“Isn’t it obvious? Isidore is Peon’s cousin. He doesn’t have any relatives on his father’s side. Only on his mother’s side.”
After hearing the butler’s lament, Beatrice replied nonchalantly. The small room and corridor inside the palace where Peon once played were now filled with miscellaneous objects. There were no traces of people, only a hazy layer of dust.
“How could His Highness do this to me… No, His Highness wouldn’t do such a thing…!”
Beatrice muttered without even looking at the butler, who was confused, insisting that Peon wouldn’t abandon him.
“Peon wouldn’t do that. Think logically. You said they suddenly came this afternoon and started searching everything?”
“Yes.”
“Then who did the inspector meet in the morning?”
In the morning, the Grand Duchess was questioned as a victim.
“Her Highness…”
“Then it must be Kaela. Looks like she wanted to change the butler along with replacing the head maid.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong! After all my contributions…”
“Nobody’s saying people can’t make mistakes.”
Beatrice leaned against the wall, staring at the butler who was muttering words that no one would listen to.
“Are you sure you never made a single mistake?”
The butler’s mouth gaped slightly, unable to answer immediately. Yes, that’s what I thought. Just looking at the state of the room where the lord stays in the palace, the answer was clear.
Without a diligent mistress to take care of the household, and with the unmarried lord preoccupied with war, it was evidence that someone had been pilfering. It was obvious who that might be.
“Rolf. In Crania, there’s no such thing as a ‘mistake’ that can be overlooked. Moreover, if His Majesty the Emperor has sent an inspector, it means that any ‘mistakes’ that come up now must be punished without exception.”
“I’m only human, how can I not make mistakes…!”
The butler’s voice cracked, now losing his youth and facing old age.
“That’s why from now on, you should hope for a miracle.”
A miracle? As if such a thing could happen.
“If a miracle happens, then you can cover up the mistake with something bigger.”
Through the heavily settled air, the sound of a battle horn, “woong,” could be heard.
The butler startled, looking towards the source of the sound. It was a sound often heard in Lusenford. Beatrice, too, had been frightened by that sound many times when staying in Lusenford to avoid creditors.
“For now, a miracle has happened.”
She muttered, no longer afraid. As the battle horn vibrated through the damp air, rain began to fall from the sky thickly covered in gray. It was rain that would freeze the ground that was trying to sprout.
“Now we need to find something to cover it up with.”
****
“Volga! It’s the Volga people!”
Spring was hope, but it was also the most treacherous moment. It was a harsh and cruel season when the food stored after the autumn harvest ran out, and if not careful, even the seeds meant for planting might have to be consumed.
The seasons were fair to everyone, so as much as Lusenford struggled, those immigrant tribes living beyond the border in perpetually frozen lands struggled too. That’s why they were invading.
“It’s not just a hit-and-run! They’re coming en masse!”
“Siege weapons are also visible!”
Siege weapons? The knights exclaimed in shock and rushed to the stables. Clang, clang, the bell rang urgently.
“Their numbers are great!”
“Report!” Peon shouted as he strode forward.
“The numbers are incredibly large, Your Highness!”
“It doesn’t seem to be just the Volga people. Isn’t it unlikely that the Volga alone would bring siege weapons?”
With the weather warming up, it was about time for an invasion. The food stored throughout the winter would have run out, and the spring wind can be harsher and colder than the winter wind.
The enemies who always invaded to plunder food had now brought siege weapons. It meant they were going all out. Peon remembered this battle that had occurred before his regression.
Lusenford was barely holding on, the battle dragged on, and he had no choice but to bow his head to the Emperor again.
“How far have they come now?”
“We’re holding them at Fueten!”
“Still?”
“Yes!”
Fueten Fortress was the first gateway to the Crania Empire and Lusenford’s frontline. It was close enough to be visible from Lusenford Castle.
Given how determined the invaders seemed, Fueten should have fallen by now, but everyone was surprised that it was still holding out.
