Ch.169Another Guardian Knight

That day, the nobles who visited the imperial palace recalled memories of the banquet.

The fear of being exposed to the killing intent of something inhuman.

The shame of forgetting their dignity, trembling and screaming.

A vortex of bloodlust was prowling through the imperial palace.

Everyone held their breath and shrank away from the walking terror.

—

“Today… your aura seems particularly intense. Did something unpleasant happen?”

Leopold glanced at me and asked with a trembling voice.

His expression was filled with discomfort. The back of his imperial uniform was soaked with cold sweat.

“It’s nothing.”

“Then please relax your expression… Everyone will collapse at this rate.”

…I’m already restraining myself as much as possible.

I even wore this stuffy uniform and resisted the urge to smoke.

I was properly wearing the ring Lacy gave me too.

But I couldn’t ignore the prince’s earnest request…

“Isn’t it their fault for being as timid and weak as woodlice? After all, Your Highness seems perfectly fine.”

“…Do I look fine to you?”

Leopold held out his visibly trembling hand.

The inside of his white glove was damp.

“Hmm…”

“Please, at least try to smile. Anyone watching would think you’re here to assassinate royalty, not protect them.”

Smile?

I forced the corners of my mouth up into a grin.

Leopold’s face instantly turned pale.

His eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck as he looked at me.

“I… I misspoke. Please stop that horrifying smile.”

“I apologize.”

I chose to simply close my eyes.

This way, at least no one would make eye contact with me and faint.

“No… if you close your eyes, you won’t be able to see anything.”

“Don’t worry. I can distinguish most things with my other senses alone.”

Sounds, various smells, even the movement of air against my skin.

Add to that my sharpened sixth sense, and it was enough to grasp my surroundings even without sight.

Leopold seemed a bit skeptical, but after seeing me walking around normally with my eyes closed, he sighed in apparent acceptance.

“How remarkable… Is that something all Masters can do?”

“I wonder? Nigel couldn’t do it.”

I had him try it once for fun, but he ended up hitting his forehead against a wall.

I don’t know about other Masters.

“Well, that makes sense. Of course such a thing wouldn’t be possible for a human…”

Leopold nodded while muttering in a very small voice.

So, are you saying I’m not human?

I see you’re steadily building a case for your own dethronement again today?

I stared intently at the back of his head, which I was tempted to smack, while silently following behind Leopold.

“So that’s the true form of the Were Eater! What a terrifying presence…”

“Hmm… is ‘Were’ Eater really the right term? It doesn’t seem like they only eat werebeasts…”

I decided to ignore the pathetic nonsense coming from behind us.

I could tell just from their voices that they were trembling… with such small livers, how could they properly govern their territories?

Thanks to everyone being terrified, not a single person dared to spread the gloomy rumors I had initially worried about.

That’s fortunate, very fortunate.

Had such things reached my ears, I would have torn off at least one of their limbs.

—-

Aside from having to walk around everywhere, being the prince’s knight escort was quite a leisurely job.

Come to think of it, there would rarely be anyone crazy enough to openly attack a prince inside the imperial palace.

Thanks to that, there was more than enough time to rest in between duties.

The same was true now.

Leopold was chatting with Lady Wien, Adelheid, at a table in the garden.

I was watching them from a corner of the garden while smoking.

As I leisurely held the smoke in my mouth, the irritation from the morning had mostly subsided.

“What? The prince’s knight escort abandoning his duty to smoke?!”

A knight suddenly appeared and confronted me with hostility.

Does he have about ten lives to spare?

“What do you want?”

With the cigarette still in my mouth, I turned only my eyes to look at him.

The elaborate armor unique to the Royal Guard.

His bare face, not covered by a helmet, was wrinkled with anger and contempt.

Judging by his smooth, wrinkle-free face… he was probably in his early twenties at most.

He must not have been a Royal Guard for long. His armor didn’t even have a scratch.

These types are always problematic…

Lacking experience but high in position, they’re inflexible and stubbornly rigid like newly appointed officers.

Trying to persuade such a person would only tire me out.

