Chapter 127
The story continues off the page
The Dare in the Back Room
Two academy girls, one lethal measure, and your slate paying for it
“Oh, there you are at last. I’ve been waiting for you with bated breath.”
The next day.
I visited the training grounds of the Second Knight Order, where I had come with Aurora last time.
As soon as I arrived, Richard welcomed me with a bright smile.
“I heard about it. You told His Majesty about me.”
“Yes. I told him that if a warrior like you didn’t take up a sword, it would be a huge loss for the Empire.”
“Because of that, Her Highness the Princess was furious. She was practically grinding her teeth.”
“Hmm, I suppose I’d better avoid her for a while.”
Richard wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, then smiled brightly as if nothing had happened.
“Are you that happy I came?”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be pleased to have a capable knight under their command?”
“Isn’t it normal to feel uneasy about a slave?”
“What does status matter when you wield your sword for the Empire and shed blood for the people?”
Richard shrugged.
“What matters isn’t who drew the sword, but for whom and against whom it is wielded. Background doesn’t matter.”
“That’s well said.”
“Of course, they’re not just words.”
A faint, sardonic smile touched Richard’s lips.
“To be frank, it’s because you’re strong. Strong enough to crush the objections of those who’d oppose you. If you weren’t, it would have been hard.”
“I suppose so.”
Unless someone was completely insane, they wouldn’t try to take a slave in as a knight. If they did, they’d probably just use them as a meat shield.
But this isn’t the first time I’ve become a knight. For what it’s worth, I’m technically a former knight of Edelheid...
‘Was I?’
Come to think of it, the one who knighted me wasn’t the duke, but a witch wearing the duke’s skin.
Maybe I’d never actually been a knight.
“I look forward to working with you. At least here, you won’t be looked down on for being a slave.”
“Oh.”
“Instead, if you’re weak, you’ll be despised.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.”
I think I’m fairly self-aware.
It’s not arrogance; it’s just that, for the most part, I won’t be dismissed if I have the skill to back it up.
“Welcome to the Imperial Knight Order.”
With those words, Richard extended his hand.
I looked down at it for a moment, then took it.
“I look forward to working with you.”
“Hmm. Then first, I should introduce you to the members.”
Richard turned toward the center of the training grounds.
“All members, assemble!”
His booming voice rang across the training grounds.
Soon, the members who had been busy at their own tasks lined up neatly before Richard.
I scanned the formation.
More than several dozen knights.
Their armor styles and the weapons they carried were all different.
Some wore swords at their hips, some carried spears, and some had shields on their backs.
Among them were also some wearing a mix of mage robes and knight armor.
As expected of members of the Imperial Knight Order, you could tell from their bearing alone that they were elite.
“Let me introduce you.”
Richard placed a hand on my shoulder.
“This is Leon, temporarily assigned to our Second Knight Order by command of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“He’s the slave who sparred with the captain last time.”
“Yes. Unless a separate order comes down, he’ll be working with our order for the time being, so keep that in mind.”
“Understood.”
Dozens of eyes openly swept over me.
Curiosity.
Wariness.
Distrust.
And a tiny bit of anticipation.
A flood of gazes packed with all sorts of emotions pressed down on me heavily.
“Then, with a new member here, we should hold a welcome ceremony, shouldn’t we?”
“Oh. Are we having a party?”
“Something like that. The only difference is that instead of alcohol, we’ll drink sweat, and instead of cups, we’ll clash swords.”
“Ah.”
So not a party.
It meant sparring.
“It’s our order’s tradition. It’s the fastest way to get to know what kind of person a new member is.”
“There’s a perfectly good tool called conversation, you know.”
“Hands are quicker than mouths.”
The knights must have already known, because they were openly radiating a menacing air in my direction.
I could see the corners of their mouths curling up little by little.
It was a devilishly wicked smile, as if they’d been eagerly waiting for this moment alone.
“Wow...”
At that, I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
Their captain already lost to me, and they’re still showing me a fighting spirit?
Could their brains be made of muscle too?
Even with that record, they seem to be looking down on me just because I’m a slave. If not, they’re just fight-crazed maniacs.
‘They say the first impression matters most when you join a group.’
No good.
