Headaches
Recent days, Marianne had been in a foul mood.
Even today, she had been contacted by a woman whose identity was unclear, and after that, her husband had rarely visited the palace.
According to Haria, he was using all the time he wasn't holding her in his arms for Hound duties.
Of course, that was good for Marianne too. No matter how Isaac became the commander, the smoother the Hounds moved, the fewer conflicts would arise within the empire government and palace.
“But why isn't he coming to find me?”
After barely finishing today's work and throwing her tired body onto the bed, a strong displeasure suddenly arose in Marianne's mind.
Her legal husband, Isaac, had visited the palace today for some reason. If Isaac entered the palace, it would automatically inform Marianne.
When Marianne heard that Isaac had entered the palace, she thought his patience had finally run out. That said, she had no intention of doing anything special for him, but responding to him wouldn't be bad either.
After all, she was also about to take a short rest. It was truly coincidental, but...
But he hadn't come to find her. Not only that, but he had quickly finished his business and left again.
Just like entering, when Isaac left the palace, the news would automatically reach Marianne.
So when she heard that Isaac had left without her in sight, she stared blankly into space for a moment, which wasn't like her.
“No matter how I think about it, he's deliberately ignoring me.”
Lying on the bed staring at the ceiling, Marianne muttered to herself. She knew it herself. It was unreasonable to be angry at him for sending her to the brink of death and then ignoring her.
Nevertheless, she had gradually been dominated by her messy emotions lately.
“If he just disappeared, I wouldn't care at all, but constantly appearing in front of me is probably to draw my attention, right?”
If Isaac had heard her words, he would have clapped at the idea he had never imagined in his life and fiercely denied it, but Marianne felt confident in her hypothesis.
This was also unavoidable given the environment she had grown up in.
Her grandfather had fallen due to advising a tyrant. Her parents had been killed while trying to avenge their grandfather and failing.
And she had built up her strength, wisdom, and knowledge to avenge and protect her last remaining precious blood relative, her younger sister.
……Her younger sister had turned out to be a bit too much, but still.
Anyway, Marianne knew she had outstanding talent and had been intelligent since childhood, so she had the focus to not look at anything other than her purpose.
In other words, she didn't have love or affection, let alone the experience of a pure child developing strong affection for someone, which everyone has.
So she didn't know how to deal with a man who slightly caught her interest.
“Good. Tomorrow I'll call him myself and see his reaction.”
She didn't know what reaction she meant. She just didn't like that the man who had gone crazy over women didn't care about her.
Anyway, after deciding, her mind allowed her body rest. Thanks to that, Marianne could sleep soundly, but when morning came, she had to cancel her plan from before.
“Let me hear it again.”
“Three imperial mages affiliated with the palace have been found dead.”
“……”
Marianne felt her head throbbing.
Probably working late today.
--
I said while holding my throbbing head.
“Don't worry, Gilbert. There are other mages in the palace besides them.”
It was what I said to reassure Gilbert, who was scheduled to retire today formally.
But the party concerned shook his head in reply.
“No. This matter is hard to see as coincidence no matter how you look at it. I want this to be my last day before retirement.”
I felt gratitude for Gilbert's attitude of saying it with conviction. Honestly, since I had already said I'd do it, if Gilbert insisted a little, I had nothing to say.
Nevertheless, Gilbert had come to say he would finish this properly and retire. In fact, that was right.
Because, as Gilbert said, this couldn't possibly be coincidence.
I turned and looked at Haria standing behind me.
“Derigan, Damus, Garel?”
“Following your orders, guarding Gilbert's house.”
Right after hearing the news that the imperial mages were found dead in the morning, I immediately sent three Hounds with top combat power to Gilbert's house.
Since it was blatantly targeted timing, the next target was naturally likely to be Gilbert's family.
If something happened to his wife and daughter, it would be fatal not only to Gilbert but to the morale of the entire Hounds.
Fortunately, Gilbert and his family were safe. When sending the three, I instructed Gilbert to stay by his family, but he eventually came back to headquarters to take on the mission.
“The enemy who killed the imperial mages is strong. Don't let your guard down at all.”
Given the situation, all Hounds except the three sent to Gilbert's house were mobilized. Even those outside headquarters had already returned before I called.
