If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties

Episode 56.
An Unexpected Assistant (4)

The Halton region, which is ruled over by the Esbaden family, was too wide for the duke to govern solely.

In terms of landmass alone, almost one-third of the Krone Empire’s territory belonged to the Duke.

As such, the first Duke of Esbaden handed out titles and territories to long-time vassals that had sworn their allegiance to the duke and allowed them to rule.

However, over the passage of time, a gap appeared in the statuses of the vassals, who’d possessed equal power at the beginning. 

In particular, unlike the Lords whose regions neighboured the ducal castle, the vassals at the frontier became equally distanced from wealth and power.

“Huhuhuk, my apologies, Duke.
This is all because this person is lacking.”

[T/N: he’s calling himself ‘I’ in a humble way and usually only seen in Korean period dramas.]

Arnold, the master of ‘Tochern’, a small fief that was extremely far removed from the Esbaden family, prostrated himself before Leonhart in tears.

“It’s not enough that I’d dared to make the duke travel all the way here, I deserve to die for not being of assistance! Please bestow death upon me—!”

“Please raise your head, Sir Arnold.
Our Lord doesn’t intend to blame you, Sir.”

Leonhart sat on the stone steps of the castle that became ruins and rubbed between his brows.

The person that restrained the fief’s lord on the behalf of the duke’s obviously wearied self was his lieutenant, Baron. 

He had an expressionless face that was unreadable as he helped Arnold up. 

“B, but—!”

Arnold cried, clutching at his half-bald head.

“No matter how many were killed, the monsters keep appearing.
This can only mean that God has abandoned this land! God has abandoned us!”

The pack of werewolves, who had already decimated five small villages of the territory, continued deeper into the territory in search of human meat, as though they were still ravenous.

Leonhart and the Duchy’s knights worked together to stop them, but as the werewolves originally were smart and physically fit, they weren’t easily overpowered. 

Additionally, perhaps because they had heard of rumours, packs of werewolves from other regions had also joined in, so it was difficult to hold them off. 

Thanks to that, the ones that were forced into a corner were the humans instead. 

In the end, around 10 days after the subjugation began, they were pushed to the site of the fief lord’s castle. 

Awooo—

Coincidentally, as if they were announcing their existence, the werewolves let out howls to call their fellows from a distance. 

“…How noisy.”

Leonhart rose from the stone steps, frowning at the irritating cries.

Perhaps because he didn’t have any time to sleep, as a black shadow was present underneath his eyes.

Was that all?

Large and small scratches littered the gauntlets and armour that he was wearing, evidently from the claws of a beast.

The cape, which was definitely a splendid shade of blue at the beginning, had turned so dark that it was impossible to know what colour it was originally. 

“Look here, Sir Arnold.”

Leonhart sweeped the hair that was dishevelled temperamentally and glanced at Tochern’s lord. 

“If you have the time to kneel down and make a confession in front of me, figure out how to turn this situation around no matter what.
Unless you want your neck to fly along with the monsters.”

He gritted his teeth and threatened Arnold, who had a tearful face.

“Restore the shelter so that there are no more victims.
Let those that are able to move nurse the wounded.
The remaining food in the castle is to be used for relief immediately.
Do I have to give orders for things like these one by one?”

“Hiiik! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I—I’ll take action right now!”

At the Duke’s instructions, Arnold bowed his head and rushed into the castle hurriedly. 

At the silhouette of a fat goose sprinting away, Leonhart sighed deeply. 

Being away from wealth and power as a lord of a frontier territory? In this case, those words wouldn’t apply to that one. 

He was just a man that accumulated his wealth by exploiting the people of his fief while avoiding the Duke’s gaze.

The answer is evident from the plump buttocks of the fief’s lord and the thin bones of the citizens in his territory.

As such, the knights sent from the ducal family became his sacrifices against the werewolves.

What an incompetent person. 

It was the type of person that Leonhart really hated, of all things. 

Although he wanted to grab him by the few strands of hair he had and throw him to the werewolves beyond the wall, he could only endure it.

After all, he was also a descendant of a vassal that was loyal to the ducal family. 

“Baron, how many knights are there available to assign outside right now?”

“Other than those that are on night duty and the injured, around four.”

“The number obviously includes the both of us.”

“…Yes.”

“D*mn it.”

Leonhart frowned as he looked up at the overhead sun.

From some time ago, whenever he saw that sunlight, a person would come to mind. 

A woman that appeared with her back against the piercing sunlight.

The Princess of Bashal, the Duchess of Esbaden and his own wife.

Dooha Yel Bashal.

“Leonhart—!”

He recalled the last time he’d seen Dooha before he left the castle. 

With dishevelled hair, widened golden eyes, and dirt covering her bare feet because she just rushed out. 

Suddenly, Leonhart frowned.

After the argument in the annex, he thought that she didn’t want to talk to him, but he didn’t expect that she would rush out like that.

Come to think of it, is walking barefoot a hobby of hers? What if she gets hurt? In any case, what a careless woman she is. 

