Adaptation, Part 1
"What... What in the world was that...?"
Irene, having just stepped out of Edrin's room, let out a deep sigh and tilted her head in confusion.
The negotiation had been satisfactory. In fact, she had achieved far more than she had ever anticipated.
Yet, her face remained twisted in a frown.
"My plan... not a single part of it worked."
Her original plan had been simple: provocation.
Knowing Edrin's volatile temper, she had assumed he would fly into a rage at the slightest prod.
In normal times, no matter what outrageous stunt that thug pulled, his father—the Count—would have shielded him. But now, the father who was supposed to control and protect him was bedridden, half-dead.
If Edrin had hurled his usual vulgar insults at her, the vassals would have rallied to Irene's side. They would have shared her anger and condemned the man's disgusting nature.
...Was it not enough?
Irene could not make sense of the situation.
He always said he hated my smile.
When she had first entered the castle as the child of a concubine, Irene had been terrified of Edrin.
He despised seeing her happy. He used to mock her whenever she smiled, saying things like, "A parasite of the family should keep her mouth shut in this castle. What are you grinning about?"
And he isn't stupid enough to miss the subtext of what I said.
The man had a wretched personality, but he was far from foolish.
There was no way he didn't realize that Irene had made her move while he was bedridden, or that she had seized control of the knights.
Yet, he hadn't lost his temper. If anything, he had completely wrested control of the conversation.
Was he always capable of speaking like that?
The terms themselves weren't entirely shocking. Though he had made massive concessions, the choice wasn't completely irrational.
He had just woken up after a year-long coma. Perhaps he wanted to assess the situation more thoroughly.
Or maybe he didn't even view Irene as a political rival. He might just be looking down on her resistance as a joke.
But she had never expected him to show such patience. Even if he logically understood it was the efficient choice, she believed his pride would never allow it.
She thought he would never bow his head to a woman he hated so much. Yet, he did.
What terrified her even more, however, was the sheer pressure Edrin exuded.
What on earth happened to him while he was asleep?
Irene had met many people in her life. But she could swear that she had never encountered anyone who possessed a presence even remotely close to the Edrin sitting on that bed.
It was overwhelming. Irresistible. It felt as if she were being pulled in.
It was the same feeling of helplessness a human experiences before a vast ocean, or the realization of one's insignificance when gazing at the infinite night sky and the endless earth.
The terrifying sensation that she could feel this way toward another human being threatened to overwhelm her. Her instincts, which she had never doubted throughout her life as a knight on the battlefield, were screaming.
Is he using some kind of disgusting magic?
There were plenty of spells that could manipulate a person's mind, and it was possible she had fallen under one without realizing it.
But the timeline didn't make sense. A man who had just woken up from a year-long coma would have had no time to hire an alchemist or a warlock, let alone use them just to make a simple proposal like this.
...I don't know.
Shaking her head, Irene directed her steps toward her ally.
I want to rest.
But she needed to reassure the woman first. By now, she would be trembling in anxiety. She was a fragile person.
"Are you inside, Mother?"
"I-Irene? Come in. I've been waiting for you."
A noblewoman in a fine dress looked at Irene with trembling eyes.
"Are you alright? I heard Edrin woke up..."
"It's dangerous, yes. But... there shouldn't be any immediate problems."
Carmen, the second wife of Wilhelm Silverline, was Irene's ally.
She harbored a deep resentment toward Edrin for his tyranny and desperately wished to prevent him from becoming the head of the family. However, she lacked the courage to face him directly.
"It's alright. I will do my absolute best to protect you, Mother."
Though she called her mother, Carmen wasn't much older than Irene. There was a difference of three years at most between them.
She was a woman who had been practically sold off to the elderly Wilhelm. She possessed neither the burning ambition to rule as the mistress of the Silverline family nor the capability to do so.
She was simply an ordinary person. A gentle soul who wished only to care for her subordinates and live a quiet, peaceful life day by day.
"...Thank you, my daughter."
She was a victim. A person tossed around by the greed and structures created by others.
Irene felt a sense of kinship with her. And a sense of responsibility. Despite her noble blood, Irene had never considered herself one of the 'highborn.'
An ordinary person stood before her. Carmen, caught up in a complicated family history, forced to call two children she hadn't even given birth to her own.
"Of course."
She was one of the many people Irene had to protect.
For her sake, Irene would never back down.
"Congratulations on your recovery, young master!"
"Long live Lord Edrin!"
