However, the noble vassals of Severes were not so easily swayed.

“Even if Elodie Perdia is truly the Master’s biological daughter, we will not acknowledge her as a member of Severes. That is our consistent stance.”

“She is my only child.”

“You are still young.”

That statement was essentially telling him to have another heir even now.

Richard wearily rubbed his face with one hand.

He thought it wouldn’t be easy to gain their acceptance, but he didn’t expect them to be this stubborn.

He had thought their attitude would change once they knew she was his biological daughter, but that was too naive.

Richard asked in a somewhat tired voice.

“So, are you telling me to cast out my own daughter who possesses the power of Severes?”

“Even if she’s your daughter, since you didn’t marry, isn’t she ultimately an illegitimate child? It’s only natural.”

“……”

Illegitimate child.

Richard had roughly understood how Elodie had lived through his investigations.

It was written that Elodie had endured a difficult childhood in Perdia due to being an illegitimate child.

He couldn’t let his child go through the same pain again.

“Elodie Severes is my daughter and the only heir to Severes. I will not accept any objections. I will not seek your consent either.”

“Master!”

“Do not bring up this matter again.”

“……”

The vassals closed their mouths at Richard’s fierce gaze.

They remembered the person who had just fainted and been carried away. They couldn’t end up like that.

Richard ignored the still-defiant gazes of the vassals and announced the start of the family meeting.

“Then, let’s begin the meeting.”

***

[That’s what they said.]

“I see. Good job.”

I gave my share of dessert to Greed, who had excellently performed the role of a spy. Greed wagged its tail vigorously and buried its nose in the plate.

Seemingly envious, Sloth knocked over Greed’s bowl.

[Hey! Do you want to die?]

[No……]

[Go sleep in a corner or something, why are you spilling someone else’s snack?]

[……Play. Play. Play.]

[Ugh! I said go away!]

Greed pushed away the pestering Sloth with its front paws, expressing great annoyance.

The combination of a baby fox and a baby donkey rolling around and playing together was quite strange.

[Play, play.]

[I said no!]

“You two get along so well.”

I calmly organized my thoughts with the sound of the two sins’ quarrel as background music.

The content of the Severes family meeting I heard through Greed was roughly this:

First, the vassals of Severes do not accept me as a member of Severes. They even said that since I was born without marriage, I’m ultimately an illegitimate child.

‘Even if my real Dad wakes up, I’m still an illegitimate child in the end.’

That word ‘illegitimate child’ was a label that always followed me to the point of tedium, so I didn’t really feel much about it. Of course, I can’t say it doesn’t affect me at all.

Second, Dad firmly dismissed the vassals’ opposition and proceeded with the family meeting.

But even if Dad pushed through his opinion, it doesn’t mean the vassals fully agreed, so my problem couldn’t be considered resolved.

I never expected the hostile vassals to accept me in the first place, so I’m not disappointed.

And lastly.

Currently, Severes is experiencing a shortage of magic stones.

‘There was an incident related to magic stone mines in Perdia too. That incident where Duke Angellus tried to take over Perdia’s military business.’

Coincidentally, it was about magic stones again.

However, the current magic stone shortage in Severes was not unrelated to what I had done back then.

As one of the four great families, the Severes Duchy owned an enormous amount of land and mines. Of course, there were magic stone mines among them.

But due to the Master’s absence, they locked up the mansion and surrounded the entire Severes estate with a barrier.

For 20 years like that.

A massive amount of magic stones was consumed every year to maintain the barrier, and eventually, all the magic stones from the family-owned mines were depleted.

When they realized this and tried to purchase magic stone mines, the market situation had already changed.

Because all the magic stone mines in the Bruman area had been bought up by one family.

‘Of all families, the one that owns most of the magic stone mines is none other than Perdia.’

I was the one who had engineered that situation.

If it were any other family it might have been different, but since it’s Perdia, the most hostile to Severes, it seemed they were in an even more difficult situation.

“Hmm.”

I rested my chin on my hand and grinned.

It seemed I might be able to break the high and mighty attitude of the Severes vassals.

***

The carriage I was in arrived in front of the Earth Hawk Mercenaries’ Somnia branch.

I immediately glanced up at the knight following behind me and made a request.

“Could you please wait outside the building?”

“That’s not possible. His Grace instructed us not to leave your side even for a moment.”

“Please cooperate for the sake of safety.”

Even the knights of Severes were so… Severes-like.

There’s not even a bit of flexibility, is there?

But if I brought in a stranger, Raeyan would be uncomfortable, so I wanted to go in alone if possible.

Moreover, no matter how much they were bodyguards assigned by Dad, I couldn’t fully trust the Severes knights.

They might have been instructed by the vassals to keep an eye on me.

“I’m just going to talk to the captain here for a moment.”

“His Grace told us not to take our eyes off you.”

“Like father, like knight……”

It’s not like I’m going somewhere else, I’m just entering and exiting a mercenary building, is this something to oppose so strongly!

Just as I was about to resign myself to being accompanied by the knights, at that moment.

“Wow, who do we have here? It’s the femme fatale, Miss Lili!”

Urania came running towards me, jumping up and down. As always, Stephen and Milo were behind her.

Happy to see the trio after a long time, I greeted them with a smile.

“It’s been a while. Have you all been well?”

“Of course!”

“Actually, I didn’t even realize it had been a long time. Your face is in the newspaper every time I open one, Miss Lili.”

