Long-Term Mission (2)
The headquarters of the Raven Knight Order was wrapped in silence long after the official end of the workday. Theodora chewed her lower lip raw as she continued reading the official document spread across her desk.
The Raven Knight Order is hereby ordered to be dispatched to the Third Royal Guard.
The Raven Knight Order shall carry out escort duties while simultaneously receiving direct commands from the royal family, taking the lead in resolving all major and minor affairs of the palace.
In addition, Theodora Benning is appointed as the temporary Vice Commander of the Third Royal Guard.
Crack.
The quill in Theodora’s grip shattered. Count Benning’s intentions were not only obvious—they were brazen. No matter what you do, you cannot escape my grasp. In the end, after all the twists and turns, you remain a creature bound to this family.
“This is the worst.”
The broken pieces of the quill slipped from Theodora’s hand and scattered across the floor. What had unfolded before her was a path of thorns. And it was not a road she would walk alone—the entire knight order that had shared joys and hardships with her would be forced to tread it as well.
“As if I would obediently go along with it.”
She had no intention of walking quietly. Theodora’s ash-gray eyes gleamed with fierce determination.
“What kind of person is His Highness the Second Prince?”
After the royal personnel officer had left, Leone and Paola noticed the sharp deterioration in Theodora’s mood and quickly slipped out of the commander’s office. Under normal circumstances, they might have tried to speak with her, but the current Theodora was literally radiating killing intent in waves.
“His Highness the Second Prince?”
At Leone’s question, Paola stroked his chin.
“I don’t know much either, but I do know he has a dignified character and striking appearance. People both inside and outside the court call him quite intelligent… though, well…”
Leone was well aware that calling a member of the royal family “dignified” was simply a polite way of saying “arrogant.” She realized this mission was heading in a direction that would be anything but smooth.
“…And what about other evaluations?”
“Evaluations, huh. As for what kind of person His Highness is, I’ve only heard the rumors floating around. I don’t know the exact details.”
“What rumors?”
Leone tilted her head. Paola closed his eyes as if digging through distant memories.
“…Do you know the stories about His Highness the First Prince?”
The sudden mention of the First Prince left Leone blinking in confusion. Paola shrugged at her expression.
“Have you heard the rumor that His Highness the First Prince… is the son of a concubine?”
Leone’s eyes widened as if hearing this for the first time.
“That…”
“It’s understandable that you wouldn’t know. When His Highness the First Prince was born, you weren’t even in this world yet.”
“I was only told he was the son of the late queen consort.”
Paola shook his head.
“Those with sharp ears would have heard about the circumstances surrounding his birth. On the same day, two children were born into the royal family.”
A prince and a princess. One born to a concubine, the other to the queen consort. Coincidentally, the king’s concubine passed away not long after giving birth. And the kingdom announced the birth of its legitimate heir. However, as the years passed, the prince’s appearance began to resemble the face of the dead concubine far more than that of the queen consort who should have been his mother.
And the royal family kept postponing the crown prince investiture ceremony.
“Such rumors were circulating among the public?”
“The ones who usually flap their mouths like that are the ones who don’t value their lives. Those who heard the stories and kept silent were the wise ones.”
Paola spoke of the fate of loose-lipped individuals in rather metaphorical terms.
“The royal family prevented the rumors from spreading outside the capital, but they couldn’t completely erase the whispers inside the palace.”
“And where exactly did you pick up those circulating rumors?” Leone asked, looking dumbfounded.
“I served in the palace during my days as a soldier. In truth, more than a few were killed to silence them. I was one of the lucky ones.”
Paola let out a hearty laugh.
“So what does that have to do with His Highness the Second Prince?”
“His Highness the Second Prince is, without a shadow of a doubt, the son of the queen consort.”
Paola hinted that the rest of the story was obvious. Power struggles, mutual destruction, all kinds of rumors and gossip, filthy scandals. Leone grimaced.
“Suddenly I don’t want to go to the palace anymore.”
“You used to come and go so freely. Why the change?”
The fact that House Benning, which had the royal family firmly in its grasp, was openly backing the Second Prince was something most people connected to the palace already knew.
“I’m a combat mage, not a pawn playing around on a muddy political board.”
“Don’t be naïve. From the moment you joined the reorganized Raven Knight Order, our fates became pawns on that very board.”
Paola looked perfectly relaxed. Leone wondered if there was anything in the world that could make this man lose his composure.
“Will war break out?”
It was a worry. The situation in the palace was like a warehouse stacked to the ceiling with gunpowder. Leone hoped her question would at least be formally denied, but Paola answered in a blunt voice.
“There is nothing more foolish than shedding blood in a civil war. When we should be uniting against external enemies, how could we possibly turn our blades on ourselves?”
Yet Paola clicked his tongue.
“…The kingdom’s greatest external threat has been repelled.”
Behemoth was dead. The monsters of No Man’s Land would not dare encroach on human territory for some time. Paola’s tone was matter-of-fact as he reconfirmed that fact.
“It means the greatest justification for preventing war has vanished.”
There was no point in arguing or denying it. Even a five-year-old child could see the shadow of chaos flickering right before their eyes.
“…I wonder what His Majesty thinks.”
Leone muttered as if to herself.
