Coup (1)
Leona brought the letter that Baron Wellington had secretly tied to a pigeon and sent not to her master first, but straight to Luimina.
The reason was simple.
In a situation where every second counted, acting first and reporting later was far more important.
Besides, her master was currently inside Erika’s room, enjoying a very good time.
Leona, an excellent hunting dog in every sense, possessed the competence to handle a matter like this without issue.
“This is really a letter Baron Wellington sent in secret…?”
At that moment, Luimina could no longer spare a single thought for her daughter.
The secret letter from Wellington, dispatched toward Kerens Territory.
It was unmistakably his handwriting.
What a pathetic excuse for a man.
It was no common thing for a lord to attempt to sell his own territory to another lord.
Only when a deep grudge against the ruling dragon demanded vengeance would a lord ever consider selling his land.
In other words, for some reason Wellington wanted to hand over his territory in order to humiliate the dragon Melania.
“Haaa…”
To think she had tried to send Elisa into a political marriage with a man like this.
Luimina now understood why Wellington harbored such resentment toward Melania.
It had to be because of her son Alex’s death.
She had even heard the boy was killed by the breeder named Alpha. Of course he would be furious.
But honestly, that duel had been initiated by Wellington’s son. After being revived by a priest’s healing, the boy refused to accept defeat, launched a cowardly surprise attack, and died for it.
Despite his son bearing so much fault, Wellington still chose to hold a grudge against the dragon who had merely permitted the duel.
Luimina knew Melania had never intended for Alpha to die.
Yet Melania had invested her own wealth to summon humans from another world; she could hardly allow them to be killed indiscriminately.
Therefore, the only person Wellington should resent was Alpha. After all, Melania’s protection of a mere breeder like him would not last forever.
They said a gentleman’s revenge was never too late, even after ten years.
If he had waited for the right moment, he could have secured the political marriage with her daughter and later executed Alpha at his leisure. What was so urgent that he had to act now?
“Tsk. The fact that you brought this to me means I can consider you on my side, yes?”
“Yes. I support Lady Ertia.”
“Is that so… Why the sudden change? You became a knight thanks to the lord’s wife, didn’t you?”
“The lady of the house was indeed a good person. The lord, however, was not. Do you know how he treated me after she took me in?”
Luimina knew the story in rough outline.
Leona had been an orphan.
Not even entrusted to an orphanage—an orphan of the streets.
One day, Wellington’s wife saw the girl scavenging garbage on the roadside, took pity on her, and brought her to the castle.
Upon seeing her, Wellington immediately dragged the ten-year-old Leona out with the soldiers on an orc hunt, using her as a meat shield.
Left battered with bruises and broken bones, she was abandoned in the forest. Had the lord’s wife not searched for her and summoned a priest, Leona would have died there.
After that, under the wife’s care, Leona learned the sword, awakened her talent, and eventually became a knight.
Then the lady suddenly contracted a severe illness. Before collapsing, she asked Leona to look after the lord and the children.
The priests in the territory lacked the power to save her. While they waited for reinforcements from neighboring lands, Wellington’s wife passed away.
That was where the story ended.
Afterward, Leona rose to Sword Master and received the position of knight commander directly from Wellington.
“I see.”
Luimina understood at once.
The person Leona owed a debt of gratitude to was Wellington’s wife, who had asked her to protect the lord and his children. Yet to Leona, Wellington was the man who had nearly killed her as a child.
In other words, the only way left for Leona to repay that kindness was to install Ertia as lord and offer her loyalty.
Repaying an enemy who had driven her to death’s door in childhood was no easy task for anyone short of a saint.
“Then please summon Lady Ertia.”
Wellington’s attempt to sell the territory was extremely inconvenient for Luimina.
The vassal family that had served as a shield would vanish, replaced by a hostile territory directly bordering Soryu lands.
Now that she knew of his betrayal, she had to meet Ertia at once, secure her oath of loyalty, and raise her as the new lord.
Alpha can wait…
Her daughter’s problem could not be solved immediately in this situation. The urgent priority was to topple Wellington and install Ertia as lord.
“Airen. How many troops did we bring with us?”
“Five Sword Expert-level knights, two 4-Circle mages, and roughly one hundred soldiers.”
They had only brought a small escort because this was a vassal family’s domain…
Luimina felt a chill crawl across her skin at the realization that a blade had been pressed to her throat. If Leona had not informed her and instead helped eliminate Alpha and his followers, she herself might have been next.
Wellington…
All those pleas for a political marriage with her daughter had been nothing but an act.
To think he had been planning to stab both her and Melania in the back like this.
“Just to be safe, Airen, keep monitoring Wellington.”
“Understood.”
Shortly after Airen bowed and withdrew, Leona returned with Ertia.
“Lady Ertia. Are you aware that your father is attempting to sell this territory to Baron Kerens?”
“What?!”
Dragged out of bed in the middle of the night only to hear this absurd claim.
