Chapter 116:  The House of Baron Roger (5)

It had certainly been a refreshing day.

Second place in the duel that determined the strongest at the Academy.

Even in the match against the swordmaster family, whose physical prowess far outmatched hers, she had fought a close battle.

And to top it off, her father—the Grand Duke of the North—had personally come to watch her match.

She had also found time to check approvals coming from Luton Textiles and review the finances of the Erian Foundation, keeping up with the family business.

Thanks to a senior secretary candidate who had organized everything neatly, she was able to finish her work cleanly.

As a result, she was being praised in both her role as a knight and in the family business.

Echina had been thinking that when he returned, she would properly dote on him this time instead of putting on a stern face.

But—

What greeted her, freshly washed and dressed in a crisp white shirt, was...

A fox, holding a bashful Saint in its arms with a solemn expression.

At the fake expression of the she-wolf who had wagged her tail between them, the skin beneath her eye twitched uncontrollably.

“So you said you were going off to work, but seems like you were having a lot of fun...?”

Back then, the woman had merely groped the sleeping man.

But now, in the image before her, the Saint was being held in his arms.

On top of that, they were both radiating heat, sweating—and still she dared to grope him like that...

The Northern Grand Duke’s daughter found her hand unconsciously drifting toward her waist.

As if she might suddenly draw the Luton Sword.

“Haa...”

She had just finished washing, and yet her body temperature felt like it was boiling again.

Sweeping her fragrant hair to the side, she placed one hand on her wide hips.

“......”

Soon, Echina’s gaze turned south—toward the Imperial Palace.

She gently bit her red lips, as if worried about the man who had gone as far as the Western Grand Duke’s household and had yet to return.

Just as she was beginning to wonder whether she should pack up and head west ahead of time—

“My lady, dinner preparations are complete.”

A housemaid knocked on her door to inform her of the evening meal.

“......”

But Echina didn’t immediately respond to the clearly heard message.

She merely half-closed her sharp eyes, lost in thought.

“My lady...?”

“I’m not hungry.”

Normally, when someone spoke so firmly, most attendants would take their leave.

However, in Echina’s case, this was an unusual response.

As a knight who strictly managed herself, she almost never skipped a meal.

She lived on a disciplined routine, always eating three simple meals a day.

And now she was refusing to eat...?

The startled maid asked again quietly, her expression troubled.

“A-Are you feeling unwell, perhaps...? The Grand Duke of the North will be dining with you tonight as well.”

The Grand Duke of the North.

At the mention of that name, Echina sharply furrowed her elegant brow.

Come to think of it...

The biggest reason the man she had tried to keep by her side ran away—was her father.

She had performed perfectly, and had only done things that benefitted their family.

And yet he had been interrogated, suspected of being a spy for another house or even the Imperial family...

“What on earth did you say to him that made him run away...?”

Echina still respected her father.

However, she simply couldn’t understand how the man she had opened her heart to for the first time had been driven to flee from their household—by none other than her own father.

“I’m not hungry, so don’t ask again.”

A cold refusal, even after being told her father would be attending dinner.

Startled, the maid quickly returned to report the situation.

“W-What should we do? The young lady refused to attend dinner even though the Grand Duke will be there...!”

She went straight to the head housemaid.

Upon receiving the report, the head maid immediately informed Chief Secretary Debier.

“Lady Echina says she doesn’t want to dine with the head of the household…!! What do we do, Debier?!”

As the story passed from mouth to mouth, it became more exaggerated.

“Is that true?”

The white-haired man who finally received the report adjusted his monocle with a grave expression.

Echina had always come to greet the head of the family, no matter the circumstance.

And now she didn’t even want to see him?

In all his thirty years of serving the household, Debier had never encountered such an emergency. He exhaled deeply.

“What in the world is going on...”

“They seemed to be getting along just fine until recently...”

The maids whispered amongst themselves, glancing nervously at the secretary.

Then the white-haired elder, wearing a cold, expressionless face, stepped into the hallway to restore order and make his way to deliver the troubling news.

