It’s been a few days since Russell was captured, and during that time, he was interrogated, and one after another, he was found guilty of many offenses.
When the investigation was completed to a certain extent, he was escorted back to the Landrick Empire for the next round of interrogation, so he was escorted back yesterday.
I was relieved to hear from Dahlia that it was really over.
By the way, since that incident, the Marquis of Daiharia has not been able to raise his head to Alexel, and whenever he meets him inside the castle, he bows his head down many times.
And, as a result, Lateia-sama also had a moody face as she was helped, but she no longer was rude to Alexel.
It became more serious than I expected, but the problem was solved and I returned to the job of dealing with Alexel again.
“What are you going to show me today?”
“Well…I’ve already taken you to most of the main places, so today we’re going to take a leisurely stroll through the castle.”
“A walk… sometimes that’s a good idea.”
“Then let’s go!”
That’s how Alexel and I ended up walking side by side in the castle.
…Alexel seems to be able to grasp the inside of the castle without me having to show him around anymore. And I don’t know the inside of the castle that well either, so to be honest, I’m glad that the walk convinced him this time
I thought so inwardly, but I tried not to let it show on my face as I kept Alexel company with an friendly smile on my face.
***
As I was walking down the corridor facing the outside on the second floor of the castle, I felt a pleasant breeze on my skin, and then heard a number of men calling out from far away.
“…What’s that sound?”
Alexel gave me a curious look, so I approached the railing and peeked in the direction of where I’d heard the voice.
“…Ah, over there.”
“What’s over there?”
“The Order’s training camp. That’s where the knights train, and sometimes you can hear them calling out to each other like this.”
“I see… okay, then would you like to show me around there?”
“What?”
“I haven’t been to any places related to the Knights Order yet, so I’ll ask Cecilia to show me around.”
“Ummm…I don’t know if I can show people from other countries…”
“It will be all right. Well, if go down there, and they say no, we’ll just turn around and go back.”
“Huh…”
And so I ended up going to the knight’s training center with Alexel. Although it was a bit forced, we ended up going to the knight’s training center.
The Knights’ training center is adjacent to the castle, and there’s also a Knights dormitory nearby.
I was looking at the dormitory with a stunned expression on my face.
Because this was also the first time I had come here.
“…I had heard about this place from Viktor, but I didn’t expect to actually visit.”
“Well, Cecilia isn’t a knight, and she’s a noblewoman, too. It can’t be helped.”
“Oh, speaking of which, I just remembered that Viktor asked me to come visit him anytime.”
Remembering Viktor’s invitation, I scratched my cheek with my finger, smiling awkwardly.
Alexel stared at me and quickly turned his gaze towards the training camp.
“And for some reason, he had a pitiful look on his face.”
“…Probably was waiting for you to come every day.”
“What? Did you say something to me?”
“It’s nothing.”
I asked Alexel, who sounded like he was muttering something, but he just gave a small shake of his head and continued on his way to the training camp.
I followed after Alexel at a fast pace.
When we finally arrived at the training camp, there were more knights than I had imagined, neatly lined up and shouting as they waved their swords, practicing with single-mindedness.
Whoa! I’m pretty sure I remember a picture like this in the background of a scene with Viktor!!
The game screen in my mind and the scene in front of me coincided, and I was excited.
Then, I found Viktor standing in front of the knights, looking around them with a sharp gaze.
He had a dignified face of a knight commander, unlike the expression he usually gives me, and I felt a thrill of excitement, thinking he was cool.
No, the Viktor I saw in the pictures from the game doing his job as a knight commander was good, but….the real one is so great! I wish I hadn’t been so shy about sneaking in so that I wouldn’t get in the way of Nina’s love life, and had seen this stuff earlier!
With that in mind, I looked at Viktor, who was giving instructions to the knights.
“…This isn’t funny.”
“What?”
I was surprised to hear Alexel muttering in a somewhat sullen voice, and then Alexel approached Viktor with a blank expression on his face.
I was puzzled by this, but I hurriedly chased after Alexel.
Then, Victor noticed our existence as we approached, and he looked at me with a keen eye.
“Emperor Alexel, why are you here…Ah! Princess! You’re here!”
Viktor wrinkled his brow when he saw Alexel’s appearance, but as soon as he spotted me, his face collapsed at once and he rushed over to me with a happy look.
