Chapter 48
“Alderin? Some backwater dump I’ve never even heard of? Do they even have an arena in a countryside place like that too? Kwahahaha!”
A burly man laughed raucously as he brandished his mace threateningly.
Lenoa chose the arena as the first stop on her city tour.
The last time she came to the arena, it seemed to suit Lenoa’s tastes rather well.
Well, that made sense.
If she wanted to watch, she could watch.
But if she came to watch, shouldn’t she just watch and leave? Why did I always get dragged into it?
She’d act like she was quietly watching, then suddenly tell me to fight a round.
Because I might be recognized, I even had to take off the knight’s uniform I’d worn for the first time today and put on shabby clothes.
I turned my head to look at the stands.
Lenoa and Bibi were watching from the regular crowd, not the VIP seats.
Bibi was stuffing her face with snacks like they were part of the show, while Lenoa wore a faint smile as if the whole situation were endlessly amusing.
“Show us the might of Alderin’s strongest gladiator.”
“Do your best. Hehe.”
It was as if they were saying exactly that.
“You country bumpkin bastard! How dare you look away with me right in front of you! I’ll crush your skull!”
The gladiator hurled the mace he’d been swinging at me.
Without even needing to swing my sword, I dodged it with just a tilt of my head.
Then I grabbed the chain and gave it a light swing.
“Aaaagh!”
The gladiator flew through the air and landed in the stands.
“What?! Bernard the Skull Crusher got taken out in one hit?”
“Wasn’t he supposed to be the country-bumpkin gladiator?”
“Alderin, what on earth is that place?”
I was so embarrassed by the flood of stares that I hurried out of the arena and went over to Lenoa.
“Were you satisfied?”
“It was boring. Watching you when you were weak was fun. You’ve gotten pointlessly strong.”
She looked greatly disappointed.
She even seemed a little sad.
I had to get stronger because of you, and now you’re saying I’ve gotten needlessly strong.
Honestly, if you weren’t my master, I’d beat the hell out of you.
“Don’t be too upset, Sir Leon. Thanks to you, we made a killing.”
Bibi shook a heavy money pouch.
These two women really were something else.
Looks like they even bet on the winner and loser.
“Enough. If the sightseeing’s over, let’s go somewhere else.”
We left the arena and strolled down the main street.
We didn’t take a carriage.
It was too conspicuous, and Lenoa said she wanted to walk.
Lenoa kept turning her head as she walked, without stopping for a moment.
Then, whenever something caught her interest, she’d stop or even go closer to have a look.
“Come to think of it, was this your first time sightseeing in the city, young lady?”
“I was only ever in the mansion.”
“How does it feel to be sightseeing in the city for the first time?”
“Not bad.”
It seemed sincere.
Her expression was lighter than usual.
Then she looked at me.
“You….”
“This is my second time.”
“For the record, Sir Leon’s first time was with me.”
Beside her, Bibi flashed a V sign and looked smug.
“Could you please speak properly? If someone overhears, they’ll think something strange.”
“What exactly would they think is strange?”
“Do I really have to spell it out? And since when do maids get to tease knights?”
“Ah.”
“Let’s keep our conduct proper, all right? Understood?”
Sorry, but I’m not the same person I used to be anymore. I’m the young lady’s personal knight now.
How dare a mere maid like you.
As I reveled in the satisfaction of wielding authority for the first time, I felt a heavy stare from beside me.
Lenoa was staring at us with narrowed eyes.
After spending years together, I knew it now. Those eyes were the look she made when she was displeased.
“…What is it this time?”
“You two look pretty close.”
“I mean, Bibi is the only one I really have to talk to openly.”
“What do you two even have to talk about openly? Are you gossiping about me behind my back?”
“Hmm, both?”
“What?”
Lenoa frowned.
“I’m joking. Why would I gossip about the young lady? Surely you don’t think you have that many flaws, do you?”
“…….”
Lenoa couldn’t answer.
If she agreed, she’d be admitting she had a lot of problems; if she denied it, that meant there was nothing wrong with my conversation with Bibi.
Bibi gave a thumbs-up beside me.
“That was savage, Sir Leon. The young lady can’t even move a muscle in front of you.”
“This much is easy.”
-CRUNCH!
“Ugh!”
“Don’t get cocky. Tsk.”
Lenoa, who had stomped on my instep with her shoe, started walking again.
“I knew it. You deserved to be hit. I warned you countless times not to do that.”
Bibi trotted after Lenoa with her hands clasped behind her back.
When did you ever tell me not to?
You were just agreeing with me until a second ago, and now you’re changing sides.
“Anyway, there isn’t a single normal person around.”
They say birds of a feather flock together, so why are there only weird people around me, the normal one?
I really don’t understand.
***
Even after leaving the arena, Lenoa kept going all over the place.
Like a chick just out of its shell, she took in every little thing, not missing a single detail.
The people talking as they wandered the streets, adventurers gathered in taverns drinking even in broad daylight.
Children running around, couples holding hands on dates.
For her, who had been trapped in the mansion her entire life, everything was a new experience.
She wondered whether she would have lived like them if she had been born into an ordinary family instead of as a duke’s illegitimate child.
But just as someone who has never eaten an apple can’t know what it tastes like,
Lenoa couldn’t imagine herself living like them.
Her worldview was that limited.
“Young lady, aren’t your legs hurting?”
“No problem.”
“Is there anywhere else you’d like to go? The sun will set soon, so this may be the last place for today.”
“Let’s see….”
Lenoa, unable to give a clear answer, looked around.
Before long, one place came into view.
