Chapter 7
Ferda had been studying in the guest room.
He asked with an expression that suggested he wondered if he had heard wrong.
“Meet the lords?”
“Yes.”
But Luri nodded.
“Do you know why our mistress is called Valdrowa ‘Grand Duke’?”
“I know. She killed the Black Dragon, Godwin, and was granted a title by the Arken Empire.”
The Black Dragon, Godwin.
The Aspect of Darkness and the source of all evil.
He was pure evil in the truest sense, a creature that desired chaos throughout the continent so deeply that he helped bring about the Demon King’s birth.
The one who decisively ended him was the Red Dragon, Valdrowa.
“I heard that after taking the title of Grand Duke, she was given an estate along the Far Eastern Front.”
“That is correct. You’re more knowledgeable than you appear. Do you know how many estates lie under Lady Valdrowa’s authority?”
“Fifteen, wasn’t it? Including the outlying villages, there are 108.”
“……And the total population?”
“I believe it was 5,256,532 in all, but I have no way of knowing the recent births and deaths, so I’m not sure.”
After hearing that answer as well, Luri openly frowned.
“You know quite a lot for someone who claims not to be interested in power.”
There was a hint of Dragon Fear in her disgust.
Ferda merely shrugged.
“What greater disgrace could there be than becoming her spouse without even knowing what one’s partner does?”
“That sounds plausible enough.”
Of course, Luri did not believe him.
Her suspicions of Ferda, which had begun when she found him suspicious, were gradually turning into certainty.
Ferda, in fact, had not studied for that reason.
‘Because I was bored.’
After breaking through the Circle, he had had far too much free time.
When he had been struggling desperately to break through the Circle, a day had not been enough, but now he had nothing but time.
There was no need for him to waste time studying things he already knew.
So he had begun looking into stories about Valdrowa, thinking he might as well learn a little more about her.
“In any case, what do you think of meeting them?”
“I’m not interested. If it isn’t something I absolutely have to do, I don’t want to go.”
“Even if you aren’t interested, once you marry our mistress, you will officially become her consort. If our mistress handles matters outside, the consort must handle those within.”
“So I’ll be the lady of the house.”
“Yes.”
A man as the lady of the house.
In other words, it meant that the man was more incompetent than the woman.
In noble society, it was humiliating enough to be considered disgraceful.
‘It’s not something to be ashamed of…….’
He was the spouse of none other than Valdrowa, who was called a tyrant.
With a race that was an entirely different class from all others, Ferda as he was now had no chance of standing as her equal.
Even so, becoming her consort and managing the inner household was an impressive feat in itself.
‘I’ll have to manage the lords…….’
Ferda thought for a while before answering her proposal.
“Very well. I’ll meet them.”
“Then I’ll summon them.”
Luri politely bowed and left.
Ferda had always been exceptionally perceptive, and he could tell that there was something unusual in Luri’s gaze.
He had known her intentions from the beginning.
‘She still doesn’t seem to trust me.’
The sight of something gives rise to greed.
Even an inherently good person would want to take hold of a power placed before their eyes.
And anyone who grasped power once would never willingly let it go again.
That was human nature.
‘But I’m curious as well.’
Ferda knew little about himself, just as he knew little about Luri.
What choice would he make in a situation like this when he was not burning with a desire for revenge?
That was why he had decided to test himself.
To see what choice he would make in the testing ground she had laid out.
“Very well. I’ll meet them.”
* * *
There was a joke about the nobles of the Serdes Continent.
The farther nobles went into the provinces, the more fat they gave up.
The central nobles were generally overweight, while those on the front lines generally remained lean.
With the constant anxiety of monsters invading at any moment and the need to remain battle-ready, they simply could not put on weight no matter how hard they tried.
However, the lords of the Far Eastern Front looked nothing like that joke suggested.
“Lord Bosch! Your belly has grown considerably!”
“Ha ha! Perhaps it’s because I’ve had so many worries lately. My mouth keeps drying out, so all I ever do is eat, you know?”
The president of the Far Eastern Front Alliance.
Fifteen lords had gathered there in one place, their chins jiggling.
It had been a very long time since they had all gathered in one place like this.
“But why summon us so suddenly? Things have been quiet these past few days, so there shouldn’t be anything for her to interfere with……”
“Can you really be so ignorant of the world? Haven’t you heard that the Grand Duke recently took a fiancé? We were told to meet that fiancé.”
