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chapter 06
Preparing a carriage while obviously knowing she was riding a horse.
Was he not expecting anything, or was he just ignoring her? Charlotte, staring at the sky dyed in the red sunset, crossed her arms and asked the vice commander.
“Vice, I need an answer, not a carriage. Exactly when did the north start freezing?”
“……”
The vice commander didn’t reply. Just as Charlotte was about to sigh at his silence,
“Pfft.”
A mocking laugh came from the front of the knights’ formation. One of Charlotte’s eyebrows twitched. The laughter came from the knight commander, wearing the most elaborate epaulets and a red cape.
“Ah, my apologies. It’s just that… our new Highness reminds me a lot of the late Duke Chartreuse.”
When Charlotte shot him a sharp look, the commander waved his hands defensively.
The commander had never met Charlotte before. Even as a local of the north, he probably thought she was insignificant.
“You served my father, did you?”
“Yes, well… I did. Who didn’t know him? A hero of the north. If there was a crisis, he wouldn’t rest until it was resolved.”
The commander, who had been teasing, composed himself and gestured toward the vice commander.
“Anyway, as Liam said, the terrain is slippery. We merely suggested that a carriage might be better than a horse for Your Highness’s safety.”
No one could fail to notice the sarcasm in those words.
Charlotte pictured her bare face in her mind—still plump, unshaped by adulthood. Following her father’s example, she straightened her shoulders and spoke formally, which annoyed more people than she could count.
So she had intended to just laugh it off again this time, but then—
“Actually, you’d look even prettier if you smiled more.”
Charlotte’s ears perked up at the commander’s muttered words.
“Why are you so tense?”
“……”
The atmosphere grew cold.
Charlotte scanned the faces of those frowning and those still smirking. She reached for the musket strapped across her back.
“You’re right, I’m not particularly skilled at riding.”
Charlotte quickly loaded the gun and squinted at a bird circling high in the sky.
A brief pause in her breath.
Bang! With a blast like an exploding firework, the shot rang out, and the bird fell.
The bird’s corpse fell toward the secretary’s head, but he batted it away like a ball, sending it smacking into the knight commander’s cheek.
“Arrgh!”
Even the secretary hadn’t screamed, yet the commander looked like a scared child.
Charlotte shook her head. She asked the commander, who leapt back at the bird’s impact,
“But wouldn’t it be better to ride a horse than a carriage to shoot a crow at this hour?”
The commander, trying to wipe off the bird from his cheek, turned a deep shade of red.
“Why can’t you smile, Commander? I thought your smiling face was quite pleasant. You weren’t attacked, were you?”
“Why that poor bird…!”
“I saw it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I saw the look in its eyes—it wanted to steal our food and take over our sight.”
Charlotte gestured to the crow while pulling her horse closer.
“It wasn’t just any crow—it was a big-clawed crow.”
Everyone around drew in a sharp breath.
A big-clawed crow—a notoriously dangerous corrupted beast.
It attacks humans like a raptor: silently hovering above before diving suddenly, slashing its target’s face with its claws. If Charlotte hadn’t intercepted it, the secretary would have gone blind.
“I’m a master. I’ve studied countless habits and skeletons to make accurate models. I know that when hunting, a big-clawed crow’s eyes turn red.”
“Maybe you just saw it wrong because of the sunset?”
“Really?”
Charlotte shrugged at the commander’s sulky reply.
“Well, if you think I’m mistaken, then clearly you know better. Next time, you lead the way.”
The commander was at a loss for words. Charlotte, having loaded her musket with powder and lead, nodded toward Liam.
“Vice commander, come forward and tell me everything about the northern cold. The rest follow behind me.”
Charlotte scanned the knights, who exchanged glances. Judging by the quiet, the mood would likely remain tense all the way to the north.
Hmm, I like it quieter.
She decided that if anyone annoyed her further, she would handle them this way.
Duke Chartreuse’s Castle, Lavresha
“…There’s no butler or head maid?”
“Yes, until now, the acting lord managed the castle himself instead of hiring a butler or head maid.”
