Chapter 148

There was time until the execution of the plan, and the territory of the Tenitia family wasn’t far away, plus the knight’s mount was more than twice as fast as an ordinary horse.

I requested Helena’s understanding and set off for Lady Tenitia’s territory.

“No, Your Highness. There isn’t much time left for the operation…”

“Either way, everyone is going to bring soldiers, so we had to make the journey back once. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you, Duke Valencius.”

He was a knight who resembled Tenitia closely.

He had a height similar to Valenciaunos, a head of red hair, and red eyes, with a dignified and sorrowful atmosphere that he also shared.

The only difference was the length of his hair; his younger sister Tenitia had cut hers short, while he had let his red hair grow long and tied it back.

“Did you say your name is Lentia? You look a lot like your sister. No, is it the other way around? Anyway, that’s not what’s important… Lady Tenitia has saved my life more times than I can count. She even rushed to face the knights of the Northern Duke for me. I am forever grateful.”

Knight Lentia was taken aback in a completely different context.

“What?! Was that rumor true? Did you really try to assassinate Duke Seberic?”

I responded with a bitter smile.

“I have no idea how such rumors spread all the way to this countryside.”

“If you’re grateful to me, could you at least hear me out? Please don’t compromise with those bourgeois.”

Lady Tenitia said, rolling her red eyes.

Knight Lentia gasped and shouted at Lady Tenitia.

“What kind of manners are you using with His Grace?”

“I’ve seen over three hundred dukes in the capital!”

“Still, he is His Grace! Don’t forget the duty of a knight.”

Lady Tenitia turned to me from atop her horse and bowed her head.

“Your Highness, I apologize.”

Knight Lentia gasped, as if questioning what kind of act that was.

“What etiquette requires one to apologize from atop a horse? Did you learn that at the capital academy?”

“There, we don’t learn how to apologize. We learn how to get the other party to apologize even after doing wrong ourselves.”

“My sister has returned as a bandit! Get down from your horse and—”

I quietly called out to Lentia.

“Lentia, that’s enough.”

“Your Highness! If you let this rudeness go, it will greatly damage your dignity and face.”

Truly, knights who staked their lives on dignity, face, and honor.

I shook my head firmly.

“My knights can afford to act that way. If the dignity of a knight who risks his life for me is diminished by that kind of camaraderie, then it’s better that there’s none at all.”

In the capital, people sung songs about my infamy in every tavern, so what dignity was there to lose?

I had meant it in that context, but knight Lentia seemed to understand it a bit differently.

He spoke with an expression of admiration.

“Tenitia has found a good lord.”

Lady Tenitia had a conflicted expression, unable to fully embrace the title of good lord for me.

“Yes, Your Highness Valen… you are very capable and know how to share glory… you are.”

“That’s all you need to say! Why are you taking so long to speak, knight?”

Knight Lentia smiled faintly, and Lady Tenitia shook her head.

“There are complicated matters.”

“Right.”

“We’re almost there. I remember that tree. It has grown a lot.”

There were complex emotions in Lady Tenitia’s voice.

A shadow of regret rose in her face, where there had always been pride.

She had come to the capital around the age of fifteen and had never returned home since.

…This meant that her last memories of her father were from that time.

I raised my head to look at the territory in front of me.

A vast river winding through the fields, fringed with wheat and barley, cows and sheep roaming on the hills, a typical rural town with giant windmills and watermills.

The long city wall, the towering lord’s castle on the hill, and all the peasant houses and buildings were painted white with red roofs, looking very neat.

By the scale of the place, it looked like a population of around five thousand, which would classify as a city outside of the empire, but was merely a knight’s domain within it.

Lady Tenitia spoke with a sharp voice.

“I thought it would have changed beyond recognition, but it is just as it was when I left.”

“There’s a limit to how many people can come inside these walls. Either way, the settlements have increased a lot. The baron, village heads, and stewards are all over thirty now.”

“Your father must have been a good lord. Have they done makeup? The church wouldn’t like it, but your father… always…”

Knight Lentia opened his eyes wide in surprise.

He looked as if he realized he had made a significant mistake.

“I spoke wrongly.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your father fell from his horse and injured his leg; he isn’t dead.”

Lady Tenitia shuddered, her eyelids twitching.

I too had a similar expression.

“What the hell, that bastard brother of mine!”

“Lentia! Don’t confuse things!”

* * *

Lady Tenitia didn’t speak a word until we entered the lord’s castle atop the hill.

Perhaps because it was a small rural town, everyone seemed very curious about me and Lady Tenitia as we followed Lentia.

“Look, that white uniform with the red stripe.”

“He seems like an important person. Isn’t that brooch only for the royals?”

“His eyes are golden too.”

“But who’s that other knight next to him?”

“Don’t even think about it. That’s a Platinum Knight. Just that armor could buy our entire territory.”

“Could it be that a royal has come to visit our lord?”

“Oh! He’s taking off his helmet.”

“Huh?”

“Oh?”

“Isn’t that Lady Tenitia?”

“No way… has she become a Platinum Knight?”

“The person next to her must be the royal. A Platinum Knight leads the royal guard.”

“My goodness, our young lady has achieved so much!”

I glanced at Lady Tenitia and smiled slightly.

“Lady, at least wave your hand.”

“I’m fine, Your Highness.”

“When will I visit again?”

“….”

“What’s wrong with them?”

My smile sent the crowd into a flurry.

“Why does he look like that while smiling?”

