“How about going to see your unit members, if only for a little while?”

“...What?”

When I stared at her with my eyes wide,

Ariella spoke with a faint smile.

“I’ve been able to sense my thralls nearby for some time now. They’re the ones I ordered to stay with your unit members, so if they’re near here, your people should be with them as well.”

“Ah.”

The unit members I’d ordered to wait in a safe place.

Meaning there was a high chance they were nearby.

“I’m sure you gave them a rough update through guild messages, but your unit members can’t send guild messages back, so you haven’t been able to check on their situation. Weren’t you worried because of that?”

No.

Not really.

‘If it were only the unit members, maybe. But Ariella’s thralls are with them too.’

To begin with, they were troops specialized in covert operations.

If they’d been ordered to hide, they’d be committed to hiding.

And with Ariella’s thralls there as well, I figured it’d take a lot for them to end up in danger.

But regardless of what I thought—

“Go to them for a little while and hear the details of their situation for yourself. Then your worries should ease a bit as well.”

Ariella said that while watching my expression.

And hearing that suggestion, I...

‘This might not be a bad idea.’

found myself thinking there wasn’t really any reason to refuse.

The grand duke’s proposal did feel unsettling.

But in the end, that judgment was based on intuition.

I still didn’t know whether my judgment was right or wrong.

Maybe I’d simply developed resentment toward the grand duke because I was about to lose Ariella, an important fighting asset.

And maybe that resentment was making me misunderstand things on my own.

‘Even if my intuition is right, it’s the same.’

I still had no idea why the grand duke wanted Ariella to grow.

If so—

‘I need to be able to talk it over with someone.’

Someone else who had experienced the situation in this land alongside me, and who understood the situation now as well.

‘The unit members.’

If it was them—

the ones who’d gone through vampire culture here together with me—

they might be able to come up with some other reason I hadn’t thought of.

“...Then yes. I’d appreciate that.”

“You’ve made the right choice. Just wait a moment.”

When I nodded at that thought, Ariella rose to her feet and walked toward Lirei.

Watching her back, I thought,

‘That one... is she actually worried about me, at least?’

I treated her like a subordinate.

Still, maybe that had created some kind of attachment, however ugly.

The way she was worrying about me in a strange way, knowing we’d soon be separated completely.

I felt grateful too, but—

that behavior probably also carried the thought that we really would be parting, and that before we did, she ought to do at least this much for me.

Thinking that made my feelings strangely complicated, so when I was looking at Ariella with a gaze full of all kinds of thoughts...

“What did you just say!”

“......!”

from Ariella’s mouth, as she’d gone over to speak to Lirei, came a shout.

“Say that again. What did you just say?”

“As I told you, our forces were provided to Your Excellency the Count by the grand duke. In most matters, we are to obey the Count’s commands, however...”

When I turned that way in surprise, Lirei looked at Ariella and answered in a gentle, soothing tone.

“The one thing that is absolutely forbidden is for the Count and that knight to be separated from us even a little.”

What kind of—

bullshit is that?

***

“You said you would follow my orders. You were the one who said I could do as I pleased in all things.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“And now you—!”

“But didn’t I tell you? There were several things the grand duke specifically instructed us about.”

Even under Ariella’s questioning, Lirei explained without yielding in the slightest.

“Just as I was told not to let Your Excellency the Count take low-grade blood for the sake of your growth, there were several other things I was told must never be allowed. Various actions that are harmful to your development, and...”

“I don’t care about the others. Why are you refusing this order right now!”

“......There is only one reason.”

I saw the man’s gaze turn toward me.

“Your Excellency the Count, and Sir Shin, your knight. Those two are never to leave our procession under any circumstances.”

“What...?”

As I listened to that in shock, Ariella said furiously,

“If it concerns me, I understand. The grand duke has expectations of me, so it would not do for me to flee before fulfilling them. I know that myself, which is why I never said I would leave the procession.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

“But not my knight!”

If what he said was true—

if not just Ariella but I too was unable to leave this procession—

‘Escape is impossible too.’

Meaning the return to the Legion that Ariella had promised me would become impossible as well.

“Even if my knight were to leave the procession for a time, I would not break my promise. So why—!”

“I heard there was a promise.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying—what does that promise have to do with—!”

“Not a promise made with you, Count.”

Lirei looked toward me, then said with a peculiar smile,

“I was told there was a promise made with that knight.”

“What...?”

“They say that when Your Excellency the Count attains the qualifications needed to revive your bloodline, and when you grant that knight a noble title—at that time, the grand duke promised to bestow their blood and help elevate his standing.”

There definitely had been such a promise.

And not just an ordinary promise, either.

It had been a [Vow] spoken by that grand duke while pouring mana into the words.

A [Vow] spoken by a being on the grand duke’s level wouldn’t be something that could be broken easily, the way the promise between Ariella and me might be.

“The grand duke swore that they would do their utmost to keep that promise. Which is why they were extremely averse to any possibility of that knight falling into danger or being sent far away.”

Honestly, it was a reward I had no use for whatsoever.

But from the way Ariella had reacted back then, and the jealousy Lirei had shown me, I’d thought it was probably a reward loaded with a great deal of favor.

“Don’t tell me.”

But—

it wasn’t.

“You aren’t planning to render the grand duke’s promise meaningless, are you?”

Shackles.

A powerful set of shackles, using that [Vow] as an excuse to keep even me from escaping the grand duke’s reach.

