Invitation (2)

Breakfast at Tessen Castle was informal. Those who needed hot food freshly made had to wake early and attend, but otherwise they could take the food prepared in the great dining hall and eat wherever they wished.

It was the busiest time for people going in and out of the great dining hall.

“Everyone.”

The servants ate in the annexed sections on the north and east sides of the great dining hall. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tessen, or noble guests, had separate tables laid out in special seats such as the terrace. Vassals and knights sometimes had their places separated according to rank, but those who were close with the servants ate together in areas attached to the great dining hall called wings.

“Lady Dalia?”

“……?”

Rose appeared in the place where foot traffic was heaviest. It was a spot clearly visible not only to those eating, but also from the terrace connected to the outdoors.

“There is something I must tell all of you. I am not Dalia Swan.”

“What?”

The knight who had brought Rose into Tessen’s main castle dropped the wooden plate full of bread.

Clatter!

Jamie was watching the scene from the corridor railing where the Grand Duke of Tessen’s office was located.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you all for the past few days. I’m from the Combat family. I’m sorry.”

Rose made a gesture of apology with a trembling voice.

“Then, then Lady Lily?”

The knight who had brought someone of uncertain identity into Tessen’s main castle barely managed to speak.

Rose shook her head.

“I am Rose Combat. I am a daughter of the Combat family, and the younger sister of Cara and Lily. My, what I’m saying may sound absurd, but……. I ran away from home.”

“……!”

“Huh…!”

Rose pleaded with a deathly pale face, shaking her head.

“I do not want to go back home. Please pretend not to know my identity and let me stay here. I’m begging you. If it becomes known that I’m here, my family will come to take me back.”

Rose spoke as though her family coming to take her back would be a terribly unjust thing, but that was only natural. An unmarried lady was staying with a family unrelated to her own, so it was proper for her family to come fetch her.

But Rose spoke so desperately that everyone could guess there must be a reason she had run away. An awkward silence and a bit of murmuring rose among the people.

The servants of Tessen were shocked that Lady Dalia’s true identity was Rose Combat. So she really had another identity. Separately from that, those who had grown close to the sociable and lively Rose over the last few days wanted to grant her wish.

However, there were too many outsiders in Tessen Castle right now. Servants with lips swifter than the wind were already lightly walking off to deliver this astonishing news to people of their own houses.

“Lady Dal, Lady Rose. Rather than doing this here, it would be better to go and report it to Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

“Please keep it a secret that I’m here…….”

The knight looked at the lady, who was honestly explaining her circumstances and asking for help, with pity. But nothing could be solved simply by being honest.

Knight Debin soothed Rose, who was trying to stubbornly hold out, and headed toward the reception room.

Jamie Rens was already standing outside the Grand Duchess of Tessen’s reception room. Debin realized that the rumor had already spread throughout Tessen Castle. He left Rose with Jamie and guarded the corridor.

And shortly after, a surprising result was announced.

The Grand Duchess of Tessen punished Rose Combat, who had caused an uproar by hiding her identity after running away from home, by making her work as the Grand Duchess’s personal secretary.

Along with the rumor that Rose Combat had run away from the Combat family, word spread rapidly from Tessen that she was being punished by working as the Grand Duchess of Tessen’s personal secretary.

“The Grand Duchess of Tessen reports that, for this reason, a minor disturbance is expected to occur in Tessen, so may Your Majesty please delay your steps for a while. As Tessen’s Lusa Village is empty, the Grand Duchy of Tessen shall come to seek an audience with Your Majesty as soon as the matter is settled. Please look kindly upon this. ……Was this brat formerly a scribe from the Great Temple?”

Folding down the letter Alicia had sent, the Emperor let out a hollow laugh.

“Your Majesty. Calling the Grand Duchess of Tessen ‘this brat’…….”

Eleanor spoke as if rebuking the Emperor for talking without dignity.

“She’s much younger than I am. But isn’t this brat ordering the Emperor to wait a moment? No, more than that, ‘a minor disturbance.’ Minor? Is making the daughter of a great noble house in the imperial capital serve as a personal secretary minor? There’s something that entertaining going on, and she’s telling me to stay out of it.”

“How will Count Combat respond? He won’t stay quiet.”

“If he doesn’t stay quiet, does he have any method? Count Combat is a sly snake and a vulgar opportunist. Would he really dare challenge the Grand Duchy of Tessen, whose prestige is now piercing the heavens?”

The Emperor made all manner of grimaces and read Alicia’s letter once more. He wore the face of someone who thought that if he read it again, he might uncover a hidden secret.

“Why are you looking at it like that?”

“The words written in the letter and the rumor are only the shell. Something has definitely happened in Tessen that is hugely beneficial to Tessen.”

“What kind of thing?”

At the Empress’s question, the Emperor shook his head.

“Eleanor, I am not a god.”

“But it is known that you are one.”

“That is a false rumor, but it benefits me, so I left it alone. More importantly, shall the two of us go to Tessen first? Since Rens is there, there will be no problem with the delegation waiting in Lusa Village.”

Eleanor rose, taking the hand of the Emperor as he helped her up. Walking after him, she spoke worriedly.

“Alicia told us not to come, Your Majesty.”

“Why should I listen to what that brat says? I’m the Emperor, Eleanor.”

“Alicia won’t welcome us.”

