“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.”

Beatrice spoke indifferently after listening to the butler’s lament. The small room and corridor inside the castle where Peon once played were now filled with miscellaneous items. There were no traces of people, only a hazy layer of dust.

“How could Your Highness do this to me, no, Your Highness wouldn’t…”

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 investigator meet in the morning?”

In the morning, the Duchess was questioned as a victim.

“Her Highness…”

“Then it’s Kaella. Looks like she wanted to change the butler along with replacing the head maid.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong! After all I’ve contributed so far…”

“People are bound to make mistakes sometimes.”

Beatrice leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the butler who was muttering words that no one would listen to.

“You really never made a single mistake?”

The butler, with his mouth slightly open, couldn’t answer immediately. Right. That’s what I thought. Just looking at the state of the room where the lord of the castle stays was enough to tell.

Without a mistress to diligently manage 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 Kraine, there’s no such thing as a ‘mistake’ that can be overlooked. Moreover, if His Majesty the Emperor has sent an investigator, it means that any ‘mistake’ that comes out in this situation must be punished without exception.”

“I’m only human, how can I not make mistakes…!”

The butler’s voice, now losing its youth and approaching old age, cracked.

“That’s why you need to hope for a miracle from now on.”

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 atmosphere, the sound of a battle horn, woong, was heard.

The butler, startled, looked towards where the sound was coming from. It was a sound often heard in Lucenford. Beatrice too had been frightened by that sound many times when staying in Lucenford to avoid creditors.

“Well, the miracle has happened.”

She, who was no longer frightened, muttered. As the battle horn vibrated the damp air, rain began to fall from the sky thickly covered in gray. It was rain that froze the ground that was trying to sprout little by little.

“Now you need to find something to cover it up with.”

*

“Volga! It’s the Volga people!”

Spring was hope, but at the same time, it was also the most treacherous moment. Because it’s the harsh and cruel season when the food stored after the autumn harvest runs out, and if you’re not careful, you might end up eating even the seeds that should be planted.

The seasons are fair to everyone, so as much as Lucenford was struggling, those foreigners living in the eternally frozen land across the border were struggling too. That’s why they invaded.

“It’s not just a hit and run! They’re coming in full force!”

“Siege engines are visible!”

Siege engines? The knights exclaimed in shock and rushed to their stables. Clang, clang, the bell rang urgently.

“Their numbers are great!”

“Report!”

Peon shouted as he strode forward.

“The numbers are extremely large, Your Highness!”

“It doesn’t seem to be just the Volga people. The possibility of Volga bringing siege engines alone is low, isn’t it?”

Now that the weather had warmed up, it was time for them to invade. The food stored throughout the winter would have run out, and the spring wind is often harsher and colder than the midwinter wind.

The enemies who always invaded to plunder food had brought siege engines this time. They meant to go all the way. Peon remembered this battle that happened before his regression.

Lucenford had barely managed to hold on, the battle had dragged on, and he had no choice but to bow his head to the Emperor again.

“Where have they reached now?”

“They’re being held back at Fueten!”

“Still?”

“Yes!”

Fueten fortress was the first gateway to the Krania Empire and the frontline of Lucenford. It was close enough to be visible from Lucenford castle.

If they came with such determination, Fueten should have fallen by now, but everyone was surprised that it was still holding out.

In fact, those closest to Peon 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 on no matter what.”

“Yes!”

“Send plenty of oil.”

Every time the Grand Duke gave an order, the gates of Lucenford opened and war horses galloped out on the increasingly wet roads.

The sound of weapons and armor clashing was loud. The people of Lucenford began to move calmly in unison at this familiar news of attack. Meanwhile, the only ones flustered were the Kraine people sent by the Emperor.

“Elder brother!”

Despite being the Emperor’s investigator who must strictly separate public and private matters, the news of siege engines appearing automatically made Isidore call out “elder brother”.

“Isidore. You must absolutely not come out.”

“How can that be, elder brother! Bringing siege engines ultimately means they intend to besiege, and I am a knight too!”

“Before that, you are an investigator 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 fall, leave for Kraine with the investigators without looking back.”

“I can’t do that, elder brother.”

“You must.”

Peon grasped Isidore’s shoulders and spoke strongly.

“There are priorities. Don’t get swept up, keep your place.”

The piercing gaze under thick eyebrows overwhelmed him. It was an absolute order from a superior on the battlefield. Isidore couldn’t help but obey that order. Everyone followed behind Peon as if captivated and enchanted.

Where the ruler of Lucenford passed, order and determination arose instead of chaos and fear.

The order he had established didn’t waver easily, so people focused on what they had to do with even more resolve, prepared to die. Peon walked quickly while giving various orders at once.

This was routine. He just needed to strap on his sword, put on his armor, and set out. That’s how it always was. He went without looking back.

But now he couldn’t do that. If he missed today, it would be over. The vague anxiety that there might not be another chance urged him on.

“My lady!”

Kaella 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 Kaella, his wife, was calm alone. As if she had experienced many such battles.

“You should hurry and go.”

She tried to send Peon off calmly, like the wife of a margrave guarding the border.

“Don’t worry about this place.”

