It took Nadia a few days to come up with a believable excuse. And once she had it, she did not hesitate.
Right as the battle unfolded exactly as expected, with the Winterpel forces pushing the enemy back into Balin Castle, Nadia did something no one saw coming. She rode straight to the war camp.
You had to admire her nerve.
Glenn was completely stunned when he saw her. His reaction said it all. How had she even got here? This was an active war zone, not a place for casual visits from a wife.
Nadia just stood there, calm, composed and suspiciously charming, in exactly the wrong place at perfect timing. And she told him she had missed him.
For a brief second, Glenn actually believed it. He thought she had risked everything just because she was worried about her husband.
If only he had known. This was not about love. It was about the secret fortune.
He brought her into his tent, and without wasting a second Nadia dropped the real reason she had come. She wanted to take down Balin Castle.
So much for playing the clueless wife.
It sounded outrageous, borderline insane. But the way she said it was confident enough to make everyone stop and listen.
Then she stepped forward, pointing at the map. Her plan was precise. She instructed them to build a dirt mound on the west side of the castle. A distraction. It did not even need to be finished.
The real focus was the north side, where they would dig a tunnel beneath the fortress. Once it was deep enough, they would pack it with gunpowder and oil. Then ignite it. If done right, the explosion would collapse the tunnel and bring down the walls above it. With the fortress compromised, they could attack immediately and overwhelm the enemy before they recovered.
Glenn admitted he had considered something similar before. But there had always been one problem. The land around the castle was full of granite, making it nearly impossible to dig through.
That was when Nadia shared another key point. She claimed that the rock on the northern side was different. Softer. Easier to break. According to her, she had come across that detail while looking through documents in her father's office.
It sounded like a weak excuse, but it was not completely impossible. After all, the Duke would definitely have records on enemy fortifications.
Still, not everyone was buying it. Giscard immediately voiced his doubts, refusing to trust anyone from the Valajet family.
Glenn, on the other hand, saw potential. Even if there was a chance this would not work, it was too valuable to ignore. So he ordered his men to investigate the northern side and confirm the rock's condition. Beyond that, he believed Nadia. Or at least he believed she would not risk her own life if she were lying.
Hearing that, Nadia practically lit up like a puppy being praised for the first time.
Just a few hours later, the impossible happened. Glenn and his men managed to blast open a breach in the once untouchable Balin Castle.
With the defences shattered, Count Altio ended up on his knees, a blade pressed against his throat. Glenn was seconds away from ending it right there, when Nadia suddenly stepped in.
She reminded him calmly that killing a noble over a territorial conflict would violate noble law. If he went through with it, the entire Winterpel family could face serious consequences.
But then she offered an alternative. If the count were to take his own life while imprisoned, preserving his so-called noble pride, that would not cause any trouble at all.
Sometimes it was easy to forget she was the daughter of a villain.
Faced with death either way, the count quickly folded. He signed a non-aggression treaty, swearing not to attack Winterpel for the next thirty years. On top of that he agreed to pay a massive compensation, and handed over the land surrounding Balin Castle.
In one move, Nadia had not just saved them. She had secured new land and ended a recurring war that had been dragging on for years.
The knights could not have been happier. For once they would not have to fight the same pointless battle again next year. Spirits were high, drinks were raised, and for the first time they were openly grateful to Nadia.
Meanwhile, Glenn was finally starting to reconsider everything. In less than three months Nadia had saved the estate, cleared their debts and defeated one of their longest-standing enemies. If she really were a spy, why would she go this far to help them?
That thought alone was enough to shift something in him.