Four days ago.
At the northernmost edge of the palace, in the Kingdom Army’s General Headquarters, General Alfred von Albrecht, who had been working, sighed once again over the meager meal before him.
“General, may I have a moment? I’ve brought lunch.”
“Come in.”
The duty soldier brought a dish prepared by the army’s personal chefs.
The chefs were hired from high-end hotels, and the ingredients were sourced from all over the kingdom.
Thanks to this, Albrecht had always been able to enjoy satisfying meals, but recently, things had changed.
“Is this all there is again today?”
“Yes. I protested that you would be eating, but there was nothing to be done. All the ingredients have run out.”
“Lack of ingredients is unavoidable, but still…”
A few withered pieces of bacon and a thin cream soup.
Hard black bread and a small portion of lettuce grown in the backyard garden of the General Headquarters.
This was General Alfred von Albrecht’s lunch for the day.
The meal of the highest-ranking officer commanding hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the kingdom was no more than this.
Normally, even the lowest-ranking soldiers would turn their noses up at this level of food.
If such a meal had been served on the battlefield, a riot might have broken out.
The kingdom had fertile lands, so food supply was usually abundant, but now, even this meager meal had to be gratefully accepted.
“Eat it yourself. I suppose as I get older, my appetite has waned.”
“Excuse me? I… I can really have this?”
“Don’t want it? Then I’ll eat it—”
“No!! I’ll gratefully eat it, General!!”
The duty soldier, now smiling brightly, grabbed the tray and ran off.
His behavior was clearly unworthy of a four-star general, but Albrecht decided to overlook it.
After all, that was probably the soldier’s first meal of the week.
“To think the day would come when the kingdom’s soldiers would starve due to food shortages… and right here in the capital, no less.”
Does the meager food bother you?
What kind of selfish complaint is that? The soldiers can’t even eat because there’s no food at all.
The supplies that were originally there were all taken by Duke Alexander, and now there’s no way to replenish them.
On top of that, the units in the capital, Rahator, had no stockpiles to begin with since they never expected a blockade, and now the entire city is under siege… so how can they endure?
I heard that they’re now rationing the remaining food every other day, but all they get is a watered-down vegetable soup and broken pieces of hardtack.
“This is maddening. The situation is this bad, and they still haven’t even mentioned surrender.”
General Albrecht sighed.
At this rate, not only will the soldiers’ combat effectiveness be lost, but even their survival is at risk.
In just a few weeks, they might seriously have to consider cutting up corpses for human meat rations, but still, there’s been no word from the royal family.
Even though the military had reported multiple times that the situation had long since reached its worst point.
Instead of responding, they continued to waste time by holding banquets and attending salons as if it were peacetime.
“No, wait… did the reports even reach the king?”
Now that he thought about it, it was possible that the reports never even reached the king.
The high-ranking officials at the palace were mostly nobles, after all.
And these nobles were the ones who, during the previous night raid, had foolishly led an attack that ended in a tragedy, decimating most of the remaining forces.
They lost countless lives because of their actions.
Would they now accept suggestions to wave the white flag? The responsibility would inevitably fall on them, wouldn’t it? It was entirely possible that, just to save themselves, they’d deliberately blocked the flow of information.
In fact, General Albrecht thought this explanation was far more likely.
He’d seen such actions—nobles avoiding responsibility and running wild—all his life.
“Damn fools.”
He swore, deliberately leaving out the subject.
He’d hated them before, but now, his disgust had transformed into hatred, directed at those nobles and the royal family that protected them.
How could I feel affection for a ruler who turned the entire northern military into enemies just for the sake of luxury?
Because of that incident, General Albrecht had already lost about 90% of his loyalty to the royal family, and after Duke Alexander’s defeat, he lost another 9%. The remaining 1% was finally extinguished.
“What can I expect from a ruler who doesn’t even care for the livelihood of the people close to him?”
The city is under siege, soldiers are starving, and citizens are reduced to eating rats, stray cats, or whatever they can catch.
If that’s not enough, they bake mud and eat it as if it were cookies.
Is this some hidden plight of the back alleys? No, this is happening in plain sight on the main streets.
A simple glance outside the palace would reveal it.
Yet, even now, King Carl VII enjoys a lavish life without noticing.
He was no longer a ruler worthy of being served.
Such a simple reality, and yet he couldn’t grasp it. Anyone who blindly trusts only his ministers, without understanding this, no longer deserves to be called His Majesty.
“Have my devotion, and our soldiers’ devotion, been truly rewarded?”
