Chapter 10: Instinct
The Kingdom of Lahti lies in the far north.
And at the northernmost edge of the kingdom lived ancient tribes who had inhabited that land since long before our time.
Though their appearance differed greatly from us Lahtians, they were people who had called that frozen region home for countless generations.
They survived by hunting seals migrating across the Northern Sea.
And when I, Olivier Askam Lautavaara, was sixteen years old, those tribes rose in armed rebellion.
At the time, I was merely a low-ranking officer in the military and was dispatched to suppress them.
The northern tribes relied primarily on bows, arrows, and long spears for hunting.
They possessed only a small number of rifles.
Thus, the military command believed the rebellion could be crushed easily.
However, the tribes understood the complex terrain in meticulous detail.
And even lacking modern weaponry, they steadily reduced our forces through carefully laid traps.
After all, the north was so cold that fur clothing remained necessary even during summer.
“If you wanted to, you could wipe them out in a single day, couldn’t you?”
“We’ll leave the rest to you.”
After saying that, my superiors abandoned the matter entirely and returned home, dumping everything onto me despite my low rank.
And yes.
Just as they said, if I truly wished to, I could have ended it in a single day.
We had already located their base.
All we needed to do was bring field artillery and rifles and slaughter everyone.
The first victims would naturally be the women and children.
Then eventually the hidden men would emerge as well.
And once they did, we could simply kill them all.
My superiors considered the matter simple enough to hand off to me and flee.
But the entire situation reeked of danger.
The northern tribes survived through seal hunting.
And the furs they supplied — seal, elk, and bear pelts — were absolutely essential to our kingdom’s daily life.
Certainly, killing them all for rebelling against the royal family would have been easy.
But losing such a skilled hunting people would unquestionably damage the kingdom greatly.
And even if we did massacre them all, would the royal family truly be pleased with that outcome?
In this era, no nation could survive completely isolated.
Relations with neighboring countries were vital.
If word spread that the Kingdom of Lahti failed to properly suppress a domestic uprising and instead massacred an indigenous people, neighboring nations might begin distancing themselves from us.
After all, who would willingly cooperate with a country incapable of properly governing its own people?
They might choose to wait, observe from afar, and keep their distance.
And during that time, our kingdom would slowly decline.
In the end, after having the entire situation dumped onto me, I chose not to move my troops at all.
Instead, I devoted myself to attempting negotiations with the tribal chiefs.
And ultimately, not a single armed clash occurred afterward.
I guided the situation toward a peaceful resolution.
The true cause of the uprising was ultimately simple.
The noble family responsible for governing the northern tribes had recently undergone succession.
And the new ruler imposed crushing taxes upon the tribes.
Later investigations revealed that the new administrator had never reported the increased taxes to the royal family and had instead been embezzling the excess money.
“To demand such taxes for a single seal pelt…”
“We could never survive like that!”
“And so they told us that if we wished to protest, we should rise in armed rebellion.”
“They even promised to provide weapons for us.”
The white-bearded tribal chief said this while weeping.
And apparently, a hostile foreign nation had secretly been involved behind the scenes all along.
Later, it was confirmed that this rival nation had supplied the tribes with weapons.
Because of my accomplishments during that incident, Prince Adolf took notice of me and eventually selected me as one of his personal guards.
At the time, His Highness told me this:
“Olivier, considering your success with the northern tribes, this may be unnecessary advice, but you should treasure your instincts.”
“I heard your unit never once fell into an enemy trap.”
“I believe your intuition is exceptionally sharp.”
And now, standing here at this ball, that same instinct Prince Adolf once praised whispered something to me.
“Kastehelmi.”
As my wife attempted to move toward her friends, I pulled her gently into my arms.
Then I pressed a kiss to her cheek and quietly said:
“Let’s leave for today.”
Shrill squeals erupted all around us.
But my wife simply stared up at me with eyes that looked ready to kill.
“This is my fault.”
“You don’t belong on a glamorous stage like this today.”
‘Obviously not, considering I’m wearing this dress.’
Her hazel eyes conveyed that message perfectly without her saying a single word.
“I’ve been too busy until now to pay attention to you.”
“But from now on, I can make time.”
“Let’s go buy dresses together.”
‘Absolutely not.’
Again, her hazel eyes communicated everything flawlessly without a word.
Meanwhile, the silent friends surrounding my wife also seemed to be speaking through their eyes.
‘What is wrong with this man?’
‘Did he only just now realize how terrible this looks?’
‘There’s no limit to stupidity, apparently.’
‘He should just die.’
‘May Mister Polyandry lose his balls and perish.’
Terrifying!
Immediately recognizing the need for a strategic retreat, I wrapped my arm around my wife’s incredibly slender waist and smoothly turned us toward the exit.
“Kastehelmi, I’m sorry.”
“I truly am sorry.”
“I’ll have the most beautiful dress in the world made for you.”
“One that enhances your charm even further.”
I continued speaking in an absurdly sweet tone.
This would hopefully make everyone conclude that some kind of mistake had simply resulted in the new bride appearing in such a dress tonight.
After all, I had never once in my life spoken sweetly to a woman before.
The younger noblewomen around us were already whispering furiously among themselves.
“Kastehelmi.”
“I love you.”
I deliberately spoke loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear before placing another kiss atop her head.
Incidentally, my wife seemed absolutely furious after being kissed on both the cheek and head.
But since she was considered the perfect lady, she naturally revealed none of it outwardly.
Taking advantage of that, I swiftly escorted her outside and helped her into the waiting carriage.
The moment we entered together, Kastehelmi turned toward me with an astonishingly radiant smile and said:
“My husband, I never imagined you actually remembered my name.”
Terrifying!
Come to think of it, I had literally never even called my wife by name before now.
Without question, Kastehelmi was the type of person who commanded the battlefield.
Her mind worked incredibly fast.
She was highly intelligent.
And she was surrounded by capable allies with influence and status.
Most likely, an information war orchestrated by her supporters was already underway.
And I had fallen behind not by one or two steps—
But by three or four.
Looking back on everything now, I realized something.
From the very beginning…
I had completely misunderstood everything.