Chapter 96
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 96
Unable to contain the emotions swelling within me like a balloon, I pulled him into my arms without hesitation.
Lahedis had grown so much taller over the past decade that embracing him was almost overwhelming for me, yet I held him as tightly as I could.
It was something I'd always wanted to do whenever I thought of meeting Rachel.
I felt Lahedis's body stiffen at the sudden embrace.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him my answer to his feelings.
"My answer has been decided for a long time now, Lahedis."
"...."
"I like you."
Whether you're a woman or a man.
Even if danger comes from being by your side.
Thump, thump.
I hoped my sincere heartbeat would reach you.
But Lahedis, who had been frozen stiff, instead pushed me away.
As I looked at him in confusion, Lahedis furrowed his brow as if troubled and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
For a moment, it seemed like he was muttering a quiet curse.
Yet even then, his gaze remained fixed on me.
"Again."
"...What?"
"Say what you just said again. Look me in the eyes."
In those blue eyes staring intently at me, overwhelming emotions were swirling.
Only then did my bold confession embarrass me, and I averted my gaze, biting my lip.
"...If you didn't hear it, I want to take it back."
Of course, there was some spite mixed in—toward someone who constantly teased and played tricks on me all this time.
But Lahedis simply placed me on his lap, leaving me no way to escape.
"What, what are you doing?"
As I looked up at him in shock, Lahedis met my gaze as if he'd been waiting for this moment.
"You really won't say it?"
With that handsome face pleading.
'Ugh, this face is the problem.'
No, wait. The problem is my heart growing weak to this face.
Lahedis showed no intention of letting me go until he heard what he wanted.
In the end, I pretended to give in and stammered while looking into Lahedis's eyes.
"...I like you."
"Your voice is too quiet; I can't hear you well."
I could see the mischief glinting in his eyes. Spurred by stubbornness, I forgot my embarrassment and shouted.
"I like you!"
Lahedis's lips curved upward with satisfaction upon hearing the answer he'd been waiting for.
Before I could even admire that smile, Lahedis pulled me into his arms.
So firmly that I could feel his heartbeat racing at the same pace as mine.
"I love you too."
Hearing the sweet whisper against my ear, I drew Lahedis into my embrace.
For a long time, so this moment would be etched into memory.
* * *
The knights gathered at the Imperial Knight Order Training Ground broke into cold sweat at the unbelievable sight before their eyes.
Already the tenth one.
Their comrades were falling like autumn leaves, unable to withstand a single opponent.
Against one man—Dane Lowsweed.
The sparring had begun like this.
Dane, who had come to personally oversee knight training for once, declared they needed to rebuild their basic stamina and ordered laps around the training ground.
When the knights panicked at this, he made them a proposal.
[How about this: for every one of you I defeat in one-on-one sparring, you add another lap. Any objections?]
The knights readily accepted the proposal.
'Even if he was a hero back in the day, he'd struggle to beat more than five of us.'
They weren't ordinary people, after all—they were elite knights who had passed rigorous examinations and received professional training upon joining the order.
'He might easily overpower a couple through skill, but physically, anything beyond that would be difficult.'
The knights, hoping to minimize their laps somehow, sent out their most promising peers—those considered aces within the order.
But it was a miscalculation on their part.
"That makes ten laps. Who's next?"
The knights swallowed hard as they watched their tenth fallen comrade.
'So it wasn't just his face that hadn't rusted—his skills hadn't either....'
'At this point, calling him a hero seems less fitting than calling him a monster...?'
At this rate, all thirty members of the 2nd Knight Order would end up running thirty laps total....
The knights were exchanging glances and deliberating over who would go next when
the door to the indoor training ground burst open, and knights from the 1st Knight Order who had gone to the Art Museum to escort Allen rushed in.
"Did you guys hear the news? The Edelwein princess we thought was dead is actually alive!"
"And get this—the princess is actually male! Even more shocking, the 2nd Commander's daughter is dating that guy―"
The 1st Knight Order knights, excitedly chattering about the freshly acquired gossip, froze mid-sentence.
