Chapter 106
Seven days after the battle with the antfolk, we were heading toward the city of Milet.
We had originally planned to stay for about ten days, but we ended up leaving much sooner.
The reason was Hardy, who was riding beside me.
This dignified gentleman with the magnificent beard was also an excellent commander.
The antfolk nest was deeper than expected, and its maze-like passages made exploration extremely difficult. However, as soon as he realized our assumptions were wrong, Hardy considered new methods of exploration and tried them one after another.
Several of those methods proved effective, and by combining the successful ones, he devised an even more efficient way to search the nest.
As a result, we reached the deepest part of the antfolk nest on the fifth day and succeeded in slaying the queen ant that had continued laying eggs.
We spent another day thoroughly searching the nest, crushing every egg and pupa, and completing the extermination.
His performance had been nothing short of splendid. Even Velli-sensei and Ray had been left marveling.
As a result, my plans had been thrown off, but Hardy's attitude toward me had also differed from what I had expected.
I could have understood if he had blamed me for dragging things out, but instead, he seemed willing to go along with it.
He had even agreed to delay our return by a day so the soldiers could rest, and he had kept the march back to Milet relatively slow without hurrying us along.
I had expected him to forcibly strip me of command over my troops and perhaps even arrest and imprison me, but so far, he had shown no sign of doing so. If anything, one could say he was doing exactly as I wished.
Given Father's orders, he should have been trying to take me back as quickly as possible, yet he never forced the issue. I could not read his intentions at all, which made him unsettling.
I could understand if he were weak and lacked initiative. But as his performance had shown, Hardy was capable. Besides, I had expected them to arrive after the battle with the antfolk was over. Hardy had somehow noticed our delaying tactics and made a forced march to get here. He certainly did not lack decisiveness.
On top of that, his attitude toward me was strangely reserved, almost guarded. He seemed tense, as though he did not know how to interact with me. Surely he was not inexperienced with women, either, so I could not understand him.
If he disliked me, that would make sense, but he spoke to me several times every day without fail. Then he would leave wearing an expression like a man who had made some nervous blunder, so I had no idea what he wanted.
That was still true now. As I handled the reins and turned my head slightly to the left, his magnificent beard swayed beneath his equally magnificent helmet. Hardy himself was the man who now occupied my thoughts.
"What is it, Romelia-sama?"
He had noticed my gaze and asked me, but I wanted to point out that he had been the one staring at me the entire time.
For some reason, this man was always looking at me.
Yet he never said anything. He was handsome, with a fine face and an impressive beard, but I disliked that gaze of his.
I answered with a sigh.
"Hardy-sama, why are you here? Shouldn't you be commanding your knights?"
The soldiers he commanded were positioned at the very rear. He had entrusted his own men to his deputy and was accompanying me with about ten of his retainers.
"My deputy, Demil, is quite capable. Besides, it would be a problem if Romelia-sama escaped."
"I have no intention of running away."
I said that aloud, but inwardly, I regretted not having thought of that possibility myself.
"In that case, what are you planning to do after watching me this closely? Will you arrest me and drag me before Father?"
Assuming Hardy might resort to force, I had surrounded myself with the Rome unit. We also outnumbered his men. Ten people would be easy enough to overpower.
"Ah, well, about that..."
Hardy pulled a troubled face and looked away.
"The truth is, I was ordered to protect Romelia-sama, but I was never told to bring you back to the Count."
I see. Father was so angry that he could not even bear to see my face.
"Then are you planning to confine me in Milet?"
"If Romelia-sama wishes to remain in Milet, that is fine by me. The same goes for Aileen Port."
"Aileen Port?"
I had never heard of the place.
"Yes. Aileen Port is the port Romelia-sama is building. Graham-sama named it in honor of Prince Henri's victory."
If I remembered correctly, Aileen was the name they had prepared in case Prince Henri turned out to be a girl. They had given the port, which was destined to develop, a name honoring the prince. Such obsequiousness was typical of Father.
"That is rather premature. It is still under construction."
Master Ganze had been driving the construction forward at a breakneck pace every day, and the projected completion date was likely to be moved forward, but completion was still a long way off.
"That only shows how much attention it is already receiving. I hear ships have already arrived as well."
"Selyure-san apparently couldn't wait."
Although Aileen Port was still under construction, it was already partially operational.
Selyure of the Yarmark Trading Company had sent a ship there before the port was complete, anchored it offshore, and transported its cargo by small boat.
"That man is quite the operator."
"Indeed he is."
The process was inefficient, and we could not transport particularly large quantities, but the fact that goods were actually circulating had made the port known throughout the Kingdom. Trading companies from all over had begun asking to establish merchant offices there.
The area around the port was already filled with planned sites for those merchant offices.
"Graham-sama was delighted as well. The entire county, including Cashew, is sure to flourish greatly because of this."
Many people and goods would soon pass through the county. The profits would be incalculable. We should also be able to sell our surplus porcelain and brandy at lower prices. Father would probably never stop laughing.
Could his decision to send Hardy while leaving me free be a compromise between the credit and blame for having created a money tree? Had his vague orders manifested as Hardy's halfhearted actions?
"That aside, if Aileen is not to your liking, my hometown would be fine as well. Though there is not much there."
Hardy did not sound as though he intended to take me to his hometown and imprison me. If so, why was he trying to take me there?
"Why are you inviting me to your hometown?"
When I asked without having found an answer, Hardy wore a slightly conflicted expression.
"This may sound rather strange, but I am also one of your potential fiancés."
Hardy's declaration cast an ominous pall over those around us.
Several members of the Rome unit were practically radiating murderous intent. I would not name names, but it seemed to be coming from somewhere near Ray.
"Um, did Father tell you that directly?"
"Not in so many words."
That made a great many things fall into place.
"I see. You've drawn the short straw."
When I said that to Hardy, he grimaced, apparently unsure how to respond.
Father must see me as nothing more than a burden and a sore spot for the family.
He would probably like to marry me off as quickly as possible and sever all ties, but the broken engagement with the prince was known throughout the country. No family would want a troublesome woman like me as a bride. I had no value left as a pawn in marriage politics.
So he intended to give his daughter to one of his retainers as a reward instead.
Being able to marry into the house of their liege would be an excellent arrangement for House Dostra. But from Hardy's personal point of view, it could hardly be called a good deal.
After all, this would amount to a lifetime's reward. No matter what Father said to him from then on, Hardy would be unable to refuse, and he would never be able to hold his head high around me. He would be unable to defy anyone, at home or beyond it. He could rise in rank, but it would be a grueling life that steadily wore down his nerves. What an enviable prospect.
"So, do you intend to marry me?"
Honestly, I had never imagined that marriage or engagement would enter my life again.
"Well..."
Hardy faltered. He still had not steeled himself.
I turned my gaze away from the knight who would not answer and looked ahead.
This was an unexpected turn of events, but it was a favorable one.
Of course, that had nothing to do with the engagement itself.
Hardy clearly had no stomach for it. If he could, he wanted to refuse.
But if his lord was offering him his daughter, refusing would end his future. He would disgrace his lord, meaning that Hardy and his entire family would be saddled with this bad bargain for generations to come.
For the sake of his house, he had no choice but to marry me, yet he seemed so unwilling. Did he really dislike me that much?
Then I would break off the engagement for him.
Hardy's refusal might cause friction, but if I opposed it forcefully enough, I could make the engagement fall through.
I turned around once and looked at Hardy.
I wanted Hardy and the knightly order under his command.
By dangling the engagement—and its dissolution—I could secure them as a fighting force in exchange.
This political marriage could be useful.