Cintra's leader could only be called a king, the other was a fully-fledged emperor.

Emperor Emhyr of Nilfgaardian. No one knew that he was actually Hummer Duny. All they knew was that he was an exiled former prince, and that he rebuilt the entire nation with a short time, even overcoming many hards.h.i.+ps along the way.

Challenging Nilfgaardian was impossible, unless the entire Northern Continent worked together.

This was where a problem lay. While the Nilfgaardian Nation took the form of a centralized nation, the northern continent instead made use of the feudalism system. Army-wise, they were completely out-cla.s.sed.

Nilfgaardian was a well-developed nation with a professional army and sufficient wealth. They were driven by the urge to dominate, and could take over the surrounding continents in a considerably short time.

That's why Amerigo Vertucci, the map creator for Nilfgaard had once said—

"There will never be an accurate map for Nilfgaard as it would only grow bigger."

Unquestionably, Nilfgaard was the largest nation in the world.

On the other hand, Cintra was in the far south of the Northern continent, touching the ocean. From Skellige Islands, Temeria was to the north whereas the newly-conquered Nazair was to the South. At that moment, Nazair had turned from a kingdom to a province.

Cintra protected the south wing of the Northern Continent, and under the rule of Calanthe at that time, had considerable strength. Unfortunately, Cintra was located at the south bank of Yaruga, and thus became the next target.

Emperor Emhyr felt no remorse. Adding to the fact that the only feeling he had towards Calenthe was one of animosity. She had tried to have him killed, and twice declined marrying her daughter to him.

Empereror Emhyr did not seem to regret causing the death of his wife Pavetta. He often cried crocodile tears and said, "When my Pavetta died, even the sky cried for her. However, I will never let the sky cry for me." Following this, he became the emperor and had a new wife called Aine Dermott.

He had always wanted a successor to stabilize the army's and the people's hearts, but a curse had seemingly befallen upon him. Perhaps it was also heaven's judgment, but his seed never once took hold. This made him long all the more for his two daughters, Cirilla and Olivia.

At first, he never paid any attention to his children, yet now he kept recalling Olivia. If he could not get a child, perhaps having Olivia as the next heir to his seat would be the best choice.

At that moment, Calanthe could only rely on the best and possibly most peaceful method of settling the war, which was to offer a hand in marriage.

She had even decided on the target of the marriage, which was Verden. In terms of military, Verden was considerably strong, and their prince Kistrin was rather well-known. As long as they made a marriage pact, the balances in strength would change, and Nilfgaard would not be able to continue their a.s.sault.

When Calanthe asked for a marriage pact with Verden, Prince Kistrin got all excited, as if he had struck the jackpot. He quickly expressed his desires of marrying the "pearl of the north" Princess Olivia, and he would not agree if it was with Cirilla or anyone else.

As usual, Calanthe had never treated Olivia with value. She saw no loss in such a proposal.

As Calanthe started out with the plans, Cirilla and Olivia were not at Cintra, but at The Isle of Skellige.

As Olivia had already treated Crach, Bran's nephew as her father, so she would visit the isles every year. For what? To tell everyone that she had the heir-apparent rights of the isles.

Cirilla would never leave her sister alone. Of course, they would visit the isles together.

The ones who were the closest to these sisters would surely be the children of Crach, Hjalmar, and Cerys.

During winter, the ponds in the isles would be frozen solid. Hjalmar would show off his ice skating skills, even achieving new records in the annual ice skating compet.i.tion.

Hjalmar was basically Olivia's brother, although they were not blood-related. He had that maroon hair that had been pa.s.sed down by his bloodline. Since birth, bravery was also his middle name.

Olivia often lamented to her sister, saying that Hjalmar may be physically capable, but he was too naïve. It was to be expected of the son of the "Wild Boar of the Seas."

In Hjalmar's eyes, Olivia was a caring sister who looked up to her brother's bravery, which was almost 180 degrees away from what she actually thought.

Hjalmar treated Olivia in a way that could only be described with, "Having a sister by blood will never beat having a sister by bond."

Due to this, Hjalmer loved to brag and flex in front of Olivia, hoping to be gazed with admiration. In front of Cerys, he could not care less, other than to give the the occasional slap across the face.

At that moment, Cirilla reached her limits and threw a jab in his direction. "Oho? Hjalmer, since you are so good in ice skating, shall I challenge you and beat your record?"

Hjalmer replied "Cirilla, I'm too lazy to pay any mind towards your challenge. Since it is you that I will be going up against, winning or losing wouldn't matter, anyway."

At that moment, Olivia added in, "What if… I were to give my first kiss to the winner as a reward?"

Hjalmer suddenly became fired up. He practically shouted, loud enough for the entire castle to hear "What are we waiting for? I challenge you, Cirilla!"

Cirilla's eyes narrowed, flas.h.i.+ng her trademark death stare towards Hjalmer's direction. In her mind, she thought "Why is someone always trying to s.n.a.t.c.h my sister away from me?"

Hjalmer felt a s.h.i.+ver going down his spine. Swallowing his saliva, he asked, "Olive-tan, were your words earlier for real?"

"Well, of course!" Olivia said confidently, having full faith in her sister's skills.