There was no one at home who would specifically insist on meeting her. Siana asked the woman wearing a maid’s outfit.

“Wh-who?”

“A messenger sent by the master to the mountains says he has something to report.”

Why would someone sent by Father be looking for me? The question was brief, as Siana remembered that her father had died.

“Ah, show him in.”

Entering the room, a man was sitting by the fire. The messenger, it must be, was pale enough to be seen from the doorway and was breathing heavily. He looked utterly exhausted at a glance.

The messenger, his eyes half-closed, raised his head as she approached. He asked in a strained voice.

“Young lady? Why are you here……”

“You said you ha-had something to say to Father.”

Instead of speaking right away, the messenger rolled his eyes. He seemed conflicted about whether to tell her what he was supposed to report to her father.

The servant who had followed her in whispered in her ear.

“The messenger doesn’t know yet that the former master has passed away.”

Then there seemed no need to tell him and add to the confusion. Siana remembered how Elbert had pretended not to hear her words. While readily calling her “young lady”, the people of this manor treated her not as a young lady but more like a mute puppy.

“Fa-Father told me to listen and report back.”

The servant standing beside her nodded quickly, understanding the situation.

The messenger looked at them suspiciously but couldn’t hold out any longer. It wasn’t so much that his suspicions were allayed, but rather that he didn’t have the strength to resist.

His blue lips quivered as he spoke.

“Please tell the master this. That the side we support has lost, and the plan has failed as well.”

Siana blinked at the puzzling words. But before she could ask anything more, the messenger’s head slumped forward.

Goodness! The servant beside her, who let out a small scream, quickly felt for the messenger’s pulse. Furrowing her brow, she said,

“He’s dead.”

“Wh-what?”

To think a person could die so easily. The bewildered Siana looked around. It was then that Hael, who had been hiding in the shadows somehow, smoothly emerged.

The already tall knight’s stern expression instantly made the atmosphere serious. After briefly examining the messenger’s corpse, Hael said,

“Death from overwork.”

It seems he rode here quite urgently. And then Hael casually searched the corpse’s chest. Soon finding a small folded note, she read it and then looked at Siana.

“It says Brinwell has lost the war.”

And the knight sorted out the situation with surprising speed. After silencing the servant, Hael told her to quell the household’s unrest in the master’s name.

“If necessary, request help from the royal knights.”

Only after the nodding servant left the room could Siana get an explanation from the knight.

“Gilord Nevel was an open supporter of Brinwell. The failed plan needs to be investigated further, but given the situation, it’s likely related to His Majesty.”

“Hi-His Majesty? You mean Her Majesty the Queen?”

“No, His Majesty at the border.”

And the knight furrowed her brow.

“I hope His Majesty is safe.”

“But they sa-said the plan failed.”

“We can’t blindly believe it, as it could be a smokescreen. Of course, the messenger would have brought verified information, but His Majesty is not a naive person either.”

Indeed, the king seemed far from such words. Siana recalled the man who had decided her fate with a single word at the banquet.

“Well, we’ll know the truth soon enough as we receive regular reports. More importantly, he wouldn’t have brought a note just to write such trivial information……”

Examining the paper from various angles, Hael brought it to her nose. After checking the paper’s scent, she approached the fire. Siana watched as the knight singed the paper near the flames.

“As I thought, I knew it.”

Having discovered something, Hael smiled and approached Siana. When the knight held out the paper in her hand, Siana realized that new letters had appeared beneath the original text.

After reading through the contents, Siana gasped in shock, clutching her face.

“At-attack the royal palace with private soldiers…?”

Below was the signature of a distant relative of hers who had marched under the Nevel banner in this war.

“It seems Nevel was preparing a separate army.”

The chilling voice sent shivers down her spine.

If the knight’s words were true, her family was implicated in a terrible crime. Even without deep political knowledge, one could understand what it meant to prepare a private army while the king was away.

Siana, her face pale, stammered an excuse.

“I-I have nothing to do with this.”

“Shh, I know you’re innocent, young lady. There’s no need to be afraid.”

