“No matter how much I...”
Ferio’s voice was heavy with disappointnt as he slowly walked among the knights sprawled face-down on the ground.
At the sa ti, a suffocating sense of pressure followed his every step.
“...may have llowed and grown more compassionate.”
The knights, sweating profusely as they were punished, wanted to protest that statent.
Ferio had only ever been compassionate to Leonia and Varia. To everyone else, he was as cold and rciless as always.
“And yet your discipline is the first thing to collapse.”
Ferio’s tone was scolding, but full of nace.
“One madman holds a single child hostage, and you couldn’t handle it?”
“......”
“Answer .”
At the cutting command, the knights finally responded in unison, shouting their apologies.
But their words did nothing to ease Ferio’s fury. The mont he heard Varia had been captured by Remus, the world had turned into hell.
Even rembering it made his skin crawl.
“Sir leis Levipes.”
Ferio stopped in front of the knight at the head of the group. It was leis, her ash-gray hair tied tightly in one.
“I had high expectations for you. That’s what makes this all the more disappointing.”
“...My apologies...”
Her back was already soaked with sweat, even though it was only early autumn. The midday sun was still harsh.
“You know why I made you the captain of the escort knights.”
“...Yes.”
“And this is how you repay ?”
The knight currently recomnded as next vice-commander by senior knights like Mono was none other than leis.
From the mont she joined the Gladiago Order as a page, she had shown exceptional promise.
She supported her comrades, and held herself to rigorous standards. Through grueling training that pushed her to the bone, she had even shown signs of developing ora last winter.
“Sir Levipes.”
Ferio’s voice struck like a blade.
“Don’t ever disappoint again with a mistake this stupid.”
“...I will be more cautious.”
“Words alone won’t cut it.”
“I swear it on my life.”
“My final warning should be worth more than your life.”
Ferio’s voice was sharp and cold, like shattered ice. It sent chills down the knights’ spines even as sweat drenched them.
“Hands behind your back.”
At his command, the knights were now relying entirely on their heads for support.
“Dad!”
Leonia ca running up just then, with Connie and Mia following behind.
Seeing the knights being punished, Leonia’s face montarily showed sympathy.
In truth, the knights hadn’t failed because of negligence—it had been divine interference. In a way, this punishnt was unfair.
But even knowing that, Leonia couldn’t stop Ferio.
She couldn’t tell him the truth. Even if she did, it wouldn’t restore the knights’ honor.
So instead, she brought sothing that might help in a small way.
“What are you doing here?”
Ferio approached, displeased by his daughter’s sudden arrival. He was planning on making the punishnt even more severe.
“To give you this.”
Leonia signaled the maids. Connie and Mia set down the large basket they had carried in.
Ferio raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“...Cushions?”
The basket was filled with dozens of fluffy cushions.
“Mom said to bring them.”
Varia knew it had been divine interference too—but even without that, she felt that simply being taken hostage would have caused trouble for the knights.
“You put them under your heads.”
Leonia reached down, lifting one knight’s nape and tucking the cushion beneath him with rcy glowing on her face.
Unfortunately, the one she grabbed happened to be Probo—the very knight who frequently suffered at Leonia’s hands.
Getting special treatnt from her didn’t feel like kindness; it felt like a curse.
Ah...!
But the mont his head touched the cushion, Probo nearly burst into tears.
Varia had chosen soft, thick cushions. They lifted the upper body just enough to ease the burden on the rest of the posture.
“My lady...”
Probo sniffled.
Ferio looked at him like he was insane.
“Your mother... honestly...”
Ferio didn’t know what to make of Varia’s gesture. It clearly ant don’t be too hard on them.
“Her heart’s too kind, huh?”
Leonia patted Ferio’s shoulder like she understood everything.
“You should really teach her how to be evil. She’s too soft like this...”
“Turn her into a proper villain.”
“Don’t forget the shackles.”
“Are you actually going to do it?”
Leonia asked playfully.
She thought he was joking about shackles—but Ferio was dead serious, ntally asuring Varia’s ankles and pondering colors and patterns.
“...This is why they call him the Northern musclehead.”
Leonia muttered with a slow shake of her head.
“Better to sever her ankle tendons so she can’t walk on her own again.”
Connie and Mia went ghost-pale.
Leonia had ant it as a sarcastic jab at Ferio’s obsession and madness, but to everyone else it sounded like she was seriously planning to maim her mother.
“I an, I’ve thought about it...”
Ferio had considered it himself a few tis—but even he had never dared carry it out.
