After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

"Have!"

"Your family is in Jarlsberg now, right? I've never been there, but I've read in books that it's rich in minerals and therefore a center for the foundry industry. Is that true?"

The blue-haired knight girl was originally in high spirits, but when she heard about her family, she seemed to wilt instantly and softened visibly.

He replied weakly:

“…I think so.”

She herself has always been reluctant to talk about family matters, so Aize almost never touches on this topic. He didn't expect that it would have come to this point.

Aize shook his head:

"What do you mean by 'seems'? Just give us a brief introduction of what you know. That's our next destination, so we have to make some preparations, right?"

"……well?"

"……what?"

The two stared at each other, speechless for a moment.

I always feel like there's some misunderstanding.

"No, no, no, no, no—"

While Aize was still trying to recall if he had said something wrong, the blue-haired girl had already started to panic, her hands and feet moving around non-stop as if she had nowhere to put them.

"Didn't Master say we were going to join the expedition? Isn't the destination of the expedition Lillebas? Then why do we still need to go to Jarlsberg?"

"Nonsense! Lilbas is still occupied by orcs. How can we go there directly? We have to meet up with the imperial army first, right? Jarlsburg and Lilbas are both your family's territories, close together. If we want to attack Lilbas, Jarlsburg is the most suitable place for the army to gather. Where else can we go but there?"

The blue-haired girl was still shaking her head, her attitude unusually firm:

"That kind of place is so poor and run-down, and even the lord is not good enough. What's the point of going there? Can't we go to the Imperial City first?"

"The lord is incompetent... isn't that your father? As for the imperial capital, it's so far away, and the expedition is about to start. Going to the imperial capital and then coming back would be a waste of time. Why would I even join the expedition?!"

Aize had a headache.

He hadn't made it clear at the headquarters before because he felt it was unnecessary.

Because of such a simple truth, Christina, who graduated from the Military Academy and has followed Aize for such a long time, could not have been unaware of it.

So what's the reaction now?

...Could it be that during the time I was away from Tafia, she was replaced by the Faceless Man, the Mimic Slime, or something else?

No, it's impossible.

Just looking at that crazy look, Aize didn't believe that there was anything else in the world that could imitate it.

That is deliberately pretending to be stupid, or deceiving yourself.

But why?

"..."

Aize narrowed his eyes and moved closer to look at Chris.

The latter pursed his lips and kept turning this and that, refusing to look Aize in the eye.

This was her reaction when the expedition was mentioned in the command center before. At that time, Aize thought that she was unwilling to participate in this matter simply because she was not in harmony with her family, so he did not ask any more questions.

By now, participating in the expedition is a foregone conclusion, but she still has this attitude.

It seemed to have nothing to do with the expedition, she simply didn't want Aize to meet her family.

But why?

"I said."

"yes!?"

"You don't want me to go to your territory so much, are you hiding something?"

"No...no? Absolutely not. How could I...why would I hide something from Master? Hey~"

Tapping the face, sticking out the tongue, and tilting the head.

Deserve a beating.

In an instant, my fists stiffened.

Aize crossed his arms and approached silently step by step.

Chris's lips trembled and cold sweat broke out as she retreated step by step.

If this girl hadn't been wearing armor and carrying a sword, she would have looked like she was being harassed.

Boom!

The space in the private room was quite limited, and Chris soon bumped into the wall. Aize hurriedly caught up with her, supported himself against the wall with his hands, and completely blocked her escape route with a wall-bang.

"Wow wow wow wow——"

The young lady knight trembled even more violently as a result of this. Her teeth began to chatter, her eyes widened, her face flushed red, and her armor creaked from the trembling.

Is it really so difficult to speak?

Aize sighed softly.

"Well, I'm not one to pry into someone's privacy. If you've really gotten into trouble with your family and can't see each other, then... there's a way. Could you please tell me what's going on?"

“Huh—huh—that, that…”

Chris looked around, her face flushed unusually, and her breathing became inexplicably heavy.

...Could this guy be secretly happy because he was pushed against the wall?

That's kind of disgusting.

"Well, how should I put it, uh... Master, if I tell you the truth, can you... can you not be angry?"

