Chapter 4
The previous night, as a violent storm rattled the windows, the banquet hall of the Count of Aquitaine’s estate had been brightly lit for once in a long while.
“Hahahaha. I wonder if the southern cuisine will suit your tastes. Just say the word if you need more. Drink as much wine as you like, too. The subjugation campaign is all over now, isn’t it? Having you here as my guests is a joy I haven’t known in a long time.”
With a greasy smile spread across his oily face, the count poured cheap wine generously for Carlos.
Even as several knights—still waiting for their meals because a single servant was struggling to carry dozens of dishes—let out savage sighs, the count remained entirely oblivious to all of it, focusing his attention solely on Carlos.
The knights shoved the dried-up mushroom appetizers and pork scraps masquerading as steak into their mouths, chewing them as though they were rubber.
Watching their commander quietly eat in front of the lady, they fought hard to suppress their burning tempers.
“Honestly, whatever made you think of coming all the way south for a subjugation? Once again, I am in absolute admiration of Robitain’s spirit of defending the empire! Our Aquitaine soldiers always pour their utmost into protecting the territory, too. Southern nobles and northern nobles have so much in common! Hahahaha.”
The count spoke casually, dropping honorables without a second thought. There seemed to be no end to his shamelessness in comparing Aquitaine’s peasant militia to the Robitain Knights.
Amidst the boisterous laughter, Carlos stared fixedly straight ahead.
A woman sitting as still as a framed portrait on the wall.
Beneath the chandelier, the woman’s smooth blonde hair rippled and her translucent skin gleamed, but Carlos felt entirely unmoved by any of it.
His calm gaze was fixed steadily on the woman’s small hands.
“Hehehe. To take down both a vicious dragon and a first-class monster—why, those were the exact beasts our Aquitaine was planning to wipe out tomorrow, so your timing couldn’t have been more perfect!”
The count gestured wildly, waving his arms around to mimic a monster.
“Just look at the sheer size of those things! A single swipe of a hand like this crushes a person’s skull right in! I’ve gone up against plenty of those monsters myself! I really should have fought alongside you lot this time. Khuhahaha.”
Every time the count flung his arms about, the woman flinched throughout her entire body and trembled violently.
It wasn’t a coincidence. She had done it five times in the span of just twenty minutes, and she was doing it now. It looked like a reflex action.
Carlos’s eyes narrowed.
…Has she been beaten growing up?
There were no visible wounds on the outside, but she exhibited all the classic traits of an abused person.
He swept his gaze down over her entire body with a chillingly cold look in his eyes.
Her pale hands were entirely free of calluses, and her slender frame looked completely devoid of muscle from any angle. It was a physique that suggested she had never once held a sword in her life.
Forget swordsmanship, he doubted she could even run properly with that delicate, supple frame. He felt as though he were looking at a fragile, tiny animal that might drop dead from even the slightest shock.
Moreover, her shabby attire, completely lacking in a single piece of jewelry, laid her wretched circumstances bare.
Creeeak. The hand holding his knife tightened. His knuckles turned white.
Yunus and Valentin, the greatest swordmasters on the continent. To think their daughter had ended up like this.
Could it be that she couldn’t even wield a sword and lived a life of being beaten?
“Hahahaha. I wanted to personally commend you all for your valor. Thanks to you, our Lübeck Empire remains safe to this day. Excellent work, everyone! Now isn’t this what makes being a knight truly rewarding?”
The knights’ expressions visibly stiffened at the arrogant remarks of a mere backwater fallen count acting as though he were a king.
Amidst the heavy silence maintained by Carlos and the dozens of knights, only the count’s laughter echoed loudly through the banquet hall.
“Truly, to marry such a valiant, noble… knight is a father’s ultimate wish for his daughter, you see. Besides, a dragon slayer who subdued a vicious dragon—I simply cannot contain my awe at such marvelous news.”
The count looked at Elio, the corners of his mouth curling upward in a damp, sinister smile. Bloodshot veins burst in his eyes from staying up night after night gambling.
“Our Elio here simply can’t help herself around a fine knight. Especially the young duke—she has always admired him so… isn’t that right, Elio?”
Elio stopped the hand with which she had been cutting her pork scraps. She blinked her eyes for a few seconds, then slowly lifted her head. She locked eyes with Carlos directly across from her.
She met his gaze with eyes holding the clear blue of the sky and ocean, before soon dropping her gaze toward the line of his jaw.
“I have never admired you.”
Carlos raised an eyebrow at a sharp angle.
Unlike her trembling hands, the woman’s voice was clear and steady, without a hint of a quiver. With a face that looked identical to Yunus and a sullen expression that mirrored Valentin, she looked right back at him.
“Elio!!”
The count shouted, his fists clenching in a panic.
Keeping her posture straight and her eyes lowered, Elio continued.
“Though I am startled upon seeing you in person. It is an honor to meet the… dragon slayer.”
Elio bowed her head slightly, offering a formal greeting.
Carlos was momentarily left speechless as he watched the woman stubbornly avoid his eyes.
…Is she incredibly bold, or just completely fearless?
“You flatter me. Though I’m glad to hear it’s an honor.”
Though his chillingly frozen expression was a far cry from looking glad. But the count didn’t pay attention to such minute details.
“My Lord. Drop the formalities now. You’re older by six years, aren’t you? Talk to each other like brother and sister, comfortably and closely. How often do southern and northern nobles cross paths like this! Haha.”
Emphasizing the word “nobles” at the end of every sentence, the count grabbed Elio by the shoulder.
“Elio. Are you too tongue-tied because you’re worrying about etiquette? You need to treat him like an older brother first so that Lord Carlos can treat you comfortably, hmm?”
