53 A Race (1/2)

”You must be Braun. Nice to meet you” a smile streaked across his face as he offered his hand towards Braun. He was tall and sinewy. His arms were thick and his body abnormally good. If the man wasn't the cause of this shitshow, Braun would have been impressed.

But the Wismarine in front of him was the supposed mastermind of all of this. Braun recognized him because the man was always tailing Skall Wismar. The muscular scum's name was Amir.

Braun did not shake his hand. He still had enough self-respect. Even if they were supposed to be allies, he will not be his friend.

”Amir right?” Braun stared at his face ”Amir is too long, mind if I call you Scoundrel instead? It suits you better.”

Amir retracted his hand and sighed. ”We are allies, you know. Can't you be a little friendly? We need to work together to catch Princess Lucia.”

”Then please excuse my rudeness oh dear ally. I can't help it, you destroyed all my hard work after all.” Braun paused and looked at the gloomy sky. ”All of it, gone. Dozens of personal visits to the neighboring Kingdoms, the sleepless nights I had planning on how to clinch every damn economic and diplomatic deal, all of those are for nothing. In just one night, you destroyed my life's work.” He murmured.

”But now you have Wismar at your back. We are strong and we will..”

Braun interrupted him with a loud laugh. ”You will defend us? Or maybe you'll say that you will not give up on us? Lies, Scoundrel, lies.” He mocked Amir in his face ”Wismar is not as strong as it once was.”

Amir tried to rebut, but Braun didn't let him. ”Let's not kid ourselves, Scoundrel. Wismar's golden age had passed. Your arrogant isolationist policy had made you weak. Now you are taking Castonia down with you. Well let me tell you something Scoundrel” Braun glared at him ”As long as I live, as long as I breathe, I will not let you drag Castonia to the mud.”

Amir opened his mouth and tried to talk, but Braun kept his glare. One word, Braun decided, one more word from the Scoundrel and he will stuff that mouth of his with mud. He doesn't care even if the Scoundrel was a head taller than him.

Surprisingly, the Scoundrel kept his mouth shut and just nodded. He went ahead with his men and left Braun's party behind. Good, Braun thought. Now he could focus on his task without being distracted by the urge to beat some Wismarine.

Braun looked again at the sky. It was gloomy like the future of his dear Castonia.

A bolt of lightning dashed across the sky, followed by the booming of thunder. Braun was supposed to be afraid of thunder and lightning. But this time, he was calm.

Droplets of rain fell into his face. It was just a drizzle at first, but soon it turned into a heavy rain. Braun hated the rain. It reminds him of that day his first wife died. That was years ago, but he could remember the scene like it happened yesterday. The bloody body of his wife who was killed by bandits on the road still haunted him. While Braun really did love her, most of Braun's pain stems from the loss of their unborn child. They were travelling to Nirvana that time to find a midwife, but the bandits attacked them. Braun tried to negotiate at first, but the bandits grew tired and just killed his wife. The death of his wife and unborn child was his fault. By hesitating on giving up his belongings, the bandits took the most important thing from Braun.

He tried to remarry multiple times but all his marriages were loveless and he ended up a divorcee every time. It was probably a punishment from the Omniscient for being greedy. In the end, Braun was left alone. He gave up on his fief and stayed in Nirvana where he became the King's right hand. Braun immersed himself in his work. Surprisingly, he fell in love again. But this time, he fell in love not with a woman, but with the Kingdom of Castonia.

Braun did his best to make Castonia strong. He guided King Leopold. He travelled all over the continent just to make deals and connections with the other Kingdoms. And his efforts were not for naught. After decades of hard work, Castonia had become strong despite its precarious location.

But three nights ago, all of his hard work was shattered. The Wismarines tried and failed to kill Princess Lucia Vanadis. Even if Castonia was innocent, the other Kingdoms will still think that King Leopold tried to kill his own guest. This was probably the darkest moment in the history of Castonia.

A single horse galloped towards Braun and mud was splashed into his face.

”What the hell!” he grimaced and tried to find the culprit. But the horse's rider was missing and the saddle was bloody.

Braun clicked his tongue. Although he brought nearly two hundred men from Nirvana, he divided them into four groups to expedite the search. It seems a whole team was annihilated. Lucia couldn't have done this because reports say that she only had two men with her, one of which was a merchant.

So it must be Timothy's doing. He was too fast. Braun had expected that Timothy will come, but not this soon. This just turned into a race to find the Princess first. Honestly, Braun was afraid. He was scared of Timothy. The third Prince of Castonia is currently the most powerful man in the Kingdom and Braun was trying to catch his lover.

Just then, a pair of horses also galloped towards him. He expected that the horses would also be riderless, but he was wrong. Two scouts saluted to Braun.

”Report!” the rain was noisy so he loudened his voice.