AEIRSMLAG Chapter 033

After that, the carriage traveled for another full day before arriving at the Marquisate of Leon.

The Marquisate of Leon, located at the edge of the Gu Kai Mountain Range, was renowned for its high-quality timber, animal hides, and furs. It was also a region frequently monitored by the imperial family due to the abundance of mana stones used in magical devices.

“Lady Dilucia!”

The Marchioness of Leon, dressed in an elegant gown adorned with various animal furs, greeted me with a bright smile.

The Marquis of Leon also welcomed me warmly, smiling with satisfaction.

“Welcome, Lady Dilucia.”

“It’s been a while, Marquis, Marchioness.”

As the Marchioness rushed over to greet me with excitement, she suddenly stopped in surprise when she saw Ludwin, who had jumped out of the carriage before me.

“Oh, my goodness!”

The Leon family, known for hosting annual hunting competitions in addition to the spring hunt, must have seen many hunting dogs. Yet even she couldn’t hide her astonishment at the sight of Ludwin.

“Lu, come here.”

Receiving Sir Adein’s escort, I stepped down from the carriage and called for Ludwin. He trotted over to me, holding the leash’s handle in his mouth.

Taking the leash handle, now a familiar gesture, I introduced him to the Marchioness.

“Marchioness, let me introduce you. This is Lu, who will be hunting on my behalf this year. He’s very well-behaved, so there’s no need to be afraid.”

“Oh, I see! So that’s why Lady Tyria said she would attend this year. He looks quite brave.”

The Marchioness smiled brightly and praised Ludwin, who remained indifferent, though I couldn’t help but smile as well.

At that moment, Sir Adein called out to me.

“Miss.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

As I moved toward the back of the carriage, the Marquis and Marchioness followed my gaze.

Only to be taken aback.

“Lady? What is this…”

Seeing a person bound and gagged in the luggage compartment, the Marquis looked alarmed. The person was a bandit, sobbing like a child.

“We encountered a group of bandits on the way here and managed to capture one of them.”

I spoke calmly, causing the Marquis and Marchioness to gasp in shock.

“B-bandits?”

“Heavens, are you hurt?”

“We’re fine. But I’m concerned about the safety of your guests when they leave. If it’s not too much trouble, could you have the area cleared? We ran into them on the mountain path coming from Verodian.”

That mountain path was a crucial road leading into the Leon territory from within the empire.

The Marquis quickly nodded at my words.

“I’ll send a request to Verodian immediately.”

“Sir Adein, Sir Hans, please assist the Marquis.”

The knights, who had accompanied me on my father’s orders, looked uneasy.

“But Miss, our duty is to…”

“The Spring Hunt is guarded by the Imperial Knights, so Sir Dalden is sufficient as an escort.”

I told my father the same thing and managed to reduce the number of escort knights from five to three.

Seeing that I mentioned the Imperial Knights, the two knights reluctantly nodded.

“Oh, and there might be hostages at their hideout. I’d appreciate it if you could look into that as well.”

“Hostages…?”

The Marquis seemed to have an inkling of what I was suggesting.

They had mentioned a silver-haired noblewoman.

I was worried that this attack might be connected to the beastmen who were targeting me recently.

If it was because of me, I wanted to resolve the situation quickly to prevent any further innocent victims.

It was a relief that the Leon family would cooperate with me fully.

As expected, the Marquis’s thick eyebrows twitched in anger, his voice growing low as he tried to suppress his fury.

“Don’t worry, Lady. I’ll handle everything from here. You go inside and rest. I’ll inform you once everything is taken care of.”

“Thank you, Marquis.”

I bent my knees slightly in gratitude, and he chuckled and patted my shoulder.

“Thank me? It’s I who should thank you for capturing one of them. Thanks to you, we’ll finally be able to get rid of those pests.”

With that, he urged the Marchioness.

“Well, what are you doing, dear? How long are you planning to keep the Lady standing here after her long journey?”

“Oh my, where is my mind? Come along, Lady Tyria, let’s go inside.”

The Marquis hurried off to send his message, while the Marchioness took my hand and led me inside.

The mansion hadn’t changed much since my last visit. The only difference was the abundance of spring flower decorations in the entrance hall, likely due to the attendance of the Crown Prince and Princess this year.

“The lobby looks more festive than before, doesn’t it? We put in extra effort this year because the Crown Princess will be attending.”

Looking out the window, I could see other guests already strolling through the garden. The Crown Prince and Princess were having tea with other nobles.

I was probably one of the last to arrive.

At that moment, I heard a loud thumping noise from the second floor, followed by a young man appearing.

