Chapter 955 — Each Faring Well
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
Anluo gently turned the page, the paper giving a faint, pleasant rustle as it moved.
It was indeed only a personal letter recounting daily matters. Matilda seemed to write whatever came to mind; after describing the changes in the capital, she went on to some reflections from her recent study of arcane technology and mathematics—Anluo had to admit that she found even reading such things rather hard going, though fortunately that part was not long—and after it came an introduction to the other novelties Cecil's merchants had brought into the country.
At last, as the setting sun slowly took on a tinge of red, her gaze fell upon the end of the letter, where she saw Matilda's elegant hand stretching on, tracing out line after line of words:
"...Anluo, since you left the capital, greater changes have come here. Much of it is hard to put into a letter. I only hope you will have the chance to see it with your own eyes...
"The times have changed. So much has changed beyond what we expected—beyond what my father the Emperor expected, beyond what the councilors and the wise advisers expected.
"The Empire's markets in the south of the continent are expanding at a furious pace. The Highland Kingdom and the elves are doing business with the Typhonians; Count Dyson has opened the first coastal shipping route and successfully established an outpost on Tassos Island; we are reclaiming those ancient colonial islands in the outer seas, and more and more young people are going south and to the eastern coast to seek their fortunes.
"A few years ago, almost all of us thought what the Empire needed was a foreign war—I thought so too back then. But it is different now—what it needs is peace. At least at this stage, that is the greater good for the Typhonians.
"I hope you think so too..."
Anluo let out a soft breath and folded the letter again. After standing quietly for a few seconds, she shook her head with a helpless smile.
Once, the order she had received was to watch Cecil's movements and wait for the chance to strike a decisive blow. Though she had not carried out that task with any great success, she had never once disobeyed an order given to her. And now the order she had received was to guard the border well, keep order here, and, on the premise of holding the border, maintain the peace with Cecil—an order at odds with her own sympathies, yet one she would still carry out resolutely.
The interests of the Empire came before personal feeling; that went without saying.
"You worry too much... it's not as if my head is all muscle."
After muttering this under her breath, she waved the sheets of letter paper through the air. Flame sprang up out of nothing, devouring the thin pages in a breath, leaving only a few wisps of ash to scatter into the air.
The envelope she kept—she smoothed the somewhat creased envelope back into shape and placed it in a small cabinet beside the desk.
The army had strict rules: private letters received by senior officers were not to be kept, and burning them after reading was a hard requirement—no matter what the letter contained, even if it were only a few blank sheets. And Anluo never broke the rules she herself had set.
Keeping the envelope was already the greatest "favoritism" she could manage.
Then she went to the desk, spread out a sheet of letter paper, and prepared to write a reply.
But before she set pen to paper, she suddenly stopped again. Looking at the familiar desk before her, thoughts rose in Anluo's mind for no reason at all—if her father were still here, what would he do? What would he say?