Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord - Volume 5 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Hidden Boss Visits the Count’s Home

Good morning. To whom it may concern: despite the fact that I went to bed so late last night, I’m feeling perfectly fine. The weather is pleasant, and it’s a beautiful day for making custom armor.

I finished getting ready to go out very quickly, and now I was spending the remainder of my morning wandering restlessly around the estate. Eventually, a servant who seemed to be looking for me appeared and interrupted my impatient pacing.

“Good morning, Lady Yumiella,” the servant greeted me. “I didn’t realize you were over here.”

“Good morning. Did you need something?”

“I’m sorry to bother you so early in the day, but there’s a messenger here from Count Archiam.”

Count Archiam...? Oh, the lord who lives at that house that Eleanora and I stopped by yesterday. Dorothea’s letter for Eleanora has probably arrived. I wonder if Dorothea’s response came so quickly to reject a potential visit from Eleanora because the Archiam family already has enough problems. The duke’s old faction is crumbling—that’s plenty going on without a former Hillrose suddenly visiting on top of that. That’s probably why the letter got here sooner than I expected.

“You can just have them leave the letter for Eleanora,” I instructed.

“Well, the messenger seems to have something for you, Lady Yumiella,” the servant explained. “I told him to come on another day, but he insists on waiting as long as it will take to see you.”

There were quite a few aristocrats who wanted to see me. They would often request polite social calls, or they’d invite me to swanky parties or to afternoon tea. I generally assumed that what they were after was the social leverage that would come with befriending the strongest person in the world, so I usually turned them down.

I wonder what this is about, though. I can’t imagine why Count Archiam would want to see me when he really ought to be lying low right now. 

The reason for the messenger’s visit was unclear to me, but I had Eleanora’s feelings to consider as well. I decided to go to the drawing room and meet with the messenger, if only to urge them to hand over Dorothea’s letter.

I found a nervous, elderly man seated in the drawing room. He was undoubtedly of an age to be considered a senior, but he carried it well, perhaps because of his impeccably tailored clothing. He had an air about him that reminded me of my county deputy, Daemon.

Noticing my presence, the man quickly stood to greet me. “I’m terribly sorry for my sudden visit. I am Kevin, a steward of the Archiam family. I have a request that I must earnestly implore you to consider, Countess Dolkness, one I make on behalf of the head of the Archiam household, Count Darren Archiam.”

He seemed so desperate that I found him somewhat off-putting. I had already entered the drawing room, but I was overcome with the desire to take several steps back and close the door between us.

He’s definitely going to ask for something insane. I should just accept the letter addressed to Eleanora and have him leave ASAP.

“Thank you for coming,” I said stiffly. “I’m Yumiella Dolkness. Before we speak, please let me accept Lady Dorothea’s letter.”

“I do not possess such a letter.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I do not have a letter from the daughter of Count Archiam! Lady Dorothea!!!” he exclaimed with uncomfortable intensity, raising his voice at seemingly random points in his statement. From his face and his general demeanor, he seemed like a quiet man, but right now, he was speaking in a distressingly loud voice for reasons which were unclear to me. It made him seem all the stranger.

Also, what do you mean by that? You don’t have a letter? Without something like that, Eleanora won’t accept that she can’t see her old friend.

“You’ve heard what happened from the guard at the gates, haven’t you?” I asked the steward. “Without a letter from Dorothea, I’ll have no choice but to visit her with Lady Eleanora in tow.” I decided to use the same threat that I’d used with the guard, but this only caused the man to increase his volume further.

“Would that mean that you, Countess Dolkness, and Lady Eleanora will visit Lady Dorothea?! At the Archiam family estate...?!” He pressed his hand against his throat and coughed several times.

That’s what you get for pushing yourself, gramps... You’re obviously not used to yelling. This guy said he was a steward, but is he doing okay?

As I stood there, taken aback by this incredibly strange visitor, I heard footsteps pattering toward the drawing room. Yeah, of course people are going to wonder what’s going on and come in here to investigate after he’s been yelling like that... Wait, he was generally loud with everything he said, but he exclaimed the loudest whenever he said Dorothea’s name, and that means...

The only person staying in this estate who would react to Dorothea’s name burst into the drawing room.

“I heard Dorothea’s name!” she exclaimed. “Is she here?”

It finally dawned on me that the man’s target was Eleanora. I looked askance at him and, sure enough, I saw a faint smile on his face, as if he was satisfied that his plan had been successful. I finally realized that he wasn’t a screaming weirdo, but instead a troublesome opponent—unfortunately, this realization had come too late. The man’s expression switched at once to a gentle smile that made him seem completely at ease. He spoke in a kind tone, all traces of his former volume gone.

“It has been a while, Lady Eleanora,” he greeted her. “Do you remember me? I’m Kevin, a steward of the Archiam family. I’ve come here under Lady Dorothea’s instruction in order to extend an invitation to you for a visit.”

“Of course I remember you,” Eleanora said. “Is Dorothea doing well? I haven’t gotten a response to any of the letters I’ve sent her, so I’ve been worried about her.”

“Yes... Lady Dorothea is doing just fine.” Eleanora seemed incredibly pleased to hear that her friend was in good health, but Kevin responded only with an uncomfortably awkward smile.

If you’re going to play dirty, you should commit to being a bad guy. You’re really making it difficult for me to get rid of you.

I sighed before hitting him where it hurt. “If you’re going to feel guilty about it after the fact, then don’t try to trick me in the first place.”

“I apologize,” the steward responded smoothly. “I tried to play the part of a fool, but it seems that some tricks are too complicated for an old dog like me to learn.”

“Well then, Lady Eleanora will be visiting Dorothea at the Archiam estate, so please take good care of her,” I said. “I won’t be going.”

“Lady Dorothea has asked for your presence as well, Countess Yumiella,” Kevin insisted.

Is the guilt an act too? I wondered, repressing the urge to suck my teeth at him. Eleanora appeared by my side before I could say anything else, giving voice to a predictable request.

“Please join me, Yumiella!”

I could tell how experienced the steward was in the use of dirty tricks like this—he’d given up on trying to convince me, since he could tell that I would definitely refuse his invitation, and he’d instead used Eleanora to get to me. I see, so he’s here for me.

“Is this what you were after all along?” I accused him.

“Of course, but the invitation is only if you’d like to come,” he assured me. “I’m under strict orders from the count to bring you as well, but I personally believe that just bringing Lady Eleanora shall suffice.”

“If that were the case, couldn’t you have sent out an invitation to just Lady Eleanora?”

The steward shrugged. “Epistles can be lost in transit.”

I found this to be a pretty dubious argument. When letters were sent between aristocrats, it was the sender’s responsibility to make sure the letter was ultimately received by the addressee. Though things weren’t as reliable when sending a letter to a foreign kingdom, there were rarely any postal accidents in the Royal Capital. In other words, Kevin was insinuating that I would’ve destroyed the letter.

I would never get rid of a letter addressed to Eleanora... I fumed indignantly before reconsidering. Oh wait, I guess I might have. In this case, I think I would’ve handed it directly to her, but if it seemed suspicious, I would totally have looked at the contents or even destroyed it.

The steward’s concerns turned out to have been valid, but whether I would admit that in front of Eleanora was another matter.

“You’ll go with me, right?” Eleanora begged excitedly. “Dorothea has lots of beautiful dolls.”

“I’ll go, I’ll go,” I immediately answered. If I’d kept pushing back, I probably could have gotten out of going with her, but I was worried about letting Eleanora visit the home of such a suspicious noble family on her own. I turned back to Kevin with a sigh. “So when should we go? We’re busy, you know?”

“How about today or tomorrow?” he offered. “Day or night, whichever is convenient for you would be fine... The Archiam family is prepared to welcome you at any time.”

I gathered that Count Archiam likely had his back against some kind of political wall, considering the fact that he’d taken the risk of reaching out to me. But was it really this bad? Was it so bad that the day after tomorrow would be too late?

The increasing suspiciousness of this whole situation made me grimace, but Eleanora seemed obliviously pleased.

“Today is...” She considered a moment. “That’s right, you’re going to go make your armor. Would it be too late to visit after that?”

“I think the armor will take the entire day. I think we’ll have to go tomorrow,” I said firmly before turning back to Kevin. “Please let Count Archiam and Lady Dorothea know we’ll be visiting tomorrow.”

“Very well. If your business concludes earlier than expected, please feel free to visit today.”

“We’ll be visiting tomorrow,” I repeated firmly.

After being goaded into it by this cunning old man, it seemed to have been decided for me that I would be visiting the Archiam estate on the following day.

There’s no way I’ll be able to just have a cup of tea and leave. I’m already anxious and depressed about whatever political ordeal might be waiting for me. Whatever, I’ll focus on my custom armor for today. I’ll spend the whole day working on it, and then I’ll figure out what I’m going to do about the Archiams after that. I’m sure Patrick can give me some advice and help me come up with a good solution. I’ll spend the entire day having fun. I’m going to make several incredible and indulgent pieces of armor!

◆◆◆

It was our second day in the Royal Capital—in other words, the day we were supposed to sally forth to make my custom armor. Now, the sun was nearing the highest point in the sky, indicating that it was a little past noon. Patrick, Eleanora, and I were sitting in a carriage, swaying with the movement of the vehicle. Our destination: the Archiam estate.

Eleanora was in high spirits, since she was excited to be seeing her friend after a long time. My mood was the complete opposite.

I let out a tragic sigh, my dark thoughts keeping me from hearing Patrick’s voice.

“Yumiella,” he called out.

“This is the problem with technologically underdeveloped kingdoms...” I muttered morosely.

“Yumiella!” Patrick exclaimed this time, snapping me back to reality. My attention turned from the annoyingly sunny view outside the window to the inside of the carriage.

