I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess – Chapter 164

A week later, Edgar kept his promise to Leonel.

After getting advice from the best informed about land and buildings around, he found a house in the residential area near the city square and gifted it to him.

The size of the house wasn’t enormous, but it was quite satisfactory for the two of them to live in.

Especially after hearing that Enya loved growing flowers, Edgar secured a small house with a garden, for which she came to the castle repeatedly bowing her thanks.

As Leonel gradually became accustomed to his duties as an aide-de-camp, life was flowing along smoothly when some good news arrived.

“Is it true that we succeeded in the retaking?”

Whitewood, which had been invaded by foreign tribes, was once again under the control of the Robeheim Family.

Above all, it was a victory achieved with little bloodshed, making it even more valuable.

So much so that even Edgar, usually calm during meetings, responded with excitement.

To this, the silver-haired man, Otyr, who had overseen the retaking of Whitewood, nodded and replied nonchalantly.

“Yes. Their resistance was less fierce than expected.”

“That’s a bit surprising. Is Whitewood not that important to them?”

“I don’t know their true intentions, but… I didn’t get the impression that they were desperately trying to hold on to it.”

Otyr candidly expressed his impressions from the time and handed Edgar a document detailing the battle and its outcome.

The document was quite thick, so Edgar decided to skim through only the most important parts.

‘It certainly feels strange.’

As Otyr mentioned, it felt too easy for them to have abandoned their stronghold.

More accurately, it felt like they had disguised themselves to look like they were collapsing.

At least, the situation described in the document Edgar had organized about Whitewood when he infiltrated was significantly different.

“What do you think? Any leads?”

“I don’t know. But, as Sir Otyr said, there are indeed strange points.”

Choosing to be respectful in front of his retainers – though Ariel had said to be more casual, it was Edgar’s unilateral decision – he replied to Ariel with deference while stroking his chin.

He couldn’t be sure of anything yet, but he definitely felt an odd sense of discomfort.

Of course, he hadn’t personally observed the battle, so he couldn’t definitively say, but if the document felt this way, those who were there on the scene probably felt even more so.

Ariel, who had been staring at him absorbed in the document, turned her gaze to Otyr.

Even though she could look into the details later, there was something that needed to be confirmed immediately.

“Anyway, the retaking was successful, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness. I searched the surrounding area just in case, but I didn’t find even a shadow of the residual soldiers. However, if you command, I can issue a purge order in that area.”

“No, that’s fine. For now, the recovery of Whitewood comes first. Above all, the soldiers need to rest.”

If, as the two of them said, they had retreated for some reason, it was clear they would have fled in a hurry.

At least in Ariel’s understanding, there was no inefficient strategy of purposefully giving up a castle only to retake it.

In that case, it would be more efficient to pull back the soldiers who would search the surrounding area and instead commence the recovery of the city in shifts.

It was a time to solidify their foundations, in her view.

“First, make sure to reward the soldiers and commanders headed for Whitewood generously.”

“Understood.”

Reward distribution was always crucial.

This was also the part that Ariel had sought the most advice from Yulken.

“And Brisia.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Brisia was the woman responsible for managing most of the finances and supplies of Robeheim Castle.

Her impeccably sharp appearance told much about her position.

“Get the list of commanders and soldiers who participated from Otyr and set aside their share for them. You should have enough resources, right?”

“Yes, there is ample, even in excess, so no need to worry.”

“Good.”

Satisfied, Ariel scanned the room and Edgar realized it was about time to end the meeting, so he lifted his gaze from the documents.

“Then we’ll conclude this week’s report here, and those with specific requests can come see me directly. That’s all.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

As the retainers all bowed their heads, Ariel rose from her seat and exited the conference room with Edgar.

After finishing the regular government report and meeting held once a week, everyone except a few assigned personnel was tacitly given some time to rest, and Ariel was no exception.

“I should take it easy today.”

Thus, having already devised how to relax in her mind, Ariel intended to head to her room rather than the office.

On the other hand, Edgar intended to head to the office to organize the documents he had just looked at, but Ariel called out to him, stopping him.

“Where are you going?”

“To the office. I just want to organize the documents I saw a bit ago.”

“We could do that together next time.”

Even though there were some uncomfortable points, nothing was certain yet.

Moreover, Otyr, who had been on the scene at that time, would also be resting today, so they could think about it together later.

However, despite her insistence, Edgar shrugged and chuckled as if there was no other choice.

“It’s better to check it while you have the time.”

“There’s nothing urgent tomorrow, so we can do it then. Why bother working on your day off?”

She hated not being able to spend their rare free time alone together, but more than that, what she disliked was leaving all the work to Edgar.

She had been harboring quite a lot of discontent lately.

It was fine that he had taken up a supportive position backing her when she ascended to the head of the family, but it was getting pretty obvious he was pushing himself too hard.

Just four days ago, something like this had happened.

Usually, he would come to her room every morning to escort her to the office, but he hadn’t shown up one day. When Ariel went to the office alone, he was found working there by himself.

