Several days had passed since my return from the royal capital.
I had been sitting at my desk since morning, reviewing the reports for the newly entrusted domain. Inventory of materials remaining in the storehouses, the number of capable craftsmen, records of damage reported from each village—I had already marked the areas requiring urgent attention and drafted rough cost estimates. Ordinarily, I should have moved on to the next stack of documents by now.
However, my finger remained poised on the edge of the same page, unmoving.
Every time I tried to focus on the text, the name I had heard at the royal palace echoed in my mind.
I hadn't known Serena was part of the Black Needle Society, nor that she was known as the Shadow-Stitcher. I had taken her word that the matter of her pursuers was settled and hadn't poked any further into her past. Regnard had exploited that vulnerability to expose her identity at the most damaging moment possible during the contract signing with Alecia.
Technically, I hadn't lost anything. Serena remained at the manor, and the contract was still valid. But I had merely managed to react after being completely blindsided. If I had chosen the wrong words, I might have ended up doubting Serena and robbing her of the place she had finally found.
"...Vain. You've been staring at that same page for a while now. Is there a gold coin hidden in the binding?"
Clarice, who was reviewing the ledgers at the opposite desk, spoke up in her usual tone.
"...Perhaps."
The scratching of her quill stopped.
When I looked up, Clarice was staring at me, her eyes wide with surprise. Apparently, having her sarcasm brushed off so easily was unexpected.
"Wait a minute... that was sarcasm. You know that, right? Normally, you'd give some snide reply like 'If there's money, tell me first' or 'Don't you dare touch it.'"
"...I'm not in the mood for that today."
"You, not firing back at me? Did you hit your head in the royal capital?"
I returned my gaze to the report without answering. Clarice remained silent for a moment before pushing back her chair and walking over to my desk. Normally, she would have just looked exasperated and gone back to work, but today she kept glancing between me and the stagnant page, clearly hesitating over what to say.
She was someone who grumbled when the workload increased and made a fuss when the budget tightened, yet her hands never stopped moving. If I had been this quiet for three days, I suppose it did look strange.
"...Are you feeling ill?"
"I'm not."
"Then tell me what's wrong. When you're this quiet, I have no choice but to let my imagination run wild."
"...I'm just thinking."
"With that same expression for three days?"
Just as her voice took on a slightly lower, more serious edge, there was a reserved knock at the door.
"Pardon the intrusion, My Lord. I have brought tea."
Mylene entered carrying a tray, looking back and forth between Clarice and me. Even after setting down the tea, she didn't withdraw, her fingers twisting together in a rare display of hesitation.
Serena followed behind her, cradling a plate of tea cakes.
"My Lord, is your health failing you?" Mylene asked.
"Clarice asked the same. I'm fine."
"In that case, have you sustained an injury?"
"No injuries either. I'm perfectly fine."
I thought that would reassure her, but Mylene’s brow furrowed even deeper.
"Then I am even more concerned... I have never seen you so subdued, My Lord."
"Am I usually that loud?"
"You never fail to voice your dissatisfaction when the work increases, and you notice immediately if your portions are small. Yet, for the past three days, you have stopped after a single glass of wine, and you left half of your dinner untouched last night."
It seemed I was being observed quite closely. As I struggled for a response, Clarice crossed her arms and nodded as if to say, I told you so.
"It's not just her, you know. If the master of the house suddenly loses his spirit, everyone notices, whether they want to or not."
"We are not trying to criticize you," Mylene added softly. "It is just that since you say nothing, My Lord, we do not know how to help."
When Mylene put it like that, it was difficult to maintain my defensive posture.
Beside her, Serena watched me while still clutching the plate of tea cakes.
"...Is it my fault you're dispirited?"
"No. I don't regret keeping you at the manor for a second."
"But if I had told you from the beginning..."
"I'm the one who didn't ask. What irritates me is that I was ignorant, allowing the enemy to choose the time and place of the reveal. You don't need to change anything; just stay as you've been."
Serena watched me for a moment longer before finally placing the plate of tea cakes on the desk.
"...Understood."
Just as I was about to reach for the tea before it cooled, there was a forceful knock at the door.
"Sorry to barge in! I've got a report on the training for the new recruits—"
Raisa stopped in her tracks when she saw the crowd around my desk. She was holding documents brought over from the barracks.
"...What's with the heavy air in here? I thought the Boss had added more unnecessary work and was getting a lecture from the ladies... but this looks different."
"Leave the report. I'll look at it later."
