Escorting the Bride
Escorting the Bride
But the Knight Commander couldn't understand what the two of them were talking about.
"What is this talk about fortresses now?"
That was because he had only returned that day and hadn't yet heard about the other groups' exploits.
The Chief Butler filled the Knight Commander in on what Alex's group had accomplished.
After hearing the whole story, the Knight Commander's jaw dropped.
"Are you saying Young Lord Alex thought all that up and pulled it off all by himself?"
"Luck may have played a part, but ultimately, he did it without any support or advice."
The Duke agreed with the Knight Commander's question.
Hearing the Duke's words, the Knight Commander spoke cautiously.
"Surely... Young Lord Alex isn't aiming to become the successor, is he?"
At this, both the Duke and the Chief Butler wore bitter smiles.
The Knight Commander, of course, wasn't saying this because he truly understood the full extent of Alex's abilities.
Still, what he'd said was no different from what the Duke had already asked Alex—and what the Chief Butler had been worrying about.
The Duke shook his head.
"He said himself that he isn't."
The Chief Butler answered as well.
Though he didn't know when Alex had been asked about it, Knight Commander Alonso sighed in relief at the Duke's answer.
"Then that's wonderful. Why don't we groom Young Lord Alex to be the next Knight Commander? His skills aren't bad, and with his leadership of troops and his problem-solving abilities, he'd be a perfect fit for the position."
If he were a full brother, entrusting him with the position of Knight Commander might be a little awkward, but since he was an 'illegitimate son,' it actually seemed more feasible.
It was about time to hand the position of Knight Commander over to someone else.
Although his body and mana were still much as they had been in his prime, he was already over fifty. There was no telling when his skills might suddenly decline.
He had been diligently searching for the next Knight Commander, and now such a perfect candidate had appeared.
Though Alex was still young, with Alonso's backing, a splendid Knight Commander would surely emerge within a few years.
At the Knight Commander's words, the Duke couldn't even muster a bitter smile.
"Alex cannot be the Knight Commander."
"You just have to wait a little. He's still young, and whatever skills he lacks will develop within a few years."
"No. It's not that his skills are lacking; it's that they're so overwhelming that it won't work."
He couldn't give the position of Knight Commander to an 'illegitimate son who was far superior' to the lord.
An illegitimate son with decent skills would have been fine, but Alex was simply too outstanding.
The elders and many other members of the family would oppose it, and he didn't think Alex himself would want the position anyway.
Unaware of the conversation that had taken place in the office, I went back to taking it easy.
With other nobles arriving and the family elders barging in, there was no good reason for an illegitimate son like me to show his face unnecessarily.
It was enough for me to rest comfortably in my room and wait for the wedding.
The maid Flora watched me laze about with immense frustration, but now that I'd finally gotten some rest, I couldn't give it up just because someone else was frustrated.
As I continued to idle away my time, a guest came to my room.
"Lady Adria has arrived."
At Flora's words, I tilted my head in confusion.
There was no reason for my future sister-in-law to visit my room.
But I couldn't very well turn her away, either.
I quickly made myself presentable and went to receive my guest.
My future sister-in-law, whom I hadn't seen in a long time, had grown into an adult.
Her once-pretty face had become beautiful, and her once-energetic expression had grown elegant.
I used to wonder why Brother Simon had been so clingy toward his future sister-in-law since they were little, but it seemed he'd spotted a winning lottery ticket early.
But this grown-up version of my future sister-in-law felt incredibly unfamiliar to me.
"It has been a long time."
Her grown-up appearance and the polite way she spoke to me both felt strange.
"I offer you my greetings, Lady Adria."
I returned her greeting formally, too.
Adria smiled faintly at my response, but there was little cheer in it.
"You've grown so much that I almost didn't recognize you."
Indeed, I'd grown so tall that I now had to look down at Lady Adria.
But beyond her physical appearance, Adria had changed far more than I had.
In the meantime, it seemed her family and circumstances had forced her to change.
Since the rebellion in the Marquisate, the influence of the Hierro Marquisate had diminished drastically from what it had been before.
They had lost their honor, the eldest son had died, and the second son, who had become the new successor, had been left with only one arm.
With the territory's future looking bleak and the Marquis's health deteriorating after the loss of his child, there was no way his influence could remain what it had been.
With their influence changed, the relationship between the Duke and the Marquis could no longer be the same as before.
The marriage between the two families had also shifted from a union of equals to one in which the Duke was absorbing the Marquis's influence.
The Marquisate was even worried that the Duke's estate might use the marriage as a pretext to sway the Marquis's territory at will.
Because of that, the wedding had been delayed for several years, until now.
If Brother Simon hadn't liked Lady Adria, the marriage promise might have been called off altogether.
After we exchanged greetings, Adria fell silent for a long time.
I waited politely for her to speak first.
After a long pause, as if she'd made up her mind, the young lady glanced toward Flora, who was standing by the door.
"I will wait outside."
Flora understood at once and stepped outside.
Once Flora had left, Adria spoke hesitantly.
"When you came to the Marquisate, Young Lord, a lot happened, didn't it?"
Indeed, a lot had happened—more than she knew.
"Back then, I didn't realize it, but looking back, it seems my mistake was the greatest of all."
