Chapter 20

Only one thing that was clear. There were two places where she faced him, in her dreams and in reality.

“Which one do you think is real?”

“Yes? Lady? What did you say?”

Hamel asked Vivian, who was fiddling with the teacup and mumbling. Vivian waved her hand, saying she was talking to herself.

Hamel, who had brought ointment in her arms, applied it to Vivian’s hands.

“Tomorrow, I will go to the Knights’ Palace again.”

“Already? Get some more rest.”

“There are only a few days left before I go to the West. If I act lazily like this, I don’t think I’ll be able to learn properly before I leave.”

Hamel didn’t bother to stop Vivian’s decision. In the first place, it wouldn’t be good for her, Vivian had not asked for Hamel’s opinion, and she was just telling her. Later, when the Count couple asks for her whereabouts, Hamel had been advised to take care of it.

Hamel can already picture the faces of the Count couple crying in her mind.

*******

“You’re here today?”

When Vivian got off the carriage, she greeted Enka whom she saw waiting for her who was standing at the same place where Ben stood last time. Standing with her back straight, Enka bowed. She was polite enough that she almost forgot that she was a former death row inmate.

“Are your hands okay now?”

Enka asked Vivian who was approaching. Vivian smiled as she showed the wrapped hands.

“Unfortunately, it wouldn’t get better that quickly. It would have been better if only I had been good at water spirit art.”

“Water spirit art?”

“It can shorten the treatment time as it speeds up blood circulation.”

“….. What a wonderful power.”

Enka widened her mouth in surprise. Staring at Vivian who was smiling, Enka spoke again.

“By the way, who did you come with?”

“Me?”

Vivian asked with a puzzled face. Enka nodded and pointed over Vivian’s shoulder. Vivian’s head turned towards the direction.

Now that I see, there is another carriage behind mine.

“What? It’s not my party.”

As soon as Vivian finished answering, the closed carriage door opened. Vivian soon noticed the pattern of gold roses surrounded by vines painted on the carriage.

Vivian tilted her head as if she had seen it somewhere. Simultaneously, Enka frowned. It was very different from the calm reaction like a gentle wave that she had shown in front of Vivian. But as soon as she saw the person getting off the carriage, she quickly managed her expression.

As they both reacted, a blonde man who got off the carriage approached, sweeping his soft hair.

“What are you doing here?”

Enka’s voice asked sharply. Ignoring Enka as if he had not heard her words, the blonde man held out his hand towards Vivian. It was a gesture often made when asking for a dance in the social world.

Vivian involuntarily reached out to him. The blonde man kissed the back of Vivian’s hand in a gentle gesture. Vivian seemed to have goosebumps all over her body for a moment.

“Young Lady Vivian Lector, right?”

“Yes. However….. Who are you?”

When the man lifted his upper body, her eyes were drawn to the badge on his chest that had a carriage-like pattern. Looking closely, the overall white uniform was similar to what Enka was wearing.

It was exactly the same design, only the color was different.

“My name is Glendinus, the Commander of the Imperial Knights.”

“Imperial…..Knights?”

“Yes.”

The blonde man, Glen, smiled softly after finishing the introduction. It was a cringeworthy smirk.

Vivian smiled as she forcibly pulled her hand back.

“What brought you here….Oh, do you have business with the Knights of Eckhart?”

Vivian asked if his purpose was not her, but Roger’s Knights. Glen’s expression slightly hardened. After a while, his original expression returned, but Vivian, who was close to him, had already witnessed the change in his expression.

“No. The person I have business with is the Young Lady.”

“Me?”

“I heard from Sir Audney that the Young Lady was being taught swordsmanship by the Knights of Eckhart. I think it would be better for us to serve a noble person like the Lady instead.”

He brought up his purpose skillfully and naturally. As soon as he finished speaking, Enka’s expression became stiff. She seemed to have been hiding her true feelings before, but this time she really looked bad.

Glen completely ignored Enka’s reaction and stared at Vivian.

Glen, the Commander of the Imperial Knights.

He came from a well-to-do family, had a gorgeous appearance enough to shake the hearts of many women, and was also surprisingly skilled. That is, before the Knights of Eckhart, who received a lot of affection from the Emperor, were formed.

Originally, before the formation of the Knights of Eckhart, escorting the Imperial Family, including the Emperor, was clearly the job of the Imperial Knights. Their name was ‘Imperial’ Knights, so it was only natural. Until then, Glen didn’t feel bad about anything. Looking back now, those were good times.

It was after Roger caught the Emperor’s eyes that his path began to crack.

The Emperor soon created a new Knights Order for him, and gave them the honorable job of escorting the Emperor himself.

Due to the Emperor’s decision, the Knights serving the Imperial Family were split into two overnight. Thus, the current Emperor’s escort became the Eckhart Knights, and the Imperial Knights were in charge of escorting the princesses.

