I tamed my ex husbands mad dog

9

Reinhardt's troubles were solved in an unexpected way, thanks to someone who came to her on Thanksgiving morning. Seeing the man who had come alone to the Luden Castle, Reinhardt jumped up from her seat with her eyes shining.
"Dietrich!"
"Your Highness."
After spending 30 years on the battlefield, Marquis Linke had many vassals he cared for.
Among them, Viscount Ernst was an outstanding knight who was with Marquis Linke since he was young.
However, Viscount Ernst died of a fever three years earlier than Linke. And the eldest son succeeded him as Linke's vassal, but after Linke's death, he had scattered like the other vassals. It took all their might even just to protect their territories.
So Dietrich Ernst's visit was unexpected for Reinhardt.
"Greetings!"
Seeing Dietrich kneeling as soon as he saw her, Reinhardt smiled cheerfully and knelt in front of him to look in his eyes.
"Dietrich! What's going on?"
"I heard the news too late."
His curly brown hair fluttered. There was a friendly light in the green eyes that was appealing. Reinhardt almost shed a few tears as she saw that nostalgic face.
Dietrich was about the same age as Reinhardt, and he was a childhood friend of hers. After becoming a knight, he fought in her father's war.
When he heard the news that Reinhardt was imprisoned, he gnashed his teeth, but returned to Ernst's manor at the persuasion of his brother that he should remain at the manor for now. It was because there would be quite a few lords aiming for the territory of the vassals whose allegiance had been cut loose.
Reinhardt nodded.
"Because Ernst is a good place. It is also a major hub."
Ernst was also a place where two of the largest roads in the Linke estate intersect. There was no way the lords would leave such a territory unattended. Dietrich was an outstanding knight, and his older brother would not have thought of leaving Dietrich idle in the capital, who had nowhere to go after the death of the Marquis of Linke.
"I heard that Your Highness was released from prison and left alone, so I hurriedly left Ernst, but the capital and Ernst are quite far... ... ."
"Hey. I'm no longer Your Highness, I'm just a criminal."
"Isn't the reparation for crimes over? You're not a criminal."
Dietrich tightened his eyes and looked at her.
"You were punished too much for cutting off a leg."
Reinhardt was embarrassed. His words made it seem like she had stabbed some bully passing by, and not the Crown Prince. Even if the prince was crippled and he was still breathing, it was still a crime. Dietrich, of course, never thought so.
"Anyway, it's a rough road to Luden, but I was worried that Your Highness might be attacked, so I followed you."
"Ah, Johana sent me with a mercenary."
"I heard. However... ... Isn't that lady sloppy in her work?"
Dietrich also knew Johana, who was Reinhardt's maid, because she often accompanied the Marquis of Linke to the palace when she was the crown princess. At one time, he nagged Johana to do this and that, so of course he knew that she liked Johana.
Well. There was no disagreement that Johana's handling of work was poor.
'That's what I thought Johana's hiring of a mercenary too.'
Reinhardt gritted her teeth thinking about what had happened with the mercenary Johana had assigned to her. But she didn't bother talking about it.
"It was a hard time. Johana will be sad."
"I don't know if that girl is sad or not. Anyway, I'm glad you're all right."
He had on a harsh tone forged on the battlefield in the outskirts. However, his outstanding personality was what Reinhardt liked best. Looking at Dietrich, who was also Reinhardt's first love for a very short time when she was young, she was able to laugh happily for the first time in a long time.
"Anyway, welcome. It's Thanksgiving today, and I didn't have anyone to eat dinner with, so all's good."
How was Ernst faring, what became of the vassals of Marquis Linke–she didn't ask about that. Even if they are unhappy or exhausted from fighting the territorial battles, there was nothing she could do about it.
At least, the fact that Dietrich came running to inquire after her meant that Ernst was still safe. When Reinhardt tapped Dietrich on the shoulder, he looked at her with friendly eyes and smiled lightly.
"You are strong."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't answer."
Before anyone knew it, Dietrich was sitting at the desk in Reinhardt's office. That Reinhardt was so friendly with Dietrich, and Dietrich's open-minded personality also played a part. When Reinhardt crossed her arms and lifted one of her eyebrows, Dietrich playfully raised his hands in response.
"I didn't know that the Northeast, which I had only heard about, would be this cold. When I came over the last mountain, I even thought that I might find Your Highness' body, frozen to death."
"...It's not Your Highness."
"... ... then how should I address you?"
Reinhardt tilted her head.
"Before I got married, you used to call me 'Miss.'"
"Now that you have a title, I'll address you as Viscountess."
Rarely, Dietrich snorted. Reinhardt laughed out of embarrassment.
"Call me whatever you want."
"Yes, Viscountess. Anyway, I didn't think it looked good. This place is so barren... ... ."
"All right. I had over 3,000 enlisted men... ... "
Reinhardt, speaking up to that point, almost bit her tongue. That was the Helka domain was in her previous life. As for Marquis Linke, he had about five hundred enlisted men. She barely managed to cover her slip of tongue.
