Chapter 13: Welcoming Guests

Around the time the Ducal estate was in turmoil.

A strange current flowed through the Elder Council chamber.

The heavy, dark atmosphere oddly suited the nobles present.

A noble seated slightly away from the head seat stood up and shouted.

“This is absurd!!! How dare that wench who doesn’t even know her place…!”

“”……””

“Count Antonio, please calm down. You’re not the only one distressed.”

“Damn it!”

Bang!

Count Antonio slammed the table loudly, venting his fury.

Those gathered in the Elder Council chamber weren’t ignorant of the Count’s feelings.

However, with no solution emerging, there was nothing they could do immediately.

Damadit, the Elder Chairman trying to calm the Count, also felt his head spin.

He felt like dying from hatred towards Lilac, who had created this situation where all the Ducal elders had gathered.

How could she remain so quiet after causing such a mess?

Lilac’s silence was even more terrifying.

They needed some information to devise countermeasures.

In his long 63 years, Damadit had never experienced anything like this.

He was just about to retire from the Elder Chairmanship and pass the seat to the 2nd Elder.

But the heavens seemed to bind him, telling him not to go.

“Hoo…”

A deep breath escaped him.

A situation demanding immediate departure to the Ducal estate.

However, for some reason, the road to the Ducal estate was currently blocked.

More precisely, any carriage heading there was being destroyed.

At this rate, far from devising countermeasures, they couldn’t even begin.

“Is the communication sphere still unreachable?”

“Yes… Whether they’re intentionally not answering, the communication tone goes through, but they don’t pick up.”

“…Keep trying. We will discuss until contact is made-.”

“They picked up!!!!”

“Ooh…!!!”

“Finally…”

“Damn wench… damn wench…”

What cruel trick of the gods was this?

Damadit glared at the communication sphere that had been unreachable.

Imagining Lilac toying with him like this made his blood boil.

-What is it?

“Wh-what should I say…?”

Zeke, the lowest-ranking elder, asked timidly, making the back of Damadit’s neck ache.

“Bring it here…”

Having maintained anxiety and tension for hours, his eyelids twitched, and strength drained from his body.

This wasn’t just Damadit; everyone gathered in the Elder Council chamber felt the same.

The eyes of the elders, struck by lightning overnight, were sunken.

Their dark circles seemed to reach their chins.

Swoosh.

Looking at the communication sphere carefully handed over by Zeke, the subsided anger surged again.

A young brat toying with old men.

Naturally, anger was inevitable.

-If you don’t speak, I’ll hang up.

“W-wait a moment!”

Lilac, giving no time to think, asked with a nonchalant tone.

As Damadit shouted urgently, Lilac’s image seemed to distort slightly.

-…ra? Did you just give me an order?

On the communication sphere screen, now clear again, Lilac’s face hardened coldly.

“Of course! Th-“

In the past, no matter what he said to her, no one around commented, so he naturally looked down on Lilac.

But now, the situation was reversed.

A mere Elder Chairman, not even a member of the Ducal family, had ordered the current Duchess.

That was an unwritten rule that should never be broken under any circumstances.

One wrong word could lead to the death of not just Damadit, but all the elders and their families.

Naturally, Damadit’s own family was included.

“My… my apologies, Your Grace…”

Now was the time to lower his eyes and bow his waist.

He was in no position to displease Lilac.

However, he heard that the Prince would visit the Duchy today.

If he just groveled until then, this wretched treatment would disappear.

-Tsk. For someone who’s the Elder Chairman. So, what is it?

‘What an insolent brat.’

The tone momentarily made his head spin with such thoughts.

Even if she was the Duchess, she should know what it means to antagonize the elders.

He couldn’t understand why Lilac was acting so confidently.

Fearing she would hang up again if he answered late this time, he spoke quickly.

“Congratulations on becoming the Duchess… However, such succession requires procedures, necessitating a visit to the Duchy. Therefore, please stop destroying the carriages-.”

Click–.

“””……”””

But Lilac, having turned into a complete tyrant, ignored Damadit’s words and turned off the communication sphere.

Silence instantly filled the chamber.

After so many repeated attempts at communication.

Their efforts returned to nothing.

Of course, they hadn’t truly returned to nothing.

-I have no need for elders who order me around. It seems time for a clean sweep.

Fortunately, when they quickly connected again, Lilac answered immediately this time.

Feeling suffocated, Damadit signaled Zeke, received a glass of cold water, and drank it.

And then came another sharp remark.

-You seem to have the leisure to drink water while communicating with me.

Drinking the cold water felt pointless.

Still, thanks to the cold water, his heated head cooled down.

“Please blame this inadequate Elder Chairman. My learning is still insufficient.”

