Asha couldn't forget the way Carlyle had ignored the servants of Pervaz Castle.
"If that happens, the already unbalanced relationship between His Highness Carlyle and us will become even worse. I won't be able to say a word even if his servants insult me."
"I…guess so."
"And what about the orders that His Highness Carlyle gives? I won't be able to refuse them at all, will I? Even if those orders are choking us."
Decker nodded his head.
Now he seemed to understand Asha's intention.
Asha was contemplating whether to play it safe and get a safe victory, or to risk some sacrifices and even out the balance of power.
Asha was not immune to the pain of the casualties on her side. However, she could only grit her teeth at the thought of what kind of trap Carlyle might set for her if she didn't let him have his way.
"And we can stop the Igram pyramid. Those who groveled when the Luere were here, where would they dare to go?"
Asha gritted her teeth and drew her sword.
The sword, which had been sharpened and polished over time, shone as brightly as Asha's cold eyes.
"They're the ones who have offended my pride."
Asha sheathed her sword again and turned around, her hair tied in a single ponytail flying behind her.
"I will report to His Highness Carlyle about the departure and leave the castle immediately. Prepare yourself."
"Understood, my lord."
Decker, who now had a firm and determined expression, put his right fist on his left chest and bowed his head.
A sign of obedience to his lord.
Decker had never been ashamed to obey Asha.
On the contrary, he felt an infinite sense of pride and satisfaction in his obedience to her whenever Asha exuded a bestial aura, as if she was revealing that she was the daughter of Amir Pervaz.
Leaving Decker behind, Asha headed to Carlyle's room.
"Your Highness! Countess Pervaz asks for an audience."
As soon as the attendant announced her, she was granted permission to enter.
However, Carlyle was not alone in the room.
'I haven't seen her before….'
He was with a woman he had never seen before, who seemed to have arrived in Pervaz at some point.
"Ah, Countess Pervaz!"
Carlyle didn't seem to be trying to hide her presence at all.
[Don't care what I do in Pervaz. Don't expect me to treat you like a wife.]
His words came back to her mind.
Well, it wasn't that difficult.
"What's the matter with you in such a hurry?"
He pretended not to know even though he must have already heard the news of the surprise attack by the Igram tribe. His smiling face was annoying.
"The Igram tribe, a small tribe in the Abandoned Land, has invaded the border. I am going to go out and fight the enemy right away."
Even after hearing Asha's words, Carlyle didn't seem surprised or nervous at all.
'He must think that a few savages are nothing to his knights.'
Of course. The emperor was reluctant to give up the Imperial Knights even when he sent the crown prince to war, and Carlyle had to lead the knights he had gathered from his own territory.
The knights, who had always been called the 'Crown Prince's Knights', were now called the Haven Knights after he was granted the Haven territory and the title of Duke.
In any case, the Haven Knights, who had honed their skills through various harsh battlefields in the southern part of the empire with Carlyle, were sure to be the strongest knights in the empire.
Just before he was stripped of his title as crown prince, he had crushed the southern power, Albania, so why would he be afraid of mere savages?
"So, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes, there is."
"Tell me."
A generous tone as if he would grant anything.
In that arrogantly affectionate voice, Asha felt the breath of a predator waiting for its prey with pleasure.
She was not foolish enough to put her head in that mouth willingly.
Instead of asking Carlyle to move his army, Asha brought up something that might be taken for granted.
"If I die, Your Highness will succeed to the title of Count Pervaz. Please fulfill the duties and responsibilities of Count Pervaz."
"...That's what you want me to do?"
"Yes. It is something I would like you to help me with wholeheartedly."
Carlyle chuckled.
"Are you planning to go out and die now?"
"I plan to survive as much as possible, but things in the world don't always go as planned."
Carlyle smiled again and nodded coolly.
"I see. Any other requests?"
"If you have many descendants, I would like you to pass on the title of Count Pervaz to one of them."
Asha's gaze briefly glanced over to the woman sitting across from Carlyle. Carlyle, who noticed the gaze, burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! What is this, this attitude like you want me to have a child with this woman right away?"
"To be honest, I don't even mind that. As long as someone can continue to protect this Pervaz."
As Carlyle realized that Asha was not joking or sarcastic, the laughter drained from him.
