Five days later, we arrived at the border of the Duchy of Balthazar.

We had traveled by carriage, but the journey took longer than expected since we stopped at inns along the way to rest.
Still, thanks to moving at a comfortable pace, my physical condition was good.

“I never thought I’d live to see something like this.”

We had just passed through a great forest when a swaying bridge before a steep cliff came into view.
Shasha, who had been sitting across from me, clicked her tongue as she looked out the carriage window.

“For someone who dislikes moving, what a surprise to see him come all the way to the border.”

Wondering what she meant, I followed her gaze.

The Duke was standing there.

“Probably,” Shasha said, turning from the window to look at me.

“It must be because of you, my lady.”

After saying that, she leaned her head against the carriage wall and closed her eyes.

“Judging by the look of things, His Grace will try to escort you personally to the castle. Refuse if he does.
Reckless is extremely swift — even trained knights get motion sickness.”

“Reckless?”

“The horse you see over there. The Duke’s most cherished steed.”

Where Shasha pointed, there stood a glossy brown horse.

Soon the carriage stopped at the border, and the door opened.
Perhaps because the wind was rather chilly, my cheeks stung.

“Welcome to becoming a citizen of the Duchy, Lady Agatha.”

Before I even stepped down, the Duke inclined his head lightly in greeting.

“You must be weary after the long journey.”

He then extended his hand to help me descend from the carriage.

Under the midday light, the Duke’s face was as beautiful as a divine beast from myth, just as always.

“Thanks to Shasha, the trip was comfortable.”

I stopped admiring his appearance and smiled instead.
The Duke glanced briefly behind me before turning back with a faint smile.

“That is a relief. Then from here on—”

“No. I’ll continue by carriage.”

I hurriedly cut him off and pointed behind me at the carriage.

“…Pardon?”

The Duke paused mid-escort.

“Traveling by horse would be faster.”

Just as Shasha had said earlier, the Duke suggested I ride his horse with him.
If we reached the castle quickly, I would have more time to rest.

But I had a feeling Shasha hadn’t warned me for no reason.
It must have been advice born from experience.

“I only stepped out of the carriage because Your Grace came all the way to the border to receive me. As your subordinate, it would have been improper not to.”

I phrased it gently, but what I meant was: you made us stop midway for your sake.

“And I’ve never ridden a horse before.”

I didn’t forget to smile softly, worried I might offend him.

“I was inconsiderate. My apologies.”

Fortunately, he did not seem displeased.

“Then I will wait at the castle.”

Instead, he replied lightly and mounted his horse again.

“Please take your time.”

With an awkward smile and a brief farewell, he rode off first. The knights followed behind him.

“My, they call it a famous steed for a reason. It’s unbelievably fast.”

Even though the knights rode after him, the distance between them widened tremendously in mere moments.

If I had ridden that, I might have gotten motion sickness and vomited before even reaching the castle.

“Hoo—!”

Just as I was thinking I had done well to refuse, the coachman and Shasha behind me let out deep sighs at the same time.
The sound was loud, as though they had been holding their breath the whole time.

“I thought today was going to be my last day. The way his eyes were blazing… I truly thought I was done for.”

The coachman took off his hat and fanned himself.
Judging by how pale his face had become, he must have been quite startled — though I wasn’t sure why.

“My lady, you felt it too, didn’t you?”

“Hm? Felt what?”

“The fire coming out of his eyes, I mean. I thought I was about to be roasted alive.”

“Isn’t that just your imagination? As always, he only looked handsome.”

I had merely tossed out a joke to lighten the slightly heavy mood.

“Oh no, not at all. He looked like he was about to chew someone up— no, no, that’s not it. Anyway, it definitely wasn’t nothing.”

The coachman waved his hands in alarm.

“I’ve never seen my lord make that kind of expression before.”

Beside him, Shasha nodded as if she agreed.

“Didn’t he just smile and leave?”

“My lord has never experienced being refused in his life. So it may have been confusion… but it could also have been displeasure, which worries me.”

I replayed the moment in my mind, yet all the Duke had done was say he understood.

When had such a change appeared?

I had no way of knowing.

“Are you two mistaken?”

When I tilted my head, the coachman and Shasha both sighed.

“To others it may look like just a smile, but it isn’t. Even a single smile can carry hundreds of meanings depending on the situation.”

Hundreds?

My mouth fell open without me realizing it.
Rather than the Duke expressing all that with one expression, what impressed me more was that they could interpret every one of them.

“We didn’t want to learn either.”

Shasha smiled lightly as if it were nothing, yet for some reason she seemed to be forcing calmness.

“Y-you don’t think… he’ll summon me separately and punish me, right?”

In the meantime, the coachman grew frightened again and began biting his thumbnail.

“I’m scared to go back to the castle!”

Soon he collapsed onto the ground, trembling.

Maybe it was because it seemed trivial to me, but he felt overly dramatic.

“His Grace may have scolded you with his eyes, but it won’t go that far. Don’t worry.”

Shasha patted the trembling coachman’s shoulder to reassure him.

Watching silently, I ended up laughing without realizing it.
The Duke was infamous as a butcher, yet he was misunderstood over the strangest things.

“Come now, let’s head to the castle. At this rate, the sun will set.”

If this continued, the coachman’s anxiety would only grow, so I pushed him gently toward the carriage.
After that, we rode for forty minutes before finally entering the Duchy of Balthazar.

“So everyone here lives inside the castle walls.”

Within the tall and magnificent fortress walls of the duchy lay the citizens’ residences —
the plaza, market, housing districts, religious facilities, even the nobles’ mansions.

In the Empire, all residential areas were outside the walls, so it felt strange seeing everything contained within them.
It seemed the outer borders of the duchy had been encircled entirely by fortifications, creating this spectacle.

Now then, where was the Duke’s castle?

After looking around for a while, my gaze stopped on a steep mountainside, where I finally spotted a solitary castle.
Even from afar, its gates looked enormous.

And there—

“Shasha, someone is standing in front of the castle.”

“…Pardon?”

At my words, Shasha peered outside in surprise.

“My lord has been behaving quite strangely lately.”

She clicked her tongue as if exasperated.

“Indeed. He said he’d wait at the castle, so I thought he meant the audience chamber — yet he came out to meet us.”

“I never imagined I’d live to see our lord act like this. Ever since he asked you to come to the Empire, I felt something was off…”

Shasha was about to say something more, then let out a small laugh.

“I’ll take responsibility for the paperwork and finish it quickly so you can return and rest comfortably.”

“Mm, thank you.”

While the light conversation continued, the carriage soon arrived in front of the castle.
The moment it stopped, I stepped down.

Once again, the Duke hurried over and extended his hand to help me — but I was faster getting out.

“Please come inside. I’ve had tea prepared.”

The Duke awkwardly hid the hand he had offered behind his back and smiled sheepishly.
For some reason, he looked rather cute.

“Yes.”

I nodded and followed behind him.

At first he walked ahead of me, but before long he shortened his stride to match my pace.

Hmm. There’s really no need for that.

Thinking so, I looked around the castle interior.

The castle where Duke Balthazar resided felt clean and orderly, without any particular extravagance.
It was completely different from the Imperial Palace I had seen at a banquet in my childhood.

That palace had glittered everywhere — it made me think rulers decorated everything in gold just to show off.

Even the most common ornaments were absent from the Duke’s castle, making it feel almost austere.