Chapter 12

Finding a New Husband

“And just so there’s no misunderstanding, I didn’t write that I was looking for someone to pledge their loyalty to me. I wrote that I was looking for a knight to ‘work’ here.”

“…That’s…”

“The qualifications are simple: a formally knighted knight who has completed the knighting ceremony. The recruitment period is until next week, and the pay is eighty gold coins. My name is written at the bottom, and my seal is stamped there as well. Nowhere does it say that I require loyalty. I’m simply looking for a knight who will work for the territory under a straightforward contract, but…”

Riat trailed off and quietly looked at Lokan.

Lokan was staring down at the section Riat had pointed to, completely frozen. Riat tried to guess what he might be thinking, but it wasn’t something she particularly wanted to know, so she didn’t dwell on it any further.

“…However, every knight has pride in being a knight.”

“Yes. That’s true. Which is why I’m not asking for loyalty. I’m simply offering money and looking for knights who are willing to work for the territory. Somehow, we keep going around in circles.”

Feeling slightly annoyed, Riat tilted her head to one side.

She hadn’t particularly wanted to say any of this, but as Sikarius had said, the ‘upright’ Lokan de Pendelium seemed incapable of accepting a situation like this, so she had no choice.

“If I were to follow your distinction, then, well…”

Riat smiled innocently.

“It means I’m asking them to be loyal to money.”

“Then…!”

“It may offend the pride of those proud knights, but what can I do? Between me and money, money is more worthy of loyalty.”

At Riat’s calm words, Lokan’s mouth snapped shut. For a moment, his face even seemed to go pale.

Perhaps, having lived his entire life so uprightly, he had never realized that a situation like this could exist.

Then again, this was Riat’s first time experiencing such a situation as well… though it wasn’t exactly surprising.

He looked deeply confused, but Riat couldn’t simply sit around and wait until he sorted out his feelings. She needed a knight who could take charge of and operate the Knights Order as soon as tomorrow.

Riat stared at Lokan’s still-stiff expression before speaking gently.

“You seem worried that the knights will be selling their pride to me, but you don’t need to worry. What I intend to buy in the first place isn’t their pride, and I have no intention of keeping them here for long. Well, if they like the pay and want to continue working here afterward, I’ll make arrangements for that.”

After all, she was going to die in a year and three months.

No, by now, it was only a year and two months.

So once that time passed, she wouldn’t care what happened to the Knights Order.

Of course, if her death caused chaos in the count’s territory, she would feel sorry for the people living there. But Sikarius was doing a good job, so she didn’t think she needed to worry too much.

Riat was certain that even if she disappeared from this territory, nothing would truly change.

Perhaps her family would take the opportunity to rush here immediately and compete over who would take the position of head of the family.

Previously, her father had only been a viscount, and her eldest brother was supposed to inherit afterward. But once the title of count was involved, even her younger brother would surely covet it. That was probably why he had gone all the way to this territory last time, desperately trying to act as though they were close.

Remembering what had happened a few days ago, Riat shook her head.

She was somewhat curious to see the ridiculous spectacle that would unfold after her death, but it wasn’t something worth lingering over.

For Riat, only the next year and two months mattered.

“Sir Lokan. You may find this unpleasant, but the truth is, I would like you to take the position of Commander of the Knights Order of the County of Pshikia.”

At her quiet words, Lokan’s blue eyes widened.

Their deep sapphire color was captivating, but Riat felt strangely unsettled by the emotions contained within those blue eyes.

“…Why?”

His voice barely escaped, as though his throat were being strangled.

Riat noticed that he kept studying her expression and that, at some point, he had clenched his fists so tightly that the bones stood out white beneath the skin on the backs of his hands.

What was he thinking?

Is he regretting what he said?

Riat had no desire to criticize his words.

In the first place, his words hadn’t hurt her. Nor had what she herself had said caused her any sadness.

They had merely exchanged statements about facts.

However, his emotions seemed rather useful, so Riat lowered her eyes slightly and spoke.

“It took several days after I submitted the request to the Imperial Capital before you were sent here. Apparently… His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t seem particularly pleased with a newly established noble family forming a Knights Order right away. Or perhaps he’s reluctant because this was once the territory of a traitor.”

Without changing her tone, Riat calmly continued to pour out lies.

It was obvious that the Imperial Capital had behaved this way because of the lingering resentment over her having rejected the Emperor.

Or perhaps it was the Crown Prince.

After all, she had flatly rejected his invitation to accompany him as his partner to the party, even after he had personally contacted her by letter.

But even if she could go back and do it all over again, Riat would have acted exactly the same way.

So holding on to Lokan in this situation was simply her way of taking responsibility for the consequences her own actions had brought about.

“If you refuse and leave, I may have to wait several more days before the next knight is sent here. Until then, there will be no commander of the Knights Order here.”

Riat’s long eyelashes fluttered as she lowered her gaze.