We were about to visit the home of an aristocrat, an event that always reeked of trouble, but my mind was totally distracted. I had been trying to listen to Patrick talk about Count Archiam, but most of it had gone in one ear and out the other. Even if I’d wanted to pay attention, it was difficult considering how unmotivated I was feeling. If I were to use the words of the person who had made my mood plummet earlier in the day, I would say that it was “technologically impossible” for me to care about any of this.

Brushing up on my Count Archiam knowledge is motivationally impossible. Ugh, this world has no imagination or whimsy.

“Sorry, I was distracted and wasn’t listening,” I admitted.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have started with the history of how the Archiam family came to be,” Patrick said. “From here on out I’ll be talking about the current situation.” He looked down at the papers in his hands. They were documents compiled by the people working at the Ashbatten estate in the Royal Capital.

Patrick hadn’t been too knowledgeable on Count Archiam either, so we’d decided to enlist the help of the margrave’s information network. The fact that the Ashbattens had people who could gather intel so quickly and thoroughly here in the Royal Capital was a reminder of how wide the family’s reach was.

Patrick flipped through the papers and skimmed over the text. “This is... It seems like my people didn’t put too much effort into their research. I guess it can’t be helped since the Archiam lands are pretty distant from the Ashbatten Mark, and we’re not too involved with them.”

“It’s nice enough that they could get something to us so quickly,” I pointed out.

“From what this report says, it seems like the Archiams have avoided making any big moves since the Hillrose family’s nobility was revoked. They’re centralists, but they visit their territory several times a year. Their tax rate is reasonable too... Though, there are rumors that the count spends lavishly and excessively.”

“I didn’t realize there were radicals who act somewhat reasonably...”

I mostly knew the worst kind of aristocrats, people who never visited their territories despite lacking any official central position and who taxed their subjects as much as they could while spending all of their money. Given all that, I couldn’t help but feel that Count Archiam was one of the better aristocrats. I was concerned about the last bit that Patrick had said regarding the count’s spending habits, but then again, most aristocrats who lived in the Royal Capital were big spenders.

“Apparently, whether it’s the exterior finish on his mansion or the desserts he serves with tea, he isn’t satisfied if everything he has isn’t at least the same or better than other aristocrats on his level.”

“Oh, that’s... Do they have enough money for all of that?”

I think it’s fine to be picky with the things you like, but if you keep trying to have better things than everyone around you, you’ll never have enough money.

Patrick also seemed curious about the Archiam family’s financial situation, so he scanned through the papers in his hands to find out more.

“Found it. This must be it,” he said after a short moment of silence. “There are rumors that the family is struggling with debt, but it’s unclear how true that is.”

“They’re probably riddled with debt,” I observed with a shrug. “They’re taking on more expenses than those around them, but their income is average, right?”

“Probably. Their territory is pretty large too... I think their primary source of wealth is their lumber production.”

Something dawned on me. “The construction company that’s working for us, Archit Trading Company—is it possible that Count Archiam is profiting from the tax revenue on the business that company is doing?”

Patrick considered this. “If the company was started by the count, sure, but otherwise...”

“Oh, I see. I guess their names are just similar, and they’re probably separate entities.”

I recalled how Archiam County looked when I’d gone to transport the logs. Aside from the trading company with whom we were working, the place hadn’t seemed particularly prosperous. If there were mines somewhere in the territory that were managed by the count or something else along those lines, the family might have been incredibly wealthy, but there appeared to be no such sources of income within their county borders.

Given the information we currently had, Count Archiam seemed to be a centralist who wasn’t necessarily a bad person, but he clearly liked to show off. The only thing that concerned me was the matter of his probable debts. I was also disappointed that there was no personal information that might indicate what kind of person the count was.

Oh right, Eleanora’s probably met him before.

I turned my attention from Patrick to the blonde and bubbly girl sitting beside me.

“You’ve met him before, right, Lady Eleanora? What kind of person is Count Archiam?”

“Every member of that family is very dedicated to their hobbies, including Dorothea. Dorothea has lots of adorable dolls.”

I wonder if the dolls Dorothea owns are like those really fancy ball-jointed dolls like they have in Japan. Dolls are just as expensive in this world as they were in my last one, so it’s just more evidence that the Archiams might be the reckless spenders I’m imagining they are. I don’t think they’ll ask to borrow money though... Reaching out to me was probably a last resort.

What kind of trouble is this visit going to bring? I wondered as I turned forward to look at Patrick. He shook his head as if to say, “I don’t know either.”

Patrick seemed worried, but I hadn’t heard anything about the count yet that would give me a real reason to be so concerned. We’d ended up destined to go to the Archiam estate because Eleanora wanted to see her friend, but I had no reason to be considerate of the count’s wants or needs, especially since I would be meeting him for the first time. There was no need for me to hear out his concerns with empathy, nor did I have any obligation to accept anything he might request of me.

“It’ll probably be fine,” I said. “I’ll just turn him down, no matter what he asks for.”

“Can you really turn him down?” Patrick asked, giving a significant look at the woman by my side.

Is something wrong with Eleanora? I thought, only to notice that Eleanora was on the verge of sticking her head out of the carriage window. It would’ve been a little dangerous.

“We’re here!” she exclaimed.

The carriage gently came to a stop, and I was surprised to find that we had already arrived at the count’s estate. The gates that had been tightly shut the day before were now wide open, positioned to welcome us. That was how I ended up unwillingly visiting the home of a radical aristocrat.

◆◆◆

Kevin, the steward of the Archiam family, greeted us and led us down the halls of the estate.

“He’s the one that came by this morning,” I whispered in Patrick’s ear so the elderly man walking in front of us couldn’t hear.

“The one who loudly caught Lady Eleanora’s attention?”

“Yeah, he might seem quiet, but be careful of him.”

Once we’d entered the mansion, it became clear that Count Archiam’s sense of ostentatiousness was pretty intense. From the outside, it just seemed like the estate was a surprisingly large one for someone who held the rank of a count. But it turned out to be absolutely ridiculous on the inside.

The halls of the Archiam estate were like a cluttered art gallery. There were countless paintings, antique vases, foreign folk art pieces, beautiful decorative plates, and much more. Is that...a scale model of this estate?

Apparently, the density of objects decorating the estate weren’t enough. All of the fixtures, from the lights to the doorknobs, were excessively decorative. The Royal Palace and Eleanora’s former home were quite flamboyant in their choice of decor, but even those places didn’t go as hard as the count. Even from the perspective of a noble, the decor here was far too gaudy. Patrick seemed just as taken aback as I was as he took it all in.

We continued down the hall, and Kevin came to a halt right before we reached the stairs. A maid waited at the foot of the stairwell.

“You’ll be headed this way, Lady Eleanora,” Kevin instructed. “Lady Dorothea awaits you.”

I guess only Patrick and I are needed to hear whatever the count has to say. Eleanora’s here to see her friend, so it should be fine if we split up.

I watched as Eleanora did as she was told, and Patrick whispered to me, “Isn’t it dangerous to let her go alone? Who knows what Dorothea might say to Lady Eleanora...”

Patrick had a point—I did have some concerns. Eleanora did have a very strong will. For instance, even though I’d continued to brush her off for years at the Academy, she never doubted her belief that I liked her, and so she continued to persistently and stubbornly interact with me. Still, I found that I was worried about her. I decided to go with her.

“I’ll join her,” I said, which made Eleanora turn around.

“Please do!” she happily exclaimed. “Dorothea’s dolls are lovely! Please join me.”

The count was going to have to wait a bit, but surely he wouldn’t mind. Just to make sure it was all right, I looked to Kevin, who nodded at me with a smile.

“Lady Dorothea will be pleased as well,” he agreed. “Just make sure not to stay too long...”

“I know,” I reassured. “I’ll come back and listen to what Count Archiam has to say.”

Patrick decided not to join us on the second floor because he felt awkward at the idea of essentially crashing a gathering of noble ladies, so Eleanora and I alone followed the maid to where Dorothea awaited us.

Right before we reached the top of the stairs, I heard the voice of a young girl.

“Is Lady Eleanora really visiting?!”

“Lady Dorothea, please—”

“How am I supposed to face—”

“Lady Dorothea! She’s already here.”

Oh, the landings of the stairs probably caused a blind spot on the way up, so she only saw the maid leading the way...

I couldn’t tell just by her voice, but that voice had probably been Dorothea’s. Despite what the voice had said, Eleanora reacted with unabashed joy and rushed ahead of the maid, hurrying up the stairs to the second floor. I followed.

“Dorothea! I’m glad to see you’re doing well. It’s been so long.”

“I’m glad to see that you’re just as well, Lady Eleanora...” Dorothea said, looking down awkwardly. Her reaction slowly brought back memories of when I’d vaguely known her at the Academy.

I seemed to recall that her long hair had been tied in pigtails back then, but now it was cut off at her shoulder. It added a lightness to her appearance, but despite that, she was just as unconfident and timid as I remembered her to be.

She had probably been fourth in Eleanora’s entourage, and I’d always had the impression that she wasn’t that bad of a person—in other words, I’d thought she was a good deal better than the other aristocratic daughters who’d tried to control Eleanora and make her do things for their benefit.

I remembered that Dorothea had been someone of few words. She’d never tried to fill Eleanora’s head with ideas, nor had she voiced her opinions. She’d just conformed to and agreed with the group. She’d never seemed to have any ill intent, but she hadn’t tried to do any good either. Things wouldn’t have been different with or without her.

“We can head to the doll room, yes?” Eleanora asked. It seemed like she’d been here countless times. She tried to press forward in a familiar manner, but Dorothea stopped her.

“Yumiella is here too, so, um...” she said hesitantly.

