Three years passed since the war with the Tramplins began, yet there was no clear winner.

Both sides were locked in a long and painful stalemate.

Battles were fought again and again, but the front lines barely moved.

The first battle of the war was the most devastating.

The Empire lost around thirty-five thousand soldiers.

The Tramplins also suffered heavy losses, nearly thirty thousand troops, including one of their commanders.

Even so, the Empire paid a higher price.

The Tramplins had used strange and unknown weapons, cutting down imperial soldiers without mercy.

Still, the Empire was not completely broken.

That was because of one man.

Vice General Raven.

In that first battle, Sir Raven stood alone after his entire battalion was wiped out.

When the fighting should have ended, he did not retreat.

Instead, he pushed forward by himself.

By the time the battle was over, thirty thousand Tramplin soldiers lay dead by his hand, and their commander was slain.

Sir Raven gave his life so the Empire could stand again.

At first, the Empire did not know what had truly happened.

Days later, imperial soldiers returned to the battlefield to collect the bodies of their fallen comrades.

The land was silent, covered in scars left by war.

As they approached the broken wall, they saw something that made them stop in shock.

A man was standing there.

He was covered in blood and arrows, his armor broken, his sword dull.

Snow rested quietly on his shoulders.

He did not move.

Only then did they understand.

Vice General Raven had not retreated.

He had never fallen.

He had stood there until the very end.

This man became a legend, and Duke Vined announced him as the hero of the war.

The Empire honored him with the Param Vir Chakra, the highest award, for his greatest sacrifice for the Empire.

Soon, the entire Empire came to know the name Vice General Raven.

His story spread everywhere.

Young men and women were moved by his courage, and many of them chose to join the imperial army because of him.

However, even after such a hard-fought battle, the Empire was still unable to defeat the Tramplins.

The Tramplins held the advantage.

They were defending their land, and the icy plains were cruel and unforgiving.

The cold killed men as easily as weapons did.

Even though the Empire sent more soldiers and supplies, they could not break through the Tramplin lines during those three long years.

There were deeper reasons for this failure.

A powerful figure known as the Clown joined the war.

He fought Duke Kamesh Sant many times, and each battle ended without a clear winner.

Because of this, neither side could gain the upper hand, and the war fell into a deadlock.

With Duke Vined's strength, the Empire should have been able to suppress the Clown.

But whenever Duke Vined moved, he was stopped.

Three Grandmasters from the Tramplin family appeared.

These Grandmasters had reached that realm through an unknown method.

Their power was strange. Each time Duke Vined tried to act, they blocked him, forcing him back.

Because of them, the Empire could not advance.

And so, the war remained frozen in place—

a long stalemate, written in blood, ice, and sacrifice.

While it was difficult for both Duke Kamesh Sant and Duke Zenithara to push forward, the Empire still wished to send even stronger forces.

One such name was the Royal Commander, Vikram von Indrath.

However, the situation grew worse in another direction.

The Zakir Empire began showing an aggressive stance on the eastern border.

Because of this threat, the Empire had no choice but to hold back its strongest forces.

In the end, it remained trapped in a stalemate with the Tramplins.

"For more war-related news, buy our speci—"

Charlotte stopped reading the newspaper. She folded it neatly and placed it on the desk.

She picked up her teacup, took a slow sip, and let out a quiet sigh.

"Vivian…" she said softly, looking ahead of her.

She was sitting near the yard, and across from her sat Vivian, staring into nothing with a blank and distant look.

Seeing him like this made her sigh again.

This had started three years ago.

After they returned from the royal palace to the academy, everything had seemed normal at first.

But after a few days, Vivian began to drift away from reality.

His eyes would lose focus, and he would fall into a deep daze.

In the beginning, it was much worse.

He would stand or sit in one place for days without moving, and she had to take care of everything for him.

That alone did not worry her.

She could take care of him for the rest of her life if needed.

What troubled her was something else.

Vivian's behavior was not normal.

At first, she thought it was linked to his attempt to reach the Grandmaster stage.

But as days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, nothing changed.

Vivian remained the same.

That was when panic truly set in.

Charlotte visited many healers and physicians.

Some examined his body, others tested his mind.

In the end, none of them could explain what had happened to him.

For a brief moment, she even wondered if it was some kind of curse.

With no other choice, she took Vivian back to his family estate, hoping that seeing his mother might pull him out of his daze.

Fortunately, it helped.

After meeting his mother and staying there for a few days, his condition improved. He began to speak again.

When she asked him what had happened, Vivian said it was neither a curse nor something harmful.

Still, even he could not explain it clearly.

But the important thing was this—

He could talk.

Since then, his condition slowly stabilized.

He would still fall into a daze from time to time, but it no longer lasted for days.

Like now, it would only last for about an hour before he returned to himself.

Charlotte watched him quietly, waiting for him to come back.

She watched him for a while. After a few minutes, his eyes blinked several times, and clarity slowly returned to them.

He looked around in confusion. Then his gaze settled on Charlotte.

A weary smile appeared on his face.

"Did I go into a daze again?" he asked, unsure.

Charlotte smiled back. She gently stirred her tea with the spoon, then took another sip.

"Yes, my dear," she said softly. "You did."

Vivian scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

He picked up his cup, poured himself some tea, and dropped a few sugar cubes into it.

"Did any new news come from the battlefield?" he asked.

Hearing this, Charlotte reached for the newspaper she had been reading earlier and handed it to Vivian.

He took the paper and read it quietly. After a moment, he let out a sigh.

"No new news, huh?" he muttered.

"Yes, no new news," she said, then shifted her gaze to an invitation letter on the desk.

It was a letter from the academy.

Their final year had ended, and they were waiting for the results.

Even though they already knew they would pass, the wait still mattered.

This letter was an invitation to the farewell ceremony.

"Tomorrow is the farewell ceremony," Charlotte said. "Aren't you going?"

Hearing her, Vivian fell silent for a moment, thinking. Then he nodded.

"Well, now that our studies are over, let's go and attend it," he said.

As he spoke, Vivian recalled that as a senior, it was only right for him to attend the farewell ceremony.

After that, he would return to the estate and deal with the many tasks waiting for him there.

His thoughts drifted to a visit from a few months ago.

His mother and his aunt from his maternal family had come to see him.

His aunt, Sierra, had given birth to a boy three years earlier, but Vivian had never found the time to visit her.

In the end, she had come to him instead.

This time, he would have to go.

He needed to visit his maternal family and bring gifts with him.

There were many things he had to take care of.

Still, before all of that, there was one thing he could not miss.

As a senior of the academy, he would attend the farewell ceremony first.

Hearing his response, Charlotte nodded in reply and smiled.

But her smile lingered longer than usual.

She looked around for a moment, then spoke again.

"Vivian… we are both nineteen now."

She remembered how she had turned nineteen just a few days ago.

Vivian had reached that age a few months earlier.

"Yes," Vivian replied, nodding as he sipped his tea.

"Ahem." Charlotte cleared her throat. What she was about to say was not something light.

She cleared her throat again.

"Now that we are nineteen, and the academy is over…" she paused.

"Go on," Vivian said, noticing her hesitation.

Charlotte took a sharp breath and steadied herself.

"How about… we get married?"

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