Chapter 16

Still, whatever their intentions may have been, at the time she herself had also chosen escape as an option, faced with a marriage she had never wanted. She had planned to take a different route after descending the mountain, not to seek out the merchants the maids had mentioned.

A Neidel encampment, of all places.

No matter how one looked at it, it was true that Leon had saved her from what could have become a far more brutal fate.

‘Could he have possibly realized the maids weren’t on my side?’

The thought lingered as she briefly reflected on his decision to exclude the maids from the return journey. Then she shook her head.

That couldn’t be.

As if chiding herself for entertaining such thoughts, she shook her head. Meanwhile, Britta, who looked as though her earlier gloom had never existed, rolled up her sleeves and gathered the cleaning tools.

“Please wait just a little while. I’ll clean everything properly and draw fresh water right away.”

Watching her maid hurry off with determined energy, Adeline’s gaze slowly settled into calm once more. Then she turned toward the door, reacting to a presence she had sensed for a while now.

There was the sound of someone hastily retreating down the corridor.

So they were even keeping watch.

Even after the decision had been made for her to marry the governor, it seemed her presence in this castle was still that of an unwelcome guest. Things like this would likely happen again, time and time over. Still, she had no intention of telling Leon about it. He would undoubtedly respond with something like, ‘What does that have to do with me?’

“Haah…”

Thinking of the man who had a way of subtly provoking people without even trying, a sigh slipped out on its own.

“Don’t let him get to you.”

Renewing her resolve, Adeline steeled her heart.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

After Ansel stormed out in a rage, the door that had slammed shut burst open once more, and a soldier stepped inside. Wearing the ash-gray uniform that symbolized Stein, he raised a hand in salute.

Leon merely flicked his fingers in a casual gesture, signaling him to be at ease.

It was Major Heinz Brenner, Leon’s most trusted confidant and adjutant, a man who had served at his side for more than ten years since their days in the homeland. His closely cropped dark-blue hair caught the sunset spilling in through the window, reflecting a faint, muted glow.

“You provoked him too openly.”

“Did you hear everything?”

“Wasn’t that the intention? You spoke loudly enough on purpose. The guards outside will assume the two of you had a falling-out.”

Heinz shook his head as he recalled Ansel’s face, forced to swallow his humiliation as he agreed to Leon’s demands and left.

“That’s good enough. That’s exactly what I wanted.”

Leon let out a soft scoff as he loosely rotated his wrist. Watching the pale amber liquid melt into the ice, he lifted the corner of his mouth as if it hardly mattered.

“He’s had more than enough time living large, strutting about like a king. It’ll be quite a sight, watching the faces of those Velasque nobles who used to wag their tails at Ansel.”

Seeing once again that Leon had acted with clear intent, Heinz’s expression tightened, already anticipating the trouble this would stir.

“Don’t worry about it. By half a day at most, rumors will be spreading that relations between the interim governor and the newly appointed one are strained. Once they realize that all the offerings they’ve funneled to the allied powers to save their own skins, after the royal family’s collapse, were for nothing, it should be quite the spectacle.”

“Is that what you find amusing?”

That was why he had locked horns with Colonel Ansel. Heinz barely managed to swallow the urge to click his tongue in disapproval.

“This is where I’ll be living from now on. It’s better to deal with troublesome elements all at once, so they don’t even dare entertain the notion of carrying on as they have.”

Leon had no intention of indulging the naive expectations of those who believed that offering up wealth and beautiful women would earn them the same favors they had enjoyed under his predecessor. Nor was he inclined to play along with the narrative that he had secured the post of governor of Velasque thanks to the defeated nation’s princess.

“Now that things have come to this, shouldn’t I conduct myself exactly as the rumors say, like Duke Leon von Rübenhart isn’t someone to be trifled with?”

Unlike his superior’s relaxed composure, Heinz couldn’t conceal his unease.

The interference of the three allied nations, the needless meddling of neutral states, the selfish Velasque nobles concerned only with lining their own pockets, and on top of that, the remnants of the internal rebel forces shattered by the allied blade.

Enemies with unknown motives lurked on all sides, yet his commander’s attitude was almost offensively untroubled. Heinz knew better than anyone that Leon had always treated matters lightly, as though everything were simple and manageable, but this time, concern was unavoidable.

“They dress it up nicely, calling you the ‘Governor of Velasque.’ But the moment you misstep in governing, they’ll seize on it as a pretext and carve the country up piece by piece. That much is obvious.”