CH 1.8

CHAPTER 1: THE SUPPORTING ROLE IS ALSO QUITE DIFFICULT (VIII)

Part 009

It was a combination that didn’t fit as well as Damian and Adrian. Lady Philia of the Duke of Galleon was a person who liked to show off her beauty and be recognized. So, regardless of the Duke of Galleon’s move, it was not strange to see her enjoying the party, as she partnered with young lords who were said to stand out.

However, since Ailene’s debut, she has never had other male partners besides her relatives even at casual parties. Moreover, she had never met Dozern, the 2nd prince, in a different party, except for a royal banquet. However, Dozern’s attitude toward Ailene was clearly friendly. It was also a word of favor that a man showed to a woman. His eyes did not leave her as Dozern got close to Ailene, leaning her upper body. A picturesque smile hung on her face the whole time.

Although he was the 2nd prince known for his sensitive and neat personality, it was the first time he had such sweet eyes and a sweet smile all the time.

A neat beauty with gorgeous blond hair and blue eyes and a handsome man with dark brown hair and reddish-yellow eyes, like the symbol of the royal family, were sitting in one place and laughing. Everyone agreed that that uneasy combination was a pair that was both worrisome and so well-suited.

Ailene and Dozern, who had been talking about this and that for a while, even talked about the accident that had happened last fall.

“That’s what happened. Are you okay now?”

“Yes. It’s fine now.”

“It’s really fortunate. If I hadn’t been able to see you face to face today, I would have dared to resent God.”

Dozern held Ailene’s hand with a grievous expression and kissed the back of her hand. Ailene was perplexed by his sincerity as her hot hand landed, but she couldn’t stand the tickling of her heart.

“I’ve been trying to hide my feelings, but I won’t anymore. My lady, you are the woman I’ve been imagining. Young lady, please understand how I feel when I say this.”

The man who had been smiling at her with a face dripping with honey carefully placed his cheek on the back of her hand and closed his eyes with a face that looked like it was about to collapse. Ailene couldn’t help but think of Duke Nodoban, who was watching her from somewhere, even as her eyes blushed at the sound of her heartbeat.

“My Lord. I’m very happy and thrilled, but my father and mother won’t be happy.”

Dozern opened his closed eyes and looked straight into Ailene’s blue eyes. It was a determined face. A strong voice filled with strong will penetrated Ailene’s ears and penetrated her heart.

“That doesn’t matter. The young lady’s heart is more important to me. Am I not good enough to stand by the young lady? Am I not good enough for you?”

“No!”

Eilene urgently denied it. How can you compare Dozern, a sheep-like man, to Tyrellius?

“It is not so…”

When she lowered her head without being able to finish his words, Dozern smiled softly and stroked Ailene’s hand.

“I’ll take care of everything. Young lady, won’t you give me your name?”

“I’m Ailene, Your Majesty. Please speak to me comfortably.”

“Ailene, I…”

“What kind of painting is this?”

Suddenly, Tyrellius intervened. Dozern and Ailene hurriedly let go of their hands and got up from their seats. Ailene bowed her head, and Tyrellius sighed, crossing his arms.

“Young lady, You look friendly with the second prince. Are all bloodlines of the royal family good?”

“I’m warning you, Brother. Please don’t be rude to Ailene.”

“Ha?”

Dozern stepped forward, placing his hand on Ailene’s waist, who had her head down with her face flushed. Tyrellius, who was watching Dozern’s calm face, snorted at him and let out.

“You’ve been coveting mine since before. That habit still hasn’t been fixed.”

“Ailene has nothing to do with you.”

In that society a woman was even less of a thing. But many young women among the people who gathered around gave silent support to Dozern’s remarks. Tyrellius, who was trying to get angry, seemed to be bothered by the people around him who were staring at them openly.

“Are you close enough to call her by name? Well, if that’s what you like. I’ll tell mother and pretend there’s no engagement. But, bro, women always have to have the taste of being wrapped around softly, but that stiff woman… what’s good about her?”

“I know for sure that Ailene’s elegance doesn’t suit my older brother’s tastes.”

Dozern did not lose and confronted Tyrellius. The atmosphere cooled rapidly, and someone approached and whispered to Tyrellius.

It was Homer. Tyrellus, who looked back at Homer annoyedly, glared at Dozern once more and left. The first day of the Spring Banquet came to an end in a chaotic atmosphere.

* * *

A boy with bright red hair and a youthful face accepted Adrian’s coat and said.

“I heard that you crossed your arms with a lady and escorted her. What happened on the terrace?”

Ethan’s voice was playful as he followed Adrian back to the duke’s residence and undressed him. Adrian glanced back at Ethan and unbuttoned his shirt without replying.

“Lady of Ethard. Is spring finally coming for our lord?”

They had just arrived and were in the process of changing his clothes, but Ethan acted as if he was there. It was a surprising amount of information, but Adrian only laughed and reproached him.

“I’m free? I’m free? You’ve emptied and refilled an entire mansion in half a season. What’s the free time? I’m just trying to take a breather after arranging the Knights, but isn’t it too much for you to leave the work again?”

Ethan, furious at Adrian’s indifferent words, protested, spitting in resentment.

Over a hundred servants and 60 additional knights were all investigated and reorganization was just about finished. The reorganization of the knights, which was supposed to be postponed until spring, was decided that it would be better to reorganize quickly because the movements of the knights who followed the eccentric division commander were unusual, so they worked hard throughout last winter. Ethan had a lot of trouble reorganizing the comprehensive knights. 52 knights, including Edan, followed Adrian from the border. Excluding the 12 members of the Secret Service, among the additional 60 recruited, 30 were from the Vigor Knights and 30 were newly recruited.

