That Guy Did It!
The four nobles slammed their heads against the banquet hall floor, loudly praising the Grand Duchess.
"Wh-what nonsense is this?! We have never been oppressed!"
"What?! Baron? What are you even—!"
Caleb's eyes widened in shock. But the nobles' masterful performance showed no signs of stopping.
"We did it of our own free will! We were so deeply moved by Her Excellency the Grand Duchess's noble and lofty spirit that we willingly donated our assets!"
"That's right! Yesterday, when we saw Her Excellency shedding tears for the soldiers who died in that snowy field, our hearts felt like they were being torn apart! What use is mere wealth when it comes to the peace of the North?!"
"Ahhh! Long live Her Excellency the Grand Duchess! We pledge our eternal loyalty!"
Giselle's mouth fell slightly open in utter bewilderment, while her retainers watched the spectacle with expressions that clearly said, Have these bastards finally lost their minds?
"Wh-what the hell is this?! You clearly told me you'd report the Grand Duchess—!"
Caleb froze on the spot as if his brain had shut down. But it wasn't over yet. The nobles delivered a counterpunch that would completely cut off his air supply.
"It's him! That wicked deputy! He secretly summoned us to a tavern and—!"
Baron Killian pointed an accusing finger and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"He claimed he was the Empire's representative! He threatened that if we didn't falsely accuse Her Excellency the Grand Duchess, he'd destroy our territories! We only pretended to go along with it to save our own lives!"
"Exactly! We never had the slightest intention of slandering Her Excellency the Grand Duchess!"
"N-no! When did I ever say I'd destroy your territories—! You crazy bastards, what are you—!"
Caleb stumbled backward, his face turning deathly pale. He had fallen into the very trap he had dug for himself.
Why? What on earth did I do to them to make them act like this?!
This was completely different from what he'd heard. Weren't these four supposed to be rotten opportunists from the North? And just two days ago, they had been trembling and nodding eagerly at his proposal. So why?
Brainwashing? Had the Grand Duchess used some bizarre black magic or drugs to manipulate their minds? Or had she subjected them to brutal torture and tamed them like beasts?
Otherwise, there was no way these bone-deep selfish opportunists from the North would suddenly praise the Grand Duchess like fanatics and turn on him. It was an utterly incomprehensible situation that defied all logic.
But none of that mattered to Caleb right now. At this moment, he was the deputy of the Imperial Audit Team who had abused his authority, threatened innocent nobles, and tried to frame an innocent Grand Duchess. This was an unforgivable crime of treason that could spark an all-out war between the Imperial family and the North.
"Th-this..."
As Caleb trembled, glancing nervously at Enoch and Giselle—
"Puhahahahahaha!!"
Someone broke the silence with a roaring burst of laughter.
"Oh man, I'm dying. This is seriously fucking hilarious!"
It was Cael.
"Hey! Caleb or whatever your name is! You've got some serious talent, don't you? You go poking at perfectly quiet northern nobles and threaten them in the Empire's name? And behind my older brother, the Third Prince's back, no less?"
Cael mocked him, even squeezing out a few tears.
"Wow~ Our brother's audit team sure has shit for management! He doesn't even know his own deputy is pulling stunts like this behind his back! Kyaahahaha!!"
Cael's derisive laughter echoed throughout the entire banquet hall. To Caleb, that laughter sounded like a death sentence.
Enoch's eyes began to burn with fury.
Shing!
Without hesitation, Enoch drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at the neck of Caleb, who had collapsed to the floor.
"Hiiik... Y-Your Highness...!"
"You dare use the Imperial family's name to satisfy your own greed and oppress the innocent?"
"Th-that's not—!"
"The crime of insulting both me and the Imperial family will not be taken lightly. Guards! Bind this man at once!"
The Imperial knights approached and twisted Caleb's arms behind his back, restraining him. Realizing he was about to take all the blame and face destruction, Caleb turned ghostly white and began to thrash desperately.
"N-no! Your Highness, please believe me!! Th-this wasn't something I did on my own! It was His Highness the First Prince... His Highness Arzen who ordered me to do it!!"
The moment the name of the First Prince Arzen left his lips, the faces of the northern retainers hardened. But his excuse only ended up pouring oil on a burning house.
"Shut your mouth, you vile worm!!" Enoch roared.
"Not only do you insult the Imperial family, but you dare drag my brother's name into your filthy mouth!"
In Enoch's eyes, while Arzen was certainly ambitious, he was not the kind of person who would order such dirty schemes.
"Stuff his mouth and drag him away immediately! The moment we arrive at the capital, he will be handed over to the Imperial tribunal!"
"Mmph!! Mmph!! H-His Highness Arzen—!!"
With his mouth blocked by the knights, Caleb was dragged away like a piece of baggage and disappeared from the banquet hall.
Enoch sheathed his sword with a heavy sigh. Then he turned toward Grand Duchess Giselle of the North and bowed his head respectfully.
"As the representative of the Imperial family, I deeply apologize for my deputy's atrocities, Your Excellency. All of this is my own failing for not properly controlling my subordinate."
"...It's fine. Raise your head."
Giselle replied calmly.
"With this incident, the Imperial Audit Team has lost all justification to remain in the North."
Enoch looked around the banquet hall with a bitter expression.
"I apologize once again for ruining the banquet... At first light tomorrow, we will immediately withdraw to the capital."
The next morning.
The snow that had fallen all night had stopped, revealing the bitterly clear northern sky. In front of the Grand Duchess's castle gates, the carriages of the Imperial Audit Team stood lined up, ready to depart for the capital.
