Book 5: Chapter 11
Alice looked at the empress and requested, “Your Majesty, Nier has not returned yet. I want to take a squad to go and see what happened.”
The empress silently put the pen in her hand down and read over the letter she had written. She then slowly sealed it before stamping it with the royal family’s seal wax. Alice silently waited for the empress. A moment after, the empress passed her the letter and said, “It looks like Nier’s predicament is my fault this time.”
“Are you talking about sending Nier on the delivery mission?”
“No, I underestimated my son’s abilities.” The empress looked at Alice and continued, “It’s evident that the church is cornered and desperate since they detained my Valkyrie. It looks like they were once threatened by my son, and the evidence which happens to be a threat to them is in his hands. They know that I don’t have any evidence, which is why they’re so fearless. They’re also angry because the evidence got cheated from them. I underestimated my son’s competence and made an unnecessary move by sending a letter of negotiation to them, thereby sacrificing Nier. I imagine that the evidence my son possesses will have become useless too.”
“It is time to go and rescue Nier then.”
“No.” The empress stopped Alice, who was worked up, and softly said, “Socina has replied. That woman’s fiancé is ill and on the brink of death. That woman is the one I prepared for my son to marry. Since the marriage over there has been dashed, I don’t need Nier to curb my son. Nier was just a replacement in the first place. I can do with or without her. I have to leave the nation soon, so it won’t be good if a disturbance happens. Thus, I don’t agree with your plan to rescue Nier.”
“But…”
“There are no ‘buts’. Valkyries were always dispensable. I don’t care that there’s one less Nier. I’ve already forgotten how many Valkyries I’ve dispensed throughout all these years.”
The empress stood up and walked to the door. She looked at Alice, who was slightly agitated, and said, “I never thought you would have such a deep bond with Nier. There are no castles on the continent that could stop you, but how are you going to cross a castle sitting in the centre of a lake? Forget it. I’ll write a letter to my son. If he truly loves Nier, he’ll come running back irrespective of how Vyvyan tries to stop him. If he, too, feels that Nier is dispensable then we really can do with or without her.”