"Breed! Breed! Let’s make them breed! Breed! Breeding press!! Go on, reproduce! Reproduce! Hup, hup!"
Remilia’s eyes, as she gleefully shouted words dizzying enough just to hear, were shadowed as black as ink, as though she had spent several nights awake.
Beside me, Gartan looked utterly horrified, like he had witnessed something he should never have seen.
"Grand Chieftain, that woman is definitely insane."
"Yeah. She does look it."
"Not the poison the Grand Chieftain prepared, but caff...eine?"
"Yeah. Caffeine."
"She drank it, then said she could not sleep and worked like mad for several nights. Even when the tribesmen tried to stop her, she said this was the time to stake everything in her life on it, and kept rampaging about."
"..."
"Breed! Breed! Breed!! Ohhh! Yes!! That’s it!! Spread your seed!"
That was genuinely dangerous. It was like seeing the state Household Registry Mate Number Two had been in for days after coming back from the laboratory.
Come to think of it, Number One did say Remilia was modeled after Household Registry Mate Number Two...
"Bwahahaha! Long live breeding!"
"Truly horrifying."
"Agreed."
I walked over to Remilia, who was running wild in Bloody Horn’s ranch.
Splash!
"Gack!!"
I dumped water over her face.
"Huh...? Why is Your Grace here?"
"Remilia, how much of the caffeinated drink I gave you have you been drinking?"
"Um... two cups a day, I suppose?"
For someone smaller than me like Remilia to drink two 500-milliliter convenience-store caffeine drinks a day—it was a wonder she was still alive.
"Sigh. Leave the Bloody Horn breeding to the orcs for a while and get some proper rest."
"B-But the breeding..."
"..."
"Understood."
"And I am confiscating your caffeinated drinks for the time being."
"That cannot be... As long as I drink that, I can stay up all night and conduct research..."
"If you drink any more, you really will die. The moment I see you drinking it—"
I seriously considered what I ought to say to make Remilia panic and go get some rest. Once the calculations in my head were complete, the line I had settled on began playing from my mouth.
"I will burn every last bit of research material you have investigated so far and make you write it all again. How does that sound?"
"..."
"Would you like that?"
"No. I will go to sleep."
Watching Remilia ride away in the carriage, I let out a long sigh.
"Working hard is good, but if she collapses like that, someone with no knowledge at all—that is, me—will have to do the work. I wish she would take it easy in moderation."
"Hm? If it is the Grand Chieftain, surely you can do it?"
"No, I cannot."
Just how strong was the orcs’ faith in me?
"The ranch will be fine without Remilia managing it, right, Gartan?"
"Of course. If anything, it is more comfortable now that there is no one watching over our shoulders, Grand Chieftain."
"...So you are passing on exactly what the professor did to you."
Why did this remind me of a junior who vowed to end the cycle of hazing, only to haze those beneath him?
"That must be rough for—"
"Hm? Grand Chieftain, a carriage is coming."
The carriage approaching from the direction Gartan pointed—and the ones escorting it were...
"Black Knights?"
If they were people Jester had assigned to escort someone at the estate, then the person in that carriage had to be—
"...Why is she here?"
**
When Cecilia stepped down from the carriage, the orcs watching began to murmur among themselves. A single white flower had fallen upon the vast grasslands.
And the man approaching it was the Grand Chieftain they followed.
"Could it be..."
"The Grand Chieftain is flustered, which is unlike him. That means..."
"That lady is the Grand Chieftain’s!!!"
When Cecilia smiled and waved at the orcs, they could not hide their astonishment. Unlike Remilia and the other human women, who recoiled in terror at the sight of them, her eyes held only kindness and trust.
What eyes! They speak of a strong heart!
The Grand Chieftain’s chosen mate is no ordinary woman!
Cecilia looked puzzled at the orcs kneeling before her, but the moment she saw Viktor approaching, she welcomed him with a gentle smile.
"Your Grace."
"My lady, what brings you all the way to this distant place...?"
"I came because there is something urgent I must tell you, Your Grace... But if I have inconvenienced you, I will return at once—"
"Not at all. Come, let us go."
"Were you not attending to business here?"
"I was, but would it not be uncomfortable to speak here?"
Seeing Viktor prepare to move elsewhere out of consideration for her, Cecilia shook her head.
"No."
"My lady, are you not... afraid of, or uncomfortable around, them?"
"Are they not people protected under Your Grace’s rule? Why would I fear those who are the same as me?"
"...Gartan, I will speak with my lady for a moment."
"Understood, Grand Chieftain."
Seated at a tea table set out upon the broad grasslands, Cecilia curved her lips in a smile as she experienced, for the first time in her life, such a sense of openness and the crisp breeze that blew around her.
"This is my first time having tea like this."
"Is that so? It is my first time as well."
"Is it? That makes me happy. Um... Your Grace..."
For a moment, Cecilia nearly asked whether he was uncomfortable, but swallowed the words. It would be rude to ask when they did not share that kind of relationship.
"What is it?"
Whenever she saw those red eyes worrying over her, a corner of her heart inexplicably tingled. It was the first time someone—not family, nor anyone from her house, but a stranger—had worried about her.
But I cannot cross the line any further.
