[TKOSINM] 301 – Banquet Battlefield

"Luckily, a dinner banquet will be held at the Grand Duke's residence tomorrow. We will be taking advantage of their occupation with the dinner and launch a surprise attack on them. I will also help control the pressure of the situation from the inside. Your Majesty will only have to wait for the news in the palace as usual, safely." 

"Heh heh, if this goes smoothly. I will give a lot of credit to Lord Rixis and, of course, to Count Chase as well."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." 

"Thank you ."

The Emperor chuckled, satisfied with Ascardo's words, and he looked out the window, in the direction of the Grand Duke's mansion, a place that would burn to ashes tomorrow.

♔♔♔

Two weeks passed in a blur. The Grand Duke was busy even in his sleep.

They were planning to hold a dinner Banquet party after those two weeks.

'Dinner Banquet?'

'Yes. It is a banquet attended by all vassals of the Grand Duke's family.'

'But in two weeks...' 

'Yes, that's why we're hosting it. So that the Emperor would see this as a natural opening, his troops will be trapped in the banquet hall and dealt with accordingly.'

'Oh, I see.'

Indeed, they wanted them to attack first, so they had to deliberately create an opening for them. That way, they wouldn't have to wait forever. As a result, Noel, Irene, and other Grand Duke's family members had to spend a lot of time preparing for the banquet and doing their chores.

"Irene, are you ready?"

Irene snapped out of her trance, looking away from the mirror and quickly rose when she heard the voice at her door.

"Ah yes, come on in."

When she answered, the door opened, and Noel entered the room dressed in a black suit. No matter how many times she saw him, her heart still had the same reaction and fluttered. Irene felt heat creep up her neck, painting her cheeks red.

"Hey, how do I look?"

As Irene stuttered, Noel strode towards her. He stood in front of her and spoke in a warm voice.

"You look amazing in this. You look good in anything you wear, Irene."

"Thank you, Noel. Black suits you well."

The contrast of his silver-grey hair, his deep yet sharp brown eyes, and his black suit reminded her of a grim reaper.

Noel responded to Irene's compliment with a small smile.

*lol, if only Noel knew what Irene was thinking hahaha.

"Thank you. I'm relieved that you like it, Irene." 

"Is that so?" 

"Yes. I always want to look good in your eyes."

"You're always handsome in my eyes!"

'Was I too direct?' 

Irene blushed again as soon as she said that.

She thought he must have been embarrassed. How should she deal with it? As her head was spinning, she heard a burst of sudden laughter.

"Then I am lucky." 

"Oh, yes…" 

"In my eyes, Irene, you are always beautiful." 

"Ah, thank you..."

Irene felt like her cheeks were about to explode before she even managed to attack the Imperial palace, from how red they became. Noel held out his hand to her while she fretted over her cheeks falling off.

"Shall we go?"

Irene looked at his hand blankly for a moment before grabbing it and nodding.

"Yeah."

-The two-headed to the battlefield hand in hand.

♔♔♔

The banquet hall was far from the main building. The huge annexe had not been in use for a long time, so it was in poor condition to the extent that Irene was worried that it would take the whole two weeks to clean it. 

Fortunately, the cleaning was completed within a week, leaving room for the dinner preparations to be carried out for the rest of the week. But Irene still felt that she was pressed for time and was anxious things wouldn't go as planned.

The banquet hall was chosen to be held far away from the main building. I was there so that the aftermath of the battle would not reach it, and it was also an effective place to imprison many people at once.

It only had one entrance and no windows, let alone a terrace.

Therefore, it was not difficult to imprison people as long as the door was sealed.

Noel's plan was to imprison the Imperial army and Knights corps that had infiltrated the banquet then slowly wipe them out—minimising the damage and also getting rid of the loyal men of Count Rixis that would partake in the attack.