Above all, at present, since Liselotte had carried out mass dismissals, there were many vacant positions.
‘While His Highness is away on the subjugation, I should have Ail fill them with suitable people.’
With all the bothersome old-generation figures having gone off to the campaign, now was the perfect opportunity.
That was why she had even gathered the courage she did not have just to keep Ail behind.
When Ail merely smiled, as if she thought he had misunderstood her intent, Liselotte spoke to him again—this time clearly.
“There are also many vacant positions in the Ducal Estate right now.”
“Yes. There are many.”
“I do not know many people myself, so I would like you, Sir Ail, to recommend some talented individuals.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Is it all right even if they are not from the North?”
“There is no need to look at external backgrounds. Just whether they are decent people. Please only judge that.”
At Liselotte’s words, his face gradually began to brighten.
Wearing the brightest smile he had shown yet, he answered without hesitation.
“Just leave it to me. I will organize a list and submit it!”
***
Kiiiii-
A shrill sound, like metal scraping against metal, rang out unpleasantly.
Chwaak, the moment the sword cut down, the irritating sound disappeared.
Eren, splashed with a damp yet transparent violet liquid, looked at the dead monster with an indifferent gaze and asked,
“The eastern side?”
“Since House Gloria has also sent quite a large subjugation force, it seems it will be dealt with early.”
Speaking casually, Ferento stared at the wrecked ground.
‘As expected, he really is amazing.’
A monster carried overwhelming pressure by its mere existence.
So even skilled members of the subjugation forces were constantly on edge.
But compared to that, the aura Eren emitted was twice as vicious.
If a monster only frightened people, then Eren Keilos was enough to make the faint-hearted feel as though their breath were being crushed, leaving them trembling.
It was neither the method taught in noble households, nor even remotely the approach favored by the efficiency-driven subjugation forces.
Rather—
‘It feels as though he is crushing some lowly, insignificant being.’
In subjugations, he moved cruelly and savagely.
Anyone who had witnessed even once how he fought during a subjugation could only submit instinctively.
That was precisely why, despite the complicated internal affairs of House Keilos, the subjugation force had not collapsed and had endured.
At times, he would even give off an aura eerily similar to that of a monster itself.
Ferento recalled Eren from long ago, just after he had completed the succession.
At twelve years old, at most only one or two years younger than himself, the young Head of the House had been far more terrifying than he was now.
‘When he was young, he would knock hired servants unconscious at the slightest provocation…’
Now, he had refined himself to the point where he only revealed that killing intent during subjugations.
Faint-hearted people still shrank back in fear at the sight of Eren, but compared to during a subjugation, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
‘Strangely enough, Princess Liselotte is unexpectedly unaffected.’
Tilting his head slightly, Ferento barely endured Eren’s aura, forcibly tempered over many years, as he gathered the remains of the beast.
In the meantime, Eren quietly lifted his head and surveyed the surroundings.
The subjugation forces were driving the monsters into the dense forest, dealing with them in a way that minimized damage to nearby civilian homes.
The snow mountains were covered everywhere with ice and snow, leaving only the remains of dead monsters.
From the unpleasant sound echoing through the distant sky, it seemed that more of them would soon come swarming in.
Eren’s golden eyes held a chilling glint, as though they were fixed upon a monster.
Some of the subjugation members who had finished their assigned work flinched and turned their heads away when their eyes met his.
Keeping his eyes closed, Eren murmured in a voice so quiet that no one else could hear.
“I do not feel pain. I do not feel fear. I will cleave through everything in a single stroke, down to even the fragments of bone.”
When he opened his eyes again, the golden irises flickered briefly.
The feral aura, savage like the gaze of a beast just before a hunt, quickly subsided.
It was the Word of Command.
The Word of Command that had not worked on Liselotte was functioning flawlessly on him.
Sword in hand, he moved forward quietly.
At that moment, Ferento, who had been some distance away collecting the corpse of a dead monster, came running over in a rush.
“Your Highness, where are you going?”
“Wouldn’t it be faster to go down and take care of it before they start swarming again?”
At that, Ferento twitched his eyebrows as if puzzled.
“Is it really necessary to go that far? You’ve never done that before.”
“I promised to come back early. I should keep my word.”
Whenever he faced her, Liselotte would glare at him viciously, demanding a divorce.
Despite her fragile, almost paltry frame and beautiful appearance, the words she spat out were sharp.
