After Masid passed by, everyone immediately began whispering among themselves.
“If he had just gone down earlier like Her Highness told us to, none of this would have happened.”
“In the end, he acted however he wanted and caused damage to the House. Can’t we bill him separately for this?”
“Have you ever seen His Highness the Grand Duke make us take responsibility for something like this?”
“Ah, that’s right. House Keilos has always covered all damages that occur during subjugations.”
They walked on, murmuring as if newly realizing just how well Eren had always treated them.
And that only stoked Masid’s temper further.
‘No. How is this my fault? How was I supposed to know it would explode? Do they think I’ve only been to the border region once or twice? The mine was perfectly fine back then, so why…?!’
Holding his throbbing head, Masid headed toward the training grounds.
There were always people who followed him — he intended to at least vent to them.
There were still those who supported the old generation.
Surely, they would understand Masid’s injustice.
But when he stepped into the training grounds—
“…”
Cold reactions.
Frosty gazes.
Even those who normally flattered him stood together with the other knights, merely watching him from afar.
For a moment, Masid froze, unable to say anything.
***
It was not until the afternoon of the next day that a letter finally arrived from House Gloria.
Liselotte looked over the letter that arrived just as the sun was about to set and shook her head.
‘They were the ones who nagged me for not sending it within a morning, and yet they send their reply almost 24 hours later.’
Truly, hypocrisy knew neither era nor class.
When she opened the letter, she immediately recognized Mirkena’s familiar handwriting.
But the tone felt strangely different from usual.
[Greetings,
From House Gloria.
Regarding our stance on the recent magic stone explosion that was delivered in such a one-sided manner, we too, regret the matter.
However, this relates to the declining trust the East currently has toward the North, which we find unfortunate.
The East has judged that, although the negotiations for damage recovery were not yet complete, the North unilaterally dispatched people to the northern region of the East without receiving any prior guidance from us.
We recall that the North had expressed confidence in your damage recovery capabilities.
Although we repeatedly requested information on the personnel to be selected for the subjugation unit, the North did not send any proper reply, and the resulting failure to comply caused delays in cooperation.
The East had already formed its subjugation unit, and the selection process was complete.
Furthermore, regarding the drafting of subjugation personnel, once a joint subjugation agreement has been made, both sides must perform a final confirmation.
House Gloria’s stance on this matter is that, given the damages sustained, it is difficult for us to proceed with voiding the contract.
We ask that you review the contents above.
We hope that matters will proceed in a positive direction from here on.]
Liselotte read the letter and hummed in satisfaction.
The first thing that stood out was the claim that no notice was given regarding the northern region of the East.
‘Too bad for them, but Hedmilton did give prior warning.’
It seemed the handover had been handled poorly, but that was none of her concern.
What mattered was that even the East acknowledged they were responsible for managing the northern region.
The second major mistake was the mention of “final confirmation” for selecting subjugation personnel.
‘Since when did asking for a list count as an official procedure!’
How was the North supposed to know the internal status of the eastern subjugation unit?
‘If anything, if the North answered too accurately, shouldn’t that set off alarm bells? It would mean we knew every detail about another House’s private army…’
She was glad she had sent a letter instead of immediately demanding compensation.
It was the right choice.
Sitting at her desk, Liselotte grinned at the letter.
“It’s practically the same as saying ‘We admit our fault’. They might as well have written it themselves.”
She reread the letter slowly from top to bottom.
It was clearly Mirkena’s handwriting, yet no matter how she looked at it — even upside down — the tone was nothing like hers.
Not even the usual greeting of “This is Mirkena.” appeared at the start.
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed Mirkena had asked someone else for help because she couldn’t handle the reply herself.
Whoever it was, it amounted to admitting they hadn’t received a proper handover from Hedmilton.
‘Strange. Someone like Hedmilton would’ve organized everything neatly before leaving.’
And if it had been him, none of this would have happened in the first place.
Tilting her head, Liselotte called for Marsha.
“Could you ask His Highness if he can hold a House Council sometime tomorrow afternoon?”
“Um… are you sure you’ll be alright? If so, members of the Elders’ Council from the collateral branch will also attend…”
Marsha, who had once again collected the stack of notes piling up in the letter box, set the container on the desk and voiced her worry carefully.
A House Council was attended by the Head of the House, those holding major positions, and members of the Elders’ Council — consisting mainly of collateral relatives.
They were the very elders who served as Masid’s backing.
In other words, the collateral branch was almost guaranteed to take Masid’s side.
Liselotte unfolded one of the notes from the box and read it as she replied,
“It’s fine. Just tell His Highness it’s for employee welfare.”
“Ah, yes!”
Marsha’s face brightened instantly — unusual for someone who normally never showed preferences about the knights.
Even without saying it outright, it seemed she too disliked Masid.
Just as Marsha was heading toward Eren, Liselotte called her back.
“And if possible, could you call the eastern-born servant and maid to my room?”
“Understood!”
Marsha bowed swiftly and respectfully, then vanished from sight in an instant.
‘Did the North train even its maids with such skills?’
Liselotte watched the door with mild amazement.
Not long after — knock, knock — a knock sounded.
“Princess Liselotte. We heard you called for us.”
Right after, the voice of the maid from the East came through.
“We still haven’t found anything new…”
Perhaps thinking Liselotte wanted to ask about eastern rumors again, both of them entered with troubled expressions.
But this time, she hadn’t called them here to ask about eastern nonsense.
Liselotte smiled brightly and answered kindly,
“No, it’s not that. I called you because I wanted to know whether, in the East, when forming or deploying a subjugation force, they ever request another House to handle it for them.”
It was to spread a rumor in the opposite direction.
Those two were the ones who, after the previous questions, had kept exchanging messages with people from the East.
In any territory, especially one responsible for subjugating monsters, a subjugation force held enormous importance.
It was the basic means of protecting their land, and for their own survival, people could not help but respect them.
A subjugation force was the dream of commoners.
If even one member of a household joined their ranks, matchmakers would wait outside their door, promising to arrange marriages — that was the level of prestige they held.
So for a House to entrust such a force— effectively the entirety of its land and reputation — to another House?
Leaving aside matters of disgrace, it was an issue directly tied to the safety of the territory’s people, so of course they were sensitive to it.
“No, never!”
Both of them answered immediately, without a moment of hesitation.
The servant and the maid shook their heads as if the very idea was absurd.
Especially the maid — her slightly widened, almost crumpled-looking eyes made it obvious she was speaking sincerely.
She shook her head violently, as if she had heard something horrifying.
“That’s impossible. It’s the subjugation force we’re talking about.”
Exactly.
In the four Great Houses, including the North, it was only natural that each House handled its own subjugation force selection.
That was precisely why they held such power in the Empire.
‘Even the servants know this — so there’s no way House Gloria can claim ignorance.’
Liselotte exaggeratedly touched her cheek with an anxious expression and murmured,
“House Gloria told me to oversee the subjugation force selection this time. I wondered if maybe things were handled differently in the East.”
“…House Gloria told you that?”
The servant asked again, his voice trembling.
He looked utterly unable to believe it.
Well, Liselotte had been shocked too — so how much more shocking must it be for others?
