Chapter 17
It had been an eternity since Adi enjoyed a morning of true tranquility. She made her way to the Outer Palace to visit the administrative office, hoping to collect her correspondence. However, the clerk informed her that her mail had already been delivered to her personal quarters. This meant the 2nd Knights Order’s housing, rather than the guards’ station at the Duke’s estate. For the first time in several days, Adi stepped back into her official room.
The moment she crossed the threshold, she discovered a significant mound of letters scattered across the floor. She had anticipated a few notes, but the sheer volume was staggering. Aside from the paper clutter, the room remained exactly as she had left it.
After gathering the envelopes and scanning the names of the senders, Adi moved toward the bed. She perched on the edge, staring out the window for a moment, before collapsing backward onto the sheets. She craved a total mental vacuum. With her eyes shut, she intended to simply let the hours vanish, though she found herself sitting upright again after only a brief rest.
The pile contained a message from Spencer Grimaldi and another from her mother. The latter was addressed not to Adrina, but to Adrian. It was filled with tender, loving prose and dried flowers, written as if Adrian were still a living, breathing person. Adi had attempted to read these letters once or twice in the past, but she had eventually given up. Today was no different; she viewed the sentimental pages as a pointless exercise.
She shoved her mother’s letter into a desk drawer and turned her attention to the missive from Spencer Grimaldi.
The Count’s writing followed a familiar pattern. Beneath the thin veil of fatherly concern and flowery well-wishes lay a cold, calculated agenda. Adi ignited a candle and positioned the parchment over the flickering light. As the fire began to consume the words, she narrowed her eyes, focusing on the specific command the Count had sent.
‘Woodpecker King, Assassin, stop them.’
The source of his intelligence regarding an assassin was a mystery, as was the exact method he expected her to use to intervene.
Spencer Grimaldi was not a man who tolerated inquiries. He demanded nothing but silent obedience, or perhaps the occasional clever insight that might provide him some entertainment.
Adi watched the paper finish burning. The blackened flakes settled into the base of the candle holder. She poked at the charred remains until they were nothing but fine dust, then stood and exited the room.
Back at the estate’s barracks, the sound of Bert’s heavy snoring greeted her. His breathing was so ragged and punctuated by hacking coughs that she occasionally wondered if he was in medical distress.
She regretted not cleaning up earlier. While the residence was high-quality, the three of them had to share a single washroom. Sharing with Bert had been simple enough, but the arrival of a third person meant she had to be far more discreet.
Adi adjusted the leather plating over her chest and retreated to her quarters. In this section of the Inner Palace, the air always seemed to carry the sound of laughter.
From her window, she observed members of the nobility lounging on the lawn while their children played nearby. Since no royalty currently resided in Pallesa, these people were certainly high-ranking aristocrats with royal bloodlines.
She found herself wondering if such carefree joy was standard for children of that age. Her gaze eventually settled on a boy seated at a table that had been moved outdoors.
The young Duke sat across from a woman, his face a mask of boredom. Despite the woman clearly being his junior, his demeanor suggested he was the elder party dealing with a subordinate child. It was a jarring effect of his condition.
Every time Adi witnessed the physical reality of his state, a familiar doubt crept into her mind.
If the Duke was trapped in a body that refused to age, she wondered what specific brand of curse had been laid upon her and Adrian.
The Duke suddenly shifted his eyes upward. Simultaneously, Roy Gallardo, who was positioned behind him, mimicked the movement.
They both spotted Adi Grimaldi in the window. She did not flinch or look away; instead, she held their collective gaze for a long beat before pulling the curtains shut. Her dark outline lingered against the fabric for a second before she moved back into the shadows of the room.
*
The Northern Palace housed the training facilities for the knights. The Outer Palace walls functioned like a massive defensive perimeter, which made sense given the area was originally an old fortress. Because the 3rd Knights Order was also based there, it was the most heavily militarized zone in the city. Adi had spent years within these walls.
“Did they throw you out?”
This place was also home to many of her rivals.
“What are you doing here?” one asked.
“I’m here to train,” Adi replied.
“Then why would you—”
The man looked at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance, as if her presence were a personal affront. When she met his gaze with a silent challenge, his expression soured further, as if she were the one being unreasonable.
“Why the sudden curiosity? Are you volunteering to spar?”
“Excuse me?”
“We could forget our ranks and settle things like last time,” she suggested.
In truth, their previous encounter hadn’t been about rank—it had been a case of blatant insubordination. However, since her target hadn’t been a local officer of Pallesa, no one had bothered to intervene. Adi gave a dry laugh as the squire struggled to find a response.
“Relax. I’m just doing some basic conditioning today.”
