Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Belated Regret
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The ways of the world are unpredictable. Sometimes, opportunities come knocking when you least expect them.
Normally, there would have been no reason to summon her again from the Imperial Mausoleum, but Carneil, the knight stationed there, stepped down from her post with a light heart. There were hardly any duties to hand over to her successor. This was a position where all you did was wait for the day you could resign anyway.
“Finally, freedom! Now I can do some real knightly work!”
It was just a difference between being forced to strip because they found some pretext, or stripping voluntarily because you couldn’t stand the treatment. Given the circumstances, who would bother compiling a handover document for their successor?
Instead of wasting time on that, people wrote resignation letters or tried to curry favor with the high-ranking officials from the capital who occasionally came to pay respects at the mausoleum. No one had eyes for a poor soul unlucky enough to get demoted here.
Of course, if the successor caused some incident that brought trouble to the mausoleum, the predecessors wouldn’t escape unscathed either. So she hadn’t completely washed her hands of it, but she only planned to share enough to cover her own back. Just like her own predecessor had done—she had no intention of revealing much more.
No way in hell. Absolutely not!
Her unfortunate successor surely knew that being an Imperial Mausoleum knight was a job you had to grit your teeth and endure. In any case, it no longer concerned her.
“His Highness Ardein hasn’t forgotten me...”
Receiving a personal letter from Ardein and the imperial order that arrived the very next day, the knight was truly moved. She had forgotten her lord, but her lord had not forgotten her.
A lord abandoning a subordinate. A subordinate abandoning a lord. Both were one person discarding another, but ask anyone which was the graver sin, and they’d all say the latter.
No matter how she dressed it up, what she had done was betrayal, so even as she sought out Ardein, the knight had been filled with anxiety. What if she only stoked his anger? She had fidgeted restlessly.
Yet she had still gone to him, deluded into thinking someone of her caliber might still merit some degree of favor.
“I didn’t fully betray him, and that’s why I suffered like this.”
She had even briefly convinced herself that by not stabbing Ardein in the back, she had upheld her loyalty—which had kept her from advancement. That illusion lasted until she actually met him and realized she had nothing to say.
Seeing the princess after so long, Carneil’s throat had closed up, leaving her speechless. Once she exhausted their old shared memories, there was truly nothing left!
No matter how busy she’d been scraping by, when she recalled that she was the one who had dodged her lord’s outreach and severed ties, Carneil finally grasped what she had done. A few years turned out to be a longer time than expected, and Ardein had changed a great deal in that span.
Since she hadn’t stayed by his side, she knew nothing of the current Ardein. Showing up like that, what had she even hoped for? She wanted to crawl into a rat hole.
For now, fulfill your current duties properly. Good things will come soon enough.
Hearing those words from Ardein had moved her deeply. In truth, she was grateful just not to have been kicked out on her ass.
She didn’t know if “good things” would actually come, but not facing anything bad was thanks enough. And yet, what was this? The “good thing” she hadn’t even dared hope for arrived for real.
Ardein had summoned her to serve as his personal guard knight. In terms of rank, it was higher than her old position before being demoted to the mausoleum.
He had recalled a traitor and placed her in an even loftier role.
“Your Highness. This time, I pledge this one life wholly to you! Carneil will leap into a pit of fire at your command.”
She sought out Ardein again, this time wetting the floor with tears as she swore her loyalty. They weren’t crocodile tears—real ones flowed.
Seeing her like that, Ardein wore a complicated expression. The reason she forgave this traitor was simple: she had no right to withhold forgiveness from Carneil.
This mausoleum knight had been Ardein’s knight, but she hadn’t owed him her life. She had merely served him as her lord. Ardein had ground his teeth at such a person’s betrayal.
Then what about herself—someone indebted to him for her own life and her father’s?
What about herself, who had done nothing when that person leapt into the fire?
What kind of treatment did she deserve? It couldn’t end with mere gritted teeth, yet that kind soul had offered her words of blessing and departed.
Such thoughts made her face burn.
In the end, she wrote a personal letter to Carneil herself. She had done worse than Carneil and yet had scolded her for it.
The shameless one without a shred of embarrassment might have been herself, not Carneil.
“Lady Carneil. A carriage from the palace has arrived. We’ll escort you all the way there.”
“Mm. Thank you.”