Enoch, who had been about to climb into his carriage, paused for a moment and looked back. Standing silently in formation before the gates were Giselle and the knights of the North.
His gaze fell on their worn, dented armor and the bandaged backs of their hands. If it had been his past self, he would have sneered inwardly at the crude equipment of these country bumpkins. But after witnessing their noble blood and sacrifice with his own eyes at the memorial service, things were different now.
Enoch placed a hand over his chest and paid his respects to the warriors of the North.
"The Empire owes a great debt to the blood and sacrifice of the North. This audit was born from my own arrogance and ignorance. Grand Duchess... I pray that you remain steadfast."
Giselle gave a silent nod in return. Soon after, Enoch boarded his carriage, and the procession began to move away along the snowy path.
Giselle stood on the snowfield until the carriages had completely disappeared from sight.
...It's over.
The first successful defense against the Magic Beast Wave. The suppression of Baron Rowen's rebellion. And now, the withdrawal of the Imperial Audit Team that had been tightening a noose around the North's neck.
The northern winter, which had seemed so hopeless, had miraculously regained its peace.
Yet in one corner of Giselle's heart, a tangled knot of unresolved questions still coiled tightly.
She turned and headed back into the castle.
In a quiet corridor of the Grand Duchess's castle.
"Ugh, why am I so tired already in the morning?"
Cael yawned widely while rubbing his stiff neck. Now that Enoch had left, he could finally stretch out and sleep properly. He was just starting to feel good about it when—
Tap.
Someone blocked his path as he turned the corner. It was Giselle.
"Whoa, you scared me. Why are you blocking the way again?"
"What exactly did you do to those four nobles?"
Their behavior at yesterday's banquet had been bizarre no matter how you looked at it. Opportunists who had been colluding with Rowen had suddenly burst into tears praising her and counterattacked the deputy. Cael flinched inwardly but put on an innocent face and played dumb.
"I have no idea what you're talking about?"
"Don't lie."
Giselle took a step closer.
"Right after those men were summoned to your room and came out, they suddenly rushed to the front lines to hunt magic beasts. And at yesterday's banquet, they were trembling while watching your every move."
"......"
"You must have gotten hold of some fatal weakness and blackmailed them. What are you really planning? What are you trying to gain by manipulating them?"
Giselle thought to herself, This man is trash. He's the prodigal son who came here to devour the North. That fact hadn't changed.
Yet during yesterday's banquet, thanks to those four nobles whom Cael may have been controlling from behind the scenes, the Grand Duchess's castle had managed to dodge the Audit Team's blade. Just like during Rowen's rebellion. Again and again, Cael used the most trash-like methods, yet the result was always that he pulled both the North and her back from the brink of absolute crisis.
This contradiction. The continued cognitive dissonance was completely tangling up Giselle's mind.
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Cael let out a dry chuckle.
"Ha!"
With his hands shoved into his pockets, Cael looked down at her.
"Your misunderstanding is getting worse by the day. Them crying and praising you yesterday? They were just acting nervous because they were scared of you. What does that have to do with me?"
Cael shrugged shamelessly.
"All I did was throw them some moldy luxury goods and tell them to go make money with it. Nothing more, nothing less."
Hearing his brazen answer, Giselle bit her lip inwardly. Those eyes of his. Even though he was grinning like a madman, for some reason they felt clear and rational. The eyes that had once looked like nothing more than a horny mutt now felt like an unfathomable abyss.
Was this another misunderstanding? Was her confused mind simply making her think ridiculous thoughts?
She let out a long sigh.
"...Fine. I'll let it go for now."
Giselle turned her gaze away and added,
"But remember this. No matter what schemes you try to pull in this castle, my two eyes will always be watching you."
Her cloak fluttered as she brushed past him. Left alone in the corridor, Cael watched her retreating figure and rubbed his face with both hands.
"Ugh..."
She was already called the Iron-Blooded Grand Duchess for a reason—her senses were terrifyingly sharp. Scary. So scary.
In the capital, at the Imperial Palace.
The glass greenhouse where magic maintained a constant temperature throughout all four seasons. Filled with all kinds of rare and beautiful flowers in full bloom, the place felt like an unreal paradise completely detached from the outside world.
Snip. Snip.
In the middle of that beautiful paradise, a man was trimming flower stems with gardening shears.
The Empire's next sun, the First Prince Arzen.
"......"
With a gentle smile on his face, he mercilessly cut away the rotting leaves and diseased branches, tossing them to the ground.
At that moment, the greenhouse door opened cautiously, and a dark shadow slipped inside. It was one of Arzen's direct subordinates from the Shadow Unit.
"Your Highness."
"Speak. What happened?"
Arzen asked kindly, still focused on pruning the flowers.
The shadow unit member reported every detail of what had occurred in the North with a trembling voice. Deputy Caleb's plan had failed and he had been captured. And that the Third Prince Enoch had withdrawn.
After listening to the full report, Arzen—
Crack.
—crushed the rotten branch that had fallen to the floor beneath his shoe.
"Hmm."
Arzen smiled faintly.
"It seems there really is something in the North after all."
Someone kept extinguishing the sparks in his plans.
"Is it the Grand Duchess's side?"
Arzen stroked his chin.
"Or... it could be someone else."
Then—
"Your Highness. We have just received word that His Highness the Third Prince has arrived in the capital. After his audience with His Majesty the Emperor, he has requested an immediate meeting with you."
At the shadow unit member's words, Arzen set down his gardening shears and smiled.
"Let him come."
Arzen murmured as he looked down at the crushed branch.
"It seems my poor little brother has a lot of questions."
A new storm was slowly raising its head once again, this time heading straight for the North.