The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

28 – North, Blood or Wine (04)

029.

“How did father… with this boy…”

The girl’s voice, full of confusion, was heard.

Elashia was asking while staring at Azkal.

“He’s the one that gentleman rarely praised. I can’t forget him.”

The gentleman Azkal referred to was none other than the head of Rakatus, Everchan.

He was always involved in work, hence the nickname, but it became extreme about nine years ago.

Azkal had sent a congratulatory letter upon hearing about the social event not long ago.

He remembered the boy who had solved an impossible problem.

The boy’s name was Kalen.

It was definitely Kalen.

It was good for Elashia to have a guard, but if that guard was Kalen, it was a different story.

“Guard… Guard… Yes, it must have been you who guarded the little lady of Rakatus.”

Azkal looked at Kalen with an excited expression.

His eyes widened, and his mouth lifted.

Kalen glanced at Lord Torn.

Is it hereditary to get excited so easily?

He thought Torn was just a rude person.

At the moment when the tension was at its peak.

Azkal shifted his attention from Kalen to Elashia.

“What kind of deal did you make with the elder, Elashia?”

“…It has nothing to do with my father.”

Everchan had expressed his debt directly.

Azkal had never seen his only friend express it that way.

It was impossible not to be interested.

The ruler of the North looked into his daughter’s eyes.

The ruby-like sparkling jewels were filled with poison and determination.

There was even a hint of resentment in them.

There are no regrets.

This too is the result of my choice.

From the moment I decided to endure it, I severed the bond between father and daughter myself.

Azkal laughed instead.

As always, with an air of “What can someone like you do?”

But this time, it was a little different.

It carried a meaning that considered the foundation of change shown by Selassie.

“Jeonseon, from tomorrow, you join us too.”

“What?”

With those words, Azkal abruptly stood up.

The expensive-looking chair fell backward with a loud noise.

Then he left the dining room just like that.

The last place his gaze lingered was on Kalen.

Bang!

The door to the dining room closed like that.

All that remained was silence.

*

“What is this Jeonseon work that makes him so furious?”

In the end, all I had for the meal were two bites of salmon.

Selassie sat blankly for a long time after hearing Azkal’s words.

– You dare…! Jeonseon!

Until Thorn, who had been frozen in place just like her, pointed and shouted.

Selassie, just as when she first entered the dining room, did not argue and took Kalen out of the room.

As Kalen recalled the ridiculous shouting of Thorn, a pure and soft melody reached her ears.

“A place with many monsters.”

Selassie’s voice was calm, but Kalen quickly noticed something awkward.

It was the voice of someone suppressing something.

“Did you dare to call a place with monsters?”

“It’s a bit different.”

Selassie began to explain the meaning of what Azkal had said.

“Remember that our factions are out on the front lines?”

“Yes.”

“Thorn has been in charge of the front lines all this time. I couldn’t go because it was deemed too dangerous.”

Selassie was certain that was just an excuse.

Anyone who knew how crucial the front lines were to the civil war, and ultimately to gaining the North, couldn’t possibly do that.

Especially if it was her father, the Grand Duke of the North.

“There are many monsters on the front lines. Just subjugating them makes us look good to the people, and it also serves as a pretext to prevent any potential wars.”

Indeed, that was true.

The North, being a remote area, was frequently engaged in battles.

One never knew when their life might be threatened.

Even if ordinary civilians were stationed at the rearmost positions, that fact didn’t change.

The people of the North were well aware of this.

“He monopolized it all by himself. To put it more precisely… it’s the freedom. There’s a limit to how much one can know about what schemes are being plotted on the front lines.”

In short, it was like this.

The favoritism that Kallen felt.

Azkal was clearly favoring Thorn.

And that suspicion was just confirmed by Selassie’s words.

It was a passage that revealed why Selassie included her father as an opponent in the civil war.

“And… this is the most important part. You said there are many monsters on the front lines, right?”

“Yes.”

“That means it’s easy to disguise accidents. Even if someone dies, it’s hard to uncover the truth.”

The front lines of the North, no matter how peaceful the era, always remained tense.

One never knew when a hostile nation, secretly gathering strength, might rise.

And there was the distinct threat of monsters.

In short, no one would know if someone died.

In such a situation, the two people involved in the civil war were managing the front lines together.

