“But I also think you’re more suited to become grand duke, Cal.”

“Ugh. Even you saying that makes brother hate me!”

“But it’s true.”

“Ah geez. Let’s drop the talk about brother! Rud! Happy birthday.”

Caleb held out a small sunflower bouquet.

She fumbled around wondering how to hold the bouquet while preciously holding the hairpin in both hands, and her cheeks gradually turned pink.

“What’s this, where did the usually sharp Rud go? Give it here.”

Caleb skillfully fixed her waist-length hair with her mother’s hairpin and placed the bouquet in both her hands.

“Thank you, Ca, Cal……”

“Th-thanks nothing. Mommy said since she doesn’t have a daughter, I should learn these things instead, haha. It came in handy.”

The boy and girl’s faces were red enough to burst, and their heartbeats seemed loud enough to be heard beyond the garden.

At the Grand Duke’s residence, the memory surge was not a curse-ridden hereditary disease, but a blessing called genius due to exceptional memory.

Caleb who always carefully took care of her beforehand so surges wouldn’t come, Grand Duke Eriton Sanders who built up her strength to take revenge on the Pergos Empire, and Grand Duchess Yuli Sanders who cherished and doted on her more than her own child.

This memory, along with her happy moments with Adele Glimm, was a precious moment and life support that would never let her give up no matter what obstacles she faced.

* * *

At 16, Rudbeckia had grown into quite the lady.

Of course, a lady who preferred swords to teacups, training grounds to tea parties, and military strategy books to gossip magazines.

Recently, Grand Duchess Yuli Sanders had been dressing her up as befitting a noble lady of the Pergos Empire to teach her the military tactic of honey trapping.

Since the Sanders Grand Duchy didn’t particularly have a noble class system, and their clothing focused on practicality, she was taught the art of beautiful adornment through Pergos Empire culture.

“Cal, your face is red?”

“……Wh-who’s red…! It’s just hot…!!”

Rudbeckia had just received Caleb’s kiss as usual to prevent memory surges.

Though when they were young he would volunteer to give kisses, lately he kept avoiding her or refusing to make eye contact, making it very difficult to receive kisses.

“You haven’t started hating me, have you?”

“What!? No! I like you so much, Rud…!”

Caleb couldn’t finish his sentence and covered his mouth with his fist, his face turning apple-red again before quickly turning and running off somewhere.

It was always like this. He would cover his lips with his hand as if they were something incredibly important, and after kissing he would run away.

Puzzled by this inexplicable behavior, Rudbeckia tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders as she thought of Adele. She valued Rudbeckia more than her own lips.

How much power would be needed to avenge Adele who lived only for her?

For revenge, she first needed to suppress the memory surges. She couldn’t keep relying on Caleb forever.

Where was the ring called the Heart of Light now, and in whose hands? Once she found the ring and took her revenge, perhaps she could live happily being loved as her mother wished.

However, Rudbeckia’s small wish was shattered to pieces in the great whirlpool of the times.

* * *

Sanders Grand Duchy was a region that no Pergos emperor in history had managed to successfully invade, failing every attempt.

The continent’s largest granary was within the Grand Duchy, making food plentiful, and their vast plains meant their cavalry was unmatched by other countries.

Thus in 520 EP, the Pergos Empire decided there was no benefit in warring with Sanders Grand Duchy and signed a non-aggression treaty. However, in the 583rd year since then, along with a letter declaring war, the treaty was broken and Caleb’s brother, Greg Sanders, hurriedly returned to the Grand Duke’s residence.

He had been attending the continent’s most prestigious academy in the Pergos Empire.

“How! How could you stay in the Pergos Empire and not notice a single thing about Pergos planning to invade Sanders! Just fooling around with your friends. Swordsmanship. Grades. Awareness. What exactly can you do!”

Though she wasn’t the one being scolded, Rudbeckia flinched at Eriton’s shouts. The evening feast was more splendid than ever at the news of Greg’s return after so long, but she didn’t dare reach for any of it.