Selling the territory…!
What she wanted was not to become head of the Bicken family. She wanted to be the owner and lord of Bicken Territory itself.
Yet her father was selling the lordship!
And to the Kerens lord, their sworn enemy no less!
“Look at this.”
But she had no choice except to believe it.
The handwriting was unmistakably her father Wellington’s.
Huh? Actually… isn’t this perfect?
Even with her simple knight’s brain, Ertia could see exactly how events were unfolding.
She had not spent all this time fighting her brother Alex for the lordship without learning a thing or two.
The reason Luimina had summoned her now was clearly to establish a new lord.
By removing her father.
She had never gotten along with him anyway. On top of that, Wellington had been nothing but an obstacle constantly interfering with her master, Alpha.
If she became lord, she could become a far more useful female to him.
Having reached that conclusion, Ertia smiled brightly.
“As a member of the Soryu Count family’s vassal house, I swear to shoulder every duty given to me.”
“As head of the Count family, I shall do everything in my power to protect you and ensure you receive rewards befitting those duties.”
At Ertia’s swift oath, Luimina returned the smile.
It was common knowledge that Ertia and Wellington were on bad terms.
Luimina accepted her loyalty without suspicion.
“Then how many troops follow you?”
“Most of the mages follow my father, which makes it difficult. However, they are mostly 1- or 2-Circle mages. If the mages Lady Luimina brought apply pressure, they will not dare step forward.”
“And the knights and soldiers?”
“The soldiers can be sent far from the castle under the pretext of training. As for the knights…”
Leona looked flustered when Ertia’s gaze turned to her.
Had she always been this sharp…?
It was only natural. Ertia had worked just as hard to seize the family head position from her brother and become lord.
After her relationship with Wellington deteriorated, she realized normal methods would never work and began planning a coup.
She did not know whether she or her brother would become lord, but preparing contingency plans was only sensible.
That was why Ertia could recite the schemes she had prepared in advance.
“The knights… most of them will follow me.”
“Most of them?”
Ertia tilted her head.
When a territory fell into a new lord’s hands, the existing nobles would naturally be replaced. Therefore, knights of noble birth would surely feel antipathy toward Wellington’s plan to sell the land.
However, commoner knights like Erika valued loyalty above all.
They had no other choice.
No matter how hard they worked to earn noble titles, the established nobility only granted them empty honor.
To betray one’s lord and follow another? Unless one reached an irreplaceable position like Sword Master, such as Leona, entering true noble society would be impossible.
Ertia was not ignorant of this, which was why she had tilted her head.
“Master has gone to Erika.”
“Ah!”
When Leona whispered into her ear, Ertia nodded in understanding.
“Then let us first remove the soldiers from the castle under the pretext of training.”
“Yes.”
Informing the knights of the lord’s betrayal and winning them over would take time. During that period, Luimina intended to reduce the number of soldiers inside the castle.
The plan had to be carried out with utmost caution.
Since Wellington had chosen betrayal, there was no telling what assistance he might have already received from Kerens Territory.
While Luimina, Leona, and Ertia gathered to devise their coup, Erika had no choice but to spend the night wide awake.
“Hngh… ❤︎”
The cock buried inside her pussy.
It felt as if an entirely different creature had taken up residence within her.
“Stop clenching your pussy and go to sleep already.”
“Y-yes, I will…!”
Slurp…
To fall asleep while a cock was still lodged in her pussy…!
It was an impossible demand, yet Erika had to obey.
She was a knight.
Alpha’s female knight.
Obeying her lord’s commands was simply what a female knight was supposed to do.
The next morning.
“Your pussy kept begging my cock for cum all night, so I couldn’t sleep properly.”
“I’m sorry… ngh… ❤︎”
The moment she woke up, Erika was punished simply for failing to wrap his cock properly with her pussy.
Face down, ass up, with his cock driven deep inside her.
“I’m cumming.”
“Nheeeet… ❤︎”
Erika, who had not slept a wink, snapped fully awake at the announcement of incoming semen.
Squeeze, squeeze—!!
Her female instincts kicked in as she milked his cock with practiced skill, a technique that could now be called second-rate at worst.
Slap, slap.
After he finished ejaculating, spanked her ass several times, and left the room, Erika watched his retreating back. Her legs still trembled from the lingering pleasure of losing her virginity.
She forced herself up, gathered her armor, and began to dress.
“Erika. Why are you walking like that?”
“Hngh?! Ah, my lady… hehe…”
When she saw Ertia, Erika gave her a triumphant little smile.
What the hell… Is she making that face just because she slept with Master once?
The sight left Ertia in an extremely foul mood.
Waddle, waddle.
She had been about to snap back, but seeing Erika’s awkward, bow-legged gait, Ertia decided to let it slide. After all, it was the commemorative day she had lost her virginity.
There were far more important tasks at hand than worrying about Erika.