CH 15

Could it be that he could become a greater person than he was originally?

“So did you manage to discover more? Are you allowed to tell me or are you sworn to secrecy of it?”

“No… Still only one.”

So he found one out of twenty swordsmanship skills in the will.

It may only be one, but my brother, who doesn’t know how great this is, put on such a sullen expression.

“Ugh, why are you making that face! How great is that?”

“Ha? That’s great?… Only one yet.”

“Because it’s great to even get one! Would I lie to you?”

“…You will not?”

“I will not.”

The little girl quickly held out her pinky finger.

“Can I make you a promise?”

“Promise?”

“Yes, promise, that I will not lie to you.”

I mean, no matter what brother, I’m sorry but as brother and sister, we’re already in this together. 

Roy, unaware of what his promise to his younger sister really entailed, thought for a moment before reaching out his hand. 

With their little fingers entwined, the deal was sealed. 

“…Good.”

“But brother, I’ll tolerate your white lies for now.”

“…”

“Don’t stare, brother.”

He may have transformed from a kitten into a black puppy, but that didn’t mean that he did not have sharp fangs.

When Laiya flinched, Roy immediately relaxed his expression.

It was absurd that he stared at her and didn’t know what to do.

“Then practice, but do you want to know something?”

Laiya lowered her head and whispered in Roy’s ear.

“You can’t tell anyone.”

“…Know.”

Roy nodded. 

The word “textbook” never entered their conversation. There was a special reason for their strict caution.

As for the details of the rest of Roy’s newly learnt skills that she had yet to find out, well, it wouldn’t change if she didn’t ask now. 

Laiya turned her head as she felt a clear gaze centered on them from a distance away. 

It was a gaze so focused and brazen that Laiya, who had not learnt the sword and its enhanced abilities, could feel. 

She rose to her feet and brushed off her skirt. To her brother who watched her blankly, she pointed in the direction she would leave. 

“I’ll be gone for a short while, brother. Please excuse me.”

“Huh?”

Roy looked at the direction she pointed to and nodded, but when the little girl tried to move, he grabbed the hem of her skirt.

“What if they bother you?”

“Huh? Who? Those people? Nonsense.”

“…”

“Brother, who can harass me in this mansion?”

There is one actually, he is none other than the attending physician.

The little girl swallowed a laugh and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“I don’t think they can bother me. Then my brother can scold them for me if they do.”

She shook her tiny fist.

“My knuckles feel uncomfortable like this, it’s so weak that my bones are about to break.”

“Huh?”

[T/N: Puppy Roy only ever has one response. T-T]

“No, don’t answer so sternly… I’m kidding, you know?”

“Ahh. I’ll give them a hard time.”

Why are you answering so temperamental? She smiled and turned around.

The smile disappeared from Laiya’s face, after a short walk, she reached her destination.

There were two people there, waiting for her.

They were the ones who watched us.

“Rainante Hakkil. The chief knight of the 1st Knights greets the princess.”

“Ruben Amstair, greetings from Chief Knight of the 1st Order!”

They are faces I know well, knights who have been around the 3rd Knights for a long time.

They were also the knights who stopped Theodore the last time.

The chief knights of the 1st Knights were Rainante and Ruben.

“Don’t you ever say hello.”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Would I have been uncomfortable if you said hello?”

Rainante looked up at her calmly. The two had gotten down on one knee and greeted Laiya BlackWinter, so their eye level was similar to hers.

To be precise, both of them were said to be quite large, and Ruben, who had a particularly distracting size, was looking up at me with his head lowered and only his eyes raised.

At that height, she looked at Ruben and Reinante alternately, looking restless.

“I am uncomfortable with your presence.”

“Is that so?”

What is it? Is that all? Is that so? 

She frowned.

“Sorry, sorry. Haa, but—”

“We are the princess’s escort knights, so please make concessions or at the very least take into account the things we can’t do anything about.”

This was it. 

This was the unfortunate news I learnt after I collapsed and woke up. 

I’ve been given an escort. 

They were even people she’d already come to know. 

In fact, it didn’t matter who they were, an escort was a very unpleasant being to Laiya BlackWinter. 

