What Was Left Unprotected (4)
"W-what...?"
Lloyd stood in a daze for a long moment before his face twisted into something demonic. Pointing a trembling finger squarely at me, he raised his voice.
"Do you really think such a pathetic excuse will work?! Besides, my knight was merely carrying out my orders, so there is absolutely nothing—!"
"Your Highness Prince Lloyd! Whatever insolence I may have committed was solely to prevent a quarrel between imperial brothers, but that man shoved an Imperial Prince without cause! His crime is grave!"
Before Lloyd could even finish his sentence, I poured out my defense like rapid gunfire. I projected my voice so forcefully that the leaves trembling on the nearby trees seemed to rustle. "Therefore, if you punish him first, I shall gladly accept my own punishment!"
Having said my piece, I pulled Edwin tightly into my arms and bowed my head low. Thanks to my loud proclamation, not only the young noble scions gathered in the courtyard but also the passing servants stopped in their tracks, murmuring among themselves.
"She has a point. A mere knight, daring to lay hands on an imperial prince..."
"No matter how easy a target the Third Prince is, shoving him crosses the line..."
"Even if he's the Second Prince's personal guard, he's just a servant himself. Isn't that terribly reckless?"
"For a knight to be so ungentlemanly. What order is he even from?"
Lloyd's escort knight seemed to realize the tide of public opinion was turning against him. Flustered and enraged, he grabbed me by the collar.
"Wh-what are you babbling about, you wretched wench?! Only Prince Lloyd has the authority to judge my actions! How dare you—!"
"The same applies here!"
"What?!"
"My master is Prince Edwin, so only Prince Edwin has the right to judge my sins! A bastard like you has no business butting in!"
"Y-you cheeky bitch! Who do you think you're playing tricks on?!"
His face turning mottled shades of red and purple, the knight seized my wrist. With his other hand, he raised his drawn sword high. Just as the midday sun caught the sharp edge of the blade—
"Aaaagh!"
With a strangled shriek, the knight collapsed to the paving stones. The right wrist that had held the blade was twisted at a grotesque, unnatural angle.
"Now, it hardly does to swing a sword so carelessly inside the Imperial Palace."
A languid, low-pitched voice sent a shiver creeping up my spine.
I slowly raised my head. In the space where the knight had stood, a man now loomed—clad in pitch-black armor.
"Far too dangerous," he murmured.
The man lightly spun the sword resting in his hand. It was unmistakably the very blade the knight had been holding just seconds before.
As I stared at him in stunned silence, Lloyd stepped forward. He looked far more displeased than before, yet his tone had shifted into strict deference.
"Your Majesty, King Kaiden."
Kaiden, the young monarch of the newborn Adamant Kingdom, gave the Second Prince a cursory nod. Displeased by such a dismissive gesture, Lloyd's brow furrowed.
"What brings Your Majesty to this place?"
At Lloyd's inquiry, a faint smirk touched Kaiden's lips. "I was merely passing by when I noticed a young lady here being attacked by an assailant, so I stepped in."
The escort knight wore silver plate armor and imperial livery. Anyone with eyes could tell he was a knight, yet the king feigned ignorance, openly mocking the Second Prince.
Lloyd's voice sharpened as though he had suffered a personal insult. "This man is no assailant; he is my personal escort knight!"
"My word. Is that so?" Kaiden widened his eyes in feigned astonishment. "I had no idea. No matter how I looked at him, he appeared to be nothing more than a common thug brandishing steel against a woman."
"Ha!" Lloyd gasped, dumbfounded by the foreign king's brazen insolence.
"Prince, before criticizing someone else's subordinates, you ought to manage your own," Kaiden remarked coolly. "Though before that, perhaps you should cure yourself of the habit of trying to sever people's hands over such petty trifles."
"Petty trifles?! How dare you speak to me in such a—!"
Just as an infuriated Lloyd was about to shout back—
"Lloyd. What is the meaning of this insolence toward an honored guest?"
"Imperial Father...?"
From behind the dark-armored warrior, a figure cloaked in crimson strode forward. A middle-aged man wearing a gold crown encrusted with jewels—Carvelius III, Emperor of the Ventrum Empire.
He carried the unassuming, weathered countenance of a rustic country farmer rather than a supreme monarch, but the gleam in his eyes was anything but ordinary.
"Glory to the Sun of the Empire—!"
At the Emperor's sudden arrival, everyone prostrated themselves flat against the ground. Lloyd quickly dropped to one knee, panic flashing across his face.
"The Second Prince greets His Imperial Majesty!"
It was obvious he hadn't dreamed the Emperor would appear here either.
"Lloyd, what is the meaning of this ruckus within the sacred imperial grounds?"
"That is... that woman committed a gross insolence against me, so I was merely attempting to discipline her."
"Insolence? What manner of insolence did she commit?"
"That is..."
Lloyd faltered, unable to answer readily. Small wonder—he had plenty to hide regarding his own misconduct.
The Emperor let out a heavy sigh as he looked at his second son. "Enough. If you cannot answer, We shall have to ask someone else."
