Chapter 44 —
“Something happened in the Great Forest?
“I don’t know the details either. That’s all it says in the letter.”
“That’s… all?”
Thompson’s face twisted. He had been pressured to make sure to get a reply no matter what, but if he had known the message was so short, he wouldn’t have knocked on the Marquis’s door this early in the morning.
“Should I go to the hotel and bring the messenger here? He might know something.”
“No need.”
Leonard took paper and a fountain pen from the servant and wrote a reply on the spot.
Since the letter he received was short, his reply was just as brief—saying only that he was too busy to spare the time.
“Which hotel is the messenger staying at?”
“On Velvet Street… But Count, is it really okay to reply like that?”
“It’s fine.”
He told the servant to deliver his letter to the hotel where the Marquis of Waindal’s messenger was staying and shrugged.
“If the Marquis of Waindal has any conscience, he won’t dare treat the Marquis Consort of Blair carelessly.”
After all, the only one who had helped during the almost hopeless expedition to subdue the Weinberg Great Forest was the Marquis of Blair.
‘…Wait.’
He remembered that Ireneia had invested heavily in the Weinberg Great Forest subjugation because she wanted to open a trade route through it later…
‘Could it be because of me? Because I was there?’
But Leonard quickly shook his head.
‘No way.’
He knew Ireneia had invested an enormous sum. It couldn’t have been just for him—it must have been for the trade route. Overland routes were more convenient than sea routes anyway.
Leonard concluded it was nothing more than that—completely unaware that his guess was actually correct.
Meanwhile…
After a quick breakfast, Ireneia arrived at her office and smiled at the hyacinth vase on her desk.
“Ah, life feels good.”
Fresh flowers picked every morning by the man she loved—it was enough to fill her lungs with sweet fragrance and her heart with energy for the day.
But within an hour, her face was full of exhaustion.
“So tiring…”
There was too much work. Even though she had delegated most wedding preparations to others, she was still very busy.
The Emperor’s order for her to refrain from court appearances had already forced her to cancel all scheduled audiences, yet she was still swamped.
“Marquis, someone from Count Mathias’s family came. They’ll do anything if you cancel your charges against the press.”
“Then tell them to print a full apology on the front page of the Lotus Newspaper and get forgiveness from Ray and Janice. Only then I’ll cancel it.”
“Marquis, someone from Viscount Callio’s family came. Lady Fiona is too ill to attend the wedding.”
“What an excuse. She uses her only daughter for everything. I’ll send a letter and some good medicine to their house.”
“Marquis, a messenger from the Imperial Palace arrived.”
“The Second Prince will attend instead of the Emperor? He’s not one to sincerely congratulate us… but fine.”
It took her hours just to write replies to all the letters, including responses to wedding invitations.
“Oh? The Marquis of Waindal says he can’t attend the wedding?”
“That’s surprising… I thought he’d come for the trade route matters.”
“Exactly. And I heard his young heir is debuting in high society next year. What better chance to show his face than my wedding?”
At the moment, two big projects were ongoing in the Weinberg Great Forest: building a road to connect with the Kingdom of Milos and developing farmland and housing for settlers.
But two weeks ago, news came from the Marquisate of Waindal—an accident had stopped construction.
“By the way, I heard a messenger from Waindal visited earlier.”
“Not this one delivering the letter?”
Ireneia waved the letter in her hand, and Damond nodded.
“He came with today’s guest, so I think he had business with the future Marquis Consort.”
“With Ray…?”
The name triggered a memory.
‘Could it be… this time already?’
It was earlier than she remembered.
‘That’s right… Right now, Ray has already repaid the debt to Count Miles.’
In the past, Leonard couldn’t gather enough money to repay that debt. The Iron-Blooded Mercenaries sold stolen magic tools from Count Mathias’s house to get money—but they sold for only 5 million Lark, and Janice was forced to marry Harry Miles.
The Miles family didn’t honor their promise to cancel the debt as part of the dowry, so the Elpheus family went bankrupt.
‘We planned to take Janice and run to another country, but then…’
Because of the stolen magic tools, Count Mathias hunted them down. Two died, and only Bin survived.
Even then, Bin and Leonard lived on the run from Mathias’s pursuit—until Harry Miles was found murdered, his head placed on Janice’s grave.
Everyone suspected Leonard. Miles accused him of noble murder, a crime punishable by death.
A month later, witnesses appeared saying Harry Miles had died in a formal duel with Leonard, and the Marquis of Waindal vouched for their testimony.
After a fierce legal battle between Waindal and Miles, Leonard’s charges were dropped—at the cost of Leonard helping Waindal solve a troublesome matter.
That event was supposed to happen 2–3 years from now, so Ireneia hadn’t connected the current news about halted construction to it.
She thought of Kitsch, the troublemaker she had once grown fond of when she joined the Iron-Blooded Mercenaries.
“Marquis? Why are you smiling like that?”
“No reason, just thought the name sounded familiar.”
She decided to write back, saying she understood.
Kiri insisted they demand a full explanation, since halting the construction was a big deal. But Ireneia calmly said—
“I already know what happened. And how to fix it.”
If the Marquis of Waindal was sending people to Leonard, it meant he knew the solution too.
“Actually, this works out well. I’ll just tell him I’ll come in person.”
“Go there yourself? He should be the one explaining here.”
“I want to see it with my own eyes, and I have other places to visit along the way.”
After the wedding and the railway opening, she planned to introduce Leonard to her retainers, then visit Waindal.
For now, she focused on replying to all the morning letters, including Waindal’s. Then she reviewed reports from her territory and from her overseas businesses, knowing that one mistake abroad could end years of hard-won trust.
By the time she finished, the sun was already halfway down in the west.
Over a late lunch of sandwiches and fruit, Damond updated her on the family:
“Lady Elisabeth went shopping in the city. Lady Charlotte is at the training grounds.”
“Again? She was there yesterday too.”
“She seems to enjoy watching the future Marquis Consort train.”
“And the knights? They’re treating Ray well?”
“Yes. They’ve even started calling him ‘Captain.’ No need to worry—when Sir Hawk became vice-captain, anyone who looked down on him learned their lesson.”
Even the strongest of Blair’s knights couldn’t beat Ray—Hawk included.
After all, in the Great Forest, Ray had inherited “that power,” earning the title Golden Lion of Weinberg.
If I’m understanding, it sounds like Leonard maybe shouldn’t have said no?