Filed To Story: Queen of the Battlefield Her Return to Glory Novel Online Free
During the morning court session, all the civil and military officials knelt and shouted, “Long live the king!” 1
This monumental news spread like wildfire. First, to the officials’ families, then the entire capital, and soon, the entire country.
The nation rejoiced!
A famous storyteller, who had connections everywhere, heard snippets of information from the servants and maids in officials’ households and sold these stories.
Thus, everyone knew that the primary credit of reclaiming the Southern Frontier belonged to the Hell Monarch, Rafael. However, it was a female general who had consecutively breached Ilyrlan City and Simonton City. Leading the Mystic Army, she had crushed the Sandorian forces!
The storyteller was adept at creating heroes. His passionate and dramatic retellings depicted this female general as a divine goddess of war.
The battles were also exaggerated as more complex than they were. The female general under the marshal’s command was portrayed as brave and strategic, outwitting the enemy commanders despite facing hardships.
The more fantastic the story, the more the people believed it.
In their mundane ordinary lives, the people craved exciting stories about heroes. So, whether in coffeehouses, taverns, on the streets, or at family gatherings, everyone was talking about this female general. However, the female general’s true identity remained a mystery.
But who else could it be? Naturally, it had to be Freya.
She had previously distinguished herself at Victory Pass and was the one who, along with Blake, led the reinforcements to the battlefield. Among the reinforcements was the Mystic Army. Therefore, the female general leading the Mystic Army to victory was undoubtedly her.
The common people celebrated these rumors as the truth.
The aristocratic families and officials of fifth rank and above didn’t take these rumors seriously. They saw it as mere speculation from people who frequented coffeehouses and taverns. Perhaps there was a grain of truth in the stories, but most of it was likely exaggerated or distorted.
Ironically, the people of the Jaffe family believed the rumors and thought Freya had indeed achieved great merit.
Since Blake and Freya departed for the war, Rebecca had given up eating meat and prayed for their success. Now that they had achieved glory, her joy and excitement significantly improved her health.
She immediately ordered preparations for a grand ceremony at Radiance Temple to thank the gods. The people of the Jaffe family paraded through the streets, carrying livestock and offerings and celebrating with fireworks. This spectacle further convinced the townspeople that the female general in the stories was indeed Freya.
Sitting inside a carriage, Rebecca peeked out at the cheering crowd, her vanity fully satisfied by their admiration and celebration.
After the ceremony, she instructed Amelia to organize a tea party. Rebecca wanted to invite the families of court officials to build connections in advance. That way, when Blake and Freya returned to court and received official positions, their path would be smooth.
Rebecca believed Blake and Freya had once again distinguished themselves, and would soon become new favorites of the court, with many eager to visit and congratulate them. So, she ordered the tea party to be grand and dignified. She even brought out a set of fine white porcelain tea wares she had brought as part of her dowry to entertain the noblewomen.
As for the pastries, the household cooks were not skilled enough, so they bought them from Serene Confections, a renowned pastry shop known for its delicious, albeit expensive, treats. Due to the large number of guests, they spent over three hundred silver coins on pastries alone. Serene Confections’ staff personally delivered and arranged the pastries on exquisite plates.
In addition to the pastries, they also bought premium caviar, ensuring each guest had a serving. According to Rebecca’s guest list, that alone cost over a thousand silver coins.
Amelia silently lamented. The Jaffe family’s finances were already in deficit, and now they were hosting such an extravagant tea party.
Where would the money come from?
She had no choice but to pawn off the remaining valuable items in the estate. But at this rate, the estate was bound to be emptied sooner or later.
Rebecca sent invitations to the wives of the two deputy ministers of the Ministry of Defense, as well as to the wife of the Minister of Defense himself. Though she doubted the latter would attend, she was confident that the wives of the deputy ministers would come.
Rebecca planned to ask them about the general situation of the war and how the Ministry of Defense would reward the meritorious.
However, on the day of the tea party, neither of the deputy ministers’ wives showed up. Even the wives of slightly higher-ranking officials did not attend. Only the wives of fifth- or sixth-rank officials, and even some of seventh or eighth rank, came with their families. Some of these guests were not even on the invitation list, which made Rebecca both angry and distressed.
