The Vice Commander, Philip Meyer (1)
The silence stretched between us.
“…Huh?”
What did he just say I rode? Poison?
Edwin stared at Philip with a face drained of all color.
“It was a joke.”
The vice commander’s unreadable quip left a heavy quiet hanging between them.
Edwin, who had been squirming under the awkward atmosphere, finally gathered his courage.
“Um, Sir Philip. Why did you help me earlier?”
It was a question that had been floating around in his head the entire training session.
Philip glanced at him and answered curtly.
“Your posture was a mess, so I simply pointed it out.”
It was an extremely logical response.
Edwin felt a little embarrassed but forced a smile anyway.
“R-right. Thanks! Thanks to you, Sir Philip, I was able to run much more comfortably than at the start.”
Philip stared intently at the imperial prince who had just thanked him.
His expression was impossible to read.
Is there something on my face?
Feeling self-conscious, Edwin wiped both cheeks with his sleeve.
“…Your Highness is quite different from what I expected.”
With that cryptic remark, Philip rose from his seat.
“Whatever the commander said to you, try not to pay it too much mind.”
He brushed the grass off his pants as he spoke.
“He may look like a grown man, but he has a childish, petty side to him.”
Had he overheard the conversation between Jerome and me?
Edwin blinked in surprise.
“Still, since you’ve decided to participate in the training, it would be best to give it your all.”
Philip swept his bangs back and turned away.
The knight’s sharp eyes fixed on the young prince.
“Opportunities to train alongside the empire’s strongest knights don’t come often.”
“Y-yeah! I’ll do my best!”
Edwin shot up from his seat and nodded vigorously.
Seeing that, Philip turned and walked back toward the other knights.
A faint smile, so subtle no one else would notice, lingered at the corners of the young vice commander’s mouth.
“So he caught your fancy, did he?”
Training had just ended.
Someone blocked Philip’s path as he headed back to the barracks.
It was Jerome Crown.
“You helped that kid even after hearing what I said to him.”
Jerome was clearly in a foul mood.
First the nanny had rejected him, then the prince, and now even his own vice commander had openly sided with the boy.
The vice commander, Philip, replied indifferently, as if unaware of the storm brewing inside his superior.
“What exactly did you say to him, Commander?”
“You little—!”
“I merely did what any training instructor should do.”
Philip let out a small sigh and continued.
“Why would you do something so unlike yourself, sir?”
“Unlike myself?”
“Throwing a tantrum just because things aren’t going your way is something only children do.”
“What? A child?”
Jerome’s face flushed red at his subordinate’s blunt criticism.
“You— I’ve been too easy on you, haven’t I…?”
“I have served you for nearly ten years now. Yet I have no memory of ever being ‘easy’ on you.”
“Hah!”
Jerome let out a hollow laugh, utterly dumbfounded.
Philip continued with a perfectly serious face.
“No matter how much it’s for His Highness Adrian’s sake, using the Third Prince as a shield is not right.”
At the vice commander’s straightforward words, Jerome shot him a glare.
Philip Meyer, you stubborn bastard.
That’s right. The vice commander of the Gloria Knights had always been this kind of man.
A mere twenty-eight-year-old rookie.
Yet he drew a clear line between right and wrong and never crossed it—nor allowed anyone else to.
He was the very model of a righteous knight, a rarity in these times.
But like all righteousness, Philip had a special talent for annoying and irritating people.
“You think you’re the only one who can speak the truth? Think again.”
Jerome clicked his tongue in irritation.
“Tsk. I have no intention of doing that anymore, so don’t worry.”
He muttered under his breath.
“It’s not like that kid is my only option.”
Jerome roughly swept a hand through his hair.
“The Third Prince? That pathetic whelp who looks like he couldn’t even eat porridge? I never cared about him in the first place!”
“Is that so.”
“Yes! So from now on, I’m going to make sure he can’t participate in training anymore—”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
The vice commander cut him off.
“You wouldn’t want to go back on your own word, would you, Commander?”
“What?”
Jerome’s eyebrows shot up.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You left midway through, so you may not know, but His Highness Edwin completed today’s training to the very end.”
“Don’t lie to me. The amount of training we did today was enough to exhaust even the knights—”
“Have I ever lied to you, Commander?”
The sincerity in Philip’s eyes left Jerome speechless.
“…You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
He had been certain the boy would give up halfway or collapse.
That was why he had deliberately thrown out that mocking challenge.
Jerome recalled what he had said to the prince and felt his blood run cold.
“That’s impossible! How could that scrawny, half-dead colt possibly endure the entire training?!”
“I’m curious about that as well.”
Philip’s eyes curved in amusement.
“That’s why I’d like to observe him myself.”
“Hah. And who was the one who said we absolutely must not let the prince into the knight order?”
