Liebert Castle (1)
“If you want to stop, now is the time.”
“I was thinking the same.”
Coming to an agreement, they guided the wagon off the road and set up camp within the forest.
Night had fully settled in, and the path before them was swallowed by darkness.
There were no settlements nearby, no lights, and no sign of people.
In simple terms, it was dangerous.
Bandits would've been the least of their worries.
Once night fell, creatures that belonged to the dark began to roam.
Amelia could, of course, conjure light with mana, but it would only reach so far.
Beyond the glow surrounding the camp, there was nothing.
Just an endless curtain of black where even the forest itself seemed to vanish.
Vergil placed a crystal solvent at the center of the camp.
The artifact flashed for a moment, then faded, forming an invisible dome around them.
Within its radius, the air became toxic to monsters.
These things were quite costly due to their single-use nature. However, they were essential for every traveler.
Amelia watched the process, then spoke.
“I had one too.”
“It’s fine. We’ll save yours for the next camp.”
“Whatever you say.”
The dome stabilized as the moon rose higher.
“Ah, please. Let me, Sir Vergil.”
Just as Vergil was about to tend to the food over the campfire, Hannah stepped in and stopped him.
They called themselves fallen nobility.
Yet at this point, they deferred to him in everything, from decisions to the smallest chores, as though their survival rested entirely in his hands.
Vergil frowned.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine. Take it as us showing our appreciation for everything you’ve done for us, Sir Vergil.”
Hannah knelt beside the fire and began preparing the meal.
Adam joined her without a word, handing over ingredients and tending the flame.
It looked as though this small routine gave them a sense of normalcy they had been missing for a long time.
Amelia floated beside Vergil with her arms crossed behind her head, watching the scene in amusement.
“Wow. They’re really whipped. Now I’m starting to wonder if you hypnotized them.”
Hannah laughed softly.
“Hypnotized? That might not be entirely wrong, Miss Amelia. We owe Sir Vergil more than we could ever repay in one lifetime.”
Adam nodded in agreement.
“So things like this are all we can offer. At the very least, let us do that much.”
Vergil looked away, the firelight reflecting in his eyes.
“…You don’t owe me anything.”
The crackling of the fire answered him instead.
Amelia alternated her gaze between Hannah, Adam, and then back to Vergil.
“I take it your punishment was some kind of injustice?”
“Punishment?”
“Exile.”
“It is what it is.”
“Surprisingly stoic. I suppose that’s how it should be. The Empire is a joke, anyway.”
“Careful with your words. If any citizen heard that, you’d be reported for treason.”
Amelia scoffed while the fire continued to burn between them.
“Vergil is a good guy.”
Amelia turned toward the voice.
Mary was standing there, her lips slightly pursed in a clear sulk.
“He didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t like how you keep making fun of him.”
The firelight reflected across Amelia’s face as she regarded the child for a moment.
Hannah smiled and reached out, placing a hand on Mary’s shoulder, while Adam watched in agreement.
“I’m not making fun of him because he’s weak. It’s the opposite.”
Mary blinked.
“Huh?”
“People who are actually bad don’t last this long. And people who don’t break after everything usually don’t need defending.”
Her eyes slid back to Vergil.
“Teasing is easier than pity. I hate pity.”
“…Then don’t be mean.”
“I’m not mean. Just honest. I don’t lie. I hate liars.”
Mary looked away, clearly unsatisfied but unable to argue back.
Vergil let out a breath.
“You’re talking to a child, by the way.”
“I’m not a kid anymore!”
Mary turned sharply, snapping back at Vergil.
“Mary.”
The single word was enough. Mary flinched, then forced herself quiet when Hannah called her name.
“I’m sorry about her, Miss Amelia.”
Amelia waved it off.
“Don’t be. I was worse at her age.”
“I can picture that.”
Amelia frowned at Vergil.
“I really should hit you just once.”
* * *
By midnight, the Schäfer family had already fallen asleep inside the wagon.
Vergil tried to rest outside, leaning against its side, but woke in the dead of night as he often did.
When he glanced around, Amelia was nowhere to be seen.
Feeling a sense of unease, Vergil stood at once.
He fastened his sword at his waist and moved into the forest.
After a short distance, he looked up.
Amelia was there, sitting on a branch above him, calmly reading a book beneath the moonlight.
