CH 3.6

CHAPTER 3: YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO BE THERE (VI)

Part 045

She sat down on a chair next to the table outside the barracks. It was still noisy inside the barracks, but she was reluctant to sit among the nobles of the royal faction on the side of Philia, whom she would have to kick someday, or to stand behind Eilene and get involved in the chaos.

The weather was wonderful.

She was lounging around enjoying the fresh air for a while, when Adrian appeared. It’s not even lunchtime yet?

“Damian.”

Seeing Adrian approaching with a bright smile, all the worries in the world disappear. She didn’t know how he got there so early, but he was always good. 

‘Adrian, come on, let’s get out of here.’

“Why are you here?”

“Because the wind outside is cool. You came early? What about the two knights?”

“I came first. I wanted to see Damian.”

She laughed like a bash, trying not to be stunned by the bright smile.

“Did you hunt well? Are you fine?”

“Yes, Damian. Would you like to see it?”

Speaking, Adrian pulled out his small pocket. The bluntly raised thing, did that mean there was prey inside? Wasn’t it moving? Was he trying to show her something dead?

“Lord, I don’t want to see it if it’s dead.”

As she pulled herself back, Adrian laughed ‘ha ha’. He put his hand in his pocket, grabbed a squirrel the size of Adrian’s fist, and pulled it out by the back. It was so cute watching him close his eyes gently and cling to Adrian’s hand.

“It passed out. It will wake up soon.”

“It’s so cute! Can I touch it?”

Adrian gently placed the squirrel on her palms. The full stomach swelled up and down, swelled and went out. It wasn’t very colorfully, but it was so cute. No, but how did he get hold of this? Didn’t he say it fainted? How? As expected, with his dazzling beauty?

As she was looking in, the squirrel slowly opened its eyes. When their eyes met, it was startled and looked around a few times. It ran away with a bang. 

‘Why, my beauty is not enough to faint?’

She was looking at the forest where it had fled with regret, but it was noisy as people gathered in front of the podium. Marquis Luther and Prince Dozern arrived. It seemed that the two groups went hunting together. As they approached, they caught a pair of large wolves with fine gray fur. Everyone made a fuss about it, saying it was a rare game. Marquis Luther found Adrian standing next to her and approached them. She didn’t know if he had a smile on his face, but he wasn’t laughing, he wasn’t laughing, but he had a very uneasy expression on his face.

She heard that the Queen was the younger sister of Marquis Luther, and indeed they look alike. His eyebrows were raised, giving him a sharp look.

“Duke Bigor, is the hunt over already?”

“Exactly.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of prey the Duke with such a reputation would have caught.”

Uh, did she miss the one that Adrian took? She looked up at Adrian, who was standing next to her, and made an apologetic face. Adrian smiled slightly as he looked down at her.

When Adrian did not reply, Marquis Luther triumphantly boasted of his prey.

“I met a rare gray wolf. I was lucky to be with Dozern. It looks like it will have some nice fur, doesn’t it?”

“I think so.”

When he replied calmly, Marquis Luther, who had lost interest, gave a rough greeting and turned around, and two horses entered the entrance side by side panting as if pulling a wagon. Thierry and Hegel. When the two horses were fully loaded, the huge one that had been dragged behind them was revealed. It was literally the size of a house. They placed something wrapped in a bag next to the wolf that Marquis Luther had caught on horseback, and when they cut off the tied string, a black object the size of her bed appeared, enough for three of them to lie down. No way, was that a bear? The bears she knew were Jirisan black bears and poor polar bears, and Winnie Pooh. None of them were that big? 

‘Wow, your front paws must be bigger than my head? Wow. The nose is the size of a fist.’

Adrian smiled and said as she was unable to speak and only opened her mouth.

“It’s not enough for the handkerchief.”

“It can’t be.”

She was in denial. Ignoring the speechless onlookers, Adrian ushered her into the carriage. He thought for a moment whether he should talk to the king and go, but he didn’t want to stay any longer, so he just followed. It was amazing to see something so huge, but seeing a dead animal wasn’t exciting, and of course, it’s not just a bear, but her man who caught a huge thing that should be called the best.

