Lenisha handed out a bag of gold coins.

“Certainly, you should go and lead the knights instead of Casius leaving his place. Rent a carriage to bring the distance to work, and …….”

“Food, and in addition to that, I will buy medicines. Will that do?”

“Perfect.”

Lenisha wore a smiling expression.

Fortunately, Terion seemed to understand what Lenisha is trying to do and what needs to be done to some extent.

It was only natural that there were shortages of medicine here.

Furthermore, it was all their first experience in this climate and environment.

No one knew what disease might come suddenly.

Terion nodded and left with a few knights.

“What should we do next?”

Lenisha looked at Casius.

“We need to finish repairing this huge castle before winter comes. Probably not many of the fiefdom’s people are left. It would be nice if we could increase the fiefdom’s people as well…….”

Lenisha cast her eyes down.

It might not be that difficult.

If they know that the bloodline of Lotera has returned, the residents who originally lived in Hiloshain might come back.

They all left for other places, ignorantly abandoning and neglecting the fiefdom without even knowing what was hidden in Hiloshain.

However, Lenisha, a person from Lotera, knew the value of Hiloshain well.

The Hiloshain people’s attachment to their hometown was strong, so if they hear the news that Lenisha has returned, half of them might return.

“A fiefdom without people is as good as dead.”

“People… I have those I will bring.”

“I’m not neglecting them. You’re thinking of bringing the surviving tribes, aren’t you? It would be good to bring the tribal people when Sir Terion returns.”

Lenisha smiled bitterly.

What was not in Lenisha was alive in Casius.

Maybe that’s because Casius was stronger than Lenisha.

The reason he could protect his heart and retain his humanity.

It seemed like she knew why Casius wanted the fiefdom even without asking.

Casius felt responsible for the tribes.

Casius was a hero who saved the empire.

How sensitive the social world is to such striking words.

All the basic information about Casius was already in Lenisha’s head.

She values Casius’s heart.

So she had no intention of stopping what he wanted.
And as he said, if the number of territory’s inhabitants increases, it’s rather profitable.

But.

“They don’t know much about Hiloshain. They will need to get used to it and learn, but they need someone to teach them.”

“……What is hidden in Hiloshain?”

“It will be revealed soon. How about we go to the village now and bring the villagers? Even if we bring all the people from the village, it won’t be enough to repair this castle.”

Casius furrowed his brows.

The secret of Hiloshain.

Other than the fact that Hiloshain was a vast wasteland, he had never heard of any other secrets.

Casius pulled his cloak around Lenisha’s body.

Without any finesse, Casius simply wrapped it around Lenisha and fumbled with her hands.

Something had been bothering him.

“Is it cold here? Why is Lenisha so cold?”

Lenisha gave a hollow laugh.

Casius easily figured out what even the Emperor who had lived with her did not know.

“……Please make it not cold. It’s like an icehouse.”

Lenisha nodded her head.

“Come back quickly.”

Watching her shaking red hair, Lenisha smiled.

“You are kind.”

Casius smiled as if he had no choice.

Casius left the castle with the servants, maids, and knights who would assist him in his work.

Lenisha burst into laughter as she looked at the momentarily quiet castle.

Casius accepts everything as it is.

He does not twist it.

In contrast, the Emperor looked down on everything from a higher place than Lenisha and was not easy to deal with.

Casius was a completely different person from Emperor Lexsus.

Casius listens to Lenisha’s stories.

He did so now, and he did so all the way on their journey here.

Lost in thought of Casius, Lenisha, who had been smiling for a moment, called Lindei.

“Lindei.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I think we need to start touching the urgent places first. If you look around, there should be at least some usable bedding.”

“Yes!”

Lindei signaled to the imperial court’s attendants who had come with her.

“Spread out and find usable things. What we need urgently now are things to use in the kitchen, bedding, and things like curtains.”

“Yes, Lindei ma’am!”

The people responded briskly. Soon, they scattered in all directions.

For some reason, they felt like flames that would never go out.

Lenisha smiled faintly.

‘I won’t lose to you anymore, Lexsus.’

Emperor Lexsus would have wanted Lenisha to perish here with Casius.

It was clear that he had handed over this rundown castle.

It was a mockery of Lenisha.

The Emperor may have taken the name of Empress from Lenisha, but he couldn’t take away the name Rotera.

That was the value and name that Lenisha would protect throughout her life.

Lenisha Rotera.

The Rotera family will rise again based on the northwestern Hiloshain.

The next destination of the Rotera family’s sword was the imperial city.

He would make Lexsus pay for all this.

‘Ah, Empress. You’re here? Look at this! A gift the enemy sent me. How humiliating this is.’

Lexus, staggering with a glass of alcohol, and a box of salt.

Inside it were two severed heads.

The atmosphere of that day, the smell that stung the tip of the nose, the feeling as if the floor had collapsed.

She could never erase the overwhelming sadness and pain that surged up last.

Lexus smiled in front of Lenisha, who was trembling.

As if he had been waiting for that moment.

‘Don’t be so sad. The Duke and Duchess Rotera have sacrificed themselves for this country. How sublime a death this is!’

Nonsense.

It was all nonsense.

If it wasn’t for that damned son, the Duke and Duchess Rotera would not have died.

It was a battlefield that they were forced into to be killed in the first place.

It was a battle with no hope of victory, not even a rat’s tail.

People said there would be an ambush, and they should take another path.

The Duke and Duchess Rotera had the same opinion.

But the Emperor forced the Duke and Duchess down that path.
They threw the lives of the knights they were leading into the pit of fire all at once.

Lenisha’s pink eyes flickered as if covered by a flashing veil.

The emperor poured wine over the corpses of those who had died such unjust deaths.

“Well, did the Duchess enjoy the wine?”

Emperor Lexus burst into laughter.

The sour smell of wine filled the room.

The Lotera family were founding contributors to the nation.

From the moment this empire was opened, they had existed as Dukes and had guarded this empire and the imperial family.

That was their reward!

Reality did not feel real.

Unable to cry and trembling, Lenisha looked on as Emperor Lexus revealed his true colors.

“Next is your Orabida. I will kill your Orabida and his wife and bring them before you.”

Lenisha would never forget that sharp gaze and the contempt hidden within it.

She realized that the Emperor’s intention from the beginning was this when he made Lenisha the Empress.

The Emperor’s hatred and anger had a very long history.

Lenisha knew that the Emperor would not stop.

“Then I must stop it.”