Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1028 (09.1027): 'The One-Year Term'

"And apart from the Holy Emperor, no one, nor any legal code, may interfere with the ancient and noble Lana family patriarch's discipline of his own bloodline, including a body search."

The Duke's voice remained unmoved by the half-drawn blade of Jadwiga's sword. His withered fingers rubbed the ruby ​​at the tip of his cane, the cold touch seemingly calming the ferocity in his eyes—his posture was not that of someone facing his daughter, but rather that of someone disciplining a disobedient subordinate.

The guards and maids around them froze in place, their hands hanging in mid-air: on one side was the active-duty colonel of the Astral Army, the eldest daughter of the clan leader, and on the other side was the Imperial Duke of the powerful family. Caught between a rock and a hard place, they hesitated and barely breathed.

"Are you all deaf? Do you expect me to go myself?" The Duke's tone grew even colder, and his cane struck the stone floor with a dull thud—a final ultimatum to the servants.

“Stop, Duke Rana.”

Horatio's voice suddenly broke through. He stepped forward, his broad shoulders forming a barrier between Jadviga and the Duke—the Imperial Navy insignia on his black uniform gleamed coldly under the assault vehicle's lights. "Jadviga is an officer under my command. As her direct superior, I am responsible for her military affairs and, more importantly, for her personal safety."

These words made Yadviga's horse ears twitch slightly. Her tense shoulders slowly relaxed, her grip on the sword hilt loosened, and the saber in her hand gently returned to its sheath with a soft scraping sound.

"How can you protect someone like me, an outsider? How can you take responsibility?" The Duke's cold laugh swept over on the night wind. "You little brat, how dare you speak such nonsense in front of me!"

call out!
Before he could finish speaking, the Duke suddenly twirled his cane, the ivory ornament at the top snapping open, and a gleaming blade shot towards Horatio's throat—it was the cane sword unique to the Sintira nobility, its blade engraved with the Lana family's vine pattern. Horatio had seen even faster strikes before, but this time he did nothing.

The sword's edge was pressed precisely against his throat, and he could even feel the chill of the blade on his Adam's apple.

But Horatio didn't even blink, as if he were a statue.

"You're pretty good, kid—"

Halfway through his sentence, Horatio suddenly launched an attack, his movements so fast they resembled a slideshow transition without any smooth transition. The iron hand that had been hanging by his side just moments before was now gripping the end of his cane like an iron clamp.

"Uh..." The old duke's arm trembled violently, and the veins bulged under his withered skin. But Horatio stood in front of him like an unmoving steel wall. No matter how hard he tried, his cane and sword could not move an inch, as if they were fixed to space.

"This farce should end now. We all have military duties to attend to. I didn't move at first to show that I personally had no hostile intentions, but now I'm reminding you that you must not be disrespectful to the Supreme Lord Colonel of the Imperial Navy."

Horatio snatched the cane sword from the Duke's hand with a slight effort. The cold glint of the blade swept across the Duke's cheek, a moment so dangerous it would stop one's heart. "No family matter should supersede human interests or the will of the God-Emperor. The flames of war on the Whirlwind Front are not yet extinguished, the Chaos Fleet is invading the galaxy from the Eye of Fear, and the green-skinned alien invasion is flattening one imperial world after another—at this critical juncture, you intend to expel Colonel Yadvig from the army. Do you think you are doing right by your ancestors, Marshal Rana?"

His tone remained calm, but it was completely different from their previous conversation, carrying a strong question: "Have you lived up to the oath you made to the Emperor when you were an Imperial General?"

"Uh...you...cough cough! cough cough!"

Upon hearing this, the old duke, who was about to react again, turned from ashen to deathly pale. His breathing became rapid, and he began to cough violently, his body hunched over like a withered tree bent by a gale.

"Duke!" The attendants hurriedly pulled wool blankets from the assault vehicle and wrapped them around his trembling body, but the thin fabric could not hide his particularly haggard and lonely figure in the darkness.

