By the fourth day of the siege, rge-scale desertions have already started in the kingdom’s camp.

  The besieged kingdom forces have basically lost their fighting spirit.

  As soon as the Peace Haven army unches an assault, they can take over the entire camp without much trouble.

  But this doesn’t align with Henwell’s pn. From the start, Henwell never intended to wipe out this army completely.

  Strangling the southeastern forces of the Ika Kingdom would have too big an impact.

  It goes against Henwell’s strategy of shifting conflicts elsewhere. Besides, Henwell needs this army as bait to lure and strike at the kingdom’s reinforcements.

  At the Louis City Governor’s Mansion, news of the southeastern army’s siege arrives, and they immediately pn to send troops for rescue.

  But Roderick storms into the Governor’s Mansion with his guards and seizes military control.

  Rifidi’s attendant officer, left behind to guard, confronts Roderick: “How dare you! Why haven’t you sent troops to support the Governor?!”

  Roderick replies coldly, “The situation is unclear. Sending rescue troops blindly is too risky! Right now, we only have two fully organized legions. Every move must be cautious, or else the entire southeast of the kingdom will fall into danger.”

  “You… you’re out for revenge against the Governor! You’ve already been dismissed. When the Governor left, he entrusted me to oversee the Governor’s Mansion affairs! Guards, seize Roderick!”

  A cold gleam fshes in Roderick’s eyes. He draws his longsword and plunges it straight through the attendant officer’s neck.

  Everyone is stunned by Roderick’s sudden and brutal move.

  The commander of the 22nd Legion, Powell, reacts fastest, drawing his sword to fend off the rushing Governor’s Mansion guards.

  In moments, with the help of 22nd Legion officers, Roderick’s knights sughter Rifidi’s guards in the mansion to the st man.

  The officers of the 24th Legion, who arrived here a few days ago, do not take part in the fight from start to finish.

  The 24th Legion commander rests his hand on his sword hilt, watching Roderick warily: “Viscount, what exactly are you trying to do?”

  Roderick sheaths his longsword. “Conrad, we’ve known each other for a while. You know me—I’m not here to seize power, nor to purge rivals.”

  ”The situation’s critical. If these fools keep dragging us down, we’ll have nothing to answer for. This doesn’t concern you or your men. Just report the facts honestly afterward; I’ll take full responsibility.”

  ”The key now is how to stop the Vorry Duchy’s advance before even thinking about rescue. We have to build a new defensive line to prevent the situation from worsening and the entire southeast from colpsing.”

  With that, Roderick gathers everyone around the map for analysis.

  After over an hour, the basic deployment is set.

  The 22nd and 24th Legions push forward fifty miles, using favorable terrain to establish defensive positions.

  Roderick calls all nobles from his faction, forming a mixed force of 20,000 troops centered around his 6,000 personal soldiers.

  At the same time, two border defense legions from the south are urgently pulled to the front line.

  In just two days, a new defensive line takes shape, solid and ready.

  At this point, Henwell starts sending tents and food supplies into the Ika Kingdom’s main camp.

  These people can’t just freeze or starve to death here.

  Dead men serve no purpose!

  But Henwell isn’t handing out these supplies for free—they demand horses in return.

  The kingdom’s army still has nearly ten thousand warhorses, plus a ton of mules and other livestock.

  If the soldiers sughtered and ate them, that’d be a massive waste.

  The kingdom’s officers definitely don’t want to trade these animals away, but starving and freezing leaves them no choice.

  Meanwhile, a rge number of wounded prisoners are gathered by Peace Haven and sent to the rear’s field hospital for treatment.

  Interestingly, this hospital was originally a marching camp built by the kingdom’s forces!

  At first, the exchanged wounded were mostly serfs from noble private armies.

  Then came the regur soldiers, and eventually even officers were sent in batches to the prisoner camp.

  Now, despite the supply of food and basic medicine, the besieged kingdom army still sends out thousands of wounded every day.

  By the tenth day of the siege, the kingdom’s forces have shrunk from over seventy thousand to less than forty thousand.

  Peace Haven hasn’t taken in over thirty thousand prisoners either—nearly ten thousand have died this brutal winter.

  It’s this heavy loss that finally forces the kingdom army to accept Henwell’s exchange proposal.

  Of course, the exchange has to be handled carefully.

  They can’t just hand prisoners directly to Peace Haven—that’d be outright surrender.

  Instead, three merchant caravans registered with the Ika Kingdom act as intermediaries, so the kingdom’s officers can save face.

  On the tenth day of the kingdom’s siege, reinforcements finally arrive from the Ika Kingdom.

  The first wave consists of two legions who, after several days of forced marches, reach the southeastern Governor’s Mansion.

  Leading them is a big shot—Grand Duke Kolen of the Ika Kingdom.

  He’s the most powerful noble in the kingdom’s southern border, and his sister is the queen, married to the Ika king.

  This is straight-up top-tier kingdom royalty. Now, with two stationed legions and his own private army of ten thousand, he arrives at the front lines.

  As soon as they enter Louis City, Rifidi’s men rush over to tattle, accusing Roderick of seizing military control and killing the Governor’s Mansion guards.

  Kolen confronts Roderick immediately, demanding an expnation.

  Roderick calmly replies, “Your Grace, the situation was critical. They insisted on a reckless rescue attempt. If it failed, the consequences would have been even worse…”

  Kolen waves him off sharply, “I’m not asking about that! I want to know how Rifidi got surrounded? Where the hell did Peace Haven get so many troops?”

  Roderick leads Kolen to the map. “Peace Haven already has over fifty thousand troops—we all know that.”

  ”But Henwell pyed it smart this time. He didn’t send his main forces head-on. Instead, he relied on his defensive system, using militias and garrison troops to stall the kingdom’s offensive.”

  ”Meanwhile, he pulled his two main legions to circle behind and cut off our retreat. He should have been guarding against northern forces, but he threw everything into this battle.”

  ”Plus, the troops defending Ogiro in the east were also pulled to the siege perimeter. Strictly speaking, Peace Haven’s east and north are completely undefended right now.”

  ”Your Grace knows the Ogiro Kingdom would love nothing more than to see us weakened—they won’t pick fights with Peace Haven for us. That’s why Peace Haven can muster all their strength here to form such a powerful offensive cluster.”

  Grand Duke Kolen roars in anger, “Roderick, you know Peace Haven well. Your Peace Haven pn caught Golden Capital’s attention. You know their army is no joke. So why didn’t you stop Rifidi from recklessly rushing in? He was only ever meant to be a temporary southeastern commander.”

  ”If you hadn’t dodged the role so many times, how did he get appointed? You deliberately watched him jump into the pit! You put your own interests above the kingdom’s!”

  At this moment, Powell and Conrad step forward to expin what they’ve learned.