“Yes, I am.”
Jeyord, Count Seten from the South.
A man renowned for battles at sea, with territory along the coast.
His slightly tanned skin and the loud, boisterous voice typical of seafaring people were his trademarks.
His overly large build even made him feel somewhat like a giant to Liselotte.
At her sharp reply, Jeyord let out repeated exclamations of admiration.
It was only natural.
He was…
“Wow, all the venom’s gone from you, I almost thought you were a different person! Long time no see, Your Highness!”
One of the men whom the original Liselotte had once targeted.
Rumors of him and Diana going on a date together in a busy district without attendants had been the cause.
Back then, Liselotte was in a phase where she would recklessly attack anyone who seemed close to Diana.
Jeyord had been one of her victims, though thankfully nothing had happened.
Liselotte asked back as if nothing were unusual,
“Venom? I don’t know what you mean.”
“Ah, well. I do understand. I ignored a lot of Your Highness’s letters, after all. Living on a ship, everything gets soaked in water, so I couldn’t read them!”
Because of that, the original Liselotte would grind her teeth at the very mention of the Seten County.
Saying she would kill him for ignoring her letters.
For both sides, it was for the best if the content remained unknown.
Liselotte quietly linked her arm around Eren’s.
She hadn’t contacted anyone since coming to the North, so as long as she appeared to get along well with Eren, it could all be dismissed as something from the past.
Feeling the golden gaze brushing against her face, Liselotte smiled brightly.
“It’s fine. Receiving letters while at sea… it sounds romantic and wonderful. Please keep it that way from now on!”
That she could say such things without any filter—Even Eren mildly furrowed his brow as he replied.
“Show some manners, Count Seten.”
“Ah, come on, you’re being so harsh to an old friend.”
“I don’t recall us ever becoming friends.”
“There you go again. Should I send you some salmon? My aide keeps feeding me tons of it these days, saying it’s great for stress.”
“Isn’t that something your aide should be eating, not you?”
It was hard to tell whether they were close or not.
Even at Eren’s cold words, Jeyord simply burst into loud laughter, as if everything delighted him.
He also kept thumping Eren’s back.
The more he did, the worse Eren’s expression grew, and Liselotte started to get worried for no reason.
Should she stop him? As she hesitated, Jeyord asked bluntly, showing not a hint of tact.
“Ah, I’ve been hearing terrible rumors about the East lately. Did something happen between them and the North?”
Instantly, the gazes in the hall subtly converged on them.
People pretended to keep talking, but there was no way they hadn’t heard his booming voice.
And their once cheerful chatter had noticeably quieted down.
It seemed quite a few people were secretly interested in this matter.
Seeing the opportunity, Liselotte smiled as if she knew nothing and replied,
“It just seems like things are complicated for the Eastern side.”
“Oh-ho. I think I heard Taebon moved somewhere to become a farmer or something. Maybe that’s why?”
‘…He became a farmer?’
News about Taebon — the one she had been searching for so desperately — had popped out from a completely random place.
Judging by his light tone, it didn’t seem like information worth trusting.
But he did appear to know that House Gloria was in a messy situation.
Liselotte immediately added,
“So that’s what it was. They didn’t follow the cooperation agreement properly, and they kept reversing the restoration plans, so it caused us some trouble.”
“Why would there be anything to reverse in restoration work? Just draft people roughly and send them. What’s the problem?”
Jeyord twitched his eyebrows, baffled.
It was the kind of answer only someone with his exceptional skill in naval subjugations could give.
He was famous for leading subjugation forces with instinct and animal-like senses rather than study or experience.
There were even jokes that every joint subjugation with neighboring regions resulted in someone crying.
Still, his decisiveness — acting quickly, cleanly, without hesitation — had its pros and cons.
It was said his vassals suffered quite a bit because of it.
But since the North almost never worked jointly with the South, he could joke about it freely.
Perhaps because his voice was naturally loud whenever he spoke…
The murmuring around them gradually grew louder.
Even though no one said anything openly, it was clear that people had caught bits and pieces of the rumors about what had happened with House Gloria.
And Duke Gloria could not possibly be unaware of those gazes.
Sure enough, he began approaching, pulling Diana and Hedmilton along with him.
When he came close, he offered only a slight nod as a greeting.
“Count Seten. It seems there has been some misunderstanding.”
A subtle way of signaling him to watch his words.
In noble society, blunt criticism was considered vulgar.
Thus, he had phrased it in an elegant, roundabout way.
“Oh, Duke. It’s our first time meeting since the last joint subjugation!”
Jeyord showed not even the slightest concern.
In fact, he returned the greeting so cheerfully that it was obvious Duke Gloria was forcing himself to endure it.
“Indeed. You should have visited more often. Kept Diana company from time to time. If you had, you wouldn’t have ended up hearing such foolish rumors about the restoration plans being reversed.”
Foolish rumors?
To dismiss the things they themselves had done as mere rumors— Liselotte smiled brightly and replied,
“That’s strange. I certainly received correspondence from House Gloria regarding the restoration work, but after the aide suddenly changed, they acted as if they didn’t know anything.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Your Highness. You’re well aware of how hard our aide Mirkena worked to coordinate the matter.”
“It was sent before that.”
She had no idea why they were pretending the letter Hedmilton sent never existed.
‘No way… do they really not know he sent it?’
Letters concerning subjugation cooperation were required to be approved by the Head of the House, or by the representative—usually the wife.
If the Head of House died during a subjugation, the wife would have to act in his place.
As the Northern Grand Duke’s representative, Liselotte could send letters freely, but even a chief aide like Hedmilton still had the obligation to report them to Duke Gloria.
Marsha, who had accompanied them from the North, was keeping the letter in her possession.
Since they were staying in a guest room of the Imperial Palace, Liselotte could reveal it whenever she wished.
But Hedmilton was the problem.
He was still a retainer of House Gloria.
He must have heard the entire conversation, yet his expression was so unreadable it was almost absurd.
Duke Gloria replied shamelessly,
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard anything about such a letter being sent. Perhaps you’re mistaken, Your Highness?”
Hearing those words, Hedmilton blinked, his eyes widening.
Then, in a bewildered voice completely unfitting for the situation, he blurted out,
“Then where did the letter I sent go?”
The moment Hedmilton finished speaking, Duke Gloria’s eyes sharpened dangerously.
He snapped his head toward him and scolded him as if rebuking a subordinate.
“You sent it? I received no report and heard nothing of the sort. Very strange indeed.”
His tone was polite, but the unspoken threat beneath it was unmistakable.
Yet Hedmilton seemed completely unaware of it. Still blinking innocently, he asked again,
“Lady Diana asked me how far the proceedings had gotten. So before sending it, I showed her the letter as well.”
At the mention of her name, Diana glanced sideways at Liselotte and Eren, offering an awkward smile.
The nobles nearby had already begun whispering among themselves.
“So the rumors about the Eastern subjugation force being useless must be true.”
“Ahem… and those rumors that the East has been squeezing dry the other regions for joint subjugations recently…”
“No way. It’s House Gloria…”
“It must be some sort of misunderstanding.”
Amid the forced coughs, fragments of their conversations drifted over.
The orchestra’s music made it hard to hear clearly, but it was obvious enough that they were saying unpleasant things.