“It’ll be all right!” Eleanora reassured her.

“Okay...”

Oh, it looks like Dorothea doesn’t want me to go to the “doll room,” whatever that is.

Dorothea kept glancing over at me. I could understand why she wouldn’t want to bring someone unfamiliar into a room that housed possessions that were so important to her, but that sort of reasoning wouldn’t work with Eleanora.

Eleanora took the lead and stopped before a certain door. She didn’t open it, though, instead turning to Dorothea as if she was urging her to go inside first. Dorothea looked like she had given up, but she said one thing to me as she reached for the doorknob.

“I think you’ll be shocked.”

What’s waiting inside? I peeked into Dorothea’s hobby room and...gritted my teeth and tried to hold back the scream that almost leaped out of my mouth.

“It’s...incredible,” I managed to say.

“Isn’t it?!” Eleanora exclaimed. “Their faces and clothes are all so adorable. I love everything about them.”

The dimly lit room was filled with dolls. I wasn’t sure if these were like ball-jointed dolls, but they were dressed in a similar manner to Western antique dolls.

If that was all there was to it, they would have actually been cute, but there was an outrageous number of them. A tall display case standing against the wall had four shelves, each filled to the brim with these dolls. On top of that, the curtains were drawn despite the fact that it was daytime.

“Why do you keep the curtains drawn?” I asked curiously.

“The sunlight damages them, so I keep them shut,” Dorothea said as if it were obvious. She entered the room, and Eleanora excitedly followed.

I stepped into the room that looked like a horror game level. There was a desk that had dolls missing all four limbs lying on top of it, and there was a chair with a larger doll sitting on it. It was definitely a room just for dolls. I felt my heart pounding, worried that one of the dolls might start moving, and Dorothea bowed her head to me.

“I’m sorry. You must be surprised.”

“No, not at all,” I lied. “The one that’s taken apart... Are you fixing it?”

“It’s one that I’m in the process of making,” Dorothea explained.

“Dorothea makes her own dolls,” Eleanora added.

I was surprised. You can make these things yourself? Impressed, I took a closer look at the doll on the desk and noticed it was missing one eye. She’s probably going to add a glass eye in that hole... It’s still scary.

“I see, you make them yourself...” I said, a little bit put off by how seriously she apparently took this hobby.

“I know it’s a little creepy that I have all these dolls and even make them myself,” Dorothea admitted, her expression clouding over.

Eleanora was a rare breed, and she was still excitedly examining every doll in the room. Dorothea probably hadn’t wanted me to come in because most people probably reacted the way I currently was.

As someone who also had hobbies that most people had trouble understanding, I didn’t want to shame someone else’s interests. I felt a little pathetic for being weirded out by something I couldn’t comprehend.

“That’s not true at all,” I assured her, trying to swallow my sense of unease. “I also used to make something similar.”

“You also made dolls?!” Dorothea squeaked in rapture.

“They were humanoid, but they were a bit different from the dolls you have here.”

Back in Japan, I’d indeed had a similar hobby. My “dolls” had been plastic, but usually human-shaped. I’d argue that a plastic model of a human-shaped mobile suit was basically a doll.

Dorothea, who mistook me as a like-minded person, inched closer to me, eyes shining.

“Really?! I wish I’d known about this back at the Academy. What kind of dolls did you make?”

“Mainly those from the Universal Century.”

“Did you dress them up?”

“I used green and red on their exteriors. I apologize, I didn’t really do things the correct way...” I said sheepishly. “I even used markers to color them.”

The proper method would have been to airbrush the parts, but I didn’t have the motivation to take it that seriously. I had always dreamed of having a red model painted with candy paint, but that required skill and took too many steps. Modeling kits in recent years had also gotten so high in quality that just building what was in the box made for a decent model without any extra effort at all. Wait, this isn’t the time for this. I can’t really answer all of her questions since I’m trying to pass off plastic model kits as the same as doll making.

We were obviously not on the same page, so Dorothea was probably not understanding me either, and yet our conversation continued for some unknown reason.

“There are lots of difficulties when making dolls. Did you have any particular troubles?”

“It’s so difficult to make them stand when you’re displaying them.”

“You could make your dolls stand on their own?! That’s incredible!”

I shook my head. “They always fall backward without some sort of base or a stand.”

“Yes, it’s difficult to balance them,” Dorothea said sagely.

“It also gets more difficult the more extravagant the piece is.”

“I completely understand!”

Wait, are we actually on the same page? I was talking about how models with lots of clunky parts fall backward...

Dorothea was more animated than I’d ever seen her at the Academy. She pointed at the doll she was currently working on.

“This one, she doesn’t have a name yet. Would you do me the honor of naming her?”

“Um, how about Nightingale?”

“Nightingale. That’s a nice name, it’s lovely.”

She liked it. I guess it’s fine; it does sound like a person’s name. Now that I’m thinking of her dolls as plastic models, they’re easier to understand. I can see why she’d want to collect a whole bunch of them and display them all.

After asking Dorothea’s permission, I touched the arm that hadn’t been attached to the body yet. The ball joint on the arm was similar to the hip joint on a plastic model. Unlike the knees on my models, which only moved in one direction, this ball joint could move freely. This was revolutionary.

I didn’t want to break it by overhandling it, so I gently placed the arm back down on the desk. I looked over to Eleanora, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet, and she was staring intently at each doll one by one. I looked back and made eye contact with Dorothea.

“Until now, only Lady Eleanora understood my passion,” she said happily. “You’re the second person. I thought it might be possible, since Lady Eleanora said it was all right for you to join, and it seems she was right.”

It appeared that Eleanora had been the only person who’d appreciated Dorothea’s hobby. The fact that she could accept everything equally was one of Eleanora’s many amazing qualities.

Though, if we’re being real, I feel like she said it was fine to let me in because she wasn’t thinking that deeply about it...

Eleanora kept staring at the dolls, mesmerized. I wondered if she was going to start making silly faces at them.

“You really get what’s great about Lady Eleanora,” I said, observing the girl in question with great fondness.

“She’s a lovely person,” Dorothea agreed. “I’ve always loved Lady Eleanora, ever since we were little.”

“Oh, I’m not sure if you knew—she’s actually living with me right now,” I said proudly.

“Thank you.”

Huh? I was trying to boast about how I’m living with Eleanora, but she sneak attacked me with gratitude?

Dorothea looked down and continued in a sad tone. “Lady Eleanora always treated me so well, but I couldn’t do anything in return for her. When we were younger, and even when we were at the Academy, I couldn’t do anything for Lady Eleanora when I saw others taking advantage of her.”

“Oh, well, I’m guilty of that too,” I admitted.

I had also left Eleanora alone despite knowing her situation. I’d just ended up taking Eleanora in somewhat accidentally after I’d gotten involved in the commotion caused by Duke Hillrose. I couldn’t judge Dorothea for not having done anything.

“That’s not true,” Dorothea responded. “After meeting you at the Academy, Lady Eleanora changed.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I did anything in particular when we were students.”

“I think it would be difficult to call what you did ‘nothing.’”

Back at the Academy, I had tried to keep a low profile and avoid standing out, even when Lady Eleanora had started to follow me around. I was trying to be careful so that I didn’t upset the daughter of the duke.

Well, I don’t know about Count Archiam, but there’s no reason to be cautious of Dorothea. Eleanora should be fine alone with her. I’ll quickly hear out whatever he’s invited me over to say, turn him down, and leave. 

After politely taking my leave, I exited the room and allowed the maid to lead me to the drawing room, where I found Patrick waiting alone.

“Where’s Count Archiam?” I asked.

“He should be here soon now that you’re here.”

I guess he thought it was pointless to discuss his issues with just Patrick. I personally think that convincing Patrick first is a better way to get me on board.

I looked around the drawing room. It was also decorated to appeal to the taste of a wealthy person with an excessive number of paintings and curios. If they have the space to display weirdly shaped miniature houses, they should put out one or two of Dorothea’s dolls.

Even the cups in which the tea was served were probably impressive to someone with the right eye for these things. I took a sip and tried to relax, but Count Archiam arrived right away. He was incredibly quick, almost like he had been waiting in the next room over so that he could appear the moment I was ready. Can you at least wait till I eat all the desserts you’ve served?

“It’s nice to meet you,” he greeted nervously. “I’m Darren Archiam, head of the Archiam household.”

“I’m Yumiella Dolkness,” I responded, only a little coldly. “It’s a pleasure.”

“I thank you for taking the time in your busy schedule to stop by today. I heard that you might be visiting tomorrow, so... I’m glad you came today instead.”

“It’s no problem. We wrapped up our business much sooner than we’d expected.”

“Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”

Count Archiam looked to be in his forties, which seemed correct for a parent of my classmate. He was also quite built. He wasn’t overweight by any means—he was either a man of large stature, or he had large muscles under his expensive clothes. I had expected the usual overweight physique typical of evil aristocrats, so this was a surprise. The man shrank his large body into a bow and humbly thanked me.

I think you may be getting the wrong idea. I didn’t cancel my plans to come here. I need to set him straight so that he isn’t overly hopeful for my cooperation.

“Really, my plans just ended early because this kingdom’s so behind in its technological advancement,” I explained.

“Technology?” he asked curiously. “What sort of technology?”

“Armor processing and magi-technology.”

“I thought I could be of help, but those are outside my area of expertise. When it comes to magi-technology, we’re behind in comparison to Lemlaesta.”

Remembering what had happened at the armor shop made me irritated all over again. I found myself upset enough that I wanted to vent my feelings to this man I was meeting for the first time. “The so-called top craftsman of this kingdom, who completely destroyed my dreams, was quite awful. It was really horrible. No matter what I suggested, he would just mechanically respond, ‘That’s technologically impossible.’”

