Ch.193Central Authority (3)

“Did you enjoy the gathering, Your Majesty.”

Leclerc, who had remained in the palace without going home after the banquet, welcomes me.

“Ah, Leclerc. Have you recovered?”

During the recent palace invasion, Leclerc, who happened to be on duty, was injured while urgently trying to escape. Given his advanced age, it’s understandable that even running is difficult for him now.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I merely sprained my ankle and knee without any external wounds. You’ve given me far too generous a leave compared to my injuries, especially when you must be so busy.”

“No, a bone dislocation at your age is a serious injury. Even if it seems healed on the outside, it could be festering inside, so you need plenty of rest.”

According to him, he couldn’t just rest at home during such a busy period, claiming that a sprained ankle wouldn’t interfere with his desk work. He tried to come to the palace, but I forcibly prevented him from doing so.

No matter how capable Leclerc is, I can’t keep making him work when he’s both elderly and injured.

He was already an elderly man with wrinkles when I first entered the palace, and now, about 20 years later, he must be even more frail.

“I’m grateful for Your Majesty’s kindness. My injury has completely healed, and the leave period you granted has ended, so I intend to return to my duties starting today.”

“Is that so? I’d like to tell you not to overdo it, but… well, I’ll be counting on you. I’ve tried to distribute the workload among other officials as much as possible, but there are still matters that only you can handle, so this is good timing.”

The leave I forced upon Leclerc was minimal. I meant it as a minimum, suggesting he could rest longer if he still felt pain or discomfort, but Leclerc insisted on taking only the minimum sick leave.

Sigh… I really don’t understand why he works so hard.

I’m not one to talk, but at least I work for my country and my family. From what I can see, Leclerc doesn’t seem to have any reason to keep working like this.

Well, I’m grateful if he wants to work diligently of his own accord.

“I’ve got some troublesome matters from the recent banquet. With Leclerc here, we can resolve these issues well.”

“…So you are aware that they are troublesome matters.”

“Aware? The ban on private armies was something you agreed to as well, wasn’t it?”

But suddenly Leclerc says something strange.

He’s speaking as if I acted recklessly without any thought. What’s this about? You agreed to it too.

“That’s not what I meant, Your Majesty. I’m referring to how you threatened the nobles with soldiers and forced them to swear loyalty to you on the spot.”

“Hmm…?”

What is he talking about?

Threatening nobles with soldiers? I never did such a thing.

“…Did you not surround the palace with soldiers, bring in Lord Simon, and intimidate the nobles to pressure them?”

“What…?”

He’s criticizing me for surrounding the palace with soldiers? Isn’t that something that had to be done?

It hasn’t been long since a major incident occurred where the palace was invaded because we didn’t have enough soldiers guarding it. Reducing security instead of increasing it is not an option.

Moreover, many high-ranking nobles attended the banquet, even if only nominally. Strict security is only natural.

As for Simon and intimidation… I don’t understand what he’s talking about.

Since Simon is a lower noble, he couldn’t attend the banquet with many high-ranking nobles present, so he strongly insisted on supervising the palace security instead, and I let him do so. What pressure is he talking about?

[Your Majesty! I will not disappoint you with the task you’ve entrusted to me!]

[Good, work hard. Many high-ranking nobles are coming, so security must be especially tight.]

[…Yes!!]

Thinking about it now, he was truly a strange fellow.

It was just supervising security, yet he trembled with an expression of deep emotion as if I had entrusted him with some grand mission.

With Aras’s strong recommendation and his many achievements so far, his abilities should be fine, but I have slight doubts about his mental state… Well, it can’t be helped. As long as he does his job well.

“…I apologize, I seem to have been mistaken.”

While I was recalling my meeting with Simon, Leclerc suddenly closed his eyes tightly and then apologized to me, saying he was mistaken.

This isn’t a sincere apology. It’s just a perfunctory apology made out of resignation and a desire to avoid further entanglement.

What’s with him suddenly? It’s quite annoying.

The claim that I pressured the nobles with guards sounds plausible enough, but that wasn’t my intention in deploying the security.

Even Simon just peeked into the banquet hall when it got too noisy, wondering what was happening.

