Chapter 17

3. The Shadow

The victory banquet lasted for a week. Since it was mandatory to participate for three days, most of the Golden Knights did not leave the banquet hall for three days.

Ragnar visited the banquet hall again just in case. She came here last time, so he thought maybe he could see Christa there.

‘Christa is… As expected, she’s not here.’

But she was nowhere in sight, as expected. It was only natural since they parted in such a strange way.

He asked her fellow knights for her whereabouts, but he couldn’t get a proper answer. In the first place, there seemed to be no one within the Knights who could be considered close to her.

At that point, Ragnar’s remaining patience snapped.

“What am I doing here?”

It was very unusual for him to show his face to royal banquets consecutively.

“Well, that’s all I need to do.”

The first thing to detect Ragnar’s disturbing behavior was Mervin Ferride.

“Captain, what are you thinking now? Do you know how difficult it was for me when you disappeared suddenly yesterday? Where on earth did you go yesterday?”

“Are you curious?”

“Am I curious?”

Ragnar asked, smiling with a natural face. At that moment, Mervin waved his hand.

“Oh, no, wait, just don’t talk.”

“It’s an interesting story to know…….”

Ragnar smiled broadly. It was a heavenly smile.

“I don’t want to know. Where are you going?”

Predicting his behavior based on his boss’s expression. Ragnar thinks he has a great subordinate, so he’ll give him a reward one day. He made up his mind.

“But I’ve endured it for a long time. He showed his face for two days. I think he’s going back to the mansion now.”

As expected, he is trying to run away. It was a fact that everyone in this banquet hall was aware that the emperor kept staring at this place from afar.

Moreover, Ragnar has yet to even greet Prince Elio.

“P, please bear with me a little longer. Why don’t you greet the royal family? Yes?”

The word “please” seemed to pop out of Mervin’s mouth. However, he knew that such pleas would not work. Sure enough, his determination to leave the whole situation to his staff and disappear was unchanged.

Then someone came up to them.

“Who is this, Duke Argonod?”

It was Elio the Crown Prince. There were plenty of vassals surrounding him.

Ragnar’s expression when he saw him quickly turned into a face that seemed to have chewed on a bug, but he quickly recovered his expression and greeted him.

“It’s an honor for His Highness the Crown Prince to greet me himself.”

Prince Elio was a delicate-looking man with platinum blonde hair as pale as his face, light green eyes resembling Peridot, and a sleek jawline. As much as the delicacy of his sculpture-like face, the dignity of the imperial family permeated throughout his body.

“How could I let the General, the first contributor to the unification of the Empire, lead his heavy butt and go to me himself?”

Elio’s green eyes were quite bright today. But Ragnar did not lose either.

“Doesn’t Your Highness know that my butt is heavy?”

“I’m not here to talk about your lower body.”

“Long time no see, Your Highness Elio.”

“Long time no see, Ragnar.”

The two shook hands and exchanged formal greetings. The conversation felt very friendly, but he couldn’t feel any emotion in his expression.

Elio coughed softly.

“Yeah, Natalia was so upset that you didn’t ask for a dance even once.”

At that time, the imperial princess Natalia appeared behind Elio.

“Oh my, brother.”

Natalia was wearing an alluring dress. The front of her inflated dress, which pulled up her chest to the fullest, showed off its bursting charm.

Her fake mole had various social meanings depending on its location. For example, a mole located at the edge of her cheek meant presence, and the center of the cheek meant elegance.

However, Natalia’s mole’s position was very significant today. If one interprets the meaning, it could mean that she’s going to get engaged soon.

Ragnar pretended not to see anything and looked calm.

Natalia gently covers her face with a fan made by a top craftsman on the eastern continent. She seemed to be waiting for a dance request. He put up with a sigh that came out of him. Natalia and Elio’s expectant eyes filled his stomach.

“I’m sorry, I injured my hand in the morning by a small mistake.”

