When the Crown Prince learned the cost, he felt terribly sorry.

Making the Crown Prince feel indebted to me in any way would pay off later. He was so upright and just that he couldn’t stand owing anyone a debt.

Meanwhile, even as the Crown Prince was talking with me, his eyes were fixed on Lily. She was currently sandwiched between Hilda and Elisabeth, chattering away enthusiastically.

"Do you like Lily that much?"

The Crown Prince, apparently embarrassed, didn’t answer my question and just turned red. It would be easy to mistake him for someone who fell head over heels at the drop of a hat, but the Crown Prince I knew wasn’t the type to fall for just any woman.

"The moment I first saw Lily, I was reminded of that flower."

"I’m curious. Which flower?"

"Edelweiss. The angel’s flower that descended from heaven."

I’d given Lily the nickname "girl in white" because she loved wearing pure white dresses, but it was true she was pretty enough to be compared to an edelweiss. As long as she kept still, that is.

According to the legend, so many people fell in love with a beautiful angel who had descended from heaven and died climbing the Alps to reach her that the angel, grieving their deaths, asked to be turned into a flower.

It seemed that in the Crown Prince’s eyes, Lily looked like an angel.

I hoped Lily would soothe the Crown Prince’s ravaged heart.

The Crown Prince stepped out to the manor garden to get some fresh air with Lily.

I called over Daniel, who’d been bustling about.

"Daniel. Are the couples I sent settling in well?"

"Yes. Thanks to your special attention, the residents accepted them without too much trouble. Though some are wary of them for being outsiders. Time will sort that out."

"Outsiders. It’s absurd to draw lines when they’re all residents just the same."

"Exactly. If you think about it, aren’t we all outsiders too?"

This was the downside of an insular village environment. In medieval villages, where travel between places was difficult, shunning outsiders was extremely common. Since it was rooted in the environment, time would resolve it.

But if there were still residents who insisted on shunning people for being outsiders, I’d have no choice but to make an example of them. I could only hope that the wealthy farmers were the last residents I’d ever have to punish by my own hand.

In any case, I was relieved that the newly settled residents seemed to be getting along well enough.

The Arzt couple (Stock) had their identities scrubbed clean, but being former executioners and skinners, they still had difficulty mingling with the other residents. However, they’d received a great deal of help from Ralph and Stella.

The most likely culprit behind the murder of Ralph’s grandmother, Lydia of Vintenheim, was circumstantially Prince Louis, but unfortunately it wasn’t something I could pursue, which left me with a lingering sense of guilt.

So helping them settle in well was the best I could do as their lord. They’d already been branded family murderers in their hometown, so going back was impossible.

Upon arriving in Feuzen, Ralph and Stella quickly held their wedding ceremony at Hilda’s arrangement and became an official couple. And Ralph was formally hired as Feuzen’s firearms manager.

I hadn’t yet ordered firearms training for the standing army, but in the meantime, Ralph was put in full charge of firearms management. Since he was essentially managing the most expensive supplies, some retainers had raised concerns about his trustworthiness.

That was why Hans was also put in charge of guarding the warehouse.

The standing army’s other routine duty was guarding the manor under Hans’s orders.

Hans took his role as the manor’s guard captain with a strong sense of mission to protect my assets. In truth, Hans wasn’t the type cut out for war, so it was better to have him guarding the home front without a single gap.

Priscilla, too, was relieved that her husband had been assigned as guard captain rather than moving from one dangerous battlefield to the next. Unlike Ted or Oscar, Hans’s temperament was simply far removed from anything fierce.

I patted Hans on the shoulder as he stood guard at the banquet hall alongside Eisenach.

"I can leave home with peace of mind because you’re here. Good work."

"I’m devoting body and soul to standing guard for you, my lord. Hehe."

Hans had become quite spirited.

This big, retriever-like friend of mine had grown remarkably since marrying Priscilla and become truly dependable. At first, I’d only taken him on as a retainer because he was simply earnest and hardworking.

Sabine, too, had been assisting Hilda alongside Priscilla and was adjusting well to the estate. Sabine was apparently very popular among the young men of the estate, and whenever the subject came up, Daniel would proudly announce that he was her fiancé.

Ted had fully established himself as a training instructor, and Oscar had become the standing army’s commander. Since both were the lord’s retainers, no resident dared defy them. August oversaw them all.

With Hilda managing the estate, the position of estate manager had become largely redundant. If there had been other villages, it might have been different, but with only Feuzen for now, August had relatively little to do.

He was a soldier, not an administrator, and had been running the estate with the help of Chief Wentner all along. So I granted August legitimate authority to command the standing army as a military officer.

"To be honest, the estate management work was overwhelming for me. Without my brother-in-law, it would have been impossible."

"Oh, don’t say that! I did very little. It was entirely thanks to your excellent abilities, brother-in-law!"

Chief Wentner was being modest and heaping praise on his brother-in-law August. Chief Wentner was a fortunate case. He’d grown his wealth at the cost of his father’s death in battle, but was spared punishment because he knew his place.

On top of that, he’d married off his younger sister to August, so his position was quite secure. As long as he continued to help August manage the estate as he had been, the Wentner family would be fine.

As for an administrative officer, a financial officer, and a judicial officer, I planned to carefully vet recommended candidates and bring them in, but I still hadn’t found anyone to my liking. The biggest problem was that I was simply too busy.

I hadn’t even been able to meet the judicial officer candidate the Chief Justice had recommended.

Time just slipped away relentlessly.

Before I knew it, the night had deepened.

Fiel, who had been keeping Viktor and August company for too long, was eventually dragged away by Elisabeth. The highlight was Viktor coldly prying off Fiel’s desperately clinging hand.

"Elisabeth’s goal is to get pregnant. They’ve been married over two years and still don’t have a child, so she’s getting impatient. She’s probably been getting a lot of pressure from her family."

"Hmm, Fiel’s going to be wrung dry every night."

But right now, I was in no position to talk about others.

Hilda’s tender eyes were growing hazy.

She pulled me close and parted her red lips.

"Wolf, I tossed and turned in loneliness every night, thinking of you."

It seemed the time had come to soothe that loneliness.

Ah, my enchanting darling! Tonight’s thrill shall shine as bright as the full moon beyond the window.

Thud!

"...Hold on."

A bad feeling washed over me.

This was definitely not déjà vu.

I laid the puzzled Hilda on the bed and quickly opened the bedroom door. There sat Lily, face beet red, breathing heavily through her nose in excitement, clutching a quill pen and paper in an awkward crouch.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

"This is a golden opportunity to write a love scene!"

Don’t mind me, just keep doing what you were doing! I’m a tree!

A tree, my foot! Lily took a merciless knuckle-rap to the forehead from me and fled to her room in tears.

"Isn’t she just adorable?"

"It feels like I’ve gained a troublemaker of a little sister, so no."

"I’d love it if we had a baby as cute as Lily."

My dearest wife, please don’t say such terrifying things.

One girl in white is more than enough.