“What kind of item were you trying to make, Lady Dolkness?”

Why thank you for asking! Of the various ideas that were rejected, which should I start with? I considered the possibilities. Patrick attempted to interrupt.

“Lord Archiam, we should quickly get to the main—” he began, but I cut him off.

“As someone who doesn’t understand creativity, you should stay out of this, Patrick,” I said, and then turned back to the count. “I went to make some armor... I was planning to add various features and specialized pieces.”

Count Archiam nodded. “It’s not uncommon for the head of a household to have their own custom suit of armor, especially if they’re part of a noble family who is frequently involved with combat.” Though he seemed troubled by Patrick’s obvious discomfort with this conversational tangent, the count joined in on the conversation readily enough.

I don’t think the Dolkness household is particularly involved in combat...? We have hired soldiers who are basically police, but we don’t have a military. Patrick and I can fight, and we have a slightly strong dragon, and that’s about it. But I guess it’s fine. There’s no use in correcting such a small detail.

“First, I wanted a wire on the arm... I basically wanted it to be able to shoot out a strong rope from here.” I pointed to my wrist. “The tip of the rope would have a hook so I could jump from roof to roof. However...” As I spoke, I couldn’t help but relive my traumatic conversation with the guy who was supposedly the best craftsman in the kingdom.

◆◆◆

“That is technologically impossible.”

“It’s just shooting out a wire,” I insisted. “I want the tip to stab into the walls of buildings so that I can swing through the air.”

“The shooting mechanism might be possible, but since the rope needs to be stored inside the device, it could only be as long as the average height of a person.”

“There would be no point in something that short,” I grumbled. “But you’re saying that it’s possible to shoot something out, right? Then let’s do the pile bunker—an iron stake shooting out at incredible speed so that it can pierce armor.”

“It won’t be fast enough to do that.”

“Really? Okay...well, assuming we could solve the issue of the rope length for the wire, are you saying that the metal tip wouldn’t stab into walls?”

The proprietor shook his head. “But if you shot it at a wooden plank that’s about an arm’s length away, it should be able to pierce it.”

“Then how about a beam... Could you make the armor shoot something similar to a dragon’s breath?”

“That’s impossible. That’s the most impossible request of them all.”

I sighed. “What about a purge function? Can you make it so all the pieces of the armor fly off my body?”

“Can’t you just take it off normally?”

“The point is to get rid of the heavy armor to make yourself lighter during battle,” I explained. “No one is stupid enough to slowly take off their suit of armor mid battle.”

“If you’re in battle, you shouldn’t remove your armor.” The craftsman perked up. “Oh, but research on simplifying how we put on and take off armor is making progress! So please look forward to that!”

◆◆◆

“...that’s what he told me, and he was so proud. He doesn’t have any imagination. The purge function needs to be so strong that the pieces of armor flying off can knock your enemies down. Don’t you agree, Count Archiam?”

Man, I feel better after talking about it.

Count Archiam, who had listened intently without interrupting me, nodded. “I agree...”

“So, that’s why our business ended early, and that’s why we’re here now.”

“Are we back on topic...?” Count Archiam asked worriedly, his eyes swimming in confusion. He glanced a little desperately at the man sitting at my side.

Patrick answered quickly. “We’re back. Please, explain the reason for our visit at once. If you don’t, we’ll have to listen to an even longer story.”

“A-All right... Right, I was the one who asked to meet with Lady Dolkness.” Count Archiam’s mind seemed to snap back to reality, and he adjusted his posture before continuing. “The Archiam family is facing a predicament. I would like to ask you for your help, Countess Dolkness.”

“No thank you,” I responded automatically.

“I see, of course. Thank you for taking the time to come here.”

Things had been resolved rather quickly. Patrick and I were stunned, but the count paid no mind to us. He stood and headed for the door...before suddenly stopping in his tracks, his shoulders trembling. Before him was Kevin the steward, standing in front of the door as if he were keeping the count from leaving the drawing room.

“As I’ve always said, you are too understanding, Lord Darren,” Kevin began. “Please at least explain the details of the situation to them.”

“But...” The count wavered. “What would my predecessor have done in this situation, Kevin?”

“He would have at least explained the details,” the steward responded firmly.

“Even if the foundation is useless and the frame could further crumble?”

“It is up to the head of the household. Please make your decision, Lord Darren.” The way Kevin said the count’s name sounded as if he were admonishing him.

Though they were a middle-aged lord and his elderly steward, they were far enough apart in age that they could have been parent and child. Kevin had probably looked after the count since he had been a young boy, and so it appeared that the count now had trouble taking a strong stance against Kevin’s will.

Count Archiam sighed as he sat back down.

“I’m sorry for the trouble, but I’d like you to hear about the Archiam family’s crisis.”

“I’m only going to listen,” I warned him.

“I would be grateful if you were to sympathize and help us, but it would mean getting deeply involved in a dispute between central aristocrats. I understand why you would want to avoid such a situation.”

Personally, I was starting to feel that the count had made a really great impression on me. Most centralists—especially those who were radicals—didn’t understand that I wasn’t fond of power struggles between the nobility. After all, those kinds of struggles came from their seemingly genuine belief that expanding your power was the ultimate form of happiness. Because the count seemed to understand that I preferred to live a peaceful life in my county, I felt quite a bit more relaxed.

I don’t know the details yet, but it looks like this is some sort of power struggle. Patrick’s people didn’t have enough time to investigate properly, but from what he’s saying, I guess he’s going at it with some other aristocratic families.

“So this is about a power struggle between centralists? I would’ve preferred you asking for a loan.”

“There is no need for that sort of concern,” the count assured me. “We’re doing well financially.”

There are some rumors about you drowning in debt, but I’m glad to hear that you don’t have money troubles after all. Still, I’m surprised that you’re doing fine financially, considering... I looked around their overly decorated drawing room.

The count fell silent in thought for a while before he continued. “I don’t believe you’re too familiar with what’s going on with the centralists in general, so I’ll start at the beginning. I’m sure you know all about Duke Hillrose’s coup, so...let me start from the current state of affairs in the Royal Capital. The Hillrose family’s nobility was revoked, and other powerful families also disappeared. Our faction has completely lost influence.”

“I understand that the radical families are in a difficult situation,” I said in a neutral tone.

“Radicals... I see,” Darren mumbled, his voice taking on a note of self-derision. Patrick poked me with his elbow, as if to point out my rude comment.

Right, “radicals” is an insulting term, and they’re officially the duke’s faction. But the duke is gone, so... The former duke’s faction? I’m not sure what to call them.

“Oh, I apologize. Um, the former? Previous? Duke’s faction...?” I had no intentions of helping out the Archiam family, but I didn’t want to unnecessarily upset him. As I racked my brain to think up a diplomatic way to refer to the radical faction, the count seemed to realize that I’d meant no harm with what I’d said.

He let out a nervous chuckle before he continued. “If I recall correctly, you grew up in Dolkness County. You would’ve learned the term ‘radicals’ after you moved here to attend the Academy. Do you remember who you first heard it from? What position was that person in?”

I learned about radicals when... Oh, I heard it from the queen when we met after my audience with the king. She told me about how there are moderates and radicals, and the latter are aggressively ambitious, so I should be careful of them.

I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I was now amazed by the queen’s duplicity in referring to herself as a part of the “moderate” faction. Even if she had explained that these were colloquial names for the factions, if you had to choose between “moderate” and “radical,” the latter obviously sounded much worse.

“The moderates are the ones who started referring to your faction as ‘radicals’—in other words, the royalists started this by trying to manipulate your faction’s image,” I said slowly.

“Exactly,” the count said, sounding impressed that I’d understood. “Before the coup, we called ourselves expansionists.”

Expansionists, huh? You’re part of the group who wanted to use military force to expand your territories, so you still sound like radicals to me. They probably have words that ridicule the royalists too, so this battle between factions just sounds like kids name-calling on the playground.

Perhaps Count Archiam could tell that I was thinking that all of this sounded like silly nonsense, so he cleared his throat to get back to the topic at hand. “My apologies, it’s all just wordplay. Let me get back to the main point... We’re facing a difficult situation and royalist nobles believe this to be a good opening for an attack. They plan on sucking their weakened prey dry.”

“I’m sorry, but in this situation, what is the definition of ‘moderate’?” I couldn’t help but sympathize. Regardless of faction, centralist families loved things like money and power. I guess it’s not hard to imagine centralists seeing their opposing faction weakened and trying to thoroughly wipe them out. Even if I didn’t expect it to come to this, I never thought moderates were all saints or anything in the first place.

Still, in order to take something from another person, a just cause was needed. “Give me your territory because I’m stronger” wasn’t acceptable reasoning in this kingdom. If such reasoning was to go unchallenged, things would get out of control, and the king or a third party would have to step in and calm things down. I reflected that when something like this occurred between different kingdoms, there wasn’t really anyone who could step in and mediate, so absurd claims often got blown out of proportion... Wait, this kind of thinking isn’t relevant right now.

The atmosphere grew heavy. The intense quality of the scene, set against the glittering, lavish backdrop of the drawing room made it even more uncomfortable. The count seemed to be depressed by the situation he was trying to explain, and an awkward silence fell.

Despite how difficult it felt to say anything, Patrick urged the count to continue.

“We understand the situation surrounding the expansionists,” he prompted. “So, what is about to be taken from the Archiam family?”

The count took a deep breath. “I’m going to be stripped of my position. Our family has always been a centralist one, but at this rate we’re going to be diminished into a mere provincial family.”

“Your position... I see, without the duke’s power backing you, it’s not impossible for that to happen...” Patrick said with a nod that indicated that he understood.

