12 Settlemen

"I BEG your forgiveness, Lady Prescott," Damian said in an anguished voice while bowing to her. "I should have not left you alone in the café."

Tilly blinked in surprise. It looked like Damian would beat himself over and over because he wasn't by her side when the incident with the Belington Siblings happened. Was he afraid to be punished by Kiho? "Damian, it's okay. I forgive you. It was just a minor incident."

Right now, she was inside the carriage while waiting for Kiho who went back to the café to buy food again. The one they ordered a while ago had already gone cold so the captain insisted that they replace them. Before he left, he lent her his jacket infused with his Mana. Thanks to that, the fabric felt cool on her skin.

It was windy outside so Kiho kept the door open. He was confident to do so because Damian and Blake were guarding here.

"It wasn't a minor incident, Lady Prescott," Blake said roughly. As usual, he spoke his mind without minding his manners. The vice-captain was rude and he was unapologetic. Also, he kind of hated nobles like her so she understood why he was speaking that way. At least he called her "lady." In the past, he used to call her "snake woman." "Damian's order was to stay with you until the captain returns. But he left you to do an errand you didn't even ask him to do. Then, you were harassed by another noble in his absence. But you know what's worst? Captain Kiho saw you dealing with the noble alone."

[Poor Damian.]

The young knight flinched at everything the vice-captain said.

Well, Blake didn't say anything wrong. But it wasn't like Damian did it on purpose. The younger knight was new at his job so he was bound to make mistakes.

"Rise," Tilly told Damian.

When Damian looked up to meet her gaze, her chest tightened when she saw the sad look on his face. It also looked like he was about to cry.

[What a cinnamon roll.]

She couldn't remember if she had met Damian in her previous life. She didn't bother to get to know Kiho's knights then. But right now, she wanted to be kind to her fiancé's peers as well.

[But as a future duchess, I also have to be strict. Strict, but fair.]

"I will discuss your punishment with Sir Kiho later," Tilly said to Damian. "But don't worry because I'll make sure that your punishment will be appropriate for the mistake you made." She wanted to put him at ease so she teased him a bit. "So try to relax, okay?"

"I'm not really afraid of my punishment, Lady Prescott," Damian said in a sad voice. "I deserve it. If I'll be honest, I'd say I want to beat myself for failing to protect you. If you ask me to kill myself, I'll gladly do it."

[Ah… he's genuinely concerned about me.]

She was touched. This was a bit embarrassing to admit but she thought Damian was acting that way because he was afraid of Kiho. But apparently, she was wrong.

"You can't die yet," Tilly gently said to him. "You still have to protect me, right?"

Damian looked surprised. Then, a few moments later, he smiled brightly. Now he really looked his age. "I'll protect you with my life, Lady Prescott."

"Thank you, Sir Damian."

The young knight blushed. "M-My lady, you don't have to be so formal with me. You can just call me by my name."

She smiled at him. "Okay, Damian."

Damian seemed to be satisfied.

"I think I understand now why the captain almost went berserk a while ago," Blake said in an amused voice while looking at her face. "Maybe you're really different from the rumors I heard about you, Lady Prescott."

The vice-captain was probably talking about the rumors regarding her being a spoiled princess. In the past, she used to throw tantrums for every minor inconvenience she experience. Before she woke up in that body, she probably misbehaved a lot.

But that wasn't what caught her attention.

"The captain almost went berserk earlier?" Tilly said in an excited voice. "Before you appeared, I thought I saw Kiho's Mana manifest around Sir Belington's finger. But he didn't show himself."

Blake sighed while shaking his head. "Lady Prescott, the captain was about to freeze the noble's whole hand. If you didn't grab Michael Belington's finger, he would have frozen him already. Thanks to what you did, I was able to distract Captain Kiho and pull him away. I didn't let him go until he calmed down."

"That's true," Damian said. "I was still lining up in the boat rental tent when I felt the captain's blood lust. When I realized what was going on, I immediately ran to where the captain and vice-captain were."

Ah, no wonder the three of them showed up together.

Blake and Damian probably only let go of Kiho when they were sure that he was already calm. If not, the captain would have definitely frozen the Belington Siblings.

[Kiho is still as protective as usual.]

Tilly couldn't help but smile at that thought. "Damian and Sir Blake, thank you for looking after Kiho kindly."

Damian blushed again.

Blake was about to say something but then, he suddenly flinched. Then, he grabbed Damian by the collar and took the young knight with him in a hurry. "Excuse us, Lady Prescott!"

And just like that, the two Black Serpents were gone.

[What happened to them?]

"Tilly?"

She realized why Blake ran away and took Damian with him when she saw Kiho. He walked towards her with a gloomy look on his face. The captain had a picnic basket in each of his hand which meant he successfully reordered their food.

But he looked like he was in a bad mood.

"Kiho," Tilly greeted him with a smile. "Is there something wrong?"

Kiho stood in front of him and upon looking closer, she realized that he was kind of pouting. "You seem to get along well with Damian and Blake."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No."

He only uttered a word but his pout said a lot.

[Does he want to be spoiled?]

She gently patted the space next to her. "Kiho, I still feel a little hot. Can you help me cool down? The Mana in your jacket seems to be fading by now."

That was true. The captain only left a little bit of Mana in his jacket. Too much of his magical ability might freeze her. He was that powerful.

Anyway, Kiho's face lit up because of her request. He went inside the carriage, put the baskets on the couch across her, closed the door, and then finally sat beside her. But still, he left a space between them. "Is this close enough?"

"No," Tilly said, then she moved closer to him. After that, she laid her head on his shoulder. "Is this okay?"

"Yes," the captain answered in a somewhat shy voice. "I'm glad I could be of help."

"I'm also glad that we're getting along well," Tilly said. "Kiho, I want you to know that aside from my father, you're the closest person to me."

When Kiho spoke, she 'heard' the smile in his voice. "And so are you to me, Tilly."

[Ah, he's in a good mood again.]

"Tilly, are you sure that you want to have a settlement with Sir Belington instead of pursuing your complaint against him?" the captain asked in a stiff voice. Ah, someone was still pissed about what happened a while ago, huh? "He threatened you."

"But he apologized," she said. "Twice."

The first apology was a public one.

While the second apology happened when they were at the Golden Tiger Eyes' station. The area was under the jurisdiction of the said Order so they went there for the settlement. Once they got in the station, the Belington Siblings apologized to her before they talked.

Kiho paid for Sir Belington's medical bill.

While Sir Belington agreed to compensate her by giving her a piece of his land located at the Stella Plaza– the biggest shopping district in the Royal Capital.

One might think that it was too much for compensation. But in reality, it wasn't. She was a daughter of a wealthy and highly-respected duke. But most of all, the emperor and the High Priest believed that she was the woman from the prophecy. If His Majesty heard that Sir Belington mocked the prophecy, he could be executed for treason.

Plus, she threatened that she would report Sir Belington's rude behavior to the captain of the Golden Tiger Knights. She agreed to drop it as well in exchange of the land that she wanted.

[That's a low price to pay. If I filed a formal complaint, Sir Belington would have been executed by either the emperor or the captain of the Golden Tiger Knights. He should feel grateful that the businesswoman in me has awakened a while ago.]

"I'm not satisfied with that. To be honest, I wanted to punish Sir Belington myself," Kiho confessed in a whisper. "I'm sorry for coming late, Tilly."

Tilly smiled at how gentle he treated her now. "Just make it up to me by giving me a memorable date, my silly captain."

***

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