Charlotte frowned at Liam’s answer.
Odelle probably thought that hiring more castle staff would unnecessarily increase costs. Charlotte’s cynical amusement at this extreme efficiency was inevitable.
After only greeting the maids and servants, Charlotte toured the castle’s central hall and bedrooms.
‘As expected, overall it’s worn and faded.’
They had tried to cover peeling walls with tapestries, but Charlotte, having grown up in the mansion of the Freyu family in the east, couldn’t miss the flaws.
Observing the hallway in front of the office, she exhaled.
‘And it’s not particularly warm, despite its geographic advantages.’
“The cold started a few years ago, though I can’t recall the exact year.”
Even after asking the vice commander many questions before arriving at the castle, he didn’t seem well-informed for his position.
“After my father… no, after my parents entered the fissure?”
“No, more like five or six years ago.”
Charlotte considered how to supplement the insulation and asked a nearby maid.
“Cecile, right?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’ve heard there’s a volcano nearby. Wasn’t there a village there?”
The Lavresha Volcano.
The volcano influenced the castle’s name and was still active when Charlotte lived in the north.
If she could use the volcano wisely, she might be able to save her family’s lands.
However, Cecile’s eyes showed a hint of disdain. She forced a smile despite her refined tongue.
“Your Highness, residents like us cannot access properties like the volcano, you know?”
“…Still, there used to be villagers.”
“Not anymore.”
So they had been expelled.
“At least we can channel hot water from the volcano to here. We’ll do our best to make your stay comfortable.”
Cecile smiled, opened the office door, and gestured toward a cord by the door to call whenever needed.
Suppressing her disappointment, Charlotte entered the office with another sparrow-like maid. Documents were stacked haphazardly—urgent orders, but prepared in haste.
‘Where do I even start?’
Sitting down, she sighed.
The military records hadn’t even arrived yet. This was just the tip of the iceberg.
She wished someone would help her…
“You’re the only one who can give me what I want.”
A face passed through her mind at that moment—a half-breed she couldn’t forget.
She ground her teeth, slammed her fist on the desk,
“Damn it…!”
“Oh my!”
The maid helping her organize writing tools jumped in surprise. Charlotte gestured an apology with her hands, frowning deeply and lowering her head.
‘Why him…!’
She could almost bear the thought if it were about research papers at the academy.
Luckily, the tea offered by the maid eased her frustration, and she took a deep breath.
‘Calm down. Calm down.’
The estate had been vacant for nearly ten years. Many things must have been mismanaged in the meantime.
She decided to focus on her duties as lord first. Then she noticed something…
‘…What’s this?’
A contract peeking out from between the documents made her eyelids twitch.
The Next Morning
“Ah, this is confusing!”
A knight flipping through the ledger beside the vice commander shouted. The secretary of the knights screamed even louder.
“Hey, don’t crumple the ledger! Do you know how I organized this?!”
“…Rodier, Clément. Keep your voices down.”
The young man called Rodier spun toward the vice commander, fuming and stomping.
“Honestly, it’s irritating. Why suddenly inspect the ledgers? You never looked at them at the academy!”
“……”
Liam frowned.
Including the secretary, the surrounding atmosphere fell silent. Many agreed with the first-in-command Rodier. If she didn’t intervene, they wouldn’t care about the duke’s orders.
“Lea said that Your Highness wants all of us to participate in this organization. Anyone can handle basic arithmetic, so it should be fine.”
“Oh, the one who followed you into the office?”
Rodier scoffed, claiming it was nonsense, and the secretary muttered as he twirled a fountain pen lazily.
“You’ll get shot if you keep that up. Did you see what hit earlier?”
The pen tip pointed directly at Rodier’s face.
“I don’t know what kind of bullet traveled so far, but it would pierce your head.”
“Oh, it must be a good bullet. Don’t make such a fuss.”
Rodier flopped onto a bed wrapped in cloth over hay. Clasping his hands behind his head, he stared at the ceiling and smirked.
“Anyway, the duke is a noble, isn’t he?”
“……”
“Seeing this, he’d obviously run off, damn it.”
