“Disgraceful…”

Yulia bit her lip as she took off the mismatched knee-high sock from her other leg, which looked a mess compared to the neatly arranged one.

“Frustrating.”

“Why’s that? I taught you how to wear them properly.”

“Even so, it feels weird to be touching a lady’s leg without permission. You just grabbed my waist without saying anything.”

“A lady?”

Charlotte tilted her head in confusion.

Is Uncle treating Yulia like a lady? It didn’t seem that way to her.

“He treats you like a child, what with lifting you by the waist and all.”

“Huh!? No way. That guy definitely looks at us with a sinister glint in his eyes.”

“Hmm?”

Is that so?

Charlotte tilted her head again, trying to think in that direction. However, she couldn't recall seeing anything like that in Aslan’s gaze.

He was just an overall shady guy. Yep.

“Isn’t it a misunderstanding?”

“No! I’m sure!”

“What’s your evidence?”

“The spirits said so. They insisted that Aslan Vermont looked suspicious. They sometimes mentioned how he gazed at us with lecherous eyes.”

“Hmm?”

Those lecherous eyes, though.

Couldn’t they just be eyes that lust after money? Uncle probably saw them as promising young assets that could help him earn.

“Oh, come on. There’s no way he’d be into us tiny little kids.”

“The maids said that he’s trying to raise us and then gobble us up.”

“E-e-eek. No way!”

“And the spirits mentioned something else too. He murmurs to himself about future plans when we grow up.”

“Whaat…!”

Charlotte’s eyes widened in shock, and the laughter quickly vanished from her face.

Huh? Could that actually be plausible?

Charlotte was soon persuaded by Yulia’s words.

“What do we do!? If it goes on like this, one of us is going to become the countess!”

“If that day comes and we can’t escape, I’ll just marry that guy. You should ask Yuria for help later, and come rescue me together.”

“Yulia…”

Yulia smiled softly with a distant look in her eyes.

She looked strangely solemn, as if she had made a vow of some sort.

Charlotte gulped and said, “No. If it comes to that, I’ll marry him.”

“Charlotte…!”

Countess.

It sounds kind of glamorous.

It feels like a title that not just anyone can hold, right?

“I’ll do it! You run away, please!”

“I told you I’m fine with it…!”

“Stop being stubborn!”

“You’re the one who should stop!”

The voices of the two grew louder.

Just as their voices slipped through the crack of the door, Silvia, waiting outside for Yulia to change, couldn’t believe her ears. What on earth were they talking about?

“There's really nothing here. Now I understand why it’s called wasteland.”

“Yeah. Though Ariant territory seems vast, in reality, it has a lot of land like this.”

Silvia stood before the expansive land filled only with dry weeds and sighed. The soil was in such poor condition that farming was impossible, and it was too far from a water source for people to live there.

Just as she wondered why they had accepted such land…

‘Ah! Since it would be embarrassing to just cut the interest, he accepted the useless land to give a gesture of goodwill!’

Having come to her own realization, Silvia was impressed.

She felt she had been too suspicious of this person all along.

Always thinking he had bad intentions made everything feel twisted.

Even a villain might act with pure goodwill at times, right?

“I’ll build a training ground here. If we fully utilize Charlotte’s Strongest Sword, it will surely make quite a racket, and if we did it in Vermont territory, the local residents would probably go deaf. My residents' eardrums are more valuable than those of the Ariant residents.”

“Oh. Of course.”

Well, that’s that.

Silvia’s eyes dimmed.

After all, she shouldn’t expect anything from this man.

How could there not be a single correct prediction among those she made?

From now on, she decided not to make any predictions.

Having expectations only leads to betrayal.

If she preemptively judged it as evil, she would end up regretting it later.

Just take everything as it is.

Judgment can come later.

‘Since I already declared I would follow him…’

How could she go back on her resolve now that she had become a knight?

No matter what happens, she would stay by this man’s side.

And she would definitely witness this man’s end.

When that time comes, it wouldn’t be too late to judge whether he was a villain or not.

Feeling a newfound lightness in her heart, Silvia followed behind Aslan.

