A Guest in the Third Prince's Palace (6)
“This is the barracks of the Gloria Knights.”
“Ah.”
Kaiden let out a sound that was almost a sigh of admiration.
“So this is the knight order led by the Empire’s Sword.”
He stared at the Gloria Knights building for a long time before letting out a soft chuckle.
His face had been completely serious, so the sudden laughter made me curious about the reason.
In the end, I forgot my resolution not to engage in personal conversation with him and asked.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I was just thinking that even buildings resemble their owners.”
Jerome, the Empire’s Sword, was the Duke of Crown before he was a knight. It was only natural that the barracks of the knight order led by the head of the most powerful ducal house would be extravagant.
Indeed, the building seemed to carry a similar atmosphere to Jerome, who loved showing off almost as much as he loved demonstrating his skill.
“Oh, I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
At that moment, familiar figures emerged from the barracks.
They were Duke Jerome Crown, Commander of the Gloria Knights, and his Vice Commander, Sir Philip.
Speak of the tiger and it appears.
Jerome approached Kaiden with a welcoming expression, only to flinch slightly. His gaze landed on me standing beside Kaiden, and his brow furrowed.
“Are you frowning at me right now?”
Kaiden looked at Jerome’s reaction and wore an expression of utter disbelief.
“I was simply standing here. That’s all.”
“It can’t be because of His Highness.”
“Then what is it?”
Probably because of me.
Not only had I rejected his offer to take Edwin as his disciple, but I had also thrown a few cutting remarks at him. It was no wonder he wouldn’t look at me favorably.
“We greet Your Majesty the King.”
Jerome, who had quickly composed his expression, approached us and offered a warm greeting.
“Did you rest well last night?”
“Thanks to you.”
Kaiden lightly narrowed his eyes and gave a small nod. Though his mouth wasn’t smiling at all, the smile in his eyes was so perfect that it looked as if he truly were laughing.
Not that I could tell what emotion lay behind that smile.
“But how is it that you wander around with only a single woman as your escort and no guards? No matter what, this is still the imperial palace of another country.”
Kaiden’s martial prowess had already been proven on countless battlefields. Even so, it was beyond common sense for a king to roam freely inside another nation’s imperial palace without any escort.
“It’s fine.”
Yet Kaiden answered cleanly, as if mocking such common sense entirely.
“At least within this imperial palace, there is no one who can harm me.”
At his answer, a faint crack appeared in Jerome’s brow.
There were countless ways to interpret that statement. One of them was, Even the Empire’s Sword is no match for me.
It was a remark one could not dare utter without looking down on a duke.
“And if necessary—”
But Kaiden continued speaking, regardless of whether Jerome found it unpleasant.
“—this person will protect me.”
He even made a show of hiding behind my back and clinging tightly to me as he spoke.
“She guarded my bedchamber last night. You have no idea how reassuring it was.”
Hadn’t last night’s encounter been a secret, mutual agreement between the two of us? It wasn’t something to be casually revealed to others like this.
“Haha, is that so?”
Jerome looked at me with surprised eyes after hearing Kaiden’s words. His gaze seemed to say he hadn’t thought I was the type to do that just to raise my status.
Philip was also staring at me with a look of surprise.
“By the way, where are you all headed in such a hurry? You look quite busy.”
“We are on our way to the Emperor’s palace.”
Jerome had regained his composure and answered with a serious face.
“There was another monster attack last night.”
“...Which direction this time?”
At the words northwest, Kaiden’s thick eyebrows twitched.
He seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking again.
“In that case, may I accompany you? I have something urgent to discuss with His Imperial Majesty.”
“If you wish to see His Majesty, it would be better to request a formal audience…”
“Since the Duke, who is essentially the head of the imperial army, should know about this as well, it doesn’t matter.”
Kaiden added one more thing while looking at Jerome and Philip, who were staring at him as if demanding an explanation.
“It concerns the origin of the monsters.”
I frowned at one side of my face upon hearing Kaiden’s words.
The origin of the monsters?
The principle behind how monsters came into existence had never been revealed. The most credible hypothesis was that monsters appeared in places where highly concentrated mana had condensed, similar to mana stones.
The monster I saw in Luxen also appeared near the mana stone mine.
Could it be that during the one-year gap after my death and before my rebirth, something new had been discovered about the origin of monsters?
