Chapter 9:
Even when faced with limitations, Rosaline did not get frustrated and continued to work hard. She practiced harder than anyone and studied more than anyone. Rosaline honed her strengths and tried not to ignore her weaknesses. Even those who initially disregarded her because she was just a female knight changed their minds when they saw her hard work.
Upon hearing the news that she had been promoted to a senior knight, Raymond rejoiced as if it were his own promotion. He rejoiced because her hard work was not in vain. He had even gotten hit for attempting to kiss the deputy commander who had informed him of her promotion. Therefore, she could not just give it up.
This is what Rosaline had hoped for and what she wanted to protect. Now, even if Rosaline had forgotten him, the important thing is that she wasn’t gone. She couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity. Raymond took back the sword that she had been holding.
He held the sword upright. The wide bastard sword’s blade half covered his face. Rosaline silently watched his every move.
“You can’t even hold a sword properly right now… What can you do if you return to the Knights Order, Rosaline?”
“Even so…”
“Even so?”
“I have to go.”
“Why?”
Raymond raised the sword in front of his face. Past the sharp blade of the sword, he could see Rosaline’s shining eyes.
“To protect the Master of the White Night.”
Raymond chuckled. She was said to have lost her memory, but she still remembered the most important thing. Just like the old Rosaline, who excelled at understanding the key issues anytime, anywhere. He didn’t know that ability would still work even in this situation.
Raymond laughed and widened his distance. Calyx also noticed what Raymond was trying to do and backed away a bit.
“Look, Rosaline, and remember. Remember well.”
Raymond closed his eyes for a moment, then started moving as he opened them. Although he was as strikingly tall as Calyx, he was also quick. His movements were precise and flowed as naturally as water. These were the most basic movements of the Illavenian Empire’s swordsmanship. Rosaline looked at each of the gestures his figure made carefully.
‘Look, and remember well.’
As he said, she was watching without blinking an eye. As Raymond moved, her green eyes flickered. It was a terrifying concentration. Stabbing, cutting, blocking. The sword tip points towards the sky and then cuts through the air, grazing the ground. A strong wind blew in every space the sword passed. Despite the distance, the sword’s sharpness was unmistakable.
“Huff. Huff”
Raymond stopped moving. His sword returned to the front of his face in the same position as he had started. By the time the smile returned to his serious face, Rosaline finally blinked her stiff eyes.
“That’s it! If you know how to do all of this, you’re already halfway there. Actually, you used to work more with your head than your body, so the rest is to learn step by step…”
“One more time.”
“Hmm?”
Rosaline frowned. Her expression said, ‘Why are you bothering me to say it twice?’
“One more time.”
Raymond prattled, ‘Huh… what? Oh, Sure,’ Then he did the second demonstration in a hurry. Raymond remembered when he had just begun learning the sword as a child. He used to practice hundreds of times a day. At the time, he was tired and felt like he was going crazy, but looking back now, it was all a distant memory. When he finished his second demonstration while smirking inwardly…
“One more time.”
“… I… Why are you so eager, Rosaline?”
So Raymond did it. One more time. One more time. One more time. Until the painful memories in the past became his current reality. Listening to her endless ‘one more time’, his sword moved non-stop for several hours. Until night came, and the moonlight shone brightly on the blade of the sword.
“I’m going to charge you… I’m going to charge you for the swordsmanship class!”
“Sure. Calyx has a lot of money.”
“Damn it! That’s right!”
“…”
Calyx looked at their conversation as if it were nonsense. Raymond gasped and laid bonelessly on the sofa. Except for a few buttons, he had unbuttoned every part of the uniform he was wearing all the way to the neck. The old Rosaline would have shouted if she had seen his state at the moment.
“My sincere gratitude, Sir Raymond. Would you like to have dinner with us?”
Raymond waved his hands. He didn’t seem to have the strength to answer.
“I have to go back soon. Huff. I appreciate the offer, but I have a busy schedule. Anyway, what is the use of my hard work today? She didn’t even move her body and only looked at me?”
Calyx chuckled.
“Sister has an excellent memory.”
