Chapter 83
“….”
“….”
Inside the noiseless, vibration-free carriage, we sat in silence.
Even as the carriage ascended to the surface and passed through the imperial city, we remained quiet.
I thought we’d stay silent until we arrived, but unexpectedly, Princess Adela spoke first.
“…Protect her well.”
“…?”
Protect?
Who?
Seeing my confused look, Adela snapped irritably.
“Your maid. I’m saying to make sure she doesn’t end up like .”
“….”
Adela had lost her nursemaid and her only knight, both to the Emperor.
Her words carried weight.
“…I’ll heed your advice.”
“Good.”
I didn’t know why she suddenly offered such advice…
To think I’d hear this from Princess Adela of all people.
The tension from our earlier clash eased slightly.
“We’re almost there. Prepare yourself.”
“Understood.”
I infused mana into the bracelet on my left wrist, which turned into black mist and enveloped my body.
When the mist cleared, the all-black Hound armor was equipped.
Murmurs ca from outside the carriage.
“The golden carriage. It’s Princess Adela’s…”
“To think she’d actually attend the hunting tournant. Does that an… she brought him?”
Boring chatter.
I opened the door and revealed myself.
“It’s the Princess' Black Knight!”
“He’s really here…!”
The place felt like a villa built in the middle of a vast forest.
Stepping out of the carriage, I turned and extended my hand.
A delicate hand soon rested on mine as it erged from the carriage.
Golden hair, more radiant than any gold, fluttered.
Princess Adela appeared, veiled in a thin golden gauze.
The crowd’s murmurs grew louder.
‘Strange.’
Princess Adela and the Black Knight were the talk of the Imperium nobility.
Ignoring the barrage of gazes, I escorted her.
Adela, stepping out, surveyed her surroundings and began walking sowhere.
I naturally followed.
‘No matter how I think about it, it’s not in my mory.’
One question kept nagging at .
‘In the original story, there was never another hunting tournant.’
***
Click.
The door closed with a sound.
As soon as we entered the room, Adela began explaining out of nowhere.
“It’s that Kazaks bastard.”
“Prince Kazaks?”
“Yes.”
This seed important.
I locked the door before looking at her.
Having tossed aside her golden veil, Adela’s golden eyes were more crazed than ever, unsettling to behold.
“…Princess?”
“He’s trying to keep in check. That’s why he revived the hunting tournant, which traumatized . It’s obvious. I don’t know how he persuaded the Emperor, but it’s clear. Even if he has to abuse his accumulated power, he intends to finish off for good.”
Golden sparks crackled around her, radiating her irritation.
“Martin of Ulvhadin.”
The golden eyes, the essence of the Imperium Imperial Family, fixed on .
“Survive for .”
While I trained with the Star Child at the Elidore Marquisate, vicious political sches had unfolded in the imperial palace.
Unbeknownst to , the stage was set, growing larger until this hunting tournant began.
“Prepare.”
At Adela’s command, her subordinates in the room approached.
They spread out maps and hung up profiles, busily transforming the room.
“Look closely. No, morize everything.”
The room soon resembled a command center preparing for a major war.
“It’s a direct confrontation with Prince Kazaks.”
Wild Instinct (Lv 3) senses that this hunting tournant will be a critical turning point for Princess Adela’s future path.
“You’d better brace yourself. We arrived terribly late because of a certain sleepyhead.”
***
‘Ugh.’
The Black Knight road the quiet building as night fell.
In a single day, I’d morized the faces and nas of thousands of nobles.
Including the talents they’d gathered, it was dizzying.
Not to ntion the terrain of the vast hunting ground where the tournant would take place.
Know-It-All (Lv 3) corrects that I did all the morizing myself.
True, but the exhaustion from absorbing endless unwanted knowledge was no joke.
‘More importantly, where the hell am I?’
I was looking for a bathroom.
The building was so massive I thought I’d find one quickly, but I hadn’t expected it to take this long.
‘This is driving insane.’
Wild Instinct (Lv 3) suggests it’s just around the corner and to clench my muscles.
Really?
Can I trust that?
Hey!
With desperate hope, I strode forward, turned the corner, and saw it.
A sign reading “bathroom” in the distance.
“Greetings, Black Knight.”
‘Damn it.’
But closer stood a man.
Blond hair, golden eyes.
A man with innate elegance and dignity unmatched by any.
“…I greet Your Highness, Prince Kazaks.”
My voice, modulated deeply through the Hound armor, ca out curtly.
Prince Kazaks gave a faint smile as he looked at .
“You’ve been wandering quite a while, Black Knight.”
‘He saw getting lost?
Damn it.’
If he spread rumors about this, the humiliation would be unbearable.
