To reach the building used as a residence and office by the Militia Force, where Helen is located, required quite a walk, even after taking a private carriage.
Cassius shrugged his shoulders at Walter, who still kept his mouth shut.
“Walter, the hardest thing is relationships.”
“For someone who claims it’s difficult, I remember you used to meet women constantly.”
Cassius didn’t deny Walter’s words.
“Well, I have my own strategy.”
“Strategy?”
Cassius looked at Walter’s face with a very serious expression.
“You may not have been interested, and you probably didn’t even realize it, but countless women had crushes on you and came all the way to your remote cabin to snoop around.”
“…”
“But what can you do? Since you’re so cold-hearted, women have no choice but to close their hearts as well.”
“So?”
“So, when I appeared out of the blue at that time when those women became depressed, I comforted them by saying that guy originally has no interest in women.”
Walter frowned as if he didn’t understand what Cassius was talking about, but Cassius remained confident.
“To sum it up, I can say that your unique personality and handsome face were my strategy.”
“…”
“I want to help you because it sounds like you’re going through a tough time, but you’re the only one I can’t use my best dating strategy on.”
Walter walked ahead, surpassing Cassius, who was rambling with unnecessary words.
The sunset, completely different from what he had seen while living in Fortrion Manor for seven years, captivated his gaze as the icy wind blew.
He had dreamt multiple times of standing side by side with Edith and admiring this scenery.
『 I thought it was a foresight, but it was just a shitty dream.』
Perhaps, as Edith had said, some other guy who could offer better help had approached her.
People like Benjamin, a newspaper journalist, or her first love, Isaac.
Thinking that she might have ongoing exchanges with those men, his blood seemed to turn black.
His blood boiled even though he knew he shouldn’t care about who she met and what help she received.
He couldn’t even understand the reason for this intense feeling himself.
Before long, a marble building covered with dried moss appeared.
Cassius lightly greeted the people guarding it.
“Is Commander Reinhardt inside?”
“He’s inside, but…”
The curious gaze of the soldiers fixed on Walter.
In order to hand over the title of Viscountess Fortrion to Helen, Cassius visited the Militia Force more than a hundred times.
He was quite sociable, so he often engaged in casual conversations with people. Through these conversations, the militiamen could tell that Cassius was acting under someone’s orders.
『 He doesn’t look like the one Cassius would follow. He appears young and inexperienced.』
Coincidentally, the key figures of the Militia Force, including Helen, were gathered inside.
Their ages and genders varied, but they had all come together with the noble intention of protecting innocent civilians from the tyranny of Nicholas Fortrion and the corruption of local bureaucrats.
“Cassius?”
“It’s been a while, Commander. If you’re not too busy, I’d like to introduce a friend.”
Reinhardt looked at Walter while stroking his neatly trimmed beard.
『 Did he bring a Fortrion knight?』
Having served in the Royal Knights in the capital for 40 years before retiring due to an injury, he could recognize a warrior even with one eye closed.
The man Cassius brought with him had a physique that surpassed any knight Reinhardt had ever seen.
But what was interesting was not just his exceptional physical condition but also the desire to train him as a knight.
“What’s your name?”
When Reinhardt asked in an expectant voice, Cassius answered.
“His name is Walter. I mentioned it to you before, didn’t I?”
“This young man is Walter?”
Everyone except Helen and Max, who already knew Walter, looked at him with wide eyes.
“Weren’t you trapped inside Fortrion Manor?”
“A kind lady released me.”
Walter answered sarcastically.
However, people couldn’t help but be intrigued by something else.
『 I thought he must have been at least a middle-aged man because he was skilled enough to find a Fortrion descendant while trapped.』
『 He looks young, but he has such talent.』
Cassius’s strategy of not revealing Walter’s age intentionally was now shining.
Reinhardt felt his heart race, as it always did when he discovered talent.
“Okay. Walter, right? It’s the first time we’re meeting in person, not through letters.”
Reinhardt offered his hand to Walter, expressing his willingness to provide a place for him to stay.
Walter lightly shook Reinhardt’s firm hand.
『 As expected… I wasn’t mistaken.』
Reinhardt, who noticed something through their clasped hands, smiled. It seemed that Cassius had indeed brought on an exceptional individual.
“Nice to meet you, Walter. Since you’ve helped us stand against Fortrion all this time, it’s our turn to help you now.”
Reinhardt’s words carried weight. Walter knew that his words were not mere empty promises.
Walter soon envisioned the landscape of the upcoming battle. Helen would become the next head of House Fortrion.
As soon as she inherited the title, she would rectify the numerous wrongs committed by Nicholas Fortrion in the territory.
One of the issues that needed to be addressed was what to do with the Fourth Lady whom the deceased Viscount had bought.
⋙“Walter, don’t be reckless, please… You can’t save me.”⋘
The more Walter pondered her words, the more curious he became as to what lengths he would go to save the lady trapped in Fortrion Manor from the approaching assassins.
