Chapter 41

Chapter 41

"I committed the crime of overhearing the conversation between His Majesty and Your Highness. Please punish me."

"Oh, I thought it was something serious. Sit down."

"B-but...!"

"We were going to discuss this together anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"!"

Ruth lifted his head in astonishment.

They were going to discuss it together?

That meant she wanted him involved in catching that rotten Duke Cartes.

It might even become his first mission since being appointed as the Crown Princess's personal guard.

His heart pounded loudly.

And I'll be doing it together with Her Highness....

Anticipation colored his smooth cheeks, which looked as though they had been carved from polished stone.

"More importantly, didn't I order you not to kneel whenever you felt like it?"

His excitement and happiness lasted only a moment.

The threatening tone made him suck in a breath.

He could only wait for his punishment.

"No chocolate nutritional drinks for three days."

"...Pardon?"

"Four days."

"U-understood!"

Ruth immediately stood and gently sat in the chair before him.

Only then did Riena's hands begin moving busily again.

She was drawing magic circles onto the parchment scattered across her desk.

The shapes looked so convincing that Ruth's eyes naturally followed them.

"Are you planning to quit being my personal guard after a day or two?"

"N-no!"

"Exactly. So stop kneeling over ridiculous things like that."

Ruth straightened his back and gave a short nod instead of answering.

"Think about it. Your ears are always open. How are you supposed to avoid hearing things? Right?"

When he thought about it carefully, she did have a point.

Ruth nodded, his silver hair swaying softly.

"Besides, I let you enter the office because it was something you were allowed to hear. If it wasn't, I would have told you to wait outside."

"...I was ignorant."

"Haa.... That's not what I mean. You were just nervous because you've only recently been appointed! Besides, you're representing Marquis Sertua too."

Ruth felt something ache faintly inside him at the unexpected words.

How hard had he struggled through mud and dirt just to become a full-fledged knight?

He had fought with the determination to die rather than bring shame to his father's name.

For a knight, a mistake could mean death.

"I won't damage your knees over petty matters. I trust you, so trust me too."

Only after finishing the magic circle on the final sheet of parchment did Riena raise her gaze to meet his blue eyes.

A breeze slipped through the open window, playing with Ruth's silver hair and filling the room with the scent of flowers from the garden.

The sunlight that had been hidden behind the clouds poured through the window and brightly illuminated the room.

Ruth could barely keep his eyes open.

It wasn't merely because of Riena's appearance.

Her sincerity had reached him.

His eyes hardened with determination, like someone who had just discovered the purpose of his life.

"I will become Your Highness's hands and feet and protect you by your side!"

Riena slowly nodded and gathered the scattered sheets of parchment into a neat pile.

Wait....

She'd heard that line somewhere before.

Become her hands and feet....

Damn it.

That was what Kanter had said in her previous life!

Riena shuddered and shook her head firmly.

"N-no. Become my sword instead. That's enough. Just my sword."

"I obey!"

Ruth's determined eyes made it clear that, whatever she asked, he would do it for her.

Knock, knock.

"Your Highness, I've brought what you asked for!"

"Thanks. Can you give it to me?"

Romi carefully pulled a bundle of parchment from her arms.

Its color and texture were different from ordinary parchment.

It looked almost as tough as leather.

Ruth stared at it for a moment before his brows twitched as though something had occurred to him.

"Is that parchment made from monster hide?"

Wild animals became monsters when exposed to excessive mana.

That was why most monsters appeared in the north.

For some reason, a monster had appeared while Ruth was attending the swordsmanship academy.

He remembered killing it and having its hide processed into parchment.

"Parchment made from monster hide retains mana almost like a scent, so it's useful for tracking."

"I've heard it's equally expensive and rare."

Mages with a high understanding of mana could supposedly even reproduce an illusion of the face of someone who had read the writing on such parchment.

Of course it was expensive.

But this wasn't the time to worry about the price.

Besides, monster hide was supplied from the north, and the heir to the northern Grand Duchy was currently staying at the Imperial Palace.

What was there to worry about?

"Apparently monsters have been unusually abundant in the north this year, so they have plenty of material. Anyway, we need to catch the Duke first, so I'm going to use the parchment supplied to the Imperial Palace."

"You mean the missing Duke Cartes?"

Riena gave a short nod and picked up her fountain pen again.

The soft scratching sound tickled Ruth's ears, naturally drawing his gaze toward the nib.