He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, hiding his trembling hands, then opened them. He who moved efficiently without wasting even a second when battle broke out was losing his mind and falling into panic in front of Kaella.

It was strange in many ways that the twenty-one-year-old, newly married Duchess acted as if she was too accustomed to battle.

“Your Highness?”

It was no longer just signals, or scattered clues.

The clues had gathered to form and even prove a hypothesis. The truth that he always turned away from his wife out of habit was now spread out before the foolish Peon, mocking him.

“My lady.”

He took a deep breath and swallowed once to clear his cracked voice. His voice was much lower than he thought. The sin he had to turn back to was probably much bigger than he imagined.

“…Stay in a safe place. Don’t come out at all, and don’t worry…”

The words he was trying to say not to worry got stuck in the middle and didn’t come out properly. Because there was no way he would be included in Kaella’s worries.

“You don’t need to be anxious.”

Peon changed his words.

“I will return victorious.”

Kaella looked up at her husband with round eyes.

Is it because they haven’t been married long? Peon saying such things was unfamiliar. In a situation where every minute and second was urgent, he deliberately came to find her to reassure her, clearly genuinely worried about her.

His burning gaze was focused entirely on Kaella. Kaella reflexively recalled the name that had dominated her married life.

‘Beatrice…’

She should have told him to go to that woman. Because he should say his final greetings to her. She should have said that she knew well the line Peon had drawn and didn’t dare cross it out of misunderstanding.

“Be careful.”

But Peon smiled slightly at the concern that came out, postponing words about Beatrice for a moment.

“I won’t get hurt. I don’t get hurt.”

“But the battlefield is dangerous.”

He often went out in person, even though he could just command from the rear. 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.”

Feeling there was no more time to delay, Kaella hurriedly spoke to send him off. But the man standing tall like a mountain didn’t turn away immediately, and held out his hand to her.

Hand? Puzzled, Kaella reflexively placed her hand on top of his. As a noble lady, she was used to being escorted. Or it meant she had become somewhat accustomed to Peon’s unfamiliar escort.

Peon carefully brought that hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, then pressed his hot forehead against it.

In truth, he wanted to hold his wife tightly.

He wanted to smell the thick fruity sweetness, pouring sunlight, and scent of large white blooming flowers from her, the fragrance of the south, before setting out to battle. He wanted to hold her small form that fit perfectly in his arms and remind himself who he needed to protect.

“I’ll be back.”

But that wasn’t something allowed to him. As a knight, he could barely manage a polite greeting before departing to the lady to whom he had devoted his entire body, heart, and soul. No, even that was already presumptuous.

He forcibly tore away his feet that wanted to linger and turned away from Kaella. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut with difficulty as he moved away from her.

*

The Grand Duke hurriedly departed for Fueten. Isidore rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the terrifying sight of glossy war horses galloping madly through the rain.

The Kraine gate he was in charge of was the first gate to enter the capital of the largest empire, so there were all sorts of strange people.

So he prided himself on being a knight with quite a bit of experience in most matters, but compared to the battles taking place in Lucenford, what happened at the Kraine gate was merely a small disturbance.

The rain grew heavier. As visibility became difficult and darkness fell all around, an eerie sensation scraped across the skin.

The matter of killing and saving had come right up to their faces. It was a survival issue where you would die if you didn’t grip your sword tightly. In the face of this, the Lucenford soldiers, their eyes already gleaming, marched towards Fueten without panic.

“Is it okay for us to just stay here like this?”

One anxious investigator muttered.

“We do our job.”

Isidore opened the ledgers and records confiscated from the butler today, suppressing his sense of responsibility as a knight to rush out and his boiling blood.

Right now, the people of Lucenford were each finding their own tasks and carrying them out admirably. Even the young Duchess, who had only been married for a short time, was taking care of the women and children.

“We’ll have to suspend interviews with the related parties.”

They had been interviewing everyone who was at the banquet when Kaella collapsed, but that work was also halted. They couldn’t call people in when no one knew how the chaotic battle would turn out.

“We’ll have to go through what we confiscated from the butler.”

They had been interviewing people one by one, starting from those seated far from the table where the Grand Duke and Duchess sat, gradually approaching those who sat closer.

Among them, they were about to interview the people who sat closest, that is, the most powerful local nobles of Lucenford.

They had already secured testimony that these were people who colluded in forcing the dangerous food, Ferenco, on the Duchess, and were about to tighten the noose, but it was unfortunately thwarted.

“But, about the people we were going to interview. Except for the women, they would all have gone out to battle this time, right?”

“They’re all nobles, that’s not likely.”

Isidore frowned and shook his head.

“Even if they participate in the battle, they would retreat to the rear.”

Nobles always have a high survival rate on the battlefield. Isidore, the eldest son of Viscount Alemici who knew best why that was, muttered gloomily.

“They’ll all pretend to participate in the battle and return alive, so the interviews will continue. We’ll just end up staying in Lucenford longer.”

“Looks like we’ll spend the whole year in Lucenford.”

The investigators sighed, considering the distance between Kraine and Lucenford. They had to check the records confiscated from the butler and suppress their pricking consciences for not being able to go out to battle right away.

Isidore suddenly wondered what Beatrice Lavalle, who had really run out of things to do, would do.