“A fiancé?”
The lord hearing the news for the first time was startled.
“What lunatic would get engaged to the Grand Duke?”
“Exactly. Unless he’s a complete idiot, he can’t possibly understand what an engagement means……”
“They must have discharged the biggest idiot among idiots.”
At the same time, they began to wonder who had accepted it.
“I heard that biggest idiot is the third son of House Rosnova.”
“Rosnova? That’s the family of the Arken Empire’s guardian knights! I heard everyone who carries that bloodline is outstanding……”
“The third son doesn’t seem to be. I heard he’s weaker not only than the other members of his family, but even than mere soldiers. His own father must have cast him out for that reason.”
“If he’s weaker than an ordinary soldier, isn’t he a genuine defective?”
“Hah! To think we have to waste our time meeting some defective……”
“And the defective is even late……”
The older lords wore disgruntled expressions.
They were furious at the thought of someone so young swaggering around as though he owned the place.
“So what are you all going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“As the Grand Duke’s consort…… he’ll still have a position, won’t he? How are you all planning to respond?”
Then the oldest lord answered.
“We’re fated to be torn apart by Grand Duke Valdrowa sooner or later anyway. Why should we bow our heads to that man?”
“Exactly.”
“Why should we bow our heads?”
Everyone seemed to agree.
“Lord Ferda Rosnova is entering!”
Everyone straightened their clothes and put on serious, solemn expressions.
They were lords who ruled over the people of the front lines, each in his own way.
So they intended to crush this newcomer’s spirit at the outset.
At the gatekeeper’s call, the doors to the council chamber opened.
Gray hair and blue eyes.
As befitted the Grand Duke’s consort, he wore red ceremonial robes embroidered with Valdrowa’s emblem in gold thread.
That much they had heard and could have expected.
What exceeded their expectations was Ferda himself.
‘They said he was a defective…….’
‘He’s a handsome and intelligent-looking defective.’
His body was frail only compared to those from a family of martial warriors, and proper etiquette was ingrained in the way he walked.
But what impressed them most, unanimously, was his gaze.
It was not simply the insolent gaze of a rebellious child.
It seemed as though a tranquil lake lay within those eyes.
His appearance and bearing were utterly out of place for his age, and they found themselves growing tense.
Ferda’s lips parted.
“Speak.”
It was the voice of a young adult who had only just emerged from adolescence.
Yet it rang with the weight of a middle-aged man who had weathered rough years.
“Soon, I will become the consort of Grand Duke Valdrowa.”
Ferda clasped his hands behind his back.
His blue eyes swept over each of them in turn.
It was an utterly rude act, but no one opened their mouth.
No.
They couldn’t.
‘What kind of eyes does a young brat have……?’
‘What in the world is that man!?’
It felt as though they were facing a wild beast.
Without exception, they found themselves unable to resist and were overwhelmed by that gaze.
Only after being confronted with the situation did they realize.
“Then should I speak to you respectfully, or should I speak down to you?”
The biggest idiot engaged to Valdrowa was not a defective after all.
* * *
About thirty minutes earlier
Ferda had arrived at the headquarters of the Far Eastern Front Alliance.
Since he was traveling for official business, Ferda had gone by carriage.
Ferda checked the time.
“I’m quite late.”
Ferda was rather strict about keeping appointments.
Even being one minute late irritated him; ten minutes was practically an act of high treason.
However, Luri, the true culprit behind his lateness, answered matter-of-factly.
“You don’t understand. When it comes to seizing the initiative, being ten minutes late is standard.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“It is a fundamental quality of dragons, and the most important moment for establishing the hierarchy.”
“Even if I’m not particularly interested?”
“Always remember whose consort you are becoming.”
Valdrowa’s consort.
After hearing it put that way, he reflexively repeated it in his mind.
Luri walked behind him, keeping one step back.
As they walked along the red carpet, Ferda suddenly grew curious.
‘If I become Grand Duke Valdrowa’s consort, where will I stand in the hierarchy?’
The world of nobles was complicated in its own way.
Among the central nobles, rank followed one’s position.
But once one went to the outskirts, the sword was closer than the law, and those who had served for a long time were treated with respect.
‘As her consort, I’m officially no different from a king, but that alone won’t be enough…….’
Ferda was eighteen years old now.
In other words, in appearance, he was a young and inexperienced brat.
