Ch.817Unimaginable Identity

# The Administrative Governor’s Escape

I understood his feelings, but it was something I couldn’t tolerate.

My plan to establish the foundation of the country and then dump all the actual work onto experts seemed about to fall apart.

That would be troublesome.

As the saying goes about putting the right person in the right place, people are most efficient when they focus on what they do best. What I do best isn’t running a country, but drenching battlefields in blood.

In other words, having me trapped in the palace managing state affairs was like using an aircraft carrier as a cruise ship.

No, perhaps even worse than that.

Even in my original world, while I had some talent for war games and action games, whenever I played games about running countries, cities, or amusement parks, everything would collapse.

Nations would fall to economic crises, famines, and wars; cities would burn to the ground; and amusement parks would suffer accidents that killed all the tourists.

I doubt such things would happen here, but still, by my own judgment, I lacked the qualities needed to run a massive organization without problems.

So the best course of action for Hestella would be for me to focus on being a slaughterer on the battlefield, while selecting capable people in administration, politics, and diplomacy to handle running the country.

And… the Administrative Governor who fled because he didn’t want to work was handpicked by Ludwig, which meant he was far more competent than any random person. He was too valuable to just let go.

“…Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue, tapped my cigarette ash into the ashtray, and issued orders to resolve this situation.

“For now… among the people I brought, there’s a woman who covers her face with a veil, right? Have her take over the Administrative Governor’s duties. She’s a talent vouched for by Emperor Leopold, so she should have the necessary abilities.”

Eleonora should be able to fill the Administrative Governor’s position somehow. She might not have been a queen, but she was a queen consort.

Surely she must have learned more than just how to bear a prince during her dozen or so years in the Kingdom of Panam.

I’d need to keep her under surveillance since she wasn’t entirely trustworthy, but there was no better candidate available.

[That’s a good decision, coming from you. Rather than leaving a suspicious person as a mere advisor, it’s easier to catch their tail by giving them important responsibilities.]

Hersella agreed that this would be the better approach.

“What shall we do about the Governor who fled?”

“Find him and bring him back alive. I want to see what kind of person dares to throw a resignation letter at me and run away.”

While we’re at it, I should correct his grand delusion. That naive belief that paradise awaits wherever he’s fleeing to.

As long as I am Queen of Hestella, the word “voluntary resignation” will not exist in my country.

Even Leopold is steadfastly enduring his duties as Emperor despite his obvious reluctance, and Lord Wien is working so diligently I worry he might die from overwork.

Even Floheta, despite clutching the back of her neck and shedding tears of blood, never abandoned her responsibilities as Tower Master.

In such circumstances, how dare a mere administrative official think he can submit a resignation and enjoy an easy life?

He finds it burdensome to act on the Queen’s behalf? Could it possibly be as burdensome as suddenly becoming a queen?

He was originally a civil official in charge of managing territories. I went from being a mere soldier shooting guns on the frontlines to becoming a queen ruling an entire country. If we’re talking about burden, mine is a hundred, no, a thousand times greater.

“If tracking him proves difficult, request assistance from the Adamante Inquisitor.”

If we leave it to Adamante, we should be able to find him without much difficulty.

Finding criminals, capturing them alive, and burning them was precisely the specialty of an Inquisitor.

“However, don’t say we’re tracking a criminal. Rather… yes, explain that we’re looking for a missing administrative official. Otherwise, he might have his limbs severed or be tied to a stake before he’s brought to me.”

“…Yes. I will do as you command.”

Sean nodded.

—-

“That takes care of the Administrative Governor’s escape issue… let’s move on to the next agenda.”

The teacup that had been wafting bergamot fragrance was now empty and growing cold, but I still had many questions to ask him.

Questions that were crucial and central to ruling my country with this place as its capital.

First of all:

“The Landenburg bloodline may have ended… but that’s just the direct line. What about the branch families? Is it true that not a single person remains?”

The House of Landenburg, one of the Twelve Knights’ direct bloodlines, had been cut off with Ludwig’s death.

Ludwig’s two sons died fighting against Orhan’s forces, and after losing his wife as well, Ludwig grew old alone without taking a new wife.

Not only Ludwig’s sons but Ludwig himself met his end at Orhan’s hands, so in a way, Orhan had exterminated one of the Twelve Knights’ houses.

Thanks to that, I was able to become the adopted daughter of House Landenburg and inherit this margraviate. Would it be too impious to call it an inheritance left by the cooperation of my adoptive father and biological father?