Urania and Stephen answered in turn.

“……Yes.”

Milo’s answer was brief as usual. He looked like he was tired of everything and just wanted to sleep.

Urania, who was holding my hand and shaking it up and down, asked.

“Miss Lili. Are you here to see the captain?”

“Yes. He said he had time today.”

“Our captain must be waiting, so hurry up and go see him.”

As Urania was urging me to go in quickly, her gaze fell on the two Severes knights guarding behind me.

“Miss Lili. I haven’t seen these guards before. Who are they?”

“Ah, they’re knights from the Severes family.”

“I see.”

Urania started to look the two up and down. Then Stephen, who was standing next to her, took a step forward.

“I was bored, but this is perfect. Knights of Severes? Want to spar with us?”

The knights flatly refused Stephen’s sparring offer, of course.

“We cannot do that.”

“Don’t be so uptight. It’s not often you get a chance to spar with mercenaries, right?”

“We decline.”

“We refuse.”

“……”

Faced with Stephen’s persistence, the two knights just maintained silence. It seemed they were trying to ignore him.

That’s when Urania provoked the two with a bright smile.

“What? So Severes isn’t all that? You’re scared of mere mercenaries?”

“……”

Even Milo, who had been quiet all along, chimed in.

“……I don’t spar with cowards.”

Though they maintained expressionless faces, you could see cracks forming in the Severes knights’ pride.

Taking advantage of this opening, Stephen put his arms around the two men’s shoulders.

“What, you want to spar?”

“We’re on duty.”

“If you want to spar that badly, we can oblige. Let’s go!”

Stephen winked and nodded towards the building.

I quickly entered the mercenary building, taking advantage of the trio holding the knights back.

“Young lady!”

“No, no. The training ground is over there!”

“We’re on duty right now…!”

“It’s been so long since we had a good spar. I’m excited!”

I turned back and saw the Severes knights being dragged away by Urania’s superhuman strength.

Making two grown men struggle like that, Urania is something else.

As I entered the mercenary building and climbed the stairs toward the captain’s office, naturally, no one stopped me.

As if my face was an entry pass, everyone just bowed slightly when they saw me.

Perhaps because I visited often, this place felt like a second home now.

When I arrived in front of the captain’s office and was about to open the door, it swung open before I could touch it.

“Raeyan?”

“Was there some commotion downstairs?”

“Ah, the knights who came with me today were insisting on coming in, but the trio took care of them.”

“For once, those guys did something useful.”

“Don’t say that. They’re quite reliable, you know.”

Chatting casually with Raeyan, I naturally entered the captain’s office and sat on the reception sofa.

He also took his seat across from me as a matter of course.

It had been a long time since I met Raeyan in person, not through a magical communication device.

It wasn’t so much that I was busy, but recently it had been difficult to meet because Raeyan couldn’t make time.

Rather than asking about my well-being, Raeyan got straight to the point.

“Here are the documents you requested. Please check if anything is missing.”

Since I had entrusted the management of Lili Arcelia’s identity to the mercenary group, I had to go through Mario to check my personal assets.

I flipped through the papers and then closed them again.

“No problem. Thanks for taking care of this, I know you’re busy.”

“I only did what was expected.”

Raeyan replied with his usual stoic face.

‘Huh?’

I stared intently at that handsome face. We ended up in an impromptu staring contest.

Raeyan was the first to avert his eyes.

“Raeyan.”

“Yes.”

“Are you sleeping well? When was your last meal?”

Looking closely, I could tell. Raeyan’s complexion wasn’t good, like someone who hadn’t rested properly for a long time.

Contrary to my concern, Raeyan answered plainly.

“You know.”

I frowned.

“Just because you have an immortal body doesn’t mean you don’t get tired. You need to eat well and rest well. I’m worried about you.”

“……Are you worried?”

“Of course I am.”

Sometimes Raeyan seemed to overexert himself, perhaps overly relying on the immortality he supposedly gained through a deal with sin.

Still, it wasn’t usually this noticeable. Could something be bothering him so much that he couldn’t even rest?

My reflection was captured in Raeyan’s red eyes.

“I’ll be away for a while due to some business. I might be hard to reach.”

“Huh? But our communication devices are special magical tools, aren’t they?”

The devices Raeyan and I had were specially made by Archmage Isis, and capable of long-distance communication.

“It’s not a matter of distance. I’ve told Mario, so feel free to use him as you wish while I’m away. If you need mercenary manpower, you can requisition it. I’ve exempted Urania, Stephen, and Milo from missions for the time being.”

To think he’s allowing me to use four of the mercenary group’s core members.

‘Just how long is he planning to be away?’

It seemed that something was definitely up with Raeyan.

“You’re not going to tell me what it’s about?”

“……I’ll tell you when it’s over.”

Raeyan and I were the only ones who knew each other’s past and secrets.

So it’s natural to feel a bit hurt that he’s not telling me right away, right?

But since he said he’d tell me when it was over, I decided not to press further.

“I hope it gets resolved well.”

“Yes.”

“If there’s anything I can help with, just say the word.”

I thought he would refuse as usual, saying “It’s fine,” but he didn’t.

“There is one thing.”

“What is it?”

It’s not often that Raeyan readily asks me for help, so I was even somewhat happy.

I waited for Raeyan’s request with a slightly excited feeling.

Soon, Raeyan’s red lips parted.

“When I return, just hug me without saying anything.”

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