Aaron just had the butler send a confirmation letter to the Marquis. It was the Marquis’s declaration confirming the transfer of governing rights to Tudra and the end of tax obligations.’

By stamping the Baron’s seal and returning it, he received all authority.

Conversely, Lucilia lost everything.

Her faith, her status, her honor.

Her situation was already pitiful, but now with her blood ties severed, she was completely alone.

‘Even when I considered acknowledging and cherishing her as my wife, remembering the King’s request forced me to push away my sympathy.’

The King said the Pope’s sins needed to be exposed more clearly. He said we must wait for the right time, as the kingdom’s citizens would only call for reform when ethical corruption was revealed rather than just financial misconduct.

The King designated Aaron as the one to control the entire situation. The intention was that Aaron needed to manage Lucilia, who had been cut off from the Marquis, to counter the Pope’s schemes.

“When the time comes, the situation will be resolved.”

It was an irresponsible statement, but all he could do for Lucilia now was keep his promise to protect her.

Knock knock.

“It’s Rombon.”

His subordinate’s voice broke through his thoughts.

Aaron loosened his cravat with his finger and told him to come in.

Rombon’s face was slightly flushed, having apparently rushed over. It seemed news had arrived from Demre.

“Did we hear from Kite?”

“As expected, Commander, your intuition has never been wrong.”

“Don’t you think your reaction is excessively careless?”

“How can you say that when I’m such a meticulous person? Calling me careless is nothing short of an insult.”

“Your breathing is rough. You ran at full speed to tell me quickly, didn’t you?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“It shows.”

Aaron gave him a sharp look, reproaching him for making him repeat himself, and Rombon scratched his reddish-brown beard.

“Anyway, I’ll report. We’ve confirmed that the guard captain dispatched to Demre has opened the border gate.”

Rombon handed over a small piece of paper. It contained information obtained by Kite, who was disguised as a farmer, mixed with code.

As Aaron read through it, deep furrows formed on his forehead.

“They deliberately arranged the defense forces loosely? In a border region…”

Aaron rubbed the paper slip between his index and middle fingers. This casual fidgeting paradoxically expressed Aaron’s discomfort.

After appearing to contemplate, Aaron quickly spoke.

“Tell him to determine as quickly as possible whether this was the defense captain’s sole action or if he had accomplices. As soon as we hear back, I’ll go on patrol myself and kill that rat.”

“And there’s one more thing… though I’m not sure if I should mention it.”

“Why are you reporting in such a hesitant manner?”

His superior’s gaze immediately turned cold.

Having shown dullness by trailing off, Rombon immediately straightened his back.

Though he often joked with Aaron, his body instinctively reacted knowing from experience what would happen if he truly crossed the line.

Remembering Aaron’s ruthlessness when he had inflicted bruises all over his body under the pretext of sword training, Rombon looked at his superior with renewed alertness.

He reported the news exactly as received, without adding or omitting anything.

“Rumors are spreading quickly, centered around Echorn.”

“Rumors?”

“Rumors that the kingdom has incurred God’s wrath because the false saint wasn’t executed, and that misfortune will befall the kingdom as a result.”

Aaron ran his fingers through his black hair with a sneer. His irritation was evident in the brief motion of pushing back his bangs.

“Even though the witch incident was concluded, the embers refuse to die out.”

Who else but the Pope would do such a thing?

His intention was clearly to instigate people by using the commotion at the unsettled border.

With a little thought, one could easily deduce that the Pope was the source of these malicious rumors.

Was the Pope that foolish?

No, the Pope had nothing to lose.

He must have discerned the King’s intentions and schemed accordingly, knowing that the King was gathering forces out of wariness toward the Pope’s power.

Marquis Teneri, who sided with the King, and Baron Artnal, who had the King’s complete trust—the Pope would have concluded they were all in league together.

Unable to rashly oppose the King, and finding it awkward to target the Marquis who had publicly severed ties with the witch through excommunication, he seemed to have planned to first aim at the more vulnerable Aaron to destroy the cornerstone.