And yet, his daughter seed to lack even the barest sense of guilt about such things.
“...Forget it.”
Ferio shoved the lecture back down his throat and looked at his daughter with a troubled expression.
“Just... grow up healthy.”
“That sounds like a curse.”
Leonia narrowed her eyes and glared at him.
“Based on my defeat at the hands of your dried-up conscience and lost innocence, I’ll make sure to raise the second one properly.”
“Still, I’m the world’s strongest.”
Leonia scratched her nose with her pinky after hearing the word defeat from her father’s mouth.
“You take parenting way too lightly, Dad.”
“Who said I take it lightly?”
Ferio snapped defensively. He was still going through the most difficult parenting known to man.
“I matured early. You didn’t have to struggle much with .”
“And that ca out of your mouth...”
Ferio could easily list the countless hardships he’d endured raising Leonia.
If given ti, he could fill several volus.
“It’s peaceful, isn’t it?”
“It really is.”
Connie and Mia looked at the bickering father and daughter with warmth.
anwhile, the knights, still enduring punishnt even with the cushions, desperately prayed they hadn’t been forgotten.
They also hoped the banter would end soon—because it was too funny, and their trembling bodies could barely hold position from laughing.
All across the training ground, only the muffled groans of cushion-buried knights echoed as they prayed to remain unnoticed.
***
“Master.”
Tra called for Ferio.
He was seated by a sunlit window, spending rare quiet ti with Varia.
Though there were still docunts in his hand, it was a mont of peace after many storms.
Clearing away the clutter had allowed his mind to breathe.
“We’ve received guests.”
Tra announced the arrival of visitors Ferio had been expecting for a few days now.
“Shall I co too?”
Varia closed the book she’d been reading—the latest volu of muscular croquis Leonia had chosen for her, claiming it would be good for prenatal care.
“I’ll be right back. Just relax.”
Ferio gently pulled the croquis sketchpad from her hands and kissed her cheek.
“Now that I think about it... where’s Leo?”
While heading to the drawing room, Ferio realized he hadn’t seen his eldest daughter since breakfast.
“The young lady is with the knights.”
“With the knights?”
“She said she’s going to the underground prison. Asked to tell you, if you inquire, that she’s gone to perform a sword dance.”
Ferio stopped in his tracks.
“...Sword dance?”
He suddenly imagined Leonia swinging a sword while dancing enthusiastically.
It was so absurd he let out a chuckle.
“She’s grown so much.”
“She has indeed.”
“Not long ago, she whined about how she hated bloody torture...”
Now she was a proper Voreoti, capable of taking action herself.
Ferio was genuinely proud.
“But let’s keep this from the madam...”
“Of course.”
Even though Varia hated Remus more than anyone, she wouldn’t be pleased to know Leonia had gone down to stain her hands with his blood.
That’s probably why Leonia hadn’t told her mother.
Ferio arrived at the reception room door.
Tra opened it, and Ferio walked in and took a seat in front of the guests.
“So.”
He began without greeting. Soon after, he heard the door close behind him—now it was just Ferio and the guests.
“Why have you co?”
“It’s been a while, Duke.”
The guest greeted him calmly, unfazed by Ferio’s brusque manner.
With the gentle smile of soone visiting an old grandchild, Duke Aust’s expression was peaceful.
“If we’re being precise, wasn’t it you who called us ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) here?”
“I assud you’d co.”
“Well, the palace wouldn’t receive us, after all.”
Salus Aust, seated beside him, smiled as she countered his remark.
Usis’s daughter...
Only then did Ferio recognize Usis in her face.
Now that he knew, he realized her smile was exactly like her mother’s. Other than her hair color, she resembled Usis even more than Prince Alis did.
“You take after your mother.”
Ferio comnted as he looked over the tea set.
“Thank you. My mother is very beautiful.”
“And diligent.”
Ferio lifted his teacup.
Usis’s determination to live undercover in enemy territory for the sake of revenge had gone beyond re diligence—it was worthy of genuine respect.
Though the mistake of involving his family would never be forgiven.
“Have you collected what you ca for?”
Ferio referred to the ridio knights detained at the palace.
“Her Majesty the Empress was most generous. I heard the Duke of Voreoti played a large role.”
“I didn’t do much.”
“You chose not to expose us.”
Duke Aust cut to the heart of the matter. His serene jade eyes sparkled like the distant horizon.
His gaze seed to see through everything, but Ferio remained unmoved.
“It wasn’t intentional.”
Ferio gently inhaled the scent of his tea.
“If we hadn’t been in a hurry, things might have gone very differently.”
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