Several of the vassals cheered upon seeing me.
They were the loyalists. Men who swore blind allegiance to the Silverline family.
They favored stability over reform. Ignoring the brilliant achievements Irene had brought, they chose to follow tradition.
Perhaps their loyalty lay more with the bedridden Wilhelm than with me, but at the very least, they stood behind me.
"Now that Lord Edrin has returned, shouldn't the command authority that Lady Irene 'temporarily' assumed be returned to him?"
One of the vassals spoke up first. Dressed in lavish garments, he was a man who looked wealthy at a glance.
"Whew..."
The men staring at me with suspicious eyes let out angry sighs.
They were the knights. Not the corrupt ones hiding behind the castle walls, repeating meaningless drills, but real veterans who had survived actual combat time and again.
"However, we cannot divide the territory's authority right now. We are practically in a state of war. Splitting command so hastily will only throw the soldiers into confusion!"
A knight in full dress uniform shouted at the lavishly dressed vassal.
Irene kept her expression stiff, quietly observing my reaction.
Even if there was a clash of opinions, it wasn't wise for her and me to openly oppose each other right now. If rumors spread that a succession crisis had broken out in the territory, the neighboring lords would jump at the chance to exploit it.
However, that knight's words undoubtedly reflected Irene's will. It was her way of warning me not to touch her authority—specifically, her military command—just as we had agreed.
"What? Weren't you screaming just a short while ago about being short-staffed and needing more people? Isn't the burden you're carrying simply too heavy for you to handle alone?"
"We need administrative support, not a new commander!"
I could roughly grasp how the situation was playing out.
Knights were combat specialists. In other words, they didn't particularly excel in fields outside of warfare.
Moving soldiers required a mountain of administrative paperwork. Even if they only sent a hundred men to deal with bandits, they had to coordinate with officials to determine where the food and supplies consumed during the operation would come from.
The loyalist vassals likely refused to help these 'muscle-brained' knights or the 'daughter of a lowly concubine.' The knights must have repeatedly requested administrators to keep their operations running smoothly, and the vassals had undoubtedly rejected them.
"What are you implying by that? You don't need a new commander? Are you saying you refuse to take orders from Lord Edrin? The legitimate heir of the Silverline family?"
At the vassal's words, the knight bit his lip and shouted back.
"That is not what I meant! Watch your tongue. Lord Wilhelm is still alive!"
"Then are you saying it is normal for Lady Irene to hold military command while Lord Wilhelm is still alive?"
Even though I hadn't given any orders, the loyalist vassals were constantly keeping Irene and the knights in check.
"Lady Irene is a proud knight!"
"On the battlefield, perhaps, but within these castle walls, she is also a young lady of the house! Would she even be standing there if she didn't carry Lord Wilhelm's blood?"
The pointless bickering dragged on. Since nothing good would come from further arguing, I waved my hand to calm them down.
"Enough. That is quite enough. The territory is in danger, and my father is bedridden. We cannot afford to fight among ourselves."
The vassal and the knight, who had looked ready to kill each other just a moment ago, fell silent instantly.
"Truth be told, I would like nothing more than to rest. But if the territory is in disarray and the knights are struggling, I must do my part. So, you there, knight. What is it that needs doing? I do not care if it is a task unbefitting of 'Lord Edrin.'"
"W-well, that is..."
"Speak."
I couldn't give him time to think. I had to make sure that whatever task I could exploit came out of the knight's own mouth.
"T-the most urgent matter right now is the census. We need to determine the number of conscriptable soldiers in case of an emergency, but—"
"Perfect."
"Pardon?"
It certainly wasn't a task a lord would personally undertake. But for me, it was ideal.
"I will handle it myself. The reason the census hasn't been properly conducted is likely because the villagers are uncooperative, yes? If I go, it will be resolved easily."
"B-but..."
Unless it was Irene, who was used to working on the ground, there was no reason for Edrin, the eldest son of Wilhelm, to show his face in such trivial matters.
If I utilize my Charm stat... I might get some pretty good results.
I was confident that I could persuade anyone, as long as I could sit down and talk with them.
However, trying to sway the knights directly would likely be a bad move. Even if I could win over one or two, the moment Irene noticed, she would grow anxious.
The vassals were already on my side, and the knights supported Irene. Therefore, I had to win over other factions. I needed to produce tangible achievements, just as Irene had done.
"I will go in person."
I nodded, a cold smile playing on my lips.