Arc 3 - Chapter 35: Lion Delusion

Cornelia dri Vermilia was the first child of Duke Leoral dri Vermilia and Princess Riesa Zi Huo Long. Her mother was the youngest of the former king's grandchildren and was thirty-five years younger than her father when she married him. Her father was fifty years old when he married Cornelia's mother, and had a history of marriages that had all ended badly.

Before his marriage to Princess Riesa, Duke Leoral had been married four times and had more than ten children. His wives were always short-lived and none of his children reached puberty.

People could not say it to the great Duke of Vermia's face, but they spoke of a curse on him, and believed that any woman he married and any child he had cursed to die.

They might have been right. They had said the same thing when Cornelia was born, and everyone was certain that both her mother and Cornelia about to die.

The newborn baby was born as weak as her siblings, whom she had never seen, and during her birth her mother's life was at risk and she was close to death.

Nevertheless, fate was on Cornelia's side and she survived the birth with the intense care of her mother. Cornelia somehow managed to cling to life and became a healthy child.

After Cornelia, her mother had two more pregnancies, but one was a miscarriage and the other a stillbirth. Still, the Vermilia family needed a son to inherit their fortune, so Riesa became pregnant again and when Cornelia was five years old, her brother Cecilus was born.

Cecilus's birth was also eventful. His brother had been born a sickly baby and his mother had died giving birth to him. Cornelia still remembers her mother's agonized screams during the birth. Sometimes she even doubted whether her mother's screams were the first thing she remembered.

Because of his mother's early death, she did not have the opportunity to spend much time with her. Yet her love for her mother was still deep in her heart.

Her brother Cecilus had somehow managed to stay in the world, but in return Cornelia had lost the first thing she loved in the world.

She blamed Cecilus for her mother's death. She was open to hating him for that, and Cecilus's corrupt character gave her more opportunities to hate him. Even now, as she grew older, she realized that his hatred was childish, but she couldn't help blaming him.

Also her father played a part in her hatred for her brother.

Cornelia had never been able to love her father. Maybe if they had had a normal father-daughter relationship she might have felt affection for him, but all the time she had ever spent with him was not even equal to a month.

Since she did not know her father, she did not develop any attachment or love for him. He didn't seem to care about her either. When her mother was alive, her father was always busy and Cornelia spent all her time with her mother.

When Cecilus was born, her father paid more attention to his son than he did to Cornelia. Everyone told Cornelia that a son was the heir, so her father gave him priority.

The laws were clearly laid down by God to prevent inheritance disputes. The eldest son would be the heir of his father. His father wanted a son to carry on the name of Vermilia, and when Cecilus had survived infancy and was a healthy boy, he got his wish, taking him around and training him in governance from a young age.

It went on like this until Cornelia grew up a little and became a teenager. Cecilus was the center of her father's attention and Cornelia, the daughter, harbored not only hatred but also jealousy towards her brother Cecilus, the son.

She was jealous of him because he was a man and her jealousy drove Cornelia to the sword. She longed to prove to people that she was stronger than any man.

But most of all she wanted to prove it to her father. It wasn't that she loved her father or wanted his attention; in fact, by the time she was fifteen, the age at which her mother Riesa Zi Huo Long became a bride, had realized what an unprivileged life she had led and began to hate her father.

Her mother had been married off as a child to a man who is her grandfather's age out of a desire to secure the king's throne and strengthen the duke's authority by producing an heir.

The thought disgusted Cornelia. Leoral dri Vermilia was not a war hero, he was nothing but an old and ugly, discriminatory, repulsive man.

Knowing that her father had married a girl the age of her granddaughter, knowing that he had played a part in his mother's death, knowing that Cecilus, for all his stupidity, was favored over Cornelia because he was a boy, made her hate his father.

The reason she struggled to prove herself against the person she hated the most was to show what a real lion would be like. The lion was the symbol of the Vermilia family. The Vermilians identified themselves as lions.

But neither his father nor his little brother were lions. They could only be kittens. He wanted to rub that fact in their faces.

Cornelia was superior to her brother and many knights in sword, arrow, spear and horsemanship. When the civil war officially began, her father was ill and her brother was too unreliable to be entrusted with an army, so she took charge of the Vermilian army. Two years earlier, at the age of twenty, she had won the first and only Zodianist victory over the Crown.

At first she just wanted to show that she was strong, that she was the true lion of the Vermilia family. She had no eyes for her brother's place, she only needed to show her power to the people. Blinded by her desire, she didn't even realize that people were gathering around her to make her the Duchess of Vermilia. These people wanted to see Cornelia at the head of the family, not Cecilus, whose sanity was in doubt.

"There is no doubt that your brother will bring destruction to the Vermilia family and subsequently to the Vermilia's vassals. Some say you are a better choice than your brother. Have you ever thought about that, about taking over the family?"

Sir Devan was the first to suggest that Cornelia should become a duchess. The Bishory family had been waiting with baited breath for Cecilus to take over the Vermilia family. They wanted to control Cecilus and strengthen their house.

The Bishorys were manipulative people, and Sir Devan took after his family's traits. The only difference was that Devan von Bishory did not care about House Vermilia or the Bishory family. Nor did he care about the welfare of the people.

Devan was behind in the succession and it was close to impossible for him to succeed his family. He wanted to make Cornelia a duchess because he wanted to marry her and rule the Vermilia lands.