“Royal Guard? Ah, right, they said they’d assign another escort. As my backup.”

“Backup…?! This is too disrespectful! Protecting the royal family has always been the role of us Royal Guards!”

Sigh…

He just doesn’t get it.

I reached out with my left hand and gripped his right shoulder.

The startled knight tried to draw his sword, so I grabbed his wrist with my right hand.

“The disrespect is what you’re spouting at me right now. Do you even know who I am? A mere knight who isn’t even a Master dares to…”

“L-let go! What strength…!”

The knight pulled his right arm in apparent panic, but the wrist in my grip didn’t budge.

As I applied a bit more force with my left hand, his shoulder plate began to cave in.

I turned my body, moving toward his back as if dancing a waltz.

Following my movement, his right arm was stretched out to the side.

The knight, whose shoulder and wrist were instantly subdued, groaned and twisted his arm, but the straightened right arm didn’t move an inch.

I brought my head close to his ear and warned in a whisper:

“Shut up and listen carefully. Tearing your arm off would be nothing to me.”

Seeing his armor deform under just the pressure of my grip, the knight broke into a cold sweat.

“It’s good to care about etiquette and principles, but you should know who you’re dealing with. Did you mistake me for being on the same level as you just because we’re both escorts? I am Aishan-Gioro. Do you not understand what that means?”

A Royal Guard is just a knight.

They might have decent skills, but most are merely sons of noble families at best.

It means he’s not in a position to criticize a princess from another country.

The reason I allow Ophelia and others to treat me casually is because they don’t particularly irritate me with their attitude, not because my status is equal to theirs.

Maybe during my early exile days before I was properly recognized, but now there aren’t even seven people in the Empire with higher status than me.

How dare a mere knight criticize me.

“Besides, I’m doing this with the ‘prince’s’ permission. It’s not something for the likes of you to question. Do you understand me?”

The trembling knight nodded with difficulty.

“Good, as long as you understand. Just do better from now on.”

After lightly releasing the knight, I folded my arms and tilted my head.

“Now you should know who I am… so, what’s your name? Since we’ll be working together for a while, I should at least know that much.”

“Ugh… Yug, Yug Percival. I apologize for my rudeness.”

The man reluctantly bowed his head and introduced himself.

Once again, I grabbed and pressed down on that shoulder.

Percival gritted his teeth and suppressed a groan.

“Oh? ‘I apologize’? You still don’t get it. Is that how you were taught to speak to royalty?”

“…I am Yug Percival. I apologize for my rudeness…!”

Finally seeming to come to his senses, Percival bowed deeply and showed proper respect.

That’s better.

Consider this an early etiquette lesson from me.

If you go around acting like that elsewhere, you’re likely to get yourself killed.

My attitude might seem a bit harsh, but this is all about establishing dominance.

He could be the empress’s pawn, or even if not, he might succumb to her temptations and betray us at any time.

I need to make it clear that if he does, he’ll have all his limbs torn off—that way, he might at least hesitate when faced with such a situation.

—-

“Ah, Sir Percival. You look quite unwell. Did you have some issue with Princess Aishan-Gioro?”

Leopold, returning from his conversation, asked with curiosity.

It was a reasonable question. One side of his armor was dented with finger marks, and his face was pale with cold sweat streaming down.

“It’s nothing. I just gave him some advice as his senior. Right, Sir Percival?”

I lightly patted Percival’s shoulder while giving him a glare that meant he shouldn’t say anything unnecessary.

If he was tactless enough to reveal everything to the prince here… I’d have to judge him as beyond help.

“Yes…! There’s no problem at all!”

Percival shouted in a disciplined voice while standing at attention.

Though anyone could see there was a problem, Leopold simply nodded.

He probably knows my personality well enough not to worry about something like this.

“I’m glad there’s no problem. Since you seem to have introduced yourselves, there’s nothing more to say… I’ll be counting on both of you.”

“It’s an honor!”

I slowly removed my hand from Percival’s shoulder.

At least he seems to have some basic tact, which is fortunate.

Keep it that way. I don’t particularly expect much in terms of skill anyway.