“Seriously. It’s dangerous for my heart.”

“I don’t know whether to be scared or excited; it’s both.”

“I think he said something to Lady Tenitia…”

“Could they possibly be…?”

Stories about romances between royals and knights were popular everywhere.

Lady Tenitia clicked her tongue, raised her hand, and shouted.

“I have returned!”

Her voice was so loud it echoed through the whole village.

With the powerful charisma typical of a Sword Expert, everyone seemed entranced by her.

“It’s been a long time, my hometown. I won’t be here long, but I’m glad to see you as you were.”

Though she likely started to speak to silence us and the crowd, I could see her expression warm.

“When I left you, I was a child with just a sword and a letter of introduction, but now I have returned as a Platinum Knight.”

A return in fine clothing.

Returning to your hometown dressed in fine clothes after achieving success.

That armor, coated in platinum on the surface, though not fine clothing, could be called golden attire.

It was worth enough to buy dozens of silk farms.

Lady Tenitia’s expression was bright as the Platinum Knight returned.

However, within her red pupils, there seemed to be a strange twist.

I wouldn’t realize the reason until I entered the red castle and met her father.

* * *

Tenitia confidently entered the castle, chest out and chin held high.

Each movement made her heavy armor clink, and attendants cast anxious glances.

It was customary not to remove one’s armor until greetings with the lord were complete.

Of course, there would’ve been no issue if she had returned as a daughter.

But if her father had not sent her off as a daughter, how could she return as one?

Lentia rushed into the castle, and soon the lord of the red castle emerged.

“Duke Valencius, Sir Jester has come to greet you.”

With red hair, red eyes, a neatly trimmed red beard, and a strong and distinct countenance.

He was a knight overseeing a city of five thousand and dozens of larger and smaller villages.

He was leaning on a crutch due to a splint on his left leg and knelt before Valencius with his head bowed.

“Get up! What’s this nonsense, especially in your condition? A knight doesn’t neglect his own body; that’s also disloyalty.”

Valencius quickly helped Jester to his feet, and only then did Jester turn his body to his daughter.

“….”

“….”

“Ah, Sir Jester. Greetings. My name is Tenitia. I came to express my condolences upon hearing of your injury.”

Tenitia opened her mouth, realizing her mistake.

Unless there was a significant difference in status, it was customary to greet the other knight first if visiting another knight’s home.

“Lady Tenitia. It is an honor to meet the renowned Platinum Knight. Please feel at home.”

Valencius contemplated the peculiar father-daughter duo before him.

‘It seems I understand the situation. Knight Lentia appears to have decent skill as well. There’s an outstanding son and daughter with no significant age difference in a small knight’s domain…’

In his experience, that meant one side lacked some competence.

With one piece of land and two children, one was often cast out young or wasn’t taught swordsmanship at all.

This family seemed to have a story comparable to that of the imperial family.

“Sir Jester.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“Your name was on the baron’s mobilization list. I see you cannot fulfill your duty in your condition. Why don’t you submit your withdrawal from this draft?”

Jester shook his head immediately.

“Thank you for your concern, but I am capable of walking and still able to ride and wield a spear. I’ll receive treatment from the priest today, so by tomorrow, while I may not be completely healed, I should be able to fight. When it comes to battling Greenskins, numbers are more important than gold. A knight cannot be careless.”

His tone carried a firm belief.

As Valencius chose his words, Tenitia spoke up.

“The key to this operation is the cavalry charge followed by the melee battle. Sir Jester, you cannot participate in your condition. If only Your Highness grants permission, I will fulfill the family’s obligation to serve.”

She said it in a way that seemed like a necessary and rational proposition.

Jester smirked, an expression that seemed out of place.

His daughter had returned after ten years, yet she still couldn’t tell a lie.

“It would be disloyal for someone already in service to rashly step forward, and it would be an insult to casually take on the sacred obligation of service, Lady Tenitia. Choose your words wisely.”

He had a point.

“Father!”

Knights regarded being straightforward with their desires as a virtue.

They could obtain what they wanted without needing to lie.

“What are you saying, having already been injured once? Take care of yourself!”

So they easily expressed their true feelings.

Lady Tenitia shouted, her voice echoing through the castle.

“Look at what I have become! I am now in the empire’s finest order of knights, have become a Sword Expert, and currently serve the Elder Brother in the Imperial Family. Do you still doubt me?”

To her father, who still did not seem to acknowledge her.

Jester smiled, as if to imply she should have come out with those words sooner.

“What meaning is there in faith and distrust in the face of duty?”

Tenitia turned to look at Valencius after hearing those words.

That reasoning felt familiar; I had heard it somewhere before.

Valencius, too, was well acquainted with that tone.

It was something he often used when wanting to distance himself.

He chose an appropriate moment to interject and spoke flatly.

“It seems this family is not unlike ours.”

“I apologize for displaying such an ugly sight, Your Highness.”

“Sir Jester, Lady Tenitia has the greatest talent of all the knights I have seen.”

“I am only grateful that you think highly of my insufficient child.”

“Can we have a moment to talk?”

“An audience with the Duke is a profound honor.”

* * *

Valencius was of royal blood and was accustomed to speaking casually with those older than him.

“I see it all clearly.”

In his mind’s eye, he could vividly picture a young Tenitia who would have surely surpassed her older brother in skill and Jester, who was troubled about his successor.

“Excuse me?”

“Yet there are traps in meritocracy. You understand, do you not?”