“…Are you really saying that you want to join our Order?”
“Yes, I do.”
I nodded my head earnestly to convey my sincerity.
At that, Giscard’s face crumpled up.
“Please think again. The life of a knight is very harsh.”
“It’s okay. I’m not joining for comfort, you know?”
I shrugged playfully and added,
“I’m joining to fulfill my duty as a noblesse oblige, right?”
“…….”
Giscard, who was momentarily stunned, gritted his teeth and said again,
“You will have to wear only the Order’s uniform, instead of the fancy dresses you usually wear, Your Highness.”
“Oh, that’s great. I’ve been finding it a bit annoying to have to worry about what to wear every day.”
“There are also no fancy desserts, black tea, or sugar.”
“Good. I think I’ve been eating too much lately, so I was thinking about cutting back.”
“No, what the…?”
Giscard stared at me with his mouth agape and a dumbfounded expression.
Why, isn’t it good that I’m actually considering enlisting positively?
See, this is why you shouldn’t provoke people recklessly, huh?
I grinned.
At the same time, Giscard’s shoulders stiffened.
Those trembling eyes, as if he had witnessed cosmic horror… No, does he hate Cassia that much?!
But I had already made up my mind to refuse any refusal, so.
“As I understand it, the Azure Dawn Order can admit knights as long as the Knight Commander approves, right?”
The original clearly stated that no permission was required from the imperial family or the command headquarters.
This was because Giscard had demanded a minimum of independence when he first founded the Order.
“That’s…”
Giscard trailed off hesitantly.
I glared at Giscard with fire in my eyes.
“Yes? Right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Giscard finally answered, crumpling his face up as much as he could.
The way he looked was as if someone had forced a bitter medicine into his mouth.
How do you like it, the feeling of being kicked in the shins by your own foot?
“Ho ho ho.”
I laughed wickedly, and Giscard, who had belatedly come to his senses, desperately protested.
“I don’t want to live a military life with a woman who might sneak into my bed! It’ll cause a breach of military discipline!”
But I had no intention of letting go of the initiative I had finally seized.
“Sir Romanov, isn’t that a bit of an overinflated ego?”
I shook my head firmly and glared at him with my fingers splayed out.
And then I started to fold them one by one.
“I apologized for clinging to you until now.”
One finger.
“And I promised I wouldn’t cling to you anymore.”
Two fingers.
“As an apology for my rudeness so far, I agreed to supply you with urgent purification elixirs right away.”
Three fingers.
At that, Giscard’s pupils began to shake as if an earthquake had hit.
“You’re the one who said to enlist first, Sir Romanov” I said, crossing my arms and looking up at Giscard with a smirk.
“Why, are you scared?”
As I added the word “scared?” to my question, a vein bulged out on his forehead.
I continued speaking with a playful smile.
“In the first place, if I become the administrative officer of the Azure Dawn Knights, I’ll end up being your subordinate, won’t I?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Then you’ll be given the legal right to punish me. So what’s the problem?”
I provoked Giscard again.
“The other problems you were worried about, like… if I cause a breach of military discipline.”
I took a step closer to him.
As I stood there, scenes from the original Cassia’s misdeeds against Giscard flashed across my mind like a panorama…
Oh my gosh, Cassia!
No matter how much of a brat you are, how could you just randomly grope his lips?!
Ugh, I’m so embarrassed I could die!
I tried my best to act nonchalant as I finished speaking.
“In that case, please punish me according to military law.”
Honestly, I figured that since this principled male protagonist of ours would be mindful of the Imperial court’s opinion, he wouldn’t punish me.
‘This should be enough to appease Giscard, right?’
With that judgment in mind, I confidently faced Giscard.
And then…
‘Huh?’
I blinked my eyes blankly.
That’s because the Giscard before me was glaring at me with a distorted face.
No, why is he suddenly making that kind of expression?!
“Military law, you say. Looks like the Princess is still living in the flower garden.”
“Sir?”
“This damn Empire… if it were a country where principles were upheld…”
He clenched his jaw tightly, unable to contain his anger.
“Then I wouldn’t have had to be here today.”
In that instant, the dried bloodstains clinging to Giscard’s uniform caught my eye vividly.
‘Ah.’
I felt a chill run down my spine.
“Ha, nevermind.”
At the same time, Giscard sighed with a smile, his hand on his forehead.
The emotions contained in that smile were…
Deep fatigue and resignation.
“Really, what am I even doing here?”
“Sir, wait a minute.”
“I’m leaving now.”
“Sir!”
With that, Giscard turned and left, the cold wind blowing through the empty space.
His retreating figure looked so exhausted that I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.
Instead…
“Just you wait, Sir Romanov!”
In the silent balcony, where there was no one else, only my determined shout echoed through the air.
“I will definitely make the Azure Dawn Knights the wealthiest order of knights!”
* * *
After letting Giscard leave like that,
I dragged my weary steps straight back to the princess’s palace.
“P-Princess?”
The maids who saw me instinctively stiffened their bodies.
Their faces turned pale as if they were being strangled…
‘Really, anyone would think they’d just seen a ghost,’
I grumbled to myself and quickly reflected.
Well, from the maids’ point of view, Cassia would be more terrifying than a ghost.
It was her daily routine to grab the maids like mice when she was bored, and to nag them for hours on end.
Sometimes, she didn’t hesitate to use her hand if she was in a bad mood…….
So, from the maids’ point of view, it’s only when Cassia is out at banquets that they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
‘But that damn princess came home awfully early, didn’t she?’
Normally, Cassia wouldn’t be back at this hour.
As the flower of society, it was her daily routine to enjoy banquets until the early hours of the morning and be carried in, almost fainting.
‘Wow, even I would have hated her.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and waved my hand nonchalantly, sending the maids away.
“Enough, all of you can leave. I want to rest.”
“Yes!”
The maids snapped to attention and scurried out.
And then.
“Haaaahhhhh…”
Left alone, I let out a long sigh that came from the depths of my chest.
The last image I saw of Giscard kept flashing before my eyes.
‘Giscard looked really exhausted.’
His empty face, like he was alone in an eternal winter.
Of course, that bastard Giscard is incredibly picky and will even pick on royalty if he doesn’t like them.
If I were my usual self, I would absolutely hate him even enough to never even look at him.
But still.
‘In the original story, Giscard tried to save the world to the end, no matter what.’
He was rejected by everyone.
His precious comrades died one by one.
Even so, there were so many people who were looking only at Giscard.
Giscard couldn’t bear to abandon them.
The ending where Giscard lost everything and collapsed…
‘That’s just too much, isn’t it?’
So, this time.
‘I won’t let Giscard fail.’
I steeled my eyes with determination.
* * * *
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