His left hand was sewn, hemostatic grass was crushed and applied to it, and a bandage was roughly wrapped around it. It was a treatment that would only be done in a field hospital. However, if he showed it to his doctor, he had no choice but to take care of it roughly because he did not know what reprimand he would receive.

It’s more of an ignorant thing than an actual mistake. Holding the blade with bare hands was something that even a child would not do.

“Oh, did you get treatment? Should I call the royal doctor?”

When Natalia made a fuss, Ragnar gently stopped her.

“As you can see, I already had it treated. However, unfortunately, I am not in a state where I can escort the lady.”

“The Duke’s health comes first.”

Natalia lowered her eyes. Like Elio, platinum blonde hair and peridot-colored green eyes shook softly.

“I’m really sorry to have troubled you.”

“No, don’t be.”

That said, Natalia didn’t know how to hide her sulky expression. Her fan was flapping disapprovingly and waving her head under her ears. The fan soon snapped and folded.

“I’m going to rest now.”

She bowed her knees and left. He thought it would be better to leave as well, but Elio caught Ragnar as he was about to leave.

“If dancing is hard, it’ll be okay to chat for a while, right?”

He didn’t think any more rejection would work here.

Emperor Pelias was waiting in a separate room in the banquet hall – mainly an arcade for male guests. His mouth was filled with the thought that he had been dragged into it.

“Welcome, Duke Argonod.”

Pelias personally inquired after him. Elio took out a cigar and cut the tip with a cutter. A long silence filled the space.

“So what did you want to talk about for bringing me here?”

It was Ragnar who broke the silence. The emperor, who was silent when he cut to the chase, opened his mouth.

“Well, as the duke expected. Isn’t it time for you to solidify your position?”

“Position..?”

He meant, of course, an engagement with Natalia. Ragnar’s forehead wrinkled.

“His Majesty’s suggestion is to open the stage for the two families’ reconciliation again. Of course, that’s what I also think.”

As if to support that remark, Elio said.

He heard the same thing a decade ago. It was Ragnar’s sister, Judina, who was engaged to that crown prince Elio. It was an engagement in the name of harmony. But the harmony didn’t end in such a beautiful form.

“I’ll decide whom I am going to marry.”

Elio lit a cigar, pulled a smoke, and slowly let it out. The acrid smoke filled the space.

“You don’t deny marriage.”

“What?”

“You would have refused to marry normally, but now you’re giving me a different answer.”

“That’s…”

At that moment, a woman came into Ragnar’s head. Her afterimage, which he wanted to erase so much, turned horribly clear.

‘Why am I thinking of this woman all of a sudden?’

When he noticed his hesitation, Elio raised his voice.

“Is it really true?”

His green eyes shone with curiosity.

“Who is the lucky woman who stole the heart of Ragnar Argonod!”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He pretended not to know, but they both knew it was too late. Both Elio and Ragnar had excellent beastly senses in this aspect.

The emperor seemed even more indifferent.

“Well, of course. My daughter Natalia seems to like you quite a bit.”

“It’s an honor.”

He said so, but it was a lame answer.

“If it’s a man in your position, it won’t be a flaw to have as many concubines as you want.”

Elio’s words meant that even if he was seeing someone, he could just get married for formality. It wasn’t an appropriate thing to say to his sister’s would-be husband.

“I have no intention of bringing in a concubine.”

But the emperor took a step further.

“Well, I won’t even tell you to love Natalia. All you have to do is get married and give birth to children.”

His stomach, which had been upset for a while, was now boiling. One of the reasons he loathed the imperial family was this attitude.

This very insolent attitude that only seeks gain and does not give the slightest thought of being rejected. Even if it was his daughter, it was hard to adapt to their black heart of selling her.

“You don’t understand.”

“Did you ever fall in love?”

Elio’s tone contained an unmistakable sneer.

“I just said I didn’t intend to bring in a concubine. I didn’t know you’d over-interpret it like this.”

Ragnar swallowed the contents of his glass. The spirit of the distilled liquor flowing through his esophagus was painful.

“Duke, are there any conditions that could be  as good as marrying the princess of the empire? Think about it.”

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