***

Sponsored by parsinger 💖 (½)

***

Hannah, who was sitting in the garden reading a book, and Arsene, who was begging Rubent to train him in basic swordsmanship, were caught by the servants and got ready to go out.

By the time they were done getting ready, the sky had somehow turned dark orange.

They didn’t have time to ask why they had to do this, as the servants busily helped them get dressed.

“Oh, you have to tell me where we’re going. Tasha, Louie!”

“What, Arsene, didn’t you hear where you were going?”

Arsene was dragged along slyly, and nodded in frustration.

Hannah was meekly holding Louie’s hand as they made their way down the stairs as if she already knew.

“Lady Asha said she wanted to go out with you guys, so we hurriedly prepared. Oh, she is there first!”

……. Her Majesty?

Arsene’s eyes widened as he ran with joy.

Roselyn, who was waiting by the carriage, turned and smiled, as she heard Arsene.

“I asked them to prepare for the outing, but I guess I didn’t explain the situation well enough when I made the arrangements on such short notice. I’m sorry, please understand.”

Arsene forgot to reply and gazed at Roselyn blankly without knowing it.

She was wearing a fluttering black satin dress with a mesh veil that hid half her face, and even a black jeweled ornament on top of it, which gave her a completely different look.

She exuded a mysterious atmosphere, as if she were a witch with a secret.

It was fortunate that she covered her face with a veil.

If she didn’t, all the people passing by must have been gazing up at her in fascination.

“Why do you look like that? Arsene? “

“‘…… Oh, yes. God, it’s so amazing.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed in black before.”

“Oh, I see.”

Roselyn looked down at her figure.

Empresses and emperors mainly preferred to wear white or red robes.

Occasionally, they wore blue attire for special occasions, but rarely black. This was because black used to be regarded as an ominous color in Tanatos, who revered white.

Smiling, Roselyn asked Hannah and Arsene.

“Is it strange? I like it…..”

“It’s not strange! It’s just that I’m not used to it. You look good in any outfit, Asha!”

Following Arsene’s hurried reply, Hannah whispered, “You’re very beautiful.”

Roselyn patted the children on the head and said,

“Thank you. You two look very nice, too.”

Arsene blushed in embarrassment and Hannah bent her knees slightly to show her appreciation.

About that time, the carriage carrying them arrived in front of the lobby.

The four plainclothes knights who would escort them were also on horseback.

“Hello, my name is Jorge Crusoe, and I’ve been assigned to escort you.”

He was a man with a large figure, but the only thing that made him look as innocent as a boy was the way he smiled with a scowl on his nose.

He lightly dismounted from his horse and greeted Roselyn.

Just before Roselyn, who accepted the familiar greeting, got on the carriage with the children.

“You deceived me.”

A whispering voice called out to her.

Cassion, who was far away, came running at a large trot, his face was red with uncontrollable anger.

“Why, why did you lie to me?”

Roselyn looked closely at Cassion, who was looking at her with a face of resentment.

‘Why does he still remain in the mansion without leaving?’

She thought he would leave as soon as he got his medicine. Even after receiving all the medicine, he remained motionless until Tamon returned and ordered him to leave.

From what the twins spilled, Roselyn heard that Tamon scolded him badly.

‘Are you really going to make fun of Tamon?’

Roselyn narrowed her eyes.

Even a single assumption made her blood cold. But as she looked closely at Cassion’s face, she thought that maybe her assumption was wrong.

‘Come to think of it, rather than ignoring it……….’Just when she thought she knew something, Cassion asked again with a red face.

“Are you going to be a mute again this time? You’ve been pretending you don’t know the official language of Amor, and now you’re going to pretend you can’t speak it!”

“I don’t pretend to be dumb.”

The official language flowed through Roselyn’s lips, and Cassion’s lips quivered in shock again, even though he understood it.

“Why ……?”

“I thought it wouldn’t be too much trouble if I couldn’t speak the language.”

The exact answer was that it was annoying.

Cassion clenched his fists at the insulting remarks spewed out in an indifferent manner.

“But I was wrong….” (Roselyn)

“What?”

“You bothered me even though you didn’t understand.” (Roselyn)

“Hey, hey, hey! Why do you say that?”

Cassion got angry, but Roselyn clicked her tongue low.

“Don’t get angry about this, you were the one who acted rudely to me first. It is too late for you to look for courtesy from me now.”

Spitting out the cold, emotionless words, Roselyn returned to the carriage, holding the hands of the children.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

Cassion followed her, limping as she walked.

“You’re going out? I’m coming with you.”

—Wow, look at how shameless he is!

The twins, who were watching from behind, almost shouted in unison.

Roselyn shook her head and climbed into the carriage.

“I’ll protect you! You need escorts anyway!” (Cassion)

Jorge, who had been standing by, laughed awkwardly at Cassion’s shout.

“I’ll protect you too, Master Cassion! Haha!”

