Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 76. Family Cleanup (1)
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Camilla finished signing Irina's contract.
She rode her carriage back to her office.
“Ugh…!”
She stormed down the hallway, looking thoroughly pissed off.
Everyone passing by cowered at the sight of her—the hero of the Southern Front, also known as the Butcher.
BAM—!!
She slammed the office door shut with brutal force.
The impact made the chandelier hanging from the ceiling sway faintly.
“This is so fucking annoying…!”
Camilla took a deep breath.
Then she flopped down into her ornate leather chair.
“Dealing with more of those Water Bureau parachute clowns stressing you out again?”
A voice came from the corner of the office—her female aide.
Camilla turned her head toward the voice with a weary expression.
She looked at Tilda, her subordinate scribbling away at a desk in the corner.
A black-haired woman wearing glasses and a white uniform.
She had been a comrade alongside the vice captain since their days on the Southern Front.
“No… If it were just that, I wouldn’t be this mad. I could just train them myself and be done with it.”
Camilla smashed her face onto the desk.
Her soft cheek stuck flat against the wood.
“Then what’s got you so worked up this time…?”
The aide stood up from her seat.
She poured a cup of warm tea for her friend and superior, the vice captain.
“There’s this one guy I just can’t stand.”
Tilda glanced at Veil’s photo on Camilla’s desk.
“Top of the 80th batch sparring rankings? That’s some serious skill.”
“Yeah, and I basically lost to that bastard.”
The freshly twenty-year-old Sword Saint muttered in a listless voice.
Her secretary jumped in shock beside her.
“What? You lost, Camilla?!”
Tilda, who had long known Camilla had reached Swordmaster realm, couldn’t believe the news of her defeat.
“Yeah…”
The vice captain lifted her head.
She furrowed her brows, recalling the moment from their spar.
“He was really strong…”
The golden mana identical to that of her swordsmanship master, the Imperial Knight Order Captain.
Plus those relaxed, seasoned movements that seemed to read every attack.
Now that she thought about it, despite the obvious gap in skill, he’d just toyed with her like a kid.
“Wait… No way that guy’s been playing me this whole time?”
Camilla shot up from the desk.
She planted her hands on her hips and fumed.
“Cheeky bastard…”
Even though they were the same age, he had this oddly mature vibe.
The way he treated her like some girl really got under her skin.
“You seem pretty pissed.”
“Of course I am. Toying with your superior like that? I wanna slap him with a curfew restriction right now.”
Tilda watched her unusually emotional vice captain with interest.
Then, as if struck by a thought, she clasped her hands together.
“Hmm—quite intriguing.”
“What is?”
Camilla shot her aide an irritated glare.
Tilda gave her vice captain a sly look and said,
“Remember back on the Southern Front when we talked about our types?”
Ideal type.
The twenty-year-old woman flushed at the embarrassing topic.
“Why bring that up out of nowhere?”
Tilda coyly covered her lips with her hand.
She narrowed her eyes and hummed.
“Just popped into my head~.”
The aide stepped behind the vice captain’s chair.
She leaned in and whispered softly.
“You said your type was a man ‘stronger’ than you.”
Camilla startled at the words.
She looked up at her friend and subordinate in a panic.
“That was… just something I said offhand because you kept pushing!”
“Oh? But you said it so seriously back then~.”
Back on the front lines, Camilla had no comrades she could trust with her back.
She’d been the one protecting even the burly men around her.
So she’d never shown interest in anyone.
But the guy she met today had been overwhelmingly strong.
Strong enough to fight alongside and trust.
However.
Was it because of the way he’d toyed with her today?
“Sure, it fits, but exclude slimy types like that!”
Even if he matched her ideal type, she vehemently denied it.
“The kind I like is tough and reliable. Got it?”
Her superior was getting seriously worked up.
Tilda smirked for a moment at the sight.
“Hmm— so the guy you saw today wasn’t the reliable type, huh. Noted.”
She looked like she was analyzing Veil.
Camilla bellowed at her.
“Quit teasing me. Should I arrest you for insubordination too?”
“Understood~. Why get so excited?”
Camilla let out a deep sigh.
She flopped back into her seat.
Maybe it was the plush cushion relaxing her body.
Her mind and body gradually calmed, and she pulled some documents from her drawer.
She started writing a report about volunteering over the weekend.
“Oh, and report this to the captain.”
“Huh? Volunteering out of the blue?”
Camilla waved her hand dismissively at Tilda’s question.
“Just… donating some talent.”
She turned her head away from her aide’s gaze.
She looked like someone who’d been caught and dragged somewhere.
“No way something happened, right?”
The aide eyed Camilla with concern.
But Camilla shook her head hurriedly.
“No, we just sparred, that’s all.”
She clearly wanted to hide the part where she’d smashed stuff in anger.
「―――.」
“Who’s talking about me…?”
Veil rubbed his ear and stepped out of the main headquarters.
He slipped out alone to the outer capital walls quietly.
He had plans to meet Ekina today.
She was under orders from the Crown Prince.
His orders had come down today, so she was reporting to Veil.
In response, he headed to their meetup spot in Cornello.
As he’d visited before, it was relatively safe from Lea’s intel network and other spies.
