Objectively speaking, Rosaline was a great superior. She took good care of them and taught them well. Even so, Eberhard and Leticia had a bit of a hard time with her. It wasn’t just that she was their direct supervisor or that she had a high position. If one were to express the atmosphere around her, it would only be possible to describe it using the word ‘mysterious’. Ordinary people feel uncomfortable with things they don’t fully understand, right? They did too. Between Rosaline’s skillful swordsmanship and bizarre attitude, they were at a loss as to whether they admired her or found her a little difficult.
With his cheek on the dirt floor, Eberhard looked at Rosaline, who was standing tall. Rosaline, who was looking elsewhere, felt his gaze and turned to Eberhard. As their eyes met, Rosaline grabbed the nape of his uniform and abruptly picked him up, like a mother cat biting the kitten’s neck and carrying it. She soon raised Leticia in a similar way. Their hearts and legs, which had been trembling with fear, seemed to have stabilized to some extent. Rosaline brushed off the dirt off Eberhard and Leticia’s clothes. The two rigidly received the gentle gesture of their superior.
Rosaline also brushed away the dirt on Eberhard’s buttocks. Pat. Pat. Her rough hands were unstoppable. There was a lot of dust on his buttocks, and Rosaline’s hands stayed on it for a long time. Eberhard looked silently at his superior, Leticia turned her head to avoid seeing Rosaline’s flaws, and Calyx covered his eyes with one hand on top of the wall. Calyx had two visits he hadn’t experienced in a while. He hadn’t experienced this kind of situation for some time.
Eberhard swallowed a smile inside his stiff face. The mysterious and unknown aura that wrapped around Rosaline was neutralized by her subtle gentleness. Perhaps that’s why, when close apprentice knights asked about Rosaline, he only gave an awkward answer, “Uh… Uh… I think she’s a good person?” While Leticia answered, “Oh! Sir Rosaline is a very nice person! She’s a good person…” She gave an evaluation with a bit of a sense of shame. But in any case, by not talking anymore, they concluded that she was a good person.
Their mysterious but good superior finished all the grooming of the apprentices. Eberhard and Leticia saluted Rosaline and left for the training grounds. It was a courageous march as if not fearing death.
Calyx, who was looking at the back of the pair, came down from the wall. Calyx had a strange expression on his face, neither crying nor smiling.
“Sister. For others, especially of the opposite sex… You shouldn’t touch a man’s body parts recklessly.”
It’s been a long time since she heard Calyx’s nagging. It gave her a sense of stability, like back in Radwiell Mansion, where ‘It’ became a human and first took root.
“I didn’t touch it.”
‘Didn’t touch.’ Clearly, the expression ‘touch’ was not appropriate for the rough gesture of brushing away the dust. But if he said, ‘Don’t hit…’
‘Not that either.’ So, Calyx merely changed his words, saying, “In any case, you mustn’t touch it.”
He wanted to add, ‘especially the buttocks,’ However, he strangely felt embarrassed, and so the words did not come out of his mouth.
Rosaline didn’t seem to understand correctly, but she nodded anyway. That alone put Calyx’s heart at ease. The two talked more while walking through the wide flower bed. They’ve only been separated for about a month, but a lot has happened. His sister could have had an accident even if he took his eyes off her for an hour. It’s been a month, and so many things must have happened. Rosaline constantly spoke with an expressionless face. The clear and fresh air of the colorful flower garden gently enveloped her. She was quite different from how she had been before, whether it was language or actions. But even with her expressionless face, she warmed up the space. White butterflies flew around her.
Rosaline kept talking, even when she had petals on her hair or a butterfly perched on it. Simply hearing her made his stomach tickle. The things Rosaline spoke about were the same as what she wrote in the letters she sent. But Calyx responded eagerly and listened intently. ‘Raymond gave me cookies. Raymond gave me macarons. I fought a lesser knight, beat him, and won. I also went to a hospital. My heart raced when I met His Highness Ricardis.’
“Why was that? Why did my heart beat like that?” Rosaline asked calmly.
Calyx answered with a tense look on his face, “Who knows.” It was the first disrespectful reply she had heard from him. Then he added, “If you see His Highness Ricardis and your heart thumps again, you don’t have to worry about it too much.”
