TROWFT 02

Chapter 02

‘The sole heir of the greatest ducal house in the Hailen Empire.’

I thought my dirt-road life was finally paving a flower path, but it turned out to be a mudslide.

The Berwen Ducal House, which has produced the most Swordmasters in history!

…I never dreamed that was the result of Spartan-style early education.

“Your Grace!”

My mind, which had been growing hazy with drowsiness, snapped back.

The vassals seated at the long table all looked at me at once.

“This cannot be! You say you will freeze the tax rate again this time?”

I released my chin, which I had been propping up as if deep in thought. Naturally, as if I had never been sleepy, I opened my mouth.

A dignified Duke never dozes off during a meeting. Hah, of course not.

“Why not?”

“The finances are very unstable.”

Yes, the finances are unstable. *Your* household finances.

“So the domain’s finances are very unstable…”

Who are you trying to fleece?

“As far as I know, even though the tax rate was frozen for three years, tax revenue increased?”

“That’s only temporary…”

“No, it’s not. By imposing a fixed tax rate regardless of good or bad harvests, the residents cultivated more reclaimed land to secure surplus.”

“……”

“Furthermore, commerce and industry flourished, increasing tax revenue from that sector. Do I need to say more?”

I threw the documents onto the table as if I didn’t want to hear any more.

They think they can ignore me because I’m young, but counting my past life, I’m their equal. Got that?

“What is the next item on the agenda?”

“The matter concerning Viscount Yantoni.”

Viscount Yantoni, huh.

I touched the paper with dissatisfaction.

“We have yet to decide on the viscount’s successor. We’ve been searching through the collateral branches to find an heir, but we haven’t found a suitable one.”

“The viscount has seven daughters, doesn’t he?”

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

“Your Grace. How can you say such a thing… Under imperial law, a woman cannot inherit the family’s status and property.”

“…It was a jest.”

Why wouldn’t I know that law?

I’m wearing men’s clothes right now because of that damned law.

Unaware of my twisted feelings, the vassals chuckled.

“Your Grace certainly has a sense of humor. You surprised us.”

“Haha. Indeed. How could a woman possibly inherit a family?”

“Right. Heh heh. If a woman inherited a family, that house would be ruined within three days.”

That ‘woman’ happens to be your liege lord.

I swallowed the words rising to my throat.

If this fact were revealed, no matter how much I am a Duke, I wouldn’t be able to avoid punishment.

“If no collateral heir is found, what happens to those daughters?”

“They won’t inherit the title, so they’ll have to drop the family name.”

“They will become fallen nobles.”

“Viscount Guillon. Doesn’t your son fancy the second daughter of that house? Now’s your chance!”

*BANG!*

Unable to listen any longer, I slammed my hand on the table.

“Is this some kind of back-alley tavern?!”

At my angry voice, men decades older than me flinched.

“Disgraceful.”

Now was the perfect time to leave.

My patience was already long gone, so I stood up, making my displeasure clear.

It’s not like I purposely did that to end the meeting early. Really!

“I will personally handle the disposition regarding this matter, so you lot need not concern yourselves. Dismissed.”

I exited the meeting hall, accompanied by a knight.

Even after the heavy door closed with a thud, I remained standing.

“As expected of someone on the verge of becoming a Swordmaster, your presence is truly formidable.”

“Yes. The Imperial Court will be astonished when they see our grown Duke.”

“Why do you say such things to put me in a difficult spot!”

“Viscount Guillon! I’m hurt. I only said that thinking of you!”

I listened to the vassals starting to bicker among themselves and relaxed my ears.

Hoo. It’s a good thing I have memories of my past life. If I didn’t, House Berwen would have fallen apart by now. Probably.

“Sir, relay the viscount’s family’s story to your aunt. She will gladly become the guardian of those seven daughters.”

I patted the shoulder of the knight beside me.

“I’ll advance you three months’ salary. That should be enough to cover the wedding expenses.”

“…Thank you.”

The knight knelt on one knee, deeply moved.

Because he was the lover of the second daughter, Cavy, who had become the subject of jokes in that room.

“I will serve my lord with my life!”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

It’s pitiful, but such things happen far too often in this world.

If I paid attention to every single one, the ducal house would have collapsed long ago.

This time, it was possible because practicality and principle aligned.

“Anyway, I hear there’s a visitor.”

“Yes. A person wearing a suspicious robe, introducing himself as a merchant.”

“I see.”

Ah. A dark mage.

To hide my increasingly feminine features as I age, I need the help of dark magic.

Fortunately, meeting the dark mage is an annual event, held just once a year.

“Show him to my chambers.”

“…Yes.”

Unlike his vow of loyalty just moments ago, the knight hesitated in his reply.

It was obvious without even looking.

Judging by his forced answer, it must be due to the suspicious appearance of the so-called merchant.

“It’s been a while, Your Grace.”

After I went up to my room and waited for a while, the door opened and the dark mage greeted me.

His attire, covered in a black robe, was highly suspicious. No wonder the knight reacted that way.

“Yes. It’s been a while.”

Should I gift him a brighter robe this time?

With such trivial thoughts, I extended my wrist to the dark mage.