***

“This is absurd!”

Sitting atop the palanquin, Ariella spoke with a face full of irritation.

“Calm down a little.”

“Calm down? Do I look like I’m in any state to calm down?”

At my words, she seemed to get even angrier, throwing a fit in every possible direction.

“To begin with, the grand duke’s promise was meant to reward you, not to restrain you like this.”

“.......”

“And yet, for the sake of giving you a reward, they place restrictions on you so you can’t even move freely. It makes no sense. That Lirei person has clearly misunderstood—”

At that, I scratched my head and said,

“About that part.”

“What part!”

Thinking back to the grand duke I’d met not long ago—

“That was probably intentional.”

“......?”

Her eyes widened at what I said.

Ariella seemed to think that restriction was the result of a mistake, and that the original intent had been purely to reward me.

But I saw it a little differently.

“The promise is just an excuse to make the purpose sound plausible. From the beginning, that grand duke wanted to keep me from slipping out of their sphere of influence.”

“......That makes no sense.”

Ariella spoke with a look that said exactly that.

“Of course, it’s true that you are an exceptionally capable human. Even more so if one includes the forces you’ve built. But the grand duke has no way of knowing those things. From the grand duke’s perspective, you are nothing more than a single knight. There is no reason to covet you in particular...”

“No, it’s not me they want.”

“Then?”

“It’s the same as before. The one they probably want is you.”

To her expression of complete confusion, I said with a slightly apologetic look,

“It was like that from the start, wasn’t it? The grand duke wants something from you. And...”

“And?”

“For the sake of that, they were trying to keep me here too.”

Once I said that far, Ariella also seemed to realize something, and muttered blankly,

“Don’t tell me... you mean as a hostage?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

The grand duke’s forces were strong.

Most requests could probably be achieved through threats of force alone.

But—

“There are limits to asking through force.”

That would depend on the request, of course, but some people, rather than submit to threats of force, would choose to throw away their lives.

But...

‘Not a hostage.’

If there was something more precious than life, then even against someone who’d abandon their life without hesitation, you could still get what you wanted through coercion.

And from the grand duke’s point of view—

“......The grand duke judged that you would be effective enough as a hostage.”

“Yeah, probably.”

To Ariella, I must have looked like someone more valuable than life itself.

I had a guess why.

“......So this is my fault.”

With a pale face, she ran a hand through her hair.

“Because back then, I acted as though I cherished you... the grand duke judged that you had value as a hostage.”

I still didn’t know the full details, but when she saved me from that grand duke, Ariella had acted as though she treasured me greatly.

And the result of that was the situation now.

“Because of me...”

“No. If you hadn’t gotten us through it like that, I would’ve died back then.”

If Ariella hadn’t acted as though she valued me deeply, the enraged grand duke would have ended up taking my life.

If anything, at the time, Ariella had been trying to save me even while taking the risk of putting herself in danger.

The best option would’ve been never going to see the grand duke in the first place.

But in that situation, gathering mana and returning had been nearly impossible, and simply giving up Ariella as a fighting asset made no sense either.

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“.......”

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

Even so.

Even so, Ariella’s expression remained dark.

Looking at that face, I thought,

‘At first it was uncertain, but now I’m sure.’

The fact that the grand duke had taken me as a hostage meant there was something they wanted Ariella to do badly enough to take a hostage for it.

Ariella was already ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) someone who wanted to grow stronger.

If all the grand duke wanted was for her to become strong and rebuild her bloodline, there’d be no need to take a hostage.

Which meant—

‘The grand duke... wants something from Ariella that goes beyond rebuilding a bloodline.’

I didn’t know what it was.

But at least, I was sure now that there was another purpose.

“......They fight battles regularly for the sake of my growth.”

While I was thinking that, Ariella—apparently thinking about something else—spoke carefully.

“If we aim for an opening during one of those moments, there may be a chance to escape.”

“......You’re really going to try that openly? The grand duke won’t like it if they find out.”

“......Even if I have to earn some resentment for it.”

“You’re going to let me escape and then have yourself put through hell afterward? That kind of consideration is so burdensome I’d rather refuse it myself.”

To begin with, they wouldn’t let me escape that easily.

‘If they’re this thorough—if they’re even taking me hostage—then they’re dead serious about that objective.’

Lirei wouldn’t fail to understand that either.

He’d probably be watching my movements even in the middle of battle.

“But still...!”

At my calm reaction, Ariella said with a stifled, frustrated face,

“If this keeps up, you won’t be able to return to the Legion.”

“.......”

“I bragged so confidently that I would send you back... and now because of me...”

Ariella agonized over it.

But agonizing wouldn’t produce an answer.

‘This army isn’t made up solely of that man’s forces.’

If Lirei’s troops had been the entirety of the force we’d fought before, that would be one thing.

But this included the grand duke’s other knights as well.

The gap in strength was too large.

Even if Ariella called in her thralls, winning would be difficult, to say nothing of anything else.

And after getting me out that way, Ariella would become an enemy of the grand duke.

The one commanding the troops—Lirei—looked extremely meticulous.

Sneaking away would be impossible too.

“......There’s no other way.”

Ariella seemed to know that as well.

She only ran a hand through her hair at the hopeless situation.

“......Then at least.”

But then, before long, she lifted her head as if something had occurred to her.

“Have you ever thought about living as a noble?”

Looking me in the face, she made that suggestion.