Chapter 17
“Mark. How dare you act on your own. Just because the other person is rude doesn’t mean you should make me seem rude as well.”
Brina firmly reprimanded her escort.
“I’m sorry, my lady. But I couldn’t stand by and watch someone be rude to you, my master. If I let someone like that go without a word, it would tarnish my honor.”
“Hah. …Lady, I’m sorry for startling you.”
Brina offered an apology with a face that showed no remorse at all.
“I apologize for my escort rudely challenging you to a duel without permission. However, this is a sacred method of issuing a duel challenge that has been passed down for ages, so it can’t be ignored. Moreover, you accepted my escort’s challenge, Lady.”
Brina said this while pointing to the glove in Roshanne’s hand.
In other words, she was sorry, but she had no intention of backing down from the duel.
‘So this is how you issue a duel challenge.’
Roshanne thought as she examined the glove in her hand from various angles. For Roshanne, who had always just fought outright when she wanted to, this unfamiliar method felt strangely fascinating.
“We’ll send word of the duel date through a letter.”
“We’re not dueling right now? We have to set another date?”
Roshanne blinked in utter confusion, her expression showing she couldn’t understand it at all. She was angry right now, so why not fight immediately? Why go through the trouble of setting a separate time and place?
Brina furrowed her brows as she looked at Roshanne, then stood up from her seat.
“Pretending not to know won’t help you avoid it, Lady. Go ahead and try to find a knight to fight Mark on your behalf. …Though I doubt you’ll find anyone like that.”
“…….”
“If you can’t find a knight to stand in for you by the day of the duel, it’s my victory, Lady.”
Brina glared at Roshanne before storming out of the reception room. Her escort followed behind, muttering, ‘We’ll see on the day of the duel.’
As soon as the two left the reception room, the maids, who had been stamping their feet in worry, rushed over in a flurry.
“Oh, my lady! What do we do now?”
“Why did you accept the duel!”
“Brina’s escort is someone who was a candidate for the captain of the Imperial First Knight Order, the ‘Golden Knights’! Who could possibly beat someone like that!”
“If this gets out, you’ll just end up humiliated! How about we go to Lady Brina right now and ask her to cancel it? Please?”
It seemed that Brina’s escort, Mark, was quite a renowned figure in the empire.
“I have a question.”
Roshanne gazed at the maids with a serious expression. The maids nodded.
“By any chance, can’t I fight myself? Is there a rule that says I absolutely have to find a knight?”
The maids, who had been listening to Roshanne’s question earnestly, all sighed with deflated expressions.
“How could you possibly fight Sir Mark, my lady……. You’ve never even held a sword before.”
She had. A lot, actually.
“There’s no such rule, but usually, ladies don’t fight themselves; they have knights stand in as proxies. Duels aren’t suited for ladies.”
“Hmm. So it’s not forbidden.”
Roshanne nodded lightly, as if it were no problem at all. Then she stood up from her seat.
“Where’s the training ground here?”
“Pardon?”
“The training ground. The knights should be training there, right?”
The maids blinked blankly at Roshanne’s question.
“My lady, don’t tell me…… you’re really planning to go through with the duel?”
“Huh? I already accepted it. I need to go ask if there’s a knight who can fight in my place.”
Roshanne wasn’t planning to just jump in and fight herself recklessly. If she stepped up and wielded a sword, it was obvious that her opponent’s escort—whether he was a knight captain or the entire order—wouldn’t stand a chance…… But that would cause just as much commotion.
Since it was said that ladies usually didn’t fight, if Roshanne knocked him out in one blow, everyone would turn her victory into gossip fodder.
And naturally, that gossip would reach the royal family’s ears. So far, no one who had faced the sword Roshanne wielded had survived, so no one would be certain she was a hero just from seeing her swordsmanship.
But it could plant seeds of suspicion in the emperor’s mind, so it was better to avoid such a situation.
If she truly couldn’t find a knight to stand in, then she’d have no choice but to wield the sword herself……
Otherwise, there was no need for Roshanne to step forward.
“Let’s go. To check out the knights.”
Roshanne casually clasped her hands behind her back and started walking. The maids followed behind her.
“Which way do we go?”
“It’s that way. But the training ground is quite far, so maybe we should take a carriage……”
Before the maid could finish, Roshanne was already striding ahead. The thought of seeing knights wielding swords after so long made her feel oddly excited.
She had thought she was tired of it after holding a sword for hundreds of years, but apparently not.
