Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1029 (09.1028): 'Old Marriage Promise'

This is great news!
When Horatio heard that the final location was chosen in Polaberia, a weight was lifted from his heart.

His tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and a glimmer of triumph flashed in his eyes.

However, this fleeting joy was interrupted by the almost out-of-control astonishment on Jadwiga's face.

The air froze instantly; something was clearly wrong.

Horatio's joy was instantly replaced by trepidation.

This is clearly not the reaction one should have upon hearing good news.

"What's wrong?" He lowered his voice, took a step forward, and tried to soothe her with a calm tone. "Isn't setting up the training base in Polaberia exactly what you wanted?"

Yadviga's breathing became rapid, and it took her a while to speak: "It's not that simple. In today's Pola Bellia, the power of the nobility has expanded to an unimaginable level."

The colonial governor's residence there was like the court of the local tyrant, and any outsider was seen as a challenge to their power.

This is why our military reform forces have consistently been unable to effectively recruit soldiers and establish a foothold there.

I can say this: recruiting soldiers in any of Sintira's satellite worlds right now, even in the bandit-infested wasteland, is far easier than in Polaberia.

The vast majority of Polaberians are now serfs, the property of the nobles, and they will not allow you to conscript soldiers from their property.

"It's much more than that."

An old and heavy voice interrupted her. The old duke, the head of the Lana family, had somehow appeared beside them.

He didn't look at Horatio, but instead cast his deep gaze at his daughter, his eyes filled with a complex and unfathomable mix of pity and resolve.

“Yadwiga, all these years you must have been very curious as to why I insisted on taking your mother away from Polaberia, which she cherished as her life, and hiding her in the isolated tower of this manor.”

The old man walked slowly with his hands behind his back to a towering domed archway. Outside the archway was the silhouette of the solitary tower, which looked particularly desolate in the dim light of the day.

“I’m not one to complain about my circumstances, so there are many things I never tell anyone. But now, there are some truths that I no longer need to hide from you. You need to know what you have to face.”

Yadvig's body trembled slightly, and the confusion and resentment that had been building up for twenty years burst forth at this moment: "Why? You always say you love her, but everything you do hurts her!"

You have stripped her of the knightly honor she cherished, imprisoning her here like a prisoner until she… until she dies!

"House confinement?"

The Duke let out a cold snort, "Hmph, the intrigue and treacherous nature of Cintira, the tangled web of interests, the darkness and filth it possesses, are beyond the comprehension of a naive little girl like you. Yes, you are a soldier, you have grown in the army, but the army has also protected you!"

The old man turned around abruptly, the veins on the back of his hand gripping the scepter bulging. "Do you even know how desperate your mother was when she found me?"

Yadwiga was speechless, and could only stare defiantly at his father.

The old man's gaze pierced through the veil of time, sinking into distant memories. His voice grew low, as if he were recounting an epic tragedy unrelated to himself: "Back then, Sintira was on the verge of self-destruction. The overpopulation and limited resources intensified the contradictions of the entire society to a boiling point."

People are like ghouls that have just crawled out of hell, greedily devouring and occupying everything in sight.

Extravagance corrupted the nobility across the planet, while unscrupulous merchants among the traveling traders took the opportunity to hoard goods and drive up prices at will.

A civil war that could drag Cintira into an abyss of no return has already begun its countdown. The doomsday clock of Phaethon could strike midnight at any moment.

He paused, and the air seemed to freeze.

"It was then that the first 'Great Tooth Catastrophe' broke out. Sintira's neighbor, the Knight World of Polaberia, was subjected to a full-scale invasion by the Greenskins."

The Vadisław family appealed for help to the entire sector, but all they received in response were the cold laughter and indifference of the Sintira nobles.

Like a flock of vultures, they circled above this dying knightly world, already eyeing its flesh and bones even before the knights had shed their last drop of blood.

All requests for assistance were withheld by the Calicus Ministry of the Interior, at Mario Hax's instruction, under the pretext of maintaining internal stability in Sintira.

Even though the world of knights was an invaluable asset, in the face of the enormous social crisis at the time, the Ministry of the Interior's primary concern was ensuring order in Cintira.

In their view, turning this world of knights into a colony, a outlet for internal conflicts, would only be possible after all the knights of Polaberia were wiped out.

“How could this be…” The immense shock of reality made Yadwiga dizzy. She murmured to herself, filled with fear and disbelief, “They… how could they do this!”

“I know you’re angry, Jadwiga, but that’s just how it was back then.”

The old duke's tone was completely calm, as if he were recounting a cold history: "When your mother, Maria Vardisław, found me, her father, the High King of Polaberia, had already died in battle."

The entire Royal Court of Polaberia was already at its wits' end, its armed forces nearly wiped out by the endless stream of Greenskins.

What she inherited was nothing more than a title of supreme princess in name only, a magnificent but hollowed-out shell.

As the old man recalled the meeting that changed his life, a gentle smile appeared on his lips, and the icy coldness in his eyes seemed to melt slightly.

“I’ve seen plenty of those affected, frail court beauties from Cintira. They were all sweet and lovely, but none of them ever moved me until I met your mother—I’ve never met a woman as strong and unique as her.”

She wasn't wearing a silk gown, but rather a battered knight's armor, her face smeared with gunpowder ash. She held a blood-stained power sword and waited outside my camp for two days and two nights.

When I met her, her shining eyes still burned with a light called 'hope'. I had never seen such a magnificent sight.

The old man recalled, took a deep breath, and continued, "Moreover, her status was noble enough. Even though the Wadsław royal family is now defunct, her bloodline is still worthy of the Rana family's illustrious name."

He turned his head, looking directly at Horatio and Jadvig, a smug look in his eyes. "Finally, we reached a pact, a pact that was incredibly bold and risky for both of us:

She used her engagement to secure military assistance from the Lana family to aid Polaberia.

(End of this chapter)