Chapter 805: His Own Life in Play

Jansen had understood the danger from the moment Peace Haven deliberately allowed Kaku to seize its supplies.

The rift between the two sides had deepened beyond repair.

Peace Haven was cultivating resentment toward the Phoenix family within its own ranks. Unless Jansen acted, the family would be destroyed.

Once the last of their old friendship was spent, Peace Haven would sweep the Phoenix family away without hesitation.

Would the Mixed Army Group on the Northern Mountain Front object?

Hardly.

Both sides had helped build that elite force, but the mixed legion, one of the world's finest armies, would follow whoever proved strongest.

It would not follow shortsighted schemers concerned only with immediate gain.

What would Henwell do when he emerged from seclusion?

He would punish some people, but punishment was as far as he could go.

He would have to charge them with deceiving him, not with seeking the Phoenix family's destruction.

They were acting for Peace Haven's sake, and for Henwell's own good, as they saw it.

If Henwell slaughtered them for that, who would still be willing to risk their lives for Peace Haven or fight for him?

Henwell valued his bonds, but he was a ruler first. He had to consider the stability of his government.

Suppose Henwell refused to grant noble fiefs and forbade his followers from removing nobles who stood in their way.

What would Peace Haven stand for in the eyes of its soldiers?

That contradiction threatened the very foundations of Peace Haven.

In the end, Henwell would have to make a show of punishment and then show restraint.

Once Jansen saw that his family faced extinction, he resolved to put his own life into play to break the deadlock.

He led elite troops north and entered the war on the Northern Mountain Front.

Officially, he had gone to clean up after Kaku's unauthorized withdrawal. In truth, he had several other matters to arrange.

First, he met Arius and explained what he intended to do.

Arius tried to stop him, but Jansen's mind was made up.

Next, Jansen summoned the Phoenix family members serving in the mixed legion.

He told them that, whatever happened, they must not leave the Northern Mountain Front.

From that moment on, they were to pledge themselves to Henwell and join Peace Haven's chain of command.

Finally, he met Fabio on the Northern Mountain Front and ordered the Iron Wall troops Fabio had left behind to hold their position.

Once the affair reached its end, those reserve troops were to move against Descartes family territory.

Duke Jansen had gone north for another reason: to set every faction in his family, Kaku's included, in motion.

If some people had to be sacrificed, he wanted them gathered in one place where they could all be dealt with at once.

His plan was to let Kaku and Tuster gather as much support as possible.

After returning home with only a small force, he would allow them to drive him into Silver Claw City.

He could then request help from Peace Haven on the grounds that he was putting down a rebellion.

Peace Haven would understand his intent and would not go too far in its attack. Kaku, at least, would survive.

Ideally, Jansen himself would be wounded in the fighting and die of those wounds afterward.

He would leave the Phoenix family in the hands of Johnson, Orak's son, with Henwell serving as the young man's adviser.

Peace Haven would have vented its anger, and the Phoenix family would have undergone a purge.

The family's principal line would survive, and Henwell would be spared an impossible choice.

Jansen himself would be the only necessary sacrifice.

Jansen looks apologetically at a stunned Grace. "My lady, I'm sorry. I took advantage of how you doted on Kaku."

"But you don't understand. He cannot lead the Phoenix family. His children have been shaped too much by him to shoulder that burden, either."

"I had no other choice."

"Otherwise, far more people would die. The soldiers of the Mixed Army Group have had enough of the family's mediocrities."

"They are capable people, yet they're held back by noble lords who know nothing. They won't accept that forever."

"Especially after receiving Peace Haven's education, they no longer believe they were born to be the family's retainers."

"Even if Henwell had emerged sooner and contained this affair, the resentment it caused would already have taken root."

"One day it would erupt, and even Henwell would be powerless to stop it."

"The Phoenix family would then face only two outcomes: Peace Haven would lose patience and destroy it, or the Mixed Army Group would start a civil war."

"Either way, it would be the family's death knell."

Henwell shakes his head. "Uncle, you should have waited for me. I told you I'd handle this."

"Now that I've reached Glory Rank, asking the church and the empire to return my elder brother Orak won't be difficult."

"There are many things they need me for. During the Calamity War especially, they'd agree to that exchange."

"Once Orak comes home, the Phoenix family's problems won't be problems anymore."

"He can command the Mixed Army Group and use his ability to reconcile the two sides."

"His eldest son, Johnson, grew up in Peace Haven. He knows the Phoenix family needs reform."

"Together, father and son would have both troops and authority. No one could overturn their decisions."

"You could simply step down and enjoy your life, Uncle. Why force it to come to this?"

Jansen looks at him. "Henwell, I once told you the Phoenix family would be the wings that sheltered you from the storm."

"But you grew too quickly. Before long, you were the one sheltering us."

"I haven't done right by you as an uncle, but I am still your elder."

"I can't ask you to clean up my messes forever."

"An elder must shoulder his own responsibilities. My indecision caused this, so I have to bring it to an end."

As he speaks, Jansen's breathing weakens.

Henwell rises at once. The power of both locks surges from him, steadying Jansen's fading life force.

Jansen shakes his head with a smile. "Don't waste your strength. I can't be saved."

"There is one thing I miscalculated: the others suddenly decided to kill me."

"For that, I owe you an apology. I learned who your biological parents are, and I carelessly let some information slip."

"The Western Federation and the Ika Kingdom caught the hint. That's why they became involved."

"They wanted to force me to tell them what I know about your parents."

"But don't worry. I told them nothing. They have only a rough idea."

"They won't find the truth anytime soon."

"But Count Obian is stationed west of Livos territory, watching the Western Federation. He's too far away from you."

"You must find a way to bring your father and his family back somewhere near Peace Haven before the Calamity War ends."

Henwell is stunned. He never expected Jansen to uncover his origins.

Lady Grace, who has been crying beside them, suddenly speaks. "Henwell, don't blame Jansen. I was the one who leaked the information."

"I was the first to suspect who your parents were. I accidentally told Kaku a few things."

"He used what I told him to draw in the Western Federation and the Ika Kingdom."

Henwell frowns. "Aunt, how did you find out?"

Grace's answer sounds absurd, yet it is entirely believable.

At Henwell's wedding, she had noticed the way Vanessa looked at him.

She recognized the gaze of a mother looking at her child. Vanessa had also looked at Grace with jealousy, even a trace of anger.

Grace had attended the wedding in the place of Henwell's mother.

She had once felt the same way herself.

At Arius's wedding, she had sat among the guests and watched the boy she raised call the reigning queen Mother.

Henwell smiles bitterly. Both he and Newwood had taken pains to erase the traces of his past.

Who would have thought all those extraordinary measures would be no match for a mother's intuition?