Lara had briefly suspected it herself.

Could Kartun possibly be considering her as the Grand Duchess? But she dismissed the idea as ridiculous. Yet now they were actually getting married.

So how must Daphne, the person directly involved, feel?

‘I expected her to scold me at least, if not cry and make a scene.’

Especially since she had complained about Kartun intercepting her notes.

On the other hand, Lara found it remarkable that Daphne could remain motionless in one position for so long. Even well-trained knights would struggle to do that.

She had surprisingly admirable skills.

‘She looks frail, but she definitely has inner strength.’

The more Lara observed her, the more fascinating she found this woman.

It was the same when she first received her mission from Kartun.

To monitor and protect her…

Lara had worried whether she could properly protect someone who seemed so delicate. She decided to prioritize protection over surveillance.

But Lara’s preconceptions were completely shattered within days of following her.

⁕⁕⁕

It happened when Daphne went into town. While Daphne was reading an article about Anaïs’s humiliation at a newspaper stand, three spies started following her.

Of course, for Lara, who regularly faced monsters, handling three attackers at once was no problem. After cleanly dealing with them, she returned to find Daphne still reading the newspaper.

‘She doesn’t even realize spies were following her. How carefree.’

Just as Lara was feeling somewhat contemptuous, Daphne opened her parasol and blended into the crowd.

‘Huh?’

The ladies’ parasols all looked identical, as if mass-produced.

For the first time since arriving in the Empire, Lara’s heart began racing as fast as when facing monsters.

Humans instinctively try to walk straight. Lara still had some composure and scanned the direction Daphne would likely take.

But she had vanished instantly. Lara frantically searched in zigzag patterns but still couldn’t find her.

After catching her breath briefly, she ran to “that” guild where Gabriel was.

But Daphne wasn’t there either. She only suffered at the hands of a thoroughly aged old man. Lara gave up her wrist to his sudden attack and countered by cutting his beard before barely escaping.

⁕⁕⁕

Her wrist still ached from the old man’s attack. After that, Lara never underestimated Daphne or the Empire again. She became especially vigilant around this small miss.

She had a strange way of making people tense.

‘She talks back to our Grand Duke so precisely and contradicts him at every turn…’

By rank, Daphne should be the one bowing her head. Yet what gave her such confidence?

As discontent rose in Lara’s heart, Daphne, having decided her approach, finally spoke.

“Lara?”

“Yes!”

After being quiet for so long, the sudden call made Lara respond loudly without thinking.

“If what you say is true, I’m even more disappointed.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Lara raised her defenses like a hedgehog.

“You said I’m important enough for His Highness to personally assign you as my guard.”

“…That’s right?”

Until this morning, she would have answered with complete confidence. But Daphne’s planted doubt had some effect, as Lara responded with an uncertain voice.

“Yet he notifies me about the most important event in my life unilaterally through Her Majesty the Emperor. And simultaneously with breaking off my engagement. Am I still an important person after receiving such a rude proposal?”

Lara’s face gradually flushed.

“His Highness makes judgments with meticulous consideration of various situations beyond what ordinary people can comprehend. And he has never been wrong.”

“Then what about intercepting my notes?”

“‘Intercepting’ isn’t quite… Anyway, in emergency situations, it’s a necessary tactic.”

“Do I look like a monster to you?”

Lara was left speechless.

“From your perspective, I must seem like a frivolous noblewoman. But I understand propriety too. It’s thanks to people like you risking your lives to guard the forest that we can live safely like this.”

Daphne slightly drooped the corners of her eyebrows.

“I heard His Highness is more upright than anyone and hates scheming behind people’s backs. Is that just a rumor? Or has he changed?”

According to Daphne, he really had changed.

If he truly wanted her as his Grand Duchess, shouldn’t he have formally proposed through proper channels? Of course, Daphne having a long-term fiancé might have made things awkward.

But the Kartun of the past would have asked Daphne directly. Whether she still had feelings for her former fiancé, how she felt about becoming Grand Duchess.

‘Our Grand Duke is far better than that cheating young duke, for sure!’

Lara nodded firmly.

He was the kind of person who would give the other party a choice and wait. And if Daphne accepted his proposal, he would trust her completely and do his best to be a good husband.

Lara would stake her life on Kartun being that kind of person.

If this were a year ago…

Lara let out a long sigh.

After that incident, Kartun seemed to have become a completely different person.

⁕⁕⁕

Because the grand duchy had been fighting monsters for generations, its customs differed greatly from the Empire’s. While imperial officials schemed and opposed the Emperor with various machinations, the grand duchy was the opposite.

People united solidly to fight monsters and considered sacrificing one’s life for their lord the greatest honor.

It wasn’t just because the grand ducal family was powerful. The people of the grand duchy valued knightly honor above all else, had lived that way for generations, and did their utmost to protect the land from monsters.

Kartun embodied all these virtues.

Like Grand Dukes before him, he left this land at age ten and returned at fifteen. Since then, he had never lost a battle against monsters and cherished his subordinates like his own life.

If you stopped anyone in the grand duchy and asked, ten out of ten would say they trusted and respected Kartun.

This was true for Lara as well.

She was born to a knight father and a mother who worked at the Grand Duke’s castle.

Her parents valued loyalty and devotion above all else and constantly told Lara she should be the same as they raised her.

“Our Lara is so lucky!”

When the new Grand Duke was enthroned, Lara’s parents were overjoyed.

It was Kartun Schwiers.

The first thing he did as Grand Duke was establish a law that the state would provide for the families of knights who died in service. This applied not only to knights but also to ordinary citizens of the domain.

That wasn’t all. Orphans were no exception.

He created a “village joint responsibility system” where if children not yet adults lost their parents, the entire village would raise them together. The Grand Duke personally provided certain funds for this purpose.

‘I know this well.’

The year Lara turned ten, her father died fighting monsters, and her mother passed away from illness. Afterward, Lara grew up receiving all these benefits without lacking anything.

Having experienced it firsthand, she knew it was genuine welfare, not just formality. That’s why the people of the grand duchy absolutely trusted and respected Kartun.

Another difference from the Empire was that women could become formal knights if they had the ability.

Lara became a knight’s page as soon as she was strong enough to lift a saddle. For seven full years after that, she did all sorts of chores while learning etiquette and training her physical strength whenever possible.

Then, with the recommendation of the knight she served, she became a squire.

Lara had special abilities. She had exceptionally good intuition, allowing her to detect monster ambushes from the slightest movements and easily overhear conversations from a distance.

Although she was far from becoming a formal knight, Lara increasingly stood out. It was almost certain she would be appointed as a formal knight after completing a certain period.

Still, she was merely the best among her peers, while the Grand Duke’s knights were filled with formidable seniors. In other words, Lara was just a kid who was better than the average among her contemporaries.

Then came that day.

Kartun entered the Forest of Sleeping Monsters alone and went missing. When she first heard the news, Lara laughed.

“Our Grand Duke? No way! He’s not missing, he just wants to be alone.”

Her peers all thought the same. Kartun was considered the most powerful among all Grand Dukes in history.

“Rather than worrying about His Highness, we should worry about any monsters that might wake up near him.”

When Lara made this joke, all her peers laughed heartily. Until then, no one was truly concerned.

But the atmosphere became ominous.

The knights headed into the forest day after day to find the Grand Duke, but they returned empty-handed each time.