Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 33. Eastern Knight Order (10)
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“Apologize to the young lady?”
A girl even younger and greener than him.
On top of that, dressed in academy-style clothes, from the upstart Eastern lands.
At the command to apologize to someone whose family name he didn’t even know, the count’s lips instinctively twitched.
“Why, don’t you want to? You bowed your head and apologized to a mere defense knight like me.”
I asked with an expression of utter incomprehension.
The count immediately snorted and waved his hand dismissively.
“As if! Looper, come on, let’s go.”
Dwyer urged his son along.
Together, they headed toward the terrace in front of the restaurant.
As the door opened, the bronze-skinned Eastern knights glared down at the father and son with murderous intensity.
Unlike when he’d apologized to me, the count passed them with a brazen expression.
As if to say, *Do you know who I am, staring like that?*
“So, is the talk over?”
Lydia’s indifferent voice.
She sipped freshly made sparkling water provided by the shop owner while eyeing the two nobles.
“Yes, it’s been a while since I met a commoner who could hold a conversation.”
In the sly father’s demeanor, she caught a glimpse of Looper’s face from moments ago, when he’d been leering at her.
“If the young lady forgives my son’s rudeness, we can wrap this up by arresting those thugs.”
The arrogant nuance that everything would be solved once the Thorman clan was captured.
As if the reason those thugs had threatened the young lady wasn’t because Looper had turned a blind eye to them.
Lydia tilted her head quizzically.
Catching on to my intent, she curled her pink lips into a sly smile.
“Veil, you clever little…”
The young lady pressed her hat down firmly.
Arms crossed, she stared down endlessly at the count.
“Fine then. Confess your crimes in detail.”
“Understood.”
The count showed no sign of intimidation.
This was Nostun.
No noble in these lands was ignorant of his prestige.
He even saw this as a chance to forge connections with Eastern nobles.
That was how a mana-less man like him had climbed this high.
Connections and smooth talk.
“It’s only natural for petty incidents to crop up when managing a territory.”
The count smiled winningly, draping an arm around his son’s shoulders.
Emphasizing his status as a high noble who governed a territory.
“To prevent them, you need the right personnel in place.”
Lydia nodded.
Emboldened by the nod, the count’s tongue grew even more glib.
“But Nostun patrols have always been handled by just one person. Sir Veil, whom you met earlier, and my son as his predecessor—that’s it.”
The count then adopted a regretful expression.
“No matter how strong a knight, maintaining security over an entire city alone is impossible.”
“Yeah, I get it. I manage a territory single-handedly myself.”
At her mention of holding a territory, the count beamed.
Hiring the Eastern Knight Order marked her as Eastern high society.
He planned to properly connect with her this time.
“So we decided to appoint an interim overseer for the city.”
Looper nodded with a pious look.
As if he’d only used the Thorman clan out of necessity.
“Even lords often hire personal knights to manage their people efficiently. They handle the troublemakers in place of busy lords.”
Count Dwyer bowed his head.
Low enough for his bald spot to shine.
“That’s why Looper hired the Thorman clan.”
The father pressed his son’s shoulder, making him bow as well.
With a solid buildup, he apologized to the young lady.
“But we never dreamed those thugs would be too ignorant to recognize you! This is undoubtedly our failure—we sincerely apologize!”
Lydia nodded as if intrigued.
She took a handkerchief from an Eastern knight and dabbed her lips.
“Interesting. Using roughnecks with pull to manage a territory.”
At her softened reaction, the count raised his bowed head.
With a cunning smile, he gazed at Lydia’s face, half-hidden by her hat.
“Yes, it’s a common method among other lords. As someone who governs a territory yourself, I’m sure you understand.”
The count slowly lifted his son’s head too.
Displaying the boy’s plump face, he asked,
“So… might I inquire which family you’re from? It’s always good for fellow lord-level figures to broaden their horizons.”
Dwyer, who saw his chubby son in such a proud light.
He subtly probed, as if eager to link his son with the young lady.
“My family, you say?”
Lydia chuckled at the question.
It was the first time in her life anyone had asked where her family was from.
“Well, I’ve hardly ever called my father by name directly.”
Lydia grasped the brim of the hat I’d bought her.
As she slowly lifted it…
The beautiful locks inherited from her mother, the princess of the Eastern Kingdom of Samid, cascaded softly.
Revealing the sharp features passed down from Conqueror King Boduang IV.
“Does the name Boduang ring a bell?”
The two nobles stared up at Lydia in a daze.
Hearing her surname match the current emperor’s, their faces drained of color.
“Using street thugs as interim overseers to control your people… quite the plausible excuse.”
Lydia removed her hat and lightly shook out her hair.
A faint fig scent wafted through the air.
