The Vice Commander, Philip Meyer (2)
Three months had passed since Third Prince Edwin began joining the knights' training.
Unlike at the start, Edwin now moved through the drills with noticeable skill.
One of the knights running alongside him spoke up.
“You’re keeping up quite well these days, Your Highness.”
Edwin rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking a little sheepish.
The other knights quickly chimed in from all around.
“True. At first you could barely keep up with our shadows.”
“You’ve improved a lot compared to the beginning.”
“At this rate, won’t Your Highness become a Gloria Knight too?”
“Right. If you join, one of us can leave.”
“What did you just say?”
Edwin let out a small laugh at their teasing.
It was a scene he never could have imagined during their first meeting.
This is mostly thanks to Catherine.
Edwin recalled the day Catherine first visited the knights’ quarters.
It had been about a week after he started training.
Catherine had come with Rachel to find the order.
Rachel coming along was one thing, but I never expected Catherine to show up too.
Rachel, for her part, looked as though she had bitten into something foul and clearly did not want to be there.
“Oh my~ Hello, Sir Knights! You must be exhausted from all this training!”
It was not only Edwin who was surprised. The Third Division knights were equally stunned.
Unlike the noble-born knights, these commoners rarely had any chance to meet women who worked in the imperial palace.
Now two such women stood before them.
While the knights stood frozen like nervous bachelors dragged before a matchmaker—
“Oh dear, where are my manners. I am Catherine Veil, chief maid to the Third Prince.”
Catherine placed a hand over her chest and curtsied.
She took the large basket Rachel was carrying and held it out for the knights to see.
“I brought some snacks to help you recover your strength. Please, help yourselves!”
Inside were sliced ham, apple pie, and milk.
The knights’ faces lit up at the sight.
“His Highness ordered plenty, so please eat as much as you like~!”
Edwin tilted his head at her words.
He had never given such an order.
Just as he was about to question her, Catherine smiled and gave a small shake of her head.
Rachel, standing beside her, also raised a finger to her lips.
While Edwin stood there blinking in confusion at the silent signals—
“Thank you, Your Highness!”
The knights’ resounding voices filled the training ground.
That was probably when everything began to change.
The way the Third Division knights looked at the prince started to shift.
After that, Catherine visited the knights every other day with snacks in hand.
Thanks to her, Edwin’s popularity among the Third Division soared day by day.
“Your Highness, that lady… does she have someone she’s seeing seriously?”
“That lady?”
“The one with the ivory hair. The angel.”
“Ah, you mean Catherine?”
“Yes!”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.”
“Uwooooooooh—!”
The knights let out a strange cheer at his answer.
Catherine’s popularity was rising just as quickly.
“Right. Thanks to you all, everyone’s been eating so well they can barely move.”
“Hrk— Vice Commander! When did you—!”
While they had been chatting, Philip had caught up to them.
“Ten more round trips.”
“Aaaagh! Vice Commander—! That’s too much—!”
The knights howled as they started running again.
Edwin sighed and moved to follow them.
“Your Highness.”
Philip stopped him.
“Could you spare me a moment?”
It was unexpected.
Edwin looked at him with wide eyes.
He did not refuse.
“Huh? Uh, sure.”
“This way, then.”
Philip turned, gesturing for him to follow.
It was rare for someone outside the Third Prince’s Palace to call him aside like this.
Edwin followed behind him, half anxious, half excited.
“Um, Sir Philip?”
Edwin stopped hesitantly.
Philip had led him to his office.
Maybe my training performance displeased him. Is he going to tell me not to come anymore?
The young prince’s eyes trembled with unease.
“What exactly did you want to talk about that we had to come all the way here…?”
“Take this.”
“Huh?”
Contrary to Edwin’s expectations, Philip neither scolded nor dismissed him.
He simply took something from a drawer and held it out.
Gloves?
Edwin accepted the pair.
They were dark brown leather gloves with a subtle sheen.
“Wyvern leather. Use them when climbing the ladder.”
“Oh.”
Edwin looked down at his hands.
His once small, pale palms were now covered in blisters and calluses from the grueling training.
“Still, I can’t be the only one receiving something like this…”
“You needn’t worry about the other Third Division knights.”
The Gloria Knights had trained for years and handled swords daily.