I had no idea what the issue was. Positions are like...when you’re a minister of something, like the “Lord of Whatever,” right? Like the Lord of Home Affairs, the Lord of Foreign Affairs, the Lord of Military Affairs? I substituted the word “minister” for “lord” in my head to better understand.

The famous positions of which I was thinking were usually held by one person of a certain family and passed down to each succeeding head of the family. For less impressive positions, there were multiple people who’d held the office, or two families would take turns every few years, and in those cases things were a bit more complicated.

What is Count Archiam the lord of...? It seems like Patrick knows. It would be rude to ask him directly, I thought, looking askance at Patrick and hoping that he would tell me. Oh, but asking in front of the person in question would also be rude. I turned back to face the count.

It seemed that my actions were awkward and suspicious, and Count Archiam let out a nervous chuckle.

“Oh, I am the Lord of National Affairs...technically.”

The Lord of National Affairs? The title makes it sound like it has something to do with protecting the kingdom as a nation, so maybe it’s military-related? The Lord of Military Affairs is the highest-ranking militarily related post, and there are other positions within that category, but I don’t remember learning about a “Lord of National Affairs” while at the Academy.

I hadn’t forgotten about it or anything like that. There were two radical families working in positions related to the Royal Army, and both had fallen after the coup. I know all of this, so I’m definitely not mistaken. What the heck is a Lord of National Affairs?

“Excuse me for asking, but what exactly does that job entail...?”

The count paused for a moment before he answered. “I help to encourage the people of this nation, including aristocrats, to protect this kingdom from both external and internal forces. Technically speaking.”

“Encourage the people of this nation?” I blinked in confusion. “Um, what kind of authority do you specifically have?”

“None at all. I have no authority, no benefits, and no budget.”

A position with no real substance, and just some ambiguous description... Oh, I finally get it!

“Oh! You’re one of those Lords of Doing Nothing.” The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I’d screwed up.

The “Lord of Doing Nothing” was a title I had come up with and only used in my thoughts to describe aristocrats who held an empty title that required no actual work. Despite their idleness, they were still legitimate centralists, and they were treated the same as the other lords in name.

I’d always felt that there was no benefit to remembering all the various positions and people with these titles, so I didn’t know anything about the official positions for most of the Lords of Doing Nothing...including the Lord of National Affairs.

I totally just made it seem like I’m making fun of him. Will he get mad? I wondered, bracing myself.

Count Archiam just seemed gloomy and defeated as he mumbled, “At least call me the Lord of Being Unable to Do Anything.”

“The Lord of Being Unable to Do Anything... It takes away the implication of apathy, but it also makes you sound like you’re useless,” I pointed out. “Perhaps ‘Lord of Not Being Allowed to Do Anything’ would be better?”

“Then let’s go with that,” he said as if he didn’t care anymore.

Count Archiam isn’t upset, but he’s definitely hurt. Sorry.

Now that I’d caught up to Patrick, I understood why he understood the situation. It would be easy to strip the count of a position that didn’t really do anything.

Encouraging the people of this nation, including aristocrats, to protect this kingdom from both external and internal forces, was it? If they just ask him, “Have you conducted such activities?” and he can’t respond, he would be fired for neglecting his duty. If he gets upset and asks them what in the world a Lord of National Affairs is supposed to do, which is a totally valid question, they would then say the position isn’t needed anymore.

Even if the count had been busy running PR-type events, they could just claim that his efforts weren’t effective. The job description was so vague that it would be impossible to prove whether he’d succeeded or not. I could imagine the majority opinion would win.

Even someone like me who wasn’t familiar with politics could easily come up with these methods to bring down the Archiam family. All of the people who loved messy political struggles probably had much more nefarious tricks up their sleeves.

“It sounds like you’re doomed,” I said.

“You’re right,” the count agreed. “This central position that my ancestors worked so hard to obtain will end with me. Not only that, but the one trying to destroy the Archiam family is the Marquess Prynan.”

There were three families that held the rank of marquess in Valschein, and the Prynan family was one of them. Starting from the highest rank in the kingdom, there was the royal family, the now-fallen Hillrose family, the three marquess families (who all held equal power), and then all of the various counts.

The royal family would never go out of their way to take down a mere count, and the duke was out of the picture, so this meant Count Archiam’s enemy was the most powerful that he could possibly face.

If I recall correctly, Marquess Prynan is the Lord of Finance. Why would a person of such legitimate power want to take down a Lord of Doing Nothing? I could understand it more if it was the Lord of Military Affairs getting upset about the Lord of National Affairs being an empty title.

“Did you do anything to offend the Lord of Finance?” I asked curiously.

“We have no personal or familiar issues, but...other members of our faction were making a commotion out of unreasonable things, like how the kingdom’s budget was being divided and our level of compensation. I’m sure just the fact that my family is an expansionist one is probably enough to garner his resentment.”

“So it’s a private grievance...” I nodded. “That makes sense, since there’s nothing to gain from taking your position from you anyways.”

“That isn’t true,” Count Archiam countered. “It would mean reducing the power of his opposing faction, even if it’s only by a small amount. He might be planning to give the position to someone he’s brought up himself. There are plenty of aristocrats who would want such a position, even if it’s an empty title.”

What? People want that? People want to be a Lord of Not Being Allowed to Do Anything? I wouldn’t want that. Even if there was a Lord of Leveling... No, I don’t want it... Well, I mean, no one else would be fit for the position. I also wouldn’t be able to stand it if someone else was randomly calling themselves the Lord of Leveling.

Setting aside the (sadly) nonexistent position of Lord of Leveling, the Lord of National Affairs was an unnecessary position, but there were still some people who wanted it...and Count Archiam wanted to keep his position.

I don’t really see a reason to keep the position. Lords of Doing Nothing don’t get an allowance from the government, and all you get is status. There isn’t a single detriment to letting go of the position. Why not give it up?

“I don’t see any issue with just losing your position,” I admitted. “Giving it up seems to be an option.”

“The Archiam family has long wished to use the position of Lord of National Affairs to have influence over the army. Losing the position would push back the advancement of this family.”

“I see...” In the meandering turns that this conversation had taken, I had completely forgotten that the Archiams were also radicals.

I had to give props to the fact that if nothing else, their ambitions were extensive. I thought you guys were different... I felt strangely betrayed by this person I’d just met.

The count continued, unconcerned. “The Lord of National Affairs is a position that my predecessor five generations prior struggled to obtain. As the head of the Archiam family, I can’t just hand it over like it’s nothing.”

“If you’ve inherited such a title, your predecessor must have achieved something really impressive.”

The count shrugged. “No, he bought the title. He got close to the predecessor of Duke Hillrose and used money he drained from Archiam County to purchase the position. He made up some appropriate-sounding achievements and used the duke’s power to create the new position of Lord of National Affairs.”

“Heugh?” An incredibly strange sound left my mouth.

I can’t negate his respect for his ancestors... was a thought that now felt silly. The current Count Archiam was just as weird for so plainly admitting that the position had been bought. Does he really want to keep this position?

“Because of that, our family was riddled with debt until the previous generation. Now that we’ve fully paid everything back, we have a little more room to breathe, but...we basically worked that hard to keep this. Even if it’s a position we bought, I can’t let it easily be taken from us.”

“Is that so?” I said with a sigh.

“Not only that, if we give up this office, we’ll lose our central status and be reduced to mere provincial aristocrats. If I were to attend any soirees in the Royal Capital with other centralists, they’d mock me for being a pseudocentralist.”

“If you become a mere provincial aristocrat, then you can just live like one. No one will say anything to you if you only visit the Royal Capital every now and then, right?”

From what I’d heard before this meeting, Count Archiam was one of the few central aristocrats who properly managed his territory. Archiam County was doing much better than Dolkness County, so surely living there wouldn’t be so bad.

But at the end of the day, Count Archiam was a centralist. I’d never had someone like him agree with me in a discussion like this.

He sadly shook his head. “I was born and raised in the Royal Capital. The same goes for my children. We couldn’t endure living in our territory. Even if I would be fine moving back, my children would be unhappy.”

“Living in the country is pretty nice,” I pointed out. “I’m quite happy.”

“That’s because you’re Yumiella Dolkness. My daughter may be the same age as you, but do you really think she would have the same sensibilities as you?!” His voice rose sharply.

Excuse you?! What he’d said basically meant, “Don’t you dare compare a barbarian like yourself to my sensitive, city-bred child!” Well, maybe the “barbarian” part is me trying to come off as a victim in this situation, but he’s basically saying I’m nothing like his daughter, who’s a proper noble lady.

I’m not that upset but... Go, Patrick! Your beautiful fiancée is being treated horribly! Do something super effective!

I looked to him to show that I chose him, and I saw his mouth move. He didn’t voice it, but he clearly said, “He’s not wrong.”

I thought the same—he wasn’t wrong. Eleanora was a rare case considering how well she’d adapted to life in the countryside, despite the fact that she was a noble lady from the Royal Capital. The change in environment would be an incredible stress to the weak constitution of a typical lady of the aristocracy. Dorothea seemed like she would be weak to such a change.

Ugh, I guess I won’t be able to get him to give up his position.

Count Archiam, who had no intention of ever giving up his position, apologized for raising his voice. “I apologize, I just...”

“It’s all right,” I said with a deep sigh. “I see now your resolve to hold on to your position until the end.”

“I think you now understand our situation. With all of that said, I implore you to consider helping us.”

“No thank you.”

“I expected as much.”

It was a repeat of our previous conversation.

I’d found out that I had a little sympathy for them, that the thing they were holding on to had no value and that getting involved would only get Marquess Prynan upset with me. I definitely didn’t want any part of this. Count Archiam asked for my help knowing perfectly well the position I was in, and so he understood why I refused to help.

“I apologize for taking up your time with this long discussion regarding our troubles...” the count said before turning to his steward. “This is fine, right, Kevin?”

