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Fortunately for Rahan, Iris's thoughts seemed to flow toward suddenly earning money.
She clenched her fist again, burning with motivation.
“That's right, I also need to buy some peat. Because the summer typhoons are coming soon.”
“Typhoons?”
Rahan, who desperately needed a change of subject, asked back.
“Well, this is the western edge of the Empire. After the wheat is harvested, a small typhoon always comes.”
Iris explained.
Priests are always sensitive to the weather. When the weather is bad, people suffer, and the priests have more work to do.
In Arnsberg, the western edge of the Empire, typhoons always came in the summer. However, a Sun-gazer who visited a few days ago said that a particularly large typhoon would come this year.
“When a typhoon comes, firewood isn't enough. Nothing works without peat.”
It was a natural thing when a typhoon hit; firewood gets wet, or the fire is blown out by the strong wind.
That's why peat was one of the items always kept in stock in the homes of the people in the Arnsberg region. Thanks to that, peat was quite expensive during this season.
“How do you plan to earn money?”
Asking that, Rahan lit the lamp.
A young lady who had intended to be a priest her whole life, wanting to earn money. He almost laughed. Not out of mockery.
In the first place, Rahan had never considered the possibility of her earning money. He was simply curious about how this tiny girl intended to make money.
“The wheat harvest and potato harvest of the monastery aren't far off. If I help with the hired work, wouldn't I be able to earn money?”
Iris looked quite excited.
“And since our cabin has an oven, I think it would be good to bake small breads and sell them. I'm so excited!”
Sure enough, Iris said she had never earned money on her own.
The ways priests earn money are usually fixed, and since she was an apprentice priest, she probably wasn't qualified.
Was that why? As if earning money were some great adventure, the woman counted on her fingers with sparkling green eyes.
“What if I pick flowers and sell them? Or, I saw a place in the forest over there where many mushrooms grow in the spring….”
Feeling that if he didn't stop her now, Iris's ambitions would continue, Rahan smiled and lightly patted Iris's shoulder.
“Unfortunately, none of that will work.”
“Why?!”
“Because it would be a disaster if the daughter of the Achen Ducal House were attacked while selling flowers in the lower village?”
Rahan had said it lightly, but Iris's face turned pale, and she covered her mouth.
Did he say something wrong?
But it was something that had to be said at least once. Rahan narrowed his eyes and continued.
“Speaking of which, a big reason why Grand Duke Lacheize picked me as your husband is for that very reason.”
Even if the kidnapping marriage succeeded, House Achen would never give up on Iris.
The easiest way for them to get Iris back would be to eliminate the new husband. In fact, hadn't Philod Ahen also tried to eliminate Rahan?
But fundamentally, there is something easier than eliminating the husband.
That is to eliminate Iris herself, the legitimate heir to the Elector title. Grand Duke Lacheize considered the possibility of Iris being assassinated as the highest risk.
“If you die, many people will be in a difficult position.”
“…Ah.”
Iris nodded, then suddenly looked as if she had realized something.
“Um, I… there's one thing I want to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Then, wouldn't it be best for the two of us to share a bed, even for that reason?”
Rahan's cheeks stiffened. Why on earth was she returning to that topic again?
* * *
While Rahan was in a predicament.
“Hmm.”
Brezchen, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lacheize.
Grand Duke Yvette Lacheize was looking at a letter brought by a carrier pigeon.
The distance from Brezhen to the Arnsberg region, where Wind Rock Monastery was located, was slightly less than 1 million cubits. It was no exaggeration to say it was almost from one end to the other.
Since it would take at least three days and nights of riding warhorses, Riet and Harris used carrier pigeons.
The content of the letter was simple. Rahan Norwich had succeeded in marrying Iris Achen, and the Imperial maids had confirmed the first night.
“That's unexpected.”
As she folded the letter and burned the end with a candle, her adjutant, Pepin, held out a silver plate and asked.
“What is unexpected?”
“That Rahan successfully spent his first night.”
“Isn't that what you expected when you sent him?”
Pepin asked back with a smile. The reason for the smile was clear. Pepin also knew that Rahan Norwich's nature was quite different from the rumors.
Grand Duke Lacheize also smiled.
“I didn't think that brat was the type who could kidnap a woman and immediately spend the first night.”
Rahan Norwich was rumored to be the greatest playboy and libertine in the Grand Duchy, but the reality was a bit different.
