Chapter 671 --671

Chapter 671: Chapter-671

Heena slumped back against the oversized, plush velvet cushion resting against the headboard of her bed, her eyes slipping shut as a wave of deep, bone-deep exhaustion washed over her.

"Kael," she murmured into the quiet room.

"Yes, Madam?" Kael responded instantly, stepping slightly closer to the bed.

"How many years has it been since you started working for my grandfather?"

Kael stood at attention, his tone completely respectful. "It has been about thirteen years, Madam."

Heena paused. Her eyes remained closed, but beneath her eyelids, a sudden, terrifying blankness washed over her mind. Thirteen years? If he had been serving for thirteen years, how old was he? She tried to grasp the memory of Kael telling her his age, but the information was just... gone. It felt like reaching for a book on a shelf in a completely pitch-black room. Her memory was actively failing her.

Desperately trying to control the sudden spike of panic in her chest, Heena forced a light, teasing tone. "Thirteen? So long, huh? It sounds like you started working for this family before you were even born."

"No, Madam. I assure you I started after I was born," Kael replied earnestly, slightly confused by the joke.

"I am not asking for your age," Heena deflected smoothly, opening her eyes to look at him. "I am asking... what post do you currently hold?"

Kael froze. He looked at her, genuine bewilderment crossing his battle-hardened face. She knew exactly what his post was; she had just given him direct orders regarding his division five minutes ago.

"Excuse me?" Kael asked cautiously.

"I am not asking for your official military rank," Heena clarified, her fingers tightening into fists under the blankets as she fought to keep her thoughts in order. "I am asking... what post do you serve under my grandfather, unofficially?"

Kael hesitated, sensing something was deeply wrong, but he answered obediently. "As the Head of the Shadow Guards, Madam."

"Right," Heena smiled, though the edges of it were strained. "Kael? How long do you think..."

She stopped.

She opened her mouth to finish the sentence, but the words completely dissolved on her tongue. The thought she was trying to articulate shattered into a million unrecognizable pieces. She stared blankly at the foot of the bed, feeling the terrifying, creeping sensation of her own vocabulary slipping away from her.

"Madam?" Kael took a quick step forward, his voice tight with alarm. "Madam, are you okay?"

Heena closed her eyes tightly, taking a deep, shuddering breath. She ruthlessly forced her failing brain to reboot, violently shoving the mental fog aside.

"Yeah. I’m fine," Heena whispered. She reached into the inner pocket of her silk robe and pulled out a heavy, dark bronze object. She tossed it onto the blankets. "Here."

Kael looked down. His breath hitched. "Madam... this?"

"This is the military tally for the Vanguard Southern Division," Heena said, her voice finally steady, cold, and absolute. "There are exactly three hundred elite soldiers under this specific command. I am giving this tally directly to you."

"But Madam, what is this for?" Kael asked, his eyes wide.

Heena raised her hand, silencing him instantly. "Listen before speaking. I want you to take these three hundred soldiers. Go to the camps and give them a choice. Tell them that the Vanguard family is not going to fight this war in the light anymore. Say they have the absolute freedom to leave, with a full pension, right now."

She leaned forward, her dark eyes locking onto Kael with terrifying intensity.

"And for those who refuse to leave? For those who want to stay loyal?" Heena continued, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Take them exactly five hundred leagues away from the capital to my private, unlisted estate in the mountains. Tell them to build small houses. Tell them to farm the land. Tell them to live as ordinary villagers."

Kael stared at her, completely stunned. "Madam... you want to hide our most elite strike force?"

"They are not to step foot outside that valley," Heena commanded, ignoring his shock. "They answer to no Emperor. They answer to no noble. They do not move, they do not fight, and they do not reveal themselves until they see the Vanguard flag in the air. And I do not mean our current military banner. I mean the original flag—the one my grandfather used the very first time he stepped onto a battlefield as a slave."

Heena’s eyes burned with a fierce, prophetic fire. "Only when that specific flag is raised in the capital will you guys stand again. Until then, you are to completely forget that you were ever soldiers."

"But Madam, the work!" Kael protested, desperation bleeding into his voice. "The Prime Minister’s faction, the grain embezzlement... who will fight for the family?!"

"Listen to me, Kael," Heena interrupted, her tone brokering absolutely no argument. "As your master, I am saying this for the first and the last time. The Vanguard family cannot protect you guys anymore."

Kael froze, the sheer weight of her words hitting him like a physical blow.

"I don’t know if my grandparents will be here tomorrow, or if they will be gone the day after," Heena said, her voice softening just a fraction as the grim reality of her six-month death sentence echoed in her mind. "But I know for an absolute fact that we will not be here long enough to shield all of you from the storm that is coming. You have to understand that your own families, your own lives, must become your priority."

She looked at the seasoned general, seeing the heartbreak and fierce loyalty fighting in his eyes.

"I am not telling you to become a coward and run, Kael," Heena said softly, laying a hand over the heavy bronze tally on the bed. "I am telling you to sheathe your sword and wait. Teach your children. Survive. Live like normal people in the dirt, away from the politics of this dying court."

She pushed the tally across the silk blankets toward him.

"Wait until a true Vanguard calls you back."

Kael stared at the heavy bronze tally sitting on the silk blankets. To any ordinary soldier, it was just a piece of metal. But to the Head of the Shadow Guards, it was the absolute, undeniable weight of a dying empire being placed into his hands.

He looked at Heena. The terrifying, invincible Vanguard Madam looked incredibly small against the massive velvet pillows. Her skin was pale, and the faint, lingering shadow of her recent memory lapse still haunted the edges of her dark eyes.

She wasn’t giving him a military deployment. She was giving him a final will and testament.

Slowly, Kael reached out and picked up the tally. The cold bronze bit into his calloused palm. He stepped back and dropped to both knees, pressing his forehead firmly against the wooden floorboards of the bedroom in the highest, most absolute form of military submission.

"I hear your command, Madam," Kael’s voice was thick, trembling with a fierce, restrained grief. "I will take the three hundred. We will vanish into the dirt. We will farm the land, we will teach our children, and we will become ghosts. But hear this... the shadows will never truly sleep."