I Am Being Mistaken for a Genius Strategist

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The Chief of Staff of the Empire, Kael’s aide, was experiencing something astonishing lately.

“Aide. When on earth can I retire?”

“You’re still full of energy, so no way! That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? You’ve been my superior for years now. Oh, you say you never mentioned it? But it’s written all over your face!”

“I don’t want to work anymore. Ugh, I really don’t want to work at all. Aaargh!”

“Dignity? At this point, I’m too worn down to even ask for that. I think I should just take it easy to avoid overworking myself.”

Just a month or two ago, my superior, who used to mutter about not wanting to work every hour, was dramatically crying out as though being dragged to the slaughterhouse whenever a new task arrived. They were worried that our child, still in their wife’s womb, might forget their father’s face.

In front of that, saying, “Well, whether it’s a young lord or lady, they’ve never even seen Dad’s face yet, have they?” wasn’t an option.

In the end, the most the aide could do was point out the cold truth: “You have to finish all this to leave today.”

The funny thing was, despite all the shouting about not wanting to work, they were the most sincere when it came to their tasks.

In fact, they even sought out ways to maximize efficiency and delivered them on the spot.

Thus, everyone, starting from the Emperor, would want to keep Kael in his position, while he himself continued to whine, “Why is it just me who’s being asked to do everything?”

Anyway, this was my superior—impressive yet somehow endearing. Recently, though, they seemed to have completely erased the very idea of wanting to “retire” from their vocabulary.

Sometimes, they even found themselves smiling contentedly while working.

They even questioned, “Is this all the work for today? Are you sure?”

“What’s this? It’s clearly a good thing, but I’m feeling anxious about it.”

I had a rough guess of the reason for Kael’s behavior. It must be thanks to the two young ladies born a month ago. They feel the burden of being the head of the family.

Even the aide thought that if they had a child, they would excel at late-night work that had been difficult before.

The greatness and strength that come with the title of ‘parent’ cannot be explained in words.

“Alright, let’s wrap it up for today. With how fast things are going, it’s already the weekend. Aide, could you check on the schedule for next week?”

“Yes! Understood!”

Seeing my superior in a good mood made the aide cheerful as well.

It was the weekend, and it felt like many things were falling into place lately.

I suddenly wondered if all of this was due to the twin young ladies.

“Um, Chief of Staff. The schedule for next week has come in.”

“What is it?”

“Well, first, starting next Monday, there’s a trip to the Empire’s West.”

“Must be due to the reconstruction of the Western Legion, right?”

“Yes. But it seems the matters at hand are complex, and it might be a bit hard to wrap things up in a day. So we might have to plan for at least a two-day stay in the Empire’s West….”

“I don’t want to work!!”

And just like that, the Chief of Staff started throwing a tantrum about the work trip.

Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why does the business trip have to happen at this timing!?

That’s a whole day I won’t be able to see our twins. At this rate, I’m gonna die!

Without this father’s love, our princesses wouldn’t even last a single day and would be crying!

When I expressed this heartfelt feeling to Bel, she immediately slapped my back.

“Stop with the nonsense and go work hard!”

“But our princesses!”

“It won’t be a big deal if they don’t see their dad for a day. And Kael, what do you plan to do if you won’t go on a business trip since you’re in that position?”

Boo hoo. It’s sad. I have to be away from my daughters for a whole day. Does that even make sense?

I could understand if I was doing this for money because we were broke, but that’s not the case!

Ahhhh. I don’t want to work. I didn’t want to in the first place, but now that my daughters are born, I want to stay home even more!

‘…But that doesn’t mean I can’t work.’

I have to keep quiet and work for at least the next few months. I need to clear my past debts.

What I mean by that is, I pushed myself a bit too much for our twins.

Am I spending too much money? Not exactly. It would be better if that was the reason.

The problem is that I made too many political moves this time. Yes, that’s what’s wrong.

I’ve been living under titles like Duke, Emperor’s son-in-law, and Chief of Staff.

On the surface, it looks impressive, but while others crave even one title, if I make a single mistake, they’ll come after me.

