8.
Laiya’s jaw dropped as she spotted the golden pattern engraved on the old man’s robe hood.
The Golden Canary!
The term was familiar to her, especially with the unusually long stems and leaves hooked on his ears. She was convinced of her assumption the second she saw the leaves.
I must catch him!
He’s like a golden blessed pig. A blessed pig!
It’s not even the year of the golden pig, but I’ve been blessed! I need to get him!
“Oww! How can you knights hit a powerless old man?”
“What? I hit you, what are you going to do to stop me?”
“Hey, what are you doing? Just chase him away.”
“No, you guys can’t chase me!”
The knights paid him no heed, they grabbed ahold of the old man’s arms and lifted him.
“Didn’t I say that I was acquainted with Roy BlackWinter from this duchy? So, why would I need an invitation?”
“He’s also a crazy old man. Send him out.”
“Okay. Urgh, what a crazy person he-”
The knight abruptly cut off his words.
He caught sight of the little girl as she suddenly walked out from the tree line.
It was hard to ignore her, she did purposely tread on dried branches to make her presence easily known.
“Stop.”
The knight had a hard time hiding the gloom when they acknowledged her.
There were a lot of uncomfortable faces, Laiya pretended not to see them.
“…Princess?”
“What are you doing here?”
Her focus was centered on the old man, so it took her a moment before she noticed that the faces of the knights were familiar.
Are they the knights who were watching Roy and I yesterday?
It seemed that they oversaw the sentry this time, they weren’t friendly faces, so Laiya didn’t feel regret at disrupting their job.
“Are you the knight I met yesterday? You’re working here today?”
“…”
The two knights exchanged a meaningful glance, then with a signal from one of them, they dropped the old man. Their actions were in sync.
“Ya, ya, I’m dead!”
The old man cried as he laid on the ground.
The knights cast a cautious gaze towards her, giving Laiya the impression of a loyal dog looking to their master when they have wronged. An expression of embarrassment and annoyance were evident in their features.
“…Rainante, a chief knight of the 1st knight’s order, greets the princess.”
“Uh, can I also say hi? Yes, me too? Ru-Ruben. I am a chief knight of the 1st knight’s order.”
One of them greets me so politely, but what’s wrong with the other one? So dull and stares blankly, then rushes to greet.
Rainante seemed to be a person who would gain the adoration of the opposite sex due to his carefree impression. Then, the dull and tall one was Ruben.
Laiya was amazed at their identities.
Chief Knights?!
She was at a loss; she didn’t understand why the top elites of the Knights Templar was standing guard in this random corner.
A chief knight was one of the ten most powerful people making up the Knights Templar.
Well, I guess with the Knights of BlackWinter having a motto of equal treatment, it makes sense, right?
So, if they do bad things, they must pay the price and work it off. It still wasn’t the main point for Laiya.
“Do you have business here, Princess?”
In order to get them to hand over the old man, she knew she had to use some force or reason that they couldn’t refuse.
“Are you curious?”
Laiya brightly smiled.
“…If there is nothing else then we will have to do what we have to do.”
Do you feel conflicted?
She had felt it the day before as well. That person, Rainante, seemed to feel reluctant when dealing with her. Well, he wasn’t like the dull and bulky Ruben who stood next to her.
“But that’s not allowed.”
Rainante’s hand, which had stretched out towards the old man, paused.
Ruben looked at him awkwardly, neither of them were able to meet the girl’s eyes.
“Because I want to talk to that man.”
“No.”
Whoa! He rejected me instantly.
His reaction speed was fantastic. If he was ever in a speed contest, Laiya knew she’d get a good price on his bets.
“No?”
“Yes, no.”
“I really can’t?”
“Yes, Sorry, Princess.”
Laiya had always thought that she was more sensitive to the emotions of others, especially when it came to negative emotions.
That was why she could hear the clear displeasure in his voice. He must have thought that she was an inconvenience or something along those lines.
“I can’t just allow a crazy man near the princess.”
“Who is crazy, you b*stard! A guy who can’t tell good from bad, that’s that you are.”
“Aren’t you?”
A smirk played across Rainante’s lips as he mocked the old man.
“Princess, you can’t listen to the words of a madman.”
Though Rainante spoke in a polite voice, his words were unpleasant to hear.
“I don’t have any friends, and I never get the chance to talk to anyone outside… I really can’t?”
Rainante stuttered, clearly unable to think of a response.