The plan seemed to be to first turn the baronial estate protecting Lucilia into a wasteland, then gradually inflate the rumors.

‘Let him try to destroy me.’

‘After all I’ve done to reach this position, did he think I would squander the opportunity to govern Tudra freely?’

‘I will not take my loyalty to my lord lightly either.’

He brought Lucilia here as if taking in one pitiful woman.

It’s amusing that she has become a central figure, but what can Aaron do? Following in the Marquis’s footsteps feels somewhat unsettling.

The easiest way to save Tudra and the family would be to banish Lucilia.

The Marquis would intimidate him to return Tudra’s governance, but since he had already excommunicated Lucilia, he needn’t worry.

But that would be too…

“Barbaric.”

“Exactly! How dare they freely spread talk of misfortune and such… Let’s go to Echorn while on patrol and sweep them all away.”

“Are you trying to provoke me? To suppress them with force?”

“Come on… why do you have to take my words so extremely?”

‘Look who’s being extreme.’

Aaron’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Sensing danger, Rombon smiled cautiously and spoke slowly.

“I just said it out of frustration. Honestly, aren’t you upset too, Commander? Though I haven’t known the madam for long, I can tell she’s not an evil person.”

Ignoring him completely, Aaron maintained a consistently calm demeanor that made his emotions difficult to read as he commanded:

“Make sure the news about executing the guard captain doesn’t leak out.”

“…Understood.”

As the conversation about Lucilia was abruptly cut off, Rombon answered glumly and twitched his lips.

Since they’re already married, couldn’t he be a little more affectionate?

He’s so rigid.

‘The man lacks flexibility, flexibility!’

It pained him to see a husband treat his wife so coldly.

Rombon wanted to help the lady of the house within his capacity.

Regardless of others’ criticism, she was a good and beautiful person from any perspective.

The very act of being hostile toward such a person brought feelings of guilt.

Having decided to be her ally, however slightly, Rombon raised his spirits. Burning with a sense of justice, he stepped forward into matters beyond his duties.

“Commander.”

“What.”

“About these rumors. They’re so vicious that they spread in all directions, crossing rivers and mountains in an instant. Since malicious rumors might spread within our territory too, I’ll strictly control—”

“There’s no need to control anything, so leave it be.”

“Why…?”

Though he couldn’t raise his voice to protest how such a thing could be allowed, he could express his dissatisfaction through his eyes.

Rombon widened his eyes to show his disapproval of Aaron’s decision. Though the commander might challenge him to another sword duel for his insolence, he was prepared to defend himself well this time.

But the commander was one step ahead of him.

His voice was quite stern as he enunciated each word as if reprimanding foolishness.

“If someone is deliberately spreading rumors with a purpose, we should quietly observe and then identify the culprit.”

“Oh… that’s true? I hadn’t thought that far. Now I see that the truly meticulous person is you, Commander, not me.”

Completely forgetting his earlier assessment that Aaron was rigid and inflexible, he gave a thumbs up.

Then he made a gesture of locking his lips, promising to be careful not to let anything leak out.

“Anything else to report?”

“No, sir.”

When Aaron waved his hand dismissing him, Rombon placed his right fist against his chest in salute, his face showing unwavering loyalty.

That night, Aaron found himself caught in an unexpected battle of wits.

“I might as well tell you now that I’ve been constantly cold sleeping in the bed.”

Lucilia’s comment about being cold had led him to order more firewood for the fireplace, which was the source of the problem.

Aaron, who was accustomed to cold and rarely used firewood, was dying to throw off all his upper garments.

Rather than being hot, this was nothing short of t*rture by fire.

Meanwhile, Lucilia was deeply moved by Aaron’s consideration and kept expressing her gratitude.

“Thanks to you, I can sleep warmly tonight. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”

This was already the fifth time she had thanked him.

During this time, she noticed something was off about Aaron’s condition and became restless.

She scurried over to Aaron, who was sitting on the sofa, and leaned forward.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“I’m not sick.”

“Are you running a fever?”