Chapter 50
“Lady Renoa of House Edelheid is entering!”
At the chief attendant's shout, silence fell over the hall.
As if by prior agreement, the countless nobles in the hall turned their eyes toward the entrance.
The people standing at the door slowly parted to either side.
“Is that Edelheid's young lady?”
“I've never seen that face in high society. I thought Cassius or Idella would be coming.”
“As far as I know, everyone in Edelheid is blond, but that lady has black hair?”
The nobles whispered among themselves all at once. Suspicious looks spilled out from behind their ornate feather fans.
Among nobles of high rank, memorizing one another's family ties is basic etiquette.
But with a young lady they'd never seen before appearing as Edelheid's representative, everyone looked bewildered.
“My, my, I never imagined Edelheid had such a beautiful lady.”
While everyone only looked at Renoa from a step away, one person, unable to contain his curiosity, approached.
Leading the crowd was a young man dressed in a red tailcoat.
The ornate family crest hanging on his chest and his showy stride testified to the fact that he was a powerful nobleman's son.
The man stood before Renoa and bowed deeply with an exaggerated flourish.
“I offer my greetings to the beautiful young lady. I am Armand, the eldest son of House Monteveil.”
“I'm Renoa, the second daughter.”
“If I remember correctly, I don't believe we've met before...”
“This is my first appearance in society.”
“I see. Otherwise, there's no way I wouldn't remember a beautiful lady like you.”
Armand grinned smarmily.
Soon, his gaze slid to Leon, who silently guarded Renoa from behind.
His gaze traveled downward, but soon stopped at the restraint around his neck.
“A restraint collar...? Don't tell me you're a slave?”
“Yes, he's my escort knight.”
“If he's the slave knight of Edelheid, could he be the one who defeated Sir Calven, the magic knight?”
“That's right.”
At those words, an even greater uproar broke out than when Renoa had appeared.
“A slave knight? What's that?”
“A knight who became one while still a slave. Rumor has it that knight defeated Sir Calven.”
“Calven? Isn't he Edelheid's knight commander? Doesn't look like it at all.”
“But even so, to appoint a slave as a knight. Edelheid must have been awfully desperate for talent.”
“Exactly. Is it really acceptable to bring a slave into the imperial palace?”
The nobles exchanged remarks while glancing at Leon.
Leon whispered quietly to Renoa.
“I told you we should have taken the restraint collar off before we came. It was obvious this would get noisy.”
“That's exactly what I wanted. That way, you'd draw attention.”
Now that she'd only just shown herself to the world, Renoa's standing was lower than that of a backwater rural noble.
For her, a golden opportunity had come.
The imperial banquet where the empire's most distinguished bloodlines gathered.
The best chance to imprint the existence of Renoa onto everyone's minds.
In that sense, there was no bait better suited to drawing the eye than Leon, the slave knight.
The effect was certain.
Everyone in the hall had their eyes on Leon.
“Mm...”
Leon was displeased to have become a balloon doll.
Renoa added bluntly.
“This is part of what my escort knight has to do as well. And you're good at it, aren't you? Smiling so freely at anyone and everyone. I'll make a special exception this time.”
“Haah...”
Leon let out a sigh of resignation.
Though he didn't like it, he had no choice but to comply. He lifted the corners of his lips.
Glossy black hair slicked back neatly with oil. Beneath it, golden eyes curved elegantly.
His tall frame and the build honed by years of swinging a sword showed clearly through his suit.
He was worlds apart from the fragile bearing of the sheltered young lords gathered in the banquet hall.
“Sir Knight, it's a pleasure to meet you. It's an honor to meet the famed slave knight. Ah, I'm Mila from House Rosenberg.”
The effect was tremendous.
The young ladies who had been whispering from afar approached as if drawn by a magnet.
“It's a pleasure to meet you. I was worried I might have caused you concern with my lowly status, but to think you'd come to me first. You have a heart as beautiful as your appearance.”
“A-ah, beautiful? That's too much...”
With his flawless response and kind eye-smile added on top, the young lady's cheeks flushed red.
The other young ladies, watching that scene, grew anxious. Unable to be outdone, they folded their fans and hurriedly spoke up one after another.
“I'm Chloe from House Berman. If it's not rude, may I ask what perfume you use? You smell wonderful.”
“Unfortunately, my station doesn't allow luxuries such as perfume.”
“Then this scent is... My goodness...”
Lady Chloe flailed dramatically and hid behind her fan again.
“I'm Elizabeth from House Cremang. Sir Knight, would you like me to bring you something to drink? That collar around your neck looks very uncomfortable.”
Elizabeth let out a pitying sigh while looking at Leon's nape.
