The Resignation Plot
Back in her office, Karen collapsed into her chair.
Pressing a hand to her throbbing temples, she called to the maid waiting outside.
"A glass of cold water, if you would."
"Yes, my lady."
Karen drained the glass the maid brought in a single swallow, cooling the heat that had risen to her head.
"The capable ones are always eccentrics, every last one of them."
The knights of the Order were skilled enough to be called the finest in all of Agnes Territory. From time to time, children of noble houses who had heard of the Agnes Knights' renown would join dreaming of knighthood—but the vast majority of the ranks were commoners.
That was precisely why Karen, for all her immense authority, tended to treat people more gently than one might expect. What good would it do to force noble etiquette on them? As a lord, she stood to gain far more from one extra magical beast slain than from a perfectly executed bow.
"Haa..."
Still, there were limits to how far she was willing to accommodate. First that stranger she had only just met, and now the Knight Commander himself on top of it.
She was in the middle of a heavy sigh when—
"The formalities are complete."
Two knocks, and Heily opened the office door and stepped inside.
"Heily. And what is he doing now?"
"After being assigned his quarters, I believe he has not set foot outside his door."
"I see. Well done."
Karen decided that was for the best. Proper duties would not begin until tomorrow; if he stayed shut in his room until then, at least she would not have to worry about him causing trouble. His reputation was already poor enough—the last thing she needed was him wandering the grounds on his very first day.
"Heily, you should go rest as well."
"I am fine. Working hours are not yet over."
"You began working the moment we arrived from the capital. You have not had a moment to rest. I will finish what remains—go on, and do not worry."
"But..."
"I said it is fine."
When Heily still hesitated to leave, Karen rose and gave her a gentle push between the shoulders. She was the only competent secretary Karen had. Karen knew exactly how hard the woman worked—shouldering a considerable load without a single complaint. From Karen's perspective, being able to offer only this much felt almost apologetic.
"Now go. Rest."
Karen opened the door herself. Heily stopped on the threshold.
"...Understood. But before I go, may I ask one thing?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Going forward... how do you intend to treat him?"
Karen read the intent in her eyes at once. This was about the "guard knight" matter they had discussed in the capital.
"Hmm. I was asked to bring him into the Order, and I have done so. My part is finished, is it not?"
"...I see."
A roundabout way of saying she had not decided yet. Heily would understand that well enough.
"Very well. I shall take my leave first."
"Yes. Rest well."
Once Heily had gone, Karen sank back into her chair and thought.
She is right. This is something I must decide carefully.
She pictured Orion—that unruly, mischievous air of his. Just recalling it brought on another wave of headache.
Haa. Still too much for me, it seems.
Other nobles, she had heard, would take anyone with sufficient martial strength as a personal guard without a second thought. Karen did not think she could do the same. By the nature of her work she was gentler with commoners than most of her peers—but she had been born a noble all the same. To keep someone as rude as Orion at her side—no, someone that rude—was still a great deal to ask of a young woman who had not entirely shed her girlish sensibilities.
Knight Commander Albert Alstein returned to his office and tore off the ordinary soldier's uniform he had worn as a disguise.
"How dare he...! How dare he...!"
The Alstein family was a house of renown among renowns, a sword that had long guarded the Imperial family and produced countless knights. Its second son—that was the man named Albert.
"A mere foreigner!!!!"
Unable to contain his rage, Albert seized whatever ornaments sat on his desk and hurled them one after another.
Unlike the rest of his family, who had for generations entered the knightly orders run by the Imperial house, Albert had joined the Agnes Knights. The reason was simple: he could never become head of his own house. Unless extraordinary circumstances intervened, a noble family's seat passed to the eldest son. As the second-born, Albert had never even been given a choice.
"Do you have any idea what it took for me to climb to this position—!!"
He drove a clenched fist into the desk. It split clean in half.
Ten years. Ten years from enlisting as a common soldier—noble blood or no—to becoming Knight Commander. The first thing that had sustained him through that time was respect. Derrick Agnes, Karen's father, now deceased—Albert had been so thoroughly captivated by the man's stature that he had worked and worked until he nearly forgot his own noble standing. Derrick had died early, regrettably. But that had been all right. A second reason had appeared almost at once.