“It was you, Commander, who said the Second Empress was nothing to fear.”
Jerome frowned deeply at Philip’s reply.
“…So you really have taken a liking to the Third Prince.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“Good grief. What have you gotten yourself fixated on this time?”
Jerome clicked his tongue at the unexpected turn of events.
After pondering for a long while, he finally raised both hands in surrender.
“Fine. Do as you please. I don’t even want to look at that kid anymore.”
Jerome turned on his heel and headed toward the training grounds.
“Round up the men. Since the prince managed to endure that much, the others must be full of energy. Let’s have some sparring.”
“…Understood.”
It seemed today was simply an unlucky day for the Gloria Knights.
“Did something good happen today?”
When Edwin returned from training, he was grinning from ear to ear for no apparent reason.
Even now, as I was helping him change out of his sweaty clothes.
“Hmm? A lot happened.”
“Was it something good?”
Edwin seemed to think deeply about my question before nodding firmly.
“Yeah! It was a good thing!”
“What kind of good thing?”
He had been looking at me with a strange expression, but suddenly broke into a wide grin.
“I met someone who’s a lot like you.”
What? Did he get hit in the head during training?
He didn’t seem entirely in his right mind.
“…Someone like me?”
That didn’t sound like something worth celebrating.
He hadn’t been getting beaten up out there, had he?
“Yeah. Someone who looks cold but actually has a really nosy personality.”
Was that supposed to be a compliment?
I looked down at the grinning prince with a steady gaze.
It was a little annoying that he was teasing me and laughing about it, but it was still better than seeing him depressed like before.
“…Was that the only good thing?”
At my follow-up question, Edwin quickly turned his head toward me.
“No, there’s more! Even though they doubled my training load today, I managed to finish everything!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! It was incredibly hard. But I held on and finished it all! Pretty amazing, right?”
He wagged his imaginary tail like a puppy begging for praise.
“Yes. You did very well.”
Even as I praised him, a question lingered in my mind.
It’s just basic physical conditioning, but it should still be too much for him.
This was only Edwin’s second day participating in the knight order’s training.
Yet he kept up even after they doubled the load?
Did he truly have a natural talent for this?
“Your Highness. Look here.”
“Huh?”
He stared at my clenched fist.
“Wait, why are you making a fist all of a sudd—”
“Try to dodge it.”
“What?”
Thud—
Contrary to my expectations, Edwin took the punch square in the face and clutched his nose.
“Ow ow ow! My nose! That hurts! What the heck?!”
“Hmm. Not quite.”
People with natural physical talent usually had excellent reflexes as well.
But Edwin had failed to dodge even after I warned him.
So he’s not a genius after all.
Maybe he was simply blessed with good stamina?
“What do you mean ‘not quite’?! Why did you suddenly hit me?!”
He flailed his arms like an angry sparrow.
“I told you to dodge, didn’t I?”
“You— You really—!”
I caught Edwin’s wildly swinging fists.
Then I forced him onto the bed and wrapped him tightly in the blanket.
“Hey! It’s stuffy!”
“The temperature swings wildly between day and night these days. You might catch a cold again, so you must sleep with the blanket on.”
Edwin’s eyes widened at my words.
“Wait, are you actually worried about me?”
“You have training again tomorrow, so you need to take care of your body.”
“…Seriously, you have zero charm. Zero.”
“What did you say?”
“Never mind! You ruined my mood!”
Why was he suddenly sulking?
He had been giggling just a moment ago.
I stared quietly at Edwin, who had pulled the blanket all the way over his head.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I had no intention of spoiling your mood.”
The blanket bundle wriggled faintly, as if complaining.
“…Still, I’m glad that only good things happened today.”
This time the blanket stayed perfectly still.
I let out a soft chuckle at the sight.
“Have a peaceful night.”
Rustle.
Edwin waited until Rachel had left the room before cautiously poking his head out from under the blanket.
“Hmph. I’m not sleeping, you idiot Rachel.”
The young prince hugged the blanket to his chest and pouted.
—Still, I’m glad that only good things happened today.
In truth, not everything had been good.
He just hadn’t wanted to burden her with unnecessary worries, so he kept quiet.
Edwin recalled Jerome threatening him.
Even now, just thinking about that moment made his legs go weak with fear.
But…
It was okay to be scared.
Edwin murmured to himself as he gazed up at the ceiling.
Strangely enough, even when bad things happened now, they didn’t hurt as much as they used to.
Because he knew that when he returned to the prince’s palace, there were people waiting for him.
“Haaam.”
Emilia, Catherine, and Rachel.
As he pictured the three women’s faces, Edwin slowly closed his eyes.
The young prince’s face, no longer needing to fall asleep in sorrow, was perfectly serene.