The Conqueror's Remodeling
Reforming the territory's citizens. It was an idea sparked by a single offhand remark from Enya, but the more I thought about it, the more revolutionary it seemed. After all, if you upgraded the workers themselves, efficiency would skyrocket to absurd levels. 'Let's push this through immediately!' When something this fun and exciting came to mind, there was no reason to hold back.
I went straight to Elena and told her I had chosen my territory—the mine-rich Argie lands. It was the perfect location for building factories and securing coal supplies.
“The Argie territory… Not a bad choice. But have you decided who your guardian will be?”
There was still one more thing to handle: selecting a guardian to help manage the territory. This was the imperial family’s way of testing my insight and political philosophy. Whoever I chose as guardian would reveal the general power structure I envisioned.
“Let me think about it for a moment.”
So I pondered. Who should I pick as my guardian?
‘...The Elmar family.’
The Elmar family seemed appropriate. I had no desire to see the empire’s power tilt too far in any single direction. To maintain balance, I needed to choose the weakest of the grand ducal houses—the Elmars. Adela had married a commoner, after all, which left her without a strong support base.
‘Besides, a marriage alliance isn’t even possible.’
The only person of marriageable age in the Elmar family was Lucas. Since Adela was an only daughter, there were no cousins to offer for political marriages either. Therefore, choosing the Elmar family as guardian did not equal a marriage alliance. I would remain on the market, leaving other families room to still pursue me.
“Master. For my guardian, I choose Duchess Adela of the Elmar family.”
I shared my decision with Elena. She considered the implications of my choice for a moment, then the corners of her mouth lifted in a subtle smile.
“Maintaining the balance, I see. The Elmars would amount to a temporary alliance at most.”
“That’s about right.”
“Hehe. My disciple really is cunning. You form ties with a grand ducal house while still leaving yourself options.”
“It’s all thanks to your teachings, Master.”
“Pfft. I’m not that sharp with calculations. I’m more the emotional type.”
Elena rose from her seat as she spoke. She said she would discuss it with the princess and submit a report to the imperial family, then left.
···It was time to pioneer my territory.
The news that Edga Fix had chosen Adela Elmar as his guardian spread like wildfire across the entire empire. The nobles reacted in their own ways.
“He played it rather cleverly.”
First, the King of the North, Adrian Graham, was openly admiring Ed’s conduct. By selecting Adela, the scales of power had not tilted too dramatically. It was a move that preserved neutrality while raising his own value even higher. A man with the Queen of the East as guardian, yet still without a fiancée. His worth was simply absurd.
Appearance, height, intellect, ability, fame, wealth, connections. An SSS-rank groom lacking nothing. Every noble in the empire would continue to drool at the sight of him.
“I… was too hasty.”
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke of the West, Illeya Cruel, sat with his hand pressed to his forehead. He couldn’t stop thinking that if he had been more aggressive when he met Ed, perhaps he would have been chosen as guardian instead.
“...It was a mistake.”
He had underestimated Ed’s value. If only he had waited a little longer and acted more carefully. He had approached at the perfect moment, yet his behavior had been the worst possible. Not only had he forcefully demanded that Ed keep an appropriate distance from Enya, he had even uttered the outrageous claim that if Ed wanted to connect with her, he would take him in as a male concubine for the family. To a genius without precedent in history!
If anyone learned he had said such things, they would surely click their tongues and say even the Cruel Duke had lost his edge.
“We still have a chance.”
On the other hand, the Bernhardt family of Claire saw this as an opportunity. The possibility of a marriage alliance remained open.
“......”
However, the person in question showed zero interest. Claire wore a bored expression the entire time the Grand Duke of Bernhardt spoke about the marriage alliance.
‘I’m not interested.’
It was only natural. Claire held no affection for Ed. The reason she had stayed near him until now was simply that the human specimen known as Ed was interesting and worth observing. Above all, no matter how you looked at him, Ed was a textbook playboy. He was kind to every woman who approached him, yet ultimately chose none of them. He left just enough room for misunderstanding while subtly stepping back the moment they tried to get closer. It was a classic trait of keeping multiple options on the line.
