CH 35

At the sound of loud cheers outside, I stopped walking the window and looked out the window.

‘It’s probably because the knight competition is just right around the corner, so everyone is so excited.’

Time passed quickly and a month had already passed in an instant.

The schedule for the knight competition was also announced a week ago.

It was like a competition to rank the knights, so the Capital was buzzing with the talk of the knight competition these days, regardless of whether they were nobles or commoners.

Thinking that today was the last time I would hear the voices overflowing with passion, a faint smile formed on my lips with regret.

A gentle breeze blew through the open window.

I felt someone’s gaze as I stopped walking in the hallway and enjoyed the regret of the last day.

I looked down and, as expected, I met Theodore’s eyes again today.

‘Why are you staring at me?’

I pouted and immediately looked away.

Ever since the last time I unintentionally saw Theodore’s naked upper body, he always stared at me, no matter where I was.

‘I gave you lunch that day.’

Of course, it was true that I pushed it out to him as if carrying a burden in my tired mind, but there was no bad feeling to it because it was a kindness I gave him since I felt sorry that he was starving.

‘Did he get sick?’

But I’d never heard such a thing.

And Theodore was a normal person.

Seeing his brazen attitude, he would have rushed and got angry right away if he got a stomachache.

‘Then what’s wrong with him?’

I didn’t understand, so I shook my head and started walking towards my destination again.

Ignorance was the answer.

‘Come to think of it, this must be my last lunch with Viola.’

After the competition, the one hour that became our daily routine would be over as of today, but as expected, it was such a pity.

‘Let’s enjoy it today.’

I walked vigorously with a strong basket again today.

‘I came too early.’

When I thought this would be the last time, the corner of my heart felt empty, so I came 30 minutes earlier than the usual time before I knew it.

‘At this time, Sister won’t be in the commander’s office yet.’

Ever since I started coming and going out of this place, Viola always waited for me after taking a shower in the commander’s room.

It was natural to sweat when training in hot weather, but Viola didn’t skip a day for me and always greeted me after taking a clean shower.

I said that I was fine with it, so she didn’t have to do that, but I couldn’t break Viola’s stubbornness.

‘Ho-ho. But not today. I’ll be waiting for you today.’

Imagining Viola’s surprised face already made me happy.

I put a little force on the door of the commander’s office, and it was so well maintained that the door started to open without a sound.

Sshh-

I could hear the sound of running water coming from the shower room on one side of the dressing room.

‘Oh, my God. She’s already washing up.’

The moment I thought I had done well in quietly opening the door, I found someone in the commander’s office.

‘Huh?’

I came from the back, so I couldn’t see who it was.

However, seeing that he was wearing the uniform of the First Knight Order, he seemed to be Viola’s subordinate.

‘Should I say hi?’

I was thinking about what to do, but the man’s behavior was a little suspicious.

‘Wait. Aren’t you the one that might harbor ill feelings toward Sister Viola?’

Even if he came to the commander’s office for business, it was strange that he was waiting while the owner of the room was taking a shower.

‘But there’s no way Sister would take a subordinate inside and go to the shower.’

I quietly watched the man’s actions through the gap between the doors that were not opened yet.

The man looked at the shower room where Viola was and began to move away silently.

The man approached the clothes on the side of the room and took something out of his arms.

‘Oh, that’s…’

Viola was a well-prepared person by nature, so she always had a habit of preparing thoroughly before important things.

Tomorrow’s knight competition was also an important event for Viola, so it was natural that she prepared clothes for the day of the competition in advance.

What the man took out was a small water bottle, and a transparent liquid was flickering inside the bottle.

And without hesitation, the man began to sprinkle it on the inside of the glove.

‘What’s that?’

After spraying the liquid evenly on both sides of the glove, he put the glove back in place and smiled while looking toward the shower again.

‘No way, this…’

The man turned around before I could organize my thoughts.

At the same time, our eyes met, and I was shocked as soon as I saw the man’s face properly.

“S-Sir Hudson? What did you do?”

The identity of the suspicious man was Sir Hudson, who always stood close to Viola.

“Damn it!”

Hudson froze for a moment, then jumped out of his spot and ran out.

The moment I realized he was about to run away, I reached out to catch him.

