Chapter 885: 482 Kingdom Campaign

The night was deep, and more than half the capital had settled peacefully into darkness.

Although lanterns were not luxury items, for most citizens of the capital, lighting oil lamps without need—merely for light—was plainly a shameful waste.

Only the wealthy living in the Upper District, and places like Red Cedar Avenue or Lawther Arcade, would keep their lanterns burning all night for a little light, regardless of cost.

Among the capital's few "lit zones," the place with the most lanterns was naturally the palace, at the heart of the capital.

Yet after the palace quietly changed hands, most of those once ever-burning lanterns were shut off by the new owner; in the imperial quarters at the rear of the palace, only one window still glowed.

Phew… finally done with this.

After finishing her desk work, the Princess—the capital's undisputed night owl—stretched like a cat, working out her aching muscles, but instead of extinguishing the lamp and sleeping as usual, she reached behind her to pull out a crumpled notebook and quietly flipped through it at her desk.

The handwriting looked crooked, but it wasn't so much ugly as if drawn by bare feet sliding on ice—lines wobbled, even straight ones, making the plump, round characters brim with the innocent charm of childhood.

Yet though the script seemed childish, the content bore little resemblance to innocence; instead, it carried a sharp, cutting edge.

"The first step of the plan: overthrow the royal family and unify the kingdom completely!"

Looking at the royal crest on William's old notebook, heavily crossed out in red, Princess Veronica's lips twitched slightly upward.

Unlike the scribbled scrawl beside it, the royal crest labeled "Goal" was drawn with care—clearly traced by placing the paper over a pattern and carefully copying each line.

Below the crossed-out crest was a simplified map of the kingdom's surrounding geography, also traced from a map beneath it.

"Next, at all costs, befriend these nobles and find a way to seize this place!"

On the simplified map, the approximate location of the Ruhr region in the Kingdom of Hessen was circled heavily, with a small, smudged drawing beside it—something dark and indistinct.

Hmm… probably a lump of coal.

Recalling the intelligence on Ruhr, the princess pulled a discarded document from her desk, turned it over, and wrote on the back: "Ruhr Region—Coal."

Ruhr was Hessen's largest coal-producing region; this must be a mineral marker. But "coal" was a word taught only in third grade at public school—the child likely couldn't spell it, so he drew a smudged lump instead.

"After seizing 'the black, warm-when-burned, slightly gritty thing,' choose the coldest winter and dig up every northern route into Hessen!"

On the traced map, six of the seven main northern routes were crossed out; only one route into the Rhine County remained untouched, and beside it were drawn two crossed…

Toothpicks with handles? Daggers? Or two long swords? Probably meant to signify combat.

Absentmindedly sketching a question mark on the discarded paper, the princess strained to decipher the crooked annotations in the notebook.

"The Northern Kingdom's winters are freezing—they need to burn things to stay warm, and coastal ports make ice cream for months, so if all the roads are cut, they can only burn what they've stored."

Make ice cream for months… probably meant "freeze solid for months." He hadn't learned how to spell that word either.

After translating William's notebook and copying it onto the back of the discarded document, the princess added several more strategies tailored to the Northern Kingdom, based on her knowledge of Aixto, then stared blankly at the old notebook.

Though the child's writing seemed childish and frivolous, the underlying logic was astonishingly broad.

As the northernmost ice kingdom of the world, the Northern Kingdom of Aixto had raided its neighbors nearly every few years—but never dared touch the Duchy of Hessen, because Hessen held its lifeline.

For herself and her kingdom, rather than spending immense effort building defenses, stationing troops along the border year-round, and passively waiting for Aixto's invasions, it was better to seize the initiative: choose a favorable moment and force Aixto to launch its southern campaign early.

Though war was the worst option, merely resisting war would inevitably lead to greater tragedy.

Rather than pouring more funds into the military department, letting defense projects and military spending cripple the kingdom's finances, it was wiser to strike decisively now—to show the Northern Kingdom that its weak neighbor possessed the same capacity to fight to the death.

After listing the military comparison between the two kingdoms on the back of the discarded paper, Princess Veronica's face hardened with resolve.

We can fight!

Even though the two kingdoms still differed greatly in military strength, unlike past defensive wars, our side now held the initiative—we'd be launching a well-planned ambush with almost no chance of defeat, and the war's intensity could be easily controlled.

With key routes pre-dug and severed, only two or three legions would be needed to block Aixto's southern advance, compounded by their rushed mobilization and winter supply difficulties.

At that point, no major battle would even be necessary—just a month of stalemate and a few small, manageable skirmishes would be enough to make Aixto retreat and seek negotiations.

At that time, we could promise to reopen coal shipments, but demand Aixto return the pass it seized six years ago; once we regained that pass, we'd need only one-sixth—or even less—of the current garrison to completely block their southern invasion routes.

With the border threat gone, we could drastically reduce the old, ineffective armies and redirect budget priorities to education and public spending, rapidly cultivating a large cohort of educated citizens over eight to fifteen years.

When this generation grows up and becomes the spark, igniting others, I will finally have the power to cut out the kingdom's rot—and breathe new life into this ancient, decaying nation.