Rumors have a nature of spreading farther and faster the more one tries to suppress them. Although the butler of Artenbach did his best to silence the servants, rumors quickly began to circulate that Baron Arche had attempted to assassinate Baron Deli.

Among the nobles, hypotheses circulated that Rumps may have ordered it, or that Baron Arche had done it because he couldn’t make his daughter the duchess.

And those rumors grew and morphed, spreading beyond Artenbach.

“What?”

Askal rose abruptly from his seat upon hearing the shocking news. The desk placed on the uneven floor rattled.

“It’s a rumor I heard from the nearest village. They say Baron Arche assassinated Baron Deli, and Baron Deli and the duchess are in a coma. The lady apparently collapsed from shock…”

Askal staggered, holding his forehead.

“Are you alright!”

The deputy commander of the subjugation unit approached in alarm. Askal waved his hand.

Since leaving the domain, he had barely slept and quickly dispatched hordes of beasts. The scribe who came along for record-keeping marveled at the unprecedented time reduction. All of it was to return even a day earlier.

“How many habitats are left?”

“Only one remains.”

The deputy commander pointed to the map in response to Askal’s question.

“The black foxes. We can easily subdue them with just torches, so let’s depart immediately. I’ll take command, so gather available troops. Two teams should be sufficient.”

“But…”

The deputy commander asked with worried eyes.

“The wound from the northern spider hasn’t fully healed yet. Above all, the detoxification isn’t complete, so if you move now, the poison will spread faster.”

The deputy commander’s gaze fell on Askal’s chest. It was a concern stemming from knowing how large a wound lay beneath the bandages under the armor.

Askal stroked his chest with his hand.

Due to the quite large wound, they had to stitch it up without fully extracting the northern spider’s venom. It had been a dangerous battle where his heart might have been pierced if the wound had been just a bit deeper.

“Your Excellency.”

The deputy commander spoke in a serious voice, as if having made some decision.

“If Your Excellency permits, I will command the subjugation of the black foxes.”

“The foxes are numerous. It will be difficult if we miss the timing to use the torches.”

“I may not look it, but I’ve been going on beast subjugations with Your Excellency for ten years now. I may not be confident about other beasts, but I am about black foxes.”

Askal hesitated as he looked at the deputy commander. If he took command, Askal could leave for the domain immediately. But on the other hand, he couldn’t help but worry about those who might be sacrificed if things went wrong.

He was the lord, and the person responsible for everything that happened in this subjugation.

“Your Excellency, please leave this to me.”

Askal agonized, unable to even sit down. He desperately wanted to return to the domain right away.

“Ken, this is just an excuse to ease my mind.”

The deputy commander bent his arm forward, taking a posture of swearing loyalty.

“We can find someone to command the subjugation unit one way or another. But your wife is the only one in the world.”

Was it because he had voiced his desire? The urge to return surged uncontrollably.

“I will follow whatever choice Your Excellency makes.”

Askal closed his eyes tightly, pondered seriously, and then opened his mouth.

“…I’ll return first. Gather the spoils and return as soon as the subjugation is over.”

He wanted to be by her side. He was afraid of losing her like this without having done anything properly for her.

“I receive Your Excellency’s command.”

The deputy commander fell to his knees with a thud. Askal patted his shoulder once, then gathered his armor and weapons that he had taken off.

Inside the treatment room, there was no one except for the nurse and attending physician from the national hospital. The two seemed tired and were nodding off, not even noticing someone had entered.

Rublion quietly gazed at the middle-aged man with a face resembling Schmidt. Traces of the attack that hadn’t been fully cleaned remained here and there in his sweet pink hair.

‘There’s nothing I can do.’

Seeing Baron Deli lying unconscious made his head noisy. The fact that he could only quietly stay out of the adults’ way made him feel so small.

“Please wake up.”

Rublion muttered sincerely. He wished Baron Deli would wake up soon so Schmidt wouldn’t have to suffer.

“Ahem, ugh. Young master, how are you here at this hour?”

The attending physician who had been sleeping so deeply he wouldn’t have noticed if carried away, discovered Rublion and wiped the drool from his mouth.

“I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.”

“I see. I’ll bring you some herb tea. By the way, have you met the lady?”

“Why Mother?”

“She was here for a while, then said she was going to meet you and left.”

The attending physician was perplexed, not knowing what was going on. It was the same for Rublion.

He had come thinking Schmidt might be here, and to see Baron Deli as well, but their paths had crossed.