It was almost a hint that the covert actions, which had been happening little by little within the mansion, would now become blatant.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh. I’m fine. I was actually wondering how I could get to the front lines. I should be the one thanking you.”

Selassie’s voice even sounded somewhat relieved.

It was evident how much she had wanted to go to the front lines.

As they were talking about the frontlines, Selassie, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

“Do you know why I became a wizard?”

A story that was completely out of the flow, sudden and extremely personal.

The walls of the heart that each person has are weaker than one might think, and sometimes a small trigger can create a tiny crack.

Even those who are not like that, find comfort in sharing their stories with someone.

And so, a path to the frontlines, which had been completely blocked, opened up.

A bit of relief brought stability to the tense body.

Selassie quietly faced the small crack in the wall of her heart.

“Where do the eyes of the young lords you’ve never seen before go first?”

“I don’t know.”

“Take a guess.”

Instead of walking again, Selassie reached out a hand and stroked the wall of the corridor.

Kallen, watching her from behind, began to think about what Selassie had asked.

Where do the eyes of the young lords go first?

Kallen suddenly recalled Selassie’s eyes, which were like embedded rubies.

“The eyes.”

“Hmm?”

“I think they would look at your eyes.”

“The eyes?”

If it’s someone they’ve never seen before, wouldn’t they think it’s ominous, like blood?

That was the thought, but Selassie closed her mouth in surprise and then laughed.

“The body. Ten out of ten, they all look at my body first.”

Selassie’s eyes lost focus, as if recalling a past time.

“Ah. Now there’s exactly one exception. You looked at my eyes first.”

“…”

“I hate it. To me, this body is no different from a cursed body.”

A woman’s body.

Moreover, Selassie is tall for a woman.

It was a fact that could be known just by seeing her for the first time.

Also, her body is extremely mature.

Those who faced Selassie all cast their gaze upon her chest or hips.

A body that was neither this nor that was of no use at all.

“In the North, becoming a knight is a matter of pride. Even though magic has somehow crept in, that principle remains.”

It was the first thing Selassie had asked.

It was about why she chose the path of magic.

“I couldn’t become a knight. There was no armor that fit this body, and even just standing still, my shoulders would ache so much that I couldn’t hold a sword and stand straight. Meanwhile, others would only look at my body, driving me to the brink of madness.”

Ecclesia, one of the most famous salons in society, originally belonged to Rakatus and Hiatus.

However, before Eliana attended, the young ladies of both families were absent.

In Eliana’s case, it was unavoidable.

Selassie refused to attend of her own will.

Under the pretext of ‘not fitting in.’

Most people misunderstood the meaning,

But Selassie was tired.

Tired of the gazes that only looked at her body.

Selassie stood with one hand on the wall of the corridor.

Facing the very small crack in the wall of her heart that had accumulated in her mind.

“My brother, that trash of a human, would tear at my hair every day, calling it ominous, and I was so scared that I ran away. In the North, they said you had to grow up strong, so I couldn’t even cry freely.”

“The Grand Duke seems to favor you. Is it related to that?”

“You are perceptive. Well, a long time ago, I think I loved him too. But not anymore.”

Selassie then withdrew her hand from the wall.

Then she tapped her chin with her index finger.

“Torn is buying and selling the village women as slaves.”

What burst out simultaneously was a shocking statement.

It was the crime committed by the son of the family that ruled the North.

“He is taking women of marriageable age under the pretext of introducing them to men of the Empire.”

“…The Grand Duke.”

“I don’t know if Father knows about it yet. That’s why I stood in the way, thinking it was only natural to inherit the Grand Duchy.”

The suddenly revealed inside story.

Kallen was a little confused, but he could calmly organize his thoughts.

After all, it was just an added justification.

The justification that the start of the civil war was not just the remnants of a simple lust for power, but something that could condemn the debate.

Indeed. It wasn’t for nothing that Torn seemed repulsive.

Also, for Kallen…

“Anyway, thank you.”

“Did you look at my eyes, not my body?”

“No. For saying my hair color is pretty.”

The loneliness that Selassie had glimpsed.

He could sense where that loneliness began between the two.

“Let’s go. The front line is a tough place, so we should rest when we can.”

“Yes.”

Although there was no change in the smiling face,

It just looked a little more relieved.