I thought I felt an unpleasant gaze from somewhere.
Pretending not to see Lilia waving her hand, I withdrew my gaze again.
Tristan, having seen my expression distorted with displeasure, hovered nearby and spoke.
[Shall I go shoot some needles right now?]
[I could also catch some rats and throw them under her blankets.]
Following Tristan's lead, Mint also offered an opinion with a dragging whine.
The Dullahans, having realized early on that there was no one trustworthy in this mansion, were commendably keeping watch on their own accord like this.
Tristan in particular, whom I had assigned to exclusively monitor Lilia, seemed to have lost quite a bit of affection for her.
I glanced at the two guys growling as if ready to wreak havoc in Lilia's room at any moment, then opened my mouth indifferently.
"The higher you climb, the longer you fall. Let her enjoy her joy."
Though I didn't like the sight of her obsequiously offering greetings, I could roughly guess why she was acting that way.
This morning, the Temple had made a major announcement defining Dullahans as evil.
Designating a specific monster for branding was unprecedented, so all day long the servants in the mansion had been gossiping about it without exception.
Naturally, Lilia would have heard the news as well. She would have thought her prophetic abilities were proven the moment she heard the news, so she was surely feeling triumphant by now.
Thinking of my Dullahans who had officially become 'evil' left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I clicked my tongue briefly, then asked Samuel who had been silently following behind me.
"So what did 'they' say at 'that place'?"
"……They say they have come to admire the reason why the Resurrected One was able to subdue the Dullahan who invaded the Imperial Palace in a single stroke. They said to continue serving you with all your might in the future as well."
Samuel quietly opened his mouth. His voice was dejected, and he had been in that state all day after hearing the Temple's announcement this morning.
"Oh, so they officially gave permission to go around subjugating Dullahans?"
It was a sound of pure admiration from me. However, the listener didn't seem to take it that way, as Samuel's head dropped lower.
Though I couldn't see his face because he was wearing a helmet, it was certain to be completely stiff.
"……I really didn't think it would be announced in this way……."
Samuel made excuses in a voice that sounded like he was squeezing it out. I waved my hand dismissively at him and looked around with bored eyes.
"Don't add words unnecessarily and get treated as a heretic. Just stay quiet."
At the word 'heretic,' Samuel's pupils inside his helmet shook roughly. However, he didn't continue speaking any further.
Through that reaction, I could tell that he had truly believed the Temple would reestablish all doctrines and announce them honestly.
'I told them they wouldn't do that, but they wouldn't listen.'
Perhaps because I had roughly guessed the contents, I wasn't surprised. Now that it had been officially announced, it couldn't be reversed, so there was no point in dwelling on it.
It was sad that Dullahans were defined as evil, but wasn't it fortunate that the Resurrected One's divine authority was still alive?
'Since it has come to this, it's rather better to use this situation.'
At least I could see that when I was caught together with Dullahans, there was room to boldly claim that I was fighting against the rampant evil.
Walking slowly while organizing my thoughts, I suddenly looked to the side.
"Pallidis, did you rest comfortably last night?"
"Ah, no one broke in yesterday. I guess they gave up after getting beaten up for a few days!"
Pallidis boasted while shrugging her shoulders. Because of that, her empty helmet rattled slightly.
I let out a hollow laugh while watching that sight, then shook my head.
In the current Roam mansion, there were quite a few who viewed the second young lady who suddenly resurrected and returned as disagreeable.
They generally had no interest in religious symbolism like the Resurrected One or whatever, and simply recognized me, who had taken the seat of their master, as a troublesome matter.
In short, they were sister Friesian's people.
Sister's influence was particularly strong among the knights, and because of that, knights who deliberately picked fights with Pallidis kept appearing since I came to Roam.
Some 'excessively loyal ones' even tried to raid Pallidis late at night.
'Knights, no less, shamelessly raiding in groups.'
When caught and asked, they would reel off plausible excuses like wanting to verify her skills since she would become family, or wanting to see how she handled unexpected situations.
Moreover, the more they failed, the more stubborn they seemed to become, and they kept attaching themselves in various ways.
At least during the day, I kept her by my side as my personal guard, so that was fine, but night was always the problem.
"Don't let your guard down. There's no place for me in this mansion, so troublesome things will keep happening."
There would be no place for me in the future either, so until I left the mansion, I would have to accept a certain level of commotion.
'Actually, I'm deliberately causing it though.'
With a deliberately serious expression, I warned Pallidis to be careful.
Then I looked back at Samuel again and asked.
"How about you, Sir?"
At my question, Samuel fell into deep thought. Then he cautiously began to speak.