She had spent so much money on this tea party to raise her family’s profile and create a strong and favorable impression for Blake and Freya. When they returned victorious, she hoped Salvador and the Ministry of Defense would consider the public’s praise when distributing rewards.
Nowadays, the rumors about the female general had spread everywhere, and the praise was growing louder.
Rebecca had previously felt that Sophie becoming a duke’s daughter after the divorce was a bit unfair. But now that Freya and Blake had made significant achievements, the Jaffe family’s future seemed promising.
A duke’s family with only an orphan girl versus a family with real power-anyone could see which one to favor!
But seeing the tea party filled with lower-ranked officials, Rebecca fumed internally. Claiming to be ill, she refused to entertain them and left Amelia to host the guests.
Rebecca couldn’t understand it. With all the public buzz, why couldn’t she attract the high-ranking wives?
This farce made Charlotte laugh. How could someone of Rebecca’s status expect the wife of a second -rank minister to come for tea and pastries?
Even if Blake and Freya had indeed achieved great things, many other people had contributed to the Southern Frontier battle over the years. When it came to rewards, Blake and Freya would be further down the list.
If the rumors were true and Freya had led the troops to capture two cities, that would indeed be a significant achievement. However, the fact that the Minister of Defense’s wife and the deputy ministers’ wives didn’t attend clearly indicated that the female general was not Freya.
In the middle of the night, Rebecca experienced severe chest pain and called for a doctor. Sebastian, despite selling medicine to her, still refused to see her. So, she had to call another physician.
As the Jaffe family could no longer afford to keep a family doctor, Amelia attended to Rebecca for most of the night. Exhausted, she eventually left the servants to watch over her mother-in-law and went to rest.
The following day, when Rebecca saw that Amelia was not there to serve her, she flew into a rage and demanded her daughter-in-law’s presence. However, Amelia did not come, claiming she had caught a cold.
When Charlotte came to visit Rebecca, she found her in a fit of anger and tried to console her.
“You’re only hurting yourself by getting angry at everyone. What’s the point of this? You know, when Sophie was here, she took such good care of you. If you had a headache or felt dizzy, she’d call Sebastian without you having to say a word. You never appreciated such a good daughter-in-law. Instead, you treated a nobody like a treasure. If you don’t cherish your blessings, all you’ll get is suffering,” said Charlotte.
Rebecca’s face turned ashen as she remembered how Sophie had attended to her tirelessly whenever her illness flared up, never complaining. Now, when she asked Amelia to take care of her for just one night, it was too much for her.
She also.recalled that before Freya went to war, she was the same-affectionately calling Rebecca” Mom” but never actually tending to her when needed.
However, in front of her sister-in-law, Rebecca needed to uphold her image.
She retorted coldly, “Since you think so highly of Sophie, why don’t you have one of your sons marry into her family and inherit the title? They can live off her fortune.” Charlotte remained unbothered. “My sons aren’t worthy of Sophie. She deserves better, at least better than Blake.”
“How dare you!” Rebecca clutched her chest, glaring furiously. “You’re just here to provoke me!”
Charlotte smiled. “The truth is hard to hear, isn’t it? Well, you can say what you want. It doesn’t matter.
With that, Charlotte stood up and left.
Initially, everyone speculated that Freya was the female general who had led the Mystic Army. However, after Rebecca’s tea party, some people began to notice hints that suggested otherwise. The storyteller, known for his knack for suspense, first piqued the interest of his audience before revealing, “At the tea party hosted by Madam Jaffe at Valor Estate, neither the wives of the Ministry of Defense’s two deputy ministers nor any other family members of Ministry of Defense officials were in attendance. What does that imply? I’m afraid it implies that the female general who led the army was likely not General Ernst.” The coffeehouse patrons were shocked, and the storyteller’s words sparked a lively discussion.
If it wasn’t Freya, then who? There was no other female general in the current era.
A few days later, people managed to find out some information and started to talk about how Blake’s ex-wife, who had left him, went to the battlefield.
The people of the capital still vividly remembered the story of Blake’s divorced wife. Wasn’t she Sophie Devin, the daughter of the late Hector Devin, the Duke of Northwatch, who sacrificed himself at the Southern Frontier?