The crude, rough force tightening in the count’s grip was plainly visible.
“Please speak comfortably.”
“……Very well.”
Carlos quietly watched Elio’s trembling hands and reddened shoulders.
❖ ❖ ❖
In Carlos’s bedroom in the main building of the Aquitaine estate, the faces of those gathered were grim.
“Commander. Is that woman really Yunus and Valentin’s daughter? Shouldn’t we investigate again?”
Robitain’s vice-commander, Tobi, who sported a thick beard like a mountain bandit, slammed his fists against the table and shouted.
Having only memories of Elio as a three-year-old baby, he could not hide his utter bewilderment. Even as an infant she had been tiny, but he had assumed that once she grew up, she would turn out to be a bulky, muscular knight resembling her mother and father.
The child he encountered again after seventeen years had grown into a delicate young lady who looked fragile enough to topple over at the slightest touch.
“I find it hard to believe myself, but it’s true. It’s certain that the Count and Countess of Aquitaine adopted the young lady when she was very young.”
The long-haired wizard, Leon, answered as he took off his glasses, while Carlos stared quietly and contemplatively at the golden golden-hued lantern.
“Hey, but how can she not look like them at all?”
“Her face seems identical to her father Yunus’s, however…”
“Yunus and Valentin were built like water buffaloes! That woman looks like she’d drop dead just making eye contact with a monster! Damn it, isn’t she a child Valentin had from an affair? How on earth could a daughter like that come from Valentin?”
Even to Leon, that made sense. The young lady named Elio was a fragile little forget-me-not blooming by a stream.
Rubbing his temples with a face caked in utter exhaustion, Leon sighed.
“Commander. What are we going to do? Should we proceed with the plan? Or should we investigate further?”
“We must proceed with the plan.”
Carlos said in a low voice.
“Not a lion…”
“I have never admired her.”
A sullen face flashed through his mind—the one that had delivered those clear words while her hands shook violently. A scoff slipped out.
“What can you do even if she’s a rabbit?”
Leon furrowed his brow and let out a sigh.
“If she ends up like that and the Empress sends an assassin, won’t she die in an instant? We’ll probably need to prepare a separate escort detail.”
“Ha! I told you we should just swap her for another woman! At least she should be capable of not being a burden, but that one looks ready to keel over at any second!”
At Tobi’s complaint-filled voice, Carlos quirked the corner of one lip upward in a faint smile.
The illegitimate child of the Emperor and the Duchess.
A man whose very existence threatened the imperial succession. The path he walked had always been paved in blood.
Carlos had not the slightest intention of dragging something fragile along his bloody path.
And yet… a rabbit, was it?
Leaning his back against the sofa, Carlos said calmly,
“All that matters is that we can call off the marriage with the Princess.”
She might not be a lion, but what could be done? An adopted daughter of the Count of Aquitaine, isolated in a territory at the southern edge, blind to politics, and burdened entirely with oversized gambling debts.
She was the most suitable choice to play the woman who had dared to assault a man on the verge of marrying the Princess.
Choosing this pitiful woman as bait for the Temple’s trap to ruin his reputation had been a quite reasonable selection. And rushing down south himself despite anticipating their scheme had likewise been the right choice.
After all, it could be used to block the marriage to the Princess.
Furthermore, as she was the daughter of Valentin—who had tried to kill him—he felt not a single shred of guilt about utilizing her as a fiancée and then casting her aside.
Of course, the fact that the only daughter of Yunus and Valentin, who had been formidable swordmasters, was a rabbit instead of a lion…
…was something he hadn’t anticipated, though…
……What was that child like when she was three?
He groped through faded, old memories.
Seventeen years ago, after both Valentin and Yunus had perished and the baby had abruptly vanished, she had grown up into something quite different from his expectations.
“Damn it. I think the Emperor is the craziest of all. Knowing full well that the Commander is his own flesh and blood, does it make any sense to order him to marry the Princess? What kind of utter madness is this?”
Unable to contain his pent-up frustration, Tobi scratched fiercely at the back of his neck.
“Historically, marriages between imperial half-siblings have occurred frequently. Do you think inbreeding genetic disorders exist for nothing?”
“Am I discussing history right now? It doesn’t make sense from a standpoint of basic common sense. None at all!”
“Externally, it is a common-sense decision. Is it not a marriage between the Princess and the Young Duke?”
“No, I’m saying that’s the insane part—”
“Enough.”
Carlos flicked his hand dismissively.
Leon closed his mouth for a moment before narrowing his eyes.
“Commander. Could it perhaps be because the Aquitaine lady was never taught swordsmanship at all when she was young?”
“Do you think Valentin received some kind of gifted education? And her skeletal frame itself isn’t built for swinging a sword. Tsk. She’s a lost cause.”
“Just in case, let’s test her. Her speed or reflexes might be innate.”
“Oh, marvelous. It’ll be a miracle if she knows how to hop around.”
“We still need to test her nerve. It will be troublesome if she collapses just from seeing a drop of blood, collapses from seeing a monster, and remains frail day in and day out.”
Sinking deep into the sofa, Carlos rolled up his sleeves.
Indeed, it would be troublesome if she collapsed just from seeing a little blood. How could he possibly drag someone like that along by his side?
Still, could that rabbit really only know how to hop?
At least, would she try to run for her life against a beast…
His sunken gaze, which had been fixed on a sword, slowly drifted toward the window.
“When crossing the Ogre Mountains. We’ll verify it with an ogre.”
Outside the window, the sky was completely blanketed in pitch-black storm clouds, looking as though it would pour at any moment.
“……She had better at least know how to hop.”
Thump.
Tap-tap.
Swish-sh-sh-sh.
The rope hanging against the wall began to grow damp with the rain.