Presently, the Emperor's gaze fell upon me. "Rise."
At the sovereign's command, I rose to my feet and bowed deeply. "I greet the Sun of the Empire."
"Are you the woman who was shouting just now?"
"I am, Your Majesty."
"You have quite the set of lungs. Loud enough to reach the corridor We were walking through."
"I beg Your Imperial Majesty's forgiveness."
"Very well. Is what you shouted entirely true?" The Emperor regarded me intently as he continued, "That you laid hands on the Second Prince only to halt a fight between brothers, while that knight laid hands on the Third Prince without cause?"
"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."
Right then, the Second Prince's knight cut in frantically. "Y-Your Imperial Majesty! This is an injustice! It was merely an accident on my part—!"
The Emperor's gaze turned chillingly frostbound. "We do not recall granting Sir Knight permission to speak."
"F-forgive me, Sire!"
Why butt in when you know you'll only make it worse? Mocking the fool inwardly, I bowed my head further.
"It is exactly as Your Imperial Majesty heard," I stated.
"So, you claim you are innocent, while that knight is guilty?"
"I made no such claim, Sire. I merely pleaded that because his transgression is graver than mine, he ought to be punished first."
"Hmm."
The Emperor hummed in thought, then raised a hand in resolution. With that single gesture, the imperial guards lined up behind him stepped forward instantly.
"Drag that man to the execution grounds and sever his arm. His knighthood is hereby revoked."
At the Emperor's decree, the escort knight's complexion turned deathly pale.
"Your Imperial Majesty! Sire—! Have mercy! Prince Lloyd, save me! Prince Lloyd!"
The knight reached desperately toward Lloyd, but it was futile. His master had already abandoned him.
"And as for you."
The Emperor glanced at Edwin, who was trembling beside me. The poor boy was so terrified it seemed a miracle he was breathing at all. After studying Edwin in silence for a moment, the sovereign turned his eyes back to me.
"Though your conduct was improper, your intentions were noble. Taking that into consideration, We shall waive your punishment. But only this once."
"Your Imperial Majesty's grace is boundless."
At that, Lloyd sprang up from the ground, his face pale with fury. "Imperial Father! That woman grabbed my arm and shoved me as well! How can you possibly—!"
"Lloyd. That is enough."
"Imperial Father—!"
Even I found it surprising. Compared to the knight's brutal penalty, my dispensation was remarkably lenient. Yet the Emperor had clearly set his mind.
"Lloyd, your father shall personally arrange a new escort knight for you. So let the matter rest."
"Urgh...!"
Unable to quell his simmering rage, Lloyd jerked his head away. Breathing heavily, he glared back and forth between Edwin and me.
"...Since the matter has been settled, there is no need for me to remain. With Your Imperial Majesty's leave, this son shall take his departure."
He barely offered a perfunctory bow to the Emperor before storming off. His stomping strides made it abundantly clear that his anger hadn't cooled in the slightest.
Watching him go, the Emperor shook his head in disapproval. "For an imperial prince to be so incapable of reining in his temper..."
He turned toward the man beside him with an awkward smile. "Dear me. We seem to have shown you quite an unsightly spectacle."
"Not at all. Boys at that age are naturally full of youthful vigor, are they not?"
The man standing beside the Emperor...
I recognized him. He was the very man whose eyes had met mine in the Central Garden, the young king of the newborn realm Catherine had spoken of. It was unmistakably him.
He didn't make a sound.
I recalled the moment he had materialized before us. Until the instant he shattered the knight's wrist, I hadn't sensed even a flicker of his presence. Even accounting for my dulled senses after being reincarnated into the body of an ordinary woman, to remain completely blind to someone's approach was unthinkable.
Perhaps the rumors about him slaughtering a hundred magic beasts single-handedly weren't an exaggeration after all.
As I turned various conjectures over in my mind, the Emperor made to leave.
"The weather grows warm. Let us return to the palace and conclude our discussion there."
"As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty."
"Come, then!"
I bowed my head as the Emperor walked past me. The man following in his wake strode past as well.
Jasmine?
The moment he brushed past, a familiar scent grazed the tip of my nose.
It was the scent of the soap I had used frequently before my death—a subtle hint of mint woven delicately through ordinary jasmine. It was crafted only in a tiny apothecary in a remote rural village of the empire, making it nearly impossible to encounter anyone else who used it.
So why did the king of a foreign realm carry the exact same scent?
What a strange feeling.
To smell the fragrance of my past life on an utter stranger.
Drawn by the fragrance, I was about to lift my head without thinking, when a low whisper dropped over me, meant for my ears alone.
"I thought you were only good at climbing walls, but your quick wits are quite something as well."
His tone sounded as if he were peering straight into my thoughts.
...Climbing walls?
Stiffening, I looked up.
A pair of captivating amber eyes, feral and sharp as a predator's, were locked squarely onto mine. The man's lips curled into a smirk before he swept past like a sudden gust of wind.
"Until next time."
Leaving behind that single, loaded remark.