“The only one who can order me around is Sir Brahms.”

When he appeared, the expressions of the other knights visibly brightened.

As members of the Imperial Knight Order, they could see his skills up close and knew how much strength his joining would add.

“Stay here.”

“Don’t worry. I’m a smart aide.”

Elena assured him that she wouldn’t go out and put herself in danger unnecessarily, saying he didn’t need to worry about her.

Elena deliberately closed the door and remained completely still inside the carriage so that others wouldn’t worry. Then the battle resumed, centered around Rudfelix and Sir Brahms.

“There are too many.”

It was beyond just watching like before. Elena was thinking with her chin propped up, then slightly opened the window on the opposite side.

“I won’t go outside the carriage.”

She reached her hand out the window and attached a paper to a tree.

When Elena rubbed the paper against the tree, the trunk wriggled and then came alive, stretching out long.

“So this is how Fatie’s practice paper is used.”

The paper she had received from a researcher sponsored by the trading company made the tree come alive. The trunk moved and wrapped around a bearwolf, lifting it into the air.

“It’s strong.”

Elena slightly opened the window.

Although Rudfelix would hate her looking out the window, it couldn’t be helped.

For the branches extending from the tree to catch only the wolves, she needed to see and judge directly.

“They say even Fatie can’t use it well yet.”

It wasn’t commercialized because it wasn’t safe, but whether by coincidence or not, Elena, with stronger mental power than Fatie, could control it to some extent.

“I can’t just catch them randomly.”

Since she had already opened the window slightly to control it, Elena dropped a pouch containing dandelions directly onto the ground.

As the pouch fluttered in the wind and touched the ground, its opening released dandelion seeds that floated in the air. Then they planted themselves firmly in the ground around the carriage.

The moment the dandelion seeds embedded themselves in the ground, the solid earth became mushy and trapped the bearwolves’ feet.

In this magical-like reality, Rudfelix and Brahms calmly dealt with the bearwolves. After the last remaining bearwolf leader disappeared, Rudfelix lowered his sword and looked back at the carriage.

Elena, who was watching with her chin propped on the window, smiled and waved her hand gently when their eyes met.

“That was a mistake. I clearly told it to catch only beasts, but something’s strange.”

Four knights were dangling and flailing their arms.

“An unpredictable opponent indeed.”

Rudfelix’s quiet mutter reached only Sir Brahms before dissipating.

* * *

“A soft bed, soup, even warm water would be nice.”

After encountering the bearwolves, there was no threat of death, but as Rudfelix had warned, basic needs were threatened.

They couldn’t sleep properly, eat warm food, or even have a chance to stop somewhere and rest.

For Rudfelix as well, traveling by carriage on a journey that would have been much faster otherwise became an occasion to feel maximum discomfort.

“Even if Your Highness tries to stop me, I’m going to pave the road here. I’ll install a warp.”

Elena leaned roughly against the wall with her noticeably drooping body and muttered weakly.

Rudfelix was about to lower the curtain after confirming the very small mansion in sight, but then raised it again. His eyes narrowed, and Sir Brahms, who had spotted him, drove his horse to the side of the carriage.

Naturally, Sir Philai took the lead, filling the squad leader’s empty position, showing that the relationship between the knights had changed after the bearwolf incident.

“What is this?”

At Rudfelix’s simple question about the people gathered in front of the mansion, Sir Brahms tilted his head. He had been to the Grand Duchy quite a few times, but there had never been so many people gathered at the main gate like this.

It was too crowded, as if every person in the mansion had come out, to be just waiting for the Grand Duke.

“It seems that the mansion’s employees and the former Grand Duke, Your Highness’s parents, are waiting for Your Highness.”

At this obvious answer, Rudfelix pressed his temple.

It was suspicious because his parents had never come out to the main gate to wait for him before.

“Quiet.”

Rudfelix mentioned the name of the most likely candidate who could have created this situation. It was clear that Jace, who handled information, would have made separate contact, but Quiet, as a senior who liked Aide Elena, wouldn’t have provided objective information.

“What’s happening?”