You all need to be taught a lesson.
***
The princess’s palace garden.
There, as usual, a salon was being held.
But today’s topic of interest wasn’t books or fashionable dresses.
The young lady disappearance case that had recently caused a stir in the imperial capital.
All eyes were on Lady Valdis, the young lady at the center of the incident.
“Lady Valdis, I’m so glad you returned safely.”
“Thank you for your concern, madam.”
Lady Valdis bowed politely to the noble ladies’ greetings.
“How did you end up getting kidnapped?”
“To my shame, I went off in search of my own romance, only to be deceived by those who prey on people’s hearts.”
“How terrifying that must have been. It’s truly a relief you came back safely; it could have been a disaster.”
“You must never do anything so reckless again. Understood?”
“I have it carved into my bones.”
Lady Valdis sipped her tea gently.
Her demeanor was much calmer than before.
It was hard to believe she had only a few days ago been an immature young lady who had snuck out alone in search of the romance of a novel.
“But how were you rescued? Rumor has it the situation was already over when the knights arrived.”
Lady Valdis’s hand pressed firmly against the teacup handle.
“That’s what I heard.”
“Didn’t you see it yourself?”
“It was a dark underground room, and everyone was terrified. I was too flustered at the time.”
It wasn’t a lie.
It really was dark.
Everyone really was terrified.
There really wasn’t any room to spare.
“Still, you must have seen your benefactor, right?”
“Did you hear their voice? Was it a man or a woman?”
“They were probably a noble, right?”
Questions came pouring in.
The noble ladies’ eyes sparkled.
Lady Valdis fell silent for a moment.
Then she shook her head.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“Because the benefactor who saved me does not wish their identity to be revealed. Having been saved by them, I cannot betray their wishes.”
For something spoken by such a young lady, it was a remarkably dignified answer.
As if this incident had brought about some great inner growth.
But the curiosity of noble ladies was not so easily quelled.
“We won’t ask who they are, so couldn’t you at least tell us what sort of person they were?”
“Exactly. If they saved that many people, they can’t be ordinary.”
Lady Valdis’s gaze drifted back into the past.
A dark underground room.
Cold iron bars.
Cries.
And the two lights she had seen within it.
They were still vivid.
“They were exceedingly wonderful and beautiful people, beyond comparison even to characters in a novel.”
“People? Then there wasn’t just one?”
“Well...”
Lady Valdis smiled faintly.
“There may have been several, or perhaps the radiance they gave off was so great it didn’t feel like only one person’s worth.”
“Goodness.”
“If Lady Valdis says so, they must truly be amazing people.”
“Indeed. I’d love to meet them myself.”
Using the topic Lady Valdis had tossed them as kindling, the noble ladies started chattering again.
“Aren’t you curious too, Your Highness?”
Then suddenly, one noble lady’s gaze turned to Aurora.
Quietly.
Very quietly.
Aurora, who had been trying hard not to draw attention to herself, had her breath catch for a split second.
But her disturbance was only fleeting.
Aurora quickly flashed a practiced smile.
“What are you referring to?”
“I mean the benefactor who rescued Lady Valdis and the other young ladies. They look like someone straight out of Your Highness’s novel.”
“My, that’s true. Perhaps that person was also inspired after reading one of the novels Your Highness wrote?”
“That could be. How moving that would be.”
Aurora smiled softly.
“If not, then perhaps.”
That was when it happened.
Someone let their imagination run wild.
“It wouldn’t happen to be Your Highness, would it?”
The moment that delusion was spoken aloud.
Aurora and Lady Valdis both froze at the same time.
A brief silence fell.
Before the delusion became suspicion, and suspicion became reality.
“What an interesting thought.”
Aurora stepped in a beat faster and cut off the noble ladies’ thoughts.
“I’m just someone too scared to even leave the Imperial Palace. I’m not exactly the sort who has any power like that, either.”
“Well, when you put it that way, yes.”
“A novel is just a novel.”
Fortunately, the seed of suspicion quickly died out.
The noble ladies had meant it more as a pleasant fantasy than as something they truly believed.
‘Phew...’
And Aurora let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The fact that Aurora had been the one to rescue the young ladies had already been exposed to the Emperor.
