CH 5

Countess Jungk

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

It was a July evening after early summer. The family gathered in the dining room of Count Jungk’s house. At the end of the long dining table, seated at the top, is Edmond, the head of the family. His elderly mother and his sixteen-year-old wife, whom he married three years ago, are sitting on the lower seat, facing each other.

「——The kingdom has rotted away at the earliest opportunity. Now is the time to create a new order!」

「Yes. I think Edmond is right.」

When Edmond boastfully and poorly delivered his speech at the dinner table, his elderly mother, with black hair interspersed with gray, agrees in a catlike voice. When his wife, Countess Cecille of Jungk, saw this, her shapely brow furrowed slightly.

She is a beautiful girl with red hair that reaches her waist with a light habit and brown skin that catches the eye. However, she is quite small for a 16-year-old, and her body is modest. She does not have the air of a wife at all. She looked like a child, but her eyes, the same shade of red as her hair, held the light of deep intelligence.

This parent and child did not give her a second thought as they looked at her coldly. Edmond lost interest in his wife, who did not grow up as expected, and the old mother, who doted on her son, similarly treated her as a nonentity.

Cecille is a daughter brought in for debt and Edmond’s twisted desires. Her family was originally Southern farmers, and her grandfather, the second son, was a remarkable man. In the last war, he was the first to predict the enemy’s movements from the smoke from a boiling pot and volunteered to reconnoiter the area. He risked his life to bring back information on the enemy, leading Rynegard to a great victory. For his services, he received a viscountcy and the surname of Oberle, despite being a commoner, and moved to the eastern knight’s domain.

After receiving the Oberle territory, it prospered under her grandfather, who ran it soundly, but it began to tilt when he died when Cecille was very young and the head of the family was replaced by her father.

The current head of the family is a spendthrift and has taken to funding the administration of the estate for his own amusement. The opinions of Cecile and other family members and vassals were rejected, and as a result, the estate’s finances were constantly on fire.

Then came the famine three years earlier. With little or no reserves, the Oberle estate was in dire straits and turned to the Jungks, who were its donors. Her grandfather was the commander of one of the armies to which he belonged, and the previous head of the Jungk family, so the two families were related.

In return for his support, the family offered Cecille, who was only 13 years old. When Edmond was invited to Oberle’s estate, he initially did not take kindly to the offer of the petite, skinny girl as his wife. But by chance, he catches a glimpse of Cecille’s sister, who is back home for the birth of her child, and changes his mind.

She was Edmond’s ideal of a woman of flesh and blood. He yearns to take her sister as his wife, but no matter how much he is a Count, he cannot take away a married woman. Edmond despaired, but the idea that perhaps her sister Cecile might grow up as well came to mind, and he was ready to accept the offer. This engagement was widely publicized as a『beautiful story』in which a great lord, unable to see the poverty of his parishioners, took his daughter as his wife.

The wedding ceremony took place, and the Oberle territory managed to pull itself out of the crisis with the help of support. Cecille, too, as a daughter of a noble family, decides to become a member of the Jungk family for her parents’ sake. However, her resolve is cruelly shattered on her wedding night with her husband. Edmond snickered at the skin that a thirteen year old girl had exposed in order to be ready to receive his wife, and went to bed without even touching her. He left her with one incredible statement,「I’ll hold you when you’re like your sister.」

Cecille, who had been subjected to the greatest humiliation as a noblewoman and a woman, swore from the bottom of her heart. She will never allow that man to get under her skin again. She never wants to grow from what she is now, lest her fingers move and she be folded into the vile arms of such man.

Perhaps her desire was well received, for even now, three years later, her appearance has hardly changed at all. Edmond had completely lost interest in her, and she had also given up on her husband.

Yet there was a reason why they could not separate. For Cecille, it is for the family home where her young brother remains, and for Edmond, it is for the outside world. The Jungks would be a source of ridicule for abandoning Oberle’s daughter, who brought information that was the greatest factor in the Jungks’ first success in the Great War, and the Jungks would be shamed for it.

Thus, despite being newlyweds for three years, the couple’s marriage had grown cold.