Devan was an intelligent man, a good soldier and a commander in Cornelia's army, but the gods who gave him intelligence and strength had taken away his beauty. Cornelia was against a political marriage because of what had happened to her mother and she wanted a beautiful person. So she would not marry Devan.

But that didn't change the fact that the words she had heard had stuck in her mind. She knew Sir Devan's words were true.

Cecilus was not thinking clearly. He didn't have a disease that prevented him from thinking clearly, he was just a bad person.

His selfishness and arrogance prevented him from thinking like normal people. He was a maniac who enjoyed playing with people's lives and torturing animals. Cornelia had failed to recognize the threat he posed because she was so dedicated to proving her strength, but now she could see it. If she allowed Cecilus to become duke, he would be a scourge on this land.

His father had tried to make Cecilus a good heir and had made an extraordinary effort to educate his healthy son, but Cecilus's character, despite all the education he had received, was terrible.

Although the Vermilia family was once large, it had shrunk and had only three members. But the family ruled many small noble houses and more than a two hundred thousand people.

Cecilus was a person who loved to be praised by the people and rewarded those who fawned over him. If he came to power, Cornelia was sure he become the puppet of the noble houses that supported him, and a game would played with a few families rising and others falling.

And the people would be the worst losers in this game. There was no way a people ruled by Cecilus could be happy.

Cornelia understood now. She had thought she had to get strong to prove she was a lion, but she had to get strong for her people and that was what would make her a true lion.

She had to find a way and protect her people. She had to find a way and as a duchess she had to destroy the disaster that her people would face, she had to give them peace. That's what it means to be a real lion, a real lion would protect her pride from hyenas.

Cornelia had to take care of the war while thinking about her household.

The territory of the Zodianist side was divided into two parts. Cornelia knew that she had to work to connect the divided sides and create a road between the cities of Sagio and Leo and Andromedia.

Otherwise, two important cities in the east could fall before the capital could even send reinforcements. There were two ways out.

Attacking the city of Dae, north of Lake Dae, or the city of Pararel, south of Lake Dae, was the first way. But Dae was not far from the center of the Kingdom and could receive support in a short time. It was also possible to reach Pararel city through Dae city.

The second way was to capture Aratun, the southernmost city in the Kingdom. Although located in the south, far from the rest of the kingdom, the city controlled the territory between the Twin Coins Mountains, the Lonely River and the Aratun River. Also, because of its distance from the crown, Aratun was unlikely to receive support in a short time.

If she took Aratun, she would connect the eastern and western blocks of Zodyanist territory, albeit by a distant route, and gain the upper hand for the later siege of Pararel.

She presented her plan to the Cathedral of Andromeda and, with the approval of the Pontifex, went to lay siege to Aratun.

It was during the siege of Aratun that she received news that her home the City of Vermia had fallen. Of course, Cornelia was saddened and angry that her homeland, the place where she was born and where her mother was buried, had fallen to the enemy.

She knew that once she put her feelings aside, she could use this as an opportunity. It had been her brother's duty to defend Vermia while their father was in Andromedia and she was on the Aratun front, and Vermia had fallen while Cecilus was in charge.

She could have used this as an opportunity, after taking Vermia, to prove that her brother was unfit to rule, that she was the better choice, and to get her father to make her his successor. Thus Cecilus's tyranny would have ended before it began.

Without waiting for the winter to end, Cornelia returned to Virgo, where she raised a new army and reached Vermia via Jade Lake.

Fifteen thousand people had taken the city of Vermia by deception, and then half of that number had retreated to Pararel. Cornelia's army numbered twelve thousand.

But an army of twelve thousand was not enough to take Vermia. If the enemy army of fifteen thousand had not tricked his brother, even they would not have been able to break through the walls of Vermia. With Vermia's strong walls holding an army of seven thousand men, it was difficult to take the city.

It would have been fruitless to wait for the enemy army, which had captured the supplies in the city, to run out of food and surrender voluntarily. The people of Vermia had also fallen into enemy hands.

On top of that, Cornelia had received news that the crown was gathering a new army. An enemy army was waiting in Pararel, a new army was coming from the north. She knew she was driven by ambition and she knew she was losing.

"My father..."

There was a letter from the Cardinal of Virgo.

Cornelia had met the Cardinal of Virgo. For some reason, it was a witch dressed in white, whom her father loved. 

But it was not Cardinal Rie who sent this letter. The letter said that she had died and that the new cardinal was her daughter Neko.

Pontifex Tauntis had also died, but it was undoubtedly her father's death that Cornelia was most concerned about. The emotion she felt was not sadness, but there was a part of her chest that she could not name.

"Now Cecilus will be duke!" She waved er hand and everything on the table fell to the floor.

The laws were simple and recognized by the Church of Andromeda, the existing government. There were no legal obstacles for Cecilus to become a duke.

If Cornelia wanted to, she could start a family war with her own supporters, but to fight internally when they already had an enemy to fight would be to hand the real enemy victory on a golden platter.

But if she didn't fight and allowed Cecilus to become duke, she wouldn't get that position as long as her brother was alive.

She took the letter in her hand to the candle flame. She threw the flaming paper into a metal plate and watched it burn.

"Virgo Cathedral sends support. Ten thousand men, not enough..."

The number of reinforcements was insufficient considering the number of enemy troops that had arrived in Vermia. But the letter mentioned that they were bringing supplies and weapons. If they managed to take the city before the enemy troops arrived, they would be safe inside the city, even if the number of troops arriving was forty thousand.