I watched as the King stood up and pulled a sword from his side, and walked over to me. "On my name, William Gravos, King of the Kingdom of Gravos, I dub Faith Cyrilia as a Provisional Knight. And is granted the title of Baron!"
Wait a minute! Why am I suddenly getting titles!? Yes, I did want to work my way up to such a thing, but why now all of a sudden? I thought I would need to wait until I graduated! "Faith, you need to accept…."
My thoughts were broken by the King's words causing me to blush lightly. "By your will, Your Majesty. I swear upon my name Faith Cyrilia, to be my King's sword and protect the Kingdom of Gravos and the royal family from any harm."
"Mmm! Well said!" The King said with a smile. But I was actually quite nervous as I only knew these lines because Adel had told me them before when preparing me for anything that had to deal with the castle and nobles.
I tilted my head to the side because I thought I heard an extra word in there. Now that I am thinking about it, Provisional Knight? What was that? I looked up at the King for more explanation, but he did not seem to be wanting to explain himself. Instead, after he sat down, he continued: "Baroness Cyrilia, from this moment on, you will be in charge of the safety of Princess Adellia and Prince Lance."
"By your Majesty's command." I said while bowing my head once again. I had a lot of questions, but I guess they would need to wait until after everything is completed.
"Good! Now that this is over, it is now time to form the contract between Faith Cyrilia and And Sally." As the King's words fell, the doors to the throne room opened, and Sally was led in by two guards with her hands cuffed. When I saw her walking in like that, I frowned, but she gave me a small wave when she saw me, so I guess she is fine. I didn't see anything wrong with her, at least. I guess the King gave her special treatment.
"Sally, while I have asked you this yesterday, I will ask this again. Do you wish to defect to the Kingdom of Gravos and serve Baroness Cyrilia, or do you wish to undergo trial for the crime of trying to break into a residence that held two members of the royal family?" The King asked. I wonder how annoying it must be to have to ask all these questions even though he already knew the answer.
Sally seemed to be surprised at my new title. I mean, even I was surprised by it. But she quickly composed herself as she answered: "Your Majesty, if I am still allowed to serve Baroness Cryilia. Then I would like to offer up my life to her."
"Well said! Now, Baroness Cyrilia, Are you willing to take in Sally, who once tried to break into your house?" The King turned to me and asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Her talents will be very useful to the kingdom. I would be a fool to reject such a talented person." I answered in my best noble voice. Yay, acting skills!
"Very well! From this day forth, Sally, you will be under Baroness Cyrilia's family name and will take on the Cyrilia name. Both of you step forward and drip a drop of blood onto this magical contract that is imbued with your Mana. This contract will only activate if Sally Cyrilia tries to betray Baroness Cyrilia in any shape or form. The punishment for such betrayal is death." I was a little surprised at the conditions of the magic contract, but I guess this was to be one hundred percent sure that I will never be betrayed. As she has already betrayed her previous master, there is no way to tell if she would do it again or not.
As our blood fell onto the magic contract that was brought over to use by one of the court mages, the magic contract that was inscribed on some kind of special parchment began to glow with a bright light and split into two small balls of light. One flew into Sally's body, while the other flew into mine. I felt nothing as it entered my body, but I could feel a slight connection to Sally, which I guess meant that the contract was a success.
"Hah!" I let out a long sigh as I rested my head on the back of the chair in Adel's lounge room that was off to the side of her bedroom. Sitting next to me was Adel on my left and Sally on my right. Across from us was Lance. "That was nerve racking."
"I have to say you did very well, Faith. Especially your vow when you were knighted." Lance praised.
"Thanks, but what I am confused about is what is a provisional knight?" I asked as I sat forward.
"A provisional knight is someone with a temporary knight title. It is given to exceptional individuals who have yet to graduate from the academy. In truth, you would not have gotten any titles if not for the fact that you saved Lance." Adel explained. "Father had to reward you no matter what, as saving a member of the royal family could not be overlooked. And now that those nobles have started to move behind the scenes with the assassination attempt today, Father seems to not want to hold back any longer."
"I just wished he gave me a heads up! I was so nervous! I mean, come on! Why would he suddenly do that without warning? I thought I was going to bite my tongue." I said with a pout. I really wish I knew ahead of time before things like this were going to happen. At least then I could be prepared.
"Don't complain. Having the title of baroness is a good thing. Not only for you, but Sophie as well."