Buoyed by the thrill of her promotion, Carneil nodded. The imperial family offered some of the best perks around, and personal guard knights escorting royalty could borrow a carriage and coachman to use as their own, no matter who they were. For a commoner-born woman like Carneil with no family wealth, it was a fine benefit.
Living on the outskirts of the capital, she usually commuted to the mausoleum on foot. A single horse would have been nice, but the knight order’s warhorses had no connection to a mausoleum knight like her.
And even if she snuck one home to raise, the feed costs alone would bankrupt her.
These beasts couldn’t maintain their muscle on roadside grass. They couldn’t even stay healthy without it. A downside of selective breeding. Without meticulous care, they fared worse than ordinary horses.
Buying a regular horse felt like a waste in her precarious job with no set retirement date. So she’d walked—until today, riding in to work, which drew an involuntary chuckle. She felt like she was bouncing with excitement.
She was even enjoying putting on a stern, dignified act when the carriage suddenly halted. About to say something, Carneil shut her mouth, propped her chin like a noble, and pretended to savor the leisure. Nobles were supposed to be calm and composed in all things!
“Ah, this is frustrating.”
How many minutes did she hold the pose? Less than ten, and the formerly unflappable Carneil, who didn’t care about traffic jams, called out to the coachman. He scratched his head and explained.
“Well, the road ahead is completely blocked. Too many people; it’s impassable.”
“What... Ah, no. What did you say?! Why the hell is that?”
“The gate that was working fine just stopped all of a sudden. The protesters got confused and everyone’s swarming to see it... The folks from the Republic are yelling that the Empire must be up to something... Anyway, that’s the gist.”
“Protesters?”
The coachman nodded and elaborated. Those in the transport business were always plugged into the latest news.
“Empire citizens are furious that Republic immigrants are stealing their jobs and living off our grain handouts, so they throw stones. The Republic newcomers snap back that they didn’t come by choice, that they’re indentured by debt too.”
Conflicts between newcomers and locals were inevitable and routine. That alone wouldn’t cause such a massive stir.
The problem was the gate’s sudden shutdown. That’s why the whole area was in chaos. People from the Citadel Republic exploded in rage when their families, relatives, and friends couldn’t pass through. The Empire folk had plenty to say too, since they hadn’t done anything.
“The gate stopped? Protests, huh. Great. I’ll be late on my first day as personal guard. No way. How could I face His Highness Ardein then?”
Mages might panic over a gate failure, but non-mage Carneil couldn’t care less. Conflicts between Citadel citizens and Empire folk? Not her problem. She had her own survival to worry about.
“Take the carriage back home and park it!”
In a rush, Carneil leapt from the carriage and dashed off on foot. In gridlocked streets overflowing with people, running was the fastest transport.
By the time the female knight arrived at Ardein’s chambers, panting with every ounce of strength from her nursing days, she looked less like a guard and more like someone needing one.
Ardein was startled at the sight of the pale, exhausted knight on the verge of collapse. Words failed her.
“What happened? Why did you rush here like that?”
Even as a personal guard, how often did a master like Ardein need protection?
If she faced a foe requiring such a guard, would one Carneil even help?
So Ardein hadn’t cared if Carneil was late. But seeing her sprint to arrive on time stirred a faint sense of admiration.
“Hah... Hah... It’s... Hah...”
“Catch your breath first. Maien, some water.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The maid brought a glass of cool water bobbing with ice cubes. After gulping it down, Carneil steadied her ragged breathing and continued.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. The gate shut down, drawing massive crowds around it, nearly delaying my duty to protect you. But I, Carneil, have devoted everything to you. Even where carriages can’t go, I broke through on foot to reach you!”
“Ah, right. The gate stopped... The gate stopped?!”
Ardein absentmindedly repeated Carneil’s words, then froze and bellowed. She seized Carneil’s shoulders with both hands and shook her vigorously.
“Explain exactly what that means. In detail! The gate just stopped? What nonsense is this? Don’t tell me—don’t tell me the gate was destroyed?”
Having rushed straight here without asking anyone, Carneil had no further details.
She could only say “I don’t know” to every question, her head bowing lower each time until she slumped in defeat. On her first day, she’d been utterly useless to her lord...
“It’s certain. This has to be the temple’s doing!”
No evidence, not even having seen the scene herself, but the princess jumped to conclusions. Ignoring the arrived Carneil, she bolted outside. The gate—the gate. It had to be fine. It had to be...
It had to be nothing. Just a minor commotion.
It had to be. She could only pray it was.
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