Chapter 9: Electra Leaves the House

Having clearly perceived the malice of some unknown party, Electra did not, for that reason, attempt to identify the mastermind.

It seemed unlikely that the one pulling the strings was someone a mere baroness could safely oppose.

Someone, somewhere, was determined to elevate the adulterous pair labeled as the ‘hero’ and the ‘saint,’ whose story was being spread everywhere.

What would come of raising them so highly, she could not tell.

There was a limit to how much she could speculate.

All she could do was take every possible measure to prevent harm from coming to the people of the territory and to her family home.

There was certainly a ‘malicious someone.’

Even now.
With that firmly in mind, she continued her actions.

“Are they trying to bring down ‘me,’ or the House of Vent…?”

Perhaps both.

For example, driving the Vent family out of the nobility and seizing their lands.

Then granting them to her husband, who was being celebrated as a hero, thereby expanding his territory.

If the two territories were combined, it would be fitting for him to be elevated to count.

The one who would benefit from that would be Harid above all else, but it was unlikely that he himself was the mastermind.

“…There’s no point in thinking about it too much.”

For now, she would remain vigilant together with her family, acknowledging that an ‘enemy’ existed.

That enemy might grow impatient and make a move, but…

From what she could tell, it did not feel as though they were trying to bring Harid down.

After all, the unease she felt stemmed from the content of the reports arriving from the battlefield.

In those reports, Harid was praised as a ‘hero.’

His partner was deliberately elevated as well, yet neither of them was written about negatively.

In other words, the malice was directed solely at Electra.

After that came days of steady, unglamorous struggle.

Assuming that someone was plotting to bring down the baroness, Electra and the House of Vent remained on guard.

First and foremost, they prepared countermeasures against attempts to spread slander.

Next would likely be interference with commerce, or perhaps sabotage of agriculture.

Those would have a major impact on the lives of the people.

She judged that they would not go so far as to ruin the Carlson Barony, which was ‘Harid’s land,’ but she could not be certain.

To protect the people’s livelihoods, they secured stockpiles and strengthened security.

And because they were acting on the assumption of an ‘enemy,’ they prepared hidden guards in addition to visible ones… and set traps.

“…My lady, it seems the ‘net’ has been sprung.
And we’ve caught someone.”

“Caught him?”

“Yes.”

Previously, the ‘fake baroness’ who had appeared had escaped.

They had not intended to pursue her deeply, but…

“We have apprehended a man who tried to tamper with the stored provisions.”

“…You managed to catch him.”

The mastermind Electra had envisioned was someone fairly ‘high up.’

She had not expected someone acting under such a person’s orders to make a move that would expose them so easily.

“Perhaps he didn’t think we were on guard.”

“That’s likely.”

Even Electra herself did not fully understand why she felt such a strong sense of foreboding.

Perhaps, even if it was not as clear as that prophetic dream, she possessed some kind of latent foresight.

“…Can I meet him?”

“It’s dangerous.
Please refrain.
He may be targeting you.”

“He likely is, but I don’t think assassination is the goal.
Wouldn’t they want to ruin my reputation first?”

By denouncing the impostor as a fake, the slander she attempted to spread had not taken root.

The direction the impostor had tried to push was the idea that Electra was obsessed with the hero Harid and clung to him.

They likely wanted to spread such rumors about the wife before staging the hero’s triumphant return.

All to highlight the beautiful tale of him being united with the saint.

Electra stood before the man who had tried to sabotage the food stores.

There were few guards of exceptional skill.

In truth, any capable fighters had been sent to the borderland battlefield in the current state of the kingdom.

That made Electra’s actions extremely dangerous.

“…Nice to meet you, murderer.”

“…!”

Electra addressed the man that way the moment she opened her mouth.

“What you tried to tamper with was the final lifeline that keeps the people alive.
If that became inedible, there would have been deaths.

…You are a murderer who stands against the will of the gods.”

Electra was bluffing.

She wanted to probe what sort of background the man came from.

“Why did you try to kill so many people?
I don’t know your name, but I will ask the church to have you excommunicated.
Without revealing who you are.”

“N-no…”

The man, who had remained silent until then, spoke for the first time at her words.

From the change in his expression, Electra roughly gauged his position.

“…The church’s orders, then.”

“…!”

Electra deliberately spoke as if stating a fact, as though she already understood everything.

She was not questioning him, but making him believe she had grasped the entire sequence of events.

Her head began to ache.

Had she truly deduced this logically from the information before her?

Or had she once again perceived the situation through some supernatural foresight like that prophetic dream?

…She did not know.

But watching the man’s reaction, Electra decided on her next move.

“You may release him.”

“Eh, is that really alright!?”

“Yes.
If he believes that stealing food from the people and condemning them to hunger is acceptable and forgivable by the gods, then there is no saving him.

Surely, even without our hands, divine punishment will come.”

All that remained was to leave it to the man’s conscience.

More importantly, Electra moved on to her next step.

“…I will go to the church.”

She would conceal her identity and attend the church.

She could lament that she was ‘suffering from her husband’s infidelity’ and seek salvation.

She believed that if she were not ‘Electra,’ she would be helped.

Before Harid returned, she could enter the church as a mere commoner.

Something close to entering a convent.

She would seek temporary protection from the church.

She suspected that the ‘enemy’ was part of the church’s upper ranks, but she also strongly felt it was not only that.

If she shifted the timing of ‘Baroness Electra’s disappearance,’ it would be like the saying that the darkest place is beneath the lighthouse.

And so.

With the cooperation of the head steward and others, Electra delayed the moment when it would be publicly known that ‘the baroness had disappeared.’

She herself took the name ‘Ellen,’ a commoner, and sought refuge with the church.