Einherjar Becomes Valkyrie

Elena quickly recognized that old man. It was Harlan, her father's personal assistant, and his right hand.

「Harlan...」

Darrel turned to Harlan with a surprised expression on his face.

「Even if you tried to hide it, there's no way the Marquis wouldn't end up finding out with all this fuss, young lord Darrel」

Darrel can only let out a long bitter breath. His father would probably reprimand him later for this.

「Make way for the Marquis's guest」

The Lutrel knights did not even need Darrel or the unconscious Hans to confirm that order, Harlan's voice was the voice of the Marquis.

「Baroness, please」

Once the Lutrel knights made way, Harlan bowed gracefully to invite Elena.

The puppets sheathed their swords as Elena nodded.

Elena followed Harlan into the palace with all of her puppets behind her. Harlan did not bother trying to prevent those loyal soldiers from following Elena. Given what had happened so far, Harlan could only admire the determination of these unknown men to protect Elena.

Elena passed between Darrel and Marla without giving a single glance to either of them.

Darrel could only deny bitterly in the face of his greatest failure. Had he known that this little sister was truly as powerful and beautiful as rumors said, he would have chosen another way of proceeding. That sister was more useful as a political tool than as an enemy.

As for Marla, her anger only grew, that little girl who was always pointed out as the most beautiful daughter of her father, was now so strong and determined, how could she accept that and forget everything? However, deep in his gaze, she was discernible in a faint glow of admiration.

With Harlan leading the way, Elena and her puppets came to a room on the second floor, there Harlan knocked on the door a few times as the puppets took defensive positions throughout the corridor.

「Ahead」

After hearing that voice come from the other side of the door, Elena's body tensed for a second. Confronting her half-siblings and even Richell was nothing compared to confronting her father.

Harlan turned the doorknob and opened it. With slightly taut steps, Elena followed him into the room.

Elena saw a middle-aged man with blond hair lying on an elegant bed. The man's face showed deep weariness, his blue eyes looked at Elena and she tensed again.

「You have become a very beautiful woman」

Since Elena seemed to have a hard time breaking the silence, Armand exclaimed that in an involuntary guilty tone.

Elena's eyes filled with moisture, and her mind lost total control over her body. She ran to her father and hugged him.

「I'm so sorry, father…」

While hugging her father, Elena whispered that and then burst into tears.

Elena was full of confused feelings, and this pushed her to carry out all these actions that totally escaped her plans. At first, she planned to see her father using her title, a visit by a Baroness to a Marquis.

Once she met her father, could she contain herself so as not to claim him for not having supported her at that terrible moment? Would she be able to avoid hating him? Would he hate her for what happened? Would he feel betrayed that she ran away?

All those concerns that Elena had previously had completely disappeared from her mind. She hugged her father tightly as she cried and apologized over and over. Elena was once again a child who was crying and pleading for her father's forgiveness.

Armand, who was a man with a firm and determined gaze, could not help but reciprocate Elena's hug and shed some tears.

「It is I who must apologize, it was I who failed you as a father」

Watching that scene, Harlan could only smile. He alone was aware of the deep pain and regret that had been tormenting Armand for the past three years.

「Father…」

Elena finally turned away from her father and then wiped away her tears.

「I have no right to be called that by you…」

At that moment, when Armand returned to the Lutrel Palace after having been absent for a few days, upon learning of what had happened between Richell and Elena, he burst into anger. Elena had faced the worst situation that a woman could suffer, and Richell was seriously injured while he could no longer be considered a complete man. They were both his children. For Armand there was no distinction between one and the other, so he poured his anger in the same way on both without thinking about Elena's circumstances.

Elena had faced constant hatred from the rest of his children and his wife from the first moment he recognized her as his daughter, the only supports for Elena were her mother and him, therefore, with his outburst out of anger, Armand made Elena believe that she had completely lost her last support, how could he blame Elena for choosing to flee in such circumstances? What right would he have to go looking for her to apologize, and with what face could he ask her to come back?

For the first time in her life, Elena watched her father cry as he explained this.

「Father…」

Elena hugged her father again and repeated that one word repeatedly, Armand could not resist and returned his daughter's embrace while thanking him sincerely for still considering him her father.

「Lady Elena, my Lord never ignored you」

Once Elena pulled away from Armand, Harlan exclaimed that.

「Harlan」

「Excuse me my Lord, but the best thing for both of you is that misunderstandings are eliminated and all truths are known」

「What truths, Harlan?」

Harlan smiled happily when Elena was ready to listen.

Despite Armand's reluctance, as he could not get out of bed on his own, Harlan could speak without being stopped.

