CH 77

Charlotte’s scream wasn’t drowned out even with all the people’s murmurs. I grabbed the knight's stiff forearm and turned his body that was trained on me. 

“Sir.”

“Yes.”

“Can you help that girl over there?”

The knight’s eyes narrowed as if trying to figure out my intentions. I scratched my chin and added in a friendly tone. 

“And tell me a nickname at least. Since you’re my escort, shouldn’t I at least know your name?”

Although they were achromatic knights said to have no face and name, there’s no way they really were nameless, right? 

As if my question was unexpected, the knight’s mouth, which only showed the silhouette because it was covered by the gray cloth, twitched. 

“Are you asking for a servant’s name? Damon wasn’t wrong.”

‘Damon?’

I raised my eyebrows at the unexpected name. Damon was a knight who served as Derek’s bodyguard and the man who guarded me when he imprisoned me. 

I know that he disappeared in the midst of the chaos with Asmodeus, was he close with this knight? 

“You can call me Oslo. If you want to help a Southerner you don’t even know, just say your order and I will follow your command.”

“Would it be all right if I ask it as a favor? You’re not even my knight.”

Because Dietrich might get angry if I ordered his knight without permission. I gently looked up with wide eyes at Oslo. 

“Kyaah!”

Charlotte’s feeble scream reached my ears again. Oslo, who quickly stepped forward at my glance, instantly subdued the man who was confronting Charlotte. 

“Wh--what are you!”

The bewildered middle-aged man raised his voice, but Oslo, who had no business with him, only shrugged his shoulders without answering and looked back at me. I slowly stepped forward and placed my hand on Charlotte’s shoulder who had fallen to the ground. 

“Long time no see.”

“Huh? Oh?”

Charlotte, who couldn’t recognize me right away frowned, then stood up and pointed at me. Her silver hair, which was covered in dust, was still dazzling. 

“You, you, you!”

I slowly grew annoyed at her lack of manners by pointing at someone. 

When I slightly frowned, she withdrew her hand as if realizing her mistake and clasped her clenched fists. 

“Aren’t you a Lagrange kid? Why are you in the capital?”

Was that what she was curious about in this current situation? 

I lowered my eyes and ignored her words. Fortunately, the man who was caught by Oslo seemed to know the Lagrange name. 

“La--Lagrange? Why is a young lady from Lagrange helping a thief?”

‘Thief?’

I turned my eyes toward the man who looked at me seeming to have calmed down. He clasped his old vest and wept. 

“Did you say a thief?”

“That girl said that our store’s item was a sacred item and immediately snatched them.”

Charlotte screamed at the man’s explanation. She held up a white staff that looked like a symbol of a priest and shook it. 

“I told you that I was a priestess from the Great Temple. Relics are not something that can be sold for money!”

“But even so, I bought it at the auction house with money!”

Listening to the situation of the man who was crying as if he was wrongly treated, it seemed that it was Charlotte who caused a nuisance. 

No matter how sacred the item was, it was unbelievable she would think of taking it without paying the price properly. 

‘He’s correct that you’re a thief.’

Did that mean that even the heroine doesn’t always do the right thing? I swallowed a sigh, regretting too late that I stepped in to help and searched my cape’s pocket taking out a small pouch. 

‘There’s no need to use force for problems that could be solved with money.’

“How much is that necklace?”

“Ten blois.”

“Here, take it. Did you get hurt when the knight grabbed you? I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

The man bent down in amazement as he was thinking that I would use my power as nobility to extort him of his necklace. 

“No! I’m not hurt at all! Thank you.”

“No, I’m telling you, it’s not an item you can buy with money!” Even Charlotte’s eyes widened. 

She called my name so loudly that I couldn't believe how such a loud voice could come out of her slender neck.

“Anissa! Your name is Anissa, right?”

I didn’t feel the need to answer Charlotte. I put the necklace I received from the merchant in my pocket and exited the square; she followed me immediately. 

“Thank you for helping me. Won’t you return the necklace now?”

I let out a dumbfounded laugh at Charlotte’s words. Money easily earned, easily goes away, but I didn’t want to waste it like this. 

I was upset that I had to spend ten blois on a necklace that wasn’t even my style. 

“Why should I?”

“Because that necklace is from the temple. When Hera the sun god was human --”

“All right. Do you have ten blois?”