To the head of the household.

“Your Grace, it’s Debier.”

「Come in.」

The Grand Duke of Luton rose from his leather chair in preparation for dinner.

Fastening his cardigan, he asked with a dignified expression,

「What is it? I was just on my way to the dining hall.」

“I’ve come to report something urgent.”

Debier, who always conveyed situations calmly, was saying he had something urgent to report.

Which meant something serious. The Grand Duke nodded with a serious expression.

“Well… the young lady has refused to join Your Grace for dinner.”

「Echina...?」

In all his nearly seventy years of life, it was the first time his youngest daughter had ever rejected him. The Grand Duke’s thick lips parted slightly in surprise.

“Yes, she said she doesn’t wish to dine with you...”

「…….」

Had it been one of his other children, he might not have been so surprised.

Eric had long since slipped from his grasp, and Freya was often too busy with the family business to dine together.

But Echina was different.

As a knight, she had always practiced filial piety—one of the core virtues—and always dined with him when possible.

And now she was refusing to, even though she had returned home from the Academy?

It clearly meant something was bothering her.

「That’s unusual.」

The Grand Duke maintained a calm, indifferent expression.

But behind his back, his hands were clasped as he slowly paced a wide circle around his office.

「Go and find out. See what exactly happened.」

“Understood.”

With a solemn expression, the secretary stepped into the hallway.

And when he arrived at the room at the far end of the corridor—

He knocked with a precise and elegant hand movement.

Knock―――. Knock―――.

“My lady, it’s Debier.”

Despite the secretary’s knock, no response came from within.

So, he carefully turned the doorknob of the room belonging to the young lady he had served his entire life.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

The old man stepped inside, and immediately frowned at the rich aroma of coffee wafting through the air.

And there she was—the Grand Duke’s daughter, holding a coffee cup instead of sitting down for dinner.

“You were here.”

“Yes. What is it, Debier?”

Echina, dressed in a pure white silk dress.

She sat with her long legs crossed, quietly sipping a sip of pitch-black coffee.

At the sight, the secretary realized this wasn’t simply a matter of her lacking appetite that led to her refusal to dine with her father.

His tone grew more serious as he asked again.

“I came to ask… if something has upset you regarding His Grace.”

“So Father sent you.”

A sharp jab that hit the mark.

Yet the seasoned secretary maintained his polite smile and replied,

“Yes. You always dined together whenever he visited the estate, so we were surprised when you suddenly refused.”

“It’s nothing. I just don’t have an appetite.”

Debier glanced at the biscuit crumbs left on the round table.

He was sure the maid had filled ten earlier—and on any other day, at least eight would be left uneaten.

But today, the plate was completely empty.

“You can be honest with me.”

“……”

Echina didn’t even know herself why she was acting like such a child.

She had always pushed forward toward her goals in silence, without complaint.

But—

Whose goal had it been, really?

She had become a knight simply because her father suggested it. Naturally, then, she had come to dream of becoming commander of the knights.

But a goal planted by someone else was fragile and hollow.

She had achieved results through exceptional talent and near-reckless effort, but because it wasn’t something she had wanted, it had all felt… detached.

This time, though, it was different.

For some reason, it kept getting under her skin.

That the man who had caught her eye was off having fun with someone else.

That he had left the Grand Duke’s household.

And the one to blame was none other than her father.

The Grand Duke of the North—dignified and unyielding—had driven out the man she had tried to keep close to her heart.

“Roger… He left because of Father, didn’t he?”

“…Excuse me?”

The secretary, who had been intently serious, blinked wide-eyed at the sudden name she threw out.

“Father interrogated him, didn’t he? Asking if he was a spy for another family… or if he was just playing with me. He scared him off.”

“That’s…”

The secretary fell silent for a moment.

He had been there, after all.

Certainly, when the Grand Duke of the North—with his overwhelming presence—told a young man in his early twenties to ‘watch himself,’ it would be enough to make any of them shrink back.

“He was the first subordinate I ever truly cared for. Was it really right to treat him so harshly?”

