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“2nd Consort!”
The running carriage stopped, and Vera got out of it with Benjamin in her arms. As soon as she saw Elisha, she ran and stood before her.
“So, how was everything?”
Vera nodded sharply at Elisha’s question. Elisha tucked her slightly disheveled hair behind her ears and looked at Blemir.
“Thank you.”
She had asked him to meet the carriage the two were riding in.
“Ask anytime,” Blemir replied as if it was nothing, but how could it be? Neither Elisha nor Blemir himself could not know how much this step was worth.
However, this request wasn’t just to save the face of the new owner of the duchy or to protect them from possible attacks by monsters or rebel groups.
“Have you talked about it?”
“As much as necessary.”
Contrary to Blemir’s confident reply, Vera secretly avoided Elisha’s gaze. On the other side, unless he was in front of Leon, Benjamin’s expression never changed, so one could not refer to anything from it.
“It may still be uncomfortable, but let’s try to get along. Aren’t we supposed to see each other for a long time?”
It would be an alliance where each other had to protect the other’s backs. Elisha had wondered if Rohan would be better than Blemir to ease the heavy feelings of the mother and son coming to this collapsed duchy even a little. Because if it was Leon who was coming here, he would’ve wanted him to be the one to do it.
However, Elisha didn’t do that. Rohan would’ve agreed if she had asked, but Elisha suddenly had a different idea. What if the person coming was Elisha herself instead of Leon? Rather than feeling a little comfortable, she would’ve wanted to make a better choice for her child.
Something wouldn’t change immediately, but one had to try to succeed. This could be an opportunity to emphasize the need to build friendships with each other.
Vera hugged Benjamin and looked over Elisha’s shoulder at the collapsed castle, biting her lip. Her slender shoulders trembled slightly. When Benjamin tugged his mother’s clothes, asking her to drop him off, Vera put the child down. As Benjamin ran to the castle, Elisha held Vera’s hand.
“I won’t give up.”
Even without a subject, Vera understood immediately. What she and her child wanted most was not power or property

“Please don’t give up. Let him come back to Benjamin and me.”
Vera lifted Elisha’s hand that was holding her own, kissed the back of it, and rubbed it on her cheek. The back of Elisha’s hand was drenched in her tears.
“I will do anything, 2nd Consort.”
“If he’s alive, we will find him.”
Elisha couldn’t say anything more hopeful than that because it would be a lie.
At that time, Benjamin, who was standing on the ruins of the castle on the other side, looked this way. It was unusual for someone not to be surprised when the place they used to live in looked different, yet his expression remained the same.
Vera smiled as if nothing had happened, thinking the child wasn’t aware of the situation.
But it looked different to Elisha. She seemed very pleased with the child. The ruins where all the people he hated had disappeared could be rebuilt by filling them with only the ones he allowed to keep by his side.
Elisha walked over to Benjamin and looked down at him.
“If you don’t want to keep making your mother sad, look at what others are doing and try to imitate them. Emotions are also part of habits. You’ll get used to it in time.”
“Like you?”
She hadn’t expected him to speak before her, but it wasn’t surprising. The child had a head to think and a tongue to spit it out, so what was the big deal? However

“You have bad manners. If you make a quarrel for no reason, only the people around you will have a hard time.”
As the child blinked in understanding, Elisha decided to answer his first question without further questioning.
“You and I are different.”
At the gaze that seemed to ask how they differed, Elisha looked back at where Vera stood.
“You were born with it, and I met mine late. You
”
You won’t make the same mistake as Elisha in the past. Since you didn’t lose yours this time, you won’t get hurt and run amok like Benjamin of the past, and you won’t be dominated by your nature.
“I’m telling you to realize while imitating, young beast. Even if you don’t feel it well, it won’t be difficult because you have the real thing from the beginning. You will learn much more quickly than me, who is just starting to learn.” Elisha laid her hand on Benjamin’s head. “Look at your mother who loves you and cares about you. You’re already lucky to be the child of such a compassionate person.”
The same goes for all the mothers in the world who have children calling them. But Elisha herself had deprived her own child of that happiness and ruined her own. Like the emperor, she didn’t let go of everything herself, but now she made it happen.
“
 I know.”
Benjamin pushed Elisha’s hand over his head and went to his mother.
“Yes, what a relief. For you and I both.”
Elisha looked down at her empty hand and placed it near her heart. This was the place where she buried her first child, who had ended his life with his own hands. How could she forget this child just because she was happy now?
There was never a moment when Elisha didn’t recall for a moment that everything she had was piled up on this bloody tomb.
So was she unhappy and sad? No, she wasn’t. Everything that could remember this child was a joy to Elisha. She was willing to face the pain, the ache, and even the nightmares.
So if that fire is you, child. It is not hot. It doesn’t hurt. Whatever you give me, I’m happy, my child. If you are still angry because you hate this mother, please give me a little time.