In fact, those in Peon’s inner circle who knew that he had sent more troops, supplies, and weapons to Fueten a few days ago were silently preparing for battle.
“It must not fall. Tell them to hold at all costs.”
“Yes!”
“Send plenty of oil.”
Each time the Grand Duke gave an order, the gates of Lusenford opened, and cavalry galloped out on the increasingly wet roads.
The clanging of weapons and armor was loud. The people of Lusenford began to move calmly in unison at this familiar news of attack. Amidst all this, only the people from Crania sent by the Emperor seemed flustered.
“Hyung!”
Despite being the Emperor’s inspector who must strictly separate public and private matters, Isidore instinctively called out “hyung” upon hearing the news of siege weapons.
“Isidore. You must absolutely not come out.”
“How can that be, hyung! Bringing siege weapons means they intend to lay siege, and I’m a knight too!”
“Before that, you’re the inspector sent by His Majesty the Emperor. Focus on the investigation. That’s your duty.”
Peon patted Isidore’s arm.
“And if it looks like the gates might be breached, leave for Crania with the inspectors without looking back.”
“I can’t do that, hyung.”
“You must.”
Peon gripped Isidore’s shoulders and spoke firmly.
“There are priorities. Don’t get swept up, keep your place.”
The intense gaze under his thick eyebrows overwhelmed him. It was an absolute order from a superior on the battlefield. Isidore had no choice but to obey. Everyone followed Peon as if captivated and enchanted.
Where the ruler of Lusenford passed, resolve and order emerged instead of chaos and fear.
The order he had established was not easily shaken, so people devoted themselves to what needed to be done with even stronger resolve, prepared to die. Peon walked quickly, issuing various orders at once.
This was routine. He just needed to put on his sword and armor and go to battle as always. He had always done so without looking back.
But now he couldn’t do that. If he missed today, it would be over. A vague anxiety that there might be no more chances urged him on.
“Your Highness!”
Kaela was already outside the office. She was comforting crying children and sending them inside, calling for the doctor Darinka, while the maids around her were pale and flustered.
But Kaela, his wife, was calm alone. As if she had experienced many such battles.
“You should go quickly.”
She tried to send Peon off calmly, like the wife of a margrave guarding the border.
“Don’t worry about this place.”
He hid his trembling hands and closed his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them. He, who had always moved efficiently without wasting a second when battle broke out, was losing his mind and falling into panic in front of Kaela.
It was strange in many ways that the 21-year-old Grand Duchess, who had just been married, was acting like someone too familiar with battle.
“Your Highness?”
It was no longer at the level of signals or scattered clues.
The clues had come together to not just form a hypothesis but to prove it. It was mocking the foolish Peon who had always turned a blind eye to his wife and now easily ignored the truth unfolding before him.
“Your Highness.”
He took a deep breath and swallowed once to clear his cracking voice. His voice was much lower than he expected. The sin he had to look back on would be much greater than he thought.
“…Stay somewhere safe. Don’t come outside at all, and don’t worry…”
The words “don’t worry” got stuck in the middle and didn’t come out properly. Because there was no way he would be included in Kaela’s concerns.
“You don’t need to be anxious,” Peon changed his words.
“I will return victorious.”
Kaela looked up at her husband with wide eyes.
Was it because they hadn’t been married long? Peon speaking like this felt unfamiliar. It was clear that her husband, who came to reassure her in this urgent situation, was genuinely worried about her.
His burning gaze was focused entirely on Kaela. She reflexively recalled the name that had dominated her married life.
‘Beatrice…’
She should have told him to go to that woman. After all, he should say his final goodbye to her. She should have said that she understood the line Peon had drawn and wouldn’t dare to cross it by mistake.
“Be careful.”
But Peon smiled slightly at her concern, which came out before mentioning Beatrice.
“I won’t get hurt. I don’t get hurt.”