As her story flowed, it even reached the point when she had beaten a few assassins. Calyx’s eyes lit up. Her voice became quieter in contrast with the fierce story. Calyx drew his face closer to her.
“Assassins?”
“Mm-hmm. I got them all.”
Her blank face looked proud, like a cat that caught a sparrow in Radwiell Mansion, and her chest puffed up.
“Why didn’t you write that in the letter?”
“I did write it…”
‘But it was confiscated.’ In Moonstone Castle, strict security applied to not only humans but also goods and documents. Letters with outsiders could only come in and go out after they checked the contents.
Obviously, there was someone who checked Rosaline’s letter too, so it goes without saying that any content related to the situation inside the Moonstone Castle, or even the safety of the 2nd Prince, was confiscated. Because of the contents of the letter stating that she had beaten two assassins, Rosaline was even summoned and scolded by Isserion, the 2nd Prince’s secretary.
‘We’ve been keeping an eye on the 1st Prince and Radwiell family, but she’s going to spill these internal circumstances to her family? I will throw this letter out!’ So, Isserion made up his mind to call her.
[Writing something like this will put you in a difficult situation, Sir Rosaline.]
[What are you talking about?]
[If my eyes aren’t wrong, there’s the mention of you killing some assassins. Don’t you recognize the problem?]
In response to Isserion’s stern words, Rosaline asked him with a blank face.
[Then, should I let the assassins go after calling them ‘bad people?’]
Isserion kept his mouth shut. At that time, he felt like he was seeing a person wearing tight winter clothes in the summer. ‘Why is that person doing that? Is she crazy?’ Those were only some of his many doubts.
He re-read Rosaline’s letter. It consists of an 8-year-old’s vocabulary level, the spelling is slightly wrong, and the handwriting is like a child’s. He only knew that she had lost her memory… He didn’t know if the memories of the past ten years had all blown away.
Isserion’s anger had been toned down by the feeling of pity for Rosaline’s lost years… His light purple eyes had filled with compassion.
[You can’t do this again.] He had said.
Regardless of compassion, what doesn’t work is not allowed.
Since then, Rosaline has identified the assassins in various ways, such as ‘man in black,’ ‘man who attacked His Highness’, and ‘man carrying poison’.
Calyx sobbed and cried inside his heart. ‘Exactly. It is impossible to send out important information related to the safety of the prince.’ He had forgotten the basics because he was only worried about his sister.
Many of her performances she could not communicate through letters were truly remarkable.
“This is me,” Rosaline raised her left hand. Then she raised her right hand, explaining, “This is the assassin.” And her left hand moved swiftly to subdue her right, “I got him like this, then like this.” She described one by one the numerous assassins she had captured while escorting the 2nd Prince.
It may be a simple task for her now, but the assassins of the Black Moon were known for being secretive and powerful. It would never have been easy if it was his former sister. Even if she did come back alive from the accident, there was a very high probability that she would have died in this castle.
The reason Calyx came to the distant Imperial Castle was simple: to stop her. ‘Stop walking on this road full of hardships and trials,’ he wanted to say. It is the fate of a knight to get cut, get hurt, and die, but as her family, it was difficult to fully understand everything. Whatever Rosaline is now, she is his sister.
However, after getting along with her for a long time, he noticed that she could silently climb up the wall that was as high as a tree, she could sniff out the stench of malice, and she recognized at a glance the person who put on someone else’s skin for their face. With that thin sword, she could cut through whatever was in front of her, rock or steel, if she had the will.
As Rosaline attacked her apprentice knights, something in Calyx’s head shattered. He had forgotten for a while while they were apart. Rosaline was strong. Strong enough to twist the neck of an adult man with her bare hands. Perhaps the reason he was worried about her was that she was ‘Rosaline’. Because this Rosaline before him is his sister. His one and precious-
“Sister.”
Rosaline’s left hand was still subduing her right hand in various ways. Calyx clasped her left hand with his own. Rosaline looked at him, and at the warmth that reached her.
“You must come back safely,” he said. “I’ll prepare your favorite food and wait for you.”