“…Well, you’ve been away for five weeks, so you might not be fully aware of palace affairs. There’s a lot of accumulated work, so please do your best.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Sigh, I don’t know.

There’s no point in saying more since he doesn’t seem willing to listen, so I’ll just let him think what he wants.

……….

“My Lord, a servant sent by Duke Flanders has arrived.”

“Tell him I’m sick and send him away.”

“But…”

“Say I’m deathly ill with a local disease from traveling so far and don’t want to see anyone.”

“…Yes, My Lord.”

This is chaos.

That’s the seventh time already.

They must know I won’t meet with them, so why do they keep knocking on my door instead of giving up?

‘…Though I can understand why.’

They probably want to meet me at any cost and cry out, asking what on earth I’ve done.

Since I led the atmosphere by swearing new loyalty to the King and declaring I would stay in Dijon until the dissolution of the Aquitaine army was complete, others had no choice but to follow my lead.

Those at the banquet surely planned to make a perfunctory oath of loyalty and then return to their territories, where they would stall for time or build a faction against the King, but my unexpected action made that impossible.

“The servant has left some letters and refreshments to be delivered when you recover.”

“Burn them all.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Some even believe I’ve conspired with the King to exterminate the nobles of Lotharing.

In this situation, allowing outsiders into my quarters is… no, absolutely not. Who knows what they might do?

In the world of nobility, where one can meet God through all manner of extraordinary methods, it’s best not only to avoid meeting outsiders and touching gifts they bring but to keep them out of the same space altogether.

Dijon is full of people who want to kill me by any means necessary, so I need to stay inside as much as possible, bide my time until the army arrives, and then quickly flee to Aquitaine.

Knock knock—

“It seems someone else has arrived.”

“Sigh… Send them away as we’ve been doing.”

“Yes.”

Word that I’m not meeting anyone should have spread by now, so why do people keep coming?

Do they not know? Or are they pretending not to know and continuing to intrude?

Sigh, when will the soldiers from Aquitaine arrive—

“Um, My Lord…”

“…What is it?”

Just then, the servant returns shortly after leaving.

Usually, it would take longer due to arguments… What’s going on?

Moreover, judging by that frightened expression, whoever the visitor is, the servant couldn’t even speak properly.

“Didn’t I tell you to send them away? They’ll just say the same things as everyone else, so why bother me?”

“But the visitor—”

“What, is the visitor someone sent by His Majesty?”

“Yes, specifically from Her Majesty the Queen.”

…What?

Her Majesty the Queen… why would she… No, this is no time to be wondering.

“What are you doing? Let them in immediately!”

“But you said not to—”

“That was for servants sent by the nobles of Lotharing!”

“Her Majesty is also a noble of Lotharing… Ah, no! I apologize. I’ll let them in right away!”

What a fool.

Even though I gave such orders, consider who we’re dealing with!

To think of refusing a servant sent by Her Majesty the Queen… Tsk, when I return to Aquitaine, I’ll have to overhaul our servant training methods, borrowing from Dijon’s approach.

“Welcome, I’ve been expecting you.”

“I heard you were ill. Are you alright?”

Shortly after, a beautiful woman enters through the door. With brilliant golden yellow eyes, she exudes mature beauty in all directions.

Hmm… Is this really a messenger? Even if she’s a commoner, she has the looks to secure a position as the wife of a minor provincial noble.

“Ah… I have a slight cold, but nothing to worry about. It seems my servant made a small mistake out of excessive loyalty. I apologize.”

“An apology? One cannot blame actions born of loyalty.”

…But despite her beautiful appearance, her way of speaking is quite impertinent.

Cannot blame? She’s not denying my mistake but pressuring me, and her tone feels subtly condescending.

As someone working as the Queen’s servant, she must have some status rather than being a nobody, but I’m a high-ranking noble who even offered my crown to the King.

Even if she’s here on Her Majesty’s orders as a servant, a servant is still a servant.

A servant serving a powerful master deserves respect, but it’s an entirely different matter when that servant exploits their master’s authority.

I should teach her some manners.

“…Let’s start with introductions, shall we? As you probably know, I am André of Aquitaine.”

“Hehe, yes. I am Chloe of Burgundy.”

…Fuck.