Nyahahaha! I"m back! I pa.s.sed my exam, so woohoo!!! And hopefully by the time this chapter is posted, I"ll have a bit of a backlog too! Yay~

All that aside, hope you enjoy the chapter~

"The Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality has five prominent families. The Ferring Ducal House, Grindal Ducal House, Sliger Ducal House, Baskar Ducal House, and the Crow Ducal House……..these five Archduke Houses hold the country"s real power and influence it accordingly."

In front of Father who spoke as if to sort out the information in his head, I turned my gaze towards the doc.u.ments in my hands.

Sometimes, although he wants to think, he can"t concentrate. At times like these, Father verbalizes the things in his head in order to organize it.

Here is the study of Father, who is the Head of the Armelia Ducal House.

Surrounded by countless books were Father and myself alone.

As such, though he wasn"t speaking too loudly, Father"s voice could be heard clearly.

"The ones that we currently want to try contacting are the Ferring House and the Grindal House of the moderate faction, correct?"

Following Father"s line of thought, I spoke to confirm his idea.

"Yeah, that"s right. They"re slowly suggesting to officially make an alliance with our country."

"What"s the benefit for the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality?"

"The first is that they"ll be liberated from the threat of General Gazelle. And the other, is that tariffs will be lowered. Based on the results of our investigation, since the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality has soil which is poorly suited to agriculture, having the tariffs lowered should be something they"ll want desperately."

"I see……using both the carrot and the stick, is it? Then how about the benefits for our country?"

"First, being able to make a non-aggression treaty is big. We displayed our military might, but right now this country doesn"t have the grain reserves to be able to wage a war…….so guaranteeing our safety is something that we"d desperately desire. On the foreign trade side, that country is famous for its high output of gems and gold craftsmanship….…so the n.o.bles are sure to be delighted."

"I see……..your true motive is the entry into a non-aggression treaty. You"ll obtain the approval of n.o.bles and influential merchants based on the benefits of foreign trade, and have it more easily accepted by this country."

Father shook his head at my deduction.

"Then what about the Crow Ducal House of the moderate faction?"

"Based on my deduction from various information sources, it seems that House still holds fear towards General Gazelle. It is likely due to the fact that his stronghold is adjacent to both Towair and Tasmeria Kingdom……..it also seems that he doesn"t have much contact with the hardlining faction, so rather than the Grindal Ducal House, I"ve been slowly having the talks of an alliance with the Tasmeria Kingdom flow through his territory bit by bit."

"I see…….if he fears General Gazelle, then that non-aggression treaty will be greatly desired by the Crow Ducal House."

"Yeah. Thanks to that, feeling them out has been going great."

"All that"s left are the Sliger Ducal House and the Baskar Ducal House of the hardlining faction, correct?"

Finally, Father let out a heavy sigh.

…….which meant that this was the problem that Father was thinking about.

"Those two houses are highly on guard after all…….right now, I"m still at the stage of just trying with a bit of contact with them."

"That"s where I have some good news…….it seems that because the Sliger House is in possession of one of the Baskar House"s weaknesses, the Baskar House can"t go against them?"

Father jumped to his feet from my information.

"Why do you know something like that?"

"It"s a new piece of information from one of the shadows that was pa.s.sing through the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality……..when I was looking at one of the account books that had funds diverting into illegal channels, I noticed that the flow of funds was strange. When I investigated further into it, I found that apart from that account book, there was another one that couldn"t be exposed to the public as well as a letter……..I do believe there should be a report coming from the palace soon."

"And, that weakness is?"

"It seems that the Baskar Ducal House"s internal affairs are in such a state of poverty that they"re on the verge of ruin. Thus, it appears that the head of the Baskar Ducal House, whose brain stopped working from the debt……..dabbled in the slave trade."

"The slave trade, you say!?"

"Yes. He"s been capturing people from his own territory and selling them on a large scale to other countries. Of course, human trafficking is a felony even in the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality. That fact was grasped by the Sliger Ducal House, so that house became unable to defy them."

"Well done! Naturally, you have proof of it too?"

"Yes. The shadow brought it back to this country. I believe it would be good if you heard the details at the palace."

"Yeah. I"ll head there immediately…….!"

Father stood up, and unusually for him, he broke off running towards the palace.

At that time, Mother unexpectedly appeared, just missing him.

"Oh my…….has Romel headed out?"

"Mother. To be standing up, how is your condition……..?"

"There are no more problems. Mellice-sama will also be coming tomorrow, so I simply cannot keep sleeping."

Mother made a bitter smile as she replied.

"Is that so?"

Even as I nodded, I guided Mother to sit in a nearby chair.

"I believe that Father will be out for a while, but……."

"I figured as much. If he"s going into the palace, it wouldn"t surprise me if he didn"t return for two or three days."

Saying that, Mother made a gentle smile.

"…….will you also be going to the palace?"

"Yes. In good time."

"I see……"

As she responded, she let out a sigh.

"Do you understand, Rui? I am sure that Mellice-sama is already aware of the fact that you plan on offering up everything in order to serve the country and the people…….no, she likely has already resolved herself to that. At times, I"m sure that she will feel lonely because of it…….that is why, Rui. You need to treat her with great care."

Then, she told me that with a serious face.

"This is sudden, what"s wrong?"

"Because I"m sure that she will experience the same feelings that I have. That"s why I figured I should drill it into you beforehand."

They were words that made my chest hurt considerably.

Previously, I was forcibly brought to a club for a gentlemen"s meeting, when one man said [I was told by my fiancée that I need to care about her more and I"m sick of it.], so it became a topic for a while.

From a third party perspective, while there were some aspects in which I sympathized with that man, I felt that I sympathized more with the fiancée"s feelings.

Honestly speaking, I could not be considered a good fiancé either.

That is why I may have unconsciously overlapped Mellice with that fiancée in my imagination.

In my case, on top of not having many opportunities to meet up due to prioritizing work, I"ve only done the bare minimum in exchanging letters.

While I was aware that I was causing her to experience feelings of loneliness, even then I continued to prioritize work.

…….despite that, she hasn"t said anything.

About any pent-up resentment, or otherwise.

She only worried about my physical condition.

My fiancée really is far too good for me.

"…….from the beginning, I never had any intentions of looking at anyone but her. To me, while she is my beloved fiancée, I also see her as a comrade who will walk on the same path as me."

"Is that so? ……Never break those words. Because to me, she is my cute daughter."

"Yes, of course."

"……My apologies for keeping you back for so long. You should also be heading off soon, right?"

"Yes…….I will go after calling someone."

"I will be fine. I did walk here myself after all."

"Is that so? …….well then, please excuse me."

And then, I also exited the room once more.