Chapter 82
<85화>
Lost in thought, King Arzen’s eyes suddenly widened.
While Grace was known as the greatest mage in the Frozen Kingdom, Arzen himself was actually a quite skilled mage, though his talents were often overshadowed by her brilliance.
There shouldn’t be anyone in the kingdom besides Grace who could unravel Arzen’s spells.
‘I’ll have to look into this.’
Grace had constantly thwarted his ambitions, yet she remained utterly uninterested in power or high society.
To the world, she was a magnificent Queen Consort.
She was the first to create teleportation portals and had even invented agricultural machinery that revolutionized farming for the commoners.
The nobles looked up to her, and the commoners praised her.
But that wasn’t the kind of Queen Consort Arzen wanted.
‘Being looked up to and praised is my role as the King…!’
What Arzen wanted from her was the role of an ordinary Queen Consort.
Someone who would plan budgets, decorate the palace for events, and reign as the queen of social circles.
The things typical noblewomen would do.
‘What if the person who neutralized the black magic on Aisha really was Grace?’
“Then she would have realized immediately that I was the one who cast it….”
Tap, tap.
His index finger drummed against the armrest of his chair, the pace quickening with his growing agitation.
Though he didn’t relish the idea, he had to find out for sure.
‘I’ll have to have tea with Grace sometime soon.’
Thinking that tomorrow would be best if possible, he was just about to stand up when—
“Your Majesty. May I enter?”
A quiet knock was followed by a familiar voice announcing their arrival.
“Enter.”
In response to Arzen’s permission, his aide, Tree, opened the door and stepped inside.
“Pardon the interruption, but I am reporting a disturbance outside. A child claiming to be an ability user is causing a scene at the main palace gates.”
“…What? An ability user?”
Arzen doubted his own ears.
“Yes. Normally, we would have handled it ourselves without bothering Your Majesty, but given the recent situation with the Duke of Pose, I felt uneasy letting anything slide….”
To date, the only discovered abilities were ice and poison.
‘Ice belongs to the Crost bloodline, and the Duke of Pose, who held the poison ability, is already dead….’
“I will go myself. Lead the way.”
Still, just in case, Arzen ordered Tree to guide him.
It wasn’t entirely unbelievable.
The Duke of Pose had two sons who inherited his bloodline—one legitimate and one illegitimate.
‘But there’s no way his legitimate son would show up here after his father was executed…’
That left one other possibility.
“Over there.”
It was then. Having reached the main gates of the Royal Palace, Tree pointed toward a spot not far away.
Then.
“Hello, Your Majesty.”
A youthful, clear voice, bright as sunlight, rang in Arzen’s ears.
“Perfect timing!”
“……?”
The boy looked to be barely seven years old.
His dark blue hair, bordering on black, was soaking wet.
Wearing tattered clothes and shoes with worn-out soles, the boy looked more like a beggar who would beg for coins at first glance.
“The knights wouldn’t believe a word I said, so I was just showing them some proof.”
In contrast to his appearance, his incredibly beautiful smile and black eyes were reminiscent of unpolished obsidian.
“Is this enough for you to believe me?”
“…….”
At the boy’s question, King Arzen took several slow steps forward and surveyed the area outside the castle gates.
It was unbelievable.
Everything around the boy’s bare feet had rotted and withered away.
The trees. The fields. Even the tips of the spears held by the knights guarding the gate.
“Your, Your Majesty.”
The knights confronting the boy stood frozen in place.
Their faces were etched with pure terror.
‘Oho.’
Unable to believe his eyes, Arzen turned slowly to inspect the surroundings, and the corners of his mouth began to curl upward.
“Ha, hahaha….”
This was the one.
A new chess piece to replace the Duke of Pose.
At that same time.
“Aisha. Watch me. Hah!”
Thump!
The pathetic sound of a wooden sword hitting a mannequin echoed through the Crost Duchy Castle.
So, this was…
“The Neck-Blade Strike.”
