It’s no one else’s fault. The folly is yours to own. Why’re you bringing it up at this point?
“Wh-Why didn’t you stop me?! What were you thinking?!”
“I tried to stop you, of course. But you didn’t listen to my pleas, just as you aren’t right now.”
“Kuh! Y-You little... How dare you speak to your father like that!”
“Let’s talk after you’ve cooled off. I shall take my leave.” I turned on my heel and abandoned my father to his tantrum. When I closed the door behind me, I heard the sound of him destroying something, but I didn’t have the energy to glance back.
Why is he like that? Why am I his child? The same old questions whirled around my mind. As a child, I had sought my father’s love. I had wanted him to treasure my mother. I had wanted him to cherish his citizens and become a good feudal lord. However, I no longer desired much from him. There was only one thing I wanted from my father now.
Don’t do anything unnecessary. That’s all.
It always rains on days when you break out new shoes, and when you knock over an inkwell, it has a tendency to spill onto the most important document. Following that logic, when I wanted my father to not do anything unnecessary, the worst possible future was inevitable. Thinking this way was perhaps a form of escapism—a pointless exercise.
Very recently, I had discovered that my father was scheming something on the sly. I was late to notice because I had been preoccupied with trying to persuade my relatives to help me oust father from his position as head of the household. One of my subordinates that I’d planted among his people had reported that my father planned to disrupt the Prelier domain’s harvest festival.
Annoyance came before anger. Does my father not comprehend the current power structure? Prelier is the domain garnering the most attention in our entire country. Merchants from all over the world have gathered there, and it’s well on its way to becoming the next major city after the capital.
The feudal lord is the king’s daughter, and she is on favorable terms with her parents. There used to be rumors of discord between Lady Rosemary and her family, but those disappeared when the royal couple sent a mountain of gifts to congratulate her pregnancy.
Wealth, bloodline, backing—from every angle, she lacks nothing.
Her Excellency Duchess Prelier is currently the single most important individual in the Kingdom of Nevel. You do not want to make an enemy of her. That’s already common sense in high society. What does my destitute father think is going to happen if he publicly antagonizes someone like that? The answer is as plain as day.
All the high-ranking nobles will turn their backs on our house in concert. Then the lower ranks will emulate them. The Schletter Duchy’s demise is imminent. Why doesn’t he see that?
“I’m at the end of my rope.” I violently tugged at my bangs.
I can’t leave my father at large any longer. As long as my father... As long as that man is alive, someone will suffer. He irrationally went after Lady Rosemary and, as a consequence, bankrupted our family and dragged mother and our servants into his downfall. That man will rip all the people I care about into pieces with his own two hands.
Before that happens, I must stop him. I need to move as quickly as possible. No matter what happens to me, no matter what methods I must resort to, I will stop him.
I hadn’t been sleeping well ever since I’d learned of my father’s scheme. Though my body was fatigued, I remained wide awake, passing out only at daybreak. However, every time I fell asleep, I dreamed of murdering my father. Right before my blade severed his neck, I’d wake up with a start and feel immense relief that it had just been a dream. Then, I’d despair over what a spineless coward I was. This cycle repeated over and over.
Ultimately, I was unable to devise an effective countermeasure, and the day of the harvest festival arrived. I changed into commoner clothing that my subordinates had procured for me. Alongside my similarly disguised subordinates, we made for Prelier. We decided to split up to search for my father’s followers.
Unfortunately, I happened across Lady Rosemary on the way. I finally had the opportunity to hold a proper conversation with the person I admired, but I felt no elation. Instead, I wanted to die from guilt.
Lady Rosemary had been bestowed the title of the world’s first duchess regnant at a young age, not even yet twenty, and the path she had walked to get there surely hadn’t been easy. Behind her dazzling achievements, she must have endeavored and suffered an extraordinary amount.
Prelier’s development is a result of her efforts finally bearing fruit. Why does my father insist on interfering with Lady Rosemary? What right does a man who’s never experienced any hardship, one who’s spent his life larking about, have to obstruct her? Yes, he really must be stopped. I will deal with him.
“If something happens, I will take responsibility with my own two hands and—” But before I could finish, Lady Rosemary spoke over me.
“Let’s do everything we can so that nothing happens!” She sounded like she was at her wits’ end.
I felt like she had pulled my mind out of the mire it had been sinking in. Astonished, I blinked at her several times, unable to stop myself from staring. Her face, just like her voice, seemed disconcerted. I was confused, unable to understand why she was so on edge.