"... ... It was a bit surprising to come to a place like this after living as the Crown Princess."
"What are you going to do?"
Reinhardt's eyes narrowed as she tried to answer involuntarily.
"Hey. Why are you curious about that?"
"Yeah... ... ."
Dietrich opened his mouth and scratched his head.
"Sorry. It was not pertinent."
"Nope. Good knight, if you have something in mind, tell me."
"... ... After all, the Crown Prince didn't deserve you."
Reinhardt realized what Dietrich meant, and had said with a shy smile. Reinhardt leaned back on the chair and folded her arms.
Dietrich didn't just come to see her. If Dietrich had come to visit after about a year, she would have thought that Dietrich had come to ask the regards of his former master's daughter and childhood friend.
But it was too short a time for that.
If she counted up the time she stabbed the Crown Prince, two months in prison, and the time when she came to Luden after being expelled by decree, it would have been five months at most. The Crown Prince was still unable to recover from the shock of the injury, and it was time for all the lords of the Empire to heed the emperor.
At a time like this, he dared to come to Luden alone.
"Did you get kicked out or did you leave?"
"To put it bluntly, it's the latter."
"You must have been kicked out by your brother after telling him you were going to abandon the estate."
"You are correct."
Dietrich sighed and leaned towards her.
"Michel Alanquez is anxious to have everything in Linke estate."
"It probably wasn't meant to be, but he would have been coveting it from before he could have it."
Michel wanted to marry the Canary Princess and had abandoned the Marquis of Linke. That was certain.
However, when Reinhardt stabbed Michel and became a criminal, the Crown Prince greedily tried to absorb Linke's legacy. In addition to the property taken as compensation, all 500 or so of the Marquis Linke's private soldiers now belonged to the Crown Prince.
So were the knights. In the first place, soldiers and knights were the greatest wealth of Marquis Linke.
Most of the knights returned to their families, but among them, some of Linke's best knights came under the Crown Prince. Even if they returned to their families, they had no property or titles to receive, so it could be said that it was a natural choice.
But when Dietrich saw this, his blood ran backwards in his veins.
"I couldn't help but watch a guy who couldn't walk properly use his fingers to seize Linke's knights. Therefore... ... ."
"Your father, the deceased Sir Ernst, probably wants to strike me down with lightning."
In a word, he had come running to swear allegiance to Reinhardt. Part of that was asking her what she was going to do. Dietrich, the second son of the Ernst family, also has no property or title to receive. At that point, it would have been best for him to serve under the Crown Prince like everyone else.
"You. I'm sorry, but this is a place we send star anise as New Year's gifts to vassals. I have nothing to give you."
"Star anise... ... What is it?"
Dietrich tilted his head. Reinhardt laughed out loud.
"It's something you put in tea."
"I don't like tea, so that's fine."
"It's not like that. In other words, you are a vassal, and if you stay by my side, you can receive a sack of wheat as a salary for a year."
"Oh, that's a bit of a problem. I can finished one sack of wheat in ten days all by myself."
Reinhardt giggled at the carefree joke.
Dietrich shrugged.
"Marquis Linke has given me enough grace. It's enough to buy that much wheat with my own money and eat it."
"I have a more important problem."
"Tell me."
"There is nothing to do here."
"Yes, it seems."
Dietrich accepted Reinhardt's words calmly.
"I saw it as I entered Luden Castle. The drawbridge can only be crossed by two people at most, and two people guard it. Six people on regular patrol. Three more people guard the front gate and side doors. One in the stable. Two patrol the border. If we count the number of guards, it would be less than fifty."
He was talking about the guards. Ah, such was the reason that Dietrich was a knight that Marquis Linke loved. Reinhardt smiled brightly.
"Thirty."
"Are you kidding me?"
"It is reality."
Dietrich shook his head.
"Shit. Dietrich Ernst is going to play at being chief thug."
"Looking at you, you don't look like you have any intention of going back."
"If I had thought like that, I would have gone back without more climbing than two mountains. How rough the road was."
She crossed her arms and stared straight into Dietrich's green eyes. Dietrich Ernst. He was a knight that Marquis Linke loved, and he was a knight who was deemed one of the very best in the realm by inheriting the swordsmanship of the late Sir Ernst. Reinhardt made a quick decision.
"How about being a swordsmanship teacher as well as chief thug?"
"Are you going to make me teach the children of Luden's estate?"
"Not really, but similar."
Reinhardt ruffled his hair and looked up at him obliquely. Dietrich's eyes fluttered for a moment, then subsided.
"I should get more than a sack of wheat."
"Tonight's goose side dish and a sack of wheat."
"Damnit. Isn't that what you originally planned on giving?"
"If you don't like it, go hungry. I don't have free dinner for an uninvited guest."
It was only natural that Dietrich Ernst accepted the role of tutor. Reinhardt grinned.