Ooh. The Neck-Blade Strike.
I nodded my head listlessly.
Kyle, smiling proudly at my reaction, took another stance.
“Now, look at this. This one is… Hah!”
Seeing him strike the mannequin’s waist this time.
“This is the Waist Strike.”
Ooh. The Waist Strike….
The technique names are remarkably literal.
“How was it? I’m good, right? I even came up with the names myself.”
With his hand on his hip while holding the sword, Kyle radiated a sparkling aura.
Judging by his expression, he seemed to be fishing for a compliment….
“Yeah. You did great.”
I gave him a nod for now, but I fell into deep thought.
Should I sneak over to Dad and suggest that we change Kyle’s career path before it’s too late?
As Kyle’s unofficial guardian, if I were to judge him objectively, I didn’t think he was cut out to be a famous knight….
It was then.
An excited Kyle said while bouncing around.
“I practiced hard for a whole week.”
“Gasp. You even practiced for a week?”
This is bad.
“…Huh?”
My jaw dropped involuntarily, but Kyle, interpreting my reaction positively, asked with even more sparkling eyes.
“Why? Am I too good for someone who only practiced for a week?”
“Huh? Oh, uh… well…”
Just as I was struggling for an answer.
“You brat! The Lady is shocked because that’s all you can do after a whole week of practice!”
A hand suddenly reached out and roughly ruffled Kyle’s white hair.
Looking up, I saw Knight Commander Iris, who was in charge of Kyle’s swordsmanship training.
He gave me a wide grin and greeted me.
“Good day, my Lady.”
“Helloooo.”
“Ah. Commander Iris. Why are you here?”
“Why are you here? This little squirt, using casual speech with an adult?”
“Huh? I called you Commander.”
“Calling me Commander was good. But after that, how did I say you should speak to adults?”
“Uh. Um.”
Scrub, scrub—
As his white head continued to be ruffled, Kyle thought hard before letting out an exclamation.
“Why are you here-yo?”
“It’s not ‘Why are you here-yo,’ it’s ‘Why are you here, sir?’”
“So close. I only missed it by one syllable.”
“Right. And since you missed it, shall we do three laps around the training ground?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Drop the ‘Yeah.’ How many times do I have to tell you that ‘Yeah’ is casual speech!”
Iris shouted in frustration, but Kyle, covering his ears at the continued nagging, shook his head vigorously while pretending he couldn’t hear.
Then he turned to me to say goodbye.
“I have to run three laps. See you later, Aisha.”
“Okay. Good luck!”
I waved at the receding Kyle.
And then.
“Iris.”
“Yes, my Lady.”
“He’s a good kid, though.”
When I mentioned what I couldn’t say in front of Kyle, Iris nodded as well.
“…I know. He’s innocent.”
Fortunately, he seemed to realize that Kyle didn’t mean any harm.
In any case, I was a bit worried when I saw the Neck-Blade Strike and Waist Strike.
‘But I’m glad Kyle seems to be adjusting well to the Crost Knights.’
Wearing the knight’s uniform and holding a sword—this was huge progress.
When he first arrived here, he even found wearing shoes uncomfortable.
But now, he was learning how to converse with people and undergoing swordsmanship training, even if his progress was a bit slow.
‘You’re doing great, our Kyle!’
I’m so proud, so proud.
I watched Kyle running around the training ground with the misty eyes of a proud parent.
Since the execution of the Duke of Pose, life at the Duke’s Castle had returned to normal.
Calips diligently performed his duties as the Duke, and I was showered with affection as the ‘real’ Lady.
Kyle was working hard as the youngest member of the knights, and Lucas was doing his best as the heir to the Duchy.
Since I didn’t think I needed to worry about Kyle, I figured I should go check on big brother Lucas.
“I’ll be going now!”
“Yes, my Lady. Please head inside.”
Pitter-patter.
After saying goodbye to Iris, I ran toward the Duke’s Castle as fast as my short legs could carry me.