“What’s that place?”
“That’s the slave market. It’s where slaves are bought and sold. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
At the mention of the slave market, Lenoa wordlessly looked at Leon.
She kept looking at him for a while.
Then Lenoa turned her head and, as if spellbound, went into the slave market.
Leon and Bibi had no choice but to follow behind her.
As soon as they entered, the stench stabbed at their noses. The floor was covered in unidentified grime.
Excrement, or blood.
But Lenoa kept walking without even caring if her shoes got dirty.
Rows of iron cages lined both sides. Inside them, slaves in half-naked clothing were huddled together.
Lenoa’s gaze passed over the slaves’ faces one by one.
There was no light in their eyes.
Eyes like ash left behind after hope, fear, and even hatred had all burned away.
They looked like empty shells with their souls torn out.
“A noble young lady has come to visit, I see. So, are you looking for any particular merchandise?”
The slave merchant who spotted Lenoa hurried over. Just from the aura she gave off, he could tell at once that she was a noble.
Lenoa gestured at the slaves and asked.
“Why do they all have such dead eyes?”
“Even a dumb beast knows when it’s going to die, doesn’t it? A slave would know too. Since their fate is to toil until the day they die, that’s just how it is.”
“Don’t they struggle to break free or anything?”
“Hahaha. How could that even be possible? Clinging to vain hope would only make them suffer more. From their point of view, it’s easier to give up early and accept reality.”
A fate of being exploited for life.
A noose they could never escape.
It was only natural to give up.
At the merchant’s explanation, Lenoa turned her head. Where her gaze landed was Leon.
He, too, had once been a slave.
Unlike those locked safely in cages, he had crossed the line of death almost every day in the arena.
And yet Leon’s eyes were the complete opposite of theirs.
Rather, he craved survival to an almost ferocious degree, and as a slave, he had even clawed his way into a knight’s position.
Leon was different from those people.
Her slave was special, more special than anyone else.
A faint smile mixed with superiority spread across Lenoa’s lips.
“Let’s go back.”
Lenoa turned away without the slightest hesitation, as if she had no more business at the slave market.
That was the end of their city sightseeing for the day. The three of them returned to the mansion.
“You’re back, young lady.”
The butler greeted Lenoa with a respectful bow.
“The duke said that if you returned, you were to attend the evening banquet.”
“…All right.”
“Let’s go to your room, young lady. I’ll help you change.”
Lenoa nodded.
“Leon, you can head back now. Good work today.”
“Understood.”
After seeing Leon off, Lenoa returned to her room with Bibi.
She changed clothes and tidied her messy hair. After erasing every trace of her outing, she headed to the main house.
Everyone was already seated in the dining room.
Lenoa bowed politely at the waist.
“Lenoa Edelheid. I have finished my outing and rushed here at your summons.”
Duke Pascal welcomed her with a bright smile.
“Welcome. Have you eaten dinner yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet, hm~? Then sit here. It’s our first family meal, after all. Everyone’s been waiting for you.”
Lenoa approached the table. Looking around for a place to sit, she was about to take the seat at the very end when—
“No, not there. Here, here.”
Duke Pascal tapped the table. The seat right beside him.
It was usually Lady Florencia’s seat. Shifted over by one spot, she was clenching her fists with a mortified expression.
“But….”
Quick to read the room, Lenoa hesitated and couldn’t sit down easily. She was afraid of the backlash if she took that seat.
However.
“It’s fine, so sit down. From now on, this will be Lenoa’s designated seat.”
“…….”
“Aren’t you going to sit?”
“…Excuse me.”
The highest-ranking person in the ducal house is the duke. You can’t go against his word.
Lenoa had no choice but to sit in the seat assigned to her.
Duke Pascal broke into a beaming smile.
“Mm, it’s nice to have the whole family gathered in one place. You’re hungry, right? Shall we eat?”
A painfully awkward family dinner began.
No one said a word; they kept their eyes fixed on their bowls and moved only their arms. Even that was barely eating.
Only Pascal was smiling from ear to ear.
“How is the meal? Does it suit your taste?”
“Ah, yes….”
“For all that, you’re just picking at it, though?”
“I had some snacks outside….”
From the side, the duke kept pressuring her with burdensome stares and nonstop questions.
Lenoa forced her barely moving mouth to answer as best she could.
“That’s right, that’s right. You must have had fun.”
“Yes….”
“Enjoying life is a good thing.”
Pascal nodded with a satisfied expression and put a piece of meat into his mouth.
“Ah, right. Come to think of it, didn’t Cassius say he had something to tell everyone?”
The duke looked at Cassius.
Everyone’s gaze turned to him.
Lenoa lowered her head and only stole a glance at Cassius seated across from her.
“The imperial family contacted us. It’s an invitation asking us to attend the celebration for the First Imperial Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony.”
“Do we all have to go?”
“One representative from the family is enough.”
“Hmm. I’m busy with magical research, and Cassius is busy with official duties. I wonder who should go….”
Duke Pascal pondered with a prim expression, lightly tapping his lips with a fork.
At the mention that only one person would go, the air in the dining room tightened.
An imperial banquet is a social stage and political battlefield where the direction of future power is at stake.
It was also a stage on which to make one’s presence known as an heir carrying the future of Edelheid.
A position that, by all rights, should have gone to the legitimate eldest son or eldest daughter.
With Cassius, the eldest son, unable to go, Lowell, the second son, or Idella, the eldest daughter, should naturally be the one to attend.
“Then our Lenoa can go.”
Duke Pascal said in a gentle voice, lightly trampling their expectations.