“Give me the herb tea quickly. I need to go to my room.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

Meanwhile, the nurse stirred awake. While waiting for the attending physician, Rublion quietly held Baron Deli’s hand that was outside the blanket.

“Please get well soon. We’ve never properly greeted each other even once.”

There was a clattering sound from outside the treatment room. The still sleepy attending physician must have dropped something from the shelf, as he cried out softly, “Oh my.”

“You know, I wanted to have a kind grandfather who would buy me everything I asked for.”

The nurse who had been sitting quietly gazed at the two of them. It was a heart-wrenching sight.

“I heard from the twins that you can do everything with grandfather that Mom and Dad don’t allow.”

The attending physician returned to the treatment room. Rublion let go of Baron Deli’s hand and stood up. Then he muttered as if praying.

“Please wake up soon so we can tease Mom together, Grandfather.”

Rublion received the herb tea from the attending physician and left the clinic after a brief greeting. The attending physician asked the nurse with moist eyes what had happened, but she shook her head and said it was nothing.

Rublion, who had run at full speed to his room, smiled broadly when he saw the door open. As expected, Schmidt was in the room.

“Rublion!”

Her eyes were full of worry. She had thought he would be sleeping since it was the middle of the night, but was surprised that he had disappeared without saying where he was going.

“Mom!”

Rublion quickly ran and hugged her. It felt like it had been a long time since he had hugged her.

“I came to see if you were sleeping well, but I was worried when you weren’t here.”

Schmidt gently stroked his head. Rublion smiled happily, nuzzling his face into her embrace.

“I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I went to see the attending physician.”

Rublion took out a herb tea from the paper bag and held it out.

“There are two, so you use one.”

“No, you got it because you needed it.”

“I need it, but you look like you need it too.”

Rublion tapped under his eyes with his finger as he spoke.

“It’s turned all black here.”

Schmidt chuckled and rubbed her eyes with her hand. Then she thanked him and accepted the herb tea.

“Mom, I read in a book that human life naturally has ups and downs, so if there’s a moment when it goes down, there will definitely be a moment when it goes up.”

Schmidt tightly hugged the small but reliable boy. The small hand touching hers moved, patting her.

“I think if we endure and persevere, good days will surely come.”

Rublion rested his chin on her shoulder as she lowered her posture. It was a comfort given with the thought that she must be having a hard time now, so he shouldn’t make it harder for her.

At that moment.

“My lady, my lady!”

Someone was running down the corridor, calling for Schmidt. Curious about what was happening, he peeked his head out to see it was the maid on duty.

“My lady, Baron Deli has woken up!”

Schmidt covered her mouth with her hand. At the same time, Rublion’s mouth fell open.

I came to the treatment room with Rublion. Father was sitting on the bed.

“Schmidt.”

Father was raising his hand precisely towards me. Thinking he wanted me to hold it, I quickly approached and took his hand.

“Thank goodness… I’m so relieved.”

The tears I had been holding back burst forth. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders at the thought that he was alive.

“My lady, could you spare me a moment?”

The attending physician called for me. After telling Rublion to stay here for a moment, I followed him outside.

“It’s truly fortunate that the baron has regained consciousness, but…”

My heart sank. What could be wrong? Why was he trailing off?

“His vision and hearing are fine, and his language ability is okay. However, his gross motor function is not smooth.”

My mind went blank. By gross motor function, did he mean he couldn’t move?

“Based on my current diagnosis, it appears to be lower body paralysis.”

I closed my eyes tightly. While I was grateful he had survived, I felt sorry for Father who would have to live a different life from now on.

“Does Father know?”

“He probably suspects. He said he was satisfied just being able to eat on his own…”

“That’s just like Father.”

Even in such a desperate situation, Father had smiled, I was told. That made my heart ache even more.

When I re-entered the treatment room with the attending physician, Rublion was chatting quietly with Father. Curious about what they were talking about, I approached closer.

“So I ran right towards the door where light was seeping through. But then, wouldn’t you know, I heard the young master’s voice.”

Judging by his level of speech, he seemed to have fully recovered already.

“My voice?”

“Yes, didn’t you say you wanted a grandfather who would buy you everything you asked for? You also said we should tease Schmidt together.”

“Ah, um…”

Rublion glanced at me furtively.

“I know this well since she’s my daughter, but Schmidt is scary when she gets angry. So teasing is not allowed, but instead we can go to the shopping district and buy everything you want.”

Father said with a broad smile. My heart ached.

The words that it might be impossible to walk around the shopping district rose to the tip of my tongue and then sank back down. I will absolutely not leave Rumps be.

Definitely.