She was thinking about what to eat for lunch, when Adrian made an unexpected suggestion. He invited her to go to the Duke’s mansion.

“I’m covered in dust, so I think I need to change my clothes.”

‘Oh, I see. You’re covered in dust. It was so shiny I thought it was sprinkled with glitter, Adrian.’

“Then, shall we meet again when the street festival starts in the evening?”

“I don’t like it. If we have to break up, I’ll put up with it.”

After looking at Adrian’s determined face for a few hours at most, she nodded.

* * *

So, for the second time, she entered the Duchy of Bigor. She was about to drink fragrant tea while exchanging a few words with Ethan, who greeted her politely, when Adrian, whose hair was not yet dry, appeared.

As Adrian beckoned Ethan, who was standing next to her talking, Ethan pursed his lips and disappeared. Looking at his face like that, he really looked like he’s 16, but he’s 36. Shall she ask what cosmetics he used?

In the dining room, instead of the huge table where they had eaten before, there was a table for six people that could be seated at a reasonable distance from Adrian. They ate while being served by the two ladies-in-waiting she had seen before. When she greeted them with a smile of gratitude, their faces turned red and they bowed their heads.

“Did you like the meal? No, no Lady Damian.”

Ethan came up to her and asked, as she emptied the bowl of custard pudding. She smiled broadly when she told him it was a great luncheon.

“Do you like the Duchy?”

She looked around the dining room once more. She also thought of the drawing room. The guest room, where she stayed the last time, and the hallway he walked past were also bright.

The building itself had an overall dark feeling due to the use of black bricks, but the inside was bright and bright. The interior gave a warm impression, perhaps because it was filled with light-colored wallpaper and accessories for a mansion without a hostess. Actually, it’s very dignified because it’s a Duke’s house, and she thought it would be like that, but she didn’t think Adrian chose the wallpaper or curtains, that must be Ethan’s touch. He had a puppy-like face waiting for praise, so she smiled and told him.

“Yes, it’s a pleasant mansion to stay in. I like it.”

Ethan made the face of a middle school student pushing a 100-point test paper at her older sister, and she laughed. He looked like he wanted to give her candy, but she decided not to be fooled. He was a thirty-five-year-old man. 

After the meal, they took a walk in the garden of Duke Bigor’s residence. Adrian looked at the well-maintained flower garden, saying that freesias were in full bloom in spring, and had a vague look on his face for a moment. From Mr. Adol and from Laurel, she heard that Adrian’s father was a bit scary, and that his relationship with him was not like any other rich man. She didn’t know, but Adrian’s long service at the front wasn’t because he wanted to, and she also heard that his mother died early. She just nodded her head because she couldn’t carelessly ask Adrian, who was looking at the flower garden that the Duchess had touched while telling her about his past.

They drank tea on a small terrace in the middle of a field of flowers. She also changed the topic and asked what she had been curious about before.

“Before, what you talked about with Homer.”

“What did you talk about with the captain?”

“No, not me, Adrian and Homer.”

“Ah, yes. What were we talking about?”

“You both said frightening things about His Highness the Crown Prince and prince Dozern not being fit for the king position.”

When she lowered my voice and spoke carefully, Adrian laughed ‘haha’.

“We did.”

“Um, is that okay? So, even if someone you don’t fit in becomes king, is Laurenty okay?”

“Laurenty is not a country run by the qualities of a king alone. What actually leads this country are talented administrators like Damian. There are also many nobles who make up the noble council. Regardless of their personal characteristics, they are capable people. The system to check someone’s solo performance is well established. It is true that the two princes are not suitable people to rule, but stamping documents is something that can be done with only arms attached. It’s work.”

Some of the conclusions seemed a little strange, but they were understandable. Since the system was in place, there was no need to throw the country into chaos with futile battles for the throne. In fact, even in the history she learned, the war of succession to the throne decreased as the control system became firm with the eldest son inheritance system. Laurentian was a country famous for its military power. It was located in the middle of the continent, sandwiched between huge empires to the north and south, and there were kingdoms and principalities of similar powers bordering each other. It was thanks to its mighty military power that such Laurentians were able to develop independently for over 400 years.

