The gathering ended safely. There was nothing to be caught for, and I successfully made my presence known. Above all, I was glad to be able to promote many of Black Swan’s artists.

“Mother, you look happy.”

Rublion asked, mimicking my expression while lying on the bed. I answered while fiddling with the necklace I received from the duke.

“I was worried I wouldn’t get along with people, but it was better than I thought.”

“Oh, really? Did you make any friends?”

He was asking questions a parent would ask a child. But it wasn’t strangely odd that Rublion was asking them.

“Well, rather than becoming friends, there’s a young lady whose face I became familiar with.”

“Who is it?”

“A young lady named Cordelia Arche from the Arche baronial family.”

As I was wondering if I should explain what she looked like, Rublion’s expression noticeably hardened.

“Mother, was that young lady nice to you?”

“As I said, we just became familiar with each other’s faces, so I can’t say she was particularly nice.”

At my answer, the child carefully spoke with a completely stiff face.

“It would be better not to get close to that young lady.”

“Why?”

She didn’t seem like a bad person. But if Rublion said that, there must be a reason.

“That young lady is Duke Rumpus’s maid.”

“A maid? Duke Rumpus’s?”

“Yes. And quite a loyal one at that.”

I recalled the face smiling with cute twin braids. They seemed like two completely mismatched people.

“Don’t get close to her. Okay?”

When I didn’t answer because I was thinking, Rublion anxiously kept shaking my arm. I stroked the child’s head with my hand and answered.

“Alright, you don’t have to worry. So relax.”

“…How annoying.”

Maybel smiled brightly like an angel after hearing about what happened at Baroness Tirel’s gathering. Arche shuddered slightly, finding it eerie how she could make an expression different from her emotions.

“It seems certain that she will marry the duke. The level of dresses and accessories was beyond what the Deli baronial family could prepare entirely.”

“Should I just kill her? Stress isn’t good for the skin.”

Watching her say such terrifying words so casually, Arche swallowed dryly.

“That’s right. Stress isn’t good for the skin.”

“But if I kill her, Askal would be hurt.”

“I-I suppose so?”

“For my sake, it might be better to kill her.”

Arche forcibly suppressed her trembling hands. She mustn’t show signs of fear. The moment she was discovered, she would be devoured by the silver predator.

“What should I do? What do you think you would do?”

At Maybel’s question, Arche put down the jewelry box. Here, she had to give an answer that pleased her, not the correct one. Of course, that was impossible.

“I-I’m not sure about that.”

Maybel’s silver eyes touched Arche and then fell away.

“Hmm… What to do.”

Maybel, who had been muttering to herself, stood up as if she had made a decision. Arche, who stood up with her, realized she had her eyes half-open and stopped breathing in horror.

“I should do what I do best, right?”

Saying that, Maybel left the room without even saying goodbye. Left alone, Arche wiped away her cold sweat and sighed in relief.

I expected the beast subjugation to start in summer or late summer, but after confirming the movements of the beasts, the situation became such that we would have to go out for subjugation in late spring, earlier than that.

The number of beasts increased compared to last year. The timing also became earlier.

We can’t know exactly why beasts increase explosively around this time, but according to scholars’ research results, it’s due to the characteristics of the north where summer ends in just a month.

As the number of plant individuals increases exponentially around that time, animals come to the vicinity of the territory, and beasts starved during winter gather to eat those animals.

As a result, crops about to be harvested get damaged, and people traveling to and from the territory often become prey for beasts. That’s the reason for the annual beast subjugation.

And at the forefront of the subjugation team was always Duke Artenbach.

“Shouldn’t we start recruiting volunteers for the subjugation team soon?”

At the secretary’s words, Askal examined the subjugation plan with a serious face.

“How are the preparations for the shooting unit going?”

“It’s still not ready for deployment.”

“Recruit more volunteers.”

“Yes, shall we set the recruitment period for 2 weeks?”

“Do it the same as last year.”

“Yes.”

Askal felt his throat dry at the thought of having to be away for over a fortnight. Even though he knew Schmidt would be by Rublion’s side, the fact that he had to leave didn’t sit well with him.

“Your Excellency, but what about the wedding preparations in this situation?”

Rimon, who was about to leave the office, turned back and asked as if he had almost forgotten. This was precisely what Askal had been worrying about.

“It would be impossible to have the wedding and go on a honeymoon within 3 weeks.”

Once recruitment for the subjugation team begins, we need to start training the selected personnel first.

Catching beasts isn’t difficult, but there are many small tasks like teaching the commander’s hand signals and dividing groups according to specialties.