I succeeded in grabbing his arm, but he shook me off with a vexed look.

“Argh!”

Sir Hudson’s rough hand threw me to the ground without hesitation.

“Stop there!”

My leg hurt as I fell, but I couldn’t give up.

I began to run vigorously with all my strength.

‘What Viola said in the dream was right. Someone really did a trick!’

I finally understood why nothing suspicious was found on Viola’s sword after being examined.

‘Gloves! You did something strange inside the gloves, that’s why nobody found it!’

Nothing suspicious was found because no one examined her clothing.

‘He’s so fast…!’

I had to catch him now to prevent the destruction of evidence.

But catching up with a strong knight was too much with my physical strength.

The distance with Hudson gradually widened, and I felt like my lungs, which couldn’t hold my breath, would burst at any moment.

My legs were about to break at any moment.

“Huft, huft.”

Hudson seemed to have arrived in front of the stairs leading to the end of the hallway before I knew it.

If he exited the knight’s building and destroyed the evidence, I would have no chance of catching him.

‘I’m dizzy.’

My head began to spin.

This weak body couldn’t withstand this level of running and complained of dizziness.

When I finally arrived in front of the stairs, I felt dizzy as if I would collapse just by taking a step forward.

‘This damn body!’

Before I knew it, I saw Hudson’s back as he was trying to get out through the lobby.

Damn it, there was not a single person in sight in the usually bustling lobby.

‘Don’t.’

My legs began to give way, and I had no choice but to hold on to the handrail of the stairs and take each step with difficulty.

‘I can’t miss it like this. Sister Viola lived such a hard life! He has to get punished!’

Hudson finally started going through the door.

Perhaps he had expected that I wouldn’t be able to catch up, he was now walking away in a leisurely pace.

“Huft, huft. You… Stand there!”

My cracked voice was so pathetic that it couldn’t reach him.

Then, like a miracle, someone walked past him.

I shouted with all my might right away at the brown hair that was visible though my blurry vision.

“Sir Theodore! Hold on to Sir Hudson!”

Thinking this was my last chance, I screamed with all my might, enduring the pain that felt like my throat would be torn apart.

Hudson showed a look of panic, then cursed and started to run away.

“Hey, don’t stand there!”

Fortunately, it seemed that the brown-haired man was Theodore.

I could hear the sound of him moving away along with his distinct feisty tone.

He seemed to be chasing Hudson.

My dizzy vision returned to normal as time passed and I slowly descended the stairs.

I saw two people walking from a distance.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

To be exact, it was Theodore walking, and Hudson being dragged by the scruff of the neck.

“I did this because you asked me to, but what’s wrong?”

“I saw Sir Hudson doing something suspicious in Sister Viola’s commander’s office. As soon as he was caught, he ran away so I started chasing him.”

At my words, Theodore looked at Hudson..

Hudson kept his mouth shut, glaring at me, perhaps intending to remain silent..

“What? What’s going on?”

However, the timing was bad for that.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, so many knights began to flock into the lobby.

All eyes were on what was happening in the lobby.

“Nonsense! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

He was forced to open his mouth when the attention was focused on him.

However, he clenched his teeth and said to me with a brazen look.

“Lady, are you driving away people without proof? I thought Lady was polite as a family member of my boss, but you insulted me like this!”

Hudson’s cry stirred up the surroundings.

“Don’t talk nonsense! I saw with my own eyes you pour a suspicious liquid into Sister’s glove!”

“I did not do such a thing! Do you even have proof in the first place!?”

“We can find out by examining the potion bottle you have!”

“Yeah! Take a look! Just see if I have anything like that in my arms!”

Despite the dire situation, Hudson was brazen.

In the midst of the confrontation between me and Hudson, a nearby knight searched his arms and shook his head.

“There’s nothing like that. Perhaps Lady has been mistaken?”

I bit my lips at the knight’s careful words.

“Look at this! This isn’t right! I treated Lady properly take care of her without any inconvenience because she is a family member of my boss, but she is too much!”

Hudson exclaimed proudly.

He must have thrown away the bottle in that short time.

As I thought about what to do, Theodore intervened in our conversation.

“Bottle? He threw it while he was running away earlier. Are you talking about this?”