Financially or by outward appearances… she definitely looked like she was doing well.

Enough that rumors were circulating in high society.

“His Majesty used his head on that front. We won, but it was quite unsatisfactory, so to prevent this from happening again… there’s definitely a desire to crush them thoroughly, but through this kind of guerrilla warfare where only the armies fight, civilian casualties are reduced.”

Sehera felt his voice, which had been buzzing and hard to hear, come through as she lifted her eyes from the paper.

She didn’t want to show herself getting worked up over even a scrap of news like this. She quickly set the paper in her hands neatly on his desk and stood with proper posture.

“I’ll have the coachman come get the trunk. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop giving me rare items like this without compensation.”

Sensing her atmosphere had grown somewhat colder, Fredil bit his lip.

The things on his desk should always be organized before meeting clients, but he’d forgotten in his delight at her sudden appearance without an appointment.

Of all things to forget…

Fredil’s eyes flashed sharply for a moment.

“Then in two weeks, at the Planer estate.”

As Sehera offered another farewell, Fredil realized even his self-reproach had been too quick. His face instantly brightened as he nodded vigorously.

“I’ll clear my entire schedule for next week.”

He tried joking to gauge her reaction. She was smiling, but was it just his imagination that she seemed somehow subdued? Fredil sighed inwardly.

She left the office with that faint smile still lingering.

He considered carrying the trunk out himself, but she didn’t respond particularly positively to excessive courtesy, so he decided against it.

He just needed to hand it over properly to the coachman she’d send in.

Fredil stared down at the paper with Ethan’s name for a while before crumpling it and tossing it into the trash can. A lit match immediately followed into the metal bin.

The flame the match kindled flickered inside for a while before consuming everything within and dying out.

* * *

Sana’s father Traver was practically like a village chief leading the territory’s townspeople. Count Planer’s territory had three villages total, and he was respected enough to encompass all three.

He listened well to people’s stories and represented them well, now serving as a connection between Sehera at the Count’s estate and the townspeople.

“Welcome back, Countess! I shamelessly took the liberty of entering the house to wait even without the master present.”

He greeted Sehera in a very cheerful voice, just like Sana’s father.

Throughout the carriage ride back, the news about Ethan Croft written on that paper seemed to weigh on her mind through the leather trunk that had occupied the seat beside her.

All sorts of thoughts came while she couldn’t properly follow through on even a single one.

Because it was ultimately a story about him, emotional impressions about him dominated her mind rather than rational judgment.

Even after a whole year, she apparently hadn’t properly sorted out her feelings. Sehera returned home forcibly suppressing the churning in her chest that made her want to sigh.

“Traver! Shameless, nothing. You can come wait anytime.”

Returning to the Count’s estate, fortunately Sana and her father were there to greet her—it felt like a small gift had been given to her thoroughly gloomy self.

“Hahaha! What noble would let a farming commoner roam the Count’s estate so freely! Haha. You’re truly someone without reservations.”

“It’s not like this estate has rare items, and at most you’d steal food, which I’d welcome. I’d be grateful if you’d leave enough for me to eat and take the rest.”

“Oh dear, what should I do? I actually brought food with me instead!”

Sehera walked along the path Sana guided while exchanging light conversation with Traver.

“I baked a cake I thought you’d like, Countess. My wife enjoys this sort of thing too, doesn’t she? It’s a whole cake in an amount you could all share if it doesn’t impose on Romina.”

Since Sana had taken it straight to the kitchen, they planned to eat it together if it was intact.

That’s why Sana was guiding the two toward the dining room.

Sana’s mother and Traver’s wife, who baked cookies and cakes well, frequently sent such delicious desserts.

Though the Count’s estate had a proper head chef, she accepted them gladly, understanding it came from a heart entrusting her daughter and husband to them.

Sehera, Sana, Romina, and Traver holding baskets full in both hands all gathered in the dining room and sat around the large table.

Of course Sehera sat at the head, but no matter how you looked at it, sitting at the same table with a maid and commoners felt awkward to Romina.

“Really, I still can’t get used to this seating.”

“Haha. Thank you for sitting with us, Lady Romina.”

Traver laughed good-naturedly while taking out the cookies and cakes he’d brought in the basket.