“It’s about time they should come out…”

“Do you think it will take longer? They were having a quarrel over who would marry Lord Deputy.”

“What?”

Aslan’s expression turned incredulous.

After a moment, as the shock washed away, he began to ponder those words.

“Do they really dislike marrying me that much…?”

Although he never thought about marriage in the first place, that was separate from this.

Hearing that the two of them, who got along so well, had even fought over not wanting to marry him, left Aslan somewhat disturbed.

‘In reality, they’re probably fighting over who gets to marry me, but I shouldn’t let them know. That would be too much of a delight for them.’

He thought sharing that might make him feel proud.

Not because Aslan was thrilled about the idea of marriage.

Aslan, feeling glum, turned his head away from Silvia.

“They finally came out. Was it that difficult to fix one sock?”

“I don’t know. Just stick your head out here…!”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m observing Uncle’s eyes!”

“…?”

Darting toward Aslan, Charlotte and Yulia meticulously examined his eyes.

Then they whispered something to each other, concluding, “Hmm. Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Stop the strange antics and follow me. We need to deal with the great spirit.”

“But what am I supposed to do? A great spirit isn’t a ghost, so it won’t reach enlightenment…!”

“First, try talking. If you fail to persuade it, then you’ll have to use your command.”

“Ugh. I don’t want to.”

Yulia’s expression scrunched up.

The command was a technique where a spirit master binds a spirit to bring it under their control.

The more powerful the spirit, the more high-ranking the spirit one could bind.

But Yulia didn’t particularly like using commands.

It felt like torturing the spirits somehow.

While low-grade spirits were closer to bugs, even mid-grade spirits were entities with intelligence and emotions.

To break their will and control them as she wished…

Ugh. No thanks.

That was even worse than marrying Aslan.

Yulia shivered.

“If you don’t want to, then persuade it well.”

“Whew. Alright. I’ll give it a try.”

In the end, well.

It would probably go similarly to how it went with the old man’s spirit.

Just as that old man couldn’t leave this world due to his grudges.

The great spirit of earth was likely blocking the construction for some reason too.

If they could find out that reason and come to an agreement, it would be enough.

With newfound confidence, Yulia took a bold step forward, feeling the eyes of the crowd gathered to watch her.

As the gaze settled on her, Yulia’s confidence surged even more.

“Huh! Even the empire’s best spirit master gave up, so what can a little girl like her do?”

Ignoring Count Ariant’s sneering voice, Yulia pressed on.

It was strange.

The more people told her it wouldn’t work or couldn’t be done, the more her determination intensified, and her motivation soared.

Somehow, she felt like she could do it!

‘And Aslan, when he speaks, there seems to be some credibility…’

Why was that?

When others told her it would work, she felt strangely anxious.

But when that man said something, it made her feel reassured.

Could it be that there was something about him…?

“Okay. Let’s go. We can do this.”

Swoosh.

As Yulia and her party arrived at the corridor, a cold wind brushed through the low-hanging mist.

Yulia’s lips trembled as she walked forward in silence.

‘Something is ahead! And it’s huge!’

The mist began to gradually lift.

It was supposed to be a straight path ahead.

But as a brown wall came into view beyond the mist, Yulia’s body froze.

This was far larger than she had imagined.

It looked taller than the mansion!

Yulia raised her head, and soon the figure of the great spirit fully came into her view.

[I can see you.]

Yulia’s mouth fell open.

This is… this is…

“Something cute?”

[...!?]

With its squat proportions and round body.

It was large, but its appearance was cute!

Yulia’s tension suddenly dissipated.

[How dare you call me cute! The great spirit of earth who has absorbed the energy of this mountain for a thousand years is being belittled!]

“But you’re cute….”

“Really? Really cute, Yulia? What does it look like?”

“Just wait a moment. I’ll draw it and show you. Here!”

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Yulia hastily sketched a rough drawing on a wooden board and showed it to the great spirit.

The spirit’s expression hardened upon seeing it.

“That’s real! It’s super cute…!”

[That’s not my true form!!!]

The great spirit of earth’s true form was exposed to the world, and at that moment, its dignity crumbled.