“Exactly. Lady Renoa is really rather indifferent too. To inflict such cruel treatment on someone like this.”
“If you had been by my side, I would have unfastened that suffocating thing right away.”
The mark of lowly status was transformed into a pitiable hardship thanks to his handsome face.
Everyone tried to curry favor with Leon by offering him pitying words of comfort.
Leon nodded appropriately and lifted the corners of his mouth, responding with practiced ease.
“This is nothing more than a token of loyalty to my master. Far from being uncomfortable, I'm simply proud of it.”
“Goodness. How can your thoughts be so noble?”
“How could we free Sir Knight? If it were up to me, I'd want to bring you into our house.”
At the endless praise pouring from the young ladies, Leon smiled, his golden eyes crinkling, and opened his mouth.
“Since you've shown such kindness to lowly me, I feel I ought to offer you at least a small gift, however meager it may be.”
“A gift? To us, from you, Sir Knight?”
“Oh my, what could he possibly give us?”
At the word gift, the young ladies' eyes sparkled.
Leon twisted his body and picked up a napkin from the banquet table.
The thick, rough fingers that usually gripped a sword and cut flesh moved gracefully over the napkin.
Before long, the ordinary square napkin had changed into a single fully bloomed white rose.
“Since the empire's beautiful flowers have gathered here in such numbers, I made a small imitation with these humble hands.”
“My goodness...”
Elizabeth took the flower with trembling hands. Envious cries burst out from around her.
“That's unfair, Sir Knight. You only gave a gift to Lady Cremang. Give us one too.”
“I'll give one to everyone. Please wait a moment.”
Leon deftly folded the paper.
The [Pheromone] he once obtained through a skill reroll and the astonishing level 9 [Paper Folding] both showed their full power.
With every movement of his hands, flowers bloomed and birds were born.
Even though they were nothing more than trivial paper crafts, the young ladies who received them could not stop smiling.
As if they'd been given expensive jewels.
A handsome face transcends status.
Leon once again made that truth manifest in this banquet hall.
Of course, while he was winning the young ladies' favor, the young lords' favorability was dropping.
But the ones who rule high society are women, not men.
In the end, he was perfectly carrying out his master's orders.
However.
“……”
Renoa, who was handling the nobles' greetings a short distance away, furrowed her brows slightly.
Watching Leon chatting warmly with the young ladies and folding flowers for them made irritation slowly rise within her.
Even though he was clearly doing exactly what she had told him to, she simply could not bear to watch.
“Excuse me.”
In the end, Renoa asked the nobles for pardon and turned to push through them.
“While I was looking away for just a moment, my escort seems to have committed a great rudeness.”
A cold voice settled over the smiling crowd.
Renoa, her eyes narrowed, glared at the paper craft the young ladies were holding as if it were a precious treasure.
“He is a lowly fool who knows no etiquette. I had no idea he'd dare hand the young ladies trash and mock them. As his master, I apologize in his stead.”
“Young lady?”
Leon called to her in confusion, but Renoa did not react.
She slowly looked over the young ladies around her one by one as their expressions stiffened.
“But even if you are bored beyond measure, throwing yourselves at another house's slave is truly shameful. For a moment, I almost thought I'd wandered into a brothel.”
“……!”
“As Edelheid's representative, I deeply apologize for my knight's part in this vulgar clown show. Leon. You apologize as well.”
“…I'm sorry.”
“Then we'll be taking our leave.”
Renoa took Leon with her and left. After dragging him to a place where no one was around, she glared at him with murderous eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“I was just doing what the young lady told me to...”
“Don't you know what moderation is? If I'd left you alone, would you have actually gone so far as to sleep with someone? Are you in heat? Should I take care of it for you?”
“……”
“Haah, forget it. Just don't do anything and stay by my side. I'll handle everything myself.”
“Nyeh.”
Leon pouted.
He had worked his hardest exactly as ordered, and all he got back was scathing criticism.
'Annoying woman.'
This is why slaves lose out when they work hard. You should only do enough not to be picked on.
That was when Leon was grumbling to himself.
-Bwooo!
A bright trumpet fanfare rang out long and loud.
The noisy hall fell silent in an instant, and the orchestra that had been playing set down their instruments and stood up together.
“The empire's radiant second sun! His Highness the Imperial Prince is entering!”
Leon and Renoa turned their heads. Leon in particular narrowed his eyes and stared intently.
At the very center of the third-floor balcony.
In the place where the chandelier's brilliant light spilled down, the First Prince appeared.
'So you've finally come.'
First Prince Aiter.
One of the male leads in the protagonist's happy-ending route.
At the same time, the man who will kill Renoa, the black mage.