However, Asha didn't notice his gaze.
Right now, every second was crucial.
"Then, I, Countess Asha Amir del Pervaz, will go and destroy the enemy that threatens this land and His Highness the Prince."
She was kneeling on one knee waiting for the order to go out while he was sitting in a comfortable chair looking down at her.
They didn't look like a married couple at all.
"This is far from romantic, you know."
Sighing lightly, Carlyle stood up from his seat.
Then he grabbed Asha's shoulders as she was prostrating herself and pulled her up. He looked into her surprised eyes and kissed her forehead lightly.
"May the blessing of Aguiles be with you too. I wish you victory, my wife."
Asha stared into his eyes for a moment at Carlyle's sudden kiss and order to go out, then bowed silently and turned to leave.
There was a moment of silence in the room after Asha left.
"As I heard… She's amazing."
The woman sitting across from Carlyle said, watching his reaction.
"Oh, she is amazing. This is the first time I've seen such a human being."
"Pete was also quite interested. He wondered what kind of woman could make His Highness Carlyle smile."
"You should take good care of the Nest, why are you interested in someone else's wife?"
Carlyle said jokingly.
The woman, a high-ranking informant of the Nest, chuckled and lowered her voice.
"There's something called an informant's intuition. In my opinion, she seems to be an element that will change the game."
"Asha Pervaz?"
"As you know, Your Highness."
However, Carlyle just smiled and kept silent.
Instead, he continued the conversation they were having before Asha came in.
"Let's continue the conversation we were having earlier. Gabriel Knox is quite suspicious?"
"Yes. It feels like he's finally starting something he's been secretly preparing for. This is a summary of High Priest Gabriel's schedule for this year."
The document the woman handed over contained a monthly summary of Gabriel's official schedule as well as the places he had been seen unofficially.
"He's getting busier."
"Right? And according to sources inside the temple, High Priest Gabriel sometimes locks himself in his room without receiving any communication."
"Is it unnatural compared to other priests?"
"Yes. No matter how much they knock on the door from outside, he doesn't answer. He says that when he is completely absorbed in prayer, he can't hear any outside noise."
Carlyle wanted to make sure that Gabriel couldn't even hear the sound of "Fire!". If he couldn't hear that either, it would mean that he wasn't in the room, not that he couldn't hear.
"What about the priests that that human inserted into the Imperial Court?"
"Their conditions are different, but they have one thing in common."
"What is it?"
"They are all principled to the point of being suffocating."
Carlyle frowned in puzzlement.
"Gabriel Knox doesn't seem like a tightly closed principled person?"
"But the priests he recommended were all like that. They are people who interpret the words of the scriptures literally."
"Are you crazy? It is already known that the words of the scriptures are full of metaphors and symbols."
"Those are people who don't even understand that."
Carlyle exhaled a breath that could have been a sigh or a laugh.
"What on earth was the Empress thinking when she did that? Did she think my father would be the kind of person to listen to the priests?"
"It's blasphemous, but I doubt it."
"There's no way the Empress didn't know what everyone else knows… …"
The abilities of the individual priests planted in the Imperial Palace were not very great.
They were the kind of people who were always lost in their own thoughts, as if they would be ostracized from any group, and who, while believing themselves to be right, did not have the confidence to openly show it in front of others.
It was strange that such people were connected to Gabriel, the rising divinity of the Elahe religion.
"Keep an eye on him. Gabriel Knox is up to something. He's not just a priest who caught the Empress's eye."
"I think so too. Anyway, this is the information I gathered on the priests who were selected for the Imperial Court. There's nothing great, but I brought it just in case there's something you might find useful."
Carlyle glanced through a few pages before pushing them aside. It was Lionel's job to handle the boring stuff anyway..
"Good job."
"That's my duty. Is there anything else you want me to do?"
Carlyle pictured the situation in the capital in his head.
The suspiciously moving Gabriel Knox, the strangely unresponsive temple, the restless atmosphere of the social world…
All of them were suspicious and worrisome, but there was nothing he could do about it right now. He had no choice but to wait patiently until he could see the direction in which things were going.
He shrugged his shoulders and made a joke.
"My wife also had a request, what do you think? Would you try to make a successor to Pervaz County with me?"