Though worried, Eleanor naturally quickened her steps at her own words. The Emperor and Empress raced down the imperial road with only their closest knights accompanying them.

Word without feet spread far and wide. In the meantime, Rose Combat, who had come to settle in Tessen Castle as the Grand Duchess’s personal secretary, worked on documents until her shoulders grew stiff.

Alicia was not merely saying with words that it was punishment and that she would make her work as a personal secretary; she was putting Rose Combat to good use as an administrative secretary.

Clink.

Late at night, Jamie set a teacup down on Rose’s desk as she was still recording documents.

“Take it easy. You absolutely won’t finish it within this month.”

“Will I be able to finish it before winter ends? She’s the Grand Duchess of Tessen, but I had no idea there would be this many documents to handle concerning the Tessen border and places outside Tessen as well.”

“She’s hidden behind His Highness the Grand Duke, so it’s hard to tell, but Her Highness has quite a few titles too. Since the place where she actually resides is Tessen, the letters and documents she receives from the proxies she has stationed in her territories pile up into mountains. And sorting those is Lady Rose’s job.”

Thanks to the pitch-black writing apron and sleeve covers gifted by the Baroness of Rens, Rose barely managed to avoid becoming covered in ink. Thanks to the textured finger guards and luxurious paperweights Jamie had divided out for her, she was able to deal with the onslaught of work more easily.

“I’m uneasy because Father is staying quiet.”

Setting down her pen, Rose whispered.

“There’s not much Count Combat or the count’s house can do. The Grand Duchess of Tessen has already handed down punishment, and the person concerned didn’t ask her family for help either.”

Rose’s eyes looked uneasily at Jamie.

“Will Relling change the heir?”

“Nicolas Relling will receive proper punishment for the crime he committed.”

The Grand Duchess of Tessen had made Rose a proposal.

“I will remove Nicolas Relling, the heir of Relling, from Relling. In return, accept the punishment of becoming my personal secretary, Lady Rose.”

“I will accept Your Highness’s proposal. But how will you remove the heir from Relling?”

“This is not a fight between Combat and Relling, or between Combat and Tessen. It is a fight between the true Relling and the unjust Relling.”

While being buried in work, Rose was busy and peaceful, but whenever she fell asleep, she trembled with anxiety. The fearful night passed and dawn broke. The turmoil brought by Rose Combat stirred Tessen’s morning into noise.

Early in the morning, a long, colorful, flashy, and noisy procession arrived before Tessen Castle.

“Grand Duke of Tessen! Grand Duchess of Tessen! Come out so we can see your faces and speak! Connie! How dare a mere baroness rely on Tessen and accuse Relling?! I knew you’d indulge your greed for old age someday!”

It was not the sort of shout that a guest invited to the very first banquet ever held in Tessen by the Grand Duchess of Tessen should be uttering.

Relling.

The giant carriages bore the crest of “Relling.”

“Whose carriages are those?”

“Are they mad?”

“Who in the world are they to act like that? I’ve never seen that emblem before. They must not be a nearby house.”

The knights of Tessen and the people of Tessen had never before seen a group hurling vulgar shouts at the grand ducal couple in Tessen. They whispered behind their backs about demons, demon mountains rising, and a demonic land, but in front of the Grand Duke of Tessen they all kept their mouths shut tight and showed proper courtesy.

A while after the Relling carriage group caused its uproar, the gates of Tessen Castle opened and Tessen’s cavalry surrounded the noisy carriage procession in strict formation.

The people of Tessen thought the knights must be driving out the troublemakers.

“We will escort you inside.”

The captain of Tessen’s knights said stiffly to the man who had boldly pounded on the castle gate at the head of the carriage procession.

House Zack’s eldest son had expected Tessen to open its gates because it concerned Relling, but he had not expected them to send out an armed cavalry unit. At such a calm reaction, as if they had known Relling would come, as if they had expected them to arrive and raise their voices, he awkwardly pulled up the corners of his mouth and nodded.

“Very well.”

Tessen Castle was enormous even from the outside, so House Zack’s eldest son knew his appearance would look shabby by comparison, but he quickly climbed up beside the driver. The cavalry of Tessen surrounding the party as if threatening them did not look as though they would wait for him to climb into the rear seat of the carriage.

The main gate of the vast Tessen Castle was opened completely for the passage of the carriage party. The mere sight of the majestic gates opening overwhelmed the Relling party and sapped their spirit.

Annoyed glances passed among the three Zack siblings.

Connie Rens.

The Lady of Relling, once Connie Relling, had an extraordinary backer. Even the grand ducal residence in the imperial capital had been enormous, but it was nothing compared to the main castle in Tessen.

The Lady of Relling had lowered her presence and lived quietly for more than twenty years after marriage. When Connie left with her husband for Tessen right after getting married, the three Zack siblings had felt relieved.

When they heard in the third year after her marriage that Connie would come to the imperial capital, they had worried that the proud Lady Relling might cause an uproar demanding what was hers. It had all been needless concern.

After marrying, Connie had seemed to forget Relling altogether.

And yet after several decades, she stepped forward under the identity of Lady Relling, claiming that Nicolas Relling, the heir of Relling, had committed a crime and therefore had severe disqualifying grounds, asking that he be removed from the succession, and asserting her own right of succession.