I looked at him with wide eyes, still trying to understand the situation. 

The man who was the chauffeur now asked, opening the small window in the carriage, "Pardon me, my Prince. But we need to take a rest in the forest for the night. They are tired."

Arashi nodded and the carriage halted. He went down from the carriage and stretched his hands to me. I took his hands and came out of the carriage. 

I saw his men were already on the move and most of them were sitting on the tree logs and they set a bonfire at a distance from the road. 

The whole vicinity was decked with darkness and the only light was the fire they set.

The man named Hiroshi appeared before us and said, "Your sitting arrangement is ready, my Prince."

"Hiroshi... Don't call me that. You know I hate you calling me Prince." Arashi said with an irritated voice in which Hiroshi chuckled. Hiroshi was as tall as Arashi but he had a taut body which was covered in their black attires. Of course, I couldn't see his face since it was still hidden behind a black fox mask.

Then I recalled I had given Arashi an white fox mask. No wonder I felt unusual when he took that mask. It felt like it always belonged to him.

"Eh? But I am supposed to call you a Prince not Arashi in front of anyone." Hiroshi said, catching my attention.

"She knows now. It is okay." Arashi said.

I blinked at the men. So he was calling him Prince because I was there? Then what did they call each other? I was a bit curious at them now as my eyes darted between them.

"Then I shall call you, Arashi dono or maybe, Arashi sama." Hiroshi teased, which made Arashi's brow twitch. 

"You won't change." Arashi said with a defeated voice and the men who were near us started to laugh, including Hiroshi.

It was very fascinating to watch that they were very open around their Prince and commander. I had always seen soldiers were expected to be serious and reserved around their superiors but it was different in their case.

Arashi took my hand and led me toward the fire, where a large log was and we sat there. Hiroshi came and gave Arashi a plate made of leaves and various fruits were placed on it as he said, "Arashi, eat up with Princess Bianka while I send my men to scout the forest."

My cheeks grew red because it sounded unusual. 

Arashi nodded as we ate but my mind still had so many questions lingering in it. If it still was because of Godoyama then why were we told different causes? I was sure we all knew that Wansai wanted to capture Kosaki, that was why people fought. 

"But how come people were fighting for the reason that Wansai wanted to capture Kosaki?" I asked. "We all knew that Wansai wanted to spread its borders to Kosaki capital."

"Then how come we didn't take it when we finally won it?" Arashi asked back. Now it all made sense. If they really wanted it and won against Kosaki then why didn't they spread their borders. 

My eyes went round. Was it because of...

"Yes, my Lady, it was because we were defending Wansai." Hiroshi said and our heads turned toward him. He was sitting across from us and was having supper. I looked around and some were having their food as well. So, they weren't bound by the rules of eating after their Prince finished eating. 

I opened my mouth and closed again. "Oh! I thought it was because of the economical problems that arose in Kosaki?"

"Do you really think Wansai doesn't have enough wealth to nurture another nation?" Arashi asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Err... I had no idea. 

He said, "Both Yokoto and Wansai can nurture another great nation with the wealth they have since we had this wealth from our ancestors. But Kosaki doesn't have that much, which is why they didn't continue the war." 

"So, was it all lies that Wansai won against Kosaki? Was it because they retreated?" I asked.

Arashi said, "Yes and No."

"It is true Wansai won by power but in the end when Kosaki didn't want to continue the war, they needed something to let their people know why they lost. A strong reason." 

I was curious and my mind couldn't think of any reasons. "What is that reason?"

"They used their young children in the front lines to battle with us. It was a gamble for them but a good gamble." Arashi looked at me, "If we killed the children we would be called a cruel country with no remorse. Because none of their citizens knew that they were making the children fight in the front lines."

I gasped. What?! Front line. How could they do this? That meant Touma fought in the front! 

I recalled they said the children and those with no fighting knowledge would fight from the back as a support. It was all a lie?!

"And if we didn't kill the young children who were fighting in the front lines, they would attack us with the last of their powers they had." Hiroshi said.

Arashi said thoughtfully, "It was a gamble for us and Wansai didn't want to kill the young children who had no knowledge of swords or anything. Of course, some of us didn't care but most of us were against it."

Arashi added, "When Kosaki made the younger ones as their bait, they knew whatever we did, they could spread any bad rumors about us. And on the other hand, we had no choice but to defeat them."

My hands shook as I asked, "So—so, you killed the children?"

I didn't want to hear it but I knew they had to kill those children otherwise they would have lost and I also knew Kosaki made them do this. So, I wasn't angry with Wansai anymore. They were forced to do it and Kosaki took the chance to spread their nasty rumors so we would always hate them.

Arashi grinned, a dangerous one. "We captured all 100,000 children including the men who were farmers, potters or from different work they used to do."

Hiroshi's lips curled up and it displayed a proud grin. "Yes, one thing they had never thought of," he added as his eyes glinted, "We were far ahead of them when it came to battles."

"So... You killed them after that?" I asked.

Arashi gave me a look. "Why do you think that we needed to kill them?" 

"Um... Because that's what they told us in Kosaki." I said scratching my head.

He sighed and gave a curt nod to Hiroshi as if they exchanged some words between them just by their eyes. And my eyes moved between them frantically.

Hiroshi nodded and asked in a loud voice, "Where is Kairo?"

I heard them shouting the name. "Kairo! Commander is calling you."

Within a moment a young man appeared before us and knelt down. "You asked for me, Commander Hiroshi?"

"Where are your men?" He asked.

"They all are here." 

"Hmm..." Hiroshi hummed and looked at me. He said, "Kairo and his men are the children we had captured in the battle."

The fruit I had in my hand fell as I looked at the man with my wide eyes. 

Arashi said, "Look around us. They all are from Kosaki."

I looked around me and there were a hundred or more of them, wearing the same attire with the black fox masks. I gaped at them. I had no words.

Arashi said as his eyes fell on me, "They may have had some wicked moves in their sleeves but that was when I became the commander in the battle."

Hiroshi's grin widened, "And our Prince led the war with only 200 thousand men from Kuro Soldiers against the whole Kosaki without shedding their blood. No children or those who had no experience in battles were harmed."

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3rd July, 22
1354

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A/n: Hello!

Sorry it took long to update again. I was stock piling the chapters. Also, Webnovel gave me a premium feature for uploading the next chapters. So, I uploaded five chapters there... So, now Webnovel is ahead of Wattpad.

In case you want to read ahead of here, you can go there. ^_^

Of course, no biggie if you guys read here... XD it will be two-three days late.

I will still be uploading here hehe...

And I was trying to make a bonus chapter in comic but never knew that a whole chapter of 1000-1200 words of a book needs at least 10-13 panels of the comic!!! 😱 which means I have to draw like 10-13 times each character who comes in to throw the dialogues.

My respect for comic artists grew large. I mean, they draw all those manga of long light-novels! 😱

I write short chapters but some of them writes long and they cover it by 20-30 panels!!! 😱👀

Really hats off! 😭