However, Viktor paused midway through and cleared his throat, then put on his ‘knight commander face’ again and turned back to the knights.
“Theo! Douglas! I’ll leave the rest to you guys!”
““Hmm!!””
If you look closely, you’ll see Theo and Douglas walking among the training knights, and they heard Viktor’s instructions and replied at the same time.
But their faces looked like they were struggling to hold back their desire to laugh.
And it was the same with other knights. Some of them couldn’t stand it and broke their facades.
Victor seems to be aware of the such knights, but he just ignored them and walked toward us with his face tense.
However, when I looked closely, Viktor’s ears seemed to have a slight reddish tint, and he seemed to be ashamed of showing his embarrassed self in front of his subordinates.
“Viktor…I’m sorry for coming here so unexpectedly. I seem to have caused you some trouble…”
“No! Not at all! You’re always welcome to come and visit us, Princess!”
“That’s all well and good, but…”
While saying this, I glanced at the knights and smiled bitterly when I noticed that they were glancing at me while pretending to be training.
Then Victor, who noticed my gaze, turned to the knights and glared at them with a terrifying expression, a black aura coming from his back.
At that moment, a small scream came from the knights, their faces turned pale, and they immediately started swinging at a faster speed than before.
After seeing that, Viktor turned his head back to us.
“I’m sorry about my subordinates. So…you’ve come to visit us today with Emperor Alexel.”
While saying that, Viktor glanced sharply at Alexel, who was standing next to me.
And Alexel was also receiving looking at Viktor intently with a blank expression.
“Yeah, Alexel told me that he wanted to see you, so if it’s not too troublesome, we can leave, I’ll be right back, okay?”
“No, there’s nothing wrong with coming to see. But…I would have been happier if the princess would come alone, if you could…”
“Oh, I’m sorry! I’ll come back next time when I have time!”
“Yes! I’d love to see you there!”
When I saw Viktor’s sad expression, I hurriedly promised him that I’d be there, and his expression changed to one of happiness.
I guessed that he had been waiting for me to come to visit so I reflected on it.
“Well, I’m not going to let you go alone.”
“…The opinion of His Majesty, Emperor Alexel, has not been solicited.”
“Hey! Viktor!?”
I was surprised and impatient at the way Viktor spoke to Alexel, the emperor of the neighboring country, but Alexel was not perturbed at all. Rather, he looked at Viktor with a laugh.
“So that’s how you address an emperor…very brave.”
“My allegiance is only to the Princess, so I don’t care what Emperor Alexel thinks of me.”
“Well…Huh, if it weren’t for Cecilia, I’d be more than willing to scout you for my country.”
“I’m very flattered, but I’ll have to decline.”
“Well, I suppose so. Besides, I don’t like the idea of having you by Cecilia’s side all the time either.”
“I’ll be by the Princess’ side for the rest of my life!”
“For a lifetime?”
Alexel looked at Viktor, who said it crisply, as if he was mocking him.
“That’s an impossible wish. You will not come to my country. And Cecilia will become my queen in my country. At that point, it’s certain that the wish won’t be fulfilled. Give up.”
“No, I’m not giving up! Because my feelings for the princess are not that kind of thing!”
“Hmm, you can say that all you want, but it won’t change reality.”
“Tsk!”
The atmosphere was getting somewhat terrible and I was cringing as I looked between the two of them.
“Uh, you two need to calm down!”
“I’m perfectly calm.”
“I’m calm, too.”
“No, no, no. No matter how you look at it, it’s not calm!”
I tried to intervene to keep the situation under control, but neither of them seemed to back down.
Just then, a voice arrived from another person, further complicating the situation.
“Commander! Don’t lose!”
“That’s right! For Cecilia-sama, Commander Viktor is the most suitable!”
“Of course Commander Viktor is even a better swordsman than you!”
Such comments flew out of the knights, including Theo and Douglas.
Hey! Hey!! Why are you people stirring things up!?
I shouted in my mind as I saw the knights who had completely stopped training and were gathering and shouting at us.
Then Viktor and Alexel, who were looking at the knights, slowly looked at each other and raised the corners of their mouths at the same time.
“Your Majesty, Emperor Alexel, I would like to ask you to join us.”
“Yeah, all right, sounds good.”
And so the two of them walked together towards the place where the knights had been training.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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