Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 28. Eastern Knight Order (5)
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“Understood.”
I ultimately accepted the princess’s proposal.
And while fumbling with my uniform jacket, I let out a deep sigh.
“Did you just sigh?”
Lydia asked with a sullen expression.
To her, I forced a smile and replied.
“No. It was a sigh of relief now that my workload has decreased.”
“See? Once you become my knight, you’ll enjoy perks like this all the time.”
Having inadvertently complimented her, Lydia puffed up her chest proudly.
‘She definitely has talent.’
I’d tried to brush it off with patrol duty.
But to think she’d dispatch the Eastern Knight Order to the north.
Her scale was on another level entirely.
“Preparations are complete.”
I said while locking the office door.
Lydia then strolled leisurely toward the carriage with her hands behind her back.
“Very well. Let’s head straight to my palace.”
Her footsteps were light and cheerful.
However, she soon came to a halt.
“That might be difficult.”
I stubbornly threw a wrench in the plan.
“Again? You really never make this easy!”
Was it because everything had always gone her way?
Lydia stared at me with a pouty expression.
‘I can’t just let her have her way.’
A round trip from the east to the north took nearly two hours.
And given Lydia’s personality, she’d drag me all over the palace bragging about herself...
To prevent that, I had to end lunch in my own district.
“I need to report to General Valderian by five. If we go to the east, time will be tight.”
Valderian.
The empire’s current Grand General and the hero who raised the captains of the six knight orders.
He was famous for his strict handling of duties.
To take away a knight assigned to northern patrols right in front of such a Grand General?
Absurd.
Valderian clung to any injustice, whether from imperial family or nobles.
That was exactly why elite heirs avoided assignments to the Water Police Division.
“Ugh... Grandpa can be so picky...”
To call the Grand General “Grandpa”...
Probably only Lydia would dare.
Lydia pressed her lips with the back of her hand, lost in thought.
I decided to dive straight into her complicated mind.
“How about this instead?”
My sudden proposal drew the gazes of both the chief aide and the princess.
I pointed toward the vast northern city visible through the window.
“We’ll have lunch in Noston.”
The princess’s lunch in a commoner-filled downtown?
The chief aide shook his head firmly upon hearing that.
“Out of the question. To host Her Highness the princess in the north, where security is already poor.”
He adjusted his monocle and glared at me.
“I oppose this.”
I gazed leisurely at the pondering princess.
She only had two choices here.
Ask Valderian to join her for lunch and get outright rejected.
Or at least go downtown for a short meal together.
Her answer was probably already set.
She’d go with asking Valderian, even if it meant rejection.
Someone who’d only ever dined in lavish restaurants on chefs’ cuisine.
She’d get a crisp refusal, neatly resolving the situation.
But...
Her response was completely unexpected.
“Fine. Sounds good.”
A perfect affirmation.
“The market? That could be fun.”
Her free-spirited nature manifested in a bizarre way.
The chief aide’s and my faces twisted simultaneously.
“Hah...”
Especially the middle-aged mage responsible for her security.
The veteran aide wore a complicated expression.
“As an imperial princess, shouldn’t I familiarize myself with the lives of the common folk?”
She was commendably dutiful in the strangest direction.
“This is also the role of a ruler. I’ll do my best, just as you said, Veil.”
Quoting my words exactly, she smiled like a little devil.
She smoothed out the skirt clinging to her hips from sitting.
Then boldly stepped into the carriage.
“...”
I watched her impassively.
Lydia then poked her head out from inside the carriage.
She tilted her head and asked.
“What are you doing? Get in already.”
“How could a knight ride in the same carriage as Her Highness?”
The chief aide also wore a resolute expression, as if he couldn’t allow it.
However, the Third Imperial Princess chuckled and patted the seat beside her.
“We need to go together so you can guide the way, right?”
“Then I’ll borrow a horse separately.”
I turned to head to the next building to requisition a messenger bird.
But Lydia scolded me with a prim expression.
“You’re the one saying we’re short on time—how long do you think borrowing a horse will take? It’s fine, get in already.”
The princess stared pointedly at the chief aide.
He eventually clamped his mouth shut.
“...”
I had no choice but to approach the carriage.
My head nearly spun from riding in a carriage after so long.
The Third Imperial Princess looked up at me intently with her red eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh... You’re taller than I expected.”
Compared to the Eastern Knight Order’s average, I was on the shorter side.
I brushed it off and sat across from the princess.
The carriage gradually picked up speed.
As expected, there was no shaking even at high speed.
“How is it? For a commoner like you, this ride must be a first.”
Lydia boasted smugly.
However, my indifferent expression.
Seeing it, Lydia pursed her lips and asked.
“What... You’re not even impressed after riding in a royal carriage?”
“No, it’s so impressive I was momentarily entranced.”
Of course, it was a lie.
I’d ridden them to the point of nausea while escorting Irina in the past.
“Exactly. Opportunities like this don’t come often, so enjoy it fully.”
“Yes... Understood.”
Lydia lifted her face proudly.
She soon rolled her eyes to look at the scar on my forehead.
Was it because I’d come from farm work?
I’d forgotten that one side of my bangs was swept back.