Elena raised her upper body by putting strength in her waist and looked outside through the opened curtains.

“Are these the Your Highness’s people?”

They came out to welcome us.

That was all the reaction she could manage. Since she didn’t think they had come to see her instead of Rudfelix, she just assumed this was normal.

“They are my people, but they didn’t come out to welcome me.”

Rudfelix covered his forehead at the unusual behavior of others. He was exasperated, thinking about how curious they must be about Elena to wait like that.

“Then did they come to see me?”

At those playfully delivered words, Rudfelix nodded slightly with a serious face.

“They must be curious about me.”

Elena took it positively.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“They must have heard about me.”

Again, Elena wasn’t greatly affected.

“I do work well, after all.”

She thought they might have come out wanting to see the new aide who was smart and good at her job.

“It would be better for you to respond moderately and stay close to me.”

Rudfelix offered sincere advice.

If his parents were ordinary nobles, Elena would respond well, but with her brazen personality, she would surely be taken aback.

“I’ll be fine.”

Elena said with a bright smile that she would quickly exchange greetings with Rudfelix’s parents. It was a frustrating response made without understanding his concerns at all.

“That’s not it.”

Rudfelix pressed his throbbing temple again.

As the wheels of the carriage slowed down, the people now clearly getting closer came into view.

Employees with baskets at their sides quickly took positions where the carriage would stop.

When the carriage stopped and the door opened, Elena stood up to get out but was blocked by Rudfelix’s arm.

“Your Highness?”

Are you going to get out first again?

She hated the idea of being perceived as an aide who always got out after her superior. However, Rudfelix shook his head slightly.

He tried to hide a sigh at the identity of the red something that appeared as soon as the carriage stopped.

“Wait for now.”

He prevented Elena from getting out and went down first.

Left awkwardly standing in the carriage, Elena stared at the mercilessly closed door. Worried that she might have to stay in the carriage for a few more hours, she kept glancing out the window.

“That’s……”

Small pieces of colored paper and glitter flew through the air as a welcome for Rudfelix.

As soon as she saw it, she covered her mouth to prevent her laughter from escaping the carriage.

“They must love Your Highness.”

That must be why they’re welcoming him so enthusiastically and showing such affection.

In the middle, Elena could see a middle-aged couple waiting for Rudfelix. Seeing them holding hands affectionately as they welcomed their son reminded her of her father who remained in the capital.

They hadn’t met often because they were both busy with work, and now she truly felt that she had left her father behind to come to another region.

“Father, really.”

I wish he would forget Mother and find a new love. Her smile faded involuntarily as she felt concerned about him.

Elena returned to her seat and plopped down. Though it was only a brief separation, she already missed her father.

As she thought about her father until the door opened, the murmuring sounds outside grew louder.

“Did something suddenly happen?”

Just as she was thinking about opening the curtain to look outside, the door swung wide open. Then came Rudfelix’s reluctant voice.

“……You can get out now.”

It seemed like she would have to stay in the carriage indefinitely if not now. So Elena didn’t refuse his outstretched hand and immediately took it.

“Thank you.”

As she got out of the carriage with his support, she stepped not onto the ground but onto something soft.

‘A carpet?’

As she lowered her head to check the floor, confetti flew around her head accompanied by the sound of beating drums.

“Welcome!”

The glitter interspersed between the confetti pieces reflected the sunlight, dazzling her eyes.

A red carpet was laid on the ground, and people lined up on both sides grandly welcomed her. Though bewildered, she moved forward.

When she stopped about two steps away from the middle-aged couple waiting at the end of the path, the boisterous sounds abruptly ceased.

Elena bowed her head respectfully in greeting.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Elena Jellisto.”

Kraicher, the former Grand Duke, nodded slightly and turned to his wife.

“So this is what the child of the Jellisto family looks like.”

“Indeed. Welcome.”

Lady Schmie, the former Grand Duchess, gripped her shawl more tightly as she looked at Elena’s face from different angles.

Her gaze was so kind that Elena covered her lips with the back of her hand in embarrassment, then lowered it.