The Flower on the Cliff - 5
“Oh…… What a peaceful view,” Irina murmured, gazing at Müller through the carriage window.
I turned to look as well, but all I saw was land that had been violently overturned and left in ruins. Even stretching the truth, it was hardly a pretty sight. It was the off-season for farming, so the fields lay empty, nothing but bare soil stretching into the distance.
I sighed as I watched Irina smile at me. “Thanks. For saying that, at least.”
“Hehe… Hiyaaah!” Irina beamed, clearly pleased with herself.
I reached over and pinched her cheek. When we first met, we’d kept things formal and polite, but Irina had been steadily closing the distance between us. It wasn’t exactly a burden. When a beauty throws herself at you this enthusiastically, refusing doesn’t even cross your mind. The problem was that things were progressing very quickly.
“So what are you really thinking?” I asked.
“About what?”
Ignoring the swarm of noble friends who kept trying to set me up with their sisters.
“Are you seriously planning to settle down here for good?”
“Oh my! Settle down? Kyaa, you’re embarrassing me.”
I grabbed her plump, bouncy cheek and stretched it as she tried to dodge the subject. It pulled like warm taffy.
“Ow, ow, ow! L-Leoric, that hurts!”
“And what’s with all those luggage wagons behind us? I thought they were just gifts, but this is excessive. Books, personal furniture, clothes you like, jewelry… even your favorite mattress, blankets, and pillows? You specifically asked them to be careful because they’re your ‘cherished’ ones?”
“But I can’t sleep without my special blanket and pillow!”
“Is that supposed to be impressive? Because it kind of is.”
“Well… if you held me every night, Leoric, I think I could sleep just fine……”
Her face flushed scarlet. I pinched her cheek again. She let out a squeaky “Eugyagyagya!” and I sighed for what felt like the tenth time.
“Are you actually thinking of marrying me?”
It wasn’t even the marriage itself that was the issue. Her situation was different from Triana’s. Even though her family had fallen, the bloodline remained intact. This world had the same tired clichés as the novels from Earth—heroines suffering endless humiliation after their houses were destroyed—but even then, preserving the lineage was considered more important. Like the old saying about enduring humiliation to achieve future revenge. So even if she worked under me, marriage wasn’t impossible. No one would look down on her for sharing my bed or becoming my concubine.
“Um, about that story……”
Clatter. Clatter!
But Irina’s case was different. My position as master of the Müller territory, the equal status between our Count families—it wasn’t a bad match by any measure.
That said.
“You know where I stand, right?”
The problem was my rather unusual situation. A Count family whose magic power was evolving independently. Already the lord of my own territory. The second son, yet semi-independent from the family. Of course, more than half the profits from Müller still flowed to Franz and Beauleng, but that was something I could adjust through negotiation or future agreements.
Looking at it objectively, I was a perfect catch for Irina. Good families, attractive appearances, compatible personalities. In the past, I wouldn’t have thought twice about marrying her.
“Another letter arrived recently.”
“Ugh.”
Duke Earthrain’s younger sister, Alina Earthrain. Late twenties. Since there were no photographs, I’d only received a portrait, but trusting noble portraits in this era was for fools. And that wasn’t all. The other of the kingdom’s only two ducal houses had also reached out. I’d politely declined the first because she was too young, which somehow prompted the palace itself to send a matchmaking letter asking if they should introduce suitable candidates.
Several marquis families had contacted me as well. Regrettably lacking daughters of the right age, they suggested adopting a young lady with strong magic potential to form a connection. Since the greater houses were moving, the lesser ones followed suit. Most replies to the coming-of-age invitations I’d sent contained not-so-subtle lines like, My daughter will be attending as well—perhaps you might spare her a moment?
This wasn’t limited to the South. The capital and other regions were the same. Triana was practically exhausted dealing with all the families trying to expand their influence now that Franz and Beauleng held the South so firmly.
