CH 19

Eleonora, who was sent home earlier, had left the castle in her family’s carriage and was only partway home when the carriage suddenly stopped. The coachman turned and told her to take a cab the rest of the way home.

(Walking home is fine too but since I’m wearing these kinds of clothes I might run into a bandit. Humans are scary-pe.)

While the coachman arranged for a cab, Eleonora waited in the carriage and gazed out at the scenery of the town at night.

The empire’s largest city, in which it took great pride, Kentlgrad, was illuminated by light magic stone powered streetlights and shined brightly even at night.

(It was always pitch black at night in the Magic Forest. There was only ever moonlight-be. But the stars twinkled in the sky and were so pretty-pe.)

After being reborn, Eleonora would sometimes feel homesick, but tonight felt especially suffocating.

(I wanna return to the Magic Forest…The emperor looked so much like Ham-chan, it makes me miss him even more-pe. I miss you Ham-chan. I miss you so much. Ham-chan, are you doing well-dabe? You’re not wetting yourself anymore, are you? You’re not hungry, are you? You’re not crying, are you?)

To her, he would always be a child. She knew that 17 years had passed since then, but to her, he would always be that clever and cute child.

As she was reminiscing, the coachman opened the door and spoke.

“Please watch your step exiting the carriage.”

Eleonora nodded and slowly got off the carriage. As she was heading toward the cab, a large man in his thirties wearing a white uniform called out to her.

“Excuse me. I am Olec Troph from the white knight cavalry. His Highness ordered me to protect the lady of the Purpleus dukedom. We will prepare a carriage for you so if you could please wait here.”

This was so sudden, Eleonora thought it might be a fraud. However, the knight’s clothes were the same as those of the knights at the castle, so she believed in his words. It was a serious crime for anyone other than a knight to wear a knight’s uniform.

(I’m not someone to be protected-pe. Even if I am the Purpleus family’s daughter. I only talked to the emperor about ham and pie-dabe. Other than that, there wasn’t anything else.)

“…Do you have the wrong person?” Eleonora asked as she tilted her head.

“No. As per the emperor’s orders, we’ve been guarding you since in the castle.”

(What-pe! I totally didn’t notice-be. The knights are truly amazing. I was even able to find the magical beasts who excelled at hide-and-seek. In any case, why are they guarding me-pe?)

“Are you planning to return by cab?”

(I can’t walk home. Yeah. In these clothes I’ll run into a bandit-be.)

“…Yes.”

Hearing this response, the knight Olec glared at the coachman.

“You plan to let this delicate young lady take a cab home by herself this late at night?”

The coachman started trembling fiercely, intimidated by the knight, and took off his hat bowing repeatedly.

“It was the duchess’s orders. I also wanted greatly to escort the lady all the way home. But if I do that then I won’t be able to take the Duke and Duchess home. In any case, it takes an hour and a half to reach the residence by carriage.”

“Even if her dress got dirty, wouldn’t it have been fine to wait in the castle to go home together? And if you couldn’t disobey orders, you could have still let her wait in the carriage.”

Reproached by the aggressive knight, the coachman’s face became pale. Thus, to go between them, Eleonora slowly said the line she had thought in her head.

“Sir Knight, it’s because I selfishly said I wanted to return home quickly. It’s not his fault.”

Eleonora put on a troubled smile.

However, this was an obvious lie. The knight had witnessed everything, from her sister spilling wine on her to her mother telling her to return home.

The emperor had given him orders to guard her without her notice so after she left, he followed her carriage on horseback. However, this situation arose and he couldn’t stand back any longer, thus coming forward.

Regarding completing their missions, Alexei respected the decisions of his knights. On the contrary, those who didn’t have good judgment couldn’t become one of his knights.

In this case, Eleonora’s safety was the most important. Olec judged that Eleonora’s safety wasn’t guaranteed if she rode a cab home.

Eleonora gave the coachman an order.

“…Hurry and return to the castle.”

After she said that, the coachman replied, “Right away”, hurriedly got into the driver’s seat and left. As she watched the carriage head toward the castle, Eleonora spoke to the knight.

“Sir Knight. I’m fine, so please do not worry. See, the cab was already properly prepared for me.”

(I will make sure to take the cab home-pe. I will not walk, so no need to worry, Sir Knight-pe!)

“No, I can’t do that. Now, if we just wait a little longer the carriage from the castle will arrive. Are you tired from standing all this time?”

Eleonora tilted her head.

“…I’m really fine though but thank you for your consideration.”

The aggressive, large knight Olec couldn’t help but admire Eleonora as he saw her eyelashes move down and her troubled expression. He thought, even if Alexei didn’t order him he would still want to guard her.