Anna should be in the council hall now; she’s been dealing with many things lately, give her my thanks.」 Monica smiled faintly.
Akar did not reply to that; he only maintained a smile.
After confirming Monica gave no further orders, Akar took his leave.
Monica watched Akar’s figure, and her smile quickly faded.
She did not say anything else but lowered her head to look at the documents in her hand, as if pondering something.
Akar soon found Anna in a small conference hall.
There were six or seven clerks there, handling paperwork spread across the tables.
When Anna saw Akar, her face betrayed no expression, but her eyes showed a flash of delight. She quickly finished what she was doing, gave the clerks a brief instruction, and rose to walk toward Akar.
「Baron Anna, I came to report the situation at the front.」
Anna’s step paused very slightly when she approached Akar, but she recovered the instant her other foot landed: 「Come with me.」
Her tone was somewhat indifferent, very businesslike.
Walking behind Anna, Akar’s voice sounded soon after: 「What have you been doing lately? Someone had their eye on you.」
Anna did not speak, but her gaze darkened for an instant.
She soon led Akar back to her room.
Anna still said nothing; she only looked at Akar.
Akar, understanding, pretended to unstrap his weapons. The instant his hand touched the hilt of the Demonic Sword, a faint scent of fresh blood spread again.
The scent was slight, but it existed; however, at that moment he did not sense anyone else’s gaze.
When he had entered the lord’s manor in Red River City earlier, Akar had instinctively touched the hilt of the Demonic Sword—he did not know why he did so, but the moment he touched the sword he felt a hostile, surveilling gaze. After several small, seemingly casual probes—such as needing to remove his gear to meet Monica, retrieving the Demonic Sword from the study—Akar realized that the stronger the faint sanguine fragrance became, the greater the surveillance and hostility.
Now that faint fragrant scent, Akar guessed, meant someone was watching here, and they had possibly slipped in when Anna wasn’t present, though, since Anna was the lord of a territory, they dared not do anything too excessive.
As for why he suspected the target was Anna, Akar only had to think briefly to understand: he was not in the Red River Territory but fighting on the front, so whoever was watching was clearly not targeting him. But the moment he entered the manor he was watched and even probed by Monica; he immediately realized that Monica was the one watching Anna.
「Monica was testing our relationship.」
After confirming the room held no danger, Akar spoke at once: 「What have you done?」
Anna’s expression was annoyed: 「I had been extremely careful.」
Seeing Akar’s puzzled face, Anna sighed: 「I did it for Liam.」
At that, Akar immediately understood: 「This is Red River Territory! The Kasein Family’s foundation is far stronger than ours. Even the intelligence network we worked so hard to set up was completely cut off; the information we received was only what they wanted us to know.」
「I knew.」 Anna said in a low voice. 「But some things I could not bear not to try! If Monica ultimately gave birth to a boy—」
「Then there was nothing we could do.」 Akar stepped forward and embraced Anna, gently patting her back to soothe her. 「Even if Liam’s generation failed, it didn’t mean Liam’s next generation would. Even if you don’t believe me, you must believe our family—believe our child. Liam may seem a bit slow because we compared him to Cindy, but at his age he was already better than many of his peers.」
Anna exhaled softly: 「I understand.」
「Do you have a way to solve it?」
「Of course.」 Anna nodded. 「Have you underestimated me?」
「It was my mistake, Baron Anna.」 Akar smiled and kissed the back of Anna’s hand lightly. 「How do you plan to punish me?」
Anna suddenly reached out and grabbed.
Akar’s eyes widened.
「It was time to give you a proper punishment.」
「This was Red River Territory.」
「Are you afraid?」 Anna raised an eyebrow.
Akar’s breathing became rapid.
After a moment, Akar left the room and then the lord’s manor.
Anna’s room did not offer a view of the manor’s main gate from its windows or balcony, but she had already said what she needed to say to Akar; after drawing a deep breath she regained her composure and fully dispelled the prior irritability.
She waited a short while, then rang the bell.
Soon enough, Shunes came before Anna: 「My lord.」
「Cease all operations.」 Anna said slowly. 「Maintain only the minimum surveillance. We must change the plan.」
Shunes looked surprised, then quickly nodded: 「Yes.」
「Monica would deliver in only a few days; this was when she would be most sensitive and most vigilant.
You have been discovered by her, so for the next plan you were not allowed to fail, do you understand? Otherwise, even I might not be able to save you.」
Anna’s expression darkened and her tone naturally grew solemn when she said this.
Shunes nodded immediately: 「Please rest assured, my lord; I will not fail this time.」