Whoa……!
I unconsciously covered my mouth.
‘How did you catch that?’
‘I-it was coincidence…….’
‘A piece of wood flying from behind, by coincidence?’
‘I-I was lucky…….’
‘You…….’
The moment I heard the words “piece of wood,” the hazy memory flashed back like lightning.
‘I hadn’t run into him since then, so I’d forgotten!’
To think I’d meet him again like this.
While I was so flustered that my body froze stiff, the fierce-looking young knight grabbed my shoulder tightly.
Then he glared with his large eyes and shouted.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
……Pardon?
I blinked foolishly.
But the knight, looking thoroughly excited, continued.
“That day, because of my seniors, I lost you—do you have any idea how unfair that felt?
I even sneaked over to the west annex for nothing and got scolded.
By the head maid and the vice-captain.”
“Uh…….”
“And yet, did I tell anyone about you? No, because someone might steal you away.”
“Um—”
“That’s why it was even harder to find you, but in the end, we met like this!
After all, the [thread of fate] doesn’t unravel easily.”
Occasionally, incomprehensible words were mixed into his speech.
Then, as if something belatedly occurred to him, he let out an exclamation.
“Ah! My name is Yashin. My surname is too long, so I don’t use it.”
“I’m Lilian…….”
Having finished introducing ourselves, he confidently held out his hand.
‘Is he asking for a handshake?’
I awkwardly raised my right hand, and before it could even get close, he grabbed it.
And then he shook our clasped hands vigorously.
‘W-what strength……!’
Lilian’s body was by no means delicate either, but it was no match for this guy called Yashin.
While I barely managed to steady my staggering body, he flashed his dark eyes and exclaimed.
“Lilian, you need to learn the sword!”
……Why is it that I can’t understand a single thing this guy has been saying?
I stared at him with an incredulous look.
But the guy paid it no mind and began explaining his credentials in exhaustive detail.
“I’m the second—no, third strongest here!
But there’s no one to learn my swordsmanship.”
“Why?”
“The captain says my swordsmanship is too dangerous.
Both offense and defense rely entirely on innate instinct.
He says no one but me could use it.”
“I see…….”
“But I can’t accept that!
Only when you pass on your swordsmanship can you call yourself a true warrior!”
“I-is that so?”
“Yeah! Back in my homeland, all the strong warriors have disciples.
Several of them, even!
Now that I’m stronger than those people, it’s strange that I don’t have a single disciple.”
The disjointed conversation continued without pause.
No, could you even call this a conversation?
He was so busy talking about himself that he didn’t seem to have any room to pay attention to my reactions.
In the end, it was my job to summarize what he was saying.
“So what you’re saying is…… you want to take me as your disciple and teach me your swordsmanship?”
“Yeah, why not join the knight order while you’re at it?
Right now I’m the youngest, but if you join, Lilian, I’ll pass that spot to you.
Our knight order is fun!”
Despite his fierce impression, the guy had a rather innocent smile.
The problem was that even the content was innocent enough to be a headache.
“Why me, of all people?”
At that, Yashin tilted his head and answered.
“……? Because you have talent!”
His tone was so matter-of-fact.
“I could tell just from you catching that wooden sword fragment that day.
You were fast, agile, and precise.
Above all, my [intuition] has never been wrong.”
He shrugged and smiled.
He truly looked full of confidence.
At that, I cautiously opened my mouth.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll decline.”
“What? Why?”
He asked back as if he simply couldn’t believe it.
But my answer was simple.
“I’m a maid.”
At those words, Yashin seemed to fall into thought for a moment.
But soon he tilted his head and spoke.
“Do you have to be a maid? Being a knight is better!”
“I don’t really…….”
“Once you pick up a sword, you’ll feel different. I’m telling you, you really have talent.”
Yes, that’s exactly what worries me.
That was the biggest reason I was refusing his offer.
‘My body remembers…….’
The reflexes of Lilian that I had experienced firsthand so far far exceeded the level of an ordinary person.
She must have learned martial arts while becoming a spy.
Perhaps she had learned it more seriously than I thought.
In this situation, learning the sword from Yashin would be like walking into a tiger’s den on my own two feet.
‘Why, in martial arts novels, they say you can tell where someone’s from just by their swordsmanship!’
Who knows if this world is like that too?
On top of that, Yashin was the Grand Duke’s knight.
If I learned the sword from him and showed any suspicious behavior, it would go straight to the Grand Duke’s ears.
‘Things have only just gotten better…….’
I can’t afford to draw suspicion over something like this!
Watching Yashin eagerly preach the merits of his swordsmanship and the knight order before me, I made up my mind.
I would avoid learning the sword from him no matter what.
* * *
“Oh my, who’s that outside?”
“Hm? Isn’t that Yashin?”
“What? Oh, it is?”
Unfortunately, my resolve meant little.
Whether I avoided him or not, the guy kept trailing after me!
“What’s he doing here?”
“The guy who used to live at the training grounds all day.”
“Is he looking for someone?”
“If so, his gaze seems to be fixed in only one direction…….”
The kitchen maids murmured at the guy’s sudden appearance.
I had come to help out briefly since they said the kitchen was short-handed.
I shouldn’t have come.
‘Don’t follow me, Yashin.’
‘Our paths overlapped.’
‘Liar! Why are you going to the kitchen?’
‘……Because I’m hungry?’
The problem was that saying anything to him was utterly useless.
Look, even now he’s waving both hands at me from outside the window.
A sigh escaped me on its own.
“Do you happen to know much about that guy?”
I deliberately ignored the window and threw out a question.
At that, Anna, who was peeling carrots beside me, opened her mouth.
“Hmm, Yashin, well—”
Yashin Nasser Din Iskandar, 18 years old.
As he had said when introducing himself, the guy with a long full name was from a tribe in the East.
He had wandered here and there searching for his parents, and by chance, he caught the Grand Duke’s eye on the battlefield and became a knight.
‘No wonder his appearance and way of speaking were unusual.’
So he was from a foreign land.
He was also a year younger than me.
Listening quietly, I nodded to myself.
Just then, Elizabeth spoke in a secretive voice.
“He’s here because of Lilian, right?”
“Uh, huh?!”
I stuttered in bewilderment without realizing it.
At my reaction, the maids who had caught on to something giggled and added a word each.
“His gaze has been fixed this way since a while ago.”
“He was a guy who had no interest in anything but the sword, too.”
“Hey, that’s why it’s more genuine! He may look like that, but he’s kind and cute.”
“And he’s handsome. He’s a bit of an acquired taste, but there are quite a few girls who like him, you know?”
“Hehe, I’ll root for you!”
No, what are these people saying!
I jumped and waved my hands frantically.
It was truly absurd—no, unfair.
‘That guy just wants to dump the youngest knight spot on me!’
But here, the truth didn’t matter much.
The maids, starved for dopamine in the same repetitive daily life, immediately pushed me and Yashin into that kind of relationship.