"..."

Thank you, I am already angry after saying this.

But if you think about it again, what bad intentions could Chris have?

You can't possibly come up with something worse than twenty or so quotations, right?

So, Aize sighed softly and nodded:

"Okay, I'm not angry, go ahead."

"The thing is... uh, when you and the others went to the capital... about half a month ago to be exact, I received a letter from... uh, from my family. It was written to me by my father."

"Well, then what?"

"The letter said that several noble families in the eastern part of the empire, led by my family, are planning an expedition to recapture the lands lost in the previous war. They hope that I... uh, hope that I can persuade Master to join them."

As expected by Aize, she had indeed known about the expedition a long time ago.

"Well, then what?"

"Then... uh, I didn't want Master to be involved in this incident, so I... concealed it and didn't report it."

"That's it?"

"Uh, yes, that's it."

“…What? That’s it?”

Although raising personal grudges to the level of the overall situation should be criticized, considering Chris's situation, it is not a serious sin.

If that's the case, there's really nothing to be angry about.

"What's there to hide? Didn't I find out everything later?"

Aize breathed a sigh of relief and put down his hand.

But the teaching still needs to be said:

"But, I know you don't have a good relationship with your family, but how could you hide such an important matter that affects the entire war situation? You won't allow it next time!"

"Yes! Thank you, Master!"

The blue-haired girl obviously didn't expect to pass the test so easily, and saluted with joy.

Then, he started complaining again:

"But I can't help it. I originally wanted to report it directly to Master. That old man is so annoying. He said that after being married for so long, he still didn't bring his husband back to visit. He even used our relationship to go on expeditions together. He made it so lightly. He has no idea how difficult it is for me. How can I not have a child...ah?"

As if realizing that she had let the cat out of the bag due to being carried away by her pride, the girl covered her mouth with her hand.

But this is just deceiving yourself.

Aize's expression suddenly became extremely cold, and even the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

The hand that had been lowered was raised again, pressing the other person's shoulders and pressing him against the wall:

"What did you just say? Marriage? Husband? What's going on?"

Chapter 25 Chris's Lies

In just a few seconds, Aize's face had become uglier than ever before. Chris, who had just relaxed a little, instantly began to tremble again.

I was already sweating profusely, but I still forced a smile and tried to be tough:

"No, no, Master heard me wrong. What I said was... uh, right, I said that my family is urging me to get married and bring a husband back home quickly. It's really annoying, right? Haha~ Hahahaha~"

"...When did your empire's noble families allow free love?"

"Well... uh, it's allowed, or it's allowed..."

"Do you think I'm stupid!!!?"

Aize was going crazy and felt a little numb.

I thought it was just a matter of the other party's family, so I didn't ask too much. I never thought that I would be involved without knowing anything about it.

Fortunately, it was discovered in time.

Otherwise, when he got there, if he brought Chris and Villian into his "father-in-law's" house one by one without anyone knowing, he might be suspected of cheating and beaten up and thrown out.

And he still wanted to know why.

In Chris's case, she had already broken up with her family. No matter how you look at it, there was absolutely no reason for her to lie about being married.

Unless, she is hiding something more from herself.

"Tsk——"

Determined to take this opportunity to sort things out, he hooked a chair from the side with his foot, slammed it hard on the ground, and put it aside.

"sit down."

"No, no, no, Master, I'll still stand..."

"……sit down."

"Yes!!!"

Aize crossed his arms and looked expressionless, but his tone and eyes were extremely cold, even colder than when he gave orders on the battlefield.

It is totally unacceptable.

Chris didn't dare to say anything more. She could only sit down trembling and sweating. Her expression was as pale as a corpse in a coffin.

So, the interrogation began.

"...Just to be on the safe side, let's confirm. You told your family that you're married, and your spouse is...me?"

"Um……"

The blue-haired girl nodded, her eyes lowered and she didn't dare to look at the other person.

"Why tell such a lie?"

"Uh……"

"Why!!?"

"Because, because I want to stay with Master! So this is the only way I can tell my family!"

Perhaps she felt that she couldn't hide it any longer, so Chris closed her eyes and answered forcefully as if she had given up.