-Still, you seem to know you’re foolish?

‘How should I kill this wench?’

As soon as the road cleared, he would head to the Duchy.

Upon arrival, he would wait, join forces with His Highness the Prince, and drag her down.

Thinking of the grand future, he spoke in a sorrowful tone.

“Please forgive this lowly one’s mistake… It seems age is catching up…”

-I’ll send medicine good for dementia, so rest today. Some recuperation should help.

“””……”””

The chamber fell silent again.

The elders broke out in cold sweat, only glancing at Damadit.

His face, red as a beet, looked ready to explode.

But they couldn’t rashly open their mouths, sensing from Lilac’s atmosphere that if they angered her here, there would be no next time.

‘Hoo…’

‘She’s going to be dragged down anyway. Showing emotions only hurts me.’

Regaining his composure, this time he sent not an order, but a request.

Then the reply soon came back.

-Ah. It’s time for Sia’s meal. I’ll contact you later.

Click—.

“…Prepare the carriages and soldiers immediately.”

“Calm down! Won’t His Highness the Prince resolve this?”

“No, old man! What are you talking about?! We must go kill the 1st Princess who treated Lord Damadit so harshly immediately!”

“No matter what, she’s a cunning wench who took over the Duchy. We must move cautiously!”

“Elder Chairman! I will contribute my forces!! Surely none of us want to see the Duchy end like this?!!!”

“Hear, hear!”

The chamber instantly turned into chaos.

Count Antonio, who showed the most cooperation with Damadit’s words, seized the initiative.

“Gather all available soldiers and knights. We must reclaim the Duchy, devoured by the hands of that wicked woman.”

With those words, the Elder Council meeting concluded.

Even if she became Duchess, they intended to personally punish the 1st Princess who could live so peacefully after causing such an incident.

Judging by the atmosphere, they looked like heroes setting off to defeat a demon lord.

But these were elders who had been entrenched in the corrupt Duchy for the longest time.

Perhaps they were the most foolish and pitiful people in the world.

Because they only cared about their own selfish interests.

However, there was something they hadn’t anticipated.

When they arrived early that evening, the 3rd Imperial Prince was already unconscious in the Ducal estate’s basement, beaten beyond recognition.

A scene from hell unfolded before them.

For daring to resist and defy, 24 hours of overtime work awaited them…

“What did you talk about?”

To Sia’s curious question from beside me, I mixed in a lie.

“Just received some complaints from the vassals.”

“Huh…”

Her exclamation was strange, but lunchtime was approaching, so I needed to prepare.

Prepare to receive guests.

I knew without being told what kind of guests.

Obviously, the 3rd Imperial Prince had departed and was likely getting beaten up by the knights around now.

Imperial knights?

What’s the problem with that?

Just kill them all.

Things had already soured with the Imperial family.

Thanks to Medea.

Now, annoyingly, I had to deal with the nobles and the Imperial family.

I could just grovel, but that didn’t align with my nature.

Besides, to live better with Sia, I would have had to pressure the Imperial family at some point anyway.

If they kindly took the initiative like this, I could only be grateful.

After lunch, I left Sia in the room and headed to the basement.

I left Butler with Sia, so I had no worries.

The musty basement smell made me frown.

Dried blood on the floor added a nauseating stench.

In the center of the spacious basement stood one person. Edwyn.

As I slowly approached, Edwyn spotted me and knelt.

Then he pointed to the prison cell in front of him and spoke.

“I couldn’t keep Medea and the 3rd Prince together, so I put Medea in a separate cell.”

“You interrogate her yourself. I lack the time to do even that.”

Originally, I planned to interrogate both, but suddenly feeling that even the time spent away from Sia was precious, I decided to handle only the Prince.

However, the Prince’s condition…

Turning my head, I saw a bloody pulp that could have been human or a dead beast.

My eyes automatically closed.

No matter how unrestrained my knights were, I didn’t tell them to go this far.

‘Need to educate them later.’

Or maybe having Sia do it wouldn’t be bad.

‘The knights really liked Sia, right?’

Something about feeling like they had a daughter or a younger sister.

Anyway, pushing aside stray thoughts, I approached the iron bars of the prison cell, and groans came from inside.

“Ki…ll me… I’ll do anything…”

I scratched my cheek.

I hadn’t expected him to betray the Imperial family immediately.

The Prince, having spilled all information under my questioning, was kept alive for now.

Since he hadn’t directly harmed me.

Who knows.

Maybe I’ll release him out of merciful kindness.

Though the possibility converged towards 0.

With the thoroughly extracted information, the first guest reception concluded.

Soon, the vassals, the elders in charge of the Duchy’s internal affairs, would arrive.

Time to begin the second guest reception.