When the imperial banner bearing two intertwined dragons appeared on the horizon, something changed in the camp.
No order was given.
None was necessary.
The soldiers straightened.
The wounded stopped complaining.
The young recruits raised their heads.
Even the veterans, exhausted after weeks of fighting, recovered some of the firmness they had lost.
The Emperor had arrived.
The Crimson Guard advanced before him, clearing a path through the ranks.
Their red and black armor stood out against the mud, the tents, and the bodies still being carried away from the battlefield.
Naira watched his arrival from a small elevation.
She did not move.
The Kingdom's fortress remained before her.
She had spent hours studying it.
Every tower.
Every wall.
Every new magical barrier.
They had built it while the Empire was fighting them.
And the worst part was that it worked.
"Daughter."
The voice made Naira turn.
The Emperor was approaching.
He did not look concerned.
Nor did he seem surprised.
He looked first at Naira.
Then at the fortress.
Finally, at the camp.
"Father."
Naira inclined her head slightly.
He made a small gesture with his hand.
"There is no need."
Naira raised her eyes.
"For what?"
"The formality."
The Emperor stopped in front of her.
"We are at war. We don't have time for such things."
Naira nodded.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then she pointed toward the fortress.
"You knew it was here."
It was not a question.
The Emperor looked at the walls.
"Yes."
Naira frowned.
"Since when?"
"For a long time."
She stared at him.
"How long?"
"Years."
Naira fell silent.
"And you also knew about the Douglases?"
The Emperor looked at her.
"I have known about the Douglases since before you were born."
There was nothing extraordinary about the answer.
That was precisely what made it unsettling.
Naira crossed her arms.
"Then you knew Laurence would be difficult to defeat."
"Of course."
"You knew the Kingdom had these defenses."
"Yes."
"You knew they could rebuild their forces."
"Yes."
Naira narrowed her eyes.
"And you still sent me here."
"Yes."
The answer was so simple that Naira lost her patience for a moment.
"We have lost tens of thousands of men."
The Emperor did not react.
"I know."
"Four of my generals died."
"I know."
"And now we have to face a fortress stronger than Dara."
"I know that as well."
Naira clenched her teeth.
"Then explain to me what I was supposed to do."
The Emperor watched her for several seconds.
"Learn."
Naira froze.
"Learn?"
The Emperor pointed toward the battlefield.
"You can study a hundred books on strategy. You can memorize every campaign fought by the great generals. You can spend ten years listening to the Empire's advisers."
His gaze returned to her.
"And even then, you will not know how to wage a war."
Naira remained silent.
"Because war is not learned in a classroom."
He paused.
"You survive it."
Naira slowly raised her eyes.
"Lessons teach you how a battle is supposed to work. Books teach you how others won."
His eyes hardened.
"But none of them teach you what to do when your men are dying, your orders stop reaching their destination, and the enemy does exactly what you never expected."
The Emperor turned his gaze back toward Albaterra.
"You only understand that when it happens to you."
Naira slowly lowered her eyes.
"Then... all those who died?"
The Emperor did not hesitate.
"They were necessary."
Naira looked up.
"Necessary?"
"Yes."
His voice remained completely calm.
"If you do not learn now, you will lose a thousand times more when it is your turn to rule."
Naira remained silent.
The Emperor looked back toward the battlefield.
"Those men did not die in vain. They died in a war that had already been anticipated."
He paused briefly.
"And their sacrifice allowed you to discover things that no report, no book, and no teacher could ever have taught you."
Naira lowered her gaze again.
There was nothing more to ask.
The dead would not return.
The Emperor continued.
"Now you know how the Kingdom fights."
"You know how its king thinks."
"You know what Bourlance is capable of."
"And you personally know the threat posed by the Douglases."
He paused briefly.
"That is worth more than any lesson you received at the Imperial Academy."
Naira looked toward the fortress again.
Now she understood something.
The war had not gone badly.
At least not from her father's perspective.
She had failed.
But she had learned.
And that was exactly what he had expected.
"And Lusian?"
The Emperor's expression changed slightly.
Not much.
But Naira knew him well enough to notice.
"He is still the target."
"Then all of this..."
"Do not confuse the two."
The Emperor pointed toward the fortress.
"I want the Douglas heir."
Then he looked toward the walls of Albaterra.
"I want this Kingdom to submit."
Finally, he turned his eyes toward her.
"And when the time comes for you to rule the Empire, I want you to be capable of doing so."
Naira remained silent.
"All three things can happen at the same time."
She frowned slightly.
"The war was already planned?"
"For years."
The Emperor began walking slowly.
"The war was the second option. The first would have been much simpler and would have cost far fewer lives."
Naira followed him with her eyes.
"My brother?"
"Not your brother."
The Emperor stopped.
"My grandson."
Naira understood.
The son of the king's concubine.
The heir who would take the throne if the legitimate prince disappeared.
"I thought my grandson could rule this Kingdom," the Emperor continued. "We would have avoided the siege and saved a considerable number of men."
His expression did not change.
"But the plan failed."
He turned toward the mountains.
"So only force remained."
Naira looked toward Albaterra again.
"And now we've lost time."
"Yes."
"And men."
"Also."
The Emperor did not seem particularly concerned.
"But the war had already been decided before you crossed the border."
He paused.
"The only thing left to decide is how much we will have to pay for it."