Chapter 124

A ripple formed in Aivert’s eyes. It was as if time had stopped; a silence so profound that not even the sound of fabric rustling could be heard.

‘Should I not go… on the overseas tour?’

Rodella’s question was impulsive, but sincere. She knew it was strange to act so excited about going, only to say this now. Rodella tried to add something, anything, to her words.

‘What should I say?’

All she could think of was the truth, her genuine feelings. ‘Without you, there’s no one to stop me, and…’

Before her jumbled thoughts could be properly organized, Aivert’s answer came out, jolting her.

“Yes, don’t go.”

‘Huh?’

Rodella’s eyes widened. Aivert’s gaze was unwavering, reflecting Rodella herself. He didn’t miss the hand she was holding out, the opportunity she was giving him.

“Or, go with me.”

Rodella’s eyes widened even more.

‘But you have a lot of work to do. Can a vice-commander of the Azure Knights be away for so long?’ Other rational thoughts sprang up, but she wanted to ignore them. She had no idea that the words, “go with me,” could make her heart pound so hard.

She opened her mouth, her desire to say “yes” clashing with her reason.

Knock, knock.

Cutting through the silence, a knock echoed. A knight opened the door, a white letter fluttering in his hand. It was an invitation from the Imperial Family.

***

“Oh, it’s a banquet invitation.” Rodella, her eyes wide as she read the letter, soon understood the situation.

Not long after the rumor of the emperor’s sudden assassination had shaken the empire, the situation had been reversed. To quickly announce that the emperor was alive and that the Imperial Family was still strong and secure, they would need to gather the nobles of the empire together.

And, of course…

[I trust that Duke Aivert Royden and Dame Rodella Syveric, the main figures in this matter, will certainly attend.]

Rodella and Aivert, whom the emperor had personally sent a letter to, would have to be there. The two of them were now undeniably the pillars of the pro-emperor faction. With the noble faction disgraced and only the pro-emperor and centrist factions remaining, it was the perfect time for the two of them to show their unwavering loyalty to the emperor.

As a result, they were both busy cleaning up the Azure Knights’ affairs in preparation for the banquet.

“He really messed things up in a short amount of time,” Rodella commented.

Marvin Tilcot, who had come in as acting commander with the clear purpose of sowing discord, had thrown the Azure Knights into complete chaos. He had tampered with the patrol schedule, taken away the knights’ personal time, and overworked them with excessive night shifts, causing their fatigue to spike dramatically. There were even records of him going on a rampage and threatening to punish knights under military law for insubordination when they complained.

Rodella sighed as she read the documents. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Even if the Azure Knights were in chaos, monsters wouldn’t stop appearing just because of their troubles. Patrols had to continue. Since they couldn’t tell the knights who had just come back from an all-night patrol to go out again, they had to reorganize the entire patrol system, even taking into account the knights from other branches. The problem was that this wasn’t the only mess. Similar issues were popping up in every department of the knighthood, and Rodella felt like her head was going to explode.

“I’m counting on you, Dame Syveric.”

This was a task that Latine should have done, but he was with the emperor, interrogating Duke Benerix. And Aivert, who should have been the next to handle the assignments…

“Look into the carriages that entered Duke Benerix’s residence that day. And…”

…was preoccupied with the investigation into Duke Benerix’s rebellion. He was the vice-commander of the Azure Knights, but as the head of the Royden family, he had to take the lead in this investigation. The only reason he was in the Azure Knights’ documentation office was because of the handcuffs. Once again, the two of them were handcuffed together, working on completely different tasks in the same office.

But instead of being annoyed by the strange situation, Rodella’s mind kept wandering.

“Should I not go on the overseas tour?”

“Yes, don’t go.”

“Or, go with me.”

That conversation kept replaying in her mind.

‘Why did you say that?’ The blue gaze that met hers was steady and unwavering. It wasn’t an impulse. He was serious.

‘Why? Why do you suddenly come so close when you’ve kept your distance?’

She wanted to cast aside all other possibilities and consider just one.

‘Maybe, you too…’

“…do you want to go with me?”

‘Do you, like me, feel an emptiness when I’m not there?’

“Yes. Don’t you?”

His words were so straightforward and direct that they were confusing.

‘So… no. I want to. I want that.’

She wanted to say that. She wanted to wake up with him in the morning in a foreign land, just like she did back in the academy, and spend the night with him, just like now. Even though she knew that if she went on the overseas tour with him, she would be paying more attention to him than anything else, making it not an overseas tour at all… even though she knew she should say no… the words just wouldn’t come out.

As she was lost in her thoughts, Aivert was giving instructions to a Royden family member. “First, regarding the Red Knights…”

She tried to focus on her work, watching him give instructions without a moment’s rest, but she ultimately failed.

***

Since most of the Red Knights were involved in the rebellion, they were immediately dismissed from their duties. After that, a full-scale sweep began, starting with the noble families connected to the Red Knights and those who had participated in the rebellion.

“I, I wasn’t involved!”

“It would be troublesome to deny it when the evidence is so clear.”

Ultimately, it was revealed that Duke Benerix had planned to quickly seize the Imperial Palace and the Chancellor’s residence with his closest allies, and that he had attempted to assassinate the emperor. It was also discovered that most of the noble faction had directly or indirectly helped with the rebellion.

Naturally, the most severe penalties under imperial law were decided.

Leading this entire process were Chancellor Ameris and Aivert Royden. Aivert couldn’t be on-site because of the handcuffs with Rodella, so all of his work was conducted in the vice-commander’s office of the Azure Knights. Rodella, who should have been in the documentation office, naturally ended up in the vice-commander’s office as well.

As a result, Rodella unintentionally saw a note from Latine that had been delivered to Aivert.

[He really made a huge mess in a short time. But for all his rampaging, he barely touched the internal affairs. What’s going on?]

“…This.” Rodella massaged her forehead.

At first glance, it seemed like a question about internal documents, but Rodella, who knew the truth, saw it differently. It was as if he was asking, “How did he not find the liquor we stashed in the cellar?” Of course, ever since she started managing the accounts, she had hidden the liquor in a more secure location, but the knights hadn’t exactly stopped drinking.

‘So how did they hide the smell of liquor while the acting commander was here?’

The answer came from Aivert’s brief reply. “Tell him I suppressed it with my aura.” Since he couldn’t openly mention the smell of alcohol, he said this to the Azure Knight who had come to deliver Latine’s note.

“Yes, sir.”

And the knight, who seemed inexplicably proud, returned with Latine’s reply.

[How is that possible?! So they were drinking while the acting commander was on a rampage? Send me the names of those madmen right now!]

At Latine’s profanity-laced note, Rodella sighed, knowing that a storm—no, a training rampage—was about to hit the Azure Knights. But the next line was a little different from what Rodella had expected.

[I didn’t know you could control your aura so precisely! If you can suppress even a smell with it, we can use a different training method to rapidly improve their skills! That acting commander ended up doing something good after all!]

“…”

‘Is this good news? It is, right?’

Rodella finally turned her head, pretending she hadn’t seen it. No matter how she looked at it, the Azure Knights were a strange group that would do something bizarre just when she thought she was starting to understand them.

While such bad news and good news (?) came and went, the imperial banquet got closer.