“Roaming to morize the mansion’s layout on the first night—truly a veteran’s move.”
‘…?’
“And the audacity to co find . I like it.”
I furrowed my brow as Kazaks nodded approvingly.
Good thing I was wearing a helt, or my grimace would’ve been visible.
“….”
“As expected, you’re as taciturn as you look. No worries—I like knights like you. Muller and Shuga are called my right and left arms, but they lack gravitas.”
It’s about image.
Even among the heirs of the Four Great Ducal Families, none carried the weighty presence of the Princess' Black Knight.
“I’m intrigued.”
‘No way.’
It was clear my encounter with Prince Kazaks wasn’t a coincidence.
He asked in a subtle tone.
“The more I see, the more curious I am. Why does a splendid knight like you dance in the palm of a madwoman like Adela?”
‘He’s sharp.’
Kazaks likely didn’t know I was Martin.
But based on circumstances, he’d concluded “this must be it” and played a bold move.
And that move was spot-on.
“It feels like a waste. No matter how I think about it, you’re too talented to die young. Especially your formidable skills shown at the dungeon tournant… Honestly, who wouldn’t covet you?”
“….”
“You’ve heard, haven’t you? About Adela, what kind of lunatic she is.”
Prince Kazaks slowly stepped forward.
He passed by my side.
“She’s literally a madwoman. I don’t know why the Emperor gave her so of the Shadow Knights, but dozens of innocent nobles have died by her orders. Many more are being blackmailed. You must be one of them, right?”
He stood behind .
“The Emperor is backing Princess Adela. Because of that rumor, people even whisper that if she becos Empress, the Imperium Empire will fall. You’re not unaware of such talk, are you?”
He circled back to his original spot.
“Black Knight, how about achieving a noble feat for the Empire’s future? I can help you.”
Unlike Adela’s, his golden eyes stared at .
You’ll listen to .
You have no choice.
My words are the truth.
His confident golden eyes pressured .
“Don’t worry. Your task is simple. Right after the hunting tournant begins, follow my n and escape. Live as you please in a quiet countryside. Once the mad princess dies, I’ll call you back and put you to good use. Of course, I’ll ensure the safety of your family or acquaintances in the anti.”
This was it.
A reenactnt of the incident where Adela lost her old knight and nursemaid as a child.
Prince Kazaks intended to ntally break Adela and turn her into a wreck.
Why bother persuading ?
Because he coveted ?
No.
‘Old Knight Harris was weak, but I’m strong.’
If he deed persuasion impossible, he’d surely try to kill .
‘Of all tis.’
Prince Kazaks, the rival to the protagonist Gilbert, was fundantally a heroic character.
But, as is typical in novels, a rival exists to make the protagonist shine.
Kazaks, after repeated defeats, briefly “darkens.”
He abandons his righteous nature, only to reclaim it later through so trigger.
‘To think this is his darkening phase.
It’s earlier than in the original.’
Perhaps the dungeon tournant spurred him.
I understood.
That kind of corruption.
I’d experienced it plenty.
My damned talent, an unappreciating world, seeing those better than —it always felt like that.
Prince Kazaks slowly reached out and placed his hand on my armor.
“How about it, Black Knight? It’s not a bad deal for you…”
And I swatted his hand away.
“…How dare you?”
Kazaks, looking up at , flinched and stepped back, pushed by the aura emanating from my armor.
‘How dare you?
That’s my line.’
Isn’t it laughable?
I wasn’t just one person.
The whole world stood above .
I was crushed beneath it.
And this guy, who’d lived a life of luxury, was acting pitiful just because he t soone better?
In front of , no less!
“Your Highness, I started from the bottom and clawed my way here. I’ve seen countless human faces.”
It’s absurd.
With his near-absolute power, he’d target soone’s deep trauma for such a petty reason?!
Fine, I’ll admit it.
As a pitiful soul with my own trauma, I feel kinship with Princess Adela.
“In my eyes…”
That’s why I can’t forgive Kazaks' words just now.
“Your Highness seems the madder one.”
“…!”
“Princess Adela may appear that way on the surface.”
Kazaks glared at fiercely.
Fool.
It changes nothing.
“But her heart is tender.
Her current deanor is like a hedgehog’s spines.
A facade she had to erect to protect herself.”
“….”
“You, who drove her to this point, should know better.”
“….”
“I pity her.
Believing she was ant to bloom like a golden flower, I chose to stand and fight by her side.”
“….”
“So, stop insulting her and .”
Kazaks' eyes widened.
The confident golden eyes flickered for a mont.
Trembling in place, he declared,
“…You’ll regret this…!”
Then he turned and began to walk away from .
Once he was out of sight, I sprinted with all my might…
Toward the bathroom.
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