They had no fancy decorations and the cake looked like cream had been slathered on thick, but people who knew from experience how delicious they were waited for the setup to finish and Sehera to suggest eating.

“Well, isn’t this kind of thing always tastiest when someone else makes it? Tell her I’m always eating well. No, wait. Miss, how about inviting Traver’s wife to the Count’s estate sometime? The wife who always works hardest never gets to eat properly, right?”

Romina, perhaps empathizing from her position as someone who made food, got suddenly excited and raised her voice slightly. Startled, Traver was setting down the last whole cake when his eyes widened and he glanced at Sehera.

“Ah, right. I thought about that too. I’ve only been receiving and never eaten together. Next time, come together. Don’t use delivery as an excuse to eat with us alone.”

“I-I’ll definitely come with Ranshu next time.”

Traver clenched his fist while saying his wife’s name, seeming somewhat befuddled among the women, but he knew how to converse intimately with people and had the ability to encompass a very diverse range of them.

Because they farmed together, he knew well what difficulties they faced, and having had many conversations with the previous Count Planer, he was very helpful to Sehera.

And being fundamentally a very good-natured person, whenever he, Sana, and now Romina gathered together, pleasant chatter always flowed.

Sehera couldn’t naturally blend into their circle from the start.

When she’d been purely a young lady, she’d just been a prim noble miss who didn’t know much about her father’s work, and conversing casually with commoners had been unthinkable.

The bridge between such a Sehera and Traver had been none other than Sana.

“Mom’s shy unlike us. I’ve tried coaxing her several times but she doesn’t budge.”

That was unexpected. An extremely shy mother between such an extroverted father and daughter. She desperately wanted to see all three together.

“Ah, then I’ll have to start persuading her now.”

Though it hadn’t been in the plan until just now, one thought came that there might not be another opportunity like this.

“Huh? Persuading?”

Romina, who’d already been cutting the whole cake into pieces and serving it onto individual plates, asked first. She already knew. Romina was the most important person in preparing the party.

Just when she’d been thinking she should tell Sana and Traver soon, it felt like she’d found a very good opportunity to bring it up.

“I’m planning to hold a party at the Count’s estate in two weeks. Originally I was thinking of inviting Traver and Sana, but since it’s come to this, Ranshu should come too. It would be really nice if the whole family came.”

Sehera spoke with a gentle smile.

She was holding it to express gratitude for the past year and ask for continued support going forward, so they absolutely had to be invited.

Preparing like this made her feel more like a village chief than a noble, but that actually wasn’t so bad.

“Oh my, inviting us to a party. Shouldn’t you be inviting noble ladies and young ladies for a party?”

Traver, startled at the word party, waved his hands. Having served the young lady aiming to become Countess this closely and helped her, he could reasonably be greedy for anything anywhere, but he had none of that.

Instead of harboring unnecessary greed, he wanted to become someone who helped more.

“Mm… I should start preparing for that too.”

Actually, Traver was right.

Being a noble, connections with nobles were ultimately very important… Sehera recalled banquets and social gatherings she’d attended with her parents as a child.

In fact, even as a Duchess she should have participated in such places first, but with the family fortunes declining and the family head practically wandering about, she had no capacity to attend such gatherings.

And people who knew such circumstances didn’t particularly invite her either.

So now she’d become more comfortable with employees and commoners than nobles.

“If you’re thinking of properly operating a merchant company, noble connections will be very important.”

She couldn’t stop at just this level of taking and selling the territory’s goods. This was meant to establish a foundation and immediately enrich the territory residents’ lives.

And for Planer itself, naturally making profits while residents who’d become well-off faithfully paid taxes would allow wealth to accumulate.

If that happened, she could buy a moderately-sized merchant company and operate it as she pleased without directly forming one. That was exactly Sehera’s strategy.

“Mm, I know. That’s necessary too.”

Even as conversation flowed, Romina moved diligently, distributing cake slices and cookies to each person’s plate and pouring a cup of fragrant tea for everyone.

Only after achieving perfect tea time conditions did Romina sit down looking satisfied.

“You could invite noble ladies, but I can only handle up to two people alone. If you’re doing it at party level, please definitely hire people.”

Romina was someone who clearly communicated what she wanted regarding her work.

Though she’d recently worked at a restaurant, when very young she’d worked as an assistant in some baron’s kitchen, she said.