When she asked why he hadn’t gone with her, Edgar awkwardly brushed it off, but later she would learn through Elin that he had stayed up all night in the office and hadn’t returned to his room.

“Just give me a day. I’ll make up for it on the next day off.”

“That’s not it… Ugh, whatever!”

Even in this situation, he thought she was mad because he couldn’t share the day off with her.

Ultimately, unable to hold back, Ariel stomped her foot on the floor and huffed as she turned to head to her room.

Suddenly, a cold wind seemed to blow between the two of them.

* * * * * * *

Ariel plopped down on her bed, wearing a sulky expression.

Her sharp gaze made Shuri, who had come to serve her, flinch momentarily.

“Did something happen with the young master again?”

But that was brief.

Soon, seemingly assuming she could guess what had happened, Shuri smiled gently and engaged her.

At this, Ariel’s cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

“Why do you always think it’s his fault when I’m angry?”

“Because the only person you’re genuinely emotional about is the young master.”

“……”

Ariel fizzled out at this perfectly reasonable point.

As Shuri said, she generally didn’t let stress from work get to her.

That meant she was dealing with work purely objectively and not emotionally.

On the other hand, when it came to Edgar, whom she approached with pure love, she easily swung from joy to anger.

“So, what did the young master do wrong today?”

Regardless, since Ariel was her mistress, Shuri naturally assumed that if there was a problem between the two, it was Edgar who had made the mistake.

Usually, when she listened, it would turn out that it was more Ariel’s fault, but she couldn’t exactly ask her master, “What did you do wrong today?”

And in such cases, the response was typically predictable.

Ariel would shove aside the pillow she had been clutching and spill out what had happened that day.

So, Shuri expected a similar scene today and decided to prepare some warm tea to help soothe her.

Yet, the response she received was rather unexpected.

“He didn’t actually do anything wrong. I was just being foolish.”

“…Huh?”

Ariel usually wasn’t unaware of her own faults, but she mostly thought Edgar had done something wrong when she was sulking.

But today, for some reason, she was admitting her fault first and pouting.

Shuri momentarily thought her ears had deceived her.

Looking back at Ariel for confirmation, she saw her with a pout that seemed to ask if something was wrong.

“It’s just… I don’t know how to explain it. Lately, he’s been working too hard, you know?”

“How would I not know? It’s already well-known gossip within the castle.”

Word had spread widely among the servants familiar with the news that Edgar had been busy running around.

Especially, there were many who claimed to have seen the lights in the office staying on until dawn while passing through the corridors at night.

But why was this topic coming up at this moment puzzled Shuri.

Working hard shouldn’t be seen as something wrong.

“It was just a while ago when Edgar couldn’t come to my room, and I heard it from Elin. Apparently, the fool spent the night working in the office instead of coming home.”

“That’s news to me.”

“Yeah, but it turns out that’s not the first time. Ever since he has taken on these duties, he hasn’t been coming home often… I think he might have spent the night in the office multiple times and then came to my room the next morning.”

In other words, he was finishing work without letting her catch on to it, to avoid raising her suspicions, and then made sure to appear for the morning escort.

But that day, for whatever reason, he had ended up falling asleep in the office and thus got caught.

Upon hearing this, Shuri realized that this was no mere trifling matter.

While one might argue that he was just doing his job diligently, she also knew very well how committed Edgar was to the responsibilities laid upon him.

If things continued like this, he would only push himself harder, never looking to lighten his load.

“This is quite serious… Do you think it was connected to today’s events?”

“Exactly. It’s a long story, but…”

After Ariel explained the meeting process and Edgar’s actions afterward in brief, Shuri nodded as she grasped the essence of the matter.

So, rather than being angry at Edgar for taking on too many responsibilities, Ariel was actually frustrated with herself for having put him in that situation in the first place.

Besides, they had asked Edgar to take on that role, so saying now that he should quit would complicate things even further.

“Just telling him to take it easy isn’t going to get through to him.”

“Tell me about it.”

Even if Ariel urged him to reduce his work and take care of himself, he would only feign compliance initially to soothe her, eventually returning to his old habits.

That would be counterproductive, so something definitive was necessary.

“Hmmm… how about this?”

“What is it?”

“It might be a bit excessive, but since the young master is stubborn like you… I think it might take something like this to get through to him.”

“Share it. Whether or not to take action is my choice.”

Desperate, Ariel turned to Shuri for advice.

Despite everything, Shuri’s casual remarks had often been beneficial in the past.

As she whispered a not-so-daring plan, Ariel’s eyes began to widen in surprise.

It didn’t seem like a bad approach.

After all, as she said, if it wasn’t something substantial, Edgar would not easily change his mind.

“Alright. I’ll put it into action immediately.”

With a gleam in her red eyes, Ariel agreed to the plan.

Her nodding seemed to carry a faint blush on her cheeks, but perhaps it was just the bright sunlight spilling into the room through the window.