Right, it wasn’t his idea to explain things to us. He had no choice after his old steward ordered him to.

Following the count’s gaze, I looked toward the only door to the room where the disingenuous steward awaited, and...he wasn’t there. You’re the one who told him to do this, I thought crossly in the steward’s general direction. You should see it through! I felt my energy nearly drain away, but Patrick’s sharp voice pulled me back to reality.

“Curses!” he swore. “I thought I was paying attention.”

Hey, Pat-Pat? Why are you so flustered? My question was answered before I could actually ask him.

Someone knocked on the door we were all looking at, and the answer was waiting on the other side. What had Patrick been afraid of when we’d split up from Eleanora? I, an idiot, had thought that he’d been worried about Dorothea treating her coldly, and so I’d assumed things were fine after seeing them interact in such a friendly way.

I just would have had to think a little more to get to the real answer. The reason we came to the Archiam estate was because Eleanora wanted to come. The person who’d made all of this happen had left us. If he wasn’t going after Patrick or me, then...

The door opened to reveal a smiling Kevin and a sad-looking Eleanora. Dorothea wasn’t there—Kevin had probably separated them somehow.

“Dorothea’s family, the Archiam family...they seem to be in trouble,” Eleanora said. “Couldn’t you do something about it, Yumiella?”

Even if it was Eleanora’s request, there was a limit to what I could do. This was impossible for me to fix. It was much too big of an issue, and there were too many complications. Just yesterday I’d considered establishing a new aristocratic family for Eleanora, or reviving the Hillroses, but this issue had nothing at all to do with Eleanora, just her friend.

I steeled my heart and plainly refused. “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it.”

“I see, I’m sorry for asking. It has nothing to do with you, does it? I’ll do my best to do something about it on my own, and I won’t rely on you! Could I at least talk to you about what I might be able to do...?” Eleanora looked at me with teary eyes, but I wasn’t going to waver. Crying wasn’t going to work on me; it wasn’t going to make me want to help in any way I could. The world wasn’t so kind—

“Leave it all to me!” I exclaimed—it was a prime example of a rash promise.

And so, I’d ended up agreeing to help. Why? Because dear Eleanora’s happiness is my happiness. Setting this attitude (an attitude that honestly made me more of a bleeding heart than Patrick was), the real reason I’d promised to help was because Eleanora wouldn’t give up. If I refused, she would try to press forward on her own. I couldn’t leave her to go it alone when it came to a task like this.

Eleanora’s eyes glimmered with grateful tears as she looked at me, and Patrick let out a heavy sigh. I turned to Count Archiam and made my declaration to him.

“I’ll help you a little. But please, don’t expect too much from me.”

◆◆◆

The count saw us off, and we left the Archiam estate. Naturally, the count was aware that Kevin had manipulated Eleanora in order to gain my help. Count Archiam hadn’t even seemed particularly happy when I’d agreed, and instead had just gloomily said, “I apologize for my steward.”

Now inside my carriage, I found myself thinking about the cunning old steward. “I’m sorry, I should’ve expected him to do something like that,” I told Patrick with a sigh. “You even warned me to be careful before we split up...”

“I was being cautious too, but...” He shrugged. “Even I didn’t notice when he left the room.”

It was a bad move on my part to have left Eleanora on her own without watching out for that mastermind. If I’d just thought about it a little more, I could have guessed that Eleanora would be the one the steward was going to target.

I was totally on guard when Kevin came over this morning... My brain probably wasn’t working after I ended up being unable to commission the armor I wanted. I even got caught up in talking about the armor with the count. The one most at fault is of course the count’s steward, but this kingdom’s technological capabilities come in at a close second. And then, moving down the list of things to blame, Eleanora is obviously the most innocent. I wonder if she’s okay. Did that sneaky geezer plant the wrong ideas in her head?

“What were you told about the Archiam family’s crisis, Lady Eleanora?” I asked.

“They said that the Marquess of Prynan is about to take something important of theirs away, and you’re the only person who can resolve things. Dorothea said that it wasn’t anything I should be concerned with, but...I couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything we could do, and so I ended up asking for your help.” She looked crestfallen.

“It’s all right. I also wanted to be of help after hearing about the count’s situation,” I lied casually, in an effort to cheer her up.

I see, so it seems that neither the count nor his daughter were really enthusiastic about this plan to use me.

Though the steward had definitely been decidedly nefarious in his methods, I couldn’t think of him as a bad person. Perhaps this was because the fact that he would do whatever it took for his lord to achieve his goals could be described as loyalty.

“What are you planning to do, Yumiella?” Patrick asked, swaying with the motion of the carriage. “Are you thinking tomorrow or the day after?” I knew he was wondering when I was planning to try and negotiate with the marquess.

Whether this was fortunate or unfortunate for me was up for debate, but my visit to the Royal Capital had just happened to overlap with the monthly court conference. This was a gathering during which aristocrats rallied around the king and made decisions that related to how the kingdom was being run. The conference would be held the day after tomorrow.

Any member of the nobility of this kingdom was welcome to put in an appearance, but most provincial aristocrats didn’t attend, and I’d certainly never gone before. I’d heard that a party was always held at the Royal Palace the night before the conference. Central aristocrats tended to be present at both the party and the conference every month, working hard to schmooze their way toward more power. What a chore that must be.

The topic of whether the Lord of National Affairs was a necessary or useful position was definitely going to come up at the conference in two days. Because of the looming deadline of tomorrow night’s party and the conference in two days, Count Archiam had rushed to see me.

As someone who didn’t want to go to either event, I already had an answer to Patrick’s question.

“I’m not going to the party or the conference,” I said firmly. “I’m going to settle things much sooner than that.”

“Makes sense,” Patrick said with a nod. “It’d be better to settle things privately beforehand rather than at a public event with everyone watching.”

Things could move quickly since he already agreed with me. “Great! Let’s head to the Royal Palace, then.”

“Right now?!” Patrick exclaimed with surprise.

Did he think we’d be going tomorrow afternoon before the party or something?

It was just past noon, and it was still early in the day. Since he was the Lord of Finance, Marquess Prynan was likely at the Royal Palace. I was going to launch a blitzkrieg operation on him there.

“You know, I don’t think this is that big of a deal,” I said. “There’s not much in it for Marquess Prynan to diminish the power of a count, right? I don’t think we even have to ask him for a favor and owe him one. We could probably just hint at what we want and get him to comply.”

“That’s true,” Patrick agreed. “We won’t know how much force the marquess is putting into getting this done unless we meet with him. Still...are you sure you want to see him right now?”

It seemed that Patrick was reluctant to barge in without an appointment. It would be troublesome if we took all the trouble to go to the palace, only to be told that we can’t see him until the court conference.

Even if Patrick (someone with common sense) was against it, surely Eleanora would agree with my plan, as she was wont to charge into people’s homes like no one else I knew. I turned to look at her, and she gave me a troubled look.

“It’s rude to visit someone while they’re working...” she hedged.

“What? You used to visit me without any notice too, Lady Eleanora.”

“When visiting a friend’s house, all you have to do is say, ‘Let’s play’...” she countered.

Who taught this noble lady something only a boy in grade school would do? 

“...that’s what you told me once, Yumiella, so...”

Nice to meet you. I’m Yumiella, the grade school boy.

It seemed that I was actually the one at fault for Eleanora’s tendency to go charging in places. I had no memory of saying such a thing, but considering the kind of person I was, I could imagine myself having said it. Eleanora’s father says I’m a bad influence on her, and he might not actually be wrong.

“I’m friends with Marquess Prynan, so it’s fine,” I said after a short pause.

“Oh? Is that so? Then there’s nothing to be worried about!”

That was only a little bit of a lie. Members of the human race are all friends, after all. I had no idea what Marquess Prynan even looked like, but he was a dear friend that inhabited this planet alongside me, which obviously meant that it was all right to suddenly intrude on him. Humanism is so convenient.

My determination was so strong that I was ready to use such nonsensical logic. Taking notice of this, Patrick sighed and said, “Fine. We’ll first drop Lady Eleanora off at the estate, and then we’ll head to the Royal Palace.”

“Oh, it might be better if Lady Eleanora comes with us,” I argued. “My motivations will probably be clearer.”

“You have a point, but...” He hesitated. “Are you sure It’ll be okay?”

If Eleanora wasn’t also there, the marquess probably wouldn’t be able to understand why I would want to help Count Archiam. Rather than give him cause to be unnecessarily cautious of my unclear intentions, it would be better to have him understand that I was only doing this because Eleanora was asking me to do so, and so I needed him to back off just this once.

For this reason, the only daughter of the ringleader of a failed coup was heading to the Royal Palace. Stay tuned for what happens next.

◆◆◆

It had been a while since I’d visited the Royal Palace. We made it through the palace gates, carriage and all, thanks to the power of the Dolkness name. Upon exiting the carriage, the three of us made our way into the palace...only to be stopped by a guard.

“Excuse me, who is that with you?”

I didn’t expect to be stopped here. I guess passing through the palace unnoticed was a difficult goal.

Eleanora was currently hiding her face behind a veil. Before heading over to the Royal Palace, we’d stopped at the dress shop at which I’d had my fitting and borrowed my veil. The white veil paired with her pale green gown made it obvious that she wasn’t a servant, and she admittedly looked quite suspicious. Too bad they didn’t just ignore us.

Without panicking, I lifted up the veil and exposed Eleanora’s face. “Take a good look. This is Lady Eleanora.”

“How do you do?” she greeted him cheerfully. “I’m Eleanora.”

The guard froze upon seeing the former lady’s face. Since he was entrusted with guarding the Royal Palace, he surely knew the faces of the prominent aristocrats. That naturally included Eleanora, since she had been a member of the nobility until just a few months ago.

