Chapter 32
“Milady! Are you really planning to return like this?”
It was evening, the sun dipping below the horizon.
Ahead lay the rugged path into the mountains, and a campsite had already been prepared in advance.
Lady Ophelia, seated in the carriage adorned with red rose motifs, gazed out the window with a face full of concern. She watched a knight, raising his voice in frustration at the grand duke’s carriage, and let out a bitter smile.
“…It can’t be helped. Right now, I’m desperate enough to clutch at any straw.”
“No matter what, this isn’t right! There’s a limit to ignoring us. Even if the knights can’t help, shouldn’t at least a few soldiers be sent in support?”
The grand duke’s house had sent them only four people, despite Ophelia’s long journey to request help.
She understood that the two houses were not closely related by blood and that the Ather family had no pressing reason to assist them.
But to send merely four people—ostensibly “generously”—to handle the strange occurrences in the Moonlit Forest, which neither the hired mercenaries nor the count’s elite forces could manage, was harsh.
And the one leading them was none other than Eric Ather, the infamous “Brute of the North,” whose reputation spread across the empire.
Eric Ather… the legendary Brute of the North…
Even half a day had passed since leaving the Ather territory, yet the knight beside her still panted angrily, clearly unrelieved.
Ophelia narrowed her eyes and watched Eric chatting with a member of the Church at a distance. Her thoughts wandered back to her earlier meeting at the mansion.
Is he really as incompetent and lecherous as the rumors say?
Since they had visited the grand duke’s residence in a rush without prior notice, the knights waited outside, leaving her unable to grasp the situation entirely.
But the Eric she met in the reception room didn’t seem like a reckless brute at all, as the rumors claimed.
If the rumors were true, the grand duke wouldn’t have brought him along to that meeting.
Even in a rush, this was a formal occasion. Unless the Ather family looked down on the Winterrose house, they would not have arbitrarily sent a notorious brute along.
While it wasn’t an official event, accompanying such a gathering between noble houses implied he was prepared to present himself suitably.
Moreover… he didn’t even seem incompetent.
Still, Ophelia did not conclude her judgment based on that alone.
Yesterday, in the reception room, while the grand duke hesitated to accept their request, Eric had offered advice—advice that a mere incompetent brute would not have given.
Unless the grand duke had secretly prompted Eric outside the reception, that judgment was unlikely.
Though… he is the family’s only heir, so I can’t entirely dismiss the possibility…
Which was the truth? She couldn’t tell from such a brief encounter.
But her intuition as a daughter of the Winterrose merchant house told her that Eric was not the rumored brute.
Even if her instinct was wrong, it didn’t matter. If the grand duke went so far as to endorse him despite potential disgrace, then the remaining three sent with him would be enough to protect him. That alone would help their mission.
But if my instinct is right… why? Why pretend to be incompetent until now? And why act like this all of a sudden?
The grand duke’s disgrace, the Brute of the North, the youngest hero recently recognized by the Church—two entirely different evaluations of the same person. Which one was real?
As night fell, Ophelia watched Eric with a suspicious gaze.
Kuh-uh!
“An ambush! Protect the lady!”
Ophelia Winterrose, having urgently come to the grand duke’s house in hopes of reclaiming her father’s heirlooms, had now been away from the Ather family estate for six days.
Eric, traveling alongside at a measured distance from the Winterrose knights, frowned at the approaching wolves that the carriage in front had spotted.
…Have monsters always appeared this often?
They hadn’t even reached the Moonlit Forest yet, their destination. Yet today alone, they had encountered monsters three times.
“This is strange. We’re still some distance from the forest,” Malefica whispered beside him. Eric nodded in agreement.
It was odd that monsters were appearing so frequently along a trade route, not a monster’s natural habitat.
The bigger problem: these wolves normally lived in the forest.
There’s no other forest or mountain nearby… so all of these must have come from the Moonlit Forest.
Wild monsters rarely leave their territory, except in unusual circumstances.
And yet, forest-dwelling wolves had ventured into the roads, attacking not ordinary travelers but knights.
Moreover, the first group that attacked, and all of these, are so skinny that their collarbones show. That means… they all lost in the food chain and fled.
Wolves, driven from their territory by a stronger predator, indicated that the Moonlit Forest now had a predator so powerful that it could displace the existing packs in just a few weeks.
…This won’t be easy.
Eric had known from the start that the count leading his elite forces would face difficulties, but he hadn’t anticipated such severity. He realized he needed to pay more attention to the strange occurrences in the Moonlit Forest, not just the Winterrose succession issues.
“It seems you’ve noticed something.”
For a brief moment, Eric looked at the distant forest with a serious expression, noticing Malefica watching him meaningfully. Sweat dripped down his temple.
“What could I have noticed? This is my first time in the Moonlit Forest.”
“Yet you seem troubled…”
Previously, she hadn’t scrutinized him so openly. Perhaps after he provoked her days ago, she now tested him constantly, disregarding others’ eyes.
“If there were something to notice, I wouldn’t be this troubled. But…”
“But?”
Eric averted his gaze from her heavy stare and looked ahead, where the situation seemed under control.
“It seems you’ve already found someone to ask, besides me.”
Ophelia was biting her nails anxiously among the scattered wolf corpses. He knew, even if only from past records, but it wasn’t the same as witnessing the phenomenon firsthand.
If she wanted answers, it was faster to ask someone knowledgeable. Especially since they were risking themselves to assist, there was no need to worry about the Winterrose household’s feelings. If trouble arose in the forest, it wouldn’t just affect them.
“Lady Ophelia, could we have a moment to talk…?”
Click—
As Eric approached to ask her about the anomaly in the Moonlit Forest, a Winterrose knight stepped in front of him, frowning.
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
“If you have something to say, say it there. There’s no need to get so close to the lady.”
The knight and others cast displeased glances as they paused from clearing the wolf corpses.
“G-Grand Duke!”
“What are you all doing? You’re here to assist him…”
Thud—
Leona and Liliane, who had been helping drive off the wolves, flanked Eric, glaring around. Eric raised a hand to calm them and looked at Ophelia among the knights.
…Hah. Look at this.
Unlike when they first left the mansion, her eyes now tested him. She showed no hostility like the knights, but her gaze was clearly assessing him.
He hadn’t come to help them expecting such treatment.
“Lady Ophelia.”
Eric Ather, the second prince of the Ather family, was by no means a saint. How could he be, nicknamed the “Brute of the North”?
But he was no pushover, and he wasn’t about to laugh off this ridiculous situation. He judged that solving this anomaly in the Moonlit Forest would help him surpass Allen and Ivan as heir.
That meant there was no need to act submissive.
No, the ones who should be submissive were over there.
“Is this how the Winterrose family treats someone who came to help?”
Unhappy, he narrowed his eyes and stared at Ophelia.
“Damn…”
“Ophelia Winterrose!”
Amid the lined-up carriages, a resounding shout echoed.
Eric, beyond the startled knights, met Ophelia’s wide-eyed gaze and continued:
“I am not here as the prince of the Ather family.”
He was no longer the reckless Brute seen in taverns.
“I command you as a hero officially recognized by the Church.”
Despite any controversy, he was formally acknowledged as a hero.
“Disperse your knights immediately.”
Eric glanced at Malefica, who looked perplexed at his audacity, and smiled.
Though it wasn’t the role he wanted, he now held a powerful “calling card.” Time to use it.
“Or…”
He turned back to Ophelia, shot a glance at the knights flustered by the unexpected situation, and continued:
“Is the Winterrose house acting against the will of the Goddess?”
The faces of the knights surrounding them drained of color.
