Chapter 8:
“One must not… hit someone recklessly. One must not… kill someone recklessly… Repeat… Please repeat after me…”
“One must not hit someone recklessly. One must not kill someone recklessly.”
“Well done. The one you knocked out earlier is Sir Raymond, the Marquis of Cimarron. Just like Sister, he belongs to the Knights of White Night. And personally, you guys are friends.”
“So, I can’t hit him?”
“Please don’t.”
“Okay, then,” Rosaline nodded her head.
Calyx slapped his face a few times with his hands, making a painful noise. Calyx added that if someone picks up a weapon or shows the intent to kill, they can be attacked or killed. If he didn’t say this, she would quietly get shot by arrows on the battlefield. Rosaline nodded her head.
“If you hit someone recklessly, you go to a very, very scary place. There’s a very scary old man there.”
“A scary place…” Rosaline swallowed her saliva.
Even with her lack of imagination, she seemed to be working hard to picture a scary man and a scary place.
Soon, the servant informed them that Raymond had woken up. When they arrived at his guest room, he was sitting upright. Raymond’s hair, which had been neat when he entered the house, was scattered around. Calyx was already tired. As he pondered for a long time what excuse he should give, Rosaline opened her mouth first.
“Sorry.”
“…”
Rosaline expressed her regret with a face that was not at all sorry. Calyx felt his head pounding and his headache rushing back.
Raymond sat on the bed and looked at her blankly. Then he looked around the room slowly and finally touched around his chin, checking for any signs of a bruise. He couldn’t tell if this was a dream or real life.
“Rosaline?”
“Yes.”
“Rosaline Esther Radwiell?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Just now, did you hit this older brother, Rosaline?”
“Yup. Sorry.”
“Oh… Um… Quick to admit your mistake… That’s nice… Wait, no, that’s not the problem…”
Raymond began to feel awkward under the weight of her stare. Rosaline pulled out the chair beside the bed, sat down, and began to eat the refreshments set aside for Raymond. Raymond looked at her figure with his mouth hung open stupidly, then shifted his gaze to Calyx, who stood behind her.
“Sir Calyx… Could it be that… Our Rosaline…”
Raymond made a loaded gesture: his finger spun in circles around his temple, indicating that he had an accurate understanding of Rosaline’s condition. But different from his undisguised hand gestures, he spoke his words carefully.
“Is Rosaline’s condition not the same as before…?”
It was the most gentle expression he had heard yet.
‘Sister, why did you leave me with such suffering?’ Calyx nodded his head as he cleared his wretched mood.
“Yeah… Sister’s… condition… is a little… different from before…”
Raymond pondered for a moment with a complicated face. He messed up his bird nest hair further and jumped out of bed. As Rosaline shifted her sullen gaze, he grabbed her hand and made her stand up.
“Don’t hit me this time, Rosaline.”
“Okay.”
Then he hugged her tightly. Rosaline frowned a bit, feeling a little frustrated, but she didn’t move her fists at once like before, indicating that her education had worked.
Calyx stared at them from behind her and held back his tongue. ‘She was told not to hit someone recklessly, but does Raymond even remember that this is an unmarried daughter of someone’s noble family?’
He didn’t like this situation at all but decided to close his eyes just this once.
“You came back alive,” One could see the deep emotions melting away from Raymond’s face and his voice, but no one could tell what was in his heart.
***
“As expected, they were the Black Moon bastards,” Raymond said as he held up a mirror to look at the affected area.
The dark, blue bruise was so vivid it made him tremble and startle, but soon he put down the mirror again as if nothing had happened.
“Black Moon?”
Rosaline’s voice had no pitch, so it was hard to tell if she was questioning or stating something. Raymond looked at her as if pitying her.
“Have you forgotten all of this? The Black Moon is the kingdom of Balta’s ‘magic worshipers,’ which has always had a bad relationship with the Holy Empire Illavenia: the country we live in.”
“Magic?”
“Yeah, the antagonistic, ominous power. The Black Moon is a group of fanatics who believe that Crean Tidanion, the god of darkness and chaos, is a true god and that Idelavhim, the god of light and order, is a false being. His Highness, our 2nd Prince, has more power than previous emperors, so the Black Moon is always targeting him. After more than 21 assassination attempts were made, he founded the special escort knights corps called the White Night. And that’s us, Sir Rosaline of the Knights of the White Night.”
“Hmm,” Rosaline replied vaguely.