“His Majesty has no choice but to be cautious. What’s happening under the guise of a succession dispute is nothing short of treason.”
Paola uttered the word “treason” with surprising ease. Even the normally bold Leone paled at his words and glanced around nervously.
“What if someone overhears you, Vice Commander?”
“No one’s listening, so it’s fine. I hate living while constantly watching my back.”
Despite Leone’s rebuke, Paola merely chuckled. Leone decided to change the subject, doing her best to ignore the headache beginning to throb at her temples.
“By the way, didn’t the Commander seem a bit strange today?”
Leone recalled their commander sitting in her office, unable to hide her quiet fury—though calling it “quiet” felt wrong given how downright murderous her aura had been.
“Well, Commander Theodora has always had something that displeased her, hasn’t she?”
When Paola responded in a joking tone, Leone frowned deeply. Realizing this wasn’t a topic to brush off lightly, Paola changed his attitude.
“It was strange. After the Behemoth battle, her emotional swings hadn’t been that severe…”
“…Do you think she hates being dragged into politics?” Leone asked worriedly.
“That could be part of it. The Commander’s expression… hmm. Rather than strange, it felt more like seeing the Commander from her early days.”
Leone unconsciously nodded, thinking the description fit perfectly.
“…Though she’s even more terrifying now than back then.”
“Compared to just now, that time was almost cute. She was just a bit sharp-edged.”
Theodora’s particularly sharp attitude had been directed almost exclusively at the original members of the Raven Knight Order.
“And most of that was aimed at Maxim.”
Maxim Apparte. At the name of a former member she hadn’t heard in a long time, Leone recalled a question she had forgotten.
“Now that I think about it, what exactly did Maxim do to the Commander to earn that kind of hatred?”
“Hatred? Is that what it looked like to you?”
The meaningful remark made Leone ask what he meant.
“You didn’t observe them closely, did you?”
“Observe or not, weren’t you the one who was close to Maxim, Vice Commander?” Leone grumbled.
“You don’t have to be close to notice… Have you never been in a relationship?”
At Paola’s sudden, rude question, Leone’s face flushed red.
“Why do you assume I haven’t?”
“Well, it seems I was the only one who noticed, more or less.”
“Noticed what? Who knows what kind of wild guess that is.”
Leone’s face was still bright red as she muttered sullenly.
“I’m saying there seems to have been some kind of relationship between the Commander and that guy Maxim. Look, the two of them were classmates at the Knight Academy, after all.”
“That’s ridiculous… They were in the same class, so maybe they just didn’t get along. That’s possible, isn’t it?”
“Does the Commander look like the type of person who would openly show dislike just because they didn’t get along during their school days?”
Leone immediately shook her head, saying of course not.
“That’s obviously not it… Then what is it?”
“It wasn’t a relationship that went beyond simple friendship…”
“Stop. That’s enough.”
At Leone, who let out a hollow laugh, Paola crossed his arms and chuckled. The laugh sounded almost like he was teasing her, so Leone subtly increased the distance between them as if repelled.
“Oh come on, you’re going to miss out on such an interesting story? This probably involves the previous Vice Commander, Christine, as well…”
“Interesting or not…”
Leone tried to say something more but ended up sighing.
“We don’t even know where Maxim is right now. What’s the point of talking about this?”
“No, no. It’s precisely because that guy isn’t here that we can talk about it.”
Leone’s expression grew somber. Stories about former comrades whose whereabouts were unknown weighed heavily on the still-young mage.
Paola inwardly sighed as he watched her. If she had chosen the life of a knight instead of holing up in the Magic Tower as a scholar, this was something she would have had to experience eventually.
“…Do you think Maxim and Christine are alright?”
After the Behemoth battle ended, at the Raven Knight Order’s request, the Margrave of the Border and Count Agon had generously mobilized manpower to search for the missing. The search, which had thrown every available resource from the border into it, concluded after a month.
In that month, what the search party found was one shattered medical transport carriage, traces of a battle in the mud, and a single waterlogged corpse that had washed up on the riverbank. It didn’t take long to confirm that the body belonged to Roberto Miller.
“Even now, when I think about it…”
“Leone.”
Paola cut off her spiraling thoughts. Worrying about them now would help neither her nor the knight order as a whole.
“…I’m sorry.”
All Paola could do was offer a small reassurance.
“Those two will be fine.”
And to keep her from sinking further into gloom, he added one more thing.
“Who knows? Maybe the two of them ran off together for a lovers’ elopement…”
“Vice Commander, you always seem to interpret everything in that direction.”
Knowing he had deliberately brought it up, Leone forced the corners of her mouth upward in a weak smile.
“No, I’m half serious. Maxim kept denying it, but the relationship between those two was far from ordinary.”
…Even so, Paola genuinely seemed to enjoy talking about relationships between men and women. Leone decided to play along this time.
“Maxim really was a blessed man.”
“Indeed. I once asked the previous Vice Commander the same question, and her face turned bright red in embarrassment.”
Recalling the memory, Paola laughed softly. Looking back on the past ended here. There were more pressing matters to worry about now.
I wonder if he’s doing well.
With that final thought about Maxim, Paola left the knight order headquarters together with Leone.