It seemed she'd realized, too, that the incident had happened because she'd revealed the secret passage to her illegitimate brother.
Was that why she'd changed so much?
"I even thought about running away, but Simon kept loving me, and that gave me the courage to keep living."
Her mention of running away didn't seem to mean simply leaving. It seemed Simon had saved her life.
"The people I ought to apologize to are dead, but there was still someone left I could thank."
She lowered her head to me.
"Thank you for working so hard for me back then."
Though things had ended badly from her perspective, Adria was expressing her gratitude to me.
Honestly, I thought I deserved her thanks.
She didn't know it, but I'd struggled to help her across two lifetimes.
In the end, though Adria remained unaware of it, I'd saved her life, too.
Seeing her finally get married like this, despite how much she'd changed, stirred up fresh emotion in me.
Was this how a father felt when giving his daughter away?
Now that I'd received her thanks, the pride I felt far outweighed any regret over how much she'd changed.
My future sister-in-law's gratitude meant far more to me than the Duke's praise, but this wasn't the time for her to visit my room just to thank me.
"But did you come here only to thank me?"
With the wedding so close, a bride-to-be shouldn't be wandering around carelessly.
Other nobles had arrived, too, and it would be a problem if any strange rumors started spreading.
On top of that, the Marquisate was in ruins because of an illegitimate son.
"I came for another reason."
Fortunately, Lady Adria had grown up in more than just appearance.
"When I asked for a bridal escort for the wedding, the Chief Butler recommended you, Young Lord."
A bridal escort?
Since I didn't know much about weddings in this world, I hadn't realized such a thing existed.
Even if there was such a thing as a bridal escort, shouldn't the bride's side arrange it...?
But since I didn't know the wedding customs, there wasn't much I could say.
"I asked for the person I trusted the most."
As she spoke, the young lady looked troubled.
"I meant someone highly skilled, but it seems the Chief Butler took it another way."
If the Chief Butler had heard the story from the Duke, then he'd definitely recommended me because of my skills.
"Since I had to come to your room to express my gratitude anyway, I said I'd visit in person and ask you."
That was how Adria had ended up in my room.
"I can go back, say you declined, and ask for someone else. It won't cause you any trouble, Young Lord."
Unlike before, she had become considerate and thoughtful toward others.
This must be what it meant to grow up.
Adria was a friend I'd liked when we were young. I'd even relived several years just to save her.
To congratulate a friend like that on her wedding, I could easily stand guard for a little while.
After Adria left looking bewildered, I rolled around in my room once again.
After that, guests kept arriving until the mansion was packed with nobles.
The Duchess bustled about greeting the guests, while the maids and servants rushed around with the wedding preparations.
On the day before the wedding, even a special envoy from the royal family arrived on the King's behalf, and the Duke's estate completed all its preparations.
The next day, the wedding of Simon de Gracia, the successor of the Duke of Gracia, was held at the temple in the city of Meseta.
As a wedding gift, the Duke distributed food and meat to the territory's residents, and a festival broke out across the city.
The Bishop officiated at the wedding, which was solemn to the point of being boring.
I borrowed a suit of plate armor and a helmet from a short knight and stood behind the bride, watching the tedious ceremony.
Today, I was the bride's escort knight.
When I looked into it, serving as a bridal escort knight wasn't anything particularly special.
For nobles with knights, it was customary to assign escort knights to both the bride and groom at the wedding.
The escort knights' job was to guard the bride and groom from the moment they left home, staying by their sides until the wedding and reception were over.
I'd been guarding the bride since morning, too.
That meant guarding her from the moment we left the estate until we rode the carriage to the temple.
And now, inside the temple, dressed head to toe in splendid armor, I stood behind the bride, staring blankly as the Bishop droned on.
Listening to the Bishop's tedious sermon, I felt less like a guard and more like a wedding decoration.
Then again, there was no reason an escort knight would be needed at a wedding.
Come to think of it, I wasn't an escort knight at all; I was just a moving piece of fancy armor decorating the wedding.
Once I'd had that thought, the already boring wedding became even more tedious.
On top of that, wearing armor I wasn't used to made it even more stifling.
With the plate armor and helmet on, of course, no one recognized me.
And since I wasn't very tall, I fit right in as the bride's escort knight.
Surely no one would mistake me for a woman, right?
My physical abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary knight, so I wasn't physically tired, but I still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.
While I grumbled inwardly and watched the ceremony, I felt something brush faintly against my senses.
Inside the temple were countless nobles with mana; outside, the area was packed with knights assembled for the ceremonial guard of honor when the wedding party emerged, along with residents of the territory who had gathered to celebrate.
In such a situation, it was practically impossible to detect someone by their mana or search for someone with my senses.
The reason I could sense something now was that it wasn't ordinary mana.
Unlike other forms of mana, it was incredibly faint.
It was a kind of mana that was barely perceptible, yet intensely powerful.
There was only one kind of mana that was both powerful and extremely difficult to notice.
And I'd sensed this kind of mana before.
Whoosh!
I drew my sword.
And hurled myself toward the choir loft.
'Damn it, is an assassin at a wedding some kind of unwritten rule?!'
As I charged toward the choir loft, I saw people drawing daggers from their cloaks.