“That’s a good thing. However, there is an inauguration ceremony in two weeks. Until then, please… That… What should be done about Rosaline’s speech…”
“…”
“The 2nd Prince himself will conduct the inauguration ceremony of those appointed as senior knights. At that time, he will declare, ‘Sir Rosaline Radwiell will be appointed as a senior knight!’ Great, then what? Shouldn’t this situation be stopped? Just imagining what can happen afterward is scary enough.”
Calyx trembled in agreement. Two weeks. Rosaline had only two weeks left to learn swordsmanship and etiquette.
Today, Raymond had managed to find a little time in his busy schedule. He told her that perhaps the next time they would meet would be in the Imperial Palace.
“Umm, okay,” replied Rosaline, making Calyx and Raymond feel a chill down their spines again.
Raymond soon left the mansion, sent off by the siblings. Rosaline came back down to the training ground with the rapier that had hung in her room. Even though Calyx and the maid had announced it was time to eat, she stood in the center of the arena, closed her eyes, and remained motionless.
Rosaline drew her sword. It was a different sword in shape and weight than Raymond’s bastard sword. But she moved without hesitation. Calyx watched her silently. Thanks to Raymond’s hours of demonstration, she clearly remembered the sequence and shape of the movements. But it was still very awkward. It was her first time holding a sword, and her gripping method was also a mess, so it didn’t look natural. But each time she wielded the sword, her form began to be refined a little.
Many restrictions made it difficult for her to imitate Raymond, whose physique was significantly different. After swinging her sword a few times, she seemed to realize it. She might have instinctively learned as she wielded her sword countless times. She did not blindly follow Raymond’s movements, but she understood exactly what the movements meant. Cutting, stabbing, blocking, attacking, defending, and strengthening the center of the body.
She continued to find her own style in Raymond’s moves. Rosaline’s physique, the strength of this body now, and the length of the sword. All in all, her method was reasonable and very clever. Within a few hours, she was able to show off her strong swordsmanship, like someone who had been wielding a sword for years.
Like the way Raymond held his sword, she finished her training with the sword in front of her face. With her eyes closed and the white moonlight shining behind her, her wavy black hair fluttered and melted into the night sky.
***
The Holy Empire of Illavenia: the country where Idelavhim drove out Crean Tidanion, the god of darkness, and brought light into the world. Its size is worthy of the widespread prestige spoken of in every corner of the continent. The dazzlingly bright white castle stretched out so broad and so high that no matter how far you looked, you couldn’t see the end.
Rosaline was busy admiring the beautiful castle and mansions through the carriage window. White. Many of them. These high castles, which followed certain rules, had a very different nature from the forest in which ‘It’ had lived. This quiet place was beautiful, yet she still disliked it even as she continued to like it a lot. Her instincts roared.
Calyx, who had always been by Rosaline’s side, was no longer with her. She was the only one who left for the capital city, Tigard. As the stand-in for the Count, Calyx had an obligation to maintain Radwiell County. Only the memories of Calyx’s endless nagging and his eyes filled with worry for Rosaline remained with her.
‘You must not do it. That’s not okay. This doesn’t work. If you do that, you’ll be in trouble. No.’ There are so many things one shouldn’t do. Humans were a race full of hardships.
“Rosaline!”
Even after passing through the gates of the Imperial Castle, the carriage continued for a long time. As soon as Rosaline got off, she could see Raymond running from afar. Raymond stopped in front of her, gasping for breath.
“Long time no see, Sir Raymond. Have you been well?”
“…It’s okay to be comfortable with me, Rosaline.”
Raymond caught a glimpse of someone’s efforts in her neat appearance. His tears were about to fall. Raymond unloaded her luggage from her wagon. Then, his apprentice knights also carried them to her dormitory. It was a clean and large building. Raymond said she was not yet formally ordained, but she was moved to a spacious and cozy room because of her promotion to a senior knight. There wasn’t much luggage to fill in that wide space. A few pure white uniforms, a few swords, casual clothes, and daily necessities are all she brought. As she roughly threw down her luggage, Raymond pulled them out one by one and organized it.
