You Really Had to Poke the Bear

My fiancée’s father.

Marquis Crocell smiled and gestured graciously.

“Haha, no need to be so tense. Dismount and let’s talk comfortably.”

“A prospective son-in-law being comfortable? That hardly seems right. I’ll stay as I am.”

Dismounting carelessly here — there was no telling how things might unfold.

At that moment, Marquis Burzak raised his voice.

“Marquis Crocell! What are you saying! That wretch reduced my son Dominic to this state, and……”

“Compose yourself, Marquis Burzak.”

Crocell’s expression shifted. He turned to face Burzak.

“It is the middle of the day, and there are many eyes watching. House Librata is a family under the patronage of the elves. Their sons have come calling. What kind of harsh talk is that? Wasn’t it you who said the Alakas mountain range is governed by the elves?”

“Ugh……”

Burzak let out a pained sound.

Crocell said quietly,

“I’ll handle this. Go and attend to your son.”

“……R, right. Understood.”

The glare Burzak had been leveling at me dropped away.

Which of the two marquises held the upper hand here was perfectly clear.

Crocell looked back at me and said,

“There. Settled? Now, let’s talk at ease.”

“Well then……”

I started to reply when a stir broke out around us.

The crowd that had been murmuring parted.

Through the gap, a golden-haired woman approached.

“It’s Miss Alicia……”

Startled murmurs rippled through the onlookers.

The reaction was understandable. She was that striking.

Long golden hair. A white dress drawn tight, tracing the lines of her figure.

Her legs were wet for some reason, and she carried her shoes in one hand.

A beautiful woman, wet from the knees down, barefoot, holding her shoes as she walked — and yet the crowd watched her not with concern, but with a kind of helpless admiration.

Because her ears were pointed.

Longer than a human’s, shorter than a full elf’s.

“A half-elf?”

The offspring of an elf and a human.

Exceedingly rare in Karakas.

Strictly speaking, they weren’t even recognized as a proper race in their own right——

“Father, it looks like we have guests?”

“……”

The half-elf spoke to Marquis Crocell without preamble.

Crocell paused for just a moment, then gave a short nod.

“Yes. The young master of House Librata, your fiancé, has come to see us.”

“Five years, then? It’s been a while. I didn’t expect to run into you somewhere like this, Rigen.”

Alicia turned to look at me and gave a bright smile.

The kind of smile that would make an ordinary man fall in love on the spot.

She crossed the distance with a light, buoyant step and came to stand beside my horse.

“Father, I’d like a word with my fiancé. It’s been ages. Would you mind tidying things up here?”

“Oh?”

“The garden here is beautifully kept, isn’t it? We were thinking of taking a walk through it together.”

She said it while looking up at me.

Her voice was cheerful. Her eyes were anything but.

I addressed the marquis.

“Then if you’ll excuse us, we’ll go have a quiet chat. Everyone, come along.”

“Pardon? Just the two of you……”

Garul started to say something, but I silenced him with a look.

We needed to leave this spot. Now.

The garden path.

Walking alongside my horse, Alicia let out a long breath.

“God, really…… how did this happen? I thought you’d be the one getting wrecked, and instead it’s Dominic.”

“Did you have money on it?”

“No, I’m just thrilled at an unexpected stroke of luck. Let’s find the pavilion and talk properly.”

Alicia moved ahead with that same light step.

Roderic said quietly,

“……That exchange just now, there was a lot beneath the surface.”

“Marquis Crocell is the one behind all of this. But he couldn’t have us dealt with in front of an audience. And Alicia played her fiancée role in front of everyone to pull us out of there.”

Everyone looked startled at my explanation.

I gave Heinkel a sideways look.

“The one who already knows all the answers doesn’t need to look surprised.”

“I genuinely didn’t expect you to work it out so quickly, Young Master.”

“I’ll explain everything once we’re seated. This place isn’t safe.”

Garul nodded.

“Yes. There are people watching us from all around the garden.”

“Right. Far too many for gardeners, and far too well-built.”

Marquis Crocell would have ordered them to keep watch.

The pavilion.