“My lady. You seem more excited than when the jeweler and designer visited.”
The maids asked as they struggled to keep up from behind.
“Which way from here?”
“To the left……”
The maids diligently followed Roshanne. But something felt off.
“Which way this time?”
“Straight ahead.”
Clearly, just moments ago, Roshanne had been walking right in front of them, but now the distance between her and the maids was steadily growing.
“Which way do we go?”
“Huff, huff, to the right……”
After walking quite a distance, the maids were panting, their breaths reaching up to their chins. Strangely, though, Roshanne looked completely fine, not a single drop of sweat on her.
“It’s a three-way fork. Which way?”
“Straight ahead……”
“What? I can’t hear you. Hurry up and come tell me.”
Roshanne urged the maids with a smile. As soon as the maid who had barely caught up pointed the direction, Roshanne strode off briskly again.
“My lady! Together…… No, please take us with you!”
They were all walking the same way, yet one person in particular seemed to be moving at a running pace. And that one person was the only one who remained calm.
The maids, their faces pale as if they’d seen a ghost, hurriedly followed behind Roshanne.
After walking for quite a while, Roshanne finally arrived at the training ground.
“Ugh?”
The moment she saw the training ground, Roshanne let out a deflated sound, her disappointment hitting her like a shock.
A proper training ground should be filled with the suffocating smell of sweat, the sound of swords slicing through the air, and sand dust kicking up so thick it blurs your vision.
“Why is it so clean?”
The Railaten estate’s training ground was clean—far too clean.
Instead of the stench of hot sweat, it even smelled of cool, fresh wind.
‘Where are the knights?’
Roshanne whipped her head around, searching for the knights. Then she spotted them huddled in a corner, sprawled out and laughing heartily among themselves.
Could those really be the Railaten family’s knights?
“Pant, huff, my la—my lady.”
The maid who had finally caught up gasped for breath with great effort. Roshanne, as if her timing was perfect, placed a hand on the maid’s shoulder and asked.
“Are those the family’s knights, by any chance?”
Surely not.
Without even a moment to catch her breath, the maid turned her head.
“Uh…… yes.”
The maid nodded as if to say, Didn’t you know? Roshanne’s eyes wavered as she looked over the knights gathered in small groups of three or five.
‘Those are really the knights who’d fight in my place?’
Those pathetic excuses for knights?
Roshanne’s brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Go tell them I’m here.”
Roshanne commanded the maid standing behind her. The maid hesitated, glancing around uncertainly, before nodding and stepping forward.
“Everyone, please stand up. The young lady has arrived.”
The maid spoke cautiously toward the knights. At her call, all the knights turned their heads.
They all looked at Roshanne.
Roshanne, in turn, slowly scanned the knights.
One knight whose eyes met hers slowly nodded his head.
That was all.
Even after seeing Roshanne, the knights didn’t move. They didn’t bother coming forward, and they didn’t even offer a proper greeting.
Instead of bowing their heads properly, they just gave a casual nod—that was it.
“M-My lady…….”
From behind, the maid called out to Roshanne in a flustered voice.
“It’s like looking at you all on my wedding day.”
“P-Pardon?!”
Roshanne casually remarked to the maids, ‘You were the same way,’ before approaching the knights herself.
“What brings such a noble young lady to a place like this?”
Even though they knew Roshanne was approaching, the knights didn’t stand up.
It was only natural.
To them, Roshanne was nothing more than a half-blood illegitimate child they had ignored until just recently. An illegitimate child who couldn’t even properly retort when disrespected.
So, treating her like this……
“You’re all getting paid for doing nothing.”
“……?!”
Of course, the knights had no idea that the current Roshanne was entirely different.
The knights all looked up at Roshanne with dumbfounded expressions.
Roshanne naturally looked down at them. As if that were only right.
She might not know about the maids’ duties or their attitudes, but Roshanne knew very well what knights’ duties were and how they should behave.
“In my time, if you didn’t step forward within seconds when a superior arrived, you’d get disciplined.”
Because Roshanne was far more familiar with knights than with maids or nobles.
After scanning the knights with a dry, emotionless expression, Roshanne parted her lips.
“This situation feels all too familiar. You’re just killing time half-heartedly in the training ground and reporting that you trained hard, right?”
“What…….”
“Pack your things, all of you.”
Roshanne commanded in a firm voice.
“You’re all fired, effective immediately.”
And she knew exactly how to handle knights like them.