While I was lost in these thoughts, Jerome gave Kaiden a small nod.
“It seems the timing is perfect. His Imperial Majesty also mentioned that he had urgent matters to discuss with Your Majesty regarding the monster subjugation. Let us go together.”
At the duke’s answer, Kaiden lightly shrugged his shoulders.
Then he turned to look at me.
“Thank you for guiding me, Lady Brown.”
He looked at my expressionless face and grinned.
“See you later, then.”
Instead of answering, I bent my knees in a polite curtsy.
Soon after, Kaiden left with Jerome and his party.
In the process, I felt Philip cast a quick glance in my direction.
He must have found it strange that I had been casually walking with the King of Adamant.
“Hmm.”
I frowned and lifted my head.
Dark clouds that didn’t match the bright spring weather were passing overhead.
For some reason, I had a bad feeling.
“Rachel, how was it?”
“What do you mean?”
Edwin asked with an excited face as I checked the bedding.
“I mean His Majesty the King of Adamant. What kind of person did he seem like after spending time with him?”
What kind of person Kaiden seemed like?
A suspicious and shameless man.
The moment I recalled how Kaiden had hidden behind my back the instant we met Jerome’s group in the garden, I reflexively frowned.
But that was only my personal opinion.
Edwin probably isn’t looking for that kind of answer.
I stopped fluffing the feathers clumped inside the blanket and looked up.
When our eyes met, Edwin grabbed the bedpost and rolled his eyes.
“Well… you must have talked with him a lot. I was curious what kind of conversations you had while touring the imperial palace.”
I didn’t remember having any particularly meaningful conversations.
I had only said what was necessary, and Kaiden had disappeared midway with Jerome’s group anyway.
“...If you’re asking what kind of person he is,”
I pondered for a moment before continuing.
“I’m not sure.”
Just as I said, he was a man whose inner thoughts were impossible to read.
His expressions and attitudes changed as quickly as if he were swapping masks. Even though he treated everything with a playful demeanor, there was an aura about him that made it impossible to take him lightly.
He was an awkward and suspicious man, like puzzle pieces that didn’t quite fit forced together.
Which means he has a lot to hide.
A person with many secrets cannot be trusted.
I had already classified Kaiden as my top priority target of caution.
A man whose heroic tales spread across the entire continent would not lower himself and act foolishly without some other scheme in mind.
People with hidden motives were the ones who needed to be kept at the greatest distance.
Of course, since he was a guest of the Third Prince’s Palace, completely avoiding him was impossible.
I continued speaking with an indifferent face.
“That is all I can tell Your Highness.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
Edwin openly showed his disappointment.
He let out a deep sigh and threw himself onto the bed.
“This is bad.”
“What is?”
“Well… Master gave me homework, and it’s related to Adamant.”
Homework from Sage?
What kind of assignment could make him look so serious?
I stared at Edwin in silence.
He took it upon himself to explain.
“He told me to come up with a way to conquer Adamant.”
Did he give that assignment knowing the King of Adamant was a guest at the Third Prince’s Palace?
That old man Sage really does have a peculiar personality.
“So I thought it would help if I knew what kind of person the King of Adamant was, but since even you don’t know…”
“You must have spoken with His Majesty as well, Your Highness.”
This time, I turned the question back on Edwin.
“What kind of person do you think he is?”
“Hmm? I…”
Edwin thought for a long time before clutching his temples and making a distressed face.
“I don’t know either. Honestly, I can’t even tell if he likes me or hates me.”
It would be easier to approach someone if you knew how they felt about you.
But Kaiden only showed such ambiguous behavior that Edwin couldn’t even make a guess.
“Ugh.”
Edwin rolled over and buried his face in the blanket, letting out a groan.
“So Your Highness believes that if you find a way to conquer the King of Adamant, you can conquer the country as well?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought at first…”
Well, in countries where royal authority was strong, the ruler’s weakness often became the nation’s weakness.
I pondered for a moment before slowly opening my mouth.
“Then you should look for his weakness.”
“Weakness?”
Edwin lifted his head at my words and slowly sat up.
Before I knew it, he was sitting on the bed, looking at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
“To bring a person down, you must attack their weakness. And a human’s weakness is usually…”
I kept my gaze fixed on Edwin as I continued.
“The thing that person loves the most.”