「 Marijus Carlitz. Forgive me for attending without prior notice. I couldn’t wait any longer. But first, let’s talk to Sir Royce. I can go later 」
He’s an old elf who doesn’t show much emotion.
If he were human, he would actually be more than twice that age, as he looks like he’s over fifty.
He’s from a ducal house,. so that means that he’s higher ranking than Marquis de Blaureite.
But, I hear that the Marquis is among the five great nobles of this country, so I guess he has a higher title but lower status.
Still, he speaks like a nobleman.
The prime minister of a greater country is much friendlier than this one.
This aristocratic attitude takes a little to get used to.
After the introductions were over and we greeted Duke Carlitz, we were asked to sit down by the Marquis.
Gilbert-san’s standing behind us because he’s our escort.
I want him to sit down too, but I need to read the mood.
Euphy and I sat down next to each other, and then the Marquis who was already sitting down, spoke up.
「 Euphilite. I have a lot to talk about. However, first, let’s ask what happened to you so far? 」
「 Indeed. How about we start with- during the war? 」
Euphy’s story began with the war of the Mugdam and Nyhied kingdoms that took place about a year and a bit ago.
Nyhied kingdom tried to use Mugdam kingdom to compensate for its war and tear in the battle with the demons, as a result, Nyhied kingdom showed arrogance and skirmishes broke out, leading to the destruction of her country.
I know that far, but the specifics are new to me.
Euphy’s father, Curtis shot many enemy generals and was killed when an army five times of his approached the castle. Euphy’s mother. Evelyn, was also killed in the siege that followed. Then her brother, Clive, was captured alive and brutally executed later.
People, including me, were looking up, holding back the tears that were about to spill over, and the Duke, who was probably not directly involved, was covering his eyes.
Then, Marquis de Blaureite grits his teeth and sheds tears.
「 Everyone’s done their duty as the King’s sword. It’s a magnificent end to the Adicilton, a man of valor. Shame. I wanted him to live. Curtis, I thought your family’s percepts were to use any means to win. You should’ve lived then 」
Judging from the Marquis’ sadness, Euphy’s relationship with her father must’ve been good.
From the gist of it, he couldn’t stand the contents of the story that the girl was telling him.
Seeing the sadness, Euphy stopped.
「 Sorry. You had such a hard time, and yet I look like this. Continue 」
「 Yes. I’ll continue. After the castle has fallen– 」
The Marquis seemed to have calmed down a bit, so he urged us to resume the conversation, so we resumed after the fall of the castle.
The king who resisted to the end, was beheaded on the spot by the Nyhied kingdom soldiers who broke in, and his relatives were all executed. Thus severing the direct line of the Mugdam royal family.
After the call of the castle, the Nyhied kingdom sent an army to various places, including the Adicilton, which had a fief near the castle.
The Adiciltons who had committed most of their forces to the war, were unable to mount a decent resistance, and they had their castle taken, where Euphy was captured.
However, they weren’t beaten, the Adicilton family, was feared by the Nyhied kingdom as vengeful demons.
First, Euphy’s half-sister, who had infiltrated the eldest son of Duke of Maskiel, a standard war leader, used her excellent looks as a prostitute and assassinated him in his bed-chamber, then the surviving Adicilton knights and siblings avenged themselves on many nobles by using night raids and assassinations without regard to their own lives.
It must’ve been a huge cause of being caught off guard after their victory.
Someone said that the damage was so bad that the Nyhied kingdom withdrew from the royal capital, which they were occupying at that time.
I don’t know how Euphy remained alive the entire time.
I mean. I never heard about half-siblings.
I guess it’s not weird, since he’s a noble and all, I’m just a little surprised.
As a result of such post-war retaliations, Euphy was recognized as dangerous and was sent to the Royal capital of the Nyhied kingdom.
After that, slavery magic was used on her.
She thought that she’d be treated horribly because she was a slave of a defeated country, but the treatment wasn’t as bad as imagined.
She was given the minimum amount of food, clothing, and shelter.
Come to think of it, there were forces within the Nyhied kingdom that wanted to bring down the Duke of Maskiel, or should I say that it was the prime minister. So I guess that was a reward for supporting him?
No, that can’t be.
She’s a problematic piece, but who knows, she’s a beauty, so I guess they thought that people like me would pay a lot and so they treated her better.
After that story, she now talks about how she met me, and the events until this day.
As for this one, I share most of the memories.
However, I can’t help but the frequent admiration for me mixed in the conversation.
Unlike the usual, I’m saying this modestly, but the Marquis has reacted so many times to the discomfort of the words coming out that I was worried about what he might say.
It hasn’t been that long, but the weight of the first half makes it feel like quite a lot of time has passed.
The marquis let out a loud sigh, everyone but me did.
「 That’s a rough time. However, I couldn’t help but want to hear it directly from you. Forgive me for that 」
The reason why Euphy was allowed to speak of most of the details was because it was her duty as a survivor, and for the pretext of meeting with the Marquis.
Even if Gilbert-san tells him the truth, it’s still just a report.
When the Marquis finished grieving, he rang the bell on his desk.
Then, as if they had been preparing from the start, a swarm of maids immediately entered the room with tea utensils in their hands.
A beautiful elf maid group, wonderful.
The maids were snappy, serving drinks and pastries on an empty desk.
I thought this kind of thing should be served from the start, but that wasn’t a conversation you can have while eating snacks. So it must’ve been timed well.
「 We prepared some fragrant tea from the East. It’s a difficult item to obtain. Enjoy it 」
Was it the aroma of the tea that was scented in the room?
When I take my sip, I smell a nice flowery scent.
It smells different, but it’s something like Jasmine tea.
「 Now let’s talk about the future. Euphilite, how do you plan moving forward? 」
The Marquis relaxed his face before speaking to Euphy, who was sipping her cup.