Built on a slight rise, it was open on all sides — no risk of being overheard.

I stepped in to find Alicia already there, washing her feet.

“Oh, could you wait outside for just a moment?”

From her fingertips, a faint red glow rose and dissolved into droplets of water that ran down her feet.

Simple spirit magic — but it wasn’t something just anyone could do. Only an elf could manage it.

“So you can use at least some of it.”

“……I thought so from the beginning, but you’re still quite rude, aren’t you?”

Alicia shot me a look.

“Half-elves generally consider remarks about their bloodline to be impolite. Though I suppose the trouble you’ve caused me is considerably worse.”

“Is that why you came running out barefoot to help?”

Alicia said plainly, and went back to carefully cleaning between her toes.

She slipped on her sandals, then settled with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands and looked straight at me.

“Honestly, I’d given up. I never imagined you’d come. This changes the odds of turning things around.”

“Save the explanation until everyone’s here.”

The other three had been hovering nearby for some reason. I waved them in, and they finally came and sat.

“……Are we interrupting?”

Garul hesitated.

I clicked my tongue.

“You think we’re having a lovers’ quarrel? We’re here to sort out an absolute disaster.”

“That’s right. I want nothing to do with the engagement either, but on this we’re perfectly aligned.”

Alicia agreed.

Once everyone was settled, I started talking.

“First things first: we are in serious danger here.”

“That part I don’t follow. House Librata has the patronage of the elves, and on top of that……”

Garul glanced at Heinkel.

His meaning was clear — with a dark elf standing as notary, surely no one could move against us.

“Right, that’s exactly why I came with only a small group. Burzak can lose his mind completely and still won’t draw a blade. But Crocell. If it comes to it, he’ll try to kill us.”

That silenced the room.

Alicia gave a quiet nod.

I continued.

“Remember what Crocell said to Burzak earlier, that it was broad daylight, and to restrain himself. He was saying: come nightfall, killing us is an option.”

“I can’t just stand by and watch that, this could spiral into something enormous. Would Marquis Crocell really be that reckless?”

Heinkel said, raising an objection.

I shook my head.

“You have no obligation to protect Garul or Roderic. And once my thirty-million-won contract is fulfilled, you have no reason to protect me either.”

“I still don’t understand. Young Master, Marquis Crocell is your fiancée’s father. Your future father-in-law. Why would he want us dead?”

“Yes, why would he?”

Alicia, who had been listening quietly, suddenly chimed in.

Roderic and Garul stared at her with expressions of pure disbelief.

She was Crocell’s daughter — the daughter of the very man allegedly planning to kill us all.

“Oh, am I being too brazen? You find it strange that the daughter of a man supposedly trying to kill you is sitting here expressing concern?”

“No, it’s just that……”

Alicia gave a poised smile, and Garul fumbled for words and looked away.

I gave her a flat look.

“Why are you derailing the story?”

“Because I ran out barefoot when you arrived, surprised and glad to see you, and now I’ve had time to think. I want to know how much of the situation you’ve actually grasped, and whether you have the ability and the will to resolve it.”

Alicia smiled, and it was as attractive as everything else about her.

“To be clear, ‘glad’ wasn’t in any romantic sense. I mean an unexpected ally from outside. Someone I hadn’t dared to hope for.”

“You want to test me. What happens if I fall short?”

“Then I handle it alone. Whether you live or die won’t be my concern.”

“And if I pass?”

“I’ll put everything I have behind helping you bring Marquis Crocell down. And if we do stop him, you can do whatever you like with me.”

Alicia said it with full conviction. I matched her seriousness.

“Are you loaded? What’s your annual income?”

“……Pardon?”

“How about ten percent of everything you earn going forward — to me? Think of it as a tithe.”

“……?”

Alicia’s expression went completely blank.

Roderic cleared his throat.

“Rigen, explain yourself. This is clearly not a normal situation.”

“I assumed Dominic coming to our estate to pick a fight was Marquis Burzak’s doing. But just now, it was obvious that Crocell holds the real power between them. The one who planned to have me beaten, or worse, through that duel was Crocell.”

Garul looked genuinely baffled.

