"Achoo! ...Damn, it’s getting cold out here."
"Yeah, the temperature's really been dropping lately..."
While Rest was inside the cottage receiving a shocking revelation from Celestine, several men stood outside, sniffling and grumbling into the night air.
There were six of them in total. Though they muttered complaints, their attention never wavered, their gazes fixed firmly on the cottage.
These men were mages and soldiers in the service of different noble families. They stood in three pairs: the first from the Marquis Rosemary House, the second from the Duke Crocus House, and the third from the Marquis Catleya House.
Each pair served as either a guard or a lookout for the high-ranking ladies inside—the Rosemary sisters, Yuri, and Celestine.
The twins and Yuri were daughters of Marquis houses, while Celestine was the daughter of a Duke. Naturally, women of such high status could not simply walk about the world without protection. Even with Rest nearby, he couldn't be expected to watch over them twenty-four hours a day. Consequently, each house had dispatched guards to keep a silent watch from the shadows.
"So... you're the new guy, right?" one asked.
"Yeah. I’m with the Duke Crocus House," the other replied.
"Hard to believe Lady Celestine would come to a place like this... Oh, I'm with Marquis Catleya. I’m here to keep an eye on Lady Yuri."
"Keeping an eye on her? You mean you're not her guard?"
"Well... technically I am. Though I'm not sure she actually needs one."
The soldier from the Catleya House gave a wry, pained smile.
Yuri Catleya, the target of his "surveillance," possessed physical abilities that bordered on the monstrous. She was, without question, significantly stronger than any of the guards gathered outside.
Until very recently, she had been under house arrest at the Marquis Catleya Mansion. However, she had seized an opportunity while her father was away to simply plow through the security detail and make her escape. She had eventually reunited with Rest to join the development of the plains. Since the project was officially under the command of Second Prince Andrew, her father couldn't exactly drag her back by force. Thus, the Marquis had settled for having his men watch her from a distance.
"But seriously... look at that," one soldier remarked, his voice a mix of awe and exasperation. "Think about the sheer amount of power gathered in that tiny little cottage."
Inside that single building sat the daughters of the Marquis Rosemary House, the Marquis Catleya House, and the Duke Crocus House. It was the kind of gathering one might expect to see at the Academy in the Royal Capital, but to find such a group in a brand-new Pioneer Village was unheard of.
"And the man at the center of it all... Count Rest Clover..."
"Just who is he, anyway? I heard he was born a commoner."
"He's a favorite of the Marchioness. Even the Marquis seems to like him, in his own way."
The guards tilted their heads, exchanging fragments of gossip.
A boy who had risen from commoner status to be conferred a peerage as a Count in his teens, now surrounded by the most beautiful high-born ladies in the Kingdom. The more they thought about it, the more surreal it seemed.
"Supposedly his father is a Court Mage, though they say they've cut ties completely."
"I heard he saved Lady Viola and Lady Primula from some kind of catastrophe... not that I know the specifics."
"Where did he even meet Lady Yuri? They seem way too close to be just classmates."
"He seems to be on intimate terms with Lady Celestine as well... well, he’s a man who secured a Countship in a single generation. I suppose it’s natural the great houses would want a piece of him."
As the guards continued to speculate about the enigma that was Rest Clover, the conversation naturally drifted toward a topic they were all equally concerned about.
"So... what about that?"
"Yeah... what is that exactly?"
"I mean, we know who she is, but..."
"But why?"
The guards' gazes shifted in unison, focusing on the shadow of a building a short distance away.
"...Pant... pant... sniff sniff..."
A petite girl stood there, hidden in the darkness.
She had purple hair styled in a bob cut, and she was staring at Rest’s cottage with a sleepy yet intensely piercing gaze. Standing perfectly still beside her was a woman who appeared to be her attendant. When the woman’s eyes met those of the guards, she gave them a polite, professional bow.
"Um... is it actually true?" the soldier from the Crocus House whispered. "Is that girl really the daughter of Margrave Lavender?"
"It’s true. We’ve already confirmed her identity," a mage from the Rosemary House replied.
The girl peering fixedly at the cottage from the shadows was indeed Ulula Lavender, daughter of the Margrave Lavender House—the Great Noble of the East. For several days now, she had been showing up like clockwork to lurk in the shadows and watch.
The guards had initially found her behavior suspicious and approached her, only to have her identity confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt. Given her immense status, they couldn't exactly tell her to get lost, so they had been forced to simply ignore her.
"Lady Viola and Lady Primula told us that as long as she doesn't actually do anything, we should just leave her alone," the mage continued.
"Yeah. Every time we try to talk to her, she just bolts."
"We can't exactly get rough with someone of her standing... and it’s not like she’s doing anything besides staring from the shadows."
"I... I see..."
The two soldiers from the Crocus House looked at each other in disbelief.
What on earth was happening in this village? First Rosemary, then Catleya and Crocus—and now even the daughter of Margrave Lavender had appeared.
Rest Clover... just who the hell is he?
It was the one question that every man standing in the cold shared.