Hmm.
He was in an exceedingly foul mood. He could not focus on his duties as lord.
Of course, the Chief Administrator handled the territory's overall affairs, including reviewing documents.
Count Leonard himself merely listened to condensed explanations and stamped his seal.
Even then, he only half listened.
‘There is no way it stayed quiet.’
The reason his mood was so foul was not solely Viscount Rehalt's cunning scheme. He only needed to make the man understand his position during the territorial war.
The real problem was the bastard who had become the Personal Knight of his only daughter. Left to his temper, he would have forbidden the man from even approaching Ria, but circumstances had forced his hand.
No matter what, the fact remained that Ron was the benefactor who had saved his daughter.
Even so, he could not stand the thought of some grown man hovering around his daughter every day.
His displeasure was why he had approved such an extraordinary promotion.
Ron had become a Full Knight faster than average, and he had even been granted a surname normally reserved for Intermediate Knights.
No matter how great his contribution, it was exceptional preferential treatment.
The knight order should not have been so lax that a man who had only just become a Full Knight could swagger around unchecked.
By now, some problem should have broken out in the Knight Hall. Yet rather than the incidents and accidents he had been waiting for, it was as still as a quiet lake.
Though he had strictly forbidden disputes within the knight order as lord, they were simply watching an unreasonable promotion pass without protest.
‘It was not like this in my day.’
Count Leonard had grown frustrated as the silence continued for nearly half a month.
‘He truly is no ordinary bastard.’
He was the man who, rather than yielding in the conference room, had driven the Count himself into a corner.
Come to think of it, he was astonishingly impudent. So why was everything so quiet? It was strange for someone with that personality to remain docile.
‘Crimson is out.’
The Commander separated public and private matters cleanly. Even under the Count's command, he was not the sort to promote Ron if his ability was insufficient.
Moreover, since Radon had raised him from childhood, there was no issue with his background.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
Ria had said she wanted Ron as her Personal Knight because she needed a master to teach her swordsmanship.
Whether he taught her properly was not important. Female swordsmen existed, but unless they trained systematically from childhood, there were limits to what they could achieve.
Even so, he should at least pretend.
If Ria had so much as swung a sword in the sword-training grounds, the Count could have used that as a pretext to strip Ron of his qualifications as Personal Knight.
For half a month, however, Ron had entered Ria's room and remained quiet.
Judging by the considerable amount of food carried inside each time, the detestable bastard was clearly consuming House Leonard's provisions without fail.
‘What if rumors spread?!’
What if word got out that she spent all day in a room with a fully grown man?
Would that not ruin her marriage prospects?
‘That would be good...... Hm?’
He did not want to send her away even when the time came, yet knew that he must.
Such was a father's sorrow.
The one fortunate point was that the bastard arrived exactly on time and left exactly at quitting time. His schedule was far too diligent and limited to daylight hours for him to harbor impure intentions.
‘What an easy life!’
It deeply irritated him that the bastard lived so comfortably. Had Ron stayed in the Knight Hall, he might have had problems with his colleagues or seniors.
Furthermore, the Count had no idea what he did in his daughter's room all day. It seemed he merely killed time and went home once work ended.
‘If he has been deceiving Ria.’
I'll have that bastard!
The Count had waited half a month to observe his skill and aptitude, but since Ron never came out, it was now difficult even to question his qualifications.
‘When her father is right here.’
The strongest swordsman of House Leonard stood beside Adelia. Why did she need a Personal Knight at all?
Until now, she had not needed to learn swordsmanship, but if she had to, it would look better for her to learn from her father.
‘You had better produce results, bastard!’
The strongest knight House Leonard had to offer, Arman Leonard, stood ready.
***
Hmph.
There was a girl glaring with breaths slightly harsher than ordinary breathing and a peculiar look in her eyes.
She had brown hair and distinct yet cute features, making her resemble a slightly sulking she-cat.
She expressed every ounce of displeasure through her large eyes, but it had no effect at all. Someone with a weak heart might have half-fainted from the cuteness.
She was Remian, Adelia's Personal Maid.
She was sixteen.
Having grown up beside Adelia since childhood, the two were like sisters. Her efforts to protect that elder sister from a scoundrel were admirable.
Even under Remian's sharp glare, Ron displayed his usual irritating smile.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You're asking because you don't know?!”
“I don't.”
“You think you'll get away with doing this to the young lady?!”
“So you're going to spread rumors?”
“......When did I say that?!”
“Then how are you going to punish me? If this becomes known, the young lady's standing will plummet. And if Remian, who's like a little sister to her, is the one who caused it, how heartbroken would the young lady be?”
Remian puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
Tears looked ready to spill from her enormous eyes at any moment.
‘Ah, she still didn't cry today.’
Unexpectedly, Remian was quite tough. Judging only by her appearance, she should have burst into tears.
When one got down to it, being too cute was also a problem.
It made him want to tease her whenever he saw her.
Ron maintained his innocence.
POUT!
Remian was furious that he kept teasing her, but she could not bring herself to reveal the truth.
Half a month ago, she had fainted because of the young lady. Even if it was training intended to strengthen her, remembering how she and the young lady had suffered while removing the terrible smell still made her shudder.
A smell engraved into the soul, perhaps?
Moreover, it had not ended after one day, but continued for half a month. By now, both the smell and the waste expelled from her body had decreased greatly, but the young lady's suffering was still beyond description.
Watching from beside her was already this painful, yet the man responsible was smiling.
He seemed to enjoy the young lady's suffering, which made Remian angry. She wanted to tell the Count and have Ron severely reprimanded, but.
