Chapter 22

“Well, I could have just stabbed Your Majesty if I had been Ober’s spy, right?”

“I hope you didn’t fall down deliberately to prove it.”

“Anyway I’m innocent. Can you believe me, please?”

“… Let me try.”

“That’s an ambiguous answer. I hope you won’t tell me later that you said you would try to believe.”

“It’s you who are not believing me.”

“Okay. It’s up to you. By the way, can you let me know who the owner of the messenger bird is?”

Although she looked careless, she eventually brought the conversation back to the main topic. Thinking that she was more persistent than he thought, Eckart opened his mouth slowly.

“Curtis von Knight.”

It seemed like she heard it somewhere, but it was a strange name.

“Your Excellency,” Jed said.

While she was recollecting each of the names she knew, Jed stepped forward with a displeased look.

Eckart raised his hand slightly to stop him and explained kindly.

“Right now he is the chief knight of the Astolf Knights.”

“Do you mean the owner of the messenger bird is the chief knight of the Astolf Knights?”

When she asked back, he slightly nodded. Jed sighed and stepped back.

“Since he was born and raised in Lennox, you might know Astolf’s reputation well. He will protect your father. Are you relieved now?”

“Really? If that’s true, I am a little less worried…”

She slurred the end of her sentence. If her father’s bodyguard was the chief knight of the Astolf Knights, who could be compared to the imperial Eluang Knights, she thought his capabilities had been proven. But that was not the problem.

“What did you say a moment ago? To me it sounds like he belongs to a different knight group.”

When she pointed it out sharply, he looked a bit surprised.

“If you’re asking me if he is a spy, you’re right. He is one of my trusted sources in the north.”

“I was so naive.”

“Yeah, I think so as you realized it only now.”

She thought he had never comforted her. She stared at Eckhart with a sullen expression.

“I understand the Astolf Knights pledged allegiance to my father, the owner of Lennox, didn’t they?”

“I heard that as the new knights of the border they were especially loyal to their lord, but they are also my vassals. All the national or provincial knights groups in each region are under the direct command of the Eluang Knights, the imperial knights, according to the imperial law.”

“Really? Of course, that is…”

She couldn’t understand why he repeated the already known fact.

At that moment, Jed cut in quickly.

“Lady, I want you didn’t say anything that could invite misunderstanding. The master who receives the pledges from all the members of the national knights groups is not your father, but the emperor.”

When he spoke resolutely, his eyes were very cold unlike before.

She belatedly realized that she had touched the emperor’s soft spot.

In no time, she continued in an embarrassed voice, “No, I didn’t mean that. Obviously the owner of Astolf is the emperor! I heard that the Astolf Knights are different from other knights in terms of its history and atmosphere. So, I thought there were very few people who suspect that there might be a spy sent by the emperor among them. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

She suddenly felt depressed and slightly bit her lips. When she lived in Lennox, she just took it for granted, but she didn’t expect that it would really rub the emperor the wrong way.

“Well, what should I do? There are as many as three spies here in this room except you.”

Eckart did not get angry. Instead he even grinned, teasing her with a joking tone. He didn’t look threatening or repressing when he grinned, which made her feel a bit relieved. But she never thought there was something behind it.

“Please don’t tease me. Perhaps there is a spy that Your Majesty has not found out about yet.”

“Right now, I know there are about five, but as you say, there may be more.”

“Oh my gosh. Five?”

She became sullen somehow because she felt betrayed.

She had never been betrayed by anybody before meeting Ober. She imagined several times how dreadful the shadow of power might be. When she was faced with a sober reality, however, she got very confused and complicated. Sometimes she wanted to run away because of fear, and sometimes she couldn’t understand.

Eckart, on the other hand, had lived an opposite life of hers. He could not sympathize with her deeply — he thought it was only natural for her to show anaive reaction.

In a nutshell, there were too many things that she didn’t know.

For example, she didn’t know what the nobel family members such as Ober had done to exercise power freely. She didn’t know how many crooked guys eyeing for power lurked in the imperial family, the capital, as well as provinces and the towns of the neighboring country. She didn’t know whether an ally like Ecart, now facing her, was hiding any dirty tricks behind her back. She didn’t know how many of those standing by her now could turn their coats later on.

“As I hear from Colin, your knight is called the wolf of the Astolf Knights.”

“Yes, that is correct. He just became an official knight, but I can guarantee his competence.”

“What is his name?”

“Iric. Iric von Schmidt.”

After he heard it, he pointed to the bell on the table.

Colin, who stood closest to the table, quickly shook the bell once.

In no time an attendant came in after he politely knocked on the door.

“Your Majesty, I’m here.”

“Bring the daughter’s knight Iric von Schmidt here. You don’t have to take away his weapon.”

“Yes, will do, Your Majesty.”

The attendant left the room after greeting him quickly.

“Why are you bringing Iric suddenly? You don’t think he is Ober’s spy, do you? Iric is not that type of person. ”

“Most people who don’t seem to do that kind of stuff actually do it.”

“But Iric is different.”

“It’s not a good habit to trust people easily.”

“Isn’t it a bad habit to doubt someone you can trust?”

“If you’re confident enough, just think of my actions as a verification process. I want you to think about my position too. How can I take someone I don’t know as the bodyguard knight for my fiancée?”

While they were having a quarrel, somebody knocked on the door again. He allowed them to open it. Soon, a long shadow crossed the threshold and knelt down on the carpet.

“May the glory of the Airius be bestowed upon Your Majesty! This is Astolf’s Black Wolf and Iric of the Schmidt family, and I’m honored to see you.”

Eckart looked down on Iric quietly and responded slowly.

“Stand up and come near me.”

“I’m honored.”

Iric stood up in an orderly manner. The long cuts on his cheeks under the purple hair

were impressive. Because he was indoors, he wore light clothes instead of armor, but his build looked very muscular. Even though Eckart looked at him sharply, he showed no signs of timidness or distractedness.

“Colin.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Is the name Iric von Schmidt on the spy list?”

“Well, no. I remember it was not there. ”

Eckhart already knew that his name was not on the list of the spies who were cooperating with Ober. Nevertheless, the reason he brought Iric to him and mentioned something like a spy in his face was because he wanted to distract and annoy him.

“See! Iric is not the man who can betray my father and me,” she said confidently.

“It looks like your black sword is too old to protect her, my fiancee and the future queen.

Can you show it to me?”

Iric, who was wearing the sword according to the emperor’s command, released the sheath he put on his waist. Passing by the table and the emperor’s closest advisors, he knelt again before the emperor and lifted the sword over his head.

It definitely looked old. The pattern of the eight stars engraved on the sword was long worn out, and the few unattached gems on it also faded. By any standards, it was a very old sword worn out through the long years.

Eckart pulled the sword from the sheath. As if Iric lubricated and sharpened it every day, its blade shone coldly. Eckart’s blue eyes looking down on the silver sword were reflected clearly.

At that moment, there was the noise of a sharp object cutting through the wind.

And then there was the sound of something breaking open quickly.

“Your Excellency!” Jed yelled as if he were surprised.

When they heard something noisy inside, the knights waiting outside opened the door and jumped in. Opening his red eyes widely, Colin was standing stiffly like a stone statue.

Marianne also stiffened. She slowly opened her eyes, which she closed unconsciously a moment ago. Iric, who blocked her view, stepped back.