Ruben, who stood beside him awkwardly, watched on with his forehead wrinkled.
She took a peek at Rainante’s face, he appeared to be facing a crisis.
Well, if I thought I could use sympathy here, I would first need my opponent to take pity on me and treat me well.
She only knew of one person like that. Her aunt.
“I’ll come back princess, when I’ve taken him away.”
Rainante reached for the old man who still sat on the floor and behaved as though he was crazy.
You can’t take him.
Laiya didn’t want to use her last resort, but it seemed as if she had reached the end of the stick. That old man was too important, she couldn’t let him be taken away so soon.
“Oh, it hurts. Ow, hurts!”
“Princess, what are you doing?”
The little girl smiled subtly as she held onto her stomach. She had something crafty planned.
“If I can’t talk to that grandpa today, I think I’ll be so heartbroken that I’ll eat some grass. It might give me stomach pains.”
“…”
“I might even fall from the pain, but with the knights here… What if strange rumors reach my father’s ears?”
You must keep me alive, right? You might be disciplined for not watching me properly.
After a brief contemplation, Rainante sighed briefly and refused to make eye contact.
“…You’re evil.”
What? What was that? Yes, that’s right, I am, so, let’s all play nicely.
He was muttering to himself, but the little girl could hear him. She smiled, pretending to be unaware of his troubles.
“Alright, princess. You said you want to converse with this man?”
“Yes.”
“Then please don’t stop us from monitoring from afar.”
“Yes, that’s great!”
Laiya nodded her head frantically.
If they hadn’t found a way to tolerate the situation, she had put them in, she would have most likely had to make them suffer.
I’ll make sure that you won’t get in trouble, knights.
Rainante was a person who had a ferocious appearance, he even pretended that his personality matched.
Though, from his reactions, Laiya didn’t think that it was his real character. It’s not that he was mismatched, but she didn’t know what to call it. He had a strong style and stature with a soft heart? Laiya couldn’t decide.
“I hate arrogant children who seem to think that the world falls at their feet. But I am a knight, and it is a knight’s duty to obey the words of the higher ups.”
Okay, I didn’t want to do it, you know, that last resort was a low blow and disrespectful. Fine, I’ll listen.
She decided to reward them since they did finally compromise.
Running back to the tree line, Laiya took out the basket she had brought with her and untied the ribbon on the handle.
“I’m sorry, please don’t hate me too much.”
After a short hesitation, the little girl handed the ribbon to Rainante, to Ruben, she handed over a cookie wrapped in paper.
This is my bribe, okay?
The ribbon was of the highest quality satin. As a senior knight, he wouldn’t go hungry, but he could still sell the ribbon. It could be sold for a lot of money.
“…Princess, do you know what it means to give a ribbon to a knight?”
“Yes?”
“This is getting out of my control… ha.”
Rainante sighed and lowered his gaze to the little girl. Unknowing, Laiya was astonished.
Their eyes met.
It was a simple action, but it was something that no one had given to her.
As everyone had always avoided Laiya, she had begun to feel accustomed to the feeling of loneliness and pain, she was like an invisible person.
But now, she was taken by surprise, and her heart raced.
She wanted to forget about holding onto her pride and cry, she was always avoided, but here was a knight who actually saw her. Met her gaze.
She rapidly blinked her glistening eyes.
“Are you going to stay here while I talk to him?”
The knight’s face, on closer inspection, was much more handsome than Laiya had originally assumed.
It was at that moment that Laiya believed the bizarre setting of BlackWinter.
There are more handsome men in villainous families.
“If I stand over here, I won’t be able to hear well, so you can speak freely. So, where would you like to speak?”
Rainante, a very tall man, then willingly bent on one knee and bowed his head to meet the eyes of the little girl.
Except for Laiya’s aunt, it was the first time she was at eye level with an adult.
“Oh. Then over there, in my garden.”
“Alright, I’ll move the old man there and then wait here.”
The old man and Laiya exchanged glances.
The old man, who was ignored all that time, suddenly held his back and roughly exhaled. He then began to shout.
“Oh my, my waist! I will die like this! If anyone touches me, my waist will break. You b*stards, I’ll go myself!”
The old man smiled at Laiya secretly, then got up all by himself.
He strode on his own two feet.
He doesn’t look like a man with a backache at all.
So be it, this person is a great man who can’t even get sick.
He was an excellent supporting wizard from the novel.
***