“Sister Tyria!”

I immediately recognized him from his hurried movements.

He quickly ran down the stairs to greet me.

“Hello, Boris.”

“It’s been a while, Sister Tyria!”

This was Boris Leon, the eldest and only son of the Leon family.

His short red hair and tanned skin suggested he was still diligently practicing his swordsmanship.

“Wow, Boris. You’ve grown a lot.”

“I’m almost 180 centimeters now.”

The last time I saw him, I was eighteen, and Boris, the same age as Tibon, was fourteen.

Back then, he was just a little taller than my shoulder, but now he was a full-grown young man. However, his mischievous expression hadn’t changed.

“Have you gotten shorter, Sister?”

“What? I’ve grown too!”

Though still shorter than average for my age, I punched him lightly on the chest, feeling a bit self-conscious about my height.

Thud!

But all I accomplished was hurting my own hand.

‘Why is his body so hard!’

Despite that, Boris pretended to be in pain, clutching his chest dramatically.

“Ow, ow. I’m just happy to see you, Sister. I’ve been waiting for you to visit.”

He then grabbed my hand affectionately, just like he used to, and spoke to the Marchioness.

“Mother, I’ll take Sister Tyria from here. The kitchen staff was looking for you earlier to check on dinner preparations.”

“Oh dear, I almost forgot.”

“I’m fine, Marchioness, please go ahead.”

“Sorry, Lady Tyria. I’ll come by later to check on you.”

“You must be busy, so it’s really fine. I’ve been here before, and Boris will take good care of me, right?”

“Of course.”

Since Boris was the same age as Tibon, I saw him as a younger brother. Boris had always followed me around, calling me ‘sister,’ so I was more comfortable with him than the Marchioness.

As the Marchioness hurried off to the kitchen, Boris led me away.

“Come this way, Sister. I’ll show you to our secret room.”

“Secret room? You have something like that?”

“Of course! It’s a room even Tibon doesn’t know about.”

We exchanged light-hearted jokes as I followed Boris up the stairs to the second floor.

Ludwin followed closely behind me, and Boris stopped when he noticed.

“Oh, you can hand the dog over to a designated servant. Let me take the leash.”

Boris reached for the thick leash handle in my hand.

“Oh, I’d rather….”

Startled, I was about to refuse when I heard a menacing growl behind me.

Grrr.

Ludwin’s growl was quite ferocious. He immediately grabbed the leash in his mouth, pulling it away from Boris, and brought it back to me.

Don’t leave me with anyone else.

His pleading eyes seemed to say as he placed the leash back in my hand.

Boris was left stunned by Ludwin’s behavior.

“What in the world…?”

“…Haha.”

It was indeed a very specific way for a dog to express its preferences.

Before Boris could say anything, I quickly spoke up.

“Lu is very shy around strangers. I know that hunting dogs are usually looked after by servants, but as you can see, Lu only listens to me.”

Ludwin sat calmly and nuzzled his head against my hand, as if to show off in front of Boris.

Boris briefly furrowed his brow, as if considering something, but then his expression softened.

“Do as you wish, Sister. If you need anything, just let the servants know. You’re a benefactor to our family, after all!”

His sudden comment made my face flush with embarrassment. I waved my hand dismissively as I hurried up the stairs.

“That was a long time ago. Just think of me as a friend.”

Boris quickly followed me, smiling brightly.

“My parents and I don’t see it that way. If you hadn’t told us not to burn that tree, our entire family would have been falsely accused and executed.”

“…It was just something I happened to read in a book. It was just luck.”

Since it was information I knew from the original story, I always felt awkward whenever they thanked me.

Five years ago, when the Leon family hosted the spring hunting competition, I had helped them out of a difficult situation.

At the time, the Emperor had visited the Leon family with a foreign delegation as part of a diplomatic mission to promote friendship.

One of the foreign envoys found a well-dried log in the forest and, finding its pattern attractive, brought it back. However, a servant mistook it for firewood and threw it into the fireplace.

That night, the envoy was poisoned by the toxic gas released from the log, causing an uproar as the incident was suspected to be an assassination attempt.

The log had been chestnut wood.

In both the Leon territory and the Rem Empire, chestnut trees were rare, known only to experienced woodsmen. As a result, no one at the estate was aware that burning chestnut wood released toxic gas.

Fortunately, the method for dealing with the poison and its cause were mentioned in the original story, so I was able to act quickly, and the envoy regained consciousness.

In the original story, the villainess Tyria, who had learned about chestnut wood from a book, had secretly placed it in Lilian’s room as firewood.