Because they had locked eyes with Vivian's father—the very subject of this rumor.
'We're done for....'
Those who had spread the rumor, those connected to the rumor, and those who were currently getting thoroughly beaten by someone connected to the rumor.
The suffocating silence between them was broken by the Emperor's Chief Attendant, who suddenly appeared.
"Lord Lowsweed, His Majesty requests your presence."
Dane's eyes grew cold and sharp.
Given the timing of this rumor's spread, it was obvious what the Emperor would want to discuss with him.
He sheathed his sword with a quiet sigh.
"...The sparring ends here. Keep running ten laps while I'm gone."
He left the training ground following the Chief Attendant, leaving his sighing subordinates behind.
'The princess was male, they said.'
Turning the rumor over in his mind, Dane recalled the hazy face of Rachel from his fading memories.
Ten years ago, when Vivian was kidnapped.
I saw the gleam in Rachel's eyes as he mistook me for one of the kidnappers and moved to stop me.
It was but a fleeting moment, yet the murderous intent that flickered in those pupils was unmistakable.
'I thought the gaze of a mere ten-year-old was rather sharp....'
It was never simple friendship.
'That man has been obsessed with Vivian since back then....'
At the same time, a man bearing a similar face came to mind.
Lahedis's face—the one who always stood by Vivian's side at the Duke's Mansion.
'...I thought he looked familiar, but he was no ordinary escort knight.'
As I organized the rumors and memories in my head, I had already arrived before the Emperor's Bedchamber.
"Your Majesty, I have brought Lord Dane Lowsweed."
"Let him in."
An urgent voice returned as if he had been waiting.
Upon entering the bedchamber, I saw Orpen still dressed in a bed gown despite the daylight hour.
As expected, his hands trembled ever so slightly.
I pretended not to notice and offered proper courtesy to the Emperor.
"You summoned me, Your Majesty."
"Did you know? That your daughter has been consorting with the child of that traitor."
It was Orpen's plan to have Allen propose to Vivian.
Regardless of other matters, I had heard with my own ears and witnessed with my own eyes that Dane held his daughter in contempt.
If Vivian and Allen were to marry, I believed that even if Dane joined hands with Kaltz, he would not stand against his son-in-law's house.
But as a result, rather than placing a leash on Dane....
'That man I saw at the Hunting Festival...!'
The fact that the child was alive had been exposed to the world.
Leopfried's specter, whom I thought I had killed and disposed of, had returned alive. At last.
When Orpen attached vulgar epithets to Vivian, my expression hardened despite myself, but I quickly returned to my usual impassive face.
"This is the first I have heard of it."
"And you expect me to believe that now?"
"I have heard nothing separate from my daughter. After returning home, I will confirm the facts and return tomorrow―"
"Are you not conspiring with the Duke behind the scenes?"
Unfamiliar with the detailed circumstances, I attempted to end the conversation here, but Orpen, consumed by anxiety, continued his interrogation, ignoring my intent.
Weary of this, I pointed out the fact he was overlooking.
"Your Majesty, it is merely a rumor thus far. We do not yet know whether that person is truly the Princess, or merely a fraud posing as one, do we?"
"It's that brat! I saw her! I saw with these two eyes that she was alive!"
I attempted to reassure Orpen, at least temporarily, but instead he cried out in a fit.
His eyes, consumed by fear, gleamed with madness.
"If you wish to prove your innocence, separate that man from your daughter and have her accept Allen's proposal."
It was at that moment the mask I had worn, feigning indifference all along, cracked.
My clenched fists, held behind my back, tightened with force.
I should never have let Vivian be touched.
That child alone.
"Your Majesty."
Dane stepped half a pace closer to Orpen and spoke.
"Do you truly distrust me so?"
In Dane's eyes as he posed the question, unconcealed hostility gleamed without restraint.
Orpen, meeting that gaze, involuntarily trembled.
It was the instinct of the weak.
Dane looked down upon such an Orpen with eyes of utter contempt and continued.
"Then cast me out."
"...."
"Of course, along with the Demon King's heart Your Majesty so desperately desired."
It was an unmistakable threat.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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