Also, information gathering was fast, as befits those with the name Hounds.
Among them, Coyle and Boros, whose original role was that, had moved first before my instructions and gathered all related information for me and the Hounds to share.
“None of the three mages had special grudges.”
“Their residences and activity ranges were all different.”
“Also, the imperial mages who were killed had no other common points besides being affiliated with the palace.”
If forced to find common points, they had the skill to become palace mages, but that wasn't important right now.
“Gilbert. Who has a grudge against you?”
“There are almost no ones who know my identity, but since it's our business, there are piles of grudges.”
“That's natural. Among them, is there a skilled person who can kill three imperial mages in one night?”
At my question, Gilbert fell into thought for a moment. But after a while, he scratched his head and spoke.
“Sorry. There are some quite strong ones, but no matter what, there aren't that strong.”
“No need to apologize. If you clashed with such a strong one, you wouldn't be standing here.”
“That's right.”
Hearing Gilbert's answer, I asked Boros this time.
“Boros. How are the situation with the security maintenance unit and the imperial capital defense unit?”
“The former has properly judged that it's not their business and stays quiet. The latter seems to have requested help from the magic academy and is investigating, but it didn't look like there would be any results by the time I returned to headquarters.”
Security maintenance unit handles small everyday crimes, so lowering the body isn't unreasonable, but the magic academy suffering is surprising.
“The mages were killed estimated last night, and found early morning. But even now in the afternoon, no results?”
“Yes. If something is found, my informant is supposed to tell me, but since there's no news yet……”
I thought it would be easy if the imperial defense unit handled it themselves, but it seemed it wouldn't be that simple.
At that moment, Gina raised her hand cautiously and spoke.
“Um, I know it's late during the meeting, but can we move?”
At her words, the gazes of the other Hounds all fixed on me. We are looking for the culprit as naturally as possible, but the question of whether we even have the authority to move was in their eyes.
So I nodded my head.
“Of course. Ah, I didn't explain. Under the premise that I manage and am responsible, from now on the Hounds will have independent operational authority.”
“Eh?!”
“When?”
“Wait. I didn't know that either!”
What did our subordinates think I was doing locked in the command room until now?
As a prince, I disliked moving without permission from someone.
Unlike combat, for tactics I was a rookie, so I accepted opinions from staff and moved accordingly, but following for victory and asking permission to move are completely different things.
So every time I had time, I gathered materials under the name of negotiation. The documents left abandoned here and there in the command room were like a treasure trove.
Although the time I spent with a woman had decreased, faster than the original plan, I had recently been able to receive independent operational authority from the empire government and my legal wife.
“Even with that, Your Majesty and the ministers approved well?”
“Of course not just that. Don't you know I destroyed Diarose so grandly?”
“Ah……”
Even the same words, the meaning changes depending on who says it, so I knew that negotiation and coercion are things only the powerless can do, which is suicide.
“Why didn't you tell me? You? You? You?”
“I forgot.”
While the other Hounds were talking with joy and surprise, Haria kept poking my side and expressing dissatisfaction.
Changing my attitude towards me is a happy thing, but when I want to tell everything I know right now, it's a bit awkward.
“Anyway, the enemy's purpose is likely Gilbert, so this can be seen as hostility towards the Hounds. It's sufficient as our justification for moving.”
After that, I instructed the investigation with Gilbert and Boros as one group, Haria, Gina, and Coyle as another group.
“If a battle occurs, never confront head on. You don't need to ask my permission one by one, so request help from the imperial defense unit.”
“What about you?”
“I'll go to the scene with Selemin.”
Selemin nodded quietly as if she had expected it. The only Hound mage.
I don't know exactly how strong she is, but she will be able to see many things better than me who knows nothing about magic.
It's not the only reason, though.
“Then let's gather back at headquarters in three hours. As I said, no forcing.”
Following the instructions, the Hounds went out from the headquarters, Selemin said she needed something and would go to the room for a moment, then went up to the second floor.
A few minutes later. Selemin came out of the room with a small bag, approached me waiting on the first floor and said.
“I'm ready. Let's go, husband.”
“……Call me 'Commander'.”
When we were alone, the sight of the wife changing the address she had been waiting for, I let out a sigh.