If a fiancé who had suddenly appeared began acting like a king, the lords’ opposition was a foregone conclusion.
As he walked, Ferda arrived at the entrance to the council chamber.
Ferda saw fifteen seats arranged in a circle.
The seat directly in line with the door was empty. It was Valdrowa’s seat.
In other words, it was where Ferda would sit.
Instead of going there, Ferda stood in the center and looked up at them one by one.
“Speak. Soon, I will become the consort of Grand Duke Valdrowa.”
It was a genuinely innocent question.
“Then should I speak to you respectfully, or should I speak down to you?”
Ferda met their eyes one at a time, gauging where his position ought to be.
Every lord looked down at him with a tense expression.
They glanced at one another, hesitating to answer.
Ferda scratched his head.
“Hmm, was that a difficult question?”
“N-no……”
“The thing is……”
The reason they could not answer was simple.
The moment they answered whether he should be addressed respectfully or spoken down to, they would establish their position in the hierarchy.
Who could have imagined that the brat who had come as a fiancé would make them line up first?
The oldest lord spoke first.
“We are lords who reside beneath the light of Grand Duke Valdrowa. It is only right that we show respect to the one who will become her consort.”
“Is that so?”
“But every lord here has given his loyalty to the country and devoted himself to its people. It is only right that Your Grace show us the appropriate respect in turn.”
It sounded like an answer, but in the end, he had simply passed the question back by saying that it depended on how Ferda chose to treat them.
After hearing that, Ferda asked him,
“What is your name?”
“Ulvera Consilius.”
“I see. Count Consilius? May I call you that?”
“Yes.”
The old lord gave a faint smile and nodded.
“And so?”
“Yes?”
“So should I speak to you respectfully, or should I speak down to you? You didn’t answer my question at all.”
Ferda narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
The old lord answered again with an awkward expression.
“You should speak down to us.”
“I see. That answers it. Count Consilius, if I had spoken respectfully first, would I have made you uncomfortable?”
“N-no, now that you’ve put it this way, it couldn’t be better.”
Politics was a first for Ferda, but he could understand this situation well enough.
Ferda had seized the initiative against the lords.
‘I didn’t mean to make them submit.’
Thinking he ought to explain himself, Ferda spoke to them.
“Don’t worry. Not much will change just because I become the Grand Duke’s consort. I have little interest in what you do. So carry on as you please—whether you exploit the people or show them mercy.”
“What do you mean, exploitation?”
A man rose as though he could not let Ferda’s words pass.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties and had a fierce appearance.
He was relatively young and wore a mage’s insignia on his chest.
Hearing that, Ferda thought,
I misspoke.
“I meant no offense. It simply came out that way while I was speaking.”
“You seem to be getting conceited just because you’re engaged to the Grand Duke. You’d better show some manners, young fiancé! If you stand before me as a mage facing a mage, you should be kneeling and bowing at my feet!”
“What!”
“W-wait, what are you saying!”
The old, fat lords tried to stop him, sweating profusely.
Everyone held their breath as though watching a candle burning beside a fuse.
“Hmm……”
Ferda was not particularly angry at his rudeness.
Instead, he was merely curious about what the man had said.
‘Can I beat that man?’
Now that he had awakened as a mage, Ferda could see mana with his own eyes.
The amount of mana held by the man named Thesalos was far from ordinary.
Ferda tapped his head with his index finger as he thought, then asked him,
“What is your name?”
“Thesalos of House Walcher!”
Ferda mulled over the name.
Thesalos Walcher…… He had heard that name somewhere before.
It was not important right now, so he set it aside.
“What Circle have you reached?”
“The Fourth Circle. I’m a mage capable of using Fourth-Tier magic.”
“Hmm. So, average.”
“……Average?”
As a Fourth Circle mage, Thesalos found it utterly absurd.
A Fourth Circle mage could receive a precious welcome anywhere.
‘Consort or not, should I just kill him?’
Thesalos felt his blood begin to boil.
If Ferda had not been the Grand Duke’s consort, Thesalos would already have cursed him out and fired magic at him.
“You’ve caught my interest. So may I ask you for a favor?”
“Even after showing such insolence, you still want something from me?!”
His face flushed red, and Ferda nodded when he saw it.
“You might even like it. Fight me.”
Ferda had trained enough. It was time to test himself in a real battle.