CH 81

“My-…My third wheel radar is going off.”

“…What the hell is that? I don’t really get it, but aren’t you already losing the moment you activated it?”

In the freezing cold, the knights opened their mouths on a small bench set up behind the dragon carriage.

The calm-eyed knight with chin-length blonde hair parted in the middle is Suu. Then there is Cleo, the short-haired, brawny knight. Both were now wearing fur hats up to their ears and wrapped in furry scarves.

These are the knights who have been given the task in these few days of extreme cold.

Both were from lower-class noble families, but they were recognized for their service to the Knights of Pluvia, and now members of the royal knights under the third prince.

Even though they are called the royal knights, there are only five people in total when it comes to the third prince’s guards alone. The first and second princes’ royal knights are, of course, much more numerous. The knights who serve under the princes, and also princesses who are not present in the current generation, are collectively known as the Aurora royal knights. The constitution is different from the King and Queen’s royal knight, which protects the King and Queen.

When the personal knights of the princes were elected last year, the royal knights were reorganized under a rigorous screening process by their captain, Count Mika Lennart Chardin.

When both Suu and Cleo were approached, they were quite torn between the choice of whether they wanted to move up in the ranks of Knights of Pluvia or to join the third prince’s royal knight.

This is because the third prince, Nagi Lucian Pluvia, is not well regarded in the country.

If they were under Seth Ancene Pluvia, who is the head of the first prince faction, and considering the future of the first prince who will eventually become king, it was expected that they might have a stable future there. But with the third prince, they would not see a brilliant promotion.

However, considering the fact that the captain was the son of that famous Count Chardin and the good pay, they both ended up accepting the offer of promotion to the third prince’s royal knight.

When they saw him from afar, they only recognized him as a beautiful prince. Although they were surprised to find the third prince much more active than they had heard, both Suu and Cleo had already noticed that they had apparently received a very good promotion offer.

The third prince whom they saw up close, turned out to be someone who can be respected…though it’s still difficult to say that fully, he had qualities that made them want to cheer him on, surprisingly. They see him as someone to be protected, and they like this workplace to the extent that they could be proud of it.

Days like this where they found themselves in a difficult work environment made them want to complain, but they won’t deny the fact that they are proud of it.

However, Cleo seemed to have something on his mind.

“His Highness Nagi and Captain Mika…they seem kind of suspicious, don’t you think?”

“Hey, they might be younger but they’re still our boss. I’m not going to bad mouth because I want to get more promotions. Although most of the personal knights are chosen from the same age group as His Highness, it’s still amazing for the captain to get that position at the age of seventeen.”

Cleo seemed to be thinking of something tactless. However, when it comes to intimacy, even His Highness Seth and Oswald must be very close, Suu thought. To begin with, the distance between knights and princes in this country is designed to be close.

Suu also saw them almost every day and sometimes thought about them, but he thought they were both standing in their positions properly.

However, Cleo is the type of person who, when he notices such things, tends to say them out loud.

“I’m suspicious of those two! In a romantic sense!”

“Ah…”

Suu wondered what he should say to Cleo, who seemed to be excited about it, although he thought it would be better to leave such things be. But in the meantime, Cleo’s thoughts were drifting in increasingly strange directions.

“Hey, Suu! Hey! Don’t tell me this dragon carriage is for something like that?!”

“……”

“It’s really fast, and I’m not sure because it’s shaking, but the shaking is not caused by such things, right?!”

Suu remained silent. Not that he didn’t think about that, but even if he had, it would have been better for his mental health to chalk this up to the dragon carriage shaking, by all means. Why can’t Cleo think of it that way? Suu wondered and turned a pitying eye on his colleague.

However, Cleo, not sure how he took Suu’s reaction, screamed with a tragic look on his face.

“Say something…!”

So that’s why he mentioned third wheel radar, Suu thought.

Even if something was happening inside, they would not be able to hear it because of the wind and the sound of the carriage. In fact, they can’t hear any conversations at all. However, even if something is really going on inside when two of their subordinates are sitting over the wall, rather than being a third wheel, it’s more likely that they’re used as a stimulus.

Cleo is making a fuss about being a “third wheel”, but he misunderstood the meaning of the word in the first place.

Suu was sure that His Highness Nagi would have a sense of immorality that “there are knights outside”, and Captain Mika is the type of person who is completely happy to see that. Captain Mika has a refreshing smile, but sometimes his sharp eyes and calculating mind peek through.

In other words, if it’s with His Highness Nagi and he reacts by rejecting shyly, surely anyone would be pleased by it.

Suu thought.

(We’re not a third wheel or anything. We’re just a plaything to them…)

It’s hard to think what they are being forced to protect while keeping an eye outside in this extreme cold. That’s why it’s better to think they’re not up to something like that.

But Cleo, who is pure and full of presumption, didn’t think so.

“I mean, His Highness Nagi…doesn’t he look kind of erotic lately? What should we do, if we see him in the morning and he’s being listless or something?”

“He always looks sleepy usually, doesn’t he? I heard he’s also not good with mornings.”

“W-Why are you so divisive?! Is your heart already frozen to the core?! Suu!”

“Well. My body is already completely frozen all over.”

“Oh shoot, I can’t help but connect it to the cold!” Cleo noticed his mistake and closed his eyes tightly. It was so cold that even Suu’s calm eyes and frank reactions felt cold.

Cleo thought he had to tell something, something funny, something warm to talk about. He thought about talking about soup, but nothing interesting came to mind with soup.

At this rate, both of them would be devastated by the cold. Cleo thought that he should just keep the conversation going, whatever it was. He could only come up with unimportant conversations, but he had no choice.

“When I was born, I heard that I was about to be named Canon.”

“Hmm. Isn’t that a nice name that fits your stature?”

“Huh?! So you also talk about dirty things like that, Suu!”

“What? Was that a dirty joke?”

It was during such an unimportant conversation.

As soon as they felt a warm breeze blowing, the cold wind stopped as if it had never happened before. It’s as if a wall of wind has been built, and it’s quiet. Only the sound of the carriage rattling can be heard. Cleo spoke loudly.

“Huh?! What is this?! Isn’t it getting warmer?”

“……”

Contrary to Cleo’s delight, Suu went somber. Then he felt his stomach churn.

He doesn’t want to think about it too much. Considering his duties, he should have continued to endure the cold weather. He was also feeling thankful for the wind barrier. However, Suu couldn’t help but think that there had been something that the captain wanted to block out with the wind.

Suu dropped his shoulder.

After all, Suu thought that he would lose more than Cleo if he realized such things. Suu looked at Cleo resentfully, blaming it on the fact that it all started because he had said something strange.

Then he sighed, feeling the temperature to be much better than before.

The quick-witted Suu knew immediately. He didn’t know if anything had happened inside. Still, he knows this much.

(Right… His Highness Nagi must have fallen asleep…)