"I thought it was a normal daily occurrence for a noble house to have intruders barge in at night……."
At his words saying he thought it was natural, an absurd feeling arose in me.
Does he think noble society is full of only schemes and intrigue?
'……Well, actually, it doesn't seem like a completely wrong statement?'
"Anyway, that means there were visitors."
When I muttered indifferently, Samuel answered in a subdued voice.
"When I caught and checked, they were Roam's knights, so I thought they had mistaken their target and let them go."
It was ridiculous that they couldn't directly express their dissatisfaction to me so they messed with my subordinates, but even that ended with them all getting beaten up and failing.
I let out a dry laugh and strode forward.
'How did the family end up like this?'
When sister Friesian was governing as the Little Duke, I thought discipline was well established, but it seems it wasn't a system but rather based on individual power.
'Looking at that, sister must have been a proper Little Duke.'
Sister was someone who cherished the family, so there was no way she wouldn't have known the family's utmost devotion. Perhaps some were moved by that sincerity and followed her even more passionately.
Pallidis spoke to me in a light tone while I was reevaluating sister anew.
"I briefly looked around, and the knights here all have flimsy bodies!"
Her voice was louder than I thought. In other words…… it was loud enough for a knight passing nearby to 'coincidentally' hear.
"I apologize, but."
Someone suddenly revealed themselves in front of us who were walking leisurely. It was a Roam knight whose name I didn't know.
Originally, they wouldn't have placed knights inside the garden. But right now, they had strengthened security because I was secretly staying to avoid the Emperor's eyes.
Therefore, knights and soldiers were placed in various places where they originally wouldn't have been stationed.
This garden was one of them.
"I cannot tolerate such rudeness, so I will speak up."
Blocking my path with a red-flushed face, he was glaring at Pallidis as if anyone could see he was trembling with rage.
"Sir?"
He was about to get straight to the point, but then belatedly realized his own rudence and hurriedly lowered his head.
"I am Karin, belonging to Roam's 1st Knight Order."
The 1st Knight Order—they were probably knights that the Little Duke directly selected.
Realizing he was a knight who had been assigned to sister Friesian, an interesting feeling naturally rose up.
I let out a subtle smile and parted my lips.
"Very well, Sir Karin. I will permit your statement."
"Just now, that woman made remarks insulting Roam's knights. This does not seem like something to overlook, so I am speaking up like this."
At Karin's stiff words, Pallidis muttered in a sneering voice.
"Looks like you heard that like a rat eavesdropping."
"What did you say?"
Karin narrowed his eyes and glared at Pallidis. However, Pallidis shrugged her shoulders and blatantly clicked her tongue, showing disgust.
It wouldn't be easy to express disgust with one's whole body while wrapped completely in armor, so it was truly an amazing ability.
I held back laughter that was about to escape and interjected with a deliberately grave voice.
"For a practitioner to not be able to control their mind over a few words. How concerning."
As I openly defended Pallidis and reproached Karin, Karin turned to look at me with an upset face.
"I heard you returned to become the master of Roam. Then shouldn't you show the appropriate bearing befitting that?"
"Bearing?"
"Lord Little Duke thoroughly punished those who tarnished Roam's name, thereby protecting the family's authority."
Oh, so he's openly comparing me to sister like that.
It seemed I was unpleasant in their eyes after all.
I curled the corners of my lips and parted my lips with a cold face.
"Authority is merely an insubstantial emotion that exists in the minds of subjects. It is right for me to handle my own mind myself."
Even at my point, Karin's face showed he couldn't accept it easily.
His eyes alternated between looking at Samuel and Pallidis standing behind me.
"The outsiders that the young lady brought are treating the mansion's knights lightly, and they are lowering the knights' morale."
At those words, I found myself nodding without realizing it.
Breaking the stiff atmosphere was something I had expected. That was because the two of them were walking around fully armed with helmets on.
When knights fully armed with fierce energy walk around, ordinary servants would naturally be intimidated, and the knights who originally considered this place their territory would view them like thorns in their eyes.
However, what did I care about such atmosphere. I shrugged my shoulders.
"I don't understand what the problem is when I'm keeping the guards I like by my side."
"If you keep guards like that, Roam's knights will……!"
"The ones who were aiming weapons at me—those who were hostile toward me—I'm telling you I'm aware of them, so there's no need to be so agitated."
As if struck by something, Karin closed his mouth with a dazed face. I gave him a sneer that was almost pitying.
How could I say that the high-ranking positions of Roam were treating me as a fake successor?
It was only natural that I didn't hide those who were hunting me like prey and shooting arrows at my back.