Chapter 95

Rodin cautiously retreated into the shadows after finishing the conversation.  

But even within the darkness, his eyes gleamed more clearly than ever before.

In the past, he had secretly doubted whether an outsider like her truly deserved Royden’s favor.  

Though he trusted his master, he had dared to question the one his master had acknowledged.  

But now, he understood.  

She was worthy.  

He had been the foolish one.  

Rodin realized this and made a firm resolution.  

Since he had been trusted, he must never make a second mistake.  

Never again.  

He clenched his fists tightly.

***

While Rodella was busy catching up on everything that had happened in the Azure Knights during her absence, a quiet but swift stir was spreading through high society.  

It began with the families who had helped protect Rodella.

“What’s your relationship with the Royden main family?”

“They gave us a lot of help.”

On the day Rodella was transferred from the western region to Renaris Hospital, numerous mercenaries, merchant guilds, and even noble houses seemingly unrelated to Royden had all moved in unison to assist in the process.  

Their coordinated support drew widespread attention.

“Are they all vassal houses?”  

“There’s no way that many could be vassals.”

More than ten noble houses had shown support during the incident.  

This raised eyebrows.  

Even for an ancient ducal family, it was unusual to have over ten vassal houses—  

Normally, five would be considered the upper limit.  

In fact, suspicion could arise that Royden was unlawfully raising private forces without registering them, which would be a serious offense.  

There was much internal debate within Royden, but Aivert chose to meet the issue head-on:

[Instead of hiding, you might as well reveal it all.]

After all, it was already known that these houses were friendly with Royden.  

So instead of hiding their support, it was better to show it boldly, making it so overwhelming that the aristocratic factions wouldn’t even dare to challenge it.  

In truth, it didn’t matter.  

Regardless of their actual connections, these houses were publicly “just acquaintances.”  

“How are we supposed to believe they’re not vassals?”  

“Come on. Have you ever seen a family become a vassal with nothing in return?”

That was the key point.  

Unlike typical vassal houses that are economically intertwined with their liege lords, these houses had received nothing from Royden.  

This frustrated the aristocratic faction—there was no fault to pin on them, but the implications made them uncomfortable.  

“Is it a crime to repay kindness received during hard times?”

Not just the friendly noble houses, but even individual mercenaries repeated that sentiment.  

What could be said in response?

Ironically, the aristocratic faction—who were deeply entangled with other families for financial reasons—ended up looking even more suspicious.  

In the end, the nobles’ attempt to find fault failed.

Then came the next surprise:

“Rodella Syveric, Quartermaster of the Azure Knights, is to receive an imperial letter!”

A delegation from the Imperial Family arrived at the Azure Knights’ headquarters.  

It was a formal commendation from the Emperor himself.

A personal imperial knight read the letter aloud before Rodella:

“The outstanding service of the Azure Knights and Quartermaster Rodella Syveric has brought great relief to the people of the Empire’s western region and to all those harmed by the cult. I, your sovereign, offer high praise for this deed.”

His voice boomed so loudly that by the time the letter was fully read, half of the knights stationed at headquarters had gathered to watch the scene.

Among them was Aivert.

It had been a while since Rodella had seen him awake—lately, he’d either fallen asleep early or always seemed unusually busy.  

But she had no time to greet him.

“In addition to the rewards granted to the Azure Knights as a whole, His Majesty commands that Quartermaster Rodella Syveric be specially honored!”

What followed was a lengthy list of expensive items being granted to her.

“…As these are personal items, they cannot be stored in Azure Knights headquarters. They will be sent directly to her household.”  

“Thank you.”

Rodella was more overwhelmed by the fact that she was receiving rewards than by the contents themselves.  

Her first instinct was to look for Aivert.

She had caught up on everything else that had happened while she was gone—except for one thing.

She hadn’t yet been properly briefed on the cult incident.  

Perhaps because Aivert had handled most of it personally, there wasn’t much information passed to her.

She needed to know:  

What exactly did he tell people about her role to cause all this?

“Then! For the Empire!”

With that, the Emperor’s representative left just as dramatically as he’d arrived.  

Rodella turned back to where Aivert had been standing.  

“Aivert, um…”

Before she could finish—or even remind herself to call him “Vice-Commander”—  

Rodella’s words trailed off.

“…What? Where’d he go?”

He’d been right there a moment ago.  

Rodella raised a brow.

“Quartermaster, congratulations!”  

“Hey, do these rewards help cover the Knights’ operating budget?”  

“…Did you really just ask that out loud?”

Even amid the excited chatter of the knights and Latiné, Aivert was nowhere to be seen.  

He might’ve left early to catch up on paperwork…  

But she couldn’t just dig through his desk without permission.  

She checked the records room.

—Click!

No sign of him there.

She tried his office.  

Still nothing.

Where was he hiding?

Rodella’s brow furrowed deeper.

***

After that, Rodella found it nearly impossible to run into Aivert.

When she returned to their quarters to speak with him, he’d already be asleep.  

And by the time she woke up to talk, he’d already left.  

“His movements aren’t that unpredictable.”

She had his schedule memorized.  

She was confident she could find him—at least once.

So she went to the training grounds during his usual workout time.  

“Oh, he changed his training time a little while ago.”  

“To when?”  

“Not sure…”

Apparently, his workout time had been moved.

“What about his sparring sessions?”  

“He said he’d be taking a break from private sparring for now.”

He had canceled his one-on-one duels.

“What about group training?”

“He’s been excused due to personal reasons.”

Personal reasons?

Rodella narrowed her eyes.

At this point, she had no choice but to accept the truth:

Aivert Royden was avoiding her.