"...The Boss is putting off a military report? And without a single complaint?"
The grin vanished from Raisa’s face. She set the documents on the desk and leaned over to peer at me.
"That’s a first... for the Boss to be moping like this. What happened? When you're this quiet, it makes me think the world's ending."
Clarice and Mylene were staring at me in silence as well. Seeing how shocked they were, I felt a twinge of irritation at how invulnerable they apparently thought I was.
"...I feel like I was completely outplayed this time."
"By the First Prince?" Clarice guessed immediately.
"Yes. But not just him. By Alecia, too."
I closed the report and recounted the events of the royal capital. Regnard had investigated Serena’s past and, knowing I was in the dark, exploited it at the most damaging moment. Alecia had also correctly predicted that if I accepted a ruined domain, I would salvage the usable parts and rebuild it until it yielded a profit.
"I thought I understood the importance of information. In business, if you sign a contract or a ledger without knowing the details, you lose. So I read them, and I research what I don't understand. But in the royal capital, the most important stories are the ones that never make it onto paper."
Who is allied with whom. Which house harbors which fears, which merchant is funneling gold to which faction, and what aliases are being used in the shadows. Those details aren't in the ledgers sent from the domain; they're buried in the whispers of the royal palace.
Since my father died and I inherited the title, I’ve focused entirely on the internal affairs of the domain. I had my hands full just purging corrupt vassals, restarting stalled projects, and digging us out of a deficit. The domain recovered because of that, but my connections to the capital remained non-existent.
"Royals are royals for a reason... It’s more than just money or soldiers. Information flows to them from across the kingdom even if they never say a word. I underestimated that."
"It's not that you underestimated it; you simply didn't have the capacity, did you? Given the state the domain was in, you didn't have the luxury of chasing rumors in the capital," Clarice said, her tone matter-of-fact rather than comforting.
Even so, the bitter taste in my mouth remained.
"Regardless of the circumstances, I was still ignorant. It turned out fine this time because Serena stayed, but there's no guarantee the next crisis will end the same way."
"So the Boss is more frustrated about letting the enemy control the situation than the fact that you didn't know," Raisa said, crossing her arms and nodding slowly.
"Exactly. I prided myself on my ability to judge character... but without the facts to back it up, judgment is impossible."
"Then you need someone to gather those facts. I know the names and factions of the capital well enough, but—"
I shook my head before Clarice could finish.
"I won't give you more to do. You're already handling ledgers, contracts, taxes, construction, and personnel. You'll collapse if I pile on anything else."
"...I know a bit about the capital's underworld," Serena spoke up. "I remember the shops the Black Needle Society used and the brokers who handled their contracts. I don't know if they're still active, but I can tell you what I know."
"That would be a help. But you're not going back to meet your old associates. Just tell me what you remember."
"...Okay. I'll do that."
Clarice blinked once, then quickly averted her eyes.
"...You're one to talk about collapsing, after skipping your meals for three days."
"I haven't collapsed."
"It is too late once you have, My Lord," Mylene said, pushing the cooling tea closer to me.
Raisa gave a wry smile and tapped the reports.
"Even soldiers get hurt if their leader is distracted. I'll leave the reports here, and you can give me an answer tomorrow. For now, eat something and get some sleep, Boss."
With all three of them ganging up on me, I finally reached for the tea. I wasn't used to people fussing over me. Previously, I would have dismissed it as meddling, but right now, the noise was almost welcome.
"Once the situation in the capital settles, I'll find someone specialized in intelligence. But not immediately. If I hire someone right after being targeted by Regnard, I might end up hiring one of his spies by mistake."
"If you're thinking that far ahead, then snap out of it! The whole manor is on edge when you're moping around like this," Clarice snapped.
I looked at the three of them in turn.
What had happened was done. Blaming myself for my ignorance wouldn't turn back the clock; the only thing that mattered was how to move forward with the people and information I had now.
I wouldn't be outplayed like that again. I would identify what I lacked, and once the power struggle in the capital cooled down, I would find the right person to fill the gap.
I finished my tea and closed the report that had remained open for three days.
"Fine. I'll eat. After that, I'm going to write down everything I know about the royal capital."
"Good! I'll help," Clarice said, her expression returning to its usual sharp self. "But don't you dare touch a single document until you've finished eating."
Seeing her back to her old self, Mylene and Raisa relaxed in visible relief.
Pitying myself ends here.
Now, the only thing that matters is how I overcome this.