At first, the atmosphere of the Knights was very chaotic. Those who had been members of the Bigor Knights for a long time had been territorial, promoting their careers, and the knights who had followed Adrian ignored them and set their eyes on them. In the meantime, the newcomers rallied together to find their place. It must not have been an easy task to unite one hundred hot-blooded men. Thierry and Ethan, who were in charge of the Knight Commander, rolled and studied them, finally taking the form of the current Bigor Knights.

The knights from the National Guard who followed Adrian had a very special loyalty to their master, so the knights who thought that loyalty was the greatest virtue quickly became closer than expected. Of course, in the 30-day special training that took place right after the knights were formed, Adrian’s crazy stamina and inaction played a major role. Now he has the appearance of a decent knights order, but somewhere between his members, there must be someone who has infiltrated with someone’s eyes. It’s been through and through, but there is no perfection in human affairs.

As of now, Adrian was not moving, so they may be just watching, but if Adrian started working in earnest, there would be people who opposed it. Adrian was preparing to root out the disquieting seeds sown by the former Duke of Bigor.

It was confirmed that the deal with Taln, which had failed four years ago, was resumed by someone behind the scenes, but there was a limit to discovering which faction the collusion was with at the border. Most of the blood relatives of the former Duke of Bigor belonged to the aristocratic faction, and still had a lot of influence in the military. Adrian had to find and exclude them one by one as he took up the position of commander of the capital army in earnest. In order to do so, an intelligence agency in charge of intelligence collection and information processing was essential. Officially, Ethan, the butler of the Duke of Bigor, was in fact in charge of Adrian’s personal information group ‘Dal’, led by George, and had secured information power that penetrated even into the royal family within half a season after coming to Midoc.

Adrian, who took off his shirt with a nonchalant face despite Ethan’s complaints, put on his robe and changed his gaze.

“Is their whereabouts still unknown?”

The former knight commander and the old butler, who returned to the Bigor estate with the body of the former Duke of Bigor, were the limbs that had kept the former Duke the closest. And since they left Bigor’s estate, their whereabouts have been unclear.

“It was confirmed that they entered Midok, but the butler disappeared leaving only traces of his contact with the Luther family, and the knight commander disappeared altogether.”

“Marquis Luther. It’s Boromir’s family name. His son was the commander of the National Guard.”

“Yes, he was a very unlucky child.”

Ethan gnashed his teeth as he recalled the face of Boromir Luther, who ignored the opinions of his lord in every case when they were stationed at the border and sent them on a roundabout transfer to an area of strength.

Laurentian’s army was divided into two major divisions. The Metropolitan Police Department, which was in charge of domestic public order and defense, and the National Guard, which was in charge of war with foreign countries. Although there was a separate royal guard in charge of protecting the royal family, they were treated as separate units under the direct command of the king.

It was Laurentian that had a history of constantly overcoming foreign invasions from the establishment of the kingdom. Recently, there was also a long war with Gatan Kingdom, which the former Duke of Bigor ended in victory, and the military had high prestige in the Kingdom of Laurentian, which bordered the kingdoms and principalities. Since a huge budget was allocated first, and activities within the military were not well disclosed to the outside, it had a structure that was difficult to find out even if corruption occurred in which interests were intertwined.

Adrian, who knew very well that it was his father who made it, sat in front of a pile of reports from each family that his subordinates had been investigating. Ethan, who looked down for a moment at Adrian, who began to concentrate with a stiff face, clicked his tongue inwardly.

He sent George as his coachman because it was a rare opportunity to see the palace in public. George, who was resting after spying on the structure of the main palace, was waiting for Adrian at the carriage waiting area. Even though there was still time left before the banquet was over, the master came out and wondered if he was already going back. It was difficult to see him because he was far away, but he also said that he smiled as he looked at the young lady. He hurriedly called Sejak, who had been sent to the banquet, and asked about it.

Ethan was Adrian’s deputy when he first took over as commander of the Defense Forces Command four years ago. Although he was a commoner soldier, he excelled in tactical planning and was selected as a junior commander. However, other commanders from prominent noble families did not accept him as his lieutenant. Ethan liked Adrian, who recognized his abilities more than his status, and followed Adrian all the time. As far as Ethan knew, this was the first time Adrian had had personal contact with a woman. He was Adrian, who wouldn’t even step foot in a tavern with soldiers on the border. There were times when high-ranking commanders sneaked in on their girls, but to think that he, who had flatly refused, shared a laugh with a young lady he met at a banquet.

Ethan clicked his tongue again as he looked at Adrian’s familiar look as he read through the documents with his stiff face as if he had never done that.

Come to think of it, when he first met him, Adrian, who had just passed the age of 20, laughed quite a bit. He was Adrian, who was always envied by the soldiers for his fair and just character, and he was the one who often smiled brightly while being with them. However, four years of muddy life in the National Guard gradually took away Adrian’s smile.

The young commander, with many lives on his shoulders, eventually lost his smile. Ethan felt damp as he recalled the days of the young lord, with whom they used to share silly jokes. He mentioned it like a joke, but Ethan thought he needed to look into it. About Lady Ethard, who brought a smile back to that dark face for a moment.

The long night had begun again.