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Episode 9
Hibei, the rural estate of Reina Hart.
Atop the highest hill stood the lord’s castle.
It was a small, beautiful castle built to blend harmoniously with the surrounding nature.
There was a large main building where the lord resided, with two annexes on either side.
Passing through the garden in front of the main building led directly to the castle’s entrance.
“This is Lady Reina’s territory, then.”
Pursen, vice-captain of the Imperial Third Order of Knights, and his subordinates, Schkal and Pontepon, were sitting in front of the castle entrance.
The exhaustion from the previous night’s battle was plainly visible on their faces.
“……Lady Reina.”
“Only three of us survived.”
Last night.
Reina had returned with the kidnapped Fourth Prince and one of the spies.
Only three knights had survived the attack by the Empress’s spies.
Reina watched Pursen for a moment before handing over the sleeping Kevenriac.
“Take care of His Highness.”
He was the first person Reina had seen when she entered the novel.
The captain of the knights, Pursen, visited the vanished city every year.
In front of the enormous memorial monument, he would place a bouquet of pale-purple flowers that resembled her and mourn Reina Hart.
It had already been the fourteenth memorial.
A person who had mourned Reina Hart’s death for fourteen years in the original story.
That should make him trustworthy enough.
Reina entrusted Kevenriac to Pursen, then went to the Empress’s palace.
After that, she used teleportation to travel to Hibei with the surviving knights.
“Teleporting with five people at once.”
Pontepon shook his head in disbelief.
A grand mage really was on another level.
Beside him, Schkal looked down the hill and spoke.
“Hibei is as quiet as I’d heard.”
“It’s not quiet, Schkal. It’s deserted.”
Pontepon immediately disagreed.
Because of his habit of patrolling the Imperial Palace at dawn, he had gone around the village as soon as he woke up.
Hibei was said to be small, but its land was fertile and its people warmhearted.
Yet—
Broken houses scattered throughout the village.
People with gloomy expressions.
“Could Hibei have fallen into ruin while Lady Hart was away fighting?”
“Don’t say useless things.”
Pursen dismissed Pontepon’s remark.
Schkal looked back at the silent castle.
“Lady Reina is probably still asleep, right? I wonder if she’ll allow us to stay in her territory.”
The three of them belonged to the Imperial Third Order of Knights.
Originally, their mission had been to escort the Marquis of Hart and the Fourth Prince to Hibei.
However, when they reported the attack from the previous night at dawn, they received orders to remain in Hibei until they were told to return.
“We’ll ask Lady Reina when she wakes up. Hmm?”
Just then, Pursen noticed a group of four people approaching the castle.
He rose from his seat and addressed the middle-aged man leading them.
He looked to be around forty. His clothes were shabby, and his body was thin.
“May I ask why you’ve come?”
The imposing knight’s question made the middle-aged man hesitate.
“I, uh…… I heard that Lord Hart had arrived……”
“How did you know? The lord didn’t arrive by carriage.”
Could this man be suspicious?
Schkal also stood up, his expression wary.
Pontepon, who had overheard the conversation, suddenly seemed to realize something.
He remembered telling a farmer that he had followed Lady Hart while wandering around the village at dawn.
“Captain, I—”
Pontepon also stood up, intending to defuse the tense atmosphere.
Then, from beyond the garden came the sound of a door opening, followed by a clear, crisp woman’s voice.
“What is going on?”
Reina had come down to the first floor and stepped outside after hearing the commotion.
The owner of the castle, resembling a violet flower covered in morning dew.
And, as always, the Fourth Prince was standing right beside her.
Pursen spoke to Reina, who stood at the entrance of the main building.
“Ah, Lady Reina. You’re awake. This man—”
“My lord!”
Taking advantage of the opening, the middle-aged man ran across the garden and threw himself flat on the ground before the short steps where Reina stood.
“Please save us!”
……Save you from what?
Although Reina wondered what he meant, she covered Kevenriac’s eyes with her hand.
It probably wasn’t a very pleasant sight for a child to see first thing in the morning.
‘I thought I’d be able to take it easy once I came to Hibei.’
Reina was sitting in the lord’s chair.
Through the open doorway, Kevenriac peeked his head out and looked at Reina.
‘A cat…….’
Reina subtly waved the hand resting on the armrest to acknowledge him.
At that, Kevenriac’s mouth stretched into a huge smile.
Perhaps one of the things Reina was best at was making Kevenriac smile.
‘I should count how many times he smiles in a day sometime.’
While Reina was thinking that, the village chief continued reporting on the state of the territory.