I held out my hand, cutting off her words. 

I'm a little smaller than peers of my age, so Charlotte just stared blankly at my white hand that still looked like a child’s hand.

“Ten blois?”

“You asked for the necklace, I’ll give it to you so give me money.”

“But I don’t have money.”

“Then, it can’t be helped. Goodbye.”

It wasn’t nice to meet you, let’s not see each other again. 

I didn’t think too much about it when I read the book because it wasn’t romance-centered but thinking about it now, there was nothing but a nuisance of a heroine. 

“Wai--wait a minute!”

Although she was a woman who would help Dietrich later on when he’s sealed by Hermann however, she was someone who had nothing to do with me, so it wouldn’t it be okay?

I turned my back without hesitation and placed my hand on Oslo’s arm. He naturally escorted me and walked away.

“Oh, let’s go in there.”

Oslo took me to an alley with shops where the price range wasn’t very expensive. It was looking like the pouch over my shoulder wasn’t that heavy.

‘I have the title of a princess but this is quite embarrassing.’

Should I have accepted the money that Dietrich handed over? I cleared my throat loudly and raised my hand pointing to a store.

“I think it’s a bookstore.”

“There’s something that I’m looking for.”

I entered the oldest bookstore among the densely packed stores across a narrow cobblestone street.

“Welcome.”

A clerk with a friendly expression greeted me with a smile. I quickly scanned through the dimly lit store because of the lack of sunlight. 

‘It should be this shop.’

The store, which was an old bookstore that smelled of musty dust that sold books and miscellaneous stuff, was the reason that I stopped at the Great Market. 

‘I don’t need it right now, but I’ve already used what Josef gave me.’

Charlotte, the female protagonist, would one day buy an ability amplifier at this store at a very low price. Although the male protagonists were extremely powerful, they didn’t have the chance to show their full potential. 

“Is there something you are looking for?”

I smiled and shook my head at the friendly clerk’s question. It’s because I had to pretend to buy it by accident. 

While slowly looking around the store, I picked up an earring decorated with what looked like rubbish in front of the display stand.

The small, black mineral wasn’t shiny, but it was a matte finish that had its own elegance. 

“What a unique earring.”

“Do you think so? It’s not a trendy design so it’s not selling well.”

Regardless of the design, artifacts that instantly calls out an individual’s power or mana were traded at very high prices. 

The clerk quickly added for fear I might change my mind. 

“But I think it would suit you really well, my lady. Because you have such a fair and beautiful face.”

“I’ll buy it.”

I bought the earring for just several shillings which would have cost me a few hundred blois if I paid the right price so I bought some books out of regret before leaving. 

“My lady, wait.”

“Yes?”

“There are many suspicious shadows near the mansion.” 

I felt sorry passing all my things to Oslo so I clutched one of the thickest books and slowly turned towards the mansion when he suddenly stopped walking. 

“What do you mean?”

At his words, I slowly looked up and saw several unfamiliar knights loitering outside the mansion. 

As if confronting them, the Lagrange knights dressed in all black were standing in front of the mansion’s front door. 

‘Ivory armor…’

Don’t tell me they’re Euclid’s Knights? It’s not even the battlefield, but knights dressed up in heavy armor were in the middle of the capital with each one wearing a cape with white lions on them. 

“You good-for-nothing Southern bastards, you must have lost your minds after being beaten like that.”

Oslo, who had been so gentle, suddenly muttered harsh words and placed his hand on the sword’s scabbard on his waist. 

My eyes went round thinking back on the description which I only read in books. 

‘Was there a scene like this?’

Hermann and Dietrich’s battles mostly happened in forests or empty fields. I didn’t remember any battle that took place in the capital. 

“His Grace in the Imperial Palace. For now, let’s avoid this commotion, my lady.”

“But we don’t know yet why the Euclid knights came to the mansion.”

Hermann, who was almost like the most powerful person right now in Euclid,  unlike Derek Lagrange, at least was not a madman. The Imperial Palace was just around the corner so he couldn’t possibly be starting a civil war right here. 

However, as if mocking my thoughts, one of Euclid’s knights shoved a long spear into the mansion’s gate, shouting his head off. 

“You wretched Northern bastards! You came all the way down to the capital and touched the sacred relic!”