“……But why? He’s the one who betrothed his daughter to you, Young Master.”

“I don’t know yet. But the mere fact that Crocell is here, at this estate, right now, that’s proof enough.”

“How so?”

“Crocell’s territory is much farther south. We dealt with Dominic yesterday and came here today. Even if Crocell left the moment he heard, he couldn’t have arrived before us.”

Transportation in Karakas was slow at the best of times.

And a marquis traveling in any official capacity would need proper preparations.

I looked at Garul.

“The morning I fought Dominic, before that, we had that sparring session. Do you remember what you said?”

“Hm? That’s a bit……”

“You said Dominic had been making advances on Alicia. That you’d fight him in a duel on my behalf.”

Garul’s face took on a look of genuine emotion.

That’s what people do when someone remembers what they said.

“I appreciate the feeling, but that’s not why I brought it up. How did you know Dominic had been pursuing Alicia?”

“Well, I heard it.”

“Right. And it wasn’t just you. Everyone at Librata manor seemed to know. How did that happen?”

Burzak had sent a letter, yes.

But neither Count Librata nor Roderic was the type to go around broadcasting it.

So where did the knights and household staff hear it? From whom?

Roderic made a pained sound.

“……Don’t tell me someone deliberately spread the rumor.”

“Yes. The gossip reached us far too quickly.”

Rumors travel fast — but they still need time to get moving.

I added,

“Word gets back to us that Alicia and Dominic have something going on, but no one knows Marquis Crocell is already at Burzak’s estate? That doesn’t add up.”

“……You’re right. Of course. They planted the rumor about Dominic and your fiancée to bait you into coming here!”

Roderic’s face actually changed color as he said it.

I nodded.

“Yes. The idea was to make me angry enough to storm over here myself. But as it happened, I was in bed at the time.”

Recovering from the aftermath of the mana potion.

I laid out the full picture.

“Crocell expected me to come charging in, furious. When I didn’t react, he pushed Dominic out the door and sent him over instead.”

Then I turned to Heinkel.

“You knew all of this the entire time and said nothing.”

“Haha.”

“You had no particular obligation to tip me off, did you, you secretive little friend.”

“If we’d been friends, I’d have told you everything.”

“My only friends are the kind you sleep with. Men don’t qualify.”

Heinkel was not my ally, and he was not a part of House Librata.

He would defend my life with his own until my contract was fulfilled — that much was certain.

But in the end, the interests of the dark elves came first.

I clapped my hands to bring everyone back to the point.

“Right. Put the engagement out of your minds entirely. Crocell is an enemy who is targeting House Librata.”

“……”

“Crocell’s original plan was to use Dominic to kill me, or at the very least to destroy me beyond recovery. That plan has fallen apart. He’s deciding right now whether to try again.”

“Then shouldn’t we leave immediately? This place is dangerous!”

“Hey. Why did we come here?”

I looked at Garul seriously.

“To collect the money. We collect it and then we go.”

“Y, Young Master. Even so, this is far too dangerous. There must be over fifty soldiers in this estate alone……”

“As I said, Crocell is still weighing his options. And with the elves’ patronage and Heinkel here, he can’t kill me in the open.”

I turned to Roderic.

“I’m going to need you to do something, Roderic. Go back to Librata manor and tell the count everything.”

“Me?”

“I can’t go myself. If I try to leave this estate……”

I glanced around the pavilion.

“There’s no one visible near here, but Marquis Crocell will have given orders to stop me the moment I try to walk out. Whereas if I stay and send you, he’ll let you go.”

“What if I send someone else……”

“There’s no one suitable. The count needs to know what’s happening. That alone will keep Crocell from making a rash move.”

“But you…… What about you?”

Roderic said it with undisguised concern.

I answered steadily.

“I’ll be fine. I’m told I’m reasonably easy on the eyes.”

“……”

“That was a joke. As I said, Crocell can’t move against me so easily. And once the count knows, even less so.”

Roderic understood, but he hesitated.

The look of a soldier ordered to fall back to the main camp while leaving a comrade at the front.

I spoke to him the way I used to speak in the old days, standing at the frontlines as emperor — without room for doubt.

