The Knights' Resolve
‘No, more precisely…’
Perhaps it was that he wanted Kaiden to win.
Edwin lowered his eyes.
— Your Highness.
It was the day the founding festival ended and the Adamant delegation returned to their homeland.
Kaiden’s words echoed in his ears.
— You seem to have talent with the sword. If you continue to hone it, you could become an excellent swordsman.
It might have been nothing more than a polite remark.
Yet simply hearing those words from the Knight King had given him tremendous strength in his sword training.
Whether Kaiden knew that or not…
“Your Highness Edwin!”
The voices of the knights pulled Edwin from his thoughts.
They had already finished their grumbling and were moving on to the next training exercise.
“Afternoon training is resuming! Let’s head to the archery range!”
“Ah, right!”
“By the way, Your Highness.”
Edwin lifted his head at Phinet’s voice. The knight had somehow appeared at his side.
“If all the direct imperial family members are participating in the subjugation, then Your Highness will be joining the monster-hunting campaign as well?”
“…Yes.”
Edwin gave a small nod.
“Probably.”
In the past, whatever happened outside the palace would have been none of his concern. But things were different now.
Since the Emperor had acknowledged him as a prince, he had to fulfill those duties as well.
‘If this subjugation campaign is what will decide the Crown Prince’s position, then I need to work even harder.’
His goal was to distinguish himself from the other princes by achieving merit in the campaign.
“Then… did you already know about it?”
Phinet looked down at the young prince and asked.
“That question you asked earlier—it sounded like you already knew you’d be participating in the monster subjugation.”
The question about what to do if they had to fight an incredibly powerful monster.
Phinet couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about it.
“Uh, well…”
Should he say yes, or no?
Just as Edwin hesitated, Phinet draped an arm around his shoulders again.
“Of course, no matter the situation, my answer would have been the same.”
“Huh?”
Phinet winked at the bewildered Edwin.
“Even if some powerful monster comes charging at us, the Third Knights will protect Your Highness.”
Edwin’s eyes widened at those words.
For a moment, he couldn’t think of how to respond.
Then, without thinking, he asked,
“W-why?”
“What? Well, because…”
Phinet frowned, looking puzzled by the question.
Then his face broke into a bright smile.
“Because Your Highness Edwin is a member of the Third Knights.”
“That’s right!”
Perhaps they all felt the same way.
The moment Phinet finished speaking, knights chimed in from all around.
“Who else would we protect if not Your Highness?”
“His Majesty the Emperor has the First and Second Knights to look after him!”
“Even so, saying something so disrespectful—if someone overhears, what then?”
Bata, another knight who had approached, scolded his comrades for their careless words.
He lowered his head and whispered softly near the prince’s ear.
“But I agree with them. Rather than protecting some high-ranking nobles whose faces I don’t even know, it would be far more rewarding to protect a prince who has sweated and struggled alongside us commoners.”
Edwin stared at Bata in surprise.
The giant knight winked at him.
“Since this will be a joint operation, the entire Gloria Knights will likely participate. We’ll be able to fight alongside Your Highness Edwin as well.”
Phinet, standing on the opposite side, chuckled.
“You’re just as disrespectful, Bata.”
“Shut it, Phinet.”
It was a strange feeling.
Edwin looked between the two bickering knights, then at the other members of the Third Knights walking ahead.
‘What is this feeling?’
His eyes stung with tears, but he wasn’t sad.
Something deep in his chest grew hot, then ached.
It didn’t hurt. Instead, it felt overwhelming—like the sensation of catching his breath after sprinting at full speed.
“So from now on, until the campaign begins,”
Phinet lightly poked Edwin’s back with his elbow as the prince walked along in a daze.
“let’s roll up our sleeves and train hard together, Your Highness Edwin.”
Any other prince would have called it insolence.
But Edwin was different.
“…Yes!”
The Third Prince nodded brightly, his face lighting up with joy.
“Then let’s race to the archery range! The last one there gives up all their snacks!”
“Aah, Phinet, you sneaky bastard!”
The moment Phinet shouted and took off running, the other knights who had been walking leisurely broke into a sprint as well.
