A Third of the Duchy
The Emperor dragged his feet on recognizing the succession, and close kin came down on them with spear and blade. The vassals joined in. Even now, the memory turned Louis's stomach.
Adrian put that chaos down without hesitation. Every desperate struggle and every contest of wits on the other side felt like nothing more than a simple game unfolding across his chessboard, chilling to anyone who watched from beside him. When he wiped out the people of the valley in a fire attack, even hardened members of the Black Knights retched. By then, fortunately, the plague had run its course, and the people of the domain did not think ill of their new duke.
"You really went through it."
All at once, being ground down by the Sun no longer seemed like much of a trial.
No wonder the whole domain felt poor. Our ducal house is broke.
"We're all still alive, so that's enough. Drop dead and you don't even get to complain."
Kirill said it through a mouthful of pipe smoke. Had the terrace windows not been thrown wide, the room would have filled with it.
Jin grumbled.
"The worst of it was the imperial house dragging its heels on approving the succession."
Looking back, they had probably wanted to finish the ducal house of Rubuaene outright. Or fasten a dog's collar around its neck. Had Adrian been anything less than exceptional, that was exactly how it would have ended.
"Wait—is the land shrinking our fault?"
Nina shot to her feet.
"Hold on. The land shrank? How can land shrink?"
Had a flood come through while she wasn't looking and redrawn the ground?
Jin pulled an awkward face.
"Seems the previous duke lent the land out."
"Huh?"
What was that supposed to mean?
Reading her expression, Louis explained.
"You know the Exchange Match."
"Yes. The one where they fight over that well all the time. I heard we kept losing."
Nina snorted as she said it, and Louis nodded.
"This is the continuation of that. The winner of the Exchange Match received the right to use the land."
Nina's mouth fell open.
"So they wagered land-use rights on an Exchange Match we lose every single time, and those rights were taken from us?"
"Yes. Of course we challenged them again whenever an exchange was held, but..."
Louis smiled a peculiar smile. Nina pressed a hand to her brow.
"We lost."
"We did."
"Why would anyone wager land on top of that? How much did they put up?"
"A third of the duchy."
Adrian's answer sent a chill through her.
In the Ebensel Empire, a title was bound to its fief. Only now, with the wars of conquest ended and battles over land grown rare, did landless nobles exist at all—and the old great houses were another matter entirely. Was a duke whose land had shrunk still a duke?
Louis indicated a different problem.
"That is not the problem."
"If this isn't the problem, then what on earth is?"
"If they occupy that land for ten years, ownership passes to them."
"What?"
"There is a clause to that effect in the contract."
"Ten years? Wait. How long until it's been ten? How long have they been pulling this stupid stunt?"
"This year makes eight."
Nina stared blankly, then let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's something. It hasn't been ten years. Then we just take it back."
She sounded so bright about it that Jin almost laughed.
"You talk like it's easy."
"We win, and it's done. Easy."
Nina said it and dropped back into her seat. The tension had plainly left her as she muttered,
"Why did they wager the land at all?"
"The house was in debt to the Count of Rava. If they won, part of that debt was to be forgiven."
At Louis's words, Nina's thoughts went blank.
Right. Inherit the estate, and you inherit the debts with it.
So we're poor already, and we've got debt besides?
"Anyway, every side of this just yaps, and none of them helps. We look like complete villains."
When Jin grumbled, Kirill shrugged.
"From where they stand, we are the villains. A bastard who came tumbling in, and his lot, slaughtered the ducal family and took the title."
Nina frowned.
"They died of the plague."
"The Duchess's side spread that rumor to damage Your Grace's right of succession."
At Louis's words, Nina wrinkled her nose.
"Nasty."
"Then again, villains are fine. We can't be the protagonists anyway, so let's just be the villains."
"Hey, why can't we be the protagonists? We just do it."
Louis nodded at Jin's words. Kirill raised her cup and led the toast.
"To villain protagonists."
They all drank.
Warm with wine, Nina collapsed across Adrian's thigh. Her silver hair spilled down and pooled on the floor.
"Down already? You've had one glass of wine."
At Jin's scolding, Nina protested.
"Drunk is drunk."
Adrian carefully gathered her hair and laid it up on the sofa.
"Ah. This is nice."
She settled as comfortably as if she had a real pillow under her, and spoke in a languid voice.
"Young Master, do you remember that grand kitchen-garden dream I told you about?"
"I do."
"Let's start the garden again. It's not too late, even now."
At that, Kirill burst out laughing.
"Garden dream or whatever it was—we'll talk about it tomorrow."
"Huh? What? You're already growing something? What is it? Is the garden still all right?"
Hope sprouted all at once.
Under the barrage of questions, Kirill grinned around the stem of her pipe.
"Tomorrow."
"Fine."
She hadn't the strength to do anything more today in any case.
"Then there's no problem. Ah—no. We have to build up our knight order. Make a lot of money and bad people come sniffing around... And we have to get that land back, too..."
The wine-thick voice dwindled, and Nina yawned wide.
"Then I'll have to name Nina the new knight captain."
Adrian said it as if it were nothing at all.
"Oh, yeah? Sure. Wait—"
Nina blinked.
"What?!"
The drink seemed to burn off in an instant. She bolted upright. Adrian leaned back before her head could crack into his chin.
"Me? Captain?"
"Yes. I can't hold the captaincy forever."
"Then there's the vice-captain."
Louis smiled, gentle.
"Civil office suits me better, I think. I yield gladly."
"Then Jin?!"
"A headache like that can be yours, can't it? If you insist, I'll be vice-captain."
Jin tipped his chin up, preening, as if that much at least he could grant her.
"This is absurd."
"There's no one else to give it to. And you said you learned the sword from the Sun Spirit. If you have the skill, use it. Besides, a knight captain's seat can't sit empty for long."
She was suited to it. Nina was the most suited of anyone. Having settled on that, Adrian patted her head.
"It's all right. You can do this."
"Aaaagh..."
She folded forward.
"Fine. For now. For now."
Nina shook her head, slow and helpless.
"Then a toast to the new knight captain."
Louis raised his cup. Little by little, Nina found hers and lifted it too.