The Beauty’s Secret: 17

The special army won against the Kingdom of Lakshurusu and made a triumphal return to the Royal Capital.

However, the soldiers who were drafted from the North didn’t return to the Royal Capital, instead they went back to their respective fiefs. So not the whole army made a triumphal return.

The people were informed of the army’s victory because a fast horse had arrived with this information. They lined up on the streets trying to glance at the figures of the heroes who had saved this kingdom. The main street of the Royal Capital was crowded with people.

The nobles were just as excited as the commoners.

The most notable person was, of course, the person who had defeated the enemy’s supreme commander in a one-on-one battle, Julius Rosenberg.

Most of the girls including the Protection Squad were after Julius.

It wasn’t unreasonable since he had always been popular and he also gained a big achievement during the war.

The minstrels quickly sang about Julius’ success and they happily announced it on the streets.

The people shouted out in joy when they saw his figure at the entrance of the Royal Capital.

At the top of the line was the Duke who acted as supreme commander, along with his close aids and guards.

Behind them was Marquis Evryac, the commander of the detached force.

The rest of the army didn’t get a big cheer like the first one but there was a moment when a big shout of joy rose once again.

Of course, this was because Julius had shown up. The person of the hour.

His smiling appearance on top of the horse was dazzling, just like a hero’s picture.

Those who saw his majestic figure, regardless of age of gender, were all fascinated by him and sighed.

Especially the young ladies, they were overwhelmed by their emotions and fainted causing an uproar.

The army slowly headed towards the Royal Castle while the crowd made a fuss.

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All the soldiers triumphantly marched towards the Royal Castle but only those with noble status were allowed to enter.

Therefore, those who didn’t have noble status received their prearranged reward in front of the castle before breaking up.

The people who entered the Royal Castle were those who would receive honours.

Normally, the nobles would be allocated territory, so it wasn’t normally settled in such a short time with honours. But the purpose of this war was only to defend against the Kingdom of Lakshurusu’s invasion and not to obtain new territory. Therefore, it was decided from the beginning that the rewards given would mainly be medals or money, so it was possible to settle things in a short period of time.

They put their horses in the stable and followed a person to the throne room.

When they entered the throne room, all the high officials were lined up on the right and left of the room and at the front next to the throne was the Crown Prince, Dudrick.

The soldiers walked until they were in front of the throne. They split into three rows in order of rank, the lead being the supreme commander and Marquis Evryac and so on.

Julius, who was an Earl, was in a higher rank compared to the rest of the people here so he was standing near the front.

“His Highness has arrived.” The chamberlain announced in a loud voice and the door on the right opened.

The people in the room kneeled down and lowered their heads.

A man in the prime of his life, wearing a luxurious outfit and crown entered the room and sat on the throne. The people in the room couldn’t see this because their heads were lowered.

“Everyone, raise your heads.”

The people prostrating themselves before the man sitting on the throne did as instructed and raised their heads.

They attention focused on the throne.

The person sitting there was the highest authority in Aullène Kingdom, Dimitri Arc Aullène.

He was also Dudrick’s father and they had similar facial features except that the King looked older.

“Your victory in this battle has truly furthered a great cause. Our kingdom can maintain our hard won peace thanks to your heroic efforts. I don’t have enough words to express my appreciation of your achievements.”

“We are extremely honoured to receive such praises.” The supreme commander expressed his thanks on behalf of the soldiers at Dimitri’s thankful words.

“Yes.”

Dimitri nodded in satisfaction and frowned when he thought about what he had to inform them next.

“Normally we would award your achievements based on territory and title, but the battle this time was a defensive one. We didn’t obtain new territory nor did we occupy another’s territory. Peace will be established with the Kingdom of Lakshurusu, but the matter would probably be settled with reparations only. Therefore, I’m afraid to say that your reward will be settled with money. I hope that you would accept that.” The King said apologetically but there wasn’t anyone who thought badly of him at this place.

The majority of those kneeled before him thought that prestige was the best reward.

Even so, it wasn’t because they all had selfless noble spirits and thought that they didn’t need profit if they got prestige. Getting prestige lead to profit.

Julius, who had intended to marry Emilinne with this prestige was the same.

“Well then, let’s start the conferral of honours.”

The soldiers tensed at Dimitri’s declaration.

The names of the soldiers were read out and the King awarded these people himself, but it took a lot of time to award everyone so only the names of those with the highest achievement were awarded in the throne room.

Conversely, it was a great honour to have your name read out in the throne room.

The names were called out in order of greatest achievement. Everyone was anxiously waiting for their name to be called as fast as possible.

Nonetheless, it was established that the first name to be called would be the supreme commander.

In most cases, the commanders who commanded the army took the top three places and those who commanded the platoons took the places thereafter.

Many people thought that and was surprised at the first name Dimitri called out.

“Earl Rosenberg’s oldest son, Julius Rosenberg.”

“?!”

Julius, the commander of a small platoon, had been chosen for the first prize instead of the supreme commander.

However, they were only surprised for a little while and soon understood why he had been chosen.

Even the supreme commander, who should have been elected first, considered his own merits and nodded in agreement since the beginning.

Julius was the man who had surpassed Lord von Lakshurusu, the enemy’s supreme commander, who was renowned for his sword skills, in a one-on-one battle. That was the deciding factor in this war and it wasn’t strange at all for him to receive the highest achievements.

“Yes!”

Julius himself had frozen from surprised but quickly corrected his posture and answered briefly. He walked forward and kneeled.

Dimitri stood up from the throne, walked down the platform and stopped in front of where Julius was kneeling.

“It was a commendable act to be able to defeat Lord Hedwig, the supreme commander of the Kingdom of Lakshurusu’s army. I present you the deep rose cross medal in honour of this achievement.” This announcement caused a stir within the room once again.

The deep rose cross medal was a medal that was only given to those who had brought tremendous benefits to Aullène Kingdom.

The people who have received this medal could still be counted, it was a really rare medal.

“Thank you, I am very honoured.”

Dimitri smiled at Julius, who was being humble, took the dazzling medal from the chamberlain and gave it to Julius.

Julius received in graciously and stared at it, deeply moved.

“In addition, you will receive gold coins and a white horse.” Dimitri informed him and Julius was jumping with joy inside.

Most of the horses in Aullène Kingdom were chestnut and white horses were very rare. They were horses that people wished they could own but only a limited number of people could own them.

Everyone’s attention was focused on them when they heard that he would ride a white horse.

Julius had wanted to appeal to Emilinne with his achievements and it was good that he’d received an extra prize.

Julius received the medal and certification. He turned to around and received a big round of applause as he returned to his spot.

Even Dudrick, who considered him a rival, clapped loudly while looking bitter.

And then the ceremony proceeded in proper order with the supreme commander and Marquis Evryac receiving their rewards and the conferral of honours came to an end.

Everyone left the Royal Castle, some were delighted that they were acknowledge by the King and others were disappointed that they weren’t.