Chapter 16 · The Ars Confelo (2)

My mother—Princess Beatrice—said the exact same thing as me?

“That’s right. Blood will tell, I suppose. But half of the princess’s blood is, you see…”

He lowered his gray eyes and spoke in a sinister voice.

“That wicked blood that covets curses and magic that manipulates people will one day call out to the princess.”

I could feel Ark flinch behind me.

“There is a greater magic, you know.”

What nonsense is this? Is he talking about my biological father? Hah… Right, this man wouldn’t know. That my father is a holy knight who is a billion light-years removed from wickedness and is the very epitome of sanctity.

“Don’t insult the princess!”

I hadn’t felt the slightest impact from his words, but Ark bristled.

“Ark Ellenoa. You’ve been spouting impertinent nonsense for a while now—how do you intend to deal with the consequences when you get home?”

“I have sworn my loyalty to the princess.”

Gasp! Wh-why would you say that, you fool!

“Insulting the princess is something I cannot tolerate, even from my own father!”

“…What?”

As the count’s face twisted and he was about to speak, another presence cut in.

“I apologize for interrupting such an interesting conversation, but the intermission is nearly over. As the vice-commander in charge of the matches, shouldn’t you be heading back now, Lord Ellenoa?”

Where we all turned our eyes at once stood the king and Paeon.

‘I’m doomed.’

Since when had they been listening? I glanced anxiously toward Paeon and was startled. He wore an expression I had never seen before. A look as if suffering, surprise, and confusion were all mixed together. And faintly… sorrow.

“Y-Your Majesty. Since when have you been here?”

“Since our cute princess began expounding her theories on magic.”

The count’s face went pale. It was essentially the same as having heard everything from the very beginning.

“So, you swore loyalty to the princess?”

The king said to Ark. Ark too was frozen stiff with shock.

“Apologize to His Majesty the King at once, Ark. And consider the loyalty oath null and void. How dare you commit such a insane act as giving to another a vow meant for His Majesty!”

“I-I…”

“Enough, Lord Ellenoa. What I’m more curious about is how on earth she came to receive a loyalty oath from you.”

“…”

Ark agonized for a moment, then with a resolute expression knelt before the king. And then he explained everything that had happened. Including, that is, his own violation of the knight order’s regulations.

‘What are you doing, Ark!’

I tugged at his knight’s uniform with an anxious face to stop him, but he continued telling the truth even as cold sweat ran down his face.

“…So I nearly took the princess’s life, and the princess, in her great magnanimity, saved me instead.”

Ark turned to me and added with eyes full of conviction.

“I feel I am unworthy to be a knight, but I have no intention of canceling my oath of loyalty to the princess.”

“I see… So that’s how it happened.”

The king stroked his white mustache in thought, then addressed Paeon.

“Sir Parsiel, you are aware that I hold the privilege of granting immunity to royal knights?”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I will grant it to that boy. It was merely the mistake of an immature knight, so forgive him. From what I saw earlier, his skills are outstanding—surely we can’t afford to lose a knight like that?”

“…Understood.”

“And lift the princess’s ban from the training grounds as well. It seems necessary for the princess to mingle with knights from a young age.”

Paeon hesitated as if displeased, but eventually agreed.

“Now! Let us return.”

“W-wait a moment, Your Majesty. The loyalty oath…!”

“Why make such a fuss over a promise between children, Lord Ellenoa! Do you think a four-year-old princess is going to overthrow Santra with apprentice knights?!”

The count clamped his mouth shut, red-faced, and the king lifted me up in one swift motion.

“To have already received loyalty oaths from two knights—I’m so proud!”

◇ ◆ ◇

Even after returning to my seat, I couldn’t focus on the matches. Paeon’s complicated expression would not leave my mind.

I kept sneaking glances at his profile, but he only watched the matches with a face as rigid as a sculpture.

“It seems even the young princess finds Sir Parsiel’s appearance outstanding.”

The commander of Dinitas, resting his chin on his hand, said with a sly grin.

“E-excuse me?!”

What are you trying to make me into, a pervert!

“Please show me some interest too, Princess. Even though I may look rather fierce.”

“You’we cool too, Commander.”

I exercised my social skills to the utmost. He wasn’t exactly an ugly face, after all. There was something decadent and languid about his air that probably had its devotees among the nobles.

He sprang up and plopped down beside me. Aquila had originally been sitting next to me, but she had moved to the back at some point and was conversing with nobles.

“Princess…”

He whispered so that only I could hear.

“Where did you learn your magic separately?”

As expected, this man must be on Aquila’s side. She must have ordered him to probe me.

“Asha weawned it on my own, you know?”

“Ordinary children usually say they did it themselves even when someone taught them.”

‘What is he saying?’

“Because they think that’s how they’ll be acknowledged. But Princess, learning is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“It seems the Commander thinks no one can awaken anything without being taught by someone else.”

When I answered with a bright smile, the relaxed smile vanished from his face.

