CH 80

Born as the third son of a count family, Gerald Forsius was obliged to become a paladin from the moment he was born.

The Forsius family was a family of knights who have protected the royal family for generations, with all the males in the family holding the title of Paladin. It was the same for the family’s firstborn, and it was family tradition to become a paladin first before they were allowed to take over the position of the family head. 

The third son Gerald became a paladin according to the custom of his family. Moreover, he became the youngest in history to earn the paladin title, and it was decided that he would eventually become the escort of the first prince.

And when he was tasked to be an escort of someone else by that very first prince, Gerald honestly wondered why it had to be him.

The girl was Sophie Linier, the daughter of a baron family. She was also the first woman who was granted the honor of receiving a purple star.

Everyone would naturally be surprised about that.

And then, rumors began to spread.

Some said, he was the prince who was born from that woman after all.

Some said, the prince had the blood of that king flowing in his veins after all.

Some said, that was why the first prince was more interested in a woman of a lower pedigree rather than the daughter of a duke family who was more suitable for him status-wise. They also said it was ridiculous to grant a purple star out of lust.

Gerald was aware the first prince wasn’t that kind of a person. That was exactly why he wondered. Why exactly did that first prince grant a purple star to a woman, and one so young that it would be more proper to call her a girl instead?

Gerald thought he would understand once he met her, but to be honest, he still couldn’t understand why from his first impression of her.

Sophie Linier was certainly a beautiful girl with a good appearance. However, he couldn’t feel any intellect worthy to grant such a person the purple star. She seemed to be an ordinary girl who had a smile on her face and gave a formal greeting.

She was a completely different type of woman from the fiancée of the first prince, the daughter of a duke family, Christina Wellin. Christina was a woman who was born to be a queen, with an overwhelming presence that would make her surroundings prostrate before her. The quality of her birth was different from Sophie Linier’s. 

Did His Highness prefer this kind of quiet woman?

Gerald was listening to Sophie’s conversation with Lorenzo, where he asked her several questions, but she didn’t seem to be able to answer properly.

Perhaps she was fascinated by Lorenzo’s handsome looks, or maybe she was nervous, but it felt like she wasn’t focusing at the moment and her eyes were looking somewhere far away.

But something happened when he escorted her to the dormitory.

“Black stars are to protect anyone that the royal family asks them to. I doubt any fiancée of a black star is such a stupid woman who wouldn’t understand that.”

The moment Gerald said that, Sophie’s vacant eyes were painted with killing intent.

It was only for a moment, but he managed to feel it because he was a knight who was sensitive to such a thing.

Gerald couldn’t understand why his earlier remark made her angry, and he also didn’t know how a young girl like her managed to emit such a killing intent, but he did understand that he touched her reverse scale[E/N: The “reverse scale” comes from a legend in Japan that every dragon has a scale that is differently shaped than others. Touching it would incite the dragon’s wrath upon you].

Just as he was about to apologize for his slip of the tongue, Sophie put on a smile that was the same as before and responded to his comment.

However, the words that came out were indirect sarcasm filled with poison which he could hardly believe actually came from the person who seemed to be a quiet girl earlier.

Suddenly, he remembered the words that the first prince told him.

[“To be honest, I do think that granting an aristocratic young lady a purple star then asking her to achieve a great task at ‘The King’s Sword’ was a cruel request. That is why, please listen to her selfishness as long as she doesn’t go too far.”]

The first prince was a gentle person even among the royal family. He always remembered to be considerate to his vassals. Gerald also served the first prince more than just out of responsibility.

However, Gerald was very bad at dealing with women who kept changing their minds every moment.

[“I have no intention of disobeying your order. However, I am not my brother. It is too much for me to deal with selfish women.”]

[“She would be much easier to deal with if she really were just a selfish woman, but she’s a really weird one. —Make sure you don’t get swallowed by her.”]

Gerald couldn’t understand what the first prince meant when he said that with a fearless smile back then.

But he felt like he understood a little now.

I see. As His Highness said, she really is a weird girl…

Even so, he merely thought of her as a weird girl for now.

It was still unclear if she was really talented enough to receive the purple star.

If she really wasn’t a person worthy enough for the purple star, he would have to get rid of her, even if she might be a person the first prince loved.

He was a paladin with the duty to protect the royal family.

Any person who didn’t bring any benefit to the royal family would be destroyed without discrimination.

That was the greatest duty of the Forsius family that served the kings for generations.