“I don’t mind not having knights who follow me. But having no knights to protect the people of the territory… that’s frustrating enough to make me sad. I may not have been the lord of this place for very long, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand what my responsibilities are.”

“…”

“Recently, a lot of people have been coming to the county, so incidents and accidents have become more frequent. Because of that, I temporarily hired guards and recruited mercenaries to form a security force. But since there is no Knights Order in the territory, we’re unable to properly maintain discipline among them.”

Even though they were people Riat herself had hired, the quality of their reports had been terrible.

At first, she hadn’t realized that they were doing such a poor job reporting.

Until then, she had only received the reports Sikarius had organized for her. It was only when she happened to see the original reports while Sikarius was briefly away that she realized how negligent they had been.

They were nothing more than crude reports with lines roughly drawn to divide areas, followed by statements like how many people had been arrested there.

No, it could hardly even be called a report.

Riat had immediately dismissed them and recruited new mercenaries to form another security force, but she couldn’t be certain that this time would be any different.

Besides, without a Knights Order, the criminals were becoming increasingly brazen.

Since the security force was hired with money, criminals had even begun offering them more money to release them after being caught.

To put an end to this situation, the presence of a Knights Order was absolutely necessary.

Thinking that Imperial law was truly troublesome, Riat put on a desperate voice.

“Please, Sir Lokan.”

“I…”

“I know that House Pendelium is in an unfair situation because your family is suspected of having conspired in the rebellion of the former Count Bortus. But I know, and I believe, that the proud House Pendelium did not participate in the rebellion.”

“…”

“It may sound a little ridiculous to say that I’ll search for evidence proving that you did not rebel, but I will do everything I can to help you, Sir.”

There had undoubtedly already been some word about this from his family as well.

In other words, it was a roundabout way of saying: Enough refusing. Take command of the Knights Order.

Riat thought he must have been so furious about the official document that he had forgotten his original objective.

After a long silence, Lokan finally opened his mouth.

Riat naturally expected him to agree, but unexpectedly, what came out was a question.

“…I would like to ask you one thing. You said that if I refuse the position of commander and leave, you’ll have no choice but to keep waiting because you don’t know when the next knight will be sent here. Then, if that knight were to arrive tomorrow… would you accept him?”

“Yes.”

The answer came without even the slightest hesitation.

Riat blinked as she looked at him, then added in an indifferent tone,

“I can’t force Sir Lokan to stay when you don’t want to. And as I said earlier, I’m in a situation where I absolutely need a Knights Order, so I can’t refuse a knight who is sent here. However, those knights can refuse me.”

Lokan’s face hardened once again.

“Then I may have to go through this conversation all over again. And if that knight refuses, then the next knight, and then the one after that. Since most people don’t think very highly of me, I have no idea how long I’ll have to keep repeating this process.”

If she had to repeat it three times or so, perhaps she would rather record her voice with a magical artifact and play it here instead.

She could just move her lips and pretend to be talking.

No, would that actually be more troublesome?

While Riat was having such a pointless thought to herself, Lokan suddenly opened his mouth.

“…I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“If you will entrust me with the position of Commander of the Knights Order of the County of Pshikia, I will faithfully carry out my duties.”

Riat’s eyes widened in surprise at Lokan’s immediate answer.

Since he had asked a question rather than giving an answer, she had expected him to refuse.

Instead, she had unexpectedly obtained a commander for the Knights Order in one shot.

Riat was so delighted that she broke into a bright smile.

“Thank you, Sir. I’ll pay you even more than eighty gold coins.”

“…I did not accept this offer because I wanted money.”

“I know. But the commander can’t possibly receive the same salary as the members when they’re getting eighty gold coins. Please think of it as my gratitude to you for coming all the way here, as well as a special benefit of the County of Pshikia. This is a very wealthy land, after all.”

Riat happily smiled as she rose from her seat.

She had to hurry and tell Sikarius the news.

Just before she entered the drawing room, she remembered the concern in Sikarius’s eyes when she had reported that Sir Lokan was an ‘upright man.’

So she wanted to boast about it.

With that rather childish purpose in mind, Riat was about to bid Lokan farewell when she suddenly stopped, wanting to share a thought that had just occurred to her.

At that moment, a cool autumn breeze blew in through the slightly open window.

Unlike Lokan’s dark ash-gray hair, Riat’s golden hair looked as though pure gold that had absorbed the sunlight had been melted down and drawn into fine strands. It fluttered softly in the breeze.

It was only swaying with the wind, yet her hair sparkled.

And because of that glimmer, Lokan had no choice but to fix his gaze on Riat for a moment.

“Still… I don’t think you dislike me as a person, Sir, so it was easy to talk with you.”

Her eyes curved gently as she smiled, and the sight was almost excessively beautiful.

So beautiful that even the word ‘excessive’ seemed inadequate—she had the kind of face belonging to someone who had known nothing in this world but beautiful things.

“Criticizing my actions and criticizing my very existence are quite different things, after all.”

Riat Pshikia finished speaking in her calm voice, then turned away without showing him her face again.