“No, my lady. His Grace merely wished to confirm whether Roger was someone worthy of serving you…”

The secretary removed his monocle and slipped it into his jacket pocket, attempting to answer calmly.

But at that moment—

“That’s something I should decide for myself.”

Echina snapped back firmly, her golden eyes—so strikingly like the Grand Duke’s—widened in defiance.

“That’s not for Father to judge. I’m twenty-one now.”

She set down her coffee cup a little too forcefully.

The crisp, clear sound rang throughout the room.

“His Majesty the Emperor conquered an entire nation at this age. And Father himself designed a war strategy. I’m that age too.”

Her words struck clearly, one after another.

With rhetoric sharp enough to leave anyone speechless—much like the head of the family himself—Debier, for the first time, let out a small cough.

“I hope Father doesn’t interfere with those under me again.”

The sight of this young lioness, newly come of age, declaring she would now protect her own—

Rather than worrying, Debier felt proud of her.

“Understood… I will deliver your words as is.”

He had come to see that the daughter was no child, easily cowed by her father’s authority.

With a reverent expression, the secretary turned to leave.

Then, he stopped in front of the door to offer a final comment.

“Still, I’ll have dinner sent up separately. Biscuits alone aren’t good for your health.”

“……”

Echina offered no reply.

With that, Debier left, hiding a gentle smile like that of a grandfather watching over his granddaughter.

――――――

The secretary quietly made his way back up to the office.

There, he was greeted by the Grand Duke of the North, who sat sipping tea on the sofa.

「Well, Debier. What was the reason?」

“It seems… she was upset over Your Grace’s interrogation of Julius Roger.”

The reason his daughter had refused to eat with him—

The fact that it was because of another man made the Grand Duke furrow his heavy brows.

「Julius Roger…?」

“Yes, it seems she believes he left the household because Your Grace scared him off.”

Baylis Luton scoffed under his breath, as if it were absurd.

Then, turning his head with a sharp snap, he replied coldly,

「If the boy’s the kind to get scared off by something like that, it’s better to cut him off early.」

“……”

Debier quietly watched the Grand Duke’s dignified back.

But he knew the truth.

He knew that the Grand Duke deeply regretted letting that clever fox slip through the fence.

「So she’s refusing to eat with me… over something like that?」

“Yes. She said she’ll manage her own people from now on.”

Debier answered plainly, his tone even.

At that, the Grand Duke let out a long sigh and stared out the window.

「I see…」

Reflected in the glass was a face tinged with unmistakable disappointment.

Seeing that, Debier casually added a word.

“She also looked very disappointed, Your Grace. After all, he was the first talent she’d ever brought in herself.”

「…….」

Unlike his other children, Echina had one distinctive trait—she lacked any craftiness.

Though she resembled him in appearance, her personality was wholly her mother’s: upright, sincere, and kind-hearted.

That was why the Grand Duke of the North had always held a special tenderness for that child.

And now that very daughter was upset with him.

Duke Luton closed his eyes tightly, overwhelmed for the first time by a bitter emotion.

「You seem to be enjoying this, Debier.」

“My apologies. It’s just… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such human sides of both of you.”

The secretary covered his mouth with a fist, clearing his throat.

At that, the Grand Duke looked at him with softened eyes and said,

「In that case, I may as well skip dinner tonight too. Let’s have a glass of whisky.」

He gestured toward the basket of biscuits on the round table.

And the secretary, as if seeing how alike father and daughter truly were, replied with a pleased smile.

“I’ll still have a simple meal sent up with it.”

Debier stepped into the hallway and instructed the head maid, who had been waiting, to prepare a light supper and whisky.

「Now that that’s settled, sit down. Let’s drink together—it’s been a while.」

As someone who had served his lord for over thirty years, Debier took the seat across from him without hesitation.

On the Grand Duke’s round table lay a newspaper.

It was filled with stories of a man who had made a name for himself in Haman and guided a student named Sonia.

In truth, even now, he still kept an eye on the one who had leapt beyond the fence.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.