My mouth tasted bitter.
As I began my duties as the new administrative officer in earnest, I meticulously reviewed all the documents that Giscard had prepared so far.
I realized then.
Giscard had already been doing his best.
‘I didn’t expect him to have documented everything so thoroughly.’
Giscard had meticulously recorded the supplies he was supposed to receive according to the documents and compared them to what he actually received, creating a detailed report.
Perhaps to avoid any accusations, the records were very detailed.
It seemed he had used this data to repeatedly request supplies from the Northern Command…
‘Only to be rejected every time.’
I looked down at the rejection notices from the Northern Command.
[Upon thorough review by our Northern Command, It has been determined that your request lacks sufficient grounds…]
In such a situation, there was little Giscard could do.
His actions of crashing the party with a monster’s head in his hand and baring his fangs at Fernando…
…were a desperate plea for help.
“Sigh.”
I sighed deeply and stood up.
‘Well, let’s head out then.’
If I’m going to turn this wretched knight order’s quarters into a livable place, I need to assess exactly what needs to be fixed and to what extent.
* * *
I thoroughly explored the Knights’ quarters, examining every nook and cranny.
And then,
‘No way, how on earth can they possibly live in a place like this?!’
I clutched my head and let out a silent scream.
I admit it.
I was a citizen of 21st century South Korea, and the living infrastructure I had enjoyed in the past was enough to slap three generations of the empire’s minor nobles in the face.
And even after that, as a princess, I had lived well without any inconvenience.
I know very well that my eyes were reaching for the top of the sky.
But still.
‘This is too much!’
The tiles in the public bathroom were all chipped and cracked, looking dangerous, and the wooden floor was not only rotten but also stained with grime.
Even the wooden windows didn’t close properly.
As I shook the rattling door frame, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh from deep within my chest.
“Haaaaah…”
The bed mattress was so hard it was like a rock, and it might as well have been better to just sleep on the bare floor.
The blanket also had no cotton in it at all, so the wind blew right through.
The ceiling was stained, and there was even a bucket nearby.
Apparently, it was used to catch the rainwater whenever it leaked from the ceiling.
‘No, how can this be?’
I couldn’t hide my dumbfounded expression.
And so, the last place I headed was the knights’ training ground.
The paving stones on the ground were all broken, and I felt like I might trip and fall on a crack if I wasn’t careful.
‘This… seems too dangerous?’
I imagined myself rolling, running, and training here, and I felt dizzy just thinking about it.
However, even in the midst of all this, what caught my eye was.
‘It’s clean.’
Although the training ground was shabby, it was still clean without a speck of dust.
Not even a single piece of broken stone.
As I looked around, I noticed wooden swords neatly arranged in the corner of the training ground.
‘Ah.’
I crouched down in front of the neatly arranged wooden swords.
Although the wooden swords were all worn out, the handles were shiny from being used so much.
‘I guess that means the Azure Dawn Knights are really serious about their training.’
…even in this harsh environment.
I clenched my fists unconsciously.
And then, right at the moment.
“It’s the princess.”
Suddenly, the topic of me came up out of the blue.
Huh? Me?
As I turned around in embarrassment, I saw two knights walking in the distance.
Their names were probably…
‘Sir Rodrigo and Sir Daniel, right?’
Sir Rodrigo was a tall knight with fiery red hair and a playful expression, who used mana.
Next to him was Sir Daniel, a brown-haired knight with a youthful face, who used the Flame Aurora.
“What on earth brought her here on a whim?”
“Is she here to give our Commander a hard time again?”
It was a sharp voice that didn’t sound friendly at all.
‘Um.’
But, well, it’s not like I didn’t expect this.
It’s just a bit disheartening.
“I hope she doesn’t stir up trouble and leaves quietly.”
“Well, how long do you think she’ll last?”
As I listened to their cynical conversation, I slowly raised my body.
‘Well, I guess I should just get out of here for now.’
After all, I had no interest in listening to complaints and gossip about myself.
The problem, however, was that I was just an ordinary person.
And those knights were superhumans who had honed their physical abilities to the limit.
The knights who sensed my presence turned around abruptly.
“…….”
“…….”
An icy silence fell over the room.
The knights stared at me, their faces etched with confusion.
I, too, stood up awkwardly and remained frozen in place, facing the knights.
‘W-What am I supposed to do now?!’
My mind went blank.
‘Whatever, let’s just go with it.’
What do you need in a situation like this?
Brazen confidence!
I put on a steel face and forced a bright smile, pretending I hadn’t heard anything.
“Oh, Sir Rodrigo. Sir Daniel.”
In an instant, the two knights flinched and tightened their shoulders.
It seemed as if the very act of me pretending to know them was incredibly surprising to them.
‘Um.’
But still, I can’t keep standing here awkwardly like this.
I spoke as gently as possible.
“Are you here for training?”
“Ah, yes……”
The knights avoided my eyes and shuffled their feet uncomfortably.
I praised the knights in a soft voice.
“I see. You all must be working hard.”
“Yes…”
The knights still didn’t know what to do.
I deliberately spoke calmly.
“We’re making tomato stew for dinner tonight. I asked them to put in a lot of beef. So please don’t be late. Got it?”
“Oh, understood.”
The knights replied with embarrassed faces.
“Well then, keep up the good work.”
After leaving a final greeting, I slipped away from the spot, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Ugh, seriously.
I almost died of embarrassment!
* * *
Rodrigo and Daniel watched Cassia’s retreating figure, their faces filled with bewilderment.
“She didn’t… get angry?”
“Right?”
The moment they realized she had overheard their gossip, they felt a chill run down their spines.
At that moment, it felt as if the surrounding temperature had dropped significantly.
‘Is she going to flip out right now?’
As they recalled Cassia’s usual domineering behavior, their vision turned black.
However, her reaction was completely different from what they had expected.
“I see. You all must be working hard.”
Cassia smiled warmly instead of getting angry.
Simultaneously, a series of images of Cassia’s recent behavior flashed through their minds.
Her act of carrying a load of supplies and rushing into the Azure Dawn Knights’ barracks without looking back, saying she would support the knights who no one else cared about.
Her diligence in reviewing the piled-up documents until now.
And even her magnanimity in pretending not to know when she was being gossiped about, even though she didn’t get angry.
To the knights, this Cassia felt very unfamiliar.
On top of that,
“She just called us by our names, didn’t she?”
“Could she possibly remember all the knights’ names?”
The two knights exchanged uncertain glances.
After all, in the past, Cassia seemed to only see Giscard.
Other knights were practically invisible to her.
“Huh? Why should I bother to know the names of such lowly creatures?”
…That was how much it was her usual way of speaking.
But now Cassia was paying attention to the other members of the order as well.
The change was so drastic that,
‘Has she really changed?’
A sudden doubt crossed their minds.
However,
“Well, she’s still that spoiled princess, anyway.”
Sir Rodrigo muttered in a sarcastic tone.
Sir Daniel nodded silently in agreement.
‘She’ll leave soon enough anyway.’
‘Who would really care about us?’
The long-standing sense of powerlessness weighed heavily on the two knights’ shoulders.
Hope.
The knights knew the cruelty of that word all too well.
The more hope they had, the more painful it was when it was crushed.
Thus, the knights had learned not to hold onto hope anymore.
“Never mind, let’s just train.”
“You wait and see, today I’m going to put your bratass in its place.”
“Yeah, right.”
The knights exchanged forced jokes as they picked up their wooden swords.
Perhaps to shake off their uneasy feelings,
their movements as they clashed their wooden swords were particularly sharp.
* * * *
If you want to support the Translator, Translator’s Ko-Fi:
