Chapter 50

* * *

After the army surgeon treated me, I was guided to a guest room inside the military compound.

I fell onto the bed like I was being pulled by a magnet and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The overwhelming sight from earlier kept replaying in my mind.

I’d seen Edwin train with a sword in my past life. But back then he’d simply sparred among the other knights, swinging a sword no differently than anyone else.

Now Ramon’s words finally made sense.

‘The duke frightens the northern nobles. Lombard’s army is powerful, but more than that, his martial ability is so overwhelming it’s practically beyond human.’

Is this lifetime’s duke something special? Or did the Edwin from my past life hide his real strength from me?

I don’t know. I can’t drag the Edwin of my past life out and interrogate him now. My questions will probably remain unanswered forever.

My head felt like it was about to knot up.

“Ugh, annoying.”

I’d planned to take a nap, but that ridiculous spectacle earlier scared the sleep right out of me.

I decided to get some fresh air and stepped outside the guest room.

In Lombard Castle, attendants always followed right behind me, so walking alone like this felt strangely freeing.

Humming to myself, I kept strolling until I noticed a shadow sneaking behind a pillar far ahead.

The plump, mole-like silhouette was painfully familiar.

‘Baron Conte, of course.’

He’d disappeared for a while, then the moment Berry vanished he started tailing me again.

It made my suspicion into certainty.

Such a timid man.

He clearly wanted to talk, but I wanted to enjoy my rare freedom, so I pretended not to see him and turned my gaze away.

Having successfully shaken him off, I continued walking.

Maybe because of the chaos earlier, the hallway was still completely silent.

Then I heard people arguing in the courtyard.

“You need to follow procedure. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer.”

“No, I’m asking when you’re actually going to start that procedure.”

“According to the regulations the process requires…”

“We’ve waited half a year for that process! At this rate it’s going to take a full year!”

Fight-watching is universal entertainment, so naturally I drifted toward the voices.

One administrator and two knights were squaring off.

“It’s not easy to amend a budget plan. It needs fresh approval from all relevant departments, so it takes time.”

“That’s why we waited half a year without complaining. Is this because you’re short on funds?”

“No, the funds are allocated.”

“Then execute them!”

“But the budget revision in the middle changed the items. We need to confirm the changes and get upper-level approval.”

A knight, exhausted by this endless loop, pounded his chest and screamed.

The administrator didn’t care. He kept shaking his head, insisting none of this was within his authority.

‘Hah, this really brings back memories…’

As someone who used to be a bureaucrat, this was all terribly familiar.

Those absurdly long approval chains.

One sheet of paperwork had to pass a ridiculous number of hands before it landed on the lord’s desk.

It was part of domain law, meant to prevent responsibility from falling on a single person, and also because bureaucrats refused to surrender any authority they held.

A mountain of nonsense, honestly.

“Fine. I get it. Just tell me when this so-called procedure ends.”

“First the scribe approves, then the accountant, then the auditor, then the legal officer, then the administrative…”

“Wait. Since when is there a legal officer in the approval chain?”

“There wasn’t.”

“So why is there now?”

“The position was added this year.”

“We’re already slow as hell and you added another step?!”

At this point the knight forgot about dignity, clutched his head, and practically cried.

It was entertaining to watch, but he looked like he might actually pass out, so I cleared my throat loudly on purpose.

The administrator and one knight immediately bowed.

The crying knight was still oblivious until his fellow knight poked him repeatedly. He sprang up belatedly and cleared his throat.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”

“It was nothing serious, Madam.”

The administrator answered politely.

The knights looked like they strongly disagreed, but they weren’t about to complain to me.

Elicia wasn’t exactly welcomed in Lombard, and the group that resented her most was, without contest, the knights.

They had fought alongside the former duke to block the Northern Wall’s breach while waiting desperately for aid from the Capital. That aid never came. They suffered devastating losses.

And I was the daughter of the emperor who had abandoned them.

‘Well, it’s not like I need to win their favor anyway.’

Even so, I felt sympathy. The way the knight beat his chest in despair from bureaucratic torture reminded me too much of my past self.

So I decided to offer a bit of mercy.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s a matter we can’t share with outsiders.”

“Outsiders? You mean me?”

“Well, you see…”

The administrator answered instead of the silent knights.

A budget revision for the knight order had caused the approval chain and fund release to be delayed endlessly.

The knight order always had the most generous budget and the best treatment. They were the most important force in Lombard.

But administrators envied this, so they picked petty fights by weaponizing procedure.

And since the pettiness was so embarrassing, the knights couldn’t bring themselves to report directly to the duke.

“Do you have the documents?”

“Yes, right here.”

The knights made awkward noises, but the administrator obediently opened the papers and held them out.

I skimmed the approval documents from top to bottom.

My hand moved automatically.

“…”

Normally, someone like Baron Conte would immediately appear with an inked pen with the eagerness of a fly rubbing its feet. But now my palm was empty.

So this is how I’d feel the absence of Baron Conte.

I clicked my tongue softly and demanded a pen from the administrator. But he had nothing on him.

So I had to stand there for a long time, legs aching, until he scurried back with ink and a quill.

“I-I’m back! But why do you suddenly need a pen…?”

“For this.”

I snatched the quill and filled every signature line with my name one after another.

I’d already checked for issues. Nothing here would cause trouble even if I pushed it through.

There were about ten signature slots, and I quickly signed them all, leaving only the last one blank.

That last one required the lord’s seal.

In simple terms, I’d just strategically positioned all remaining responsibility onto the duke.

“Now submit it to His Grace.”

“…Pardon?”

“Aren’t all the procedures done?”

“B-but…”

“Is there anyone in the Castle Office with more authority than me? Or are you unhappy that I’m exercising the authority of the mistress of the house? Do you want to challenge your superior, is that it?”

At my cold stare, the administrator shook his head fast enough to snap his own neck.

The knights stared at me, wide-eyed.

They’d watched me cut through a procedure more unyielding than the Northern Wall with a few sentences.

“What are you doing? Take it.”

“…Yes, Madam.”

“As you know, the mistress’s signature carries the highest authority in the Castle Office. Submitting this to His Grace won’t cause procedural issues.”

“Th-thank you.”

The knight who had been rolling on the floor moments ago accepted the documents with dazed gratitude.

The fight was over and my head was tired from reading paperwork.

“Then I’ll be going.”

Waving a hand lazily, I turned away.

After wandering around since dawn, the bed-starvation level in my blood was dangerously low. I needed to lie down immediately.