She praised Adrian for his hard work in the meantime.

“There are good soldiers like Adrian.”

“There’s no shortage of military power. There are old problems piled up inside the military, and that’s a bit of a headache.”

“Are you referring to cases like the Marquis of Talus?”

“The revealed problem can be solved, but the problem is that it is not revealed and festers. It is not easy to figure out because the organization is huge.”

Come to think of it, did Adrian have a day off? Even when she was being educated in the military, he always came home late and seemed to work even on weekends. These days, things seem to be busy again.

He was the one who always smiled in front of her, so she often forgot about his work. But this person must be tired too. She stretched out her hand and ran her fingertips over Adrian’s head, who was sitting close to the table trying to make eye contact. She ran her fingertips through his fine hair a couple of times. She burst out laughing and stroked his hair a few more times.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is a person with a lot of rumors, but why do you say that he doesn’t fit in?”

When she asked a question and removed his hand, Adrian also raised his head with a very sad face.

“Are you worried about your friend?”

“Rather than worry, no. I wonder if I’m worried. Yes, I think I’m worried. Dozern seems to be greedy for the throne.”

“His ambition is the most problematic. Her Highness, the Empress, has no reliable relatives, and the Queen’s family is too powerful, so it seems difficult to give up useless greed. His Majesty would not give up on the crown prince position.”

“Because of the principle of firstborn succession?”

“He was the one who got the throne from his father thanks to that principle, so he won’t break that principle himself.”

She didn’t know what to say, so she shut her mouth again. Talking about his deceased parents was also difficult. Anyway, Tyrellius and Dozern were bad leaders. Dozern was better than Tyrellius, but he was the second son, so he couldn’t become king, and he was greedy nonetheless, so it’s a problem.

Since ‘Queen’s Star’ or something was in Eilene, shouldn’t Dozern be the king? The king was against it, so how? No, but shouldn’t it be somehow? If Dozern tried to become king even though the king opposes it, saying it was the queen’s star, then what would happen?

As she was rolling my head, a scary assumption came to her mind and she asked.

“Could that illegal weapon have anything to do with them two?”

“I was going to tell you when the festival was over, but since you asked, I’ll tell you now. I couldn’t figure out where the weapon was located, so I tracked down the overseas production location. I found that more than 2,000 medium and long-term weapons were imported from the Principality of Taln, and I suspect Dozern, who had the wedding there. I did research, but couldn’t find a clear link.”

“So you’re saying you don’t know who bought the weapon?”

“It could be Luther, or it could be a completely different faction. What I’m curious about is the quantity.”

“Isn’t 2,000 gigs a lot? Two thousand soldiers can be heavily armed.”

“Excluding the weapons confiscated from the upper ranks, there will only be about 1,000 people. And with about 1,000 soldiers, there are fewer things than you think. At least usurping the throne is impossible.”

With Adrian as the commander, there were over 6,000 standing troops under him. In terms of the reserve army, there were close to 20,000 troops in Midok and its vicinity, but a thousand was an ambiguous number. Then, wasn’t it also Dozern’s work? Or what if it was the work of a completely different faction, where was it? A force that had nothing to do with the struggle for the throne and had to secretly raise an army of a thousand.

“Do you have any guesses?”

“There is not yet a person to name.”

“Okay. Thanks for letting me know, Adrian.”

“It’s not difficult. By the way, Damian.”

Adrian paused for a moment, unable to follow his words. He tilted his head and looked at her. Then he said in a very cautious tone.

“I’m not trying to get involved in Damian’s friendship, but for the time being, don’t have many personal meetings with Dozern’s wife. The forces trying to use her politically may approach.”

A sigh came out of nowhere. It wasn’t that the forces were approaching, but she was asked to do so. It’s not like she wanted to meet her because she’s in the palace, so she nodded, saying yes.