Thanks to that, the scar on my forehead was slightly exposed.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s a wound from a subjugation mission before becoming a formal knight.”
“Subjugation mission...?”
“Yes, it was a mission to subjugate the Torman tribe living in the northern mountains.”
The princess’s lips parted, as if she knew the name.
“I’ve heard of them. They keep coming down from the mountains to plunder northern citizens.”
“Yes, I got this wound from a fragment that flew off while fighting their chieftain.”
I lowered my bangs, signaling not to worry.
However, the princess gazed calmly at what could have been a gruesome scar.
“You must have suffered.”
“As a commoner, that’s just how it was. To compete with noble heirs, becoming a top performer this way was my only option.”
I casually mentioned my past experiences.
Lydia listened pleasantly, then suddenly looked puzzled.
“Really? You worked so hard to become a top performer, so why refuse princess escort duty?”
‘Ah.’
Had I only seen her as a spoiled girl?
I hadn’t imagined Lydia would probe so persistently.
I frantically racked my brain.
And hurriedly spat out the idea that came to mind.
“That’s thanks to the lessons from that subjugation too.”
“A lesson...?”
Lydia rested her chin on her hand, intrigued.
“There are hardly any threats to the imperial family. Our empire’s escorts are famous for their strength.”
I praised the imperial family and escorts to open the topic.
And at the same time...
“But the empire’s territory is vast.”
“And the many victims I saw in the outpost. Children clutching their parents’ corpses and crying. Elderly mothers who lost their sons.”
“I believed the place that needs a knight’s help most right now isn’t the imperial family, but this ‘nation’ itself.”
Words of wanting to serve the nation.
The princess narrowed her eyes at that.
“As a public knight, I can mobilize the defense forces. Unlike escort knights, I can directly deploy troops to problem areas.”
I relaxed, satisfied with my lines.
Fortunately, the princess’s suspicious gaze softened, a smile playing on her lips.
“Interesting.”
Lydia crossed her legs.
She pressed down her rising skirt hem with her fingers and said.
“Veil, you definitely have something different from those kids just playing at being knights.”
The princess reached out her hand.
And gently placed it on my bangs.
“I’ll remember those words well: living for the nation, not yourself.”
The princess’s face drew close.
The fine white hairs on her still-youthful face caught my eye.
“And when I become this nation itself, I’ll have you.”
She lowered my bangs to cover the scar.
So other imperial kin wouldn’t see.
“Ahem.”
Was it because we were so close?
The chief aide cleared his throat roughly.
“Your Highness, we’ve arrived downtown.”
“Very well... Let’s see it. The place you recommended so confidently must have excellent food, right?”
Lydia turned her head, pretending to look out the window.
“Of course.”
The carriage’s speed began to slow.
It crossed Noston market boldly, as if for all to see.
Naturally, citizens’ attention focused on the ornate royal carriage.
Everyone knew an imperial rode inside.
Citizens halted en masse, bowing their heads.
“It’d be better to proceed on foot from here.”
The listening chief aide shook his head firmly at my words.
“You intend to escort Her Highness the princess alone into downtown without even a carriage?”
Of course, the carriage had protective magic, making it safe.
However, such flashy appearance only drew more eyes, increasing danger.
“A flashy carriage like this makes us a target, which is riskier.”
I calmly persuaded the chief aide.
“Northern commoners likely don’t know the Third Imperial Princess’s face well anyway, so blending in naturally with them is safer.”
Lydia preferred chic skirts over her usual dresses.
She’d pass for a fashion-conscious young lady strolling the market.
“Hm...”
But the chief aide still hadn’t fully consented.
I delivered the finishing blow in a nonchalant tone.
“Besides, doesn’t Her Highness have a royal mage and veteran chief aide by her side?”
I even praised the man who disliked me.
At my flexible persuasion, the chief aide cleared his throat.
“Fine. With you and Veil here, what’s there to worry about? The Eastern Knight Order is already heading this way too.”
He was displeased with the wildly different schedule from usual.
However, the princess’s word was absolute law to him.
In the end, he consented and opened the carriage door.
Lydia descended with her skirt fluttering.
Then, hands behind her back, she tilted her head toward me.
“And if trouble arises, our defense knight will take responsibility, right.”
Her blunt words sent a chill down my spine.
The Third Imperial Princess left those words behind and leisurely toured the market.
Having never seen so many commoners up close like this.
Everything that met her eyes seemed novel.
‘It’ll be fine. This is my district, after all.’
From numerous patrols.
No major incidents yet.
So even if she seemed like a wealthy young lady, no one would bother her...
As I thought that.
A shattering sound snapped me alert.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
The chief aide fussed noisily.
Drawing everyone’s eyes to us.
I hurriedly turned to trace the sound’s source.
“Oh no...”
Lydia had been walking leisurely.
She’d collided with a girl emerging from a corner.
But it wasn’t just a bump.
Her chic dress was splattered with sticky beverage.
The girl, delivering drinks, had spilled them all over Lydia upon impact.
“...”
The Third Imperial Princess’s eyes sharpened.
She looked down at the girl with dead, unfocused eyes.
“I-I’m sorry... I was rushing because the delivery was late...”
The girl trembled, looking up at the princess in fear.