Chapter 5
#5
Lucy had already bitterly realized that military life was not romantic. Therefore, she couldn't deny that he was wrong.
Instead of sighing, Lucy chose her words more carefully.
"Do you know how many princesses and princes there are in the royal family right now, General Walter?"
Walter answered a beat late to the sudden question.
"Including Arsinoe, there are ten in total."
"Then, how many of those ten are not born from the Queen Consort?"
"...One."
"That's right. Only me. My mother was a dancer from the desert slaves. She is only called a concubine without a name and is forbidden from going outside the detached palace."
Walter subtly frowned at the explicit explanation. Lucy shrugged and continued in a calm tone.
"It's luxurious and comfortable, but it's no different from a birdcage. If I return to the palace, I have to be trapped there too. It is the logic of the royal family that a child attached to a concubine must be with the concubine."
"But… Even if that is the case, the Princess is clearly of royal blood."
"No. In your eyes, General, everyone born from His Majesty may look like a princess or a prince, but I am not a princess. And no one actually treats me like one."
A sigh escaped. It was a sigh that flowed out of the thought that it was more tiresome than bitter.
Lucy tilted her head and looked at Walter with eyes that seemed to know but not know.
"I understand your concern. My mother still nags me to return to the palace. But I thought it would be better to learn something than to be trapped in the detached palace, so I came here."
"...May I ask why it had to be a soldier?"
"I wanted to protect Parnassus, and I also wanted to work with you, General. A soldier was the only job that could satisfy both."
Walter's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected remark.
"Why did you want to work with me?"
Because you will be my guardian.
Lucy hid her true feelings and spat out the answer naturally.
"You said it yourself in the lecture hall earlier. You don't want to define an individual's characteristics as a species. If you are a general who doesn't particularly discriminate against people, I thought you wouldn't look down on me and just treat me as a professional. And also."
"And?"
"Well, because you're cool."
A small crack appeared on Walter's face, which had been expressionless all along.
Walter looked at her with a perplexed expression, not knowing whether to laugh or not, then stroked his lips and shook his head.
"Is that… so. If you enlisted with a purpose… Yes. I understand. I'm sorry. Then please take my interference as an ignorant question and ignore it."
"If you ever have a chance to see my mother in the future, please tell her not to worry."
"I understand."
Walter, who skillfully handled the conversation, looked at Lucy with a calmer gaze. A generous light, unique to superiors, spread over his plain face.
"You will graduate in two years. Then, until the day we meet again, I will be looking forward to seeing you grow, Princess."
Walter bowed deeply and looked at her once with a gentle gaze. Then, he quietly turned around and disappeared into the school.
The words referring to him came to mind from the gesture that felt no presence at all.
The undefeated general, the genius of swordsmanship. The God of War, the Lord of Dawn.
Recalling numerous epithets, Lucy stared blankly at the place where Walter had disappeared.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
The sound of the bell echoes softly above the sharply rising bell tower.
It was the bell to move to the individual training room after the afternoon schedule. Walter, who was staring at the bell intently, shook off his regret with a light breath and walked towards the stable, turning his back to the school.
Unlike his indifferent expression, his mind was overflowing with thoughts about her.
Arsinoe. That princess.
"Already sixteen… Time flies so fast."
Ansila, the concubine who lives only in the detached palace due to the king's excessive obsession.
Arsinoe was the daughter of that pitiful concubine.
The young princess had been strangely on his mind since the first time he saw her.
Her ambiguous position, unable to be either a commoner or a noble, and the unfortunate situation caused by it, and the reality of the pitiful concubine were all elements that were worth worrying about, but the most decisive thing that bothered him was the princess's eyes.
Those eyes that are excessively full of life….
Her slender but delicate physique, resembling her mother, and her appearance, which was closer to delicacy than beauty, gave the impression that she was inherently weak.
But those eyes.
When he met the princess's eyes, he felt that her slender appearance was just the outer skin that made her up.
In her eyes, there was a strange light that was difficult to describe, with stubbornness, obsession, and determination firmly solidified.
With those eerie eyes, Arsinoe rattled off what she wanted to say without hesitation.
「I will not forgive anyone who is rude to my mother. That means the same for the First Queen.」
「If you like the detached palace so much, why don't you live here, Prince? Do you know how frustrating it is to be trapped?」
「I am not a princess. I'm just my mother, Ansila's daughter.」
Her direct and somewhat cheeky words were, ridiculously, quite likable to Walter.
As a nobleman and soldier living bound by rules, her attitude, which seemed to throw etiquette to the dogs, was quite refreshing to him, contrary to himself.
Is that why?
Even though she might not remember him, Walter had remembered Arsinoe for a long time.
But….
"That doesn't mean you have to become a soldier."
Quite some time had passed since he frowned and pondered. Just as he was lost in thought, a rough voice with a smile disturbed Walter's mood.
"General. How do you feel about coming to school after a long time?"