Protecting the princesses is also important. I know that well, but still…

Glen was bitter when he thought about the current situation.

The situation was no different from the fact that the Emperor, the ruler of the empire, had chosen Roger over him. That bitterness eventually evoked a feeling of inferiority, and the lumped feeling of inferiority developed into a sense of entitlement.

Especially since he grew up in a high-ranking family and went through systematic training to become the Commander of the Knights Templar, he couldn’t help but feel humiliated by the Eckhart Knights.

They were pushed to the sidelines by Knights full of lowly births where no one knew where they came from.

Glen, unable to understand it at all, hated the Knights of Eckhart very much. He didn’t want to lose against them in anything. So, after hearing the story of Audney Hewson, a Knight belonging to the Imperial Knights, he came to this place himself.

If Vivian had been an ordinary young girl, he wouldn’t have bothered.

However, she was currently the youngest Lady in the Mosbana Empire. She was also the only spiritist left in the Empire. That fact alone raised her true value, enough to almost break through the sky.

Why is such a person learning swordsmanship from the Knights of Eckhart, who have neither origin nor skill?

“Sir Audney?”

Vivian rolled her eyes wondering who it was, and suddenly a face came to mind. Last time, he was the id*ot who didn’t know his place while crawling in front of Roger. Vivian, who had not had much of a relationship with him, rectified the situation even though he was the one who caused it.

The moment she remembered that, her impression of Glen got worse. It was a mistake for Glen to bring up Sir Audney.

“Why don’t both of you go inside?”

Enka, who was rubbing her forehead and watching what Glen was saying, spoke softly. It was because she thought it was not something to talk about in front of the palace.

At her suggestion, Vivian and Glen entered the Knights of Eckhart’s palace.

“Sir, where are we going?”

Vivian asked Enka who was walking in front of them. Enka glanced at Glen standing behind her and whispered quietly.

“We’re going to the Captain’s office. Although it’s not where the Lady was supposed to go, he told me to take you there.”

Vivian’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.

Bring me, why?

Looking at Glen, Enka shut her mouth. Vivian did not ask any further questions about her actions and quietly followed her.

After a while, they arrived at the office.

Enka knocked, then opened the door to let Vivian in. Vivian found a figure fluttering in the sunlight. Roger sat down at his desk, looking down as if he was thinking.

Feeling a stare, he lifted his head impassively.

Roger, who looked at Vivian and curled his eyebrows, stopped when he saw the man following her. Contrary to his calm and dark haircut, the blonde hair that caught his eye at once was very irritating.

Roger didn’t hide his annoyance but realized that Vivian was there too, so he struggled to manage his expression.

“You’re here?”

Roger gestured to Vivian to sit on the sofa. Then he looked at Glen with his arms crossed. Glen was smiling as if he had known Vivian before. While the cool smile may have been popular with women, it did not work on Roger.

Roger wriggled his eyebrows with a twisted expression.

“Who?”

The corners of Glen’s lips, who had been smiling so far, twitched at the question. For a moment, his smiling face looked unnatural.

Roger turned to Enka with a face expressing that he really didn’t know who he was. Enka whispered with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

“He is the Commander of the Imperial Knights.”

“Ah.”

That one short, blunt syllable sounded dull. It wasn’t enough that he wasn’t surprised, but it was a tone that meant ‘What, this is him?’ There seemed to be no one who could not read the meaning in this situation. Then for a moment, the atmosphere calmed down.

“Are your hands okay?”

Perhaps he could not read the atmosphere that had become so bleak because of him, Roger casually spoke to Vivian. Somehow, Vivian, caught between Glen and Roger, scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“You’re teaching Lady Lector swordsmanship?”

Glen, who had been keeping quiet, finally opened his mouth. As a person who thoroughly learned social etiquette, it had been a long time since he had refined his expression effortlessly.

“The Knights of Eckhart?”

At the tone of the voice who asked the question, there was subtle mockery, which was clearly intended. Roger’s eyes, which were looking at Vivian’s hand, returned to Glen at that question.

Roger looked at Glen without saying a word. Glen looked at him with his arms crossed.

“People with no origins and skills are going to teach a spiritist.”

There seemed to be an invisible spark between the two men’s gazes. The arrogance that had been laid on the ground rose up to reveal its presence at once.

Vivian gaped at Roger and GIen anxiously. Last time, Hewson lowered his tail early, but Glen was their Commander, so this was different. He stared at Roger’s eyes without averting his gaze as if to assert that they were equals.

“I don’t know what your goal is. Did you come all the way here to quarrel?”

Roger, who had been standing still, opened his mouth. It was still a composed, relaxed voice.

Glen’s sarcastic smile, like a cat’s smirk, was like a tantrum that didn’t even budge.

**********