Duke Gloria fixed his gaze steadily on Liselotte’s face.
Would he hold his ground?
‘No way. Yeah, right.’
While Riselotte waited, he reluctantly picked up the pen as if resigning himself and carefully left his signature.
“Given how far you are taking this, I suppose I have no choice.”
With a hollow look, Duke Gloria set the pen down on the table with a sharp tap.
But to him, Ail replied refreshingly, wearing an even more beautiful smile.
“A wise decision. After all, signing is better than losing 100,000 gold while trying to take 10,000.”
“Then let us proceed on that understanding…”
Eager to escape the meeting as quickly as possible, Duke Gloria rose hastily from his seat.
Liselotte immediately raised her hand and said,
“No. Just a moment.”
After receiving the signed agreement, she quietly instructed Ail,
“Could you please escort Duke Gloria outside for a moment?”
“Yes, understood.”
Even before Ail could properly guide him, Duke Gloria’s suspicious gaze swept over them.
“Why are you sending me out? What is the reason?”
Liselotte answered with a bright smile, more radiant than usual.
“The Grand Duke plans to finalize the agreement with a Word of Command. You may listen in yourself if you wish.”
“Such a thing…”
“Cough.” Letting out a dry cough, he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, clearly uncomfortable.
Though only for an instant, his briefly twisted eyelids contained contempt.
Soon, as if nothing had happened, Duke Gloria put on a smile.
“I did not realize you used the Word of Command in that manner. Very well.”
With those words, the meeting room door closed with a tap.
Liselotte calmly gathered the agreements signed by the Northern side as well and courteously handed them to Eren.
“This one.”
“…”
His impassive, well-defined face quietly looked down at her.
Liselotte blinked, then slid the document forward again in front of him.
“Please notarize it!”
After a brief silence, Eren accepted the document and asked back,
“If the agreement is violated, the life of the party to the agreement shall be taken. Will this suffice?”
The voice he spoke in, low and quiet, was chilling.
The clear golden eyes gazing down at the letters on the document reminded her that this was not said as a joke.
Flustered, Liselotte answered, forcing firmness into her gaze.
“That would only make things bigger later. And I’m not confident in defending murder.”
Killing someone solely for breaching an agreement was a whole different matter.
‘Is it because he is used to subjugation…? He says terrifying things so casually.’
Thinking back, even in their mansion, there had often been times when his behavior felt ambiguous.
Like when he rolled up his sleeves in the dining room and cut meat as if he might slice through the plate.
Or when he got caught using the Word of Command.
Aside from that, his conduct was refined and without excess, yet at times he acted as if all etiquette vanished.
Because Liselotte was especially sensitive to matters of propriety, those moments stood out all the more.
Was this a sign of him becoming a hidden villain?
It seemed she needed to explain things in a bit more detail.
Liselotte explained step by step, even folding down her fingers as she spoke.
“Could you make it so the agreement serves as proof that this document was lawfully drawn up with the consent of both parties, and also so that it will not be damaged by water?”
“Will that suffice?”
“Hm…… It would be even better if it couldn’t be torn or burned.”
“That will not be difficult.”
Eren unexpectedly completed the notarization in silence, and with that, the joint negotiation came to an end.
***
“Princess Liselotte. I am the happiest person in the world right now.”
“…It certainly looks that way.”
Ail, who had come out of the conference room, was overflowing with a beautiful smile.
He hugged the joint cooperation agreement to his chest as if it were a certificate of commendation and chattered away while following behind.
“I never knew you were so well-versed in Central Law, Princess Liselotte. Truly, that Masid should have seen this.”
“Ail.”
At Eren’s heavy, terse rebuke, Ail swiftly changed his wording.
“What I mean is that Sir Masid should have opened both eyes wide and engraved this flawless negotiation into his mind.”
He looked as though happiness were spilling out of him, to the point that flowers or even a halo seemed ready to appear behind him.
Liselotte could vividly feel the sidelong glances of House Gloria’s employees as they watched that scene.
Some of those looks were also directed at Eren.
They seemed closer to fear than admiration.
Compared to the generally mild impression of Duke Gloria’s bloodline, Eren’s broad build, squared shoulders, and cold, austere appearance were bound to feel unfamiliar.
‘Perhaps it is because of his eyes…’
Because of that, Liselotte deliberately did not release Eren’s hand, which she had been holding since inside the conference room, as if to make a point of it.
Normally, once negotiations ended, it would be proper to pleasantly share a cup of tea, but unfortunately, Duke Gloria’s complexion had been extremely poor, so she tactfully refrained from asking.
Well, it was their side that had ruined what could have been a smoothly continuing relationship.
“Then we shall meet at the Keilos mansion.”
After offering a proper greeting, Liselotte watched Ail head lightly toward the carriage waiting behind them, and she too climbed into House Keilos’s carriage.
But even after getting into the carriage, Eren did not let go of her hand.
‘There is no one watching now…?’
Sitting awkwardly, Liselotte lifted the hand he was holding and asked,
“Your Highness?”
“Ah, pardon me.”
In that instant, as if suddenly realizing something, he released her hand.
Sitting across from her, he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand as if flustered and turned his head toward the window.
‘What is going on…?’
She had the fleeting impression that his ears had turned faintly red.
When Eren turned back toward her, as if to dispel that thought, there was no great change in his expression.
Since he was a man of few words to begin with, it was not particularly strange.
As she quietly took in the scenery rushing past the window out of consideration.
Unexpectedly, Eren was the first to speak.
“When did you prepare all this?”
The blunt voice sounded as though he were asking out of courtesy.
She could hardly claim to have memorized entire law books, so Liselotte offered a reasonable excuse.
“While you were away on subjugation duty, I got bored and looked through the law books, and when I asked Sir Ail for help, things just kept coming up one after another. He was so motivated that I was the one surprised.”
“Ail seems to follow your orders quite well.”
“He is someone deeply devoted to House Keilos, after all.”
Liselotte casually brought up his loyalty.
Perhaps it could be called the camaraderie between characters who, in the original story, meet their deaths after opposing Eren.
‘Though it is a sense of camaraderie I alone hold.’
Ail was one of the people who viewed the North with a relatively objective eye.
If she dismissed him over something trivial, not only she but Eren as well would come to regret it deeply.
Though he had not yet fallen to darkness, just in case, Liselotte added praise in passing.
“The Northern archives weren’t very user-friendly to me. Everything is high up, and it’s hard to take books down.”
“…It certainly is different in structure from the Imperial Palace’s library.”
“So when I asked Sir Ail, he even marked the important parts in advance!”
This capable!
In truth, thanks to him, she had been able to look through that vast amount in a short time, so it was praise without a shred of exaggeration.
But Eren’s reaction—
“I see.”
It was so indifferent it bordered on apathy.
All he did was briefly meet her gaze with his sharp eyes.
Perhaps this level of praise was not enough to satisfy his temperament.
“Well, Sir Ail is a knight. Complimenting him for finding law books well does sound a bit off.”
Still, Liselotte was fairly confident.
In the original story, Ail was sincerely devoted to House Keilos.
Yet for some reason, ever since getting into the carriage, Eren had done nothing but stare beyond the window.
With that severe expression, it almost looked like he was steeling himself to kill someone.
‘…Is it because he has to go on another subjugation soon?’
It seemed to be his own way of controlling his state of mind.
Then again, thinking back to the fierce Northern knights she had seen before coming to the East, it might be only natural.
‘I should not disturb him.’
Liselotte quietly leaned back, all but sinking into the carriage sofa’s backrest.
