The Male Lead Knelt Before Me

“… so you were saying that you heard that Lady Oreu guessed the sparring match would be over in three heaps.”

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The man spoke in an excited voice to the extent that anyone could feel that he was heard.

“But the Vice-Commander won by hitting Sir Rodrick’s wrist! Of course, I predicted it too, but it was interesting that she could get it right.”

“Ah, that was then? I was curious about what you were talking about.”

There was a lot of noise around.  And I was at the centre of it.

I was distracted by favourable gazes and hectic words.

I didn’t think it was this kind of atmosphere until a while ago.

“You’re incredible, Lady Oreu, though it must have been difficult to estimate with just a few insights.”

“I mean unless you’re really interested…”

“Did you say you learned swordsmanship? How many years did you learn?”

“I’ve been learning for more than 10 years.
I think it’s about 14 years.”

When I answered the question that came in an instant, people around me poured out admiration.

It wasn’t a bad thing that the friendly gazes were unfamiliar.
Because it’s better than hating me.

“But I learned it for self-defence.
It’s not something to be proud of.”

 

“Still, You’re incredible.
Even if one learned swordsmanship, it’s rare to have this much knowledge.”

“That’s right.
Lady Oreu has talent…”

“What are you doing here?”

“Salute, Vice-Commander!”

As if the match had already been finished, Lord Vessel broke through the tumultuous crowd.

When he found me and the members, he asked with a puzzled face.

“Lady Oreu? Why is everyone gathered around her?”

“We learned an unexpected fact while watching the sparring match today, Lord.”

“What did you learn?”

“Lady Oreu’s knowledge was incredible.
Lady Oreu precisely guessed Vice-Commander moves on the sparring match.
So everyone got together and admired her.”

“That’s right.
And, Lady Oreu also learned swordsmanship.
Vice-Commander, you knew, right?”

“Of course the Vice-Commander knows.
They’re getting married soon.
Don’t you know?”

It was rather on my side that I was embarrassed by the voice of scolding.

What do you mean, a marriage relationship?

I didn’t think I was the only one who was embarrassed.

 

When I see Lord Vessel asking with a surprised face.

“Who’s getting married?”

“What? Of course, it’s the Vice-Commander and Lady Oreu.
Previously, the Vice-Commander gave a lot of gifts to Lady.
Because of that, they became lovers.”

“Hey, why did you talk about that? Don’t you know that the latter officially denied it and the rumour went down?”

“Really? Then what did the gifts mean? Isn’t that a gift? I thought you two were going to get married.”

“It’s just a rumour.”

Lord Vessel frowned.

He looked completely disgusted.

“Then, would you send a gift to the Knight’s office then? You won’t do that unless you’re crazy enough.”

Then, did someone send a gift to the office like that because they’re crazy?

It was a funny thing for me to remember the previous atrocities of Lord Vessel.

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Some seemed to have similar thoughts to me.

Since I heard some of them say ‘well, it’s possible if it’s our Vice-Commander, ah, no, it’s nothing.’

“Then why did our Vice-Commander send all those gift packages?”

Everyone’s eyes did not leave Lord Vessel.

It was the same for me.

Because I was wondering how he would surround himself.

Caleb is his supervisor so he told the truth to him without any lie.

But here these knights are his subordinates, there is no way he could reveal his complex to other members.

“That’s…”

As expected, Lord Vessel hesitated to speak.

It was when I was looking at him…

“It’s because I have to make Lady Oreu like me.”

… Excuse me?

How can you say that in this situation…?

“Anyway, it’s all false rumours, so don’t misunderstand like that.
If you heard anyone saying something like that, tell them that it’s not true, okay?”

Lord Vessel looked at me as he spoke to the members.

The corner of his mouth, which rose to the fullest, was like a golden retriever who flapped his tail hoping for praise.

The members around me took turns looking between me and Lord Vessel.

And they whispered among themselves in a very small voice.

“Is he in a one-sided love?”

“Oh, no wonder he sent me back all the gifts last time.
Poor Vice-Commander.”

No! It’s not……!

