After running and running for what felt like an eternity, I finally arrived at a clearing in the forest.

Leaving footprints in the pristine white ground, I stepped into the center of the clearing and bent over, resting my hands on my knees.

Heated breaths poured out of my mouth in rapid succession.

‘I feel like I’m going to throw up…’

Sprinting at full speed for several minutes left my head spinning.

I didn’t particularly enjoy running like this, but I had no other choice.

Putting as much distance as possible between myself and Selvia was the top priority.

‘If the Princess hears about my attempt to defect, I’m screwed...’

The Princess’s nature demanded that traitors be dealt with, no matter the cost.

Therefore, disappearing like a ghost before she found out was my best option.

“How far do you think you’re going to run, you son of a—?”

“Huff….”

As I struggled to catch my breath, I heard the voice of an Allied soldier.

When I turned around calmly, I saw the six soldiers from earlier approaching, panting heavily.

The fact that they weren’t pointing their guns at me suggested they were open to talking.

I didn’t want to fight either, so I raised my hands, still breathing heavily.

“Let’s all calm down and have a conversation first. I’m Daniel Steiner, First Lieutenant and Acting Operations Officer in the Imperial General Staff. State your affiliation and names.”

Good. I introduced myself while naturally emphasizing my position and rank.

If they weren’t complete idiots, they’d realize I was someone with strategic value.

“Do you think we don’t know who you are?”

Strangely, though, the soldiers just frowned, looking annoyed rather than surprised.

“Enough talk. Where’s the Princess? Depending on your answer, we might let you live, so think carefully.”

“…Princess?”

Hearing the word “Princess” from an Allied soldier’s mouth momentarily froze my thoughts.

How did they know the person traveling with me was the Princess?

Selvia wasn’t an idiot. She wouldn’t have gone around broadcasting her identity while disguised as a war correspondent.

Only a select few knew she had come to the Northern Front.

And those few were people Selvia deemed trustworthy.

Given Selvia’s meticulous nature when selecting personnel, it was unlikely any of them were spies.

Then who leaked the information to set up this ambush?

Turning it over in my head, I reached a grim realization and let out a low growl.

‘The Prince.’

Everything made sense if it was family.

He would’ve had the closest view of Selvia’s every move.

In fact, Ludwig von Amberg, the Crown Prince, had reportedly clashed with his younger sister Selvia multiple times over the line of succession.

Apparently, their conflict hadn’t just been for show.

‘Trying to assassinate his own sister? That bastard’s completely insane.’

I clicked my tongue and lowered my hands.

Now that I knew the truth, there was no need to surrender.

The soldiers in front of me weren’t from the Allied Nations.

They were assassins sent by the Crown Prince, disguised to make it look like Selvia had been attacked by the Allies.

Realizing this was all a staged act chilled my blood.

“Did the Crown Prince send you?”

My question made the soldiers flinch. That reaction solidified my suspicion.

“Now that I look closer, your Allied uniforms are awfully clean.”

“…What are you getting at?”

“In guerrilla warfare, veterans are typically deployed for ambush operations. Sending rookies would drastically reduce the odds of success. But your uniforms look brand new—just like fresh recruits’. Does that make sense to you?”

If they wanted to sell the disguise, they should’ve dirtied up their uniforms to match seasoned soldiers.

The soldiers failed to counter my observation, instead letting out hollow laughs.

One of them, who seemed to be the squad leader, stepped forward.

“You figured it out right away, huh? Guess you really are the elite they say you are. Then you must know the situation. Join us, and we’ll guarantee your rise to power.”

“Us? You mean the Crown Prince?”

“...Watch your tone. It’s His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Seeing the soldier growl in anger, I couldn’t help but laugh.

The soldier frowned at my reaction.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s just… watching you cling to a sinking ship is kind of pitiful. The Crown Prince? He’s not fit to be Emperor. That position belongs to the Princess—not that incompetent fool.”

I meant it as genuine advice, knowing how the future would unfold. But judging by the soldiers’ expressions, they didn’t appreciate it.

They gripped their guns tightly, their faces twisted in irritation.

“Thanks for being honest. Now we don’t need to talk any—”

It was time to move. Before the soldier could finish, I drew my revolver from its holster.

At the same time, I focused mana into my central nervous system, accelerating my reflexes.

Instantly, my vision expanded, and my pupils constricted.

The world around me seemed to slow down.

The soldier in front of me began raising his gun. Another opened his mouth, likely to curse. A few others rushed toward me, their movements sluggish in my heightened perception.