Her recent guard shifts had involved far too much standing and not enough movement. She was less concerned about her skill with a blade than she was about her physical endurance failing. Given the natural biological gap between her and the male knights, she had to push herself harder, but her constant duties with Bert left her with almost no personal time.
Dressed in her chemise and chest armor, Adi began a slow warm-up before starting a steady jog around the perimeter of the grounds. She ignored the watching eyes, but soon noticed a shadow running beside her.
She glanced sideways but didn’t break her stride. Her lungs began to burn—a sign that her stamina had indeed slipped during her time away from the field. The heavy breathing of her companion was even more pronounced. She looked over again; the squire was pushing himself so hard she almost felt a pang of pity.
The boy was roughly her height, and his presence briefly reminded her of Adrian. However, Adrian had never possessed such vitality. He would have been gasping for air just walking from the front door to his bedroom, let alone running laps.
When she finally slowed to a halt after several more circuits, the squire collapsed into a stop, struggling for oxygen. She had intentionally picked a secluded spot, so his persistence suggested he had a specific motive. Adi turned to face him.
“Is there something you want to say?”
“Haa… what?”
“You’ve been tailing me for laps. I assumed you had a point to make.”
“I don’t!”
She took him at his word. Deciding she was finished, Adi wiped the perspiration from her face with her sleeve and started to walk away. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her shirt. She looked back at the squire, her eyebrows raised in confusion.
“Do you… do you have powerful connections here in Pallesa?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“How did you manage to get into the 2nd Knights Order?”
The real question finally came out. Adi had been ready to walk away, but the sheer desperation in the boy’s eyes made her stop and sigh. She turned fully toward him, their eyes meeting at the same level. She watched him struggle to regain his breath, noticing how his hands were balled into tight fists. She wondered if there was some hidden drama she was unaware of.
“Is the answer really that important to you?” she asked.
The squire remained silent. Adi reached into her pocket and checked her watch. She had a tight schedule to maintain and didn’t want to waste time on a silence.
“If you’re not going to talk—”
“It is important,” he interrupted.
“Joining the 2nd Knights Order is a huge deal. I want to be there too.”
Adi was skeptical. To her, it was just a glorified bodyguard position. She couldn’t see the prestige.
In her experience, people usually associated the ‘1st’ of anything with the pinnacle of success. If someone wanted to build a legendary reputation as a knight, the 1st Knights Order was the obvious choice.
The 2nd Order didn’t see the front lines of war, nor were they safely tucked away at the very back. Their role was to protect fleeing high-borns during a crisis. It required high skill, but it lacked glory. This was especially true for someone of his background.
“I was told you come from a high-ranking family,” Adi noted.
Because he was a squire, she spoke to him with casual familiarity, despite the fact that his social standing likely required her to show him deference. A boy with his pedigree was likely the heir to a Marquis or a Duke. Since he was already set to inherit a title, she couldn’t understand why he was so obsessed with this specific post.
If he wanted the 1st Order, she could understand it as a way to recruit elite talent for his future house. But the 2nd Order made no sense.
“Why the 2nd Order? Why not the 1st?”
“That’s…”
The squire’s face twisted with discomfort. Adi wondered if he was also being forced into some secret family plot, much like her own situation. However, his demeanor had shifted; he was being uncharacteristically civil, which made her suspicious.
“Is this sudden politeness because I gave you a beating?”
“No!”
She remained unconvinced. What else could explain his behavior? As she scanned him with a puzzled look, the squire suddenly jumped back, looking as if he had been physically struck.
“And they aren’t broken! Everything is functioning perfectly!” he shouted.
Adi hadn’t even been looking in that direction.
It seemed the rumors had been quite colorful. There had been whispers that he had been permanently maimed or rendered “unfit” as a man. For the heir of a noble house, such gossip was a catastrophe.
“I believe you,” Adi said, her voice dripping with mock sincerity.
The squire didn’t seem to trust her tone and let out a frustrated cry toward the sky. Adi began to walk away again, but he caught her once more.
“Listen, don’t come back to these grounds. You’re just looking for trouble.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The 1st and 2nd Orders have their own private training areas. You don’t belong here.”
This was news to her. No one had mentioned exclusive facilities. As she stared at him in silence, the squire seemed to realize his own slip of the tongue. He knew her reputation in the 3rd Order was terrible, and it was unlikely she fared better anywhere else.
“Right… I suppose you were… very popular over there,” he said, his voice tinged with an odd sense of pity.
Adi brushed his hand off and continued on her way. As she walked, the other knights moved aside, creating a wide berth as if she were a dangerous weapon they were afraid to trigger.
An exclusive training ground for her order. She decided she would ask Roy about it later. With that thought, she exited the grounds.
