They needed to wrap things up before the flames had time to spread to the manor house, which meant they were in a race against time. As Byletta made her way forward, another man came out to meet her, but she cut him down without skipping a beat. Then she dived straight into the count’s bedroom.
“Are you hurt, Father?”
“How valiant. Do you intend on joining the military?”
“Now, now. I came all the way here to save you, my dear damsel in distress. But since you still have it in you to say things like that, I suppose you’re fine.”
Beside Count Swangan himself, the count’s room contained two incapacitated enemies and a third who was cowering with his head in his hands.
“Wh-what’s happening? The count wasn’t supposed to be this skilled…”
“I guess word of your freewheeling life in the capital spread all the way back here,” Byletta commented, not sure if the man was referring to the count’s penchant for drunken violence or his utter neglect of the management of his estate. Regardless, it seemed that tales of him sparring with his daughter-in-law had yet to reach the manor.
“Could you please pipe down? Bardu—do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Count Swangan thrust the tip of his blade toward the head steward’s neck and glared at him.
The man raged back as hard as he could despite his quivering throat.
“You only have yourself to blame! It didn’t matter whether we had a bad harvest, if our bridges collapsed, a village was deluged by floods, or our crops were stolen… You only ever told us to deal with it ourselves! I did what I had to do!”
“And that included joining forces with scoundrels, did it?”
“If we hadn’t, our grain would have been taken anyway. They have to live, too. Plus, striking a deal with them meant that they didn’t do anything outrageous to the people of the estate. I have no regrets.”
Byletta could sympathize with the resolute Bardu.
“Whichever way you look at it, you’re the one in the wrong, Father. I’d actually say that he’s done his job quite well, wouldn’t you?”
“What does that matter when he joined forces with the riffraff who came to kill me? He’s not worth saving.”
“I only did that because you said you would dispatch the Imperial Army, my lord! They came here to talk since they would have nowhere to run. They had no intention of hurting you!”
“Oh, that army stuff was made up. It was all a ploy to lure you to the manor.”
As Byletta laughed, Bardu turned to look at her with a dumbfounded expression.
When Byletta had interviewed villagers during the course of their inspection, she’d been given many accounts of a group of men who’d been fixing various roads and bridges. Witnesses had also reported seeing them repel groups of bandits at night. When she’d taken Arnald along to look into the matter further, she’d been able to observe that, just as she’d heard, the group working on the bridge in the village weren’t ordinary workmen.
That’s why she had fed people the story that the Imperial Army would soon be on their way to deal with them.
They’d also told Bardu the same lie. Given his probable involvement in the matter of the grain theft, they’d been confident that feeding him the information would mean his accomplices would catch wind of the rumors soon enough.
He’d probably understood that if elite imperial forces did come, it would be exceedingly difficult for his partners to escape unharmed. From what Byletta had managed to gather, the group was likely only as large as a single platoon. When they heard what was coming, it hadn’t been hard to predict that they’d panic and act out in desperation.
Count Swangan’s brow furrowed even deeper as he began to speak again.
“You fool. You fell right for it. And to think, if your lot hadn’t shown up, I would’ve been able to settle this matter without needing to write up those strange documents…”
“Come now, Father. I kept my end of our bargain, so you have a duty to uphold yours. I’ve explained to you that there’s benefit to maintaining your lands properly from now on. And you did promise to do so.”
“E-erm… This plan… Do you mean to say that the dispatch of troops from the capital was merely a ruse…? And the young lord wasn’t here running reconnaissance…?”
“I’m here on a separate matter,” Arnald said flatly, ignoring the desperate gaze of the head steward. Byletta wasn’t sure what this separate matter exactly was, but her husband didn’t seem to be making it up.
“That’s why I said having you come with us would increase the investigation’s legitimacy,” Byletta pointed out.
“You have keen insight.”
Byletta grinned at her shrugging husband.
For once, it felt like she’d gotten one over on him.
But apart from that, she was also proud that he’d commended her so genuinely. He hadn’t added “for a girl” or any other qualifiers or criticisms to the mix.
“So…what does that mean?”
“That the army will not be coming, of course. Did you really think someone as proud as my father-in-law would let his dirty little secrets be aired in public? Not that I think he should be proud after neglecting his tenants for so long, but I believe he’d prefer to come to an arrangement that keeps this all between us.”
Bardu blinked and looked up at Count Swangan. The head steward’s face was whiter than a sheet.
“M-my lord…who on earth is this young lady? She cannot possibly be any ordinary young woman, can she?”
“She is my son’s bride. A woman who managed to take you in completely with her facade of innocence and who wields such cunning that it brings me needless shame. Look at Bardu’s face, girl. He looks like he’s seen a ghost. Perhaps you should be more forthcoming with your impudence in the future. Or, preferably, rid yourself of it altogether.”
“Ha-ha-ha, oh, Father. You jape. You call a sweet girl like me ‘cunning’? Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully when complimenting me. Your unique sense in these things always leaves a lady unsure of what to say.”
“How very impudent,” Count Swangan muttered.