Karen Agnes, who had succeeded to the headship after him. Albert had already held the Commander's post by the time she took her seat, and so his dealings with her had naturally increased. At her side she had only an aging butler who had served since the previous Grand Duke's day, and one young secretary. Not even an ordinary guard knight. Albert had decided that role was his to fill. Whenever something important arose, she summoned him without fail.
As time passed, Albert came to realize that real power was gathering in his hands—not merely the authority to command soldiers within the Order, but genuine power. And from that realization, a single insidious thought had taken root: if he deepened his relationship with her further, her body, her heart, and her authority might all fall into his grasp.
"Arnold. Get in here. Now."
Albert snatched up the call device and summoned his vice-commander purely to vent. Arnold answered with the weary tone of a man who had already had enough.
The anger would not settle. The Order's system only admitted those who applied of their own accord. Never once had she brought someone in personally the way she had today. That alone had left Albert seething—and the farce in the reception room had only poured fuel on the fire.
Strictly speaking, some of that fury was aimed at Karen herself, their lord. But he had been born a noble and knew the terror of power well enough; so the full weight of his rage was redirected onto Orion instead.
Albert decided he would show the man the difference in their strength.
Just then—
"You called for me."
Arnold entered the Commander's office looking thoroughly exhausted.
"Yes. Where is Her Grace at present?"
"Her Grace? When I went to submit documents a short while ago, she was in her office."
"Understood."
"Wait—did you call me in just to ask that?"
Leaving a dumbfounded Arnold behind, Albert ignored him entirely, glared once more, and strode out of the office.
Having finally cleared the work that had piled up during her trip to the capital, Karen at last caught her breath. Outside the window, the sun had long since set. Between one thing and another, it had been an exceptionally grueling day.
She was just thinking she might enjoy a quiet cup of tea when—
Knock, knock—
A knock sounded at the door. Karen frowned.
"Who is it?"
"—Albert, Your Grace."
Of all people, the most tiresome man she could imagine had chosen this moment to appear. Anyone else she would have turned away—but she had given him her word earlier, which made dismissing him awkward.
With a sigh, Karen reluctantly let him in.
"What is it?"
She made no effort to hide how annoyed and exhausted she was. Albert paid it no mind whatsoever.
"As Knight Commander, I will be blunt. I cannot accept that lowborn foreigner."
That again. Whether he was a lowborn foreigner or simply a person, they were all the same living creatures—why did he carry on like this? The Knight Commander and a common soldier would hardly cross paths often enough to matter. Karen could not begin to understand what grated on him so badly.
Another headache rolling in, she pressed her fingers to her brow.
"Haa. Very well. Then tell me what it is you wish to do. I trust you are not so foolish as to think a single word from you can undo a contract already made."
She assumed that, as a nobleman's son, he was not quite that stupid. As expected, he had a proposal ready.
"Indeed. But if the man himself chooses to leave, even Your Grace would not be able to stop him."
"Oh? You mean to make him walk out of his own accord?"
"That is correct."
"Hmm. I do not know what you intend, but harassment within the Order is something I will not tolerate either. Bear that in mind."
"Nothing of the sort will occur. You need not worry."
Whatever happened in the Order reached Karen's ears in full. If anything excessive took place, she could put a stop to it at once.
"Fine. Do as you like, then."
She no longer cared. Karen simply wanted to rest.
The next morning.
"Hah!"
Orion bolted upright in bed. A glance at the time told him assembly was less than ten minutes away.
"Oh, crap!"
He scrambled up and threw himself into getting ready. After being assigned his room, he had only meant to test the mattress—and had fallen straight asleep. After nights on hard wooden boards, sinking into a bed soft enough to float away on had left him powerless against the tide of sleep.
"How the hell do you even put this on?"
He was still wrestling with the knight's uniform issued the day before when—
Creeeak—
The door opened. The man who entered was the underling soldier from yesterday. No—the Knight Commander, was it?
He looked Orion over with a thoroughly contemptuous expression as the younger man struggled into his clothes.
"You and I have already met, I believe. I am Albert, Knight Commander."
"Ah. Right."
Uh... so what exactly am I supposed to do with that?