It wouldn’t be long before they stormed into the Viscountcy of Fortrion and proved her wrong. He thought it would be a good idea to keep her confined so she wouldn’t push him away again.
And then, he wondered if he was so unreliable that she would think her life would be better off without him. He thought about asking her that, and he planned to torment her until she spilled the answer he wanted.
Walter slowly closed his eyes, and at the moment of the reunion, he constantly thought about what he should do with the woman who had kicked him out.
Every time his eyelids closed, he remembered Edith shedding hot tears, and his head throbbed.
──────────✿◦•
Upon receiving the request, the Paladins of the Temple immediately came to the Viscountcy of Fortrion and paid their respects to Sophia.
“I need you to come with us for a moment, Viscountess.”
“Only by revealing the truth will your honor be restored.”
“…”
There was no way that Sophia would be able to resist the Paladins who came in droves.
Lying about one’s lineage or using one’s life to commit adultery was one of the things the Temple would never tolerate.
“We also want to ask you some questions related to the maintenance of the river embankment.”
Being blinded by self-interest and sacrificing others did not align with the will of God.
The Paladins took Sophia and several of her associates to the Temple.
For a noble lady from a family as esteemed as a viscount’s, the very act of being investigated was highly dishonorable.
Edith watched with satisfaction as the carriage of the Paladins, with Sophia inside, rode away.
『 I hope they conduct an extensive investigation.』
The Paladins were known for conducting highly intensive investigations and usually did not release a suspect back home unless it was an unusual time to rest.
And that wasn’t all. Even those who had been involved were thoroughly investigated.
It seemed that Sophia’s ability to exert power within the manor was practically impossible from now on.
『 Now that Sophia has fallen, Elizabeth is on the rise.』
Still, Elizabeth wouldn’t send a man to impregnate her anymore, so the situation was better than when Sophia had a firm grip on her.
『 As long as Elizabeth doesn’t find out about my connection to Walter, she won’t harm me directly.』
Since the day she sent him out of the manor, Edith felt like half of her heart had been hollowed out.
The pain didn’t come from the fact that she couldn’t receive his help anymore. She just wished she could hear that he had safely arrived at the Militia Force.
After the sun had set, Edith moved to a secluded garden.
There, Benjamin, who had appeared during the funeral and handed her a note, was waiting for her.
Edith smiled at him.
She considered herself lucky to be reunited with Benjamin before the people Elizabeth had summoned to harm Walter arrived.
However, in Benjamin’s eyes, her smile seemed anxious, as if it could break at any moment.
“Edith, is something wrong?”
As expected, true friends always seem to sense changes in one’s mood.
Edith spoke in a low voice with an awkward smile on her face.
“It’s just… Walter left the manor.”
“He left? But isn’t he the stableman that the Viscount had kidnapped?”
Benjamin had been investigating the kidnapping incident that the Viscount had committed in the past for several days. Today, he had come to inform Edith of what he had discovered.
Based on the evidence, Benjamin was confident that the stableman kidnapped by the Viscount was indeed Walter. So, he couldn’t help but tilt his head when he learned that Walter, who should have been kept captive, had left.
“I sent him away.”
It would have been better if Benjamin didn’t know why Edith was responding with such a sad expression.
Benjamin decided to put aside the questions that were running through his mind and continued speaking.
“If the Viscount is dead and he has already left, does the kidnapping case I investigated no longer serve any purpose?”
“No, I still want to know why the Viscount kidnapped Walter.”
Edith hesitated momentarily over whether to tell Benjamin that Elizabeth was trying to kill him.
The bottom line was that she wouldn’t.
If she were in a situation where she could escape from the assassins Elizabeth would summon, it might be different, but she would only cause unnecessary worry for him as she would still be trapped here when the assassins stormed the manor.
Edith didn’t want to increase the burden on Benjamin, who was already helping her a lot.
Benjamin, after briefly gazing at her determined and resilient face, spoke again.
“The Viscount kidnapped the illegitimate son of a prestigious noble family.”
“As I suspected…”
Because the empire’s nobles placed great importance on lineage, there were often cases of kidnapping those who, despite not being officially recognized, still carried noble blood.
When Edith first heard that Walter had been kidnapped, she had considered this possibility.
However, her thoughts quickly turned into questions, and with no way to obtain information, she couldn’t delve deeper into it.
“But the Fortrion territory is quite large, and there is no family around him to keep him in check.”
When she asked, Benjamin hesitated, unsure of how to phrase his words.
“Well, it seems like his mother is from a prominent family that even Viscount Fortrion can’t look down upon.”
Edith couldn’t understand why Benjamin was so focused on Walter’s mother’s family background.
Puzzled, she listened to his following words and belatedly understood his point.
“Have you ever heard of the Ducal House Lexion?”
❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ •°.❀
