🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
Lauren stole a glance at Aster, who sat across from her.
In return for finding and restoring her lost jewelry, Aster had asked her to teach him how to handle administrative work.
True to that arrangement, every evening found the two of them engaged in something resembling lessons—though,
calling it a lesson was a stretch, as it mostly consisted of reviewing past political and economic topics that had once made waves.
As a renowned military commander, his quick comprehension and sharp intellect proved that his reputation as a soldier was no exaggeration.
However, swapping out a mindset forged by a lifetime of military service for that of a lord was evidently quite a challenge.
“As I said, you don’t need to be so harsh.”
Lauren’s voice carried a sigh. With a hardened expression,
Aster looked down at the paper he had been reading until a moment ago.
On it was an old news article reporting that several peasants had embezzled funds and goods intended for their lord.
When Lauren asked Aster how such an offense should be punished, he had answered that their property should be confiscated and they should be detained.
Her response was precisely what she had just said—that there was no need to be so severe. Under military law, his approach was correct. But if not that, how was it supposed to be handled? He knew no standards other than military law.
“Did you read this part here?”
Lauren’s slender finger pointed to a section on the paper. Aster’s gaze followed her fingertip. Confirming the contents, he nodded, his golden hair swaying gently with the movement. His green eyes rolled around to meet hers.
“To summarize?” “It says they committed the crime because the tax rate was too high to survive, and they had a gravely ill family member…”
Lauren nodded. Though written at length with testimonies from neighbors, that was the crux of the article.
“I am no soldier, so I cannot say for certain, but under military law, what you said would likely be correct. However, those peasants are not soldiers. A lord must look into why such a thing happened—because a lord’s duty is to prevent the same thing from recurring.”
Aster reread the article once more. A faint sound of realization escaped his lips. His eyes turned toward her, sparkling briefly.
“Lower the tax rate, and provide care for the sick. That would fix it.” “Precisely. That is what a lord ought to do.”
Lauren offered a soft smile, the gentle corners of her eyes narrowing pleasantly. For some reason, she handled Aster remarkably well. She was a gracious, patient teacher, willing to wait until he arrived at the answer on his own and generous with her praise.
“Still, something feels off.” “What is it?” “I was under the impression that the tax rate set by imperial law is not particularly high. Why would anyone embezzle goods claiming the tax rate is too high?”
Aster crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. Tilting his head, a crease formed between his brows. It was a good question. It seemed he wasn’t just versed in military law, but also possessed an understanding of basic imperial law. Seeing how he was constantly buried in documents, he had clearly been studying in his own way. Lauren nodded in agreement.
“Because local territorial law exists separately. A lord has full discretion to adjust tax rates as they see fit.”
Lauren showed him the second page of the newspaper article. The lord of that domain had, just as Aster predicted, confiscated the peasant’s property and detained him. But the people, exhausted from being crushed under exorbitant tax rates, refused to stay silent any longer. The village representative walked for days on end to reach the Imperial Palace. The Emperor, who championed an image of benevolence toward his subjects, personally granted them an audience and heard their desperate plea. And then, the Emperor’s ‘Iron Hammer’ fell upon the lord.
The ‘Iron Hammer’—the Emperor’s elite order of knights—rided out without delay and surrounded the lord’s estate. The imprisoned peasant was released, and the lord was forced to his knees before the people. Gathering the crowd, the Commander of the Iron Hammer loudly proclaimed the Emperor’s decree: for the crime of arbitrarily raising taxes and causing suffering to the populace, the lord was stripped of his title and his domain was confiscated.
The Emperor had the Commander of the Iron Hammer assume the position of temporary governor to care for the territory, even granting a total tax exemption for the next few years. The people wept tears of joy. Across the entire empire, praises rang out high for the Emperor’s noble character and wisdom.
The article on the second page detailed those events in full. Aster narrowed his eyes as he read through it.
“This happened back when I was attending the military academy. I remember it because the ‘Iron Hammer’ rarely moves unless the situation is extraordinary.”
Muttering in a low voice, he seemed somehow displeased, his furrowed brows turning fierce. There was no apparent reason for him to be. Meeting his eyes as she tilted her head in curiosity, Aster twisted his lips into a smirk.
Lauren suddenly recalled the moment she had first met him in this mansion. Though it was the same crooked smile he always wore, his eyes seemed slightly softer now compared to back then. That couldn’t be. It must be my imagination. Fearing he might notice her thoughts, Lauren spoke up hastily.
“Rarely move? But aren’t they directly under the Emperor’s command? I heard they achieved great distinction in the war as well.” “Distinction is easy to fabricate if you frame it right.”
At his heavy, grim remark, Lauren fell silent. Aster and the troops he led had fought at the absolute forefront of the battlefield. Yet, having inherited the title of duke before even reaching adulthood, Aster possessed no political backing. Furthermore, because the majority of his men were commoners, they were nearly robbed of their achievements without being able to utter a word of protest. The person who prevented that injustice was none other than the late Baron Shiaze—Lauren’s father.
