Episode 60

The tournament today featured 15 matches.

Despite my initial expectation that the competition to select the Royal Guard captain would be a brutal affair, the rules were surprisingly reasonable.

Each match lasted 10 minutes. The contestants fought with wooden swords, and if a weapon was dropped or a significant injury, like a fracture, occurred, the fighter would lose.

If the match was undecided after 10 minutes, a rematch would be held with real swords, where the first to surrender would lose. Even in this case, killing the opponent resulted in immediate disqualification and expulsion from the Royal Guard, ensuring that no fatalities would occur.

As I watched with ease, thinking I could have brought Lottie along, the first match quickly proved to be quite a spectacle.

“Shouldn’t we stop that? There’s no way his bones aren’t broken after being hit like that,” I said, concerned.

“Knights are tough,” Aiden replied calmly.

“His arm is dangling! How is that ‘tough’?”

“Oh, that’s just a dislocation. It can be fixed.”

Aiden’s nonchalant response was followed by the knight casually popping his arm back into place. Then, with time running out, they moved on to a rematch with real swords.

As blood flowed across the arena floor, neither contestant showed any intention of surrendering.

Why?

These two aren’t avenging their parents’ deaths.

After this match, they’ll be comrades, fighting side by side as commanders of the Royal Guard.

So why are they going to such extremes?

“Aiden, that knight in white… it looks like he’s going to die.”

“They’re avoiding vital spots. He’ll be fine. We didn’t raise him to be weak.”

When I turned to Aiden, puzzled by his strange remark, he gave a crooked smile and continued to stare intently at the knight in white.

Was that knight from the Guard?

But isn’t the Guard just a token force, populated with knights selected to appease the nobles?

Why was everyone so determined to risk their lives for the captain’s position?

All 15 matches followed the same pattern.

There wasn’t a single knight who emerged unscathed, yet the final match ended rather anticlimactically.

The knight in white, who came from the Guard and was battered and bruised beyond recognition, was facing a knight from the House of Zernia. In the end, the Zernian knight collapsed after a blow from a wooden sword.

The knight whom Aiden had claimed was not raised weak had ultimately become the captain of the Royal Guard.

Contrary to expectations, none of the knights from the House of Senwood won the title. With the Marquis gone, it seemed their motivation had faltered.

Finally, the tournament to determine the captain of the Royal Guard had concluded.

I descended to the arena to congratulate the new captain and commanders of the Royal Guard.

As I approached the stage, the sixteen knights, including the one who had fainted and then regained consciousness, knelt before me.

And then, as planned, Lottie, the true master of the Royal Guard, entered the arena, carrying the Emperor’s sword.

The citizens of the Empire erupted into cheers at the sight of the Crown Princess.

The cheers were louder than when the final victor had been decided.

I smiled and whispered to Aiden, who stood behind me.

“It seems the Luminal royal family is quite popular in Belpator.”

“Indeed, Your Majesty. Princess Lottie’s popularity has also been bolstered by public sympathy, but the royal family has always been beloved.”

The citizens didn’t merely pity the young Crown Princess who had lost her mother, father, and all her kin. The people of Belpator genuinely loved the Luminal royal family.

Having experienced a lack of affection for royalty in Dirmil, I couldn’t help but feel proud as I watched Lottie walk confidently amid the cheers.

“Mother.”

“Come here, Lottie.”

Lottie handed me the Emperor’s sword and stood by my side, gazing down at the sixteen knights before us.

The reason I stood here today, and why I had brought Lottie with me, was to transform the Royal Guard into a truly loyal force for the royal family.

In Belpator, any noble with a fief could appoint knights, which meant the Empire was overflowing with knights of varying skill levels.

Although the Royal Guard had been formed, the knights still remained loyal to their previous affiliations.

Lottie needed a Royal Guard that would be loyal to her and her alone.

Since I had promised to release the serpent and the dog from their oaths, I needed a new force to support the throne.

With the Emperor’s sword in hand, I walked up to the knights.

“As Empress of Belpator, in the name of the Emperor and the Crown Princess, I hereby knight the sixteen victors as Royal Knights. I grant you the honor of bearing the sun of Luminal upon your chest. Will you forsake your past loyalties and become Royal Knights who serve only the Luminal royal family?”

The knight in white, sitting in the front row, raised his head.