From my current position—needing to think independently about the two families’ power—building stronger ties with other houses instead of just staying close to Franz and Beauleng wasn’t a bad idea. Which was probably why Count William, though he couldn’t possibly approve of his daughter wandering around like this, hadn’t stopped her. He was likely letting her do as she wished.
“The Count’s daughter holding her coming-of-age in another family’s territory is already questionable, and now you want to stay here? You know you might not be able to marry, right?”
“Hmph. Then will you take responsibility, Leoric?”
Her tone was playful, but her eyes were dead serious. I leaned in until our faces were nearly touching and asked again.
“The legal wife position will probably……”
“It’s fine, Leoric. Just being by your side is enough for me.”
I brushed her disheveled hair behind her ear. She pressed her face into my hand, savoring the touch like an affectionate puppy. The sight made me smile despite myself. Since she said she liked me. And though part of me knew I should pull away when I thought about her future, I didn’t want to let go of the woman who had come to my side.
So.
“Irina.”
“Ah……”
I lifted her chin. Tiny tears had gathered at the corners of her eyes. I wiped them away and cupped her flushed cheeks.
“I’m sorry.”
“No… Leoric. I’m happy just that this is finally happening.”
If not for me, she could have lived freely. Like a bird soaring across the open sky. But I have no intention of releasing the bluebird that flew to me.
“I love you.”
“I… love you too.”
Chu.
Our lips, moist with lipstick, met softly.
“As expected, it really is the countryside.”
Enoch rode near the middle of the long procession, eyes fixed on the ornate carriage ahead, when someone nearby spoke. He turned his head.
“To hold a coming-of-age ceremony in a place like this… I wonder what Lady Irina could possibly be thinking.”
“Right? She must still see him as a child.”
“……”
Enoch kept his mouth shut as the noble youths around him chattered. His gaze remained locked on the lavish carriage carrying Irina and that man.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Hmm.”
Only then did Enoch turn to the companion addressing him. What exactly was he supposed to do? He felt a headache coming on from the reactions of the other young nobles.
You’re the ones acting like children.
Of course he had his own complaints, but he knew openly disrespecting the lord of a territory was never wise. Had they already forgotten the fog they’d witnessed earlier?
“For now, we should observe the situation.”
“But……”
“We’ve come this far. The coming-of-age ceremony will proceed. Ruining it would tarnish Lady Irina’s honor above all else. None of us want that, correct?”
“W-well, that’s true.”
The complaints finally died down a little. Holding back the sigh threatening to escape at their childish behavior, Enoch scanned their surroundings once more.
He understood why the noble youths were mocking the peaceful rural landscape. But Leoric Franz had only become lord of Müller a little over half a year ago. And originally……
For southern nobles to dismiss this sight as mere countryside…
This kind of productivity was the very foundation of the South’s power. Should he laugh at the ignorance of those around him, or curse himself for associating with them?
“Müller is in sight!”
Enoch swallowed another sigh. At the servant’s shout from the front, he straightened. They would reach the city soon. This was his first visit to Müller, but his research told him it had been an ordinary territory city until recently. With the change in lords, many things had shifted—and the territory itself would show it most clearly.
He guided his horse slowly, watching the castle walls and gates of Müller gradually come into view.
“……This is.”
Whoa.
Arwin let out a soft gasp of admiration. Though the sun was setting and the sky was darkening, the city itself glowed brilliantly. Was this the power of Müller’s lord, Leoric Franz, who had awakened solar magic? No, that wasn’t it.
“Are these streetlights?”
“Yes, they are.”
The servants assigned by the Müller territory rode alongside them, explaining the sights. The lights illuminating the entire street were something even he—who had visited the capital multiple times—had never seen. There were many objects that produced light, of course, but this was the first time he’d witnessed an entire glass fixture radiating it so evenly.
“Incredible. It really is a city where the sun god himself would reside……”
A place where light overflowed across the entire city, not just the lord’s residence. The splendid urban landscape welcomed them with open arms.