Those were the words of an officer who had been caught while acting as a spy for the enemy and had shouted them just before his execution.
He had claimed that his crime was a result of his family’s bankruptcy due to unpaid wages.
At the time, it had seemed like the ranting of a spy and was brushed aside without much thought, but for some reason, those words kept resurfacing in Albrecht’s mind.
If he were asked that same question now, General Albrecht could answer it with certainty.
No, he would say.
The dedication that he and countless loyal soldiers had given to the country… was never rewarded.
This country no longer had any place for the values of loyalty and trust.
“That’s enough. I’ve put up with this for too long. It’s time to tear it all down.”
After much anguish and anger, General Albrecht made up his mind.
He would bring down the very heart of this kingdom.
“Is anyone there?!”
“What is it, Sir?”
“Go and call Major General Holtman. Tell him to come immediately, I have urgent business.”
“Understood!”
After sending someone to fetch his trusted subordinate, Albrecht pulled two stacks of documents from a drawer beneath his desk.
One was a detailed military map of the capital, listing the defense systems of all the buildings and fortresses.
The other was a budget plan and meeting minutes, all related to the purchase of the Queen’s diamond tiara.
These materials had been painstakingly obtained through his connections with General Grotel, who had ties to the royal archives.
“Finally, it’s time to hand these over.”
Originally, he had planned to use these documents, along with internal collaboration, as leverage to make a deal with the revolutionary forces during the brief chaos following Duke Alexander’s defeat.
In exchange for facilitating their easy entry into the royal palace, he would ask the royal family and the nobles not to harm him or his men.
However, due to the nobles forcibly seizing control of the military and using their private soldiers to monitor the city, no opportunity had presented itself.
Now, with repeated failures in their nighttime raids and the weakening of noble power, the time had come to hatch and execute his plans.
“Survive on your own. I no longer want to cover up your mistakes and suffer for it, Your Majesty.”
Albrecht thought a brief farewell in his mind.
The oath he had originally taken to protect the king was no longer relevant.
What good was it to risk his life to protect someone who remained blissfully unaware of the worsening situation and was lost in luxury?
“Sir? You called for me?”
“Ah, Holtman, just in time.”
“Is there something you wish to assign me, sir?”
“Yes. It seems the time has come to pick the lily.”
“…!”
The lily was the symbol of the Riodolph royal family, the rulers of the kingdom.
To “pick the lily” was a coded phrase, meaning the moment had come to execute the revolution.
Holtman, who had been given orders by Albrecht long ago, quickly understood the meaning of the words.
His expression changed, a moment of shock, but then his face hardened as he lowered his voice.
“Shall I send someone to handle it?”
“You can’t go yourself, can you?”
“Yes. With the number of eyes watching and my age, it would be hard to move quickly.”
To avoid possible eavesdropping, they intentionally avoided direct references to their plans.
The details had been arranged long ago; all that remained was to hand over the documents and set the date for the operation.
“When would you prefer to execute it?”
“The sooner, the better. How about the evening five days from now?”
“That works. I will convey the message.”
That night, a courier carrying Albrecht’s confidential documents and a letter detailing the proposal crossed the city walls, heading towards the revolutionary army’s main camp.
I stroked my chin and tried to stir up my long-dormant mind.
The person who made the proposal was someone I knew well. Before me, he had served as the Deputy Commander of the Northern Army.
We had served together for about two years.
He had always been cynical, but I remembered him as someone who remained loyal to the royal family… I never imagined he would change this much.
The royal family really messed up big time.
“Lieutenant General, is there any chance this is a trick?”
“I think the chances are extremely low. There’s no benefit in lying here.”
Sure, it might be a ruse to lure us in and hit us from the inside, but that would be highly illogical.
With the remaining forces they have, they could only manage to destroy one or two regiments at best.
There’s no way that alone would cause the downfall of our revolution.
Given the grand scale of the situation, it would be completely unreasonable for them to risk a futile, short-sighted effort.
“According to the letter, they requested that those who aren’t involved in this incident be guaranteed safety. So, does that mean we can deal with those with connections, no problem?”
“That’s correct.”
“Even if it’s the king and the royal family?”
“…Of course.”
The messenger hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded.
With such cooperation, there was no reason not to accept it. After all, I wasn’t planning on ruling through a reign of terror and indiscriminate purges.
“Understood. Go back and relay the message. Tell them I’ll visit the Command Headquarters tomorrow evening.”
I thought it best to make sure the soldiers were well-fed by tomorrow morning and lunch.