“You need to go now. Every moment we wait makes this more complicated.”

“……Right. Understood.”

Roderic stood and put a hand on my shoulder. He said it quietly, with worry in it.

“I’ll ride back immediately and tell Father everything. Then I’ll come back with knights and soldiers. Stay safe until then, Rigen.”

“The maidens of this estate had better watch themselves. I’ve finally arrived.”

“You, you……”

Roderic stared at me, caught somewhere between exasperation and disbelief.

Your fiancée is sitting right next to you, that look said.

Naturally, I didn’t care in the slightest.

Roderic wouldn’t feel easy about leaving me here alone. So I had to make it look like nothing — like I was fine, like it was nothing.

For the sake of the man riding out to save my life, a fiancée I’d barely exchanged words with was the least of my concerns.

“What, is there some woman you’re reluctant to leave behind too, Roderic? Dragging your feet about heading home?”

“You, you……”

“If not, get back to the estate and save me. I’m terrified, I tell you.”

“……Hopeless.”

Roderic had been on the verge of a lecture. My shamelessness dissolved it into a reluctant, wry smile instead.

At that moment, Heinkel rose from his seat.

“I’ll accompany you as far as the gate. With me alongside, no one will try to stop you.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Because I was caught pretending not to know things I knew. I thought I’d try acting decent for once and see if it helps my standing.”

“You had no standing to begin with, and now it’ll become active dislike. But thank you all the same.”

I said it with a smile, and Heinkel smiled back.

Roderic and Heinkel left.

I let out a breath and settled back. Alicia spoke.

“You’ve changed.”

“Men change easily. Particularly in certain anatomical regions — very elastic.”

“……”

“What? Something to say? From the daughter of the man trying to kill me?”

Alicia let out a breath, then bowed her head with quiet formality.

“I’m sorry, Rigen Librata. House Crocell has wronged House Librata deeply in all of this.”

“Does that mean I passed your test?”

“……Yes. Five years have made you unrecognizable. You’ve read this situation precisely and handled every step of it correctly. You’re considerably more capable than I am.”

Alicia looked at me and gave a small nod.

A faint smile.

She took both of my hands in hers.

“Rigen Librata, I trust you, and I want to stand beside you. Please, help me stop Marquis Crocell.”

“Whether I can trust you, I’m honestly not sure.”

I withdrew my hands and pressed her directly.

“I can see that Marquis Crocell is after my head, but why? Is he planning to stick a flower in my severed neck and display it somewhere?”

“……”

My words made Alicia visibly recoil.

Apparently she had nerve, but she was raised gently.

She had just opened her mouth to answer when she spun around sharply.

Approaching footsteps.

Marquis Crocell dismounted and walked into the pavilion.

“Roderic seems to be gone?”

“He had a sudden stomachache. Had to find a bathroom.”

“Haha, there are bathrooms in this estate as well.”

“He said he can’t manage with anything but his personal commode.”

Crocell’s expression went momentarily blank.

He had clearly come intending to make something of Roderic’s disappearance — and now he had nothing to grab onto.

Brother! Your honor is safe in this younger brother hands!

“……W, well. A man’s bathroom preferences are important, I suppose. The first emperor did the world a great service in that regard.”

“The invention of proper paper — a true revolution in civilization.”

That was enough of an opening.

I looked at Marquis Crocell and made my request.

“Would you happen to have a room to spare? Since I’ve had the fortune to see my fiancée, and to meet you as well, I’d like to spend the night here before heading back.”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous? Marquis Burzak will be bearing quite a grudge against you.”

“Haha, couldn’t Marquis Crocell protect me, just as you did earlier?”

Crocell made a show of deliberating, then broke into a broad smile.

“Of course! You’ll be my son-in-law one day! I stake everything I have on your safety!”

“Haha. My gratitude, Marquis.”

Two men, each hiding everything behind a smile.

Crocell was planning to do exactly what he intended — and at a time of his choosing.

And I would play along until the moment to strike back arrived.

You really had to go and poke a man who just wanted a quiet life.

Well then. Every bit of it — I’ll give it right back.