She glanced down.
“Oh? Couldn’t sleep?”
“This is the life of those on the run.”
That was, in part, the truth.
Because of forcing himself to remain vigilant, sleeping was difficult. And it was worse now that they were traveling again.
“For the record, I’m not letting you sleep with me. Even if you pay a platinum coin up front.”
“......”
The audacity of this woman. Where she even got that idea from, he had no idea. It certainly wasn’t from him.
“I wasn’t thinking about that.”
“Mhm.”
She turned a page.
“You know how I always verify I’m on the right trail whenever I follow you?”
“What?”
“Brothel houses.”
“…You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
She closed the book and looked down at him.
“Surprisingly, you’re quite active, Vergil. Men will be men, huh? Want to hear the reviews you get?”
“No thanks.”
Vergil leapt upward.
The branch was already empty.
Amelia’s voice came from behind him.
“First one says you’re polite to a fault. Took your boots off before getting in bed. She said it ruined the mood a little.”
Vergil turned around.
She was now leaning against a tree trunk upside down.
“Get down here.”
He stepped forward.
She was already gone.
“Second says you kept apologizing. For what? Well, she wasn’t sure.”
“Shut up!"
Vergil lunged again.
This time, she appeared atop a boulder with her legs crossed and her chin on her palm.
“Third says you’re polite to a fault. Apologized for existing. Twice. Drunk, perhaps?”
“I don’t even remember that.”
He jumped.
Leaves rustled.
“She also says you never stay the night.”
“…Stop.”
Amelia blinked, then her lips curved into a smug smile.
“Relax. That’s all I remember.”
Silence returned to the forest.
Vergil rubbed his temples.
“Just tell me if you want me dead. I’ll do it, damn it!"
She stared at him for a moment.
Then she burst into laughter.
“Pfft—”
Even this situation was enough to make her usually aloof expression break apart completely, tears welling at the corners of her eyes as she laughed.
Amelia wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke.
“By the way, Vergil. Why does Lord Noah’s mana linger on you?”
“.......”
Vergil paused.
——The traces of magic all over you. They carry the same signature as his.
Seris’s words from a year ago resurfaced.
“I don’t know myself. But I intend to find out.”
The next moment, Vergil lunged once more, seizing the opportunity.
“.......”
Empty air.
A voice came from somewhere above.
“Too slow.”
“Tsk.”
* * *
The northern region.
Half the landscape had been reshaped, forming a vast extension of the Liebert Duchy.
The house now ruled over two major territories. One was located west of Amesticross, while the other was stretched north of it.
It was not the same place where Vergil had once been exiled, but it was only a few kilometers from the capital.
Close enough to matter, but far enough to be considered isolated in its own way.
Because of this positioning, the Liebert Duchy had risen into a dominant force within the House of Nobles.
With two enormous duchy lands under its control, its influence was no longer something the nobility could ignore.
Meanwhile, their original territory was undergoing a complete transformation.
Renovations were underway to turn it into a major commercial district designed for travelers, merchants, and foreign visitors alike.
Liebert Castle.
Vergil raised a hand, signaling for the Schäfers to stay close behind him.
“Stay close to me. And don’t trust Amelia.”
Amelia frowned immediately.
“That’s rude.”
“You know what? You should stay out here. Make any funny moves, and I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Amelia’s lips curled upward.
“Ha. Try me.”
With that, Vergil stepped into Liebert Castle.
As a confirmed guest of Noah, the guards granted them passage without much protest.
The heavy doors closed behind him, muting the sounds of the outside world.
“Bertha. Please, just give me a bit of an allowance. Noah doesn't have to know—ah?”
“.......”
Vergil froze.
The voice was not Noah’s. Nor did it belong to any of the nobles he expected to see.
Slowly, his eyes narrowed.
“V-Vergil? Y-You—kyaaaa!”
In an instant, his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. His chest tightened just at the mere sight of her.
Of all the places. Of all the moments.
“It really was a trap. What did I expect?”
A reunion he had never imagined, unfolding in the most absurdly anticlimactic way possible to the point it was laughable
“S-Someone, get the criminal! Kyaaaaa!”
That being said, it was none other than Princess Anneliese Sibylle von Friedeberg.
“.......”
The woman who had ruined his life.