I couldn’t say anything and swallowed the words I couldn’t say.

A dream of an autumn night.

There has been a difference in my daily life since then.

First and foremost, I became close to Natalie.

Not only because we are both women, but also because we have a common topic to discuss, Mila.

And, even though it wasn’t often, I would go to the training field and watch a member’s sparring session.

‘It it seems Natalie is also taking part in today’s sparring session.’

It’s the second sparring session I’ve seen since then, so I was looking forward to the match.

After just a short struggle, the victory leaned toward Natalie.

“You did an excellent job, Dame Seria.”

“Thank you.”

I extended a towel to Natalie, who smiled broadly and accepted it.

“Are you only looking after Dame Seria? Even though I lost to Dame Seria, I took part in the match.”

“I’ve already given you the towel.”

“That’s true.
We also looked after you.”

The member who had the match with Natalie said it jokingly, and the other members rebuked him immediately.

The atmosphere became frenzied in an instant.

Natalie lowered her voice and called out to me in a noisy environment.

“Would you mind taking a moment for me, Lady?”

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“Now?”

“Yes, it is a private matter, so I hope we can discuss it elsewhere.”

“Okay.”

I happily nodded.

Even after moving from the place, Natalie seemed hesitant.

“Dame Seria? You can speak freely.”

“At that point, I’ll tell you.”

Natalie opened her mouth after a brief exhalation.

“Could perhaps you take Mila to the Solenia Festival this Saturday?”

The Solenia Festival…

While tilting my head, I soon realized that it was one of the festivals in this world.

For the commoner here, securing food was an important issue.

As a result, twice a year, offerings were made to Solenia, the goddess of fertility and art, and a festival was held in the hopes of reaping a bountiful harvest.

The scale was large because it was a festival about things that people value.

It was so large that the imperial family intervened to prevent the chances of an accident or damage.

“It’s not difficult for me to go with Mila to the festival, but wouldn’t it be better for you to go with Mila rather than me, Dame Seria?”

“I wished I could take her with me, but I was chosen as the patrolling knight.”

I’ve heard it’s a festival in which the imperial family intervenes.
Then are the Royal Knights called in?

“Are all of the knights patrolling at the festival?”

“This isn’t the case.
Only an amount of the Royal Knights is distributed, leaving the remaining amount free to rest or play.”

“I’m not sure how well I understand it, but can’t you ask someone else to take your shift?”

“In fact, I asked.
Everyone, however, claimed to have a prior engagement with their lover or family.”

“Oh.”

That’s acceptable.
Everyone will go play since it is a festival.

“I understand your situation, Dame.
Then, if it’s okay with you, I’ll go with Mila.”

Natalie’s expression, which had been stiff the entire time, finally relaxed.

“Thank you very much, Lady.
I will certainly repay you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

This is essentially nothing.
It’s not something to repay for.

“I’m delighted to help you, Dame.”

* * * * *****

“Elena eonni!”

A little girl, as high as my waist, ran to me.

I’m currently at Natalie’s house.

I’m going to the festival with Mila this evening.

“I’ve been missing you!”

Mila gave me a soft hug and rubbed her face against me.

Aww, she’s so cute.

I stroked Mila’s hair.

Her soft hair brushed against my fingers.

“How are you doing? Have you been doing well?”

“Yes!”

The child, who had responded vigorously, suddenly exclaimed, ‘Ah!’ as if remembering something, and then let go of my hand.

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“Thank you for accompanying Mila to the festival today.”

She then extended her skirt down to her legs and greeted me with both hands.

Oh my goodness.
She’s so cute.

Where did she learn to say such greetings?

I wanted to hug Mila and rub against her as much as I could, but I was aware of Natalie next to me and forced myself to sit quietly.

I would have hugged Mila and circled in the air by now if it hadn’t been for Natalie.

“Lady Oreu, since you’re here, I’ll get going now.
Mila, please take good care of her.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Have a safe trip, eonni!”

Natalie, who was dressed in a cape and a uniform, turned around and smiled mildly at us.

I looked at the clock as soon as the door closed.

There was an hour until the festival started.