Taking a deep breath, I raised my revolver, aimed at their heads, and pulled the trigger.

The gunpowder exploded, and the bullets seemed to float unrealistically, as if drifting through zero gravity.

But the bullets advanced steadily toward the soldiers’ heads.

The moment I moved my revolver’s barrel to finish off the last soldier, my neural acceleration wore off, and the world returned to its normal speed.

Bang—!

Five gunshots rang out almost simultaneously, blowing the soldiers’ heads apart in succession.

Without so much as a scream, their bodies crumpled to the ground.

But one remained.

As my neural acceleration faded, the last soldier was still charging toward me.

“You bastard—!”

I tried to aim, but my hands trembled violently.

The recoil from using neural acceleration had taken a heavy toll on my body.

This ability was the very thing that had allowed me to graduate at the top of my class at the academy, but its downside was clear—the physical strain afterward was severe.

If not for the mana cylinder, I wouldn’t have been able to take down all five soldiers simultaneously.

Without it, the neural acceleration would’ve cut out halfway, leaving me dead.

That’s how extreme the mana consumption was.

‘Damn it...’

My head throbbed, and my limbs felt like they were sinking into quicksand, refusing to obey.

But if I didn’t kill him, I’d be the one to die.

Focusing my mind with difficulty, I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed high into the air, and the soldier’s arm exploded.

I missed my aim.

Even with his arm blown off, the soldier screamed and kept charging at me.

He threw his weight forward and slammed into me.

“Ugh!”

I fell backward, my body sinking into the snow.

The soldier climbed on top of me and drew a military knife, raising it high to drive it into my head.

Sensing the danger, I instinctively grabbed his wrist.

“You son of a bitch! You demon bastard! Die!”

The soldier spat curses, his saliva flying everywhere.

But I didn’t have the energy to respond.

All I could do was use both hands to grip his wrist and push back.

“Grrr…!”

It wasn’t working. I couldn’t muster the strength.

I could see the knife’s tip inching closer to my eye, and I couldn’t stop it.

Fear trickled down my spine.

‘...What the hell? Am I going to die like this?’

They said people saw their lives flash before their eyes before death.

All I felt was emptiness.

I wanted to deny my death, but the strength in my hands was fading fast.

And then—

Bang!

With a gunshot, the side of the soldier’s head exploded.

His body slumped forward, falling heavily onto me.

I quickly grabbed the knife and drove it deep into his neck.

Just to make sure.

Then I shoved his body aside and slowly sat up.

After steadying my ragged breath, I turned to the side and saw a group wearing Imperial uniforms and gas masks.

‘The Imperial Central Army… No, the Royal Guard.’

If it was the Royal Guard, I had a pretty good idea who had sent them.

Sure enough, Selvia appeared from behind them, arriving a moment later.

Seeing the worry etched on her face, I felt a pang of guilt, as if I’d done something wrong.

Unaware of my thoughts, Selvia knelt beside me as soon as she reached me.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

I nodded.

“I’m not injured. Thanks to the Royal Guard… So…”

I trailed off, and Selvia lowered her gaze as if she’d realized what I was about to say.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to deceive you. I only disguised myself as a war correspondent because I thought I wouldn’t be able to see what kind of person you really were as a royal.”

I already knew.

But for now, I decided to pretend I didn’t.

“So, did you learn a lot about me?”

I said it to lighten the mood.

“Of course.”

But Selvia took my words seriously.

“First, during the planning phase of the operation, you opposed Captain Heinz’s opinion and established new logic. The fact that it was justified shows you have both the integrity to stand up to authority and the insight to read the battlefield.”

I only said that because I wanted to get dishonorably discharged.

“And at Edelkrall Gorge, you instantly recognized Colonel Jeremy, who was disguised as a soldier. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for you to take him out with the first shot.”

Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. I just shot a soldier and later found out it was him.

“Finally, you have the selflessness to sacrifice yourself for the people of the Empire. You risked your life to save what you thought was just a war correspondent.”

I was just looking for a chance to defect and improvised a cover story to escape.

None of what she said was true, but with Selvia looking at me so earnestly, I couldn’t bring myself to deny it.

Telling the truth would mean my execution.

“Lieutenant Daniel Steiner.”

Selvia took my hand and solemnly declared—

“On behalf of the Imperial Family, I declare that you are the Empire’s greatest treasure.”

I felt like I was going to die of suffocation.