“That’s right. You may have gone through one divorce, but in the end, you’re a woman who will marry and leave to be absorbed into another family. When that time comes, we’ll need another procedure to determine who should receive the count’s title.”

“Whether I’ll marry or not is unknown. Even so, couldn’t I just transfer it back to Uncle Content Planer when that time comes?”

But Sehera didn’t back down easily. Being a “divorced” “woman” bound her with even stronger shackles than at the banquet.

Ethan seemed to have decided not to get involved in this matter at all. She couldn’t find him anywhere in this noble council chamber.

Right, thinking about him sitting in the middle of this atmosphere made her stomach churn.

Sehera gathered herself and looked up.

“You lack the capacity to lead a family with nothing and manage a territory. If that can be proven, then we can do as you say.”

Sehera was so dumbfounded by the absurd statement that she lost her words. Instead, Fredil raised his hand from behind her. The chairman’s gaze turned to him, and he composed his stiffening face and spoke.

“Have you read the materials I submitted about Dirk’s growth over the past year and the testimonies from people actually residing in Planer territory?”

The chairman glanced down at the stack of papers in front of him.

“Yes. I read them.”

The chairman answered without any hesitation.

Fredil frowned sharply at the chairman’s response. Then he turned his eyes to look at Sehera’s small back.

It was admirable that she stood straight without trembling while hearing those words in this place.

The man he wished were here at a time like this was nowhere to be seen.

“Fine. Proof, you say.”

Contrary to his worry, Sehera’s voice remained steady to the end. Rather, those words just now were in quite a resolute voice.

Unlike the calm and gentle tone until now, the voice carrying a slightly sarcastic emotion made her seem like a different person.

The chairman’s gaze, which had been answering in an annoyed and cold manner, also changed slightly.

“That’s right. Proof. If it becomes proof that no one can refute, then we might accept that request.”

Fredil was on high alert from behind at that change.

The reactions of several nobles who seemed to think this wasn’t a big deal and were just filling seats also changed slightly.

They seemed to have only seen the image of a delicate young lady in her—small and fragile-looking, explaining gently in a calm voice.

Though he couldn’t see what kind of eyes she was making now, from the change in her voice, he could well imagine what kind of look she was giving them.

When she first came to request work from him, she seemed exhausted by something, but her eyes alone were vividly alive.

What made him able to say he fell for her at first sight… was exactly that.

She was different from the other noble ladies he’d met. She had different eyes from those ladies who only knew how to whine, were greedy, and busy adorning themselves.

Among them, there were some shrewd enough to become as wicked as adults when they wanted something, but she was on a different level from that type.

The nobles before her eyes were now seeing those eyes of hers.

Anyone who knew how to read people’s eyes would have felt a somewhat different current in her gaze.

“Fine. Since continuing to talk now will just repeat pointless words, I’ll withdraw. I understand well that what you’ve seen so far isn’t enough. Let’s end it here today. I’ll come back later… prepared.”

Sehera, who until just moments ago seemed like a young lady raised sheltered from the world, overwhelmed the audience with a chilling voice and tone laced with venom.

“Then… the conclusion from today’s session is that there will be no transfer of the count’s title… We’ll end it there. …That’s all.”

Sehera, who had been standing stiffly, flinched slightly, then bowed her head in greeting and turned around sharply. Perhaps her desire not to even greet them was expressed in that flinch.

Watching her stand there with a thoroughly hardened face, Fredil immediately rose from his seat. He just needed to go quickly and offer a comforting word. That would give her the strength to walk out again.

“Oh my. So triumphant, and now what?”

But Content reached her before Fredil did. The words this man who was supposed to be her uncle came to say were so laughable that Fredil couldn’t hold back anymore.

He’d always been coldly rational when it came to work. Because he never knew when the people gathered here might become his clients. To make money, he needed to receive requests from these high-ranking people.

But right now, he couldn’t control himself enough to consider such things.

But when he’d taken just a step or two, a chilling voice rang out from ahead.

“That doesn’t seem like something an uncle should say to his niece. At least pretend to worry in a place like this. How embarrassing.”

The council chamber wasn’t empty yet because the nobles were still getting up and leaving.