It was a dishonor born from various false accusations and circumstances accumulated on that handsome face.
“Since it was Your Highness's order, I thought he would carry it out with a face like he'd chewed on dung.”
Pepin shrugged. Grand Duke Lacheize tilted her head, rubbing the wrinkles at the corner of her mouth.
“So, he actually delivers when it counts.”
“He was in quite a predicament because of the marriage. Viscount Joan Low visited the Ducal Palace again today, after all.”
“Ah.”
Grand Duke Lacheize chuckled.
It had been a week since the daughter of House Low, desperate to avoid marriage, told her father, ‘Actually, I spent the night with Rahan Norwich.’
Viscount Low had stormed into the Ducal Palace in a rage so great he looked as if he had plucked out his own beard. Unfortunately for him, Rahan Norwich was not at the palace.
Naturally. Grand Duke Lacheize had ordered him to marry.
Of course, the Grand Duke did not answer the Viscount in such a manner. Instead, she ended her three-month seclusion and showed her face.
‘I have been attacked, so I am in no position to grant you an audience.’
Viscount Low had been horrified to see the one-eyed Grand Duke and retreated.
However, apparently still resentful that he couldn't marry off his daughter, he returned to the palace a week later.
Though, of course, Pepin had sent him away again, stating, ‘Her Highness the Grand Duke is currently recuperating.’
“I wonder if Viscount Low realizes. If people are to be married off just because they spent a night with Rahan, Rahan would need to have at least thirty wives by now.”
For two years, the noble ladies of the Grand Duchy had been using Rahan Norwich as a shield to avoid unwanted marriage proposals. Of course, Grand Duke Lacheize had been the one leading that charge. The details were too long to get into, so they were omitted.
Regardless, combined with that gorgeous face and the fact that Rahan himself never denied the rumors, it was only natural that he earned a reputation for being a womanizer.
“He probably knows.”
“Hmm?”
Pepin answered in a sing-song voice while pouring out the Grand Duke's cold tea.
“Viscount Low likely wants to use that excuse to align himself with Your Highness.”
“Aha.”
Grand Duke Lacheize gave a short laugh.
It had already been fifteen years since she ascended to the position of Grand Duke.
When the second princess, then only twenty-five, had received the title, everyone on the continent thought that Yvette Foldenbach—no, Yvette Lacheize—would end there.
Originally, there were three successors to the Imperial family. Among them, the first prince was considered the most likely heir to the throne. This was because, along with the Achen Elector, Marquess Karacal and Margrave Norwich among the seven Electors supported him.
But as time passed, the landscape shifted.
Two years ago, the first prince drowned in the Imperial lake. The prime suspect was the third prince, Prince Elio. However, there was no evidence. The Emperor turned his back on the prime suspect.
Yet, the Electors redrew the board. After much deliberation, they sided with Prince Elio. This happened after it became secretly known that the first prince had an affair with Prince Elio's consort, and that the consort had died while pregnant with a bastard child.
Prince Elio was young and capable. He was only twenty-four. With the consort dead, the seat beside him was vacant. It was no secret that Marquess Karacal was anxious to push his eight-year-old daughter into that position.
In the midst of this, two years ago, Grand Duke Lacheize succeeded in building a monastery of Eridrahan in Til Nebe Cedric.
It was truly a breathtaking feat of diplomacy and skill. To spread the gospel of Eridrahan in a continent of unbelievers!
Naturally, Archbishop Victor, one of the Electors, declared his public support for Grand Duke Lacheize. He was the second to offer support, following the Count Palatine of Bayern, who had fervently supported her since she first obtained the title of Grand Duke.
Of course, until then, many lords merely thought that Grand Duke Lacheize was ‘quite capable.’
However, the tide had truly turned recently.
The current Emperor was nearly seventy and was ailing with all sorts of miscellaneous diseases. It would not be strange for the throne to become vacant at any moment.
At a glance, Prince Elio, who had three of the seven Electors behind him, seemed to have an absolute advantage.
As for Archbishop Victor, the power of the Church of Eridrahan had waned so much that it seemed he had nothing to gain other than the honor of being an Elector.
The title of Elector was attached to the Grand Duchy of Lacheize as well, but the Grand Duke could not exercise this voting right when ascending to the throne herself.
Since the final Elector, Queen Belinda, would side with whoever offered her the most advantage, it was only natural that people's attention focused on the Grand Duke's movements.
In such a situation, Iris Achen appeared.
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