“Do you know, Your Grace?”

The dark mage approached like a ghost and grabbed my wrist.

Before I could startle at the cold touch, black smoke rose from his hand.

“I happened to hear an interesting rumor in the capital, Your Grace.”

I focused on the mage’s words, tearing my gaze away from the smoke seeping into my body.

The dark mage’s stories, meant to ease my pain, were always stimulating and entertaining.

“What rumor?”

“A rumor about the Princess.”

“Why the Princess?”

“Rumors are rampant in the capital that Her Highness the Princess has gone mad.”

The Princess has gone mad?

My own pain was already forgotten.

—

At that time, at the Imperial Palace of the Hailen Empire.

The Count, who served as the Crown Prince’s tutor, looked at the Crown Prince seated at the desk.

A statue meticulously carved by a god. A man who seemed perfect yet cold and ruthless. Such was the Crown Prince with his stern expression.

However.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“I’m listening.”

The moment the Crown Prince opened his eyes and parted his lips, that cold atmosphere changed.

His golden hair swayed in the breeze, and his green eyes, as if containing a forest, were warm.

Standing in the sunlight that seemed to melt everything, this man of ice and snow was Crown Prince Lesius.

“What did you take away from today’s imperial history lesson?”

“Well… regarding the former emperors of the Hailen Empire…”

Lesius’s seemingly indifferent lips curved softly.

He tapped the imperial genealogy placed before him.

“I saw madness.”

His words carried weight. And above all, his words were true.

The emperors of Hailen were all obsessed with something. Whether it was territory, power, or love.

“I don’t want to go mad, though.”

Lesius narrowed his sharp eyes, which made him look gentle.

The Count believed his disciple, the Crown Prince, would be different.

Until recently, that is.

‘His Highness the Crown Prince is famous for being gentle, but considering the recent incident…’

The age for conscription in the empire is 18. However, knights were an exception even at a younger age.

When a proposal to request the underage Duke of Berwen to join the battlefront was about to be approved,

It was the Crown Prince who blocked it.

‘I heard that the Crown Prince’s eyes were filled with madness at that time.’

The Count hadn’t been in the great hall to see it firsthand, but that’s what he had heard.

However, those who submitted the proposal for the Duke of Berwen’s deployment seem to have been imprisoned for corruption lately, or are no longer seen in the great hall…

“Oh dear.”

Confirming the doubt clouding the Count’s face, Lesius frowned his elegant brows as if tired.

“Rosalyn.”

Lesius pointed out the window with his long fingers, cutting off the Count’s suspicion.

It seemed effective, as the Count grunted and held his head.

Because of a problem that had recently emerged as a headache for the palace.

The source of the problem was the Princess.

“Your Highness the Princess! Please stop your rampage!”

“Your Highness! Royals do not run! Eek! Y-your ankle!”

“Your Highness! Not only for royalty, but under noble etiquette, a lady must not show her ankles when lifting her skirt!”

The Princess’s etiquette teacher and nanny alternately tried to stop her, but it seemed to only make her worse.

“My… my petticoat!”

Only after the Princess’s etiquette teacher, the Marchioness, had fallen backwards did the Princess’s voice burst out.

“Why are you collapsing over something like this? Wow, this is [f*cking] insane.”

The hand that had been rhythmically tapping the desk stopped.

“What in the world… what language is that ‘[f*cking]’?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. We’ve searched from ancient languages to all continental languages, but we haven’t been able to identify the language Her Highness uses.”

The stopped hand resumed tapping the smooth desk.

‘She became strange after falling into the water.’

His younger sister, who had been boating on the lake, fell in and after waking up, had changed as if she were a completely different person.

‘She mutters completely incomprehensible words.’

She acts as if she’s forgotten all etiquette, and sometimes laughs and cries, behaving as if she’s lost her mind.

Moreover, she’s been caught several times by the palace staff trying to leave the palace at the drop of a hat.

‘That’s why the Princess’s recent nickname…’

Lesius held his throbbing head. Such a nickname.

The Count was also aware of that nickname.

‘I heard Her Highness the Princess has acquired a strange nickname. Heh heh. If this continues, the Emperor’s plans will go awry.’

He watched the reckless Princess dashing about and thought.

The current Emperor had already marked the Duke of Berwen as a potential groom for the Princess.

“Her Highness the Princess being unwell has put the imperial household in a difficult position.”

“……”

“We could have broached the topic of marriage when the Duke of Berwen visits the capital this time.”

The Count inadvertently voiced his thoughts.

Isn’t the Duke of Berwen, along with the Crown Prince, considered the empire’s finest match? Handsome, a Swordmaster, and possessing wealth and honor.

The Princess’s older brother, the Crown Prince, would surely welcome this…

As he thought that, the Count turned his head, feeling a chilling sensation on his face.

“Ah. The marriage talks between the Duke and the Princess, you say.”

The supposedly benevolent and harmless Crown Prince muttered dangerously.

“Everyone must not be very busy, to be concerning themselves with such matters.”

And in that very fleeting moment, the Count saw it. Reflected in the Crown Prince’s eyes for an instant,

Innate, inborn madness.