Chapter 99

It was just as she’d said.

Cledwyn Maindulante had tried his utmost to remain at the castle until Nerys’s arrival. But the whereabouts of the last betraying elder had come to light right before she arrived.

If Nerys hadn’t fallen ill on her way to Penmewick, or if she’d come as Cledwyn had expected—immediately after graduation—he would have been at the castle.

But, as luck would have it, he was forced to be away, and she arrived in his absence.

When he found out, Cledwyn instructed his close subordinate, Talfrin, to use his specialty in disguise to assist Nerys.

Because he knew the stubbornness of the northerners—what they called “the central lot.”

Talfrin had no choice but to admit Nerys was right, though he felt a twinge of annoyance.

Nerys had spoken casually, but she had only ever heard Talfrin’s name once, and that was in the midst of chaos during her school days.

And when he’d been the dormitory supervisor, he’d been in clear disguise. Hair color and facial expressions counted for so much in a person’s impression.

Even without using the same magical disguise he’d just peeled away, most people wouldn’t have been able to connect Talfrin now with that lazy dormitory supervisor. Until now, the only person to see through Talfrin’s disguises instantly had been Cledwyn.

Talfrin had objected when Cledwyn suddenly made Nerys an advisor. But after seeing her handle this affair, his prediction that she’d be quickly ostracized by “experienced central natives” had proven false.

Talfrin knew how close the relief supplies for Fecernon had come to being lost. The role of “junior administrator Hughin who disliked the new advisor but received orders from her” was the perfect bait for those seeking information to drive Nerys out.

While Talfrin manipulated and investigated those trying to steal the supplies, Nerys simply resolved everything on her own and went further—she had all those who’d valued central political games over the people’s well-being thrown in prison.

No one would dare ignore her in the next council meeting.

‘Even that damned Hilbrin seems utterly taken with her now.’

Hilbrin had never gotten along with Cledwyn’s direct subordinates, Talfrin or Aidan. Their personalities just fundamentally clashed.

But during the last meeting, the way Hilbrin looked at Nerys after she resolved everything was almost unsettling.

‘He’s an all-or-nothing type—when he likes someone, it’s just as extreme.’

Well… that was to be expected. Maindulante revered the strong and the brave.

Especially that old fossil.

Talfrin cleared his throat and asked slyly, “How did you know Karl Sidney was the traitor?”

Until today, Karl had been very popular. Both the administrators and the nobles liked him, and he never once gave off a hint of suspicion.

He’d only made his move now because he thought he’d get away with it.

Yet Nerys replied as if it were nothing special.

“If a lower administrator is attending a meeting with high-ranking lords, he should be a working official, but the documents he gave me were pathetically inadequate. You, on the other hand, started by pointing out where Fecernon was.”

Of course, incompetence could explain it, but… she added with a smile, he’d been so confident he could take control and clean up the mess.

Dora deeply agreed with Nerys’s words. She gazed at her new master with a sense of wonder.

Dora had been saved by Lady Truydd—Nerys’s mother—and had vowed to protect her. She even quit her post in the covert division to become a maid, determined to serve Lady Truydd better in the people-starved West Palace.

When Cledwyn ordered her to serve the daughter as well, she’d found it odd. She hadn’t even known why Lady Truydd was living in Penmewick.

Hadn’t Lady Truydd, who caught the would-be assassin of the duke, become the real target? Wouldn’t she be in even greater danger?

But according to the explanation from Lady Ellen, Nerys was nothing like the pure, docile girl Dora had heard about. She was someone who needed to fight with a sword herself.

A person who prepared meticulously so her beloved mother would never be used or threatened by outsiders.

So Dora devoted herself to serving Lady Truydd’s daughter, even though her heart longed to stay by her lady’s side.

Now, a shiver ran through Dora, brief but powerful.

Nerys’s reasoning was undeniably sound. It made anyone who heard it wonder, ‘Why didn’t I see it?’

But appearances have such an impact on understanding. Even Dora, trained in covert work, hadn’t disliked Hughin as much as Karl Sidney.

And if Hughin was really Talfrin, he’d once been the head of Dora’s own covert group. Of course they’d met before.

And those incomplete documents?

Dora could read reports reasonably well, but it had never even crossed her mind that Karl’s were suspiciously lacking.

Such a sharp and cool-headed master.

Dora now felt more than just the fondness that came from serving Lady Truydd’s daughter and the duke’s favored companion.

Nerys smiled softly and asked Talfrin, “Was it the Sedona Agricultural Cooperative, or something like that? You sent me a letter under that name, didn’t you?”