‘But calling it that feels… off somehow.’
There were too many strange points to label it as such. What was the usual reason for that kind of behavior? To monopolize someone too good to let go but not good enough to commit to, right? Yet Ed didn’t monopolize anyone. Instead, he helped them. With that face and those abilities, it wouldn’t be strange if he chased after multiple women, but Ed never played around with his body. What kind of person does that?
‘His personality doesn’t have a single crooked edge either.’
Moreover, Ed’s personality was too perfect. Bold yet cautious, talented in many areas yet never boastful. Yet when the time came to display confidence, he stood prouder than anyone. It felt like a cheat character that God had poured every stat point into.
‘He’s not the Lucas type…’
Lucas appeared perfect on the surface but harbored a fragile inner self. Claire liked that about him. The way he desperately struggled to hide his weakness. She felt pity for it, and that pity had developed into something more special. While everyone called Lucas the perfect man and sang his praises, to Claire he was simply adorable.
‘But Edga Fix…’
He felt like someone who had simply been born that way. Like his entire design had been perfectly planned from the beginning. Especially after watching his duel with Lucas during the first evaluation match, Claire had become certain. Excluding Isabella, Edga Fix was already the strongest student in the academy. And if he found a way to block the Graham family’s mental attacks, the strongest student would ultimately be Ed.
‘What could Ed’s desire be…’
Claire enjoyed observing people. That was why she liked Enya, who was the most immature of them all. There was a fresh charm to her. Sometimes she wanted to bite her. Wanted to tease her. But seeing Isabella made her chest ache. She had been the kindest in their group, yet bearing the Graham family’s mission had completely changed her. Meanwhile, watching Lucas desperately pretend to be flawless was both pitiful and endearing.
‘Yes, with the others, their desires reveal their personalities…’
In that way, Claire could understand people through their desires. Enya, who had lived on her own excellence, held the desire to always be the best. Isabella carried the desire to fulfill the Graham family’s destiny. Lucas held the desire to hide his weakness. Desires create goals, neural networks reorganize to achieve those goals, and those networks become unique personalities. Hadn’t her own desire to see through others developed into her characteristic voyeuristic nature?
‘But Edga Fix?’
She couldn’t tell. What exactly was his desire? What kind of desire could he possibly hold to appear so perfect in every aspect?
“Hmm……”
Claire’s worries deepened once again today.
Lucas was facing his father’s tombstone for the first time in his life. It was the name of the man who had created half of him, yet Lucas had never once felt curious about it before. He had lived for too long with an inferiority complex about his commoner bloodline.
“Dear, I’m sorry it took so long. Doesn’t he look handsome? This is our son.”
At that moment, Adela introduced Lucas to her husband’s grave. Without anyone telling her to, she knelt before the tomb and politely clasped her hands together. Lucas watched his mother’s behavior with complicated feelings before finally speaking.
“Mother. This may be presumptuous, but could you please stand? Aren’t you the head of the family?”
Lucas had followed Adela here to accept his roots. Yet her attitude had made him uncomfortable the entire time. No matter that it was her husband, his mother was the Empress of the East and the master of the Elmar family. For such a person to kneel before a commoner’s grave and clasp her hands so politely—it was inevitably uncomfortable for Lucas, who respected his mother to the depths of his bones.
“Lucas.”
Adela called his name in a gentle voice. She remained kneeling before her husband’s grave.
“You know, don’t you? How everyone in the world cursed your father.”
“......”
Lucas suddenly recalled his childhood. The days he had been mocked as the son of a rapist. Back then, everyone had cursed Adela’s husband. Since Adela had once been one of the empire’s greatest beauties, those who harbored fantasies about her had insulted her dead husband. Rapist, murderer, flat-nose, lantern-jaw—every baseless rumor had circulated.
“If not me, who would uphold my husband’s honor? I simply feel sorry. If only he had survived and returned with me, he wouldn’t have had to suffer such humiliation…”
His mother looked as if she were painting the past with sorrowful eyes. Yet even after hearing Adela’s explanation, Lucas still felt uncomfortable inside. Perhaps because he had refused to acknowledge his commoner father for so long.