It glided smoothly across the parchment.

I knew she was skilled in magic, but I didn't realize she was this good.

Ruth inhaled sharply.

The skill before his eyes was hard to believe even while watching it.

Meanwhile, Riena finished drawing and opened a long drawer.

Then she struggled to pull out a poster.

Her arms were simply too short and small compared with the deep drawer and the large poster.

Ruth hurriedly rose and pulled it out for her.

"Th-thanks."

Riena gave an awkward cough, flipped the poster over, and carefully attached the parchment to the back.

"Ta-da. Finished! There are one hundred in total."

"...If it's only one hundred, wouldn't that be insufficient?"

To put posters throughout the entire Empire, they'd need at least several thousand.

Riena merely smiled leisurely and shrugged.

"I'm only putting them up in the Cartes territory, so this is enough."

The Cartes territory was the closest territory to the Imperial Palace.

And hadn't the Imperial Knights already searched it dozens of times?

There was no chance the Duke would still be hiding somewhere he was bound to have been discovered.

But if she reversed that assumption, it actually made things easier.

"Duke Cartes is definitely somewhere in the Cartes territory. So can you make sure these posters are put up there?"

The thought of receiving his first mission made Ruth's chest burn with excitement.

Without realizing it, his voice filled with strength.

"I will fulfill the task with everything I have!"

Just as Riena was about to continue speaking to him....

Knock, knock.

A calm knock drew both of their attention.

The door opened, revealing hair as dark as midnight and vivid violet eyes.

"I greet Your Highness the Crown Princess. I heard you urgently summoned me, so I came as soon as I finished my work at the library."

His elegant but confident steps echoed through the room.

"Young Lord Melance, you've arrived. Please sit here."

Ruth rose and greeted him respectfully.

Melance responded with a faint smile, returning the greeting with a degree of warmth.

"Melance, I'm going to catch Duke Cartes with this."

Riena spread out the poster she'd been holding.

Melance examined it leisurely.

To an ordinary person, it looked like nothing more than a normal poster.

They wouldn't even be able to sense the magic circle or the special parchment attached to it.

It was an impressively finished piece of work.

But Melance tilted his head.

"Your skill is excellent. However...."

Ruth's blue eyes quickly moved back and forth between Melance and Riena.

How productive and impressive this was!

Yes.

This moment must have been exactly why he'd fought his way to the top of that brutal training program and survived.

Ruth calmed his racing heart beneath his uniform and looked toward Melance.

"Catching Duke Cartes is all well and good... but why did you use so much of this?"

"!?"

Ruth's blue eyes shook in confusion.

They hadn't discussed this in advance?

Even if monsters were unusually plentiful in the north this year, shouldn't they have consulted Melance before using so much parchment?

Ruth held his breath and looked at Riena.

There must be a reason...!

Sure enough, Riena snorted as though she'd been waiting for the question and stared fiercely at Melance.

The confidence in her golden eyes was so imposing that Ruth's anxiety vanished like fog beneath sunlight.

"Because that's your job, Melance! Young Lord Ruth is responsible for putting these posters up throughout the Cartes territory! And you're responsible for supplying the parchment...!"

"So you're saying I need to obtain northern parchment now and replenish the number of blank sheets you used?"

Riena nodded vigorously.

Melance blinked several times in surprise.

Ruth's blue eyes watched him nervously, his lips going dry.

Replacing the missing parchment meant traveling all the way to the northern territory!

Ruth tensed.

This might become much more complicated than expected.

"Understood. It's not difficult. Just give me until tomorrow."

Ruth's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Tomorrow?

What in the world was wrong with these absurdly reckless conversations?

"Y-you mean you're traveling to the northern territory right now?"

His voice rose without him realizing it.

Both of them turned to look at him.

"It's nothing difficult, so there's no need to worry. Stay beside Her Highness."

"But it takes at least five days to reach the northern territory! Even traveling as quickly as possible, it would take ten days to return to the Imperial Palace. Ten days is far too dangerous!"

Everything Ruth said was completely reasonable.

Yet Melance's answer to the long explanation was absurdly simple.

"I'll use a magic circle. There's nothing to worry about. Who would be foolish enough to travel that distance by carriage?"

Melance looked calmly at Ruth.

Then, having said everything he wanted, he turned back toward Riena.

"I'll be going, then."

"Be careful~"

Click.

The door quietly closed.

An awkward silence settled between Riena and Ruth.