Chapter 12

“What are you going to do?”

“We’ll go back together.”

“Why? Don’t you feel relieved you avoided marriage there?”

“Then I’ll play when I’m at least a year younger, since I’ve been caught.”1

As Eden was proudly relieved, the emperor laughed even louder and nodded.

“I’ll give you permission. Count, take good care of the prince.”

“Yes. Was it a satisfactory hunt?”

“Yeah. We should award the count. I will tell them to leave the Dragon Lair open, so take what you want as soon as you descend.”

“Much obliged.”

The emperor disappeared without a word.

When the guard knight and attendant also disappeared in one direction, the two men who had bent deeply at the same time returned to a straight posture as if they had made a promise.

The two walked in the opposite direction to the emperor’s procession.

Finally, when all the footsteps could not be heard, they barely stopped.

Eden was standing with his hand on a tree.

As the heavy pressure subsided, a headache rushed in.

“…..Haa.”

It was a sigh filled with all kinds of emotions.

He was more familiar with the word “sire” than the word “father”. Eden, the fourth prince, always had a difficult relationship with the emperor. Even though he’s his father.

The situation in the airflow facing each other was not much different.

“… Your Highness Eden, how are you going to compensate for my shortened life line?”

“Oh please, I’m busy taking care of my life rope, too.”

Conversations with the emperor are always like this. It was not usually difficult to serve him because he was so fickle.

The emperor enjoyed testing and observing his opponents.

If you respond well to the words he threw sharply like a dagger, he opened the emperor’s treasury and presented a prize.

On the contrary, if they did not meet up to his standards, he became so terribly angry that he pressed down on people with his own authority.

Children were no exception.

He is an emperor who is putting off even the crown prince announcement. He did not hesitate to put even his children to the test.

The fourth prince, who was born too late, had a difficult time getting even the right to intervene in the struggle for the throne. In the end, Eden chose to lie down.

When Giryu realized that, it was after he had already graduated from Robled Academy with Eden.

“Why do I have to go through this? What’s wrong with being indifferent?”

“Be noisy, and you can shout out on the spot that you don’t want to marry Isepina.”

Giryu couldn’t even speak up at that point.

Because the opponent was still the prince, and he was the older brother of princess Isepina.

“No, still. I can’t believe you only know work! I am good to people I like!

“Have you ever had someone like that?”

“……I’m sure you’ll do well! In the future!”

“I can’t put it into words! Don’t use it!”

The two of them went down the mountain bickering.

***

Returning to the palace, the two of them visited Lair at the Emperor’s order.

The Imperial Palace’s treasury is not open to individuals. However, the Lair was the emperor’s personal treasure trove and was often opened for individuals like this.

“Even if I entered a real dragonlair, I wouldn’t be this nervous.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

All kinds of goods were decorated by type on the shelf.

Silver-decorated incense trees, transparent manosols, jewels and gold-decorated roses, embroidery and moonstones, diamonds and sapphire of all sizes…

Even Giryu, as a Count, was fed up with this feast of gold and silver treasures.

The emperor’s lair was getting richer by the day.

It was scary that one person could monopolize this level of wealth.

“I should pick a gift for Isepina at least. What about you?

“Well, I’m fine, so don’t worry and choose what to give to the princess.”

Giryu answered plainly.

Giryu has already received awards from the emperor several times.

When he accepted the post of knight commander, even when he defeated the beasts of the southwest, the emperor opened his treasury to him.

He didn’t really want anything, and didn’t have anything to take home with him.

‘I should bring a present…….’ Deschamps said he wanted an expensive and good quill.’

But he could not possibly have such a thing as a quill from the Emperor’s personal treasury.

‘Do you even have a sword?’

He scanned the inside of the lair and then took a step back.

Then his gaze stopped in one place.

In a transparent glass display stand, there was a tiara on a velvet cushion.

It was a silver tiara decorated with moonstone and diamonds. 

An elegant diamond smaller than a fingernail shone from the center.

His gaze stayed on the tiara for a long time. As if imagining something.

“I’m done. What do you want to do, Giryu?”

“Eden.”

“Yes?”

Giryu asked with his eyes fixed on the tiara.

“Could it be possible to wear a tiara even with short hair?”

***

It was already evening when Giryu returned to the Knights building.

“You’re here… prince.”

Deschamps jumped up from his seat.

Judith turned around at the sound of the door opening and was startled. It was Prince Eden.

Judith was surprised that the 4th Prince came and went here as if it were his own home.

“Be at ease.”

“Did the hunting go well?”

“It was just that, it wasn’t a comfortable place to be.”

Judith was even more surprised that neither Giryu nor Deschamps seemed to feel uncomfortable with the prince.

“Dame Judith, let me introduce you.”

Giryu called her. He held a box in his hand that she had never seen before.

“This is Prince Eden Oscar Veritas, the fourth prince of the Veritas Empire. We graduated from the Academy together…”

“We’re very close friends.”