And the knight embraced her soothingly, patting her back. Cradled in those arms, Siana murmured,

“Tr-treason. I knew Father was a strange person, but……”

Even so, why involve others? Siana wished she could wake the soaked corpse and shake it by the collar if only she could.

When the head of a family committed treason, its members could not escape punishment. Of course, as the knight said, she was not involved, but she couldn’t help feeling scared.

It was then that the knight who had been patting her back stepped back slightly.

“Though I know you’re innocent, there’s something we must do first.”

And Hael instructed her on what to do. Siana searched her father’s study with her, gathering as much information as possible. It was to sort out what to report to the queen as soon as the palace gates opened in the morning.

What they discovered was that her father had gathered many private soldiers near the family estate. Siana could only sigh at this behavior, always going on about the family’s glory and now harboring such useless hope. Oh Father, how can you be so unhelpful even to the end?

Anyway, she needed to clean up the mess her dead father had made, so Siana consulted with Hael and called for Elbert. The balding man was her father’s aide. So he must have been delegated considerable authority by her father.

Siana told him to gather all the family’s private soldiers that had been secretly assembled. Following Hael’s advice that it would be more dangerous to leave them scattered, she ordered them to be gathered in one place for now.

Perhaps remembering the gleaming blade, Elbert immediately did as he was told. Siana watched as the man, who usually acted quite miserly regarding expenses related to her, scurried out of the room. She felt a bit of tension finally easing.

Sighing, she rubbed her face. Hael, standing nearby, came over and patted her shoulder.

“Well done.”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

But I felt good seeing Elbert so frightened. As she said this, there was a small joy on the woman’s face. The dimples that appeared made Hael feel uneasy, as if proving that she hadn’t been treated well in the household. Gently stroking her soft cheek, Hael said,

“From now on, dismiss all servants who don’t obey the master’s words. This house is now yours, young lady.”

“Th-that’s right.”

It’s my house now. Siana muttered, giggling. Seeing her emotions change so quickly showed she was still quite young. Hael smiled at the woman who had just passed twenty, unlike herself who was nearly thirty. It was then that Siana furrowed her brow.

As if remembering an annoying burden she had forgotten, she stood up with an unpleasant expression.

“Th-there’s one more person we need to throw out.”

Rocheden Elspar, with blood of the Brinwell royal family, was deep in sleep late at night. At any other time, he couldn’t have slept so soundly in a place that wasn’t his own home, but since Nevel Castle would soon be his, Rocheden could lie down peacefully.

Not content with just stretching out his legs, he was even having a very pleasant dream. It was a dream of marrying the lord’s only daughter and ruling over the family. Having been overshadowed by his siblings and unrecognized in his home country, Rocheden sitting in the seat of the Nevel family head in his dream was truly happy.

If there was any flaw in this marriage, it might be that the bride wasn’t an outstanding beauty. But even that, when looked at from various angles, wasn’t an ugly face, so it was fine. Isn’t it a husband’s worry if his wife’s appearance is too dazzling? Raising a glass towards the relatives gathered to celebrate his wedding, Rocheden put his arm around his wife’s shoulder.

It was then that a tremendous sound was heard.

Startled by the noise, close to the sound of a door being roughly opened, Rocheden opened his eyes. The happy dream vanished like a mirage in an instant. Realizing he was in the guest room prepared by the Nevel family head, he furrowed his brow.

“What rudeness is this?”

He asked towards the outside in a hoarse voice, not fully awake. Then someone strode in through the open door. Only when she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck did Rocheden realize that the person who had entered was the royal knight he had seen during the day.

“What are you doing! Let go of me this instant!”

No matter how much he struggled, the knight dragged him out without blinking an eye, throwing him down once they reached the corridor. A pair of shoes approached Rocheden as he groaned and writhed on the carpet. Seeing the high-quality women’s shoes, Rocheden looked up.

“L-Lady Siana?”

Why on earth was his fiancée here? He blinked, unable to properly grasp the situation. Moreover, instead of the gentle expression he had seen during the day, his fiancée was looking down at him with an expression full of irritation.

As he was about to demand an explanation, she raised her hand to stop him and said without stuttering:

“Get out of my house right now.”