Horatio held the Duke's blade in his hand and made a dangerous move. The guards immediately raised their guns in alert; although the muzzles were not pointed at Horatio, their fingers were already on the triggers, and the smell of gunpowder in the air suddenly intensified.

"I will protect my men, including their honor."

Horatio pressed the mechanism on the cane sword, and the blade retracted into the cane with a "whoosh." He then tossed it into the air—the cane drew an arc in the air, and the Duke's captain of the guard hurriedly stepped forward to catch it, nearly tripping in his haste.

“Even if you are an Imperial Duke, a former Imperial General, or the current Quartermaster General of Calissis, I will still protect the rights of the citizens of Jadvig.”

The old duke took a deep breath, a complex light flashing in his cloudy eyes, then slowly exhaled—to Horatio's surprise, a cold smile curled at the corners of his lips, a hint of mockery appearing on his wrinkled face:
"I thought you were just a paper tiger who could only talk big. It seems the rumors were true—you were just like that back then, beating Major General Charles-François-di Mourieh like a dog?" Horatio's brows furrowed suddenly.

[Wait...was his outburst just now a test of me?]
"It was his men who first used indiscriminate artillery fire, bombing three of my squads of soldiers." Horatio's voice deepened, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes. "And long before that, I swore that since my men had chosen to follow me, I would protect each and every one of them, either to return in triumph or to die a worthy death."

The old duke casually raised his withered hand, his fingertips twitching slightly.

Upon seeing this, the guards simultaneously lowered their laser guns, the clanging of metal weapons breaking the tense atmosphere and lessening the smell of gunpowder in the air.

“Interesting.” The old duke looked at Horatio, his tone more playful. “I just wanted to see if you dared to prove your promise with actions rather than words, under the pressure of an imperial duke.”

"High Principal Cochrane, regarding what we discussed tonight, I'll give you a maximum of one year."

He paused, then tapped his cane on the ground again. “If you can’t come up with a better solution a year from now—unless it is the will of the God-Emperor, no one can stop me from taking Yadviga away from the army.”

[This veteran actor...] Horatio thought to himself.

"Wait!" Yadwiga suddenly shouted, his horse ears standing straight up, his hands gripping the hilt of his knife tightly, his knuckles white from the force. "What solution? I'm not your bargaining chip! You can forget about it..."

"I try my best."

Horatio nodded to the Duke first, then turned around and looked at Jadviga—his eyes held no perfunctory attitude, only a steady determination. “Rest assured, female citizen. I will not betray you. I will help you realize your ideals and protect the freedom you desire. This is what we have agreed upon, and a promise is a promise.”

Jadvig blinked and stared into Horatio's eyes for a few seconds—just like when they first met at the monastery, where only the soldier's steadfastness and openness were visible.

She slowly straightened her back, clenched her right fist against her left chest, and gave Horatio a standard astral salute, the gold tassels on her epaulets swaying as she spoke: "Thank you... thank you, High Commander Citizen."

She turned to the Duke and said coldly, "Can I have my box back?"

The Duke closed the red velvet box, his withered hands cradling it, his fingertips gently stroking the velvet surface. His voice held a rare hint of complexity: "Child, many years from now, you will understand the painstaking efforts I've made today."

"Hmph, you old fox."

Yadwiga turned his head away, snatched the box from his hand without any appreciation, and instinctively clenched it the moment his fingertips touched the velvet. "I'm leaving home tonight to stay at the military camp. I'll move after the training base location is decided. I'm going to pack my things."

“I’ll take her there,” Horatio said to the Duke.

The old duke didn't look at him; his gaze fell on the dark tower behind him—the solitary tower that held half his life's memories, which, under the lights of the assault vehicle, resembled a silent tombstone.

He suddenly spoke, his voice several decibels louder than before: "Your orbital landing force training base will be located in Polaberia."

Jadwiga's boot heels scraped loudly on the cobblestones, and his foot, which had already started to move, suddenly stopped.

She whirled around, her horse ears standing straight up as if struck by lightning, her eyes wide, and her voice trembling with disbelief: "What? In Polaberia?! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

(End of this chapter)