He had. Talfrin smiled back at her.

Unlike Maindulante’s tradition of idolizing the strong and brave, Talfrin liked clever people. Even if they lacked power, as long as they were patient and clear-sighted enough to withstand everything.

‘Yes, just like this.’

Just then—

Buu… buuu… buuu…!

A clear fanfare resounded throughout the castle. The melody was unfamiliar to Nerys, as it was a Maindulante composition, but its lively, brisk notes left no doubt as to their meaning.

Celebration. And homage.

With a satisfied look, Talfrin asked, “It seems the careful master has returned. Will you go out to greet him?”

“I will.”

Nerys slowly rose to her feet.

❖ ❖ ❖

The fanfare echoing from every tower of White Swan Castle swept across the entire white city of Penmewick.

Citizens poured out to catch a glimpse of their lord—and his personal order of knights, the Platinum.

Despite the name, every knight’s cloak and armor was black. Even the master at their head, mounted on a huge black steed, was clad all in black.

Hair as dark as the night sky.

Shining gray eyes.

A face as fine as carved marble, with a detached and chilly expression.

When Cledwyn Maindulante lost his father while at the southern academy, the people of Penmewick had been deeply anxious. The snake-like elders of the family seemed poised to swallow up the young lord far away from home.

But the new duke who managed to claim the throne had, in the end, devoured the elders himself. Now he was returning, having finally captured and punished the last “traitor” who had fled.

“Long live His Grace the Duke!”

“Long live!”

The people tossed flowers along his path. The young, handsome duke might have been frightening, but they were captivated by his charisma.

From the city gates to White Swan Castle itself, Nerys watched the wave of knights following Cledwyn and felt a measure of awe—though not entirely. The reason she wasn’t wholly moved was because Cledwyn’s cold expression seemed so unfamiliar.

The man she remembered was always smiling. Making jokes only he understood. A fool who never looked out for himself. Someone who would go with the children to dances.

But now, he looked as intimidating as a black lion—if such a beautiful lion could exist.

Yet when Cledwyn spotted Nerys standing before the castle gates, his face immediately returned to the one she remembered.

A slightly mischievous, gentle look that always concealed his true thoughts.

Everyone had come out to welcome their lord, absent for days—administrators and lords alike, lined up in rank.

So, when Cledwyn saw Nerys Truydd standing at the very front among the administrators, all could see the smile spread across the duke’s face.

Gasp. Some drew in breath, some quietly doubted their eyes. But Cledwyn paid them no mind.

He simply stopped his horse, dismounted, and walked straight to Nerys.

Then, like a knight, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, instead of coming out to greet you myself.”

The duke coming out to greet an advisor? Nerys thought even the position he’d given her was ridiculous, but this wasn’t the place to point it out.

So she only replied coolly.

“Not at all. I appreciate your hospitality.”

“Is Ellen taking good care of you?”

Standing at the front of the castle staff, Ellen laughed cheerfully.

“I’m offended. Have I ever once failed to meet your expectations, Your Grace?”

“Never.”

“Lady Ellen has been very kind to me.”

The golden-haired girl, who hadn’t once removed her black veil to show her eyes since her arrival. The castle’s administrators and the lords wondered at the oddity of a mere advisor using informal speech with them but speaking formally to the chief housekeeper.

But what could they do? They’d already admitted that everything this unusual advisor did had its reasons.

“Your Grace.”

Nerys’s mother, standing beside Ellen, lifted her skirts and bowed. Cledwyn smiled at her as well.

“Lady Truydd. Have you been well?”

“Thanks to you. It is a daunting honor—not just for myself, but for my daughter as well… We are in your immeasurable debt.”

Her gaze went back and forth between her daughter and Cledwyn. He replied with perfect politeness.

“It’s nothing. Your daughter more than deserves it.”

Since this was a public homecoming, they couldn’t chat in private for long. Cledwyn soon turned kindly to Nerys.

“Let’s go inside. It’s not much of a reward for waiting, but I brought you a gift. Let’s talk over dinner.”

At that, to exaggerate only a little, the entire White Swan Castle was dumbfounded.

The duke—having dinner with someone? Was he even human? Did he eat? Of course he did! But a gift?

Nerys realized people were surprised, but only thought it was because the duke was sharing his first meal after returning with such an unimpressive girl. She didn’t realize they were so shocked for another reason.

Wasn’t it only natural for an advisor to dine with her lord and discuss the future of the realm?

Nerys still didn’t know just how differently she thought from everyone else in this land.