My reputation in the Empire has risen too high.

Like all war heroes, the end will either be glorious or miserable.

I won’t be the only one falling but my family and my clan as well.

And now I have daughters who are as precious as gold.

I need to be even more cautious. I can’t afford any unnecessary gossip.

For that reason, I’ve quietly kept to myself, and originally planned to continue doing so.

Staying quiet is one of my specialties, so I figured it would be easy enough.

But due to that issue related to our twins, I temporarily lost my composure.

As a result, I had an emergency meeting with four ministers purely for personal reasons.

Afterward, I acted in a way that could show influence within the Empire.

I asked the Holy Kingdom for a festival for our twins and informed foreign dignitaries about it.

At least my father-in-law is a great person, and I’m fortunate that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law trust me.

If our relationship was poor, they would have immediately used this as leverage to pressure me.

This could have been a critical step towards falling from grace.

Looking back, it might have been digging my own grave.

‘Even now, I can’t be completely at ease.’

My father-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law are fine. The issue lies with the responses from the political and noble circles.

They might feel uncomfortable about someone making such a huge deal for personal reasons.

Fortunately, I have a lot of allies around me. Even if not, I at least haven’t made too many enemies.

Thanks to my past actions turning out beneficial, or else there would have been some negative talk.

Because I’m the Emperor’s son-in-law, they won’t say anything? Because I’m a Duke of the Empire, they’ll be watching closely?

Sorry, but the Empire isn’t that easy to deal with, and there’s political self-regulation still in place.

While the monarchy is powerful, the checks and balances in the political sphere and the advice of officials are alive and well.

In any case, for this reason, I really need to keep it low-key for a while.

I must focus on doing my job and curtail any political involvement as much as possible.

This business trip might be a continuation of that.

…Even so, it’s only a little over a month since I became a father, and now I have a 1-night, 2-day trip!

At this rate, will I end up not being home for a week during the kids’ birthday?

My poor daughters, waiting for their useless father, end up crying themselves to sleep.

If they grow up and keep talking about that moment, I just wonder what it will be like later…

“Chief of Staff! We’ve arrived!”

“Good work.”

Using a magic circle, we arrived in the West and then moved to the command of the Western Legion.

The reconstruction of the legion, which had consumed much talk and taxes until now, was finally complete.

The two new legions in the West were successors to those that were extinguished in the Dedorant territory.

And naturally, the area they would command would be the former Dedorant occupied territory, currently the Empire’s New West.

It certainly carries significant meaning. Legions that met valiant deaths while fighting against Dedorant.

Afterward, their comrades succeeded in avenging them through victory.

Now the reconstructed legion is based right over Dedorant’s command.

I can confidently say there’s no more perfect story than this.

“Welcome, Your Excellency the Duke.”

“Good to see you again, Count Westpoint.”

At this point, I find the title Count Westpoint more familiar than the name Paelus.

What’s more, it’s a rather strange sight to see someone who directly fought against our Imperial Legion now here to celebrate its reconstruction.

To make it even funnier, the ones who funded this legion’s reconstruction the most were none other than Count Westpoint and other nobles who surrendered with him.

Well, thanks to that, a lot of unnecessary disturbances vanished.

Honestly, both sides might still feel a bit uneasy. But money has a way of smoothing things over.

“Are the young ladies doing well?”

Amidst this, the Count, who knows a great deal about me, quickly asked about the twins.

That was a question I couldn’t ignore and one that naturally made me smile.

I thought to myself, “That’s so like Paelus,” as I raised the corners of my mouth.

“They’re treasures. Absolute treasures. I can see the twins dancing in front of me even now, and I just want to ditch this business trip and rush home to see their sleeping faces for hours, and if possible, gently touch their soft hands. They’re already beautiful, and I swear if anyone dares to make them cry, I won’t stand for it. The very same day, I’ll catch them and….”

Thus, I recounted my daughters’ charms and aspirations to Count Westpoint until the legion formation.

Even though it could have been dull, the Count was quite remarkable for listening to all of it.