He seemed to briefly meet Aiden’s gaze behind me, but his eyes were shining with determination as he shouted,

“I, Daid Frey, Captain of the Royal Guard, swear my loyalty to the Empress and the Crown Princess!”

“We swear our loyalty!”

Echoed the other knights.

Following Daid’s lead, the remaining 15 knights also shouted their oaths in unison.

While it was unlikely any of them would openly refuse in front of the Empress, the honor of being one of the only sixteen Imperial Knights in the Empire clearly appealed to them.

The knights from the House of Senwood, whose previous affiliations had all but dissolved, looked especially moved.

I completed the brief knighting ceremony by tapping Daid, the captain of the Royal Guard, on both shoulders with the Emperor’s sword.

I then presented him with a pre-prepared sword, the official uniform of the Royal Guard, and a cloak.

The cloak, adorned with the sun emblem of the Luminal royal family, was richly embroidered with gold thread, making them look imposing already.

The regular guards also received uniforms and cloaks.

Tito’s advice to dress them uniformly to instill a sense of belonging and unity had proven effective.

The Royal Guard members, who had previously been divided by factionalism under the guise of a tournament, were now eager to wear the golden sun on their chests and pledged their loyalty fervently.

A few days later, the 980 members of the Royal Guard, excluding those with serious injuries, departed for the Kingdom of Dirmil.

Their mission was simple reconnaissance, but the journey together would undoubtedly forge stronger bonds among them.

What remained was dealing with the long bill to be sent to the House of Senwood and handling the Empire’s serpent, who had been disturbingly quiet.

* * *

The day the Royal Guard departed from Brincia, Aiden stealthily infiltrated the Crown Princess’s palace.

It was late, a time when a twelve-year-old should have been asleep, but Lottie was waiting for him in the dimly lit reception room, a candle flickering beside her.

As Aiden quietly closed the door behind him, he gave Anna, who was standing beside Lottie, a questioning look.

He wanted to know what was going on, but Anna just looked at him with a disapproving expression and shook her head slightly.

What is going on now?

He had come as requested, without anyone knowing, yet Lottie was also giving him the same disapproving look as Anna.

“Your Highness, what is this about?” Aiden asked.

“Duke Tilender, do you know what Mother said to me today?”

Today, Sione had carried out the Royal Guard’s departure ceremony with grace and elegance.

The sight of the Empress, along with the Crown Princess, bidding farewell to the Royal Guard outside Brincia’s outer walls had even warmed the hearts of the Empire’s citizens, who had been somewhat cold toward Sione since the Emperor’s death.

He had been close to her all day, so what could have been discussed without his knowledge?

Aiden tilted his head in confusion and asked.

“What did she say?”

“Mother asked me what I thought about her marrying Duke Zernia.”

Lottie said, her words causing Aiden’s face to drain of color.

Since that last summons to the palace, Sione hadn’t met with Lian, so why would marriage suddenly come up?

After the incident with the House of Senwood, Sione had canceled her regular meetings and seemed to be contemplating something. Could it be that she had decided on a marriage partner, leading her to abandon the ‘getting to know each other’ time?

“What did you say?”

Aiden asked, his voice trembling.

Lottie stomped her small foot in frustration and answered.

“Of course, I said no!”

He had no idea how shocked she had been.

After calming her nerves, she had asked her mother if she had fallen in love with Lian, and for the first time, Sione had frowned and said no in front of Lottie.

As Aiden listened to Lottie’s account, his red eyes began to glow in the flickering candlelight.

“So, she hasn’t fallen in love with him, yet she’s still considering marriage?”

He asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

Lottie’s crimson eyes, which had been looking at Aiden with a hint of disdain, now showed a flicker of interest.

She had been sighing, thinking that Aiden, with his despondent expression like a puppy abandoned by its owner, was hopeless.

Lottie, who couldn’t tolerate a foolish match for her elegant, wise, and beautiful mother, had no patience for anyone who didn’t live up to her standards.

“Yes. When I asked why she would marry someone she doesn’t love, she said, ‘It might be okay for a little while.’ A little while? What kind of trick is the snake pulling this time?”

Even though Lottie didn’t know that Lian only had 3 or 4 years left to live, her sharp intuition was evident.

The sound of Aiden grinding his teeth echoed through the room, and Lottie, too, began to clench her small teeth in frustration.

Worried about the young princess’s yet-to-fall baby teeth, Anna quickly unwrapped a candy and popped it into Lottie’s mouth.