Leonhart, who had ‘worries’ often, soon turned his attention elsewhere.

“Have you heard back from Claude yet?”

“It came this morning.
He said that he’ll set off as soon as he receives the letter, so he will probably arrive soon.
However…”

“However?”

Just as Baron was thinking about whether to deliver the words at the end of the replying letter, he soon closed his mouth.

If the Duke knew that the soldiers of the Kreuz were coming under Nate’s leadership, he’d obviously be furious. 

He didn’t want to provoke his Lord’s temper.

In any case, such a situation meant that he wasn’t in a position to choose such things to his liking. 

“No, he said that he’d be there in time, so he should be arriving soon.”

“Lord! Sir Baron!”

Just then, a knight of the ducal family came running from afar with a bandage around his head. 

“The supporting troops from the ducal castle have arrived!”

For it to arrive as soon as they were talking about it, his hunches weren’t all that bad. 

Leonhart frowned under the sun and began moving forward without hesitation.

* * *

“…What are you doing here?”

“Although I’m not too happy about coming to a place like this, even I will get hurt if you make such an obvious expression.
Duke.”

As soon as Daniel saw him, he tried his best to maintain his smile at the Duke’s withering expression. 

“The Duchess appointed me as the leader of the support unit.
I didn’t have a choice.”

“Madam did?”

Just as the duke’s eyes were about to turn around again, Daniel hurriedly continued to explain.

“I’m telling you this just in case you misunderstand, but Madam didn’t request it of me directly.
It’s because my father sent support troops as he pleased, so I was just dragged out as a pretext.”

 However, Daniel was Daniel.

With a refreshed smile, he added words that he didn’t have to mention. 

“Of course, apart from that, I’m quite delighted that the Duchess still trusts me.”

“Lord Nate won’t blame me either if a punk like you dies in a place like this.”

“Haha, you’ve become more skilled in making jokes, Duke.”

While the cousins were exchanging sanguineous greetings, Count Jive pretended to be tactless and stepped in between the two of them. 

“Thank you for your hard work, Duke.
Though our numbers aren’t much, we’ve gathered our private soldiers, so that you can be relieved.”

“…I’m glad to hear that.
Count Jive.”

Although Count Jive was Nate’s most loyal right-hand man, at this time, he wasn’t in a situation to argue about it.

Leonhart patted the count on his shoulder while giving him a fierce look.

“I look forward to your kind cooperation.”

“Please don’t worry.
Oh, by the way, on the way here, we caught two werewolves.
They weren’t even afraid of a person that’s fully armoured, as though it was bewitched by something.” 

At Count Jive’s signal, soldiers from the support troops brought a large bag.

When they opened the bag, the corpse of a werewolf appeared.

At the same time, a burnt smell, as well as the overpowering scent of blood spread throughout the place.

However, their bodies had the scent of blood belonging to humans, and not of monsters.

It was impossible to estimate how many humans it ate.

While everyone covered their noses with a frown, Leonhart searched the pile of corpses with the tip of his sword nonchalantly.

“There’s traces of burning.
Did you release a fire arrow?”

“There’s no reason to use such an inefficient method.
There are five wizards here.”

“Five is too much.
I think four will be enough.”

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?”

Leonhart stared at his cousin with a disapproving gaze, and then turned his head away.

“Count Jive, settle the soldiers within the castle.
The war council will commence in ten minutes.”

“Understood.”

When the duke only left behind the necessary words and turned around without lingering, Daniel called out to him.

“Duke, what should I do with the supplies that Madam sent you?”

Leonhart shifted his gaze in the direction that Daniel’s finger was pointing towards.

Several boxes filled the simple wagon to the brim. 

It was as though she knew what he needed and sent them in large quantities. 

The duke’s expression softened slightly.

“Organise it accordingly…”

Leonhart stopped talking and turned his head quickly.

A scent akin to a refreshing wind pierced through the various malodours and brushed against the tip of his nose

“My Lord?”

Baron, who stood behind him, sensed that something was strange and called for him, but Leonhart couldn’t hear him.

Leonhart slowly took one step at a time towards the wagon.

But in the end, he approached the wagon urgently, as though he was being chased by someone.

As he stood in front of a box that was unusually larger than the others, he frowned.

“Duke, that’s my personal belongings…….”

Daniel belatedly followed him and tried to grab his arm, but it was to no avail.

Leonhart opened the lid of the box without hesitation.

But what he anticipated, no, what he was worried about didn’t happen.

There were only extravagant men’s clothing and unidentified strange objects rolling around in the box. 

“I didn’t think that you’d be that curious about my personal belongings, Duke.”

At the sight of the duke’s oddly disappointed countenance, Daniel closed the box quietly. 

“Would you like to look through it further?”

“…You’d better stay out of my sight as long as you can, you punk.
That is, if you want to return to the ducal castle in one piece.”

Leonhart left behind a dreadful threat and turned his back to his cousin. 

As such, he didn’t manage to catch it.

Daniel, who was standing behind his back, letting out a sigh of relief.