Anyway, it was certain that the direct Landenburg bloodline had been cut off.

If there had been any secret illegitimate children, Ludwig would have asked me to protect his family’s bastard instead of telling me to inherit Landenburg.

But what about the branch families?

For a bloodline descended from an ancestor eight hundred years ago, unless they had practiced incest for generations, there should be a considerable number of branch families carrying that blood.

Of course, it seemed the branch families were also controlled to some extent to prevent the Twelve Knights’ bloodline from spreading too widely.

Even after it became widely known that House Median was descended from Rotholandus, no one came clinging to me claiming to be a branch of House Median.

Still, it was hard to believe that there were absolutely no branch families.

If they had been successor houses that rebelled against the Imperial House, they might have been exterminated without leaving even branch families…

But Landenburg had lived grandly for generations as a margrave and prince-elector, so that didn’t seem to be the case.

I stared sharply into Sean’s eyes as I laid out these deductions almost accusingly.

“I mean, there’s always the possibility that by bad luck, all the branch families were wiped out. But… honestly, if that were the case, I don’t think the previous margrave would have grown old quietly without leaving a single child.”

Even if Ludwig had been the most devoted husband in the world… could a head of a great house that had continued for eight hundred years, one of the Twelve Knights, have so irresponsibly allowed his bloodline to end?

I don’t think so.

Even if the Landenburg line ended, the bloodline of their ancestor—one of the Twelve Knights, presumably Berengaria—could still continue, so he might have decided he could grow old as a solitary elder without weighing on his conscience.

“Don’t you think?”

“……”

Sean rolled his eyes, slightly avoiding my gaze while maintaining silence.

He was sweating as if carefully choosing his words, and I patiently waited for him to organize his thoughts and answer me.

And, after a moment:

“…Forgive my rudeness, Your Excellency. I had no idea you would be this perceptive.”

So my words were true after all. Seeing him sigh lightly, suggesting I was wiser than he’d thought.

“Everyone makes that mistake. Just because my fighting style and behavior are barbaric and rough, they think I’m truly as foolish as a monkey. How amusing.”

I smiled proudly and arrogantly like a villainess seeking revenge after a broken engagement, trying to demonstrate that contrary to my widely known image, I wasn’t a barbaric muscle-brain but rather quite intelligent.

[What a liar you are. That wasn’t your own deduction, but something that crazy sorceress woman hinted to you.]

Of course, to Hersella who knew the whole truth, this was nothing but an exasperating farce.

As she sarcastically pointed out, the speculation that Landenburg’s branch family might still be alive wasn’t my own idea but a deduction I reached with Ophelia’s help.

She had said she understood the nobility’s mindset well, and that Ludwig wouldn’t have risked letting the Twelve Knights’ bloodline be cut off without some insurance.

Judging by Sean’s reaction, Ophelia’s deduction was correct.

“I’ll forgive your discourtesy in not telling me a single word about this. I can guess the reason.”

The survival of a branch bloodline would only be an obstacle to me now, so he tried to hide it.

Here I am, without a drop of Landenburg blood, becoming Ludwig’s adopted daughter, taking over this land, and trying to make it the capital of a new country…

If someone with legitimate blood, even from a branch family, suddenly appeared, the succession rights to the Landenburg territory would become extremely ambiguous.

If I had a vicious personality like other nobles, I would have somehow found and exterminated that person before their identity was revealed to the world.

…In other words, I have no such intention.

“I have no intention of harming that person. If you want, I can swear by the Goddess Astraea.”

It was the honest truth without a single lie.

Ophelia advised that finding and silencing him permanently would benefit me…

But I simply thought that if a legitimate successor existed, it wouldn’t be so bad to return the governance of Landenburg after my death.

“So answer me. Who and where is this branch bloodline survivor you’re trying so hard to protect?”

Perhaps he believed in a saint’s oath. Or maybe he couldn’t withstand my increasingly sharp gaze.

Sean wrinkled his brow, let out a deep sigh, and then, hesitating like a sinner in a confessional, revealed the person’s identity to me.

“Well, you see… that Administrative Governor who fled…? He is the head of the only surviving branch bloodline.”

“What?”

I dropped the cigarette I was holding and blurted out in shock.

That bastard was THAT bastard. Literally an identity I couldn’t have imagined.

“No, what the…”

I couldn’t help but laugh incredulously.

That Administrative Governor or whatever. His excuse about being burdened by the role of the Queen’s representative was just that—an excuse. In reality, he had fled because he feared being killed by my hand.

This is ridiculous. Truly.