When he raised his head, black Lykan was grinning and waiting for his answer.
It was Zen, his adjutant. Judging by the fact that his black ears were constantly twitching, he seemed to be in a very good mood.
"What's there to feel?"
Walter, who was about to get on his horse, put down the reins and turned around. Below the mountain range overgrown with vegetation, the academy buildings were scattered here and there in a crude form like roughly arranged tombstones.
"Well. I don't know. I don't think there was anything particularly memorable."
"You graduated early, General, so that's understandable. Even before I graduated, the school always…."
Zen let out a good-natured laugh and continued to reminisce about what the cafeteria was like and what the festival was like.
Walter listened quietly for a long time, waited until the chatter was over, and then opened his mouth in a slow tone.
"Come to think of it, that class you had special training today."
Zen raised his eyebrows slightly at the sudden change of topic.
"That class… Ah, are you talking about the high-class trainees? I was expecting them because their grades were good, but I was a little disappointed because their stamina seemed to be lacking."
"Was there a student who stood out there?"
"Well… Ah, a friend named Bardley was pretty good. His ability to judge the situation is also quick, and he is leading the entire platoon. Other than that, Gentol and Brott are pretty good…."
"What about Arsinoe?"
Zen tilted his head at the unfamiliar name.
Zen, who was muttering and lost in thought, exclaimed softly.
"Are you talking about that pretty female cadet? The student with the dry straw hair color and white and slender?"
"Yes. How was she?"
"Um. Judging by her appearance, she looks like she's from the Western nomads, but I don't know why she enlisted in the military, leaving the easy path behind, but she was more determined than I thought she would be. I heard that her grades are also in the top ranks…."
Walter pursed his lips at the word Western nomad.
'She is from the kingdom, and she is a princess of the royal family.' But Walter swallowed the words in his mouth and remained silent.
Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed like she was hiding her origins intentionally and living her school life, but he thought that if he revealed her origins, her position might become difficult.
Even if she is born from a concubine, the blood of the king does not change, so the surrounding cadets will also be uncomfortable….
Walter acquiesced to the truth and answered in a smooth tone.
"She seems to be quite a talented cadet."
"It's a bit difficult to say that definitively. Her stamina is a bit weak. Her martial arts and swordsmanship are all failing to get out of the bottom ranks."
"Is that so. There's no way around it since there's a difference in physique from the other cadets."
"However, she is said to surpass the instructors in theoretical classes. Especially in tactics and strategy, she always comes up with unheard-of tactics and is praised…."
Zen trailed off and glanced at Walter.
When he returned the questioning gaze, Zen scratched his head and turned his gaze elsewhere.
"What's the matter, you're taking an interest in a cadet? And a female cadet."
"Um?"
"As an adjutant, I'm happy that you, who have always acted like a stone in front of women, are suddenly like this, but unfortunately, there's quite an age difference. Besides, she's still a minor, so this could be considered a crime."
Walter, who was rarely flustered by the incessant nagging, waved his hand and cut him off. However, Zen moved his mouth incessantly as if he had been waiting for this moment, pouring out his scolding.
Walter, who had instantly become vulgar, saw Zen's tail wagging from side to side as if he was excited, realized that no matter what he said, it wouldn't work, and gave up refuting.
It was an afternoon when the sky spread out beyond the nagging adjutant shone particularly blue.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
The sound of rain hitting the window was quite loud.
The verdant new greenery that bloomed on the border between spring and summer was scattering the scent of grass everywhere, soaked with rainwater.
Lucy, who was staring at her diploma, slowly raised her head. In the eyes looking out the window, there was dark anguish instead of the water-colored scenery.
"Arsinoe. When are you leaving?"
Geronimo, who was slinging his luggage bag and wandering around the hallway, smiled and entered the room.
Lucy put the diploma on the bed and bumped her fist into the fist that Geronimo was holding out.
"I have to leave soon. Are you going straight back to the territory?"
"Yeah. My father even sent a guard to come back as soon as possible. Anyway, if he was going to worry this much, he shouldn't have sent me to school in the first place. I graduated, but I don't know what this is."
Geronimo let out a bitter sigh.
He entered with the ambition to become a soldier, but unfortunately, he became the successor of the Marquis family due to his brother's fall from a horse and had to return to the territory.
「What can I do, there are many soldiers, but I am the only successor.」
The words he muttered with a smile would not be sincere.
Lucy opened her arms and hugged him lightly. Then she smiled and opened her mouth.
"Less than 30% of people become soldiers even after graduating, so just accept it. Well, everything you learned here will be useful someday."
"Anyway, you're good at talking."
"I have to be good at talking because my stamina is lacking."
Geronimo looked around for a moment and then carefully continued.
"Why did you say you were quitting the military and going back to the palace? As you said, even if your stamina is lacking, you could have served as an officer because you have a good head."
"I have something to do at the palace."
Lucy shrugged with a vague smile.