‘...No.’
It wasn’t that. This was because the hierarchy was wrong. His father had simply been a mercenary lucky enough to catch his mother’s eye, while his mother was the master of a grand ducal house. It made no sense for that master to kneel before a mercenary’s grave.
“Hehe. You look like you can’t accept it.”
Adela turned to him with eyes that seemed to read his heart. Eventually, Lucas confessed his honest feelings.
“...There are clearly laws and common sense among nobles, aren’t there? If other nobles saw Mother like this… there would surely be talk. Your status and authority are absolute. You are the Queen of the East.”
Adela Elmar. The empress respected by nobles throughout the East. Lucas could not tolerate the sight of such a woman kneeling and politely clasping her hands before a mere mercenary’s tomb.
Adela answered with a soft laugh.
“Hehe, it seems you’re uncomfortable with me lowering myself.”
“...Yes.”
Lucas respected his mother. Not only in her role as mother, but as Adela Elmar the individual—an outstanding spellcaster and a fine monarch who led her family well.
“But Lucas, this is the right thing. To this mother, your father is the sky itself.”
“......?”
Yet his mother had called his commoner father the sky. Adela looked at the dazed Lucas and continued.
“The reason I could become complete was because your father’s philosophy and beliefs took root inside me. I respected him and wanted to serve him by my side as much as possible.”
“......”
“After all, to create an ideal family, the wife must obey her husband and do everything she can to help him realize his ambitions. If a wife feels resistance to that role, it proves she chose the wrong man to be her husband. It means she has no eye for men.”
Lucas froze solid. To think the great empress that was his mother had been such an obedient woman.
“So Lucas. This mother found the right person to be her husband. I’m still obeying, upholding my husband’s will and beliefs even now. Your father is my husband. Therefore, speaking ill of your father is no different from insulting me.”
Lucas nodded. He could clearly feel how firm his mother’s convictions about his father were.
“Lucas, a man is a conqueror. And a true man must be able to conquer everything of the woman he desires. Body, heart, and mind. All of it.”
Lucas felt a sense of vastness. The more he listened to his mother, the more he felt his father had been no mere commoner.
‘Edga Fix…’
And Lucas thought of Ed. Because the conqueror his mother described matched Ed perfectly. As proof, Enya had been completely conquered by him. She constantly spouted strange terms like “entropy” and “quantum jump” she had learned from him and talked about Ed all day. It was clear evidence that her mind had been utterly dyed by him.
“...Then is Edga Fix also a conqueror?”
Lucas was curious about his mother’s thoughts. The news that Ed had chosen her as guardian had reached him today, and it kept bothering him.
“......He is a conqueror. Though young, the soul inside him is no ordinary one. Many women will probably want to be conquered by him. So keep him close. It will surely be good stimulation for you.”
Adela smiled brightly as she spoke of good stimulation. However, Lucas was being stimulated in a strange direction rather than a good one. He kept feeling anxious about what might happen if Ed and his mother grew closer.
That night, Lucas had a bizarre dream. It was a dream in which his mother, who still possessed the beauty of her twenties, had remarried Ed and was living a newlywed life.
The level kept rising. His stomach churned as if he might vomit at any moment. What kind of absurd dream was this?
“Ah, no!!!”
In the end, Lucas woke with a start. To witness such an intimate scene involving his family in a dream was physiologically unbearable.
“Haha… What a ridiculous dream.”
Lucas wiped away his cold sweat and forced a smile. There was no way such an impossible thing could happen.
“It was just a dream…”
Lucas dismissed it as nothing more than a ridiculous nightmare and lay back down. Yet for some reason, sleep refused to come until the sun rose.
Right now, I am in the Argie territory. I came to take a preliminary look at the land where I would reside.
“There’s no need to reveal my face.”
I had no intention of showing my identity. Looking around as the new lord and looking around as mere passerby number one were completely different experiences. I planned to observe the true state of this place through the eyes of its residents.
“Then let’s go!”
First, I intended to visit the red-light district.