It began a few days prior, specifically on the day that her third brother, Roy BlackWinter, had finally opened up his heart to his younger sister. 

That evening, two very familiar figures arrived at the door of her room.

Just thinking of that memory brings about an unpleasant mood. 

“Greetings from Rainante Hakil, the chief knight of the 1st Knights, the escort knight who will escort the princess from this day onwards.”

Episode 16 

How the h*ll did me fainting in the corner of the third training grounds on a rainy day end up so bad?!

It seems like those from higher up have come down just because of that incident, just to escort me. 

[T/N: She’s wondering why all of these people (people of status such as those from the first knight’s order) have come to escort her. Especially as no one has had any concern for her all this time]

Judging from the fact that the knights had been ignoring her orders silently, was my situation on that day particularly dangerous? 

Maybe they thought that if I died, they would be in trouble. 

Ever since Laiya could remember, the BlackWinter family treated her as a tool dedicated to carrying on the BlackWinter’s bloodline, even if she was a weakling. 

Those so called vassals never paid her any attention nor did they hold back on their words on the account that she was a direct descendant of the BlackWinter family. 

Anyway… Escort Knights, huh. It’s still annoying no matter how much I think about it. 

The two knights before her kneeled down on one knee, distracting her from her thoughts. 

Ruben flinched at her gaze, but he refused to try and avoid meeting her eyes as Rainante calmly accepted her gaze.

If you think about it differently, the two of them are at least better than the people who don’t like me.

“When I stood and listened, I couldn’t hear your voice very well. Please feel free to speak.”

Laiya caught a glimpse of a familiar blue satin ribbon tied to the Rainante scabbard. 

Isn’t that the ribbon I gave him some time ago?

Why did you tie it up there on your sword?

“Do you think I would understand what you meant?”

“My apologies, that—”

“I didn’t ask you to explain.”

“Yes.”

She furrowed her brow.

“I feel uncomfortable around the two of you because you keep looking down at me.”

When she confessed her thoughts honestly, Ruben flinched.

“I am sorry, but I can’t help it even if it’s uncomfortable.”

“Are you saying that you’d remain as my escort even if I find it uncomfortable?”

“Yes, I apologize.”

Rainante answered without blinking an eye.

The guy! The last time he said he didn’t like a brash aristocratic kid like me. 

What’s with this change in attitude?

However, Laiya decided not to curse to the point where even her personality was ruined. 

Because, already, the most astounding character personality change I’ve ever seen was shown by my third brother.

“…Yes, do whatever you want, but can you follow me from a little farther away?”

“That is impossible.”

“Are you saying that it’s impossible for you to give me some space?”

“Yes, I apologize.”

“Are you a robot?”

“…What is a robot?”

“Haa, nevermind.”

The little girl shook her head furiously.

“But I really want you two to go further away, can’t you keep an eye on me from afar?”

“It’s not surveillance, it’s escort duty”

“Just a little bit!”

“That is difficult.”

“Come on, princess! Please understand.”

Ruben could see that both sides were not willing to back down and quickly intervened.

“Well, there is a distance that our knights can run in one step. As we are chief knights, we can use mana, so the range is quite wider but…”

Even so, they had already moved to a safe and appropriate distance, they couldn’t get any farther away or they would not be able to aid her in time.

Although I understood that they really came to ‘escort’ me, and I can’t think of any more logical deterrents to say to a person who is this faithful to his job, I have a very important reason for requesting that they remain further away.

Maybe I should try using a combined attack?

“Still not far away.”

“Is there any reason we should be further away?”

The little girl quickly nodded her head enthusiastically.

“I can’t talk about any secrets with my brother if you’re here too.”

Rainante furrowed his eyebrows subtly as Ruben’s expression blanked. 

Both of them hurriedly returned to their normal expressions after their momental surprise. 

Are you going to pretend that I didn’t see that ridiculous expression?

“What are you making those faces for? Do you also want to listen in on important secrets I have to tell my brother?”

“You can tell him without worry.”

“You guys are nearby.”

“Isn’t there a distance between where we stand and where you and the Third Young Master convene?”

Can’t you still hear us from that distance? Heh, What? You think I’ll let you get away with eavesdropping?