「I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling well. Excuse me.」

Cecille took a slight sip of her food and then sat down. The parent and child, without batting an eye, continued to talk about the insult to the royal family. She said nothing more and quietly left the dining room. However, when she looked at Edmond’s condition today, her eyes were filled with a new determination.

◆

The next day. In front of Edmond, who was relaxing in the reception room, Osby was reporting on the progress of the craft.

「The quotidian is generally successful. Although not widely believed by the locals in Clanetta, merchants and others who visit Clanetta territory to buy grain bring back rumors, which seem to be spreading in other territories. The fact that the country is a breadbasket that can be exported has been a setback this time around.」

「Ohh! Okay. So what’s next?」

Edmond, in a better mood, asked what his next move would be, as he was sure it would annoy Clanetta’s daughter, who was resentful that she had been humiliated. Osby utters his dastardly plan with the smile of a good-natured merchant.

「Now it is time to move our troops in earnest. Rumors are now beginning to be heard in the royal capital and other territories directly under our control. Next, I will send more troops to the capital and this count’s territory to speed up the spread of the rumor.」

「Why increase the number here too?」

「To avoid any suspicion of the Count’s behavior.」

「…Hmm.」

When filing charges, Edmond did not seem to understand very well that it would be unnatural if rumors did not spread even in his own territory. Osby pretends not to notice and proceeds with the story.

「The Count rises to his feet just as word spreads through the royal capital and the royal family hears about it. Hearing the rumors of rebellion in the Clanetta territory, even in her own territory, and the heartrending appeals of the good people who had fled from the preparations, she became a young noblewoman driven by a sense of loyalty.」

「But rumors alone won’t help. The Crown Prince bypassed the ball earlier, too, because he allowed it to happen.」

「Rest assured. Our operatives in Clanetta have already suppressed some of the acts that could be used as evidence in a lawsuit.」

Osby nodded emphatically to Edmond, who was reluctant to stand on the basis of rumor alone.

「What do you mean, for example?」

「Guidance on self-defense actions in urban and suburban areas. The constant supply of『alcohol,』a chemical that is effective against wounds. They have also developed a mysterious tool called『gunpowder,』to ward off beasts, and even if their original purpose is correct, they can still use it to prepare for war.」

「But even those things may not be sufficient as evidence if you give a clear reply as to their original use.」

「This is what we are preparing for. This is where we can make the most of our decision to make Elizabeth the ringleader of the rebellion against Clanetta.」

After doing so, Osby gave three reasons why he had started the rumor that the daughter was the ringleader and not the Duke of Clanetta.

The first was for the purpose of increasing credibility, since she was the one who raised her hand to the royal family, even though she was allowed to do so.

The second reason is that the invention was made in Eliza’s name.

「Alcohol and gunpowder seem to be recognized in the Clanetta territory as having been invented by the lady of the house. She has several other accomplishments, but she was probably just a foil before marrying into the royal family. It seems to have been successfully ruined by the uproar of the person herself.」

「Such a thing could never be done by such a short-tempered woman.」

They let out an unbearable sneer. But Edmond was unaware that the taunts of the man in front of him were directed at anyone other than the one he was thinking of.

The third and final reason given was that she was only a 14-year-old lass.

「If the earlier evidence were presented to the royal family, Elizabeth, who was considered responsible for the development, would have to face an inquisition. The nobles’ law of this country states that no representative may be appointed in matters of national security. In other words…」

「So the guy who is just a paladin has nothing to answer for and suspicion grows.」

「I am sure you are correct, sir. Regardless of the royal family’s intentions, the power of a suspected Clanetta will surely be diminished in the eyes of the other lords.」

「Excellent work, Osby. At last our long-cherished wish has come true!」

Osby bowed deeply, condescendingly, to Edmond, who was knocked to his knees. And so they began to work out their strategy for the hearing.

Even Edmond and Osby were almost certain of victory at this time. But they had one major oversight. The duchess, whom they thought was the weak point that would destroy Clanetta, was in fact their most powerful enemy.