Until another Leon here, and Ascensio, the older brother you love so much, can take his place. At least until they can protect themselves enough without this mother.
Elisha warmed her heart with the palm of her hand, just as she had just covered Benjamin’s head. She thought she could do anything if she could do this to Leon at that time.
***
Elisha introduced Decal to Vera and Benjamin. Decal was both talented and loyal. Even if it was a single title that could not be inherited, she intended to suggest that he be given the title of baron, a nobleman.
It would attract the emperor’s interest because it could become a new force to oppose many nobles, but she was not sure what decision the emperor would make since it would be a force to support the two people closely related to Elisha.
Even if not an aristocratic title, Decal will do a really great job in the new duchy with a basic title.
After that, Elisha summoned the Western nobles who had turned to the imperial faction, letting them pay their respects to the mother and son.
They were likely to become the emperor’s forces, so they had to remember that Elisha herself was protecting Vera and her son. Of course, in the end, Elisha didn’t really need to assert that.
Naturally, everyone would count on gaining an advantage in their position, but it meant that Vera and Benjamin were not inferior as Elisha was concerned.
Elisha pondered over Viscount Tara, who relied on the emperor enough to abandon his territory and escape to Barossa. She thought the incident at that time had a lot of influence on other nobles, but fundamentally, it was an incident that happened because Elisha was too frightening.
If anyone had confirmed Elisha’s achievements or passed through the Korobo Forest at least once, they would surely pay respect to her with the same inclination as they had to kneel before the emperor.
Besides, how much could you trust a group of people who once betrayed the emperor’s side and belonged to the rebellion?
When the western part was divided in half, the land under the emperor’s direct control would be strengthened mainly by those belonging to the Imperial faction. He wasn’t going to hand it over to others easily.
So, to survive as nobles in the west without losing their share, it was better for them to keep the emperor in check even if it was imperfect and risky and support the mother and son by building up taxes and supporting the duchy safely in case of an emergency.
Elisha, who had a very heavy heart about leaving the two behind, was satisfied with the nobles who obediently followed everything.
“It seems that I have had a lot of misunderstandings about Westerners. After scooping out the rotten water, they were people who could become so clean.”
“Is that so? Haha!”
The nobles paused and laughed at Elisha’s words over tea. Elisha made eye contact with them one by one.
“If we keep working hard, one day, not only the surface of the water, but even the mud at the bottom will be really clean. Once that happens, we won’t have to deliberately pick out the dirty things.”
“Yes, of course.”
“You’re right, Your Ladyship. I will always keep that in mind.”
After that, so many good stories were exchanged that the nobles’s backs were soaked in sweat and their clothes were sticking to them.
Elisha, who had eliminated the dangers of the West one by one, had not yet been able to organize the knights for the new owners of the West. So she made the Eastern and Imperial knights withdraw by saying, “Let’s go back because we may cause a misunderstanding that the knights of the outside force remain.”
What justification would Prince Raymond hold on to when she said they would soon return to Barossa with the other two swordmasters?
Elisha gave the West back to the people of the West. If the direct jurisdiction of the emperor were created in many places along with the end of the public performance, it would soon become chaotic again, so she asked them to prepare thoroughly.
Eventually, Vera shed tears on the day Elisha departed for the territory where the portal was located. Elisha hugged her tightly before walking away without looking back.
Three horses ran side by side along the road leaving the duchy.
Before leaving, she had confirmed that Joseph and Tommy, as well as Taro and Dahil, who were in Syuphl Barony, were well. She was relieved to hear they were safe and congratulated them on the news that Dahil was pregnant.
Someone else is born and takes root in this world when someone dies. If that’s the way of the world, the cause and effect in it are the fate of a person. May Dahil’s child bloom strongly among them and be protected.
***
When they almost reached the estate where the portal was located and let the horses rest for a while, Elisha finished pondering and approached Blemir.
“Marquis, are there people you can use secretly?”
“Why is that?”
“I doubt the emperor has put his hand on Young Master Patrick’s side.”
Elisha brought out her thoughts and conveyed them. The more he listened, the more Marquis Blemir’s complexion hardened. That was how serious the matter was.
“Please leave it to me for now. You must not step forward.”
Elisha narrowed her eyebrows as she listened. So far there was nothing that didn’t work out because of her, right?
Sensing Elisha’s expression, Blemir said, “It’s because I think things will get too big if you step forward.”
It wasn’t groundless, so Elisha shut her mouth. This series of processes was quite natural, and unlike the usual way she handled everything alone, she was unaware that she was discussing future plans with someone she looked at as an equal.
As soon as the conversation was over, Rohan, who had deliberately kept his distance, approached. Blemir reaped the curtain made of mana.
“Would you like to leave?”
“Yes.”
Elisha stretched out her hand toward Spot, and Spot, who was condescending in front of Blemir and Rohan’s horses, rushed over to her and rubbed its nose.
Barossa was just around the corner.