Their hands could not be compared to a young prince’s delicate palms.
“Your Highness could certainly obtain better gloves if you wished. If these don’t suit you, feel free to discard them…”
“No! I would never throw them away!”
Edwin’s voice rose sharply.
He carefully slipped the gloves onto both hands.
His eyes sparkled as he gazed at them.
Almost too brightly.
“…Do you like them?”
“Yes!”
Edwin nodded with a radiant smile.
It was the kind of smile that made a long-dormant bud burst into full bloom.
“Thank you, Sir Philip!”
“…It was nothing.”
Philip watched the prince admiring the gloves with an awkward expression.
It was only a small gift, yet the boy’s joy made him feel strangely flustered.
It’s not as if this is the first gift he’s ever received.
Just then, Edwin beamed at him as though he had read his thoughts.
“This is the first time I’ve received a gift from someone other than Emma!”
“…Pardon?”
“Oh, wait. Leo gave me one too. So you’re the third, Sir Philip!”
Philip was taken aback.
No matter how neglected the boy was, how could a prince have received so few proper gifts?
“Is that truly the case?”
“What is? That you’re the third?”
“No, that this is only the third gift you have received directly from someone.”
“Yes, it’s true.”
Edwin thought for a moment, then answered with certainty.
“This is definitely the third gift I’ve received directly from a person.”
Normally, gifts to a prince would be presented in person—unless they came from distant territories or foreign lands.
“…It is an honor to be the third.”
He had many things he wanted to say, but held them back.
Philip studied Edwin, who still seemed unsure what to do with the gloves, then spoke again.
“…Your Highness Edwin.”
“Yes?”
“If it would not trouble you…”
Edwin looked up at him with round eyes.
Philip met his gaze directly and continued.
“Would you allow me to teach you swordsmanship?”
“Sir Philip said that?”
“Yes!”
I looked steadily at Edwin, who was practically vibrating with excitement.
The boy had returned from training in unusually high spirits today.
“Sir Philip said he’d teach me swordsmanship if I wanted!”
Edwin leaned so far forward he looked ready to topple over.
“I can learn swordsmanship, right? Please?”
Even at the dinner table, where his manners were usually impeccable, he was this worked up.
He really wanted to learn that badly.
The reason I had sent him to the knights was simply to build his stamina.
I had assumed no one would bother teaching him proper swordsmanship anyway.
Still, it’s probably for the best that I can’t teach him my own techniques.
Just as a knight’s swordsmanship was unmistakably a knight’s, an assassin’s was unmistakably an assassin’s.
If a prince were seen wielding an assassin’s blade, everyone would point fingers.
It’s a style specialized purely for killing.
A single-strike, lethal technique with no trace of elegance or beauty.
And it was not only the swordsmanship. Everything I had learned in the organization was the same.
How to take a life by any means necessary, and how to do so efficiently without being caught.
Things like that…
I looked down at Edwin, who was clutching my sleeve with shining eyes.
I can’t teach those to this child.
Hmm. Philip Meyer.
A commoner knight who had risen to vice commander of the empire’s finest order.
That’s not bad at all.
I recalled the man I had glimpsed once inside the knights’ quarters and let out a quiet chuckle.
He had seemed rather conservative and inflexible—an uncompromising sort.
Someone like that would be honest in his skill as well.
He probably didn’t even know the meaning of cutting corners.
He’d make the perfect teacher for this boy.
I gave Edwin, who was still gazing at me with desperate hope, a small nod.
“It’s a good opportunity. Do as you wish, Your Highness.”
“Really? Truly?”
“Yes. Though it would be best not to let others know.”
If word spread that Edwin was receiving personal sword instruction, there were plenty in the palace who would not stay silent—starting with the Second Empress, who wanted her own son on the throne.
“I will speak with Sir Philip separately.”
“Great!”
Edwin nodded vigorously.
Then he began eating the food in front of him with obvious relish.
But as time passed, his face grew increasingly pale.
“…Ugh.”
Finally, after forcing down the last spoonful of soup, Edwin dropped his spoon.
“I thought you would have adapted by now, but apparently not.”
I spoke calmly to the boy who was now gasping for breath.
“It was desert scorpion venom. How does it feel?”