“So, is that why my father appointed trash like you as interim lord?”
Her ruby-red eyes pierced Count Dwyer.
The count froze, mouth agape, speechless.
Black hair. Father is the emperor.
And that nagging familiarity from afar.
He realized the figure before him was the ruthless Eastern princess, Lydia.
“P-Princess Lydia… that is…”
Until now, adept in any situation.
Graceful with anyone he met.
The count had never imagined encountering the princess in a dingy pizza joint like this.
“I understand your intent perfectly. Lacking ability, you mobilized riffraff to control the city.”
Lydia uncrossed her arms and stood.
“Thanks to your negligence, those thugs went beyond harassing commoners to insulting imperial blood.”
She glared down at the count with chilling eyes.
“Forgive us, Your Highness!! We’ve committed an unpardonable sin, even in death!”
Only now did terror surge through the count.
He shoved his chair aside and huddled on the filthy shop floor.
“F-Father…!”
His son, seeing his father panic for the first time.
The plump boy panicked too.
“Kneel at once—what are you waiting for?!”
The count bellowed at his son in abject terror.
Only then did Looper hurriedly drop to his knees.
“Why apologize all of a sudden? Weren’t you insisting your actions were justified?”
Lydia cocked her head at the count’s sudden shift.
“No, it was all just my repulsive sophistry!!”
Dwyer slammed his forehead to the floor.
Loud enough for all to hear.
At the ugly sight, the Third Imperial Princess shook her head.
She gazed pityingly at the middle-aged man with his face planted on the ground.
“Tsk… once a promising figure in the imperial court, now suffering because of your worthless son.”
Lydia strode past the two prostrated men indifferently.
In a cold voice, she commanded,
“Raise your head, Count.”
“Y-Yes! Princess…!”
The count snapped his face up at the call.
A bloodstain marred his forehead.
“I’ll specially refrain from bringing this to the Imperial Council.”
“Thank you so much!!”
The count’s eyes reddened, as if spared execution.
But…
“No, children don’t always obey their parents. Even His Imperial Majesty has suffered much from my mistakes.”
Lydia fixed the count with a stare.
Smiling chillingly, she continued,
“And each time, my limbs were beaten near to death in my stead.”
At her words, the count’s relieved face twisted anew.
“Watching that taught me the weight of my position. That my errors bring suffering to others.”
Lydia pointed to the riding crop at the coachman’s waist.
The designated coachman drew it and presented it to her at once.
“Do you grasp my meaning?”
The princess dropped the crop indifferently before the count.
“…”
Dwyer stared blankly at the whip before him.
Realizing her intent, he seized it with trembling hands.
“Father…”
Looper gazed at his father clutching the whip.
His face was utterly unlike the indulgent one from before, no matter Looper’s faults.
“You bastard… because of you…!”
Dwyer rose.
One hand gripped the whip, the other yanked his cherished son’s hair.
“It hurts! Father!”
Looper squealed like a hog at slaughter.
But the count paid no heed.
A situation where his house could be extinguished.
He seized the culprit and dragged him into the restaurant.
Our eyes met as he passed me leaning at the entrance.
“Pardon me…”
The count muttered curtly to me and slammed the door shut.
*CRACK!!*
Soon, brutal whipping sounds echoed from inside the shop.
*CRACK!!*
The Eastern knights promptly blocked all the windows.
They stood ramrod straight, watching how fiercely the count thrashed his son.
Dwyer, in response, whipped his precious Looper with tears in his eyes.
“Mmm—such a fine sound.”
Lydia stretched refreshingly.
Her half-lidded red eyes sparkled.
Soon, she turned her lingering gaze to me, who had stepped out after lending the restaurant.
“To think you’d use me to deal with corrupt nobles—quite cunning.”
“That wasn’t my intent.”
I shook my head calmly.
But Lydia giggled, pressing further with persistence.
“Oh? As if I wouldn’t see through you trying to rack up merits before imperial eyes for a leg up.”
The princess approached me slowly.
*‘Did even my actions strike her as impure?’*
Sure, I’d used the princess to block Looper’s path to the palace.
But if it looked like ambition to leapfrog my seniors, that’d be trouble.
I clamped my mouth shut and bowed my head.
Waiting for her judgment…
Unlike with the count, I heard a playful girl’s voice.
“Well done.”
Lydia burrowed toward my bowed form.
“Knowing your place and using those around you—adorably clever. A solid strategy.”
She prodded my rookie insignia with her finger.
“Keep relying on me from now on. Rookie knight, Sir Veil.”
Perhaps from the closeness.
A faint fig scent from her tickled my nose.
“That way, you’ll rack up debts to me and crawl into my grasp on your own.”
The young lady tilted her head and beamed brightly.