As she looked at Felden, Evenel recalled information about him in her mind.

The Gaer ducal family was tasked with guarding the northeast region of Karies, known for its most treacherous and mountainous terrain.

Their region had a wider range of monster appearances compared to other families. Hence, they were known to be second in power only to the Emperor.

Another title for Gaer was the Emperor’s right hand. Their relationship had always been thick since ages past, due to fighting battles against monsters together, unlike other families.

‘This man is the head of the Gaer ducal family.’

She had thought he would be similar to Count Lenel given his reputation and what she had heard, but he appeared to have little to do with battle.

On the other hand, Harlan found Felden’s presence in the imperial palace perplexing. Why was he, who was supposed to be defending his territory, here?

Recognizing Harlan’s expression, Felden responded with a very relaxed tone.

“I have some matters to attend to in the capital, so I took the opportunity to visit the palace. Rest assured, my knights are flawlessly guarding the Gaer territory. I never thought we’d meet like this.”

Harlan’s displeased look did not escape Evenel. More precisely, he appeared uncomfortable.

‘I guess he has no choice.’

Harlan had consolidated nobles to keep families with power in check.

Still, not wanting to upset Felden, the people behind Harlan were subtly looking for cues. They exhibited the typical behavior of being weak to the strong and strong to the weak.

“I overheard your conversation earlier, and isn’t it unfair to vent your frustrations on someone when things didn’t go your way? It looked extremely unfair to me.”

Evenel looked at Felden, who was taking her side, with surprise. He maintained his smile throughout.

“Felden, this is none of your concern. He seems to be using some underhanded method to stay in the imperial palace,”

“Ah, underhanded methods.”

Felden elongated his words as if mocking Harlan. Then pointing to himself, he spoke.

“By any chance, is that underhanded method referring to me?”

“Huh?”
“I actively supported the idea of Lady Evenel being involved. Ah, more precisely, I was being stubborn about it.”

Harlan and, of course, Evenel looked at him in surprise.

“Why?”

“Obviously because we need Lady Evenel’s abilities. Long term, it’s a sure gain. If there’s someone to guard the capital, another person can move freely. Why would we miss such a good opportunity, especially when monsters are more active in winter?”

Feldin explained logically, leaving Harlan with nothing to say. Moreover, who his opponent was also played a part. There was nothing good to come from unnecessarily conflicting with him.

“Ah, if everyone here provides support for the knights whenever monsters appear, I’ll reconsider.”

‘She’s no ordinary opponent.’

Evenel sensed that Feldin was more difficult to deal with than someone who simply loses their temper. He had even silenced Harlan.

“Otherwise, how about you leave? You’ll have nothing to say even if you go to His Majesty. Isn’t Lord Harlan’s project doomed anyway? Ah, of course, an apology to Lady Evenel is also in order, for this ridiculous misunderstanding.”

Feldin was gently telling him to shut up and leave if he had nothing more to say. Harlan couldn’t help but notice, but the situation was unexpected, so he had to withdraw for now.

“I must have misunderstood, my lady. I’ll leave, then.”

“Ha.”

At times when she would trample people with all sorts of insulting words, to end it with just ‘I misunderstood’ was unbelievable to Evenel.

“My lady?”

Feldin was flustered as Evenel began to follow Harlan. But Evenel didn’t stop, and eventually blocked his path.

Stopping because of her, Harlan didn’t hide his irritated face.

“Move. We’re not as idle as you, lady.”

“In my opinion, the idle one is not me. I seem busier, going to the training ground from the morning, compared to those of you who hurried over upon hearing news about me.”

“What nonsense is this? Apologize at once.”

The people behind them started making a fuss, and Evenel chuckled. Her sharp gaze was solely focused on Harlan.

“Haven’t you said you heard about the disturbance that happened at His Majesty’s palace? Did you not hear what I said back then?”
“I don’t see how you could be in a good mood, Harlan, spouting incomprehensible words like that. My head’s already a mess from running into Feldin unexpectedly.”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense…”

“I did say if anyone touches my people, or me, their heads will fly off. Didn’t you know?”

A chilling sentence from her froze everyone on the spot. Especially Evenel and Harlan, who were facing her directly; they were so captivated by her red eyes that they couldn’t even speak.