“We can go in, yes?” I asked the still-frozen guard. “I, Yumiella Dolkness, and my entourage will be entering the palace now.”

“Please head inside,” the guard said faintly after a long moment of silence.

I win. Intimidation defeats all.

The fact that Eleanora was staying with me was technically a secret, but pretty much everyone knew about it. As long as we didn’t outright use the Hillrose name, her presence probably wouldn’t cause any repercussions for us later. That’s the case, so please don’t look so dismayed, I thought guiltily at the guard as I passed him on my way inside.

“My apologies,” Patrick whispered to the guard as he passed by.

After that, we were able to progress forward in the palace without any further impediment. My presence in the Royal Palace itself was a rare occurrence, so I gathered more attention than the person with the hidden face beside me. Even if some people realized it was Eleanora, it was unlikely that they would challenge us.

The bottom floors of the Royal Palace were where the kingdom’s administrative system was located. It was basically the Kasumigaseki government district of Valschein. The Lord of Finance’s office was located one section above, between the lower floors and the top floors. The top floors were reserved for the royal family.

There was no guard posted outside of the office. No dangerous insurgents would ever be able to make it this far, so further security measures were probably unnecessary. On top of that, no one expected an aristocrat, even the lowly and unpredictable ones, to suddenly become rebellious out of nowhere. We’re not insurgents, I thought to myself confidently. I’m just suddenly barging in and asking him for something. We’re fine.

I knocked to be polite, and then I realized that since the visit itself already deviated from what was polite, it wouldn’t matter if I just opened the door before I got an answer.

“Excuse me, hello,” I said, casually invading the office. The elderly man sitting behind the large desk at the back of the room was definitely Marquess Prynan. I recalled that I had spoken to him just once at a party held here at the Royal Palace. His eyes widened with surprise, making them just as round as his body. “I’m sorry for my sudden appearance,” I added. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about...”

The marquess wasn’t the only one frozen with surprise. I wasn’t sure if they were aides or secretaries, but there were four men and women also staring at me, stunned. The first to come back to life was one of those four.

“Th-This is the Lord of Finance’s office!” the young woman said indignantly, seemingly overwhelmed by my presence, her voice trembling. “Y-You shouldn’t be entering here without permission—”

“Adele,” the marquess called out in a gentle tone. She fell silent and then abruptly collapsed to the ground. After seeing that, the marquess continued, filling his voice with kindness. “The Lady of Dolkness is visiting, and with such haste that I believe it must be an important matter. Could you all give us the room? The two of you waiting outside may come in as well.”

I turned around to see Patrick and Eleanora, both wearing expressions that screamed, “She really barged in.” They seemed quite put off, but they entered as the marquess’s subordinates left the office.

“Come, sit here... Oh, let me have some refreshments prepared.” Marquess Prynan picked up one of the many bells on the edge of his desk and rang it.

It made a pleasant sound, and... Wait, something’s wrong. Why is this old man so calm? It wouldn’t be strange for him to react like the lady who got so scared earlier, considering that it’s such a sudden visit from me. Why is he handling this so serenely?

I had hoped that he would be shocked and flustered, giving me the advantage, but it seemed that he’d already assumed control of the situation. Even Patrick was taken aback by how kindly the marquess had welcomed us.

Right after the bell rang, tea was prepared at an abnormal speed and brought before us. The three of us sat in a row, and Marquess Prynan settled across from us.

“Um, I apologize for my sudden intrusion...” I began.

“There’s no need to be so formal. So, Countess Dolkness... Hm, I can’t help but sound a bit rigid as well. Would it be all right if I called you by your given name?”

“Yes, please refer to me however you’d like.”

“Oh my, thank you, Yumiella.”

I hadn’t encountered anyone in my life since I’d met Eleanora who had tried to get so familiar with me, which was surprising in retrospect. But the marquess had a different air about him than Eleanora did. Though he seemed like a nice old man, there was something unsettling about him. Patrick also seemed confused by how overly friendly the marquess seemed to be.

“I believe it’s our first time meeting, Patrick,” the Lord of Finance continued. “We don’t have many opportunities to interact with one another, but I have a great deal of respect for the Ashbattens. I’d be grateful if you could pass that on whenever you have the chance.”

“Th-Thank you very much,” Patrick responded, a little taken aback. “I’ll be sure to let my father know.”

Finally, the marquess turned to Eleanora. She had already taken off her veil, and the two of them made eye contact. They had definitely met before. “Well...it’s been a while.”

“I-It’s nice to meet you,” my friend said, only a little hesitantly. “I’m Eleanora.”

“That’s right,” the marquess agreed with a knowing smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Eleanora. It’s unfortunate what happened to your father, but I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” I’d expected him to complain about me bringing Eleanora here, but he accepted her presence without a care.

The marquess’s reaction to our unannounced visit was so different from what we’d expected that we were all confused. I’d never expected him to handle things so calmly when we’d barged into his office. Was he just that tolerant, or was he the kind of person who always hid how he truly felt?

“Well then, I would have enjoyed hearing about how Dolkness County is doing, but I believe you’re in a hurry,” he said, guiding us toward the topic at hand. “I have no idea what you need to speak to me about so urgently, but go ahead and tell me what’s on your mind. You can take your time.”

Influenced by the genial atmosphere, I couldn’t help but bring up the Archiam family without beating around the bush at all.

“Before coming here, we were at Count Archiam’s estate,” I began.

“Oh! The Archiam family...” He nodded. “I understand what you want, but this is strange. I have always gotten the impression that you’re not one to get involved in political squabbles in the royal capital, Yumiella.” Though he seemed surprised for a moment, the marquess didn’t seem bothered, and he continued to speak gently.

His assumptions about me were accurate—I was currently acting in a way that was out of character for me. That was why I’d brought Eleanora along so that he could understand why I was doing this...and he seemed to pick up on that right away.

“I see, so that’s why Eleanora is here with you.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“There’s no need to apologize. If it were just yourself and Sir Patrick who’d come, I might’ve been confused as to what your intentions were. It was a good choice on your part,” he assured me, nodding repeatedly.

Considering his attitude, it seemed like he might immediately agree to not crush the Archiam family, so I decided to directly ask for his aid.

“Thank you very much,” I said politely. “So, about the Archiam family... I’ve heard that you’re planning to take the count’s position away from him, the position of Lord of National Affairs. Is there any way that you could refrain from doing so?”

“I assumed that was what this was about. The thing is...” He paused and looked me over, that kindly expression never leaving his face. “Let me give you some friendly advice. I’ll pretend that this discussion never happened, so you should just withdraw yourself from this matter.”

I’d thought that he’d be open to at least some negotiation, but I’d ended up getting a straight-up warning instead. I felt utterly helpless.

There wasn’t much for the marquess to gain if the position of Lord of National Affairs were to be dissolved and the Archiam family fell into disfavor. I couldn’t tell why he was being so stubborn about crushing the Archiam family, but I didn’t have to wait long for the answer to come from his own mouth.

“It’s not that I have anything against the Archiam family, but it’s already widely known that they’ll be losing their position in the court. If I reverse this decision, then there’s no question that you’d be targeted next.”

“I’ll stay out of these matters and concern myself with nothing but my own county from now on, so maybe just this once...?” I sighed. “I guess things wouldn’t go so easily.”

Troubled, the marquess scratched his chin and looked at Eleanora.

“Is there an issue with Lady Eleanora?” I asked.

“You refer to her as ‘Lady’? I believe she’s no longer a member of the nobility. Why do that?”

I shrugged. “She just has a certain elegance to her. I don’t have a definitive reason as to why I do it.”

“You weren’t stopped when entering the palace?”

“They checked her face, but the guard didn’t say anything.”

“How unfortunate for the guard...” The marquess said cryptically before turning his attention back to Eleanora. “So, where was this elegant woman born?”

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. “I found her under a bridge on a rainy day, so I don’t really know where she’s from.”

I had no idea why the marquess was asking all these questions at this point. He and I, heck, even the knight guarding the entrance, all know that she’s the only daughter of the Hillrose family. No one’s going to believe I’m being sincere when I say I found her under a bridge.

“What...?” murmured the lady in question. “I have no recollection of which bridge I was found under. I need to ask about this later...”

I ignored Eleanora’s mumbling, since she probably thought no one was listening to her. The marquess nodded enthusiastically.

“If that’s what you say, Yumiella, then that must be the case. I have no intention of disagreeing, and His Majesty will surely agree as well.” Marquess Prynan’s expression finally changed. The kindness in his face subsided, and there was a tinge of seriousness. “No one will argue with it, but everyone will know it’s a lie.”

“Well, that’s true...”

“Oh, I don’t mean to chide you. You have the power to force the impossible, to make lies the truth, but...you shouldn’t use that power too much. Eleanora’s situation is accepted, and you’ll probably get your way with this matter as well. But you can’t force the impossible forever. You understand, yes?”

“I’m well aware that I’m being selfish,” I said with a stiff nod.

Eleanora’s situation worked out, and the Lord of National Affairs issue would probably be resolved. It seemed that my Yumiella Power would let me selfishly get my way, but it was by no means an infinite power. It only worked on matters that were relatively small, ones that didn’t negatively affect others. If I were to say, “Starting tomorrow, I want to be the king,” obviously no one would accept that.

It wasn’t possible to deal with the world using only brute force. Even if people deferred to me, they would probably secretly resent me, and I could easily imagine opposing forces popping up who were willing to die to take me down.

Yumiella 2 had successfully unified the continent in her parallel world, but I couldn’t do that, despite the fact that I was stronger than her. I didn’t like admitting it, but 2 had strengths other than just physical strength. I’m still stronger, though.