But being found out by others was another matter entirely.
Especially if the ladies of society got hold of it, it wouldn’t end as a brief amusement.
They’d surely gossip about it everywhere. It would only be a matter of time before everyone knew.
I absolutely refuse to become a spectacle.
At that moment, Aurora and Lady Valdis met eyes.
Lady Valdis nodded vigorously as if to say not to worry.
Overwhelmed by the admiration sparkling in her eyes, Aurora gave an awkward smile.
Not long after, the salon came to an end.
One by one, the noble ladies left, and silence settled over the garden.
Only then did Aurora awkwardly rise from her seat.
“Ugh...”
Her legs still wouldn’t listen to her.
Getting rid of muscle soreness in just two days was far too much for Aurora’s flimsy body.
‘So this is why people exercise.’
Aurora belatedly realized one truth about the world.
Of course, realizing that didn’t mean she had any intention of exercising.
If it were that easy, everyone would be healthy.
Even the princess was no different from people you could find anywhere else in the world.
‘Today I’m going to my room and not move a single inch.’
As she firmly resolved that in her heart and was about to leave the garden with unsteady steps—
“Your Highness!”
“Eek?!”
A voice came from behind her.
Startled, Aurora’s foot briefly lifted off the ground before coming back down.
“Ungh...”
Thud—the moment her foot hit the ground, the impact slammed through her entire body. The tingling pain in her legs shot all the way to her head.
Aurora swallowed the pain with effort and slowly turned her head.
Lady Valdis was standing there.
“Lady Valdis? You haven’t left yet?”
“No. I had something to say, so I sneaked out.”
“I see. And what is it?”
“I never got to thank you properly that day.”
Lady Valdis gracefully bowed, lightly holding up the hem of her skirt.
“Thank you so much for saving me.”
Aurora’s lips curved into a thin smile.
“You don’t need to be so formal. I just did what anyone should have done.”
If anything, Aurora was the one who should be grateful.
If those people had suffered some terrible accident because of her novel, she would have been unable to sleep from guilt.
“By the way, what happened to the commoners?”
“They’re being protected by their families. They’ve all been weakened, so it seems hard for them to return right away. More importantly, some have lost their families, and some are from places too far away.”
“...I see.”
Not everyone who had been kidnapped could return home.
She herself had come back to the princess’s palace that day, but there were surely some who had nowhere to return to.
Aurora belatedly realized that and bit her lip.
Lady Valdis cautiously continued speaking to Aurora.
“There’s something they asked me to tell you.”
“To me?”
“They said that, though they were too flustered that day to thank you properly, they would never forget that Her Highness the Princess had reached out a hand to them.”
“...”
Aurora couldn’t say anything for a moment.
She simply let a small smile rest at the corners of her lips.
“...I see.”
Her chest grew heavy.
She hadn’t done much for them.
Leon had fought, Leon had opened the way, and Leon had protected them.
She had only said that it was all right.
And yet, for someone, those words had apparently reached them like salvation.
“Thank you for telling me. Please tell them as well that I’ll keep a closer eye on things so something like this never happens again.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lady Valdis smiled brightly.
Aurora gave a light smile in return.
Then Lady Valdis looked around and lowered her voice.
“And... Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“By any chance, that person is...”
“That person?”
“The knight who was beside Your Highness that day.”
The knight.
It was a way of referring to Leon.
Lady Valdis apparently thought of Leon as a knight disguised as a slave.
“You mean Leon? If it’s Leon, he’s training right now. Why?”
“Well...”
Lady Valdis’s face turned visibly red.
She took a neatly folded envelope from inside her clothes.
“If you don’t mind, could you deliver this letter to him?”
Aurora received the letter.
A pale pink envelope.
It was tied with a white ribbon, and the sealing wax even bore a small floral pattern.
“What... is this?”
Aurora could tell what the letter was without even looking, but asked just in case.
Lady Valdis fidgeted, twisting her body bashfully.
“To my shame, the moment I saw that knight that day, I lost my heart.”
“Pardon?”
“This letter is filled with my feelings for him. Could you perhaps deliver it to him in my place, Your Highness?”
The moment she heard that.
The expression vanished from Aurora’s face.