“Putting aside someone like me who possesses a ducal title and a domain, my subordinates have their very lives dictated by military honors. Being unable to properly reward those who fought alongside me was a bitter, humiliating thing.”
Aster narrowed his eyes, muttering that he had even planned to use his personal fortune to compensate them. Lauren found herself staring at him blankly. He was smiling at her—the concentration of bitterness in his expression was no different than usual, yet there was a warmth in that smile she had never seen before.
“If not for the Baron, I wouldn’t have been able to properly reward the men who risked their lives fighting by my side. I owe your father a debt I can truly never repay.”
Lauren lowered her head. She was not the one who should be receiving those words of gratitude. But her father was no longer here, leaving her unable to even pass along Aster’s thanks. The painful reality of her parents’ absence—a thought she had deliberately tried to avoid—flooded back over her like a rising tide at the sound of Aster’s low voice.
There was no time to be swept away by belated grief. Lauren took a deep, quiet breath to steady her emotions. She needed to change the subject. Come to think of it, something in his story caught her attention.
“…What about that story of the ‘Iron Hammer’ earlier? Did they steal someone else’s achievements as well?”
Aster let out a dry chuckle and shrugged. The action itself served as her answer. Lauren’s face twisted into a deep frown.
“Is that really true?” “I have no reason to lie.”
Lauren, of course, knew he was not a man to tell lies; she had simply asked reflexively out of sheer disbelief. The ‘Iron Hammer’ was the Imperial Guard under the direct command of the Emperor. Having earned massive military honors during the war, its Grand Commander and Vice-Commander were awarded vast territories, while the sons of noble families within its ranks were promoted or granted new titles. If all of that was the result of usurping what rightfully belonged to others, then what on earth had those who risked their lives at the absolute front lines been fighting for?
Aster stood up from his seat. Retrieving a bottle of liquor from the cabinet, he poured himself a glass and downed it in one gulp. Lauren could only watch him in silence. Refilling his glass, he leaned against the window frame. Gazing up at the sky where stars were beginning to fall, Aster took a slow, deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling heavily.
“Pathetic, isn’t it? It was something I should have fought back against, but I didn’t know how to do a single thing.”
The low voice muttering toward the window seeped into her ears.
“I intended to use my personal wealth to support my people. Even if I couldn’t grant them honor, I wanted to at least make their lives a little easier.”
Commoners with no military background went to war for one reason alone: to earn a living. Things like honor meant nothing to them.
Lauren quietly gazed at Aster’s back. Perhaps he simply lacked the know-how, but deep down, his thoughts weren’t so different from her father’s or her own. Wanting to help one’s people live well, refusing to watch them suffer—that was why he had even considered using his personal fortune, unlike other nobles.
had been lower-ranking nobles with a small domain. Perhaps because of that, Lauren’s life had always been close to the common folk of the territory. As a child, she had played in the playground with the local children and, naturally, attended school alongside them. In the Shiaze domain ruled by her father, any commoner with the will to learn could receive an education; even her father’s administrative aide from his days at the Imperial Court had been a commoner.
It was only much later that Lauren realized other domains operated very differently. The life of commoners she witnessed in a relative’s territory was arduous. People who couldn’t read a single letter, lives unable to bloom despite possessing natural talent… Seeing how simply keeping people from starving was lauded as the mark of a ‘good lord,’ young Lauren felt as though the world she knew had shattered.
That very revelation had been what inspired young Lauren to learn her father’s work. The friends she had grown up running around with since childhood; the teachers who always greeted her with warm smiles at school; the market merchants who welcomed her as the lord’s daughter and pressed sweets into her hands; the farmers who loaded her down with fruits and crops until her arms couldn’t hold any more, urging her to take them home. The reason she had never felt impoverished despite living in a poor domain was entirely thanks to them—those who shared her life, labeled simply as ‘commoners.’
Her father used to say that the Shiaze family became lords merely out of better luck than others. Divided only by the titles of ‘noble’ and ‘commoner,’ they were all fundamentally the same people. Thus, preserving their smiling faces was the true duty of a lord.
Aster’s desire to properly reward ‘his people’ even at the cost of his personal fortune was no different from her father’s—or her own—desire to protect those smiling faces.
Lost in thought, Lauren’s face slowly darkened. In the future she had once envisioned for herself, she was always the ruler of the Shiaze domain. Whether she married or not had never mattered; she had never once imagined a self that was not a lord. But now, Lauren was far away from her home, standing by Aster’s side.
After her parents’ sudden passing, the uncle who stole her title was someone who had never managed a domain in his life. Even during the brief time she spent living under his roof, he and his family were obsessed solely with erasing the memory of the previous lord, giving no thought to actually governing the land properly.
How are the domain… and its people faring right now?
Lauren found herself harboring such thoughts only now. With a pang of sudden realization, she felt it was far too late.