“We moderates think fondly of you, Yumiella. That’s because you have no interest in the power struggles between centralists. However, if our treasures are about to be stolen, then this friendly attitude toward you will have to change.”

“The Lord of National Affairs isn’t a significant position though, is it?” I asked. “Does it have that much influence?”

The marquess shrugged. “What is significant would be for you to have a say in Valschein politics, since it’s an arena you have nothing to do with. I’m sure you haven’t done so in the past.”

“That’s...true,” I admitted.

I thought back on the past. I’d turned down all marriage offers, succeeded my family’s title, taken in Eleanora... These were all things that puzzled other aristocrats, but they were all matters related only to me.

He’s right... I’m really acting out of character on this matter. Maybe it was wrong for me to accept the count’s request, since I usually would’ve turned him down.

My positive relationship with moderate aristocrats was based on the fact that I stayed out of central matters, but this course of action might destroy that. It would be troublesome if people became needlessly suspicious that I was out to get in the way of their plans every time I came to the Royal Capital.

“I also think that this matter with the Archiam family is unfortunate,” the marquess continued. “But, although they haven’t occurred in public, there have already been discussions about this topic, and things have gone far enough that we’ve decided to revoke the position. We might have been able to do something if you’d come to ask for this a bit sooner, but it would be very difficult to change course at this point. I understand why you’d go out of your way to do something so unlike your usual behavior, but...” The marquess glanced over at Eleanora. Seeing her saddened expression, his aspect became similarly pained. “I know what it’s like to want to please someone you love—I feel the same way when my granddaughter asks for my help. I don’t want you to hold on to too much hope, but I’ll try to do what I can. It’s possible that the situation could change by tomorrow.”

I bobbed my head in thanks. “I apologize for suddenly intruding and asking for something so difficult.”

“It’s quite all right,” he assured me. “Do feel free to visit again if you ever need anything from me.”

The air of kindness from earlier still lingered as our discussion concluded. I’d expected things to be much thornier and more dramatic, so this was a welcome surprise. The only thing that had been unpleasant was the result. Even though there was no benefit to the marquess in crushing the Archiam family, I hadn’t imagined that so many issues might arise from reversing the decision—maybe that was what had led me to lose. Both the marquess and I had too many annoying constraints to work within.

The four of us engaged in some additional small talk, and then we took our leave from the Lord of Finance’s office.

◆◆◆

In the carriage on the way home, we found ourselves engulfed in a deflated atmosphere that was neither joyous nor sad. We’d all been completely taken aback by the friendly old man.

“I knew it was a long shot, but it sure didn’t work out,” I sighed.

“I didn’t expect him to evade the issue so masterfully,” Patrick remarked.

“He was so friendly that it actually made it difficult to be forceful.”

“That’s probably not his actual personality, but instead a calculated move on his part.”

What should I do now? Do I just report to the count that the negotiations failed and that’s it? I hadn’t planned on trying too hard in the first place—I wasn’t really on board to help, and how Eleanora felt about things was much more important than actual results.

“What would you like to do, Lady Eleanora?” I asked her. “We tried negotiating with him.”

“There isn’t anything else we can do, is there?” she asked a little mournfully. “Is this something that can’t be helped?” She couldn’t accept it, but she had no choice but to do so.

The members of the Archiam family probably wouldn’t accept it until the very end, but I had already come to the conclusion that this was how things were going to be, and I was ready to give up. If Eleanora were to also accept the family’s situation, then I was happy to consider this matter concluded.

“It’s difficult to do anything more,” I reiterated.

“I expected that was the case...” Eleanora said with a sigh. “Thank you for hearing out my selfish request.”

“It’s no trouble,” I assured her. “I also thought that Count Archiam seemed like he could use the help.”

Though I felt bad for the Archiam family, I couldn’t be expected to do much more. I think it’s time to back off on this issue. I’m sure both the count and Eleanora will be willing to accept defeat after what we’ve attempted today. I’d prefer to avoid a public battle with a major authority of the kingdom.

Though this was an unsatisfying end to things, my involvement with the matter regarding the Lord of National Affairs was over. We returned to the Archiam estate and reported that we’d visited the Royal Palace to little success. The count thanked us for our efforts with a voice laden with regret. He said that he was willing to give in since I’d directly gone to the marquess with no success.

After that awkward meeting, Patrick, Eleanora, and I returned home. What a hectic day it had been—a messenger from the count in the morning, an unsuccessful attempt to make the armor I wanted, a visit to the count’s estate, and a trip to the Royal Palace in the afternoon, then back again to the count... I supposed that it was fortunate that the matter had been settled within a single day. Still, Eleanora didn’t seem like she was quite satisfied with how things had gone.

I’d survived the fitting on the first day as well as the tumultuous second day of my visit to the Royal Capital. I’m so ready to go home. I couldn’t make my dream armor. I couldn’t accomplish the goal of this entire trip. There wasn’t anything left to do, and I didn’t have anywhere in particular I wanted to go.

“Is there anywhere else you want to go while we’re here?” I asked my fiancé.

“No, not really,” Patrick said. “I was thinking we could relax tomorrow, and then go home some time after that.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

He was right; it would’ve been tiring to suddenly get on a carriage and head home tomorrow. Relaxing and then maybe going out on a short outing somewhere tomorrow could be nice. I could do something like a date with Patrick, or even accompany Eleanora to wherever she wanted to go.

If each of those activities take up a day, then I guess we’ll be returning home in three days.

After suggesting to Patrick that he should think of places to go, I set off to find Eleanora. Ever since we’d returned from the Royal Palace, she’d seemed to be in low spirits. I’ll go with her wherever she wants to cheer her up...but preferably somewhere that’s not as out of my comfort zone as the fragrance shop.

“Lady Eleanora? Are you there?” The former guest room was now Eleanora’s room. I knocked on the doorframe and then peered inside. She was staring out the window, and she didn’t hear me calling for her. “Lady Eleanora?” I repeated. “Lady Eleanora!”

She turned to look at me with a start. “Oh, I’m sorry. It seems I was in a daze.”

“I’m making my plans for tomorrow. I’m sure there’s somewhere you’d like to go. We can go together.”

“Somewhere I’d like to go...” She considered my offer.

We’d already visited the fragrance shop, but surely there were other stores in the city that she was fond of. There were probably even some shops that had opened up since we’d last been here, so there was likely a long list of places she wanted to go. Eleanora thought silently for a while, perhaps considering the multitude of options she surely had in her mind, before finally settling on an answer.

“Not particularly...”

I blinked. “You don’t want to go anywhere? It can be anywhere at all.”

“I think you should go out with Sir Patrick instead of me. Please prioritize your time together,” she responded with a beatific smile.

This seemed to be how she truly felt. Though she was often considerate of Patrick and myself, I was surprised to learn that there was no multitude of storefront options crowding her mind. An Eleanora that truly didn’t want to go anywhere wasn’t really Eleanora.

I knew she had been concerned about the Archiam family, but I hadn’t expected it to be this degree. Their family’s position didn’t matter to me or to the larger world at all (and I had to admit that maybe my attitude toward the situation was partly informed by the fact that I thought the mastermind marquess wasn’t actually that bad of a person), but it seemed that the disparity between my degree of concern and Eleanora’s was immense.

“It’s about the Archiam family, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to conceal a resigned sigh.

“Yes.”

“Marquess Prynan told us to stop getting involved, but we don’t have to listen to him. If I interfere in this situation, I might end up being on slightly bad terms with that old man, but I think that’s all that’ll happen.”

I guess it can’t be helped. Time to change the plan from making a futile attempt to making sure that we actually reach our goal. Now that I seemed more motivated, Eleanora had a question.

“If we help out Count Archiam’s household, will that cause trouble for Marquess Prynan?”

“I think it’ll cause a little trouble, since we’ll be reversing a decision that’s already been made,” I admitted. “But I’m considered a wild card, so I don’t think it’ll affect my influence or stop me from doing anything in the future.”

I’ve decided that I’m going to hear out all of Eleanora’s requests and then make them happen, so the Lord of Finance is just going to have to think his luck was bad and back down. Surely he’ll change his mind after seeing the strength of my resolve. Just as I began thinking about my next move, Eleanora countermanded me for some reason.

“That won’t do,” she said quietly.

“Huh?”

“It’s Dorothea’s family, so I do want the Archiam family to be all right. But I don’t want to cause trouble for Marquess Prynan either. He’s always been kind to me. He’s given me rare perfumes from other kingdoms, and he’s even taken care of me in the past. He’s a kind man. Is there no way for them to both avoid any trouble, Yumiella?”

Eleanora was the complete opposite of me—I had no strong feelings toward either party, but she was close to both. Unfortunately, this battle had begun a while ago, and the course it would take had already been decided with a clear winner. It was going to be impossible to find a resolution that would satisfy everyone.

I don’t think I have any choice but to tell her that we can’t have it both ways... Unable to even attempt to make the irresponsible promise that everyone could win, I gave her an honest answer.

“It would be very difficult to settle this in a way that will turn out positively for both of them. Though the degree will vary, no matter how things go, one of them will have to face a loss.”

Her shoulders slumped a little. “Of course...”

“I think you’ll have to be pragmatic about this.”

“I understand,” Eleanora said with a nod. “After all, I don’t like causing trouble for you. You should go on a date with Sir Patrick, and then we’ll return to Dolkness County after that.” She still didn’t seem quite satisfied.

With my powers that were specialized for battle, we wouldn’t be able to reach a resolution that would satisfy everyone. I could come up with countless ways that this could end with everyone unhappy, though.

Unable to come up with any easy way out of this situation, night fell on our second day in the Royal Capital, and everyone headed off to bed.

What should I do? Will Eleanora be able to sleep? These were the concerns that filled my mind as I fell into slumber.