Her arms were folded in front of her chest, while her legs were spread wide apart. Only after Calyx begged her to change her posture, saying, ‘Sister… Your legs are a little…’ did she cross her legs. Raymond laughed at Calyx’s deep sigh.
“A lot of the Knights of the White Night died during the events of this hunting competition. Even… Ehm… the deputy commander is dead. You followed the deputy commander closely, Rosaline. Do you remember?”
“No.”
“… Maybe it’s fortunate that you don’t remember. You would have been very sad. Well, in any case, Sir Nathan, the former deputy commander’s lieutenant, has been newly appointed as the new deputy commander, and…”
Raymond put his hands on his waist and seemed to be showing off… something.
Rosaline only looked at him and asked, “Are you okay?”
Raymond collapsed at the question.
“No… I’m not okay… Some people are envious of my promotion… However, the thought of going around under that deputy commander makes my future look bleak already… Oh, yes, and you also got promoted to a senior knight. Your previous promotion test scores were good, and among our colleagues, many senior knights died. You, too, are now part of the personnel directly escorting the 2nd Prince.”
“Is that so?” Calyx was taken by surprise in place of the carefree Rosaline. It reminded him of the conversations he had with her in the past.
[I came to protect him.]
[The Master of the White Night.]
It was surprising that she got placed among the personal guards of the Master of the White Night. But what was even more surprising was that the knight commander promoted her to a senior knight.
‘Is the situation so serious that even those who failed to be on the last escort mission have a chance, and even though they know her family belongs to the 1st Prince’s faction?’ Calyx’s expression hardened.
“So you’re saying…” Calyx started.
“That’s what happened, Young Lord Calyx.”
“… I see. No, wait a minute. Sir Raymond, we both know that’s not the problem at the moment.”
“Ah.”
“…”
Calyx and Raymond turned their heads. At the end of their gaze was Rosaline, who still had her legs crossed and was tapping her feet. They sweated profusely. Before being promoted to a senior knight and before returning to the Imperial House of Illavenia, a very urgent problem awaited them.
They quickly rose from their seats and dragged Rosaline to the arena. Rosaline took their hands and followed them. As her maid tied her long hair back, Raymond took his sword and approached her.
“Pull out the sword and listen well, Rosaline.”
‘Please, please… Tell me you remember swordsmanship,’ Raymond thought as his hands trembled and his heartbeat so fast that it might come out of his mouth.
Seeing this scene, Calyx swallowed his saliva. Under the hot gazes of the two men, Rosaline drew out the outstretched sword slowly. The blade brushed against its sheath and made a sharp noise.
“… Ugh…”
“…”
Calyx raised his hands and covered his eyes as if he couldn’t stand to see it anymore. Raymond collapsed miserably and fell to the floor. Before they even saw her swordsmanship skill, the way she held it was already a mess. After all, the one using the sword is someone who is holding it for the first time. Rosaline’s eyes lit up as she looked at the sword, like a child who was given a toy as a gift.
“… Rosaline… Being cute is good, but… Sob… Sob…”
“Is this mine?”
“No… That’s my sword… You can’t use this because it’s heavy… Eh? No, isn’t it heavy, Rosaline?”
Rosaline shrugged and held the bastard sword with her fingertips.
Seeing Raymond open his mouth, Calyx hastily spoke, “During her recovery, Sister focused on strength training! After losing her memory, she judged that the sword would be too dangerous to handle, so she trained twice, even three times more than usual!”
“I did?”
“Yes! Yes, you did, Sister!”
During her time on sick leave, Rosaline ate, slept, and played all day. Her own memories and Calyx’s remarks made Rosaline’s eyes gleam with a puzzled look on her face as Calyx spent a considerable amount of time speaking in detail about how passionately she had trained. Raymond nodded his head awkwardly.
“Isn’t that great? Rosaline, you were a little weak in strength, but you made up for it well during your break. Somehow, people will become strange if they get hit in the head. Haha, I remember that one time when I was hurt, my grandfather, who died five years ago, called me from the River of Light to come to him.”
“Why did you not go?”
“No, Rosaline… If you go there, you will be in trouble…”
Raymond exchanged a few silly jokes before returning to his serious face. Objectively speaking, Rosaline was a decent knight. Among the female knights who emphasized skills and resourcefulness rather than strength, she was already at a high level. Rosaline was also highly valued for her sincerity. So after a brief probationary period, she was immediately promoted to a junior knight. However, unlike with the apprentice knights, many skills were required to advance from a junior knight. One won’t be able to surpass this rank with just a little bit of skill.