War……

She clenched her fist so tightly the fork left clear marks on her palm. People’s wailing, the smell of blood, the vibration of hoofbeats shaking her feet…… Rudbeckia vividly recalled it all as if she were on the refugee path right now.

“It’s okay. Sanders will never lose.”

Caleb whispered quietly as he placed his hand over Rudbeckia’s small fist. Her grip loosened slightly at the warm touch. Caleb took the fork from her hand and gently rubbed her reddened palm.

She had come this far grinding her teeth for revenge. A fighting spirit she had never felt before blazed within Rudbeckia.

‘Right. This time it’s war. An equal war. We can win. I can avenge mother. I will do it.’

Soon preparations for war with the Pergos Empire proceeded quickly. True to being a military nation, everything moved swiftly, and Eriton, who highly valued Rudbeckia’s extraordinary memory, included her in every strategy meeting.

“A full-scale war is hopeless. Pergos has strengthened its position as an empire by organizing its vassal states. Their forces will have grown with their expanded territory. Don’t think about total war, think about a prolonged war. After all, we have the continent’s largest granary here.”

“Indeed. That’s why Pergos’ previous emperors signed non-aggression treaties with us. Adam doesn’t know what he’s getting into.”

“Even Pergos can’t sustain a prolonged war. They depend on imports for 70% of their food supply. Last year, their self-sufficiency in key staples like potatoes and wheat dropped to just 6%. With their reliance on imported staples, a drawn-out conflict will likely force them to seek negotiations.”

Rudbeckia was already well-versed in the trends of surrounding countries and Pergos.

As Eriton was a born leader, Sanders Grand Duchy met the Pergos army in a state of perfect readiness with complete military power and supplies.

There wasn’t a day without fires burning in the mountains and fields, nor a day without animal and human blood flowing on the ground.

Despite being a prolonged war with no end in sight, Eriton and Yuli swept through the battlefield blocking Pergos’ invasion at its source. Under Eriton’s command, who was like an incarnation of war, there was virtually no loss of strength.

* * *

Was it overconfidence in victory?

Crisis came without warning. The start of winter. Eriton and Yuli led troops to the battlefield to push back the Pergos forces, who surely must have been at their limit with depleted food supplies.

However, the Pergos Empire that day was somehow different.

As if they had seen the future, they completely neutralized all of Sanders Grand Duchy’s operations, and almost no one survived that battle, including the Grand Duke and his wife.

Following Grand Duke Eriton Sanders, who had no time to prepare a will, the succession fell to Greg Sanders according to the tradition that the eldest son should inherit.

“Caleb, we must surrender now! There’s no more hope of winning. All the Sanders branch family generals who could command are dead!”

“What? Surrender? Are you crazy, brother? Why did they die! Why won’t you listen to Rud! We won dozens of local battles thanks to Rud! If it weren’t for your ridiculous strategies…!!”

Greg, who became Grand Duke, blamed Rudbeckia for his parents’ deaths and never included her in strategy meetings after they died, and all operations repeatedly ended in failure.

“I’ll take the vanguard. Give me troops who can execute Rud’s strategy exactly.”

In Rudbeckia’s 17th year, on the coldest day of that year, 21-year-old Caleb took the vanguard position.

Though blizzards blocked visibility, the same was true for the Pergos army. Rudbeckia’s operation was flawless and Caleb believed it would succeed. But that war would be Sanders Grand Duchy’s last.

As a defeated nation, the Grand Duchy of Sanders had to pay blood money to the Pergos Empire.

Those who paid the blood money could receive titles according to Pergos’ class system based on their remaining assets or commoner status.

As if he had been waiting for this, Greg immediately paid his share of blood money, while he didn’t pay for Rudbeckia and Caleb citing their defeat in the war.

“Those who survive will be given the opportunity to serve the Pergos Empire!”

“Become citizens of Pergos, and you can live a humane life with proper treatment!”

Unable to pay the blood money, Caleb and Rudbeckia entered the Pergos Empire’s military training facility that was no different from a prison camp.

Rudbeckia’s only memory from this time was: Greg, that son of a b*tch who abandoned his family.