“You and I, and my subordinates too, are all here to ensure nothing happens.”
That’s right. I don’t want anyone else to become a victim of my father’s machinations. I want to protect my mother and subordinates who have toiled away thus far. And I don’t want to cause any more trouble for Lady Rosemary either. I hate to see innocent people be hurt. That’s why, if what I need to do is...
“We all have the same objective, so please don’t torment yourself over this alone,” she continued.
For a split second, I couldn’t wrap my head around what she’d said. When I finally did, I felt heat well up in the back of my eyes. It felt like her words were permeating my chest.
I thought I had to be the one to stop him. I was convinced that the optimal solution would be to dirty my own hands if it would resolve the issue, and I charged ahead. To tell the truth, I saw the worry harbored in my mother’s and subordinates’ gazes.
“Okay,” I replied. I looked down to hide the tears that threatened to spill forth. The voice I’d managed to wring out cracked pathetically.
Lady Rosemary must’ve noticed that I was about to cry, because she said, “There’s dirt on your cheek,” and lent me a handkerchief. I used it to wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes and raised my head.
Now is not the time to be crying.
I recommenced my search, and we decided to scour the festival’s highlights—the contest of strength and the cooking contest—for any trouble. The venue was teeming with people. Everyone was full of energy, their eyes twinkling with joy. Even I, someone who preferred quiet environments, found the hubbub not unpleasant.
However, due to a scoundrel’s intrusion, the jovial atmosphere was ruined in an instant. The disruption was probably—no, definitely my father’s work. It was a child’s responsibility to right their parents’ wrongs.
“Wait. It’ll be fine,” Lady Rosemary said.
I was about to push through the crowd when she grabbed my wrist and stopped me. A weak girl wouldn’t normally have been strong enough to hold me back. However, my body froze, and I couldn’t move.
To my chagrin, Lady Rosemary’s touch and warmth had flustered me. She was far too delicate and soft. I feared that I might injure her if I carelessly shook her off. I was sickened by my thoughts. How could I possibly break her? It’s not like she’s a poem scribbled by a drunk novice.
“Oh dear, did I hurt you?” she asked.
“N-No. Not at all.” Despite my disgraceful conduct, Lady Rosemary didn’t laugh at me. Instead, she showed me concern so genuine that I couldn’t bring myself to feel happy about it. She doesn’t see me as a man. I felt empty inside.
“More importantly, why did you say it’ll be fine?” I asked.
“Because he’s probably here.”
I wasn’t reflected in her beautiful blue eyes. Her eyes followed only one person, filled with only love and trust toward her husband. As if to answer her expectations, Sir Leonhart gallantly appeared and easily drove the ruffian away.
“See? It was fine,” Lady Rosemary said with a proud smile.
Her smile, lovely like that of a young girl’s, was one of wholehearted faith in Sir Leonhart. She wouldn’t have been able to wear such a defenseless smile if she had felt even a shred of unease.
It’s a crushing defeat. Lady Rosemary wouldn’t be the way she is now if Sir Leonhart weren’t the one standing by her side. I never thought someone like me could rival him, and my understanding has been renewed once more. It would’ve been futile, no matter how hard I struggled. Now that I’ve acknowledged that, I feel like I can finally step forward.
A torrent of events followed after that. I didn’t even have time to drown in the pain of my broken heart. At a different venue where the cooking festival was being held, I spotted my family’s butler among the audience. Evidently, he had poisoned the ingredients under my father’s orders.
Thanks to Lady Rosemary’s subordinates taking preventative measures, disaster was averted, but that didn’t undo the crime itself. Poisoning clearly went beyond disruption. The lives of commoners were of little value to my father, so he would never understand, but Lady Rosemary loved her citizens and would never forgive his folly.
My father had crossed the line. Not even the opportunistic sycophants who supported him would protect him now. The branch families and half of our relatives had already turned their backs on my father, and this incident would likely cause the rest to distance themselves as well. Now that he had earned the wrath of the gentle and sincere Duchess Prelier, no one would be willing to extend their hand to him.
I’ll oust him as head this time for sure. I’ll strip away all his poisonous aides and have him quietly live the rest of his days within our territory.
“The Prelier Duchy wishes to have a good relationship with the reborn Schletter Duchy,” Lady Rosemary said. She was magnanimously sparing the Schletter Duchy itself.
In that case, I want to repay her generosity. Even a hundred years from now, I will make it so the Schletter Duchy will be a faithful friend to the Prelier Duchy. I shall become the lord who establishes that relationship.