‘How am I supposed to say it with my own mouth?!’
If rumors spread, she would clearly be remembered as the maid who ruined the young lady's marriage prospects. It could never become known. If anything, Remian was in a position where she had to sew Sir Ron's mouth firmly shut with a needle.
“I'm thirsty.”
“Go get a drink yourself!”
“Your lady's lifesaving benefactor is asking for some water, yet you're so cold. I never knew the young lady's Personal Maid was this sort of person. If I could at least wet my throat, my lips might become a little tighter as well.”
“......Fine, I'll bring it!”
She wanted to deny reality, but Remian did have a conscience. Separate from her anger, the fact that Ron had saved the young lady from assassins had not changed.
Even so, he ordered her around at every opportunity.
While the young lady suffered with her entire body, Remian had been reduced to cleaning up after the culprit.
Remian seethed.
Fine. Say she understood all of that.
But how could he ask something like this?
“What does Karen like?”
“How should I know?”
“True, Remian is too young to know. I said something inappropriate.”
“I know everything I need to know.”
“What good does knowing do when there is nothing impressive about you at all?”
“What are you even talking about? And what's with that look?”
“That is the world of adults.”
They were only four years apart.
In this era, it would not have been strange for someone Remian's age to marry and have children. Being treated as though she were some ignorant little girl made her blood boil.
More importantly, with the young lady and herself right there, he was interested in another maid. It was behavior that forgot his duty as a Personal Knight.
Remian's mood worsened for no particular reason.
“I'm not that different from Karen!”
“If that comforts you, I'll say it as much as you like.”
Karen was the maid Ron unofficially had his eye on, a woman of unbelievable height and curves. Even without exercising, she easily surpassed a fitness model.
Children could step aside. In another world, a woman should naturally possess Karen's maturity.
However, since she belonged to the Countess's household, he had few opportunities to approach her. He had instructed his seniors to keep any bothersome bastards away from her, but.
‘This is difficult.’
In his previous lives, he had never needed to approach anyone. Families, sects, and factions desperate to form ties with him had been everywhere. In the end, every prospect had been little more than a political marriage for the sake of the world.
“Should I have shown her money first?”
“What woman would like it if you shoved money in her face without warning?!”
“Want 1 gold?”
“......No!”
Remian reproached herself for wavering before the temptation of money. She should have refused immediately the moment he asked. She had fallen for that wicked man's scheme. Her face flushed red with shame.
“Want 10 gold?”
“......No!”
“You seem to like money.”
“I do not!”
“Our Remian is someone who views gold as nothing more than a stone.”
“Do not casually call me ours!”
Oh.
She seemed careless, yet she could be sharp.
“I wanted to give it to you because you're like a little sister, but I'll respect your resolve.”
Ten gold was not a small sum to claim she felt no lingering regret.
A maid's wages differed drastically from a knight's. Ten gold would be more than enough to buy everything she had been unable to purchase and do everything she had been unable to afford.
“My little sister is the same age as you. I'll introduce you sometime.”
“No thanks! Who said I wanted to meet her?”
“What a shame. She is a treasure Sir Ternoar only managed to obtain late in life. If you do not want to, then it cannot be helped.”
“I'll meet her! Fine, I'll meet her!”
“Ah, Eshula is very shy around strangers. My apologies.”
“......(SNAP!)”
Remian was a girl worth teasing.
Time flew whenever he chatted idly with her. The value of the enjoyment was entirely different from spending time with sweaty bastards in the Knight Hall. A person's yin and yang truly needed to remain in harmony for mental well-being.
May every day be like today.
Moreover, she was enjoyable both to tease and to teach.
It was a peaceful life at work.
TREMBLE, TREMBLE!
Adelia was in the middle of training and therefore in no position to answer. The way she managed her gaze had improved compared to before, so the results of the training were certain.
Apparently displeased by that, Remian asked.
“How long are you going to force the young lady through this barbaric training?”
“At least a month.”
TREMBLE!
Her ears were still keen. Adelia, groaning in pain, began to convulse.
There was no need to worry about Qi Deviation, however.
After carefully examining Adelia's body, Ron perfectly controlled the intensity according to the flow of qi. She could continue training without faltering under any circumstances.
‘How can you treat the young lady this roughly?!’
It was a reality Remian could not accept.
When a man dealt with the young lady, trust, respect, and reverence should have been the basics. No matter how much this was training, Ron showed no respect at all and genuinely handled her like a new recruit in the knight order.
‘Why is this ridiculous training actually effective?’
It was clearly some bizarre training that made her shit through her skin, yet the young lady's body was changing.
After Ron criticized her for lacking faith, Remian had tested it by arm-wrestling the young lady.
The result had been a devastating defeat.
A maid naturally developed muscles in her arms while performing all sorts of work. Moreover, Remian had used both hands, yet she still could not defeat the young lady's one hand. As the days passed, Adelia went from using one hand to four fingers, then three, then two, and now even one finger was difficult to oppose.
‘How can this be possible?’
She could not understand how such monstrous strength emerged from the delicate arm of a young lady who looked incapable of killing even a single ant.
TAP-TAP-TAP!
Ron released Eight Extreme Hells.
The allotted time had ended, and an uninvited guest was approaching. At times like this, it was best not to provide the source of trouble.
Novels often handed over an excuse to advance the plot, but what was the point of possessing Qi Sense if one was only going to boil it into soup?
He might not be an absolute being, but neglecting his surroundings would still be a problem. In truth, when an overpowered character failed to notice someone approaching, it had to be deliberate.
‘It was about time he came.’