Content flinched at the cutting remark delivered in a voice with no warmth left in it.

Regardless of his reaction, Sehera continued in that cold voice.

“Just stay as you are now instead. Don’t go around making a fuss calling yourself Planer, but quietly, calmly, obediently keep that name. Without a single blemish. Because I’ll come back to take it.”

The power in Sehera’s eyes as she looked up at Count Content was tremendous. When Fredil approached and looked at her, he saw her face, which had completely blown away even the hesitation that might have lasted just a few seconds before him.

Content moved away from her quickly, unable to handle her expression that was completely different from what he knew.

“…Well then, shall we head back?”

Fredil naturally extended his hand to her and said so.

He had much to say. He wanted to comfort the back that had stood alone struggling for no short amount of time.

“Let’s go.”

Without even looking at Fredil who had approached her side, Sehera turned around sharply and came down from the platform. She left the council chamber with quick steps and hurried out of the palace, retracing the path they’d come.

Rabo stood outside the council chamber with perfect timing, like he hadn’t moved a single step from that spot. Though there were other nobles’ carriages in front and behind, he stood stubbornly in the middle, seemingly deaf to everything, waiting for her to come out.

“Really… you’re quite something too. You’ll get in trouble doing that. From now on, do things in moderation and even if you don’t want to, it’d be better to give them what they want.”

Just moments ago when pressing her immature uncle, she’d been cold like ice, but when dealing with her own people, she was truly an endlessly warm woman.

“…Please board.”

Rabo, who couldn’t possibly not understand her intention, quietly nodded and spoke.

Sehera boarded the carriage without looking back. When Fredil hurriedly followed and boarded the carriage after her, Rabo closed the door, and the carriage started moving without even waiting a few seconds.

Clop clop, rattle. Clop clop clop…

Silence spread inside the carriage. Soon, amid only the sound of hoofbeats and the carriage shaking, Fredil kept watching Sehera’s face.

“In the end, that person didn’t appear.”

He’d seem like a petty man for bringing it up, but… he couldn’t help it. When it came to that person, he would continue to be petty.

Sehera didn’t meet his eyes. This is why… he had no choice but to be petty. Fredil felt bitterness in his mouth.

“Right. He wasn’t there. It seems he chose not to take either side.”

If he’d been the first to encounter the nobles’ reaction to her, what would he have thought?

If he’d intended to forcibly take her away, appearing here might have been more advantageous. He could have coaxed her, asking if she’d continue with this kind of reaction from people.

But still, throwing him into such speculation felt… uncomfortable. He wasn’t that kind of person. But not getting involved on either side also wasn’t exactly… a fortunate thing.

It felt like he’d thrown her into that council chamber.

She shook her head vigorously.

“He’s not my guardian. Where he is in this situation doesn’t matter at all.”

Those words were more like a resolution. With those words, Sehera firmly closed her mouth again.

Her words were right too. Right now the two were practically divorced even if not on paper, which meant he shouldn’t remain as someone who influences such matters.

Sehera was pressing down that pain once more and trampling it to stand up. She was already struggling just with matters related to the count’s title…

“What will you do now?”

The proof they spoke of was laughable. She needed the count’s title to make Dirk into a larger merchant company. But they wouldn’t give it and told her to just build her abilities, making it difficult to find a method.

“What else? I have to do it.”

She’d execute the plan. The count’s title was to make everything easier, but it wasn’t absolute.

Besides, if the agricultural products that would actually be traded were good, that would be enough.

“I’ll meet the traders or merchants directly. We’re still in contact with them, right?”

Those had become risks that she’d temporarily postponed. She’d intended to meet them with the count’s title.

Now that was postponed indefinitely, but she had to explain more beautifully and elegantly so it wouldn’t affect the work.

“It’ll be difficult right now, but I’ll make inquiries and try to set up appointments.”

Sehera, who’d been answering with her gaze fixed outside the window, turned to look at him. Eyes full of things to say fixed on him.

Actually, the work Fredil needed to do was now finished. What she’d requested was up to this point. What came after was now for Sehera to fill in herself.

“This work… ends here now. Fredil, this is as far as you were commissioned.”