Seeing Jorge and three of his men waiting side by side, Cassion hastily added.

“The more guards we have, the better!”

Who in the world is going to protect whom…?

Roselyn said to Cassion through the window of the carriage.

“Don’t use me as a means to get your brother’s attention, Cassion Krasis.”

Her words made Cassion’s face turn red and his lips quiver.

Roselyn urged the horseman to start the carriage.

“Hey, it’s not like that!”

A loud voice followed a step later, loud enough to ring out, but Roselyn didn’t even snicker, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

It was a comfortable move.

***

Clank!

Clank! Clank!

The sound of wooden swords clashing inside the palace training grounds was noisy.

Tamon wondered why Theo called him in the morning, but she suddenly threw a wooden sword at him and then called for a match.

Not even a real sword, just a wooden sword…

Feeling like he knew why, Tamon silently changed into his training clothes.

“Ha!”

Theo’s sword swiftly attacked Tamon.

It was a classic and graceful sword technique. It was so fast that the average person could not even see the direction of the sword with the naked eye.

On the other hand, Tamon’s sword technique was more destructive and anomalous.

He used to give up one of his arms and cut off his opponent’s head.

Of course, he didn’t use this method when he was dealing with small people.

When it came to the final blow, or when he met the best of the best, he would use a part of himself as bait to make sure he cut off their heads.

However, that was not the case with Tamon’s current swordsmanship.

He was the type of person who was so resourceful and strong that Theo couldn’t predict the direction of the sword, but now, Theo could see how Tamon’s sword was moving in her eyes. He seemed to have lost about half of his strength as well.

Theo said, her mouth curling up in a sarcastic smile.

“You’re going easy on me, aren’t you?”

“Of course not.”

“If you’re going to go easy then do it. The purpose of this match is not to win anyway………..”Theo’s sword hit Tamon’s shoulder.

“Ha!”

Tamon smirked at his opponent’s nakedly revealing purpose and threw the training wooden sword he was holding.

It was a lie if it didn’t hurt. That said, it wasn’t painful enough to make him scream out loud.

Frankly, he was prepared for this level of Theo’s frustration to some extent.

“Then, don’t pretend to be clumsy and just beat me.”

“Then It’ll be over too quickly.”

Theo replied with a grumpy smile.

Tamon chuckled at her words.

“I’m sure I could endure even longer than Your Majesty if I hold out. Are you confident that you won’t fall before I do?”

‘Oh, he’s so arrogant.’

Theo looked up at the sky for a moment.

‘Why did I think he was on my side?’

As soon as she thought, “If I’m going to go back in time, I should get rid of him,” Theo recalled the many scenes where Tamon had helped her.

‘—Yes, I admit it.’

‘It seemed that even if I went back to the past, I couldn’t get rid of him.’

As expected, humans must be faithful to the present.

Theo let out a deep, heavy sigh and fixed the wooden sword.

“You’re right. If that’s the case, then I’ll hit you unilaterally from now on. I feel like cutting off your head isn’t enough, but as you know, I’m a very generous king.”

Watching Theo muttering, Tamon took a short deep breath and lowered his posture.

“Please come.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

From that moment on, it was truly time for every bout in earnest.

The gruesome thing was that Tamon was silently receiving the repeated attack of the wooden sword as he stood there, except for defending his head.

Lucy, who had been watching the scene from afar, turned away with a blank look on her face after about an hour had passed.

“Ha, ha, ha!”

It was Theo who hit hard, became exhausted and was on the verge of falling.

The sight of Tamon, who was being beaten without moving, and two broken swords later, made people watching him gasp.

“Oh, really? You monster!”

Theo’s language became rough.

She was a king who was far from being elegant and refined.

Normally, she still tried to control herself, but now the reins were completely loosened.

What did self-restraint mean when it came to condemning traitors!

Theo didn’t let it slide and beat Tamon. Tamon didn’t move and endured silently.

Finally, when she heard one of Tamon’s bones snap, Theo lowered her third wooden sword in satisfaction.

“Ha, ha, ha…………”

Theoransha, lying down on the ground, took a moment to catch her breath and said.

“I put the priest in the next room. Go get treatment.”

“You’re meticulous. I didn’t realize that you had been thinking about beating me since dawn until I needed a priest….”

“Be quiet or I’ll cut out your tongue first.”

“Are you okay now?”

“No, but I’m going to stop here for today. I’m tired and I can’t do any more.”

“You need more strength.”

“Your tongue!”

Theo glared at Tamon with murderous eyes, as if she would gouge out his tongue in a heartbeat.

Tamon, who shrugged his shoulders, meekly stopped talking, as if he understood.

And so a few minutes passed.

After being silent for a while, Theo opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

“Tamon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Theo, who was hesitating, finally asked,

“Can I trust you?”

Tamon answered without hesitation.

“No.”

Theo jumped up with an absurd look on her face.