“Haha! You truly are no ordinary child, just as I heard.”

You’re the one who was rude first, you know.

“My name is Edwin Alter. I am the eldest son of the Marquis Alter family and hold the title of count. It would be an honor if you remembered me.”

‘Why would I?’

I wanted to snap at this vaguely unpleasant man, but I held back. Making an enemy of someone who was commander of Dinitas would be too much for me. First, I needed to confirm whether he really had been won over by Aquila.

‘Somehow his looks and a pair of cockroaches go together perfectly.’

◇ ◆ ◇

The Confelo, being a tournament format, sped up as it went on. Rizen and Ark showed outstanding skill for their age but couldn’t overcome the adult apprentice knights.

As the sun hung low in the sky, most of the matches were finished and the win-rate calculations began.

‘As expected, Veritas wins.’

“Haha, it’s clear that the skills of Veritas’s members have become far superior since Sir Parsiel became commander.”

At that, Count Ellenoa, who had been staring at the results sheet with a rigid face, abruptly spoke up.

“Please allow me to face Sir Parsiel.”

“Isn’t it the rule of the Ars Confelo that only regular knights and apprentice knights participate?”

The king was taken aback, but he persisted stubbornly.

“Surely exceptions can be made. If only so my skills don’t rust.”

“Hmm. What do the rest of you think?”

“It seems Lord Ellenoa is feeling restless—how about you oblige him, Sir Parsiel?”

“…”

Paeon looked Alter straight in the eye. Somehow it seemed sparks were flying between their eyes.

“Hah…”

Paeon let out a sigh, hesitated for a long while, then answered.

“Very well. But let’s do it as a mounted joust.”

“Wouldn’t that be too dull?”

“Because you might sustain injuries too great for my divine power to heal.”

“…!”

Count Ellenoa sprang to his feet in a fury. He seemed to have taken it as an insult, his face turning red and blue by turns.

‘Wow, he’s really unpleasant.’

Even as I thought that, the corners of my mouth kept trying to curl up, so I clenched my jaw and watched Paeon head toward the arena.

◇ ◆ ◇

“The princess holds a very dangerous ideology. An ideology that could throw all discipline and control into disorder.”

“You’re talking about ideology just because I suggested a knight learn some magic?”

“Why do you think the royal knight order and the royal mages are separated?”

“…”

“Do you believe it’s acceptable to encroach on each other’s domains?”

“I’m not trying to encroach on your domain—”

“The princess is overstepping her authority. If you truly wish to meddle in Dinitas, then transfer to Dinitas. Though you’d have to start as an apprentice.”

Even surrounded and attacked by knights two heads taller than herself, the princess did not shrink back in the slightest.

“Dinitas is all pride and not a scrap of flexibility.”

“We merely prioritize efficiency. We don’t have time to waste learning such trivial magic.”

“There’s no such thing as trivial magic. The trivial ones are people like you, who use magic as a tool for your family’s honor!”

Paeon shook his head vigorously. Ever since leaving that place, the memory kept surfacing and confusing him. How could she say exactly the same thing?

From the opposite side, Count Ellenoa’s black horse appeared, pawing at the ground. He hastily pulled himself together and adjusted his long lance. The whistle signaling the start of the match blew, and Count Ellenoa began charging swiftly toward him first.

From his lance, a massive dark-red flame flew toward Paeon. Flamma Gladius! He had used his highest-level technique from the very start.

Paeon quickly raised a powerful shield, but the aura wrapped around him in a circle like a living salamander and blazed up fiercely.

Paeon’s horse, unable to go forward or turn aside, stamped in place and whinnied. The flames, not missing the horse’s moment of panic, kept lunging threateningly to throw its rider.

Then Paeon quietly recited a holy word, and a great winged divine beast appeared and swallowed up all the flames around him.

“That’s Sir Parsiel’s divine beast, Albedo Dragon!”

“Even during the war, we rarely saw it!”

The knights in the spectator seats exclaimed in excitement. The Dinitas knights, looking sour, muttered, “I don’t see what’s so impressive,” but their voices died away when Paeon’s divine beast breathed white flame and shot it toward Count Ellenoa.

Count Ellenoa quickly recalled his flames and blocked the attack, but Paeon’s divine beast grew larger and larger, pressing them hard. The clashing flames crackled and wrestled, and in the end, the white flame on Paeon’s side swallowed the dark-red flame.

A shockwave nearly as strong as a typhoon slammed into Count Ellenoa, and his horse screamed and collapsed along with its rider.

“Whoaaa!”

A fierce cheer rose from the spectator seats. Paeon caught his breath and inadvertently looked toward the stands, where his eyes met Anastasia’s, who was watching him with sparkling eyes.

Emerald eyes so very much like hers…

He could not hold that gaze for long and hastily turned his head away.

‘Starting tomorrow… starting tomorrow, I’ll protect it again.’

The resolve he had sworn never to break.

The resolve that even in death, he would never let himself grow close to his own daughter.