Elena heard how her father never abandoned her, from her departure from Lutrel to her trip to Lendolf, Elena was always secretly protected by men sent by her father. Elena could not doubt it, a thirteen-year-old girl dressing as a noble traveling through the countryside, until this moment she realized that she may have been kidnapped to ask for ransom or to be sold as a slave.

Elena's surprise was no less when she heard how her father had secret guide her to Lendolf and the Order of Saint Eclestine. It turned out that Count Aleyn was an acquaintance of his father, and her father had asked the Count to monitor her. Elena soon realized that despite being constantly sent to missions, her life was never really in danger. Apparently there was always someone protecting her in the shadows.

As for being she sent to war, that was an event that completely escaped from the hands of her father and the Count Aleyn. Both had been called to the capital to talk about a long conflict against Sadora, something that the Master of the Order of Saint Eclestine took advantage of to please one of his lovers. According to Harlan, the Master of the Order had not been informed by Count Aleyn that Elena should be protected because he feared that she might be kidnapped to be used against her father.

「My Lord could not sleep for days until we heard that you had survived, lady Elena」

Elena brought her gaze to her father, and this turned his head in another direction to hide the blush that tinted his skin.

「Who would have thought lady Elena was actually the famous Varest's Valkyrie? When the Lord found out, he filled with anguish and pride, my Lord feared that you might become reckless because of your accomplishments and that other nobles might try to take advantage of your naivety 」

Harlan let out a slight laugh as he added that.

「Harlan, it's enough」

「With all due respect my Lord, lady Elena must know that the reason you are in this situation is that you tried to protect her」

「Harlan!」

After hearing that, Elena's eyes widened. She ignored her father and focused her attention on Harlan.

「Lady Elena, why did you think a title and territory was conferred on you?」

「To start a war with the support of the people」

Harlan's eyes widened in surprise. He never imagined that Elena could discover something like that on her own.

「Elena, you...」

Armand was no less surprised than Harlan.

「Lady Elena has grown in these three years, my Lord. Not only is she capable of using runic magic, but she is also surrounded by soldiers loyal to her and who could easily defeat our Lutrel knights 」

Armand gasped at that. His confidence in Harlan was such that he would never doubt his word.

「Runic Magic? Elena…」

「My Lord, for now, those details are not important」

Unable to deny Harlan's words, Armand nodded silently.

Harlan told Elena that after they discovered that she was the Valkyrie, he and her father quickly discovered the plans of the king and the royal court. Filled with outrage, Armand attempted to reunite with the king, however, a certain member of the court blocked all of Armand's attempts to reunite with the king, someone powerful enough not to fear the enmity of a Marquis, a Duke, the Duke Muspell, who in response to Armand's refusal to forget the subject, he threatened to accuse him of treason.

According to Harlan, to show that these were not empty threats, Duke Muspell revealed to Armand that a certain Count had recently been purged for openly opposing the king's plans. That brought quickly to Elena's mind what had happened to Erin and Teo's father. Was it possible that they were the same person?

Despite these threats, relying on the rectitude that he had always shown, Armand did not give up, and as a result, a few days ago he had been attacked on the streets of the city by a group of assassins. Armand was traveling in his carriage and surrounded by his knights, so that attack showed the power of those who were manipulating everything to lead the kingdom to a total war against Sadora.

「Elena, you must openly renounce your title and stay here…」

Before Armand could continue his words, Elena denied with a sweet smile on her lips.

「If I did something like that, the Lutrel family would probably be destroyed」

Armand felt his heart contract at hearing that.

「Elena, you don't have to think so much about that, I'll take care of everything」

Elena approached Armand and gave him a warm hug.

「Father, from the moment I received this title I understood what the royal court was trying to do, so I have been preparing without rest. Right now I am surrounded by trustworthy people waiting for me in my territory, besides, I fully trust that only a dragon or a god could take my life 」

After turning away from her father, Elena declared that.

Armand could see the confidence that overflowed from the beautiful violet eyes of his daughter. He could not understand how that fragile girl had become so strong, but that was the reality.

「In fact, I fear more for your life than for mine. Father, could you resign and give your title to Darrel and come with me to Izana? That way I will protect you, and the royal court will stop paying attention to the rest of the Lutrel family 」

While Armand was speechless, Harlan nodded in complete agreement. Since the assassination attempt, he and Armand had feared that in the face of his failure, the conspirators could now set their eyes on the other members of the Lutrel family.

What Elena was proposing was surely a solution. If Armand turned over his title to Darrel and left Lutrel with Elena, the conspirators would stop paying attention to the Lutrel family as they'd think Armand had gone Izana to die next to his daughter.