“While Your Lordship was away, the Tuntera Imperial Army invaded, and recently bandits appeared as well……”
Most of what he described were the hardships the territory had suffered.
Various parts of the village had been damaged by the war.
Bandits had plundered the crops.
Villagers who had fled had yet to return……
One unfortunate circumstance after another followed, but the conclusion was—
“We would like Your Lordship to come down to the village and personally inspect the territory.”
In other words, they wanted her to actually act like a lord.
“Me? Personally?”
At Reina’s questioning, a moment of silence fell over the room.
Pursen, Schkal, and Pontepon stood in a line to one side.
The village chief and the three people who had accompanied him stood in front of the lord’s chair.
‘Just as I thought! Reina Hart is nothing but a warmonger!’
A boy who still looked to be in his teens clenched his fists and trembled.
The war between the Betuzhenia Empire and the Tuntera Empire.
Hibei was a small territory, but because it belonged to Reina Hart, it could not escape enemy attacks.
“The Tuntera Imperial Army! Run!”
“Mom, isn’t Lady Hart coming? Our lord is strong.”
“I heard our lord won another victory in the war. ……I’m leaving Hibei.”
Whenever the Tuntera Imperial Army arrived, the villagers would flee into the mountains to survive.
After countless evacuations, villages reduced to ruins, and their lord’s continued absence, the exhausted villagers began leaving Hibei.
Later, news arrived that Reina Hart had destroyed the Tuntera Empire.
But—
‘We were so busy staying in the Imperial Palace that we didn’t pay any attention to them.’
Once the Tuntera Imperial Army disappeared, bandits appeared in Hibei, which had no one to protect it.
Even though the war was over, their lord had not protected them.
Even now.
‘She doesn’t want to get involved herself. We’re just a nuisance to her.’
Gritting his teeth, the boy glared at Reina.
Then, suddenly, his knees buckled and he fell forward.
“……?!”
“Brown!”
Something had pounced onto his back and knocked him forward.
A powerful force pressed down on his upper body.
A chilling presence brushed against the back of his neck.
The boy turned around, and an icy shiver ran through his entire body.
The blue eyes of a beast were glaring fiercely at him.
“Are you Reina’s enemy?”
The young beast revealed sharp teeth, as though it might bare its fangs and tear into him at any moment.
‘S-Scary.’
Just as the terrified Brown’s face crumpled in fear—
A pair of delicate hands grabbed Kevenriac around the upper body.
“He’s not an enemy.”
And then Kevenriac was lifted into the air, pulled away from Brown.
At Reina’s words, the fierce blue eyes became round and innocent as they looked at her.
“Not an enemy?”
“Yes.”
“But……”
He had definitely been glaring at Reina.
But Kevenriac knew Reina couldn’t possibly be wrong.
Dangling in the air, he tilted his head in confusion.
Reina lowered Kevenriac to the floor and fell into thought.
‘Reina Hart wasn’t exactly a warm and affectionate lord.’
Still, she hadn’t been indifferent to her territory.
Among the memories Reina possessed, there was definitely a scene where Reina had asked the Emperor to protect Hibei.
“While I am away fighting, I would like you to dispatch a group of knights to protect Hibei.”
“Very well. I give you my word.”
The Emperor had readily accepted her request.
But—
‘According to what the village chief said, it doesn’t sound like any knights were ever sent. Did the Emperor just say he’d do it without actually meaning to?’
Her distrust of the Emperor had already grown deep.
Reina raised her head, reaching a reasonable conclusion.
“……”
Perhaps because Kevenriac had just attacked the boy—
The villagers were looking at her with frightened expressions.
‘Acting as a lord, huh.’
Reina had only planned to laze around in Hibei until the original story began.
She hadn’t intended to work hard.
Reina looked at the people before her.
Dirty fingernails.
Worn-out clothes.
Thin, emaciated bodies from lack of food……
‘It’s quiet.’
At this point, something should have appeared in front of her and poked at her conscience.
What kind of system was this, acting so arbitrarily?
It was obviously similar to whoever had put her inside this novel.
Reina shrugged.
Either way, she was supposedly their lord.
What else could she do?
“Then let’s go.”
“Pardon……?”
“Let’s go to the village. You wanted me to personally inspect the territory, didn’t you?”
I might as well let them benefit from having a grand-mage for a lord.
“Wow.”
It wasn’t just one person saying it.
Everywhere Reina visited, the people couldn’t contain their amazement.
Broken houses were repaired.
Fields that had been left in shambles were restored.
The damage inflicted by the war and the bandits was returning to its former state in an instant through Reina’s magic.
‘So this is what a grand mage can do……!’
‘This is our lord……!’