“Can you show me your closet, Mila?”

“My closet?”

“Yeah.
Because it’s a festival for the first time in a long time.”

I pulled a light pink hair ribbon from my bag.

I bought it ahead of time for Mila.

“How about we dress up a little?” What do you think?”

“Wow! I love it!”

Mila nodded hastily.

Following that, the tips of her light brown hair, which resembled clear wheat, barely covered the nape of her neck, fluttering in the air.

I found thick clothes in a colour similar to the ribbon colour and asked Mila to put them on after tying her side hair with a ribbon.

“What are your thoughts?”

Mila frowned at herself in the mirror for a long time.

What’s the matter with her?

“You don’t like it?”

“What? No! It’s really lovely! I really like it”

In a surprise, the child shook her head.

She then added a brief explanation.

“It’s just that I can’t see very well, so I have to concentrate for a little while to see it.”

It’s because she has poor vision.

It would be nice to have glasses or contact lenses…

However, the only glasses that exist in this world are mono-lens.

Can I make glasses by having them join two mono-lenses?

I wonder if there are people who have already invented that.

But I don’t think that’s the case, since no one has invented a watch so far.

It was a time when I spent a lot of time thinking about this and that.

Mila was clutching my skirt tightly.

“It isn’t because I’m angry, so don’t hate me.”

“Huh? How come I hate you?”

“Because other kids said I looked angry, and they were afraid of me…”

The backstory didn’t continue, but I could fully imagine what Mila had been through.

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I’m sure the other kids kept their distance from Mila.

That’s why she’d tell me not to hate her.

I squatted down to make eye contact with Mila, calming my broken heart.

“Don’t worry, Mila.
I couldn’t hate you.”

“B-but…”

“Because you’re just too pretty and cute for me.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

I pulled Mila into my arms and patted her on the back.

Mila only then relaxed her stiff body, as if relieved.

Then she totally let her body lean on me.

Mila’s appearance had become even more pitiful as a result.
And I’m broken because of it.

‘It would be nice to meet a priest with great divine power.’

However, I swallowed the words.

Having to meet a priest was not only difficult but also expensive.

Furthermore, there had to be a reason why Natalie, a fool of her younger sister, had no choice but to ignore Mila despite knowing her eyesight was bad.

Mila regained her original enthusiasm soon after I comforted her.

When she looked in the mirror, she smiled and said she liked how I styled her hair.

I just styled her hair a little bit, but I was just grateful that she liked it that much.

“Should we leave now?”

Mila grabbed my hand when I reached out.

Mila sniffed against my skirt as I tried to lock the door.

“Mila? What’s the matter?”

“I’ve been smelling flowers for quite some time.
But it came from you, eonni! I can smell something good from you.
How did you do that?”

“It’s because I sprayed perfume on myself.”

I remembered buying perfume from a perfume merchant and spraying it right away when I bought a ribbon at the marketplace during the day.

I used up all of the perfume I had after giving the last stock of the perfume I had always used to Vivian, and I couldn’t spray it for a few days.

So I sprayed it as soon as I got it, and Mila apparently liked the fragrance.

“What exactly is perfume?”

“It’s designed so that you can spray some fragrance.
When you spray it on your body, it emits an artificial scent for a while.
Do you want to spray it as well?”

“Am I allowed to do that?”

“Of course, you can.
Could you please extend your hand for a moment? Please show me your wrist.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, like that.”

I take the perfume bottle from the bag and spray it on Mila’s wrist.

Mila put her nose on her wrist and smelled it while I was crossing the perfume bottle to my bag, and she looked surprised.

Then she smelled his wrist once more and looked at me in awe.

“It smells exactly like you, eonni!”

“Raise your wrist and rub your earlobes.
Then you will smell it better.”

Mila meekly followed my instructions.
Mila, like me, soon exuded a sweeter rose scent.

Mila went round and round in awe, “Wow! Wow!” she exclaimed.

In her rather bustling gesture, her coat fell down.

I caught Mila’s coat like that and carefully adjusted her outfit.

Since she’ll have a hard time if she catches a cold.