‘I might not be able to go to the mansion for a while.’

If the timing hadn’t been pushed forward, it wouldn’t have been this busy.

“Rimon.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Don’t include the knights of the Artenbach Knighthood in this subjugation team.”

“If we exclude them, the cost for the subjugation team will double, you know?”

Askal recalled Schmidt’s dark eyes, which were trying not to show fear despite being scared enough to be stressed.

“I’ll give them the mission of guarding the mansion and the young baroness.”

“But leaving the entire knighthood behind is…”

Askal raised his hand, cutting off Rimon’s words.

“Duke Rumpus has started moving. It seems the Silver Knights she leads are gathering rumors from the territory. The momentum of buying up real estate is also not normal.”

“We can’t leave the entire knighthood behind for just that reason.”

The secretary drew a line through the supplementary budget in the plan. Then he wrote a new amount, double the original.

“The participation fee will increase this much. It’s a burdensome amount for the territory’s budget.”

Askal quietly looked at the secretary, whose eyes said he absolutely wouldn’t back down. Then he came to the conclusion that if the problem was budget shortage, he should fill in the lacking part.

“How much more budget is needed?”

“Roughly fifty million tiga will be needed.”

“I’ll cover it with my personal funds.”

“…You’re going to handle fifty million tiga with personal funds?”

“Yes.”

Rimon’s mouth fell open. It was by no means a small amount.

“Your Excellency, even for a ducal family, it’s a large sum. Wouldn’t you reconsider?”

Askal looked at him, who was frustrated, and answered clearly.

“It’s the cost of protecting the future duchess and heir. No matter how much it costs, I don’t regret it at all.”

Rimon stood silently for a while. Then he muttered quietly.

“Your Excellency, may I say just one thing?”

“Go ahead.”

Rimon spoke towards Askal, who had started looking at approval documents.

“You’re enviable but also an annoying bastard.”

Then Askal replied with a grin.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

I received a message from the agave buyer saying they would send a representative. The reason was that they were too busy to come in person.

For me, it doesn’t matter if a representative comes as long as I solve the request and get the corresponding fee, but I felt strangely uneasy for some reason.

‘It is odd that they insisted on working with me even though there’s a better direction.’

They said they wanted to import agave fiber and turn it into commercially viable products. It’s a fiber strong enough to be used for ship ropes, so it could be a successful item if done well.

Ten minutes before the appointed time, someone entered Black Swan. It was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head and a bulging belly.

“Hello, I’m the representative of Lanpsa.”

“Yes, welcome. I’m Schmidt Deli.”

We exchanged a brief greeting with a handshake. Hearing the voice, Ranson, who was packing moving boxes in the workshop, peeked out and looked.

“First, I’ll tell you that it’s possible to import agave fiber. You can see the details in this contract here.”

Anna, who was waiting on the side, handed the contract to the representative. He read the clauses quite carefully.

“Good. Shall we proceed like this?”

“Are there no other requests? Adjustments to the deadline or cost…”

“No, all the conditions are not bad.”

The representative excitedly explained about the agave fiber products he envisioned. Hearing this story, the suspicion that had been creeping up subsided a bit.

But I wanted to check.

“May I ask just one question?”

“Ask anything.”

“I’m curious why you chose Black Swan when you could have imported agave fiber more cheaply through the Artenbach Trading Company?”

“Ah… Actually, it’s because the CEO was quite uneasy about that.”

The representative said that they were worried about having their product ideas stolen by Artenbach if they imported the agave fiber through the trading company.

As someone who had often lost artists I had my eye on to art galleries, I could understand the CEO’s anxiety.

“So trying to avoid direct dealings with Artenbach led us to request Black Swan.”

“I see. There’s no chance of Lanpsa’s ideas being leaked here. I promise on my name.”

“Yes, I believe you.”

The representative laughed heartily with a kind-looking smile. After checking the power of attorney he brought, explaining the contract terms verbally again, and completing the signatures on both sides.

“Then I’ll wait for your contact, trusting you.”

He picked up the top hat he had taken off. Then he bowed politely.

I stayed by his side until he caught a rickshaw to return to the company. As we exchanged trivial talk about the request, the rickshaw Anna had called for had already arrived.

After the representative left, I sent Anna to the Artenbach Trading Company and returned to Black Swan alone.

“Are you finished?”

Ranson was sitting on the waiting room sofa waiting for me. At his feet was a large bag about the size of a chair.

“Yes, it’s over now. I was supposed to help you pack… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

But unlike his answer, Ranson’s expression was as if he had drunk bitter medicine.