Eden smiled and emphasized ‘Very’.

The fact that the imperial family showed interest in her in the first place was not enough to introduce her. It was more of a horror than a shock.

Judith hurriedly greeted him.

“May the Empire be blessed today. I am Judith of the Red Knights.”

Her eyes trembled slightly.

Emperor Lionel has six children.

Two daughters, Olga and Isepina.

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Four sons. Albert, Edward, William, and Eden.

The 4th Prince Eden was a prince who did not stand out much.

Albert, the first eprince, dominated the high-ranking works.

The 2nd Prince Edward took military power.

William, the popular third prince.

Eden has nothing to put forward compared to his three older brothers.

However, it is said that he had no presence in the struggle for the throne.

The person in front of her was too big for Judith to introduce herself.

Facial features resembling the emperor and black hair.

Blue eyes are bound to give a cold impression, but Eden, the fourth prince, gave a beautiful and friendly impression.

Judith looked intently at his face. She had to memorize it when she was allowed to stare.

‘I would say that I am very close to him.’

As it was during the new knight test the other day, seeing him with Giryu made it clear.

An important figure that deserves three stars.

He didn’t seem to be familiar with the commander.

“I was not in a situation where I could properly say hello the other day.”

Eden’s eyes widened.

“I remember the last time you got hurt in a sword fight with Giryu, right?”

“…Yes, it’s an honor you remember me.”

How did he remember her when they only met once?

Judith had a strange feeling.

Of course, it was the thought of a person who was not aware of how intense that one time was.

“Your skills are great, but there aren’t many people in the empire who can compete head-to-head with Giryu. I’m looking forward to it.”

“You praise me too much. Thank you.”

“Is your injury okay then?”

She didn’t know why the prince was interested in one of the new knights, but Judith answered meekly.

“It’s okay. The captain made it easy for me to stay out of training until the wound heals.”

“Really?”

Eden tilted his head as if he was slightly wondering.

Then he soon smiled with a playful face.

“Why don’t you keep being left out?”

“Yes?”

“My escort knight job is vacant.”

“Prince.”

Airflow immediately called to him with an uncomfortable face.

“Do you have a conscience?”

“‘I’m just saying, what?”

“What’s wrong with you? She’s an ether master, ether master.”

“So you’re more greedy, aren’t you?”2

Even when asked not to think about hiring talented people, Eden responded blatantly.

In a situation where he had to go to school, he forgot to give Eden a hint.3

Giryu quickly shook his head.

His gaze reached the box where the tiara was kept.

‘What do I do with this?’

Even when it came out of Emperor’s Rare, Kiryu was thinking of giving this tiara to Judith.

Judith, whose long hair was cut off by the sword he wielded.

This was what caught his eye when he was thinking about getting something for her because he was sorry.

He didn’t think much of it when he picked it up.

She said that a sword was burdensome, so this would be better.

That’s what he thought.

But he realized it late.

Would a person who said even a single sword was burdensome receive a tiara?

Giryu grew up as an aristocrat.

It was natural for him to give or receive a reward, and he never thought that it would be a burden to anyone.

Until this moment today.

The ominous hunch grew like a snowball with increasing confidence.

In front of his close friend Prince Eden, Judith stood on high alert.

Giryu realized how different he and her were even when they saw the same thing.

However, it is not possible to bring back items that have already been taken out. Because it was taken from the Emperor’s Lair.

‘Do I say something? Should I not?’

While hunting with His Majesty, the story of a new knight came up and he remembered her.

He didn’t  think it’s a good idea to cut your own hair. If you ever need a headdress in public, use it.4

He can say it like that.

That’s all he needs to say.

‘…Can I tell her even if I die?’5

Giryu thought that it would be better to beat the reindeer with his bare hands.

“Captain?”

Judith called him.

He wondered if the way he was rolling his eyes looked strange, so Giryu was perplexed for a moment.

Eventually, Giryu opened the box with a cough.

It is time for this to end.

“Dame Judith…… I mean this.”

Inside the box was a tiara decorated with moonstone.

The translucent colored jewel was a decoration that made the owner stand out. There was moderate elegance.

“If it’s okay, I’ll give it to the dame…”

“Thank you for your words, but it’s fine.”

“……Eh…….”

Giryu shut his mouth like a man who had been beaten by rejection faster than light.

As he looked at Judith, she spoke again.

“Please take it.”

Udit turned away from the tiara as if she was trying to cut off some lingering attachment. She turned away from Giryu and bowed to the prince again.

“If you give me an order, I will follow you anytime as the sword of the imperial family. I have never entered the Red Knights in hopes of wealth, so please collect it and do not put them as a test. If the commander orders me, I will always be the strength of the 4th Prince.”

“……”

Why is she bowing towards Eden?

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Giryu froze in shock.

———

TL notes ( ´ ▿ ` )

(manhwa chapter 9 – 10)

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