“That thoughtless fool.”
Bata clicked his tongue but picked up his pace.
“Your Highness Edwin, you’re automatically participating too!”
“Uh, uh-huh!”
Snacks were something he could have as much of as he wanted back at the prince’s palace.
Even so, Edwin began running alongside the knights.
“Wait for me!”
Edwin shouted as he pumped his arms and ran.
He glanced down at his palms mid-stride.
Unlike before, they were covered in calluses—rough to look at, but strangely satisfying.
‘…Yeah. I can do this.’
His once-delicate hands, which used to get cut by the smallest twig, could now fall onto sharp gravel without a single mark.
So he, too, could become much stronger than he was now.
Just as his once-soft palms had grown rough like Rachel’s.
* * *
“Your Highness the Consort, is something troubling you?”
The head maid of the Second Consort’s palace watched her mistress carefully.
Helena, the Second Consort, with her lustrous golden hair and sunset-red eyes, had paused while dressing and was staring intently into the mirror.
“This dress.”
Helena ran her palm over the waist of the half-worn dress.
“Who made it?”
“Pardon? Ah, of course, our seamstresses in the embroidery room…”
“The embroidery here wasn’t done by the usual girls.”
The head maid looked flustered and couldn’t answer.
Just then, one of the seamstresses stepped forward.
“As expected, Your Highness has a keen eye.”
The maid gently pushed forward a small child who had been standing behind her.
Helena tilted her head at the sight of the child.
“I don’t recognize this face. A new arrival?”
“Yes. She originally worked in the embroidery room of the Emperor’s palace. Her embroidery skills are exceptional.”
An embroidery maid from the Emperor’s palace.
Helena’s eyes narrowed slightly.
She had heard that a maid from the Emperor’s palace had been transferred, but she hadn’t paid it much attention.
She had been too busy holding meetings with the nobles supporting the Second Prince over the news of the large-scale monster subjugation campaign.
“…I quite like the embroidery.”
White peonies were lavishly stitched along the waist.
As if the girl had known Helena’s fondness for that flower.
“You.”
Helena finished dressing and turned around.
The child stood below the dais, bowing politely. Only the top of her head was visible.
“What is your name?”
At the consort’s question, the child bowed even lower.
Then she answered in a small but clear voice.
“My name is Lily, Your Highness the Second Consort.”
“Very well. May I entrust you with the dress I’ll wear to next week’s banquet?”
Assigning work directly to a newly arrived attendant.
It seemed the young maid’s embroidery skills had greatly pleased the consort.
“What? Really? If you entrust it to me, I’ll do my very best!”
The child named Lily beamed, clearly delighted to receive her superior’s trust. Her smile was bright and transparent, without a hint of hidden motive.
“Then all of you may—”
Just as Helena was about to dismiss the other maids, one of them rushed in from outside and whispered urgently to the head maid.
The head maid’s expression changed noticeably before quickly returning to normal.
“Your Highness Helena.”
The head maid approached Helena’s side.
She whispered in a voice so low that no one else could hear.
“Baron Miller and the temple representatives have arrived at the imperial capital.”
“They’re here now? It’s not the promised date yet.”
“Then they must have found the Prophet’s whereabouts.”
The moment she heard those words, Helena’s expression shifted.
A truly menacing light flickered across her face, which had only ever been dangerously beautiful.
“If they come to my palace, bring them to the reception room.”
The head maid bowed deeply instead of answering.
She signaled the other maids with her eyes to leave.
The maids who exited Helena’s chambers each let out a sigh of relief and quickly returned to their posts.
The new embroidery maid, ‘Lily,’ also slipped out of the room, her eyes sparkling.
‘The Prophet.’
She never thought she would hear that word here.
Lily’s clear, glass-like eyes gleamed.
‘And Baron Miller.’
Among the imperial noble families her true master had told her about, there was no such house.
That meant he was a newly risen noble.
‘I should report this as well.’
With a smile on her face, Lily descended the stairs at a steady pace.
She needed to inform a certain woman in this vast imperial palace—the one she secretly met with often—about this matter too.