Swallowing the words, Because that is the kind of relationship we have, Cecilia shook her head.
"It is nothing. There is something urgent I need to tell Your Grace."
**
Looking over the missing information Cecilia had found in the records regarding the distribution and use of northern iron ore, I clicked my tongue.
Huh. They turned their backs the moment Father died? If they diverted it like this even while my elder brothers, the heirs, were still around...
Then this relationship must have been secretly taking place beneath the surface for quite some time.
"I had people verify the reports of several houses in the northern rear and compare them against the weapons they actually had in storage. It was appalling."
"..."
"If an emergency mobilization order were issued in this state, it is doubtful whether they could even turn out properly armed."
"What about the area around Blackheart Castle?"
"There were no fools reckless enough to divert iron ore, which is so closely tied to survival."
"The rear..."
The northern rear. That meant the region bordering the Empire.
"Dogs drunk on the meat their new master tossed them, preparing to bite their old master."
Crunch.
I clenched my fist so tightly it bled. Seeing that, Cecilia startled and reached for my hand.
"Your Grace, I understand that you are angry. But please do not hurt yourself with that anger. Are you not the shield of everyone in this North?"
"..."
Cecilia took something from her pocket and applied it to my hand. Her hands were very small and warm.
"That is..."
"The wound medicine I gave the knights this time."
"You are quite skillful with your hands, my lady."
"Yes. I once tried to be of help to His Highness the Crown Prince... Ah."
As though startled by her own slip of the tongue, a shadow fell over Cecilia’s expression.
"I-I am sorry... I... that was not what I meant..."
Beeeeep!
The warning alarm sounding in his head once more made Viktor’s brain cells compose a line to break through the current situation.
And at last, his mouth began delivering the completed line.
"It is only natural for people to recall happy memories from their past. Do not hide or deny them. The retainers of House Walterheim and I all know well what a kind and sincere person you are, my lady."
"..."
"So please do not blame yourself, my lady."
At Viktor’s characteristically plain comfort, Cecilia lowered her head.
"By the way, this wound medicine is quite effective. You have done excellent work, my lady."
He is kind. Why are you so gentle with someone like me, who is merely bound to you by a contract? Is that kindness not reserved for me alone, but extended to everyone within your protection as well?
Cecilia raised her head and looked into Viktor’s red eyes—eyes that said there was not a shred of falsehood in what he had said.
What is this ache in one corner of my heart...?
**
As I watched Cecilia return to the estate by carriage, I breathed a sigh of relief.
I stopped her right before she exploded... right?
Cecilia still had feelings for Crown Prince Baron.
"This is not easy."
Even in the North, things were already this difficult. I wondered how I was supposed to take care of her once life at the academy began, but—
"There is something more important right now. Rushe."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Tell every northern noble I name from this point on to come to Walterheim Estate."
"Understood."
I had to do what needed to be done. It was time for a purge.
**
At the Imperial Palace in the heart of the Imperial Capital, all of the Emperor’s children except Baron had gathered in one place. The one who had summoned her siblings was the Second Imperial Princess, Luisilla. Seated behind her was the white-haired old knight Sir Bison, her maternal grandfather and the former commander of the Imperial Palace Knights.
"Thank you for gathering here, my younger siblings."
"Just get to the point already."
"Yeah."
Luisilla let out a deep sigh as she looked at Second Imperial Prince Liberdo and Second Imperial Princess Renata, both radiating hostility toward her.
"Children, we have an opportunity to break Brother Baron’s momentum. What meaning is there in fighting among ourselves?"
"I do not know. Honestly, the moment he cast aside Lady Cecilia of House Roienthal, wasn’t Brother finished already?"
"Father was furious."
"Yes, but we must not forget the two men behind our brother: Boris and Ryan."
Liberdo recalled the people Luisilla had mentioned and bit his nail.
"True. If the commander of the Imperial Knights and the disciple of the Sage of the Magic Tower are on Brother’s side, that is dangerous."
"Of course, it is precarious that their connection is that commoner girl."
"It seems he is managing her well. That woman is no ordinary fox."
As Liberdo recalled Elysia, whom he had encountered at the Imperial ball, his heart began to race without his realizing it.
Damn it... What is wrong with me...?
"Liberdo?"
"No... It is nothing. So what did you gather us here to discuss?"
"Brother Baron went to the North not long ago and returned after doing nothing but humiliating himself, did he not?"
"He did, did he not?"
"His return was so pathetic that I could not help laughing."
Nodding at Liberdo and Renata’s words, Luisilla spread out a map of the North.
"How about we join forces and take hold of the North’s leash—the North Brother is so desperate to keep on a leash?"
"You mean use the lords we have won over?"
"Is that all right? What if Father makes an issue of it again?"
"We only need to put the leash on before he can make an issue of it. Just as I know the people you have won over, you know it too. You know what will happen if the three of us join forces."
Her younger siblings remained seated in silence, but from their expressions, Luisilla knew it was an unspoken agreement.
"Then it will be a race against time. We need to hurry and get in touch with—"
Clack!
Three people entered as the door opened. Each approached their own master and quietly relayed the information.
"What?"
"That is..."
"What did you say?"
The information they delivered was that the Northern Grand Duke had confined the nobles they had made into their hands and feet within his estate.
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