“But the battlefield is dangerous, isn’t it?”
He could just command from the rear, but he often took to the front lines himself. His skills honed in actual combat were formidable, but he had many scars on his body as a result.
“Be careful. You should go now.”
Sensing there was no more time to delay, Kaela hurriedly spoke to send him off. But the man standing like a mountain didn’t turn away immediately and extended his hand to her.
Hand? Puzzled, Kaela reflexively placed her hand on his. As a noblewoman, she was accustomed to being escorted. Or perhaps it meant she had become somewhat used to Peon’s unfamiliar escort.
Peon carefully took her hand, kissed the back of it, and pressed his hot forehead against it.
In truth, he wanted to embrace his wife tightly.
He wanted to inhale the scent of the South from her – the thick fruity sweetness, the pouring sunlight, the fragrance of large white blooming flowers – before heading to battle. He wanted to hold her small frame in his arms and remind himself who he needed to protect.
“I’ll be back.”
But that wasn’t something he was allowed to do. As a knight, he could barely manage a polite greeting before departing to the lady to whom he had devoted his body, heart, and soul. No, even that was already bordering on impudence.
He forcibly pulled away his feet that wanted to linger and turned away from Kaela. There was so much he wanted to say, but he moved away from her, barely managing to keep his mouth shut.
****
The Grand Duke hurriedly departed for Fueten. Isidore rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the terrifying sight of glossy war horses cutting through the rain, galloping away wildly.
The Craine Gate he was in charge of was the first entrance to the Empire’s largest capital, so all sorts of strange people passed through.
He prided himself on being a knight with enough experience to handle most situations, but compared to the battle unfolding in Lusenford, the incidents at Craine Gate were mere minor disturbances.
The rain grew heavier. As visibility worsened and darkness fell all around, an eerie sensation scraped across his skin.
The matter of life and death had come right up to their doorstep. It was a survival issue where one had to grip the sword or die. In the face of this, the Lusenford soldiers, their eyes already gleaming, marched towards Fueten without panic.
“Is it alright for us to just stay here like this?” one anxious inspector muttered.
“We do our job,” Isidore said, suppressing his sense of responsibility as a knight to rush out and his boiling blood, as he spread out the ledgers and records confiscated from the butler today.
Right now, the people of Lusenford were each finding their own tasks and carrying them out admirably. Even the young Grand Duchess, who had only been married for a short time, was taking care of the women and children.
“We’ll have to stop interviewing the relevant parties,” he said.
They had been interviewing everyone who was at the banquet when Kaela collapsed, but that work had to be halted. They couldn’t summon people for questioning when no one knew how the chaotic battle might turn out.
“We’ll have to go through what we confiscated from the butler.”
They had been interviewing people starting from those seated farthest from the table where the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess sat, gradually approaching those who sat closer.
Among them, they were about to interview those who sat closest – the most powerful local nobles of Lusenford.
They had already secured testimony that these people had colluded in forcing the dangerous food, Ferenco, on the Grand Duchess, and were about to tighten the noose, but now that opportunity was lost.
“But about the people we were going to interview. Except for the women, they would all have been deployed in this battle, right?”
“They’re all nobles, that’s unlikely,” Isidore said, furrowing his brow and shaking his head.
“Even if they participate in the battle, they’d retreat to the rear.”
Nobles always have a high survival rate on the battlefield. Isidore, the eldest son of Marquis Alemich who knew the reason for this all too well, muttered gloomily.
“They’ll all pretend to participate in the battle and return alive, so the interviews will continue. Our stay in Lusenford will just be prolonged.”
“Looks like we’ll be spending the whole year in Lusenford,” the inspectors sighed, considering the distance between Craine and Lusenford. They had to suppress their pricking consciences for not deploying immediately by focusing on checking the records confiscated from the butler.
Isidore suddenly wondered what Beatrice Ravalley, who truly had nothing to do now, would be up to.