Plus, Mago would contact him immediately if anyone suspicious showed up nearby, making it the perfect rendezvous point.
“She’s a bit late.”
Veil pulled his black robe’s hood over his head.
He strolled leisurely through the sorcerers’ district with his hands behind his back.
Women in witch hats.
Men reeking of eerie auras heading into back alleys.
This place, which royals would despise, felt perfectly comfortable to him.
While waiting for Ekina, he casually entered Mago’s elixir shop.
He grabbed two top-grade elixirs while she slept.
“Pass these to her when she wakes up.”
He shoved a lump of gold at the clerk behind the counter.
It was actually the golden rose Lea had gifted him, but Camilla’s strike had turned it to powder.
‘Lost its value anyway, so selling it’s fine…?’
Elixirs were top-tier potions issued to Imperial Knights only once a year.
But Cornello’s alchemists knew the formula, so they could mass-produce a standard version.
Not as potent as the official ones, but for a practitioner, even this was a godsend.
“…”
He shook the vial in a shadowed alley.
He stared at the purple liquid rippling inside as he waited for Ekina.
Soon enough.
He sensed intense mana from afar, at the peak just before Swordmaster.
“Our Rehabilitation Knight Order captain has arrived?”
Veil lowered his black robe.
He faced the Crimson Flame vice captain emerging from the dark shadows.
“Please don’t call me that…”
Ekina pulled down her robe as well.
Her rose-red, vibrant hair cascaded over her shoulders.
“Camilla’s already making my life hell, and now what?”
When Veil asked, Ekina sighed deeply.
She began spilling the intel she’d gathered.
“Word is, the Third Imperial Consort’s eldest son, Prince Hakim, is colluding with the Crown Prince.”
Hakim.
A familiar name.
Vanessa’s eldest son and only sore spot.
Born cruel and extravagant, he’d been stripped of his lordship after just two weeks.
He’d spent his life resenting his mother and sister Lydia.
“He’s planning to disguise his soldiers as Eastern Knights and stage an assault on civilians.”
Veil had heard of this incident.
Five years ago, an Eastern Knight beat a citizen to death.
It sparked riots, and Hakim used the staged event to incite rebellion against Lydia.
Of course, the rebellion was crushed by Lydia’s formidable forces.
But afterward, public sentiment toward the Third Imperial Princess hit rock bottom.
That was exactly what the Crown Prince was aiming for.
When the people lose trust in their lord, they turn to enemies.
On Purge Day, it let the Crown Prince deal a critical blow to her palace.
‘Back then, I ignored it since I was Irina’s knight…’
Ekina looked up at him with curious eyes.
As if he’d predicted it all.
Seeing her expression, she asked tentatively,
“If this plan goes through, my innocent squad members will get sacrificed too.”
She knew the Eastern Knights’ power well.
She was well aware her own subordinates would suffer in this.
“Any way to stop it?”
Even as the Crown Prince’s pawn, she desperately wanted to protect her men as their leader.
Veil silently met her gaze.
He thought for a moment about the Third Imperial Princess, on whom disaster would soon descend.
“…”
Lydia.
Though he hadn’t served her in his past life, he’d met her several times in this one.
He had a rough sense of who she was.
Her goal was to become a powerful ruler like her father the Emperor.
And that “powerful ruler” wasn’t just about military might or charisma.
She’d comfort a child who spilled a drink on her.
She’d lower her carriage banner for someone’s convenience.
She treated even a single cat like one of her subjects, striving to connect.
At least in this life, she had the makings of a sage king among the royals.
“Don’t worry. It was one of the events I already saw coming.”
Veil curled his lips into a smile.
He patted the vice captain’s shoulder.
“I’ll head to the East today, so go back without fretting.”
“What if orders come? Should I mobilize?”
Her voice was urgent.
She seemed curious about his plans.
“Don’t sweat it. The Crown Prince’s orders will be canceled before that day.”
He shrugged with a relaxed expression.
He stepped out of the shadows, basking in the sunlight, and added,
“So just hang tight like nothing’s up.”
“Yes…”
Veil shoved his hands in his pockets.
He pulled out the two elixirs he’d bought earlier.
“Oh, and use these when you’re prepping for Swordmaster.”
Ekina caught the two vials he tossed her.
“These are… top-grade elixirs?!”
Her eyes widened as she realized what they were.
She stared up at him blankly with her sparkling red eyes.
“We’re in the same boat, so this much is standard.”
Veil turned and strolled down the main street with hands behind his back.
He parted ways with her as if nothing had happened and said,
“Yes… Thank you so much!”
The Crimson Flame vice captain bowed her head to a mere defense knight.
Veil glanced back at her.
“Thanks? We’re just in the same boat, not allies.”
He warned her coldly.
“This is just a carrot to keep you quietly onboard. Got it?”
Ekina stared blankly at his pointed finger.
Then she smiled brightly, lifting the corners of her mouth.
“Got it!”
The Crown Prince who’d only demanded sacrifices until now.
Versus the defense knight telling her to stand by while he handled it.
She clearly felt the stark difference.
This was the secret to holding onto subordinates under the Second Imperial Princess in his impoverished past life.