Stockpiling Grain

Back when the Piaster Kingdom and the Osmagar Empire had clashed fiercely in Bohemia, Marcin had fought in the war.

At the time, the Regens Alliance had been a semi-vassal of the Osmagar Empire, supplying provisions to its army.

He still remembered being young that year. On a dark, windy night, he led a unit of Winged Hussars around the Osmagar army's defenses by way of a nearly dried-up stream, intending to destroy several enemy supply depots in the rear.

At the time, the Regens Alliance had been a semi-vassal of the Osmagar Empire, supplying provisions to its army.

That day, Marcin's unit attacked a Regens Alliance camp. Under cover of darkness, the Winged Hussars launched a surprise attack on the makeshift camp, which had only a wooden palisade. They were on the verge of success when a female knight clad in ornate Iron Can led a countercharge.

The fighting was exceptionally fierce. Seeing the ambush had failed, Marcin promptly ordered a retreat.

Later, he had found out who had commanded the camp. By the next time he heard news of the Regens Alliance, the country had already fallen to Duke Weissen's bayonets in the Battle of the Trade Route.

Who could have imagined that, more than twenty years later, the two would meet again in this lavish villa? One was now a powerful royal envoy, while the other had become a princess of a fallen country, changed her name, and was doing business of some sort.

Marcin's mind raced. Who was really backing Madame Bibian now—the Grand Duke Wessen or the Osmagar Empire?

Bibian sat down on a sofa nearby and looked straight at Marcin. Parting her red lips, she got right to the point. "Has Count Marcin come here to buy grain in bulk?"

Marcin didn't answer. Instead,