Just then, with the subjugations as an excuse, he avoided facing her as much as possible after the marriage.
He had thought she was merely that harsh.
Yet she had said she was scared.
Eren lifted his head and gazed up at the sky, which felt unusually white.
His breath passed through his vision in a pale cloud.
He recalled that the sky he saw whenever he went to the Capital had always been a clear, vivid blue.
‘I forgot that the North is an unfamiliar place for her.’
She had lived only within the Imperial Palace.
She had even been married off as if sold to a foreign land, and given the nature of the North, it was not easy for her to go out.
He remembered her shouting every time, demanding a divorce and yelling about what kind of mansion this was if she could not even hold banquets.
She hated the North because it was cold, hated having married him because it felt like being cast aside.
Busy with subjugations, he had assumed those were nothing more than petty complaints.
Family, relatives, acquaintances. She had left behind every bit of her background, and yet she could not even call people to the North, so it was only natural for her to feel suffocated.
He did not really know how to deal with someone so small and fragile.
The subjugation force and hired personnel were relatively simple to deal with. He just had to give orders.
But Liselotte was neither someone he could command, nor someone who would listen even if he did.
If anything, the small mercy was that the Word of Command did not work on her.
At least that meant there was one less chance of killing her by mistake.
‘It looked like her wrist would break just from grabbing it.’
He had felt it at the wedding as well, but honestly, the fact that she even walked around was a bit astonishing.
She looked like she would die within a day if left in the snowy mountains, yet she somehow possessed all the basic components of a human.
Thinking about it, Liselotte hardly ever came out of her room.
Moreover, perhaps because the wound she had seen in the dining room had been so shocking, he often found her gaze drawn to him.
With his recovery being faster than most, his injuries had long since healed, leaving only faint traces.
It was a familiar situation for him, but for her, who had grown up in the Capital, it must have been a rather brutal sight.
It seemed her claim that the North was frightening to her was not a lie.
Ferento, quick to grasp Eren’s words, nodded his head solemnly.
“Well, you were so busy with subjugations that you practically rushed through the wedding as well, weren’t you? From what I hear from the maids, they say things like this can be held as a lifelong grudge.”
“Is it really that bad?”
Eren lightly frowned.
He had never placed much meaning on a wedding.
Thinking back to how Liselotte had also been fuming, on the verge of tears at the time, Ferento’s words did not seem wrong.
“Still, this time I left Ail behind, as she requested, so it should be a bit better.”
Eren’s voice sank low.
He did not know when it had started, but watching them over the past few days, the relationship between the two looked quite good.
Especially since the moment she said she would keep Ail by her side for mental stability, it was not hard to see how much she relied on him.
Of course, Ail was a loyal vassal.
One of the very few people he could trust.
And yet, an odd, uncomfortable feeling lingered, as if something were caught in his throat.
Perhaps noticing the subtle change in his expression, Ferento roughly scratched the back of his head and asked bluntly,
“Why not bring back a gift while we’re on our way?”
“She seems to like things that are shiny and expensive, but even if I place an order right away, it would take time.”
He had already been considering it, since she had looked as though she coveted the angel statue.
But there was not enough time to have an angel statue made from that much gold and bring it back right away.
While he was pondering, Ferento rattled on, earnestly laying out his opinion.
“You should get something else at least. Looking at it now, she wasn’t shouting about divorce for no reason. Since Princess Liselotte has stepped back like this, if you don’t even send a proper gift, next time it will really be divorce.”
A slain monster came into his view.
It was a Shalendra, a monster with dense, fluffy fur.
Its white fur did not discolor, making it especially popular in the North as a pelt.
The processing was complicated, but it was one of the high-end materials used for coats and accessories.
As Eren’s gaze fixed on the fur, Ferento likewise stared seriously at the monster lying stiffly.
“Hmm, this one is no good. Your Highness turned it into mince, so at best they could make hats for the knights with it.”
“…Do you think she would like it?”
“That, I don’t know. They say her tastes are extremely picky. I’m completely ignorant when it comes to women’s clothing.”
Pink hair and pastel-colored eyes.
Her white skin, almost translucent, would take on a faint red tint when it met the cold northern air.
Overall, she was someone who suited bright colors.
A white Shalendra cloak seemed like it would be helpful even for her, who was not accustomed to the cold.
Before Ferento could say more.
Eren adjusted his grip on the sword and said,
“This time, make sure to take it down without damaging the Shalendra’s pelt.”
