SN Chapter 8

"You must not hit people carelessly... You must not kill people carelessly... Hah... Please repeat after me..."

"I must not hit people carelessly. I must not kill people carelessly."

"Well done. The person you knocked down earlier is Sir Raymond of House Grandram. He serves in the White Night Order with you, and privately, he's your friend."

"I shouldn't hit him?"

"You should not."

"All right."

Rosaline nodded. Kallix scrubbed his face several times with his hand, making sounds of distress. He added that if someone held a weapon or showed killing intent, she could hit them and even kill them. Without this clarification, she'd probably stand still and politely receive arrows even on the battlefield. Rosaline nodded.

"If you hit people carelessly, you go to a very, very scary place. There's a truly frightening man there."

"A scary place..."

Rosaline swallowed audibly. With her limited imagination, she seemed to be working hard to picture the frightening man and frightening place.

Soon a servant came to inform them that Raymond had awakened. When they reached the guest room, he sat with his upper body half-raised. Raymond's hair, which had been neat when he entered the house, now stood in complete disarray. Kallix already felt exhaustion washing over him. As he considered what excuse to offer, Rosaline abruptly spoke first.

"Sorry."

"..."

Rosaline expressed regret with a face that looked entirely unapologetic. Kallix felt a throbbing headache beginning.

Raymond sat on the bed, staring at her with a dazed expression. He looked slowly around the room, then finally lifted his clothes to check the mark of violence on his stomach. He seemed unable to distinguish dream from reality.

"Rosaline?"

"Yes."

"Rosaline Ester of Redvielle?"

"Mm."

"You're saying you hit this big brother earlier, Rosaline?"

"Mm. Sorry."

"Ah... um... such a quick apology, very good to see... good, but... no, that's not the problem..."

His gaze processing betrayed confusion. Rosaline pulled over a chair beside the bed, plopped down with a thunk, and began eating the refreshments prepared for Raymond. Raymond gaped stupidly at the sight, then shifted his gaze to Kallix standing behind her.

"Kallix... perhaps... our Rosaline's..."

Raymond made elaborate hand gestures as he chose his words. His hand spun in circles near his head, making clear he understood Rosaline's condition precisely. But separate from his explicit gestures, he carefully selected his phrasing.

"Rosaline's condition isn't quite what it used to be...?"

The most genteel expression Kallix had heard yet. Sister, why did you leave me with such trials? Kallix gathered his dismal feelings and nodded.

"Yes... Sister's... condition is... somewhat... not quite what it used to be..."

Raymond thought deeply with a complicated expression. He messed up his already nest-like hair even worse, then abruptly rose from the bed. When Rosaline merely shifted her gaze impassively, he took her hand and pulled her to standing.

"This time, you mustn't hit me, Rosaline."

"Okay."

Then he embraced her firmly. Rosaline frowned slightly as if finding it a bit stifling, but the education must have been effective—she didn't simply throw a punch. Kallix watched from behind and clicked his tongue. Should I not have told her not to hit people? An unmarried daughter of a noble house, being embraced so readily. He didn't like it one bit. But he decided to overlook it just this once.

"You came back alive."

Emotions that had accumulated deeply melted from Raymond's face, from his voice. Not that Kallix didn't understand those feelings.

"As expected, it was those Onyx Moon bastards."

Raymond lifted his clothes to look at the struck area while he spoke. The bruise had gone beyond blue-black to nearly black-purple, startling him into a slight shudder, but he soon dropped his clothes again as if nothing was wrong.

"Onyx Moon?"

Rosaline's voice lacked inflection, making it hard to recognize as a question. Raymond looked at her with pity.

"You've forgotten even this... Mm. Onyx Moon. They're a magic-worshipping cult from the Kingdom of Balta—that kingdom that's always had bad relations with our country, the Holy Empire of Illavénia."

"Magic?"

"The opposite of holy power—antagonistic, ominous power. Those bastards think the god of darkness and chaos, Kreyan Tithanion, is the true god, and claim that Idelabheim, god of light and order, is a false existence. They're fanatic cultists. His Highness the Second Prince possesses holy power surpassing past emperors, so the Onyx Moon bastards always target him. After the twenty-first assassination attempt, the White Night Order was established as His Highness the Second Prince's special guard knight order. And that's us. You're Knight Rosaline of the White Night Order."

Rosaline made a rare hmm sound in response. She sat with her arms crossed and legs spread wide until Kallix said, "Sister... your legs..." and requested she change position, so she crossed them instead. One leg bounced and tapped. Mountains upon mountains of problems. At Kallix's deep sigh, Raymond laughed.

"Many White Night knights died in the hunting competition incident. Even... mm... the vice-captain passed away. You followed the vice-captain closely, Rosaline. Do you remember?"

"No."

"...Maybe not remembering is fortunate. You would have been very sad. Mm, anyway, the former vice-captain's adjutant, Sir Nathan, was newly appointed as the new vice-captain, and—keu—and yours truly became the new vice-captain's adjutant."

Raymond placed both hands firmly on his hips and preened considerably. Rosaline watched him, then asked, "Happy?" Raymond deflated at the question.

"No... not happy... Some people say they're envious, calling it a promotion, but... thinking about running around under that vice-captain makes me feel gloomy already... Ah, right. And you were promoted to senior knight too. Your promotion exam scores were good, plus many of the dead comrades were senior knights. You're now in the group directly guarding His Highness the Second Prince."

"Really?"

On behalf of the unconcerned Rosaline, Kallix startled. A past conversation with her surfaced in his memory.

'I came to protect him.'

'The master of White Night.'

It had happened exactly as she'd said. That she'd actually entered the group protecting the master of White Night was surprising enough, but even more astonishing was that that knight captain had promoted her to senior knight. Even knowing her family belonged to the First Prince's faction, even though she'd once failed a guard mission—was the situation so dire that even such a person received another chance? Kallix's expression hardened.

"More than I expected..."

"It's come to that, Sir Kallix."

"...I see. No, wait. Sir Raymond. That's not the problem, is it."

"Ah."

"..."

Kallix and Raymond's heads turned. At the end of their gazes was Rosaline, still sitting with her legs crossed, foot bouncing. They broke into cold sweats. Before the promotion to senior knight, before returning to the imperial capital of Illavénia, a very urgent problem awaited them.

They quickly rose and dragged Rosaline toward the training grounds. Rosaline held their hands and toddled along behind them. After a maid tied Rosaline's long hair into a single binding, Raymond approached her holding a sword.

"Rosaline, draw this sword and hold it."

Raymond thought his heart pounded so hard it might leap from his mouth. Please, please... you remember swordsmanship, don't you? His hands trembled. Kallix likewise swallowed repeatedly watching the scene. Under the two men's burning gazes, she drew the offered sword. Sshh-shwing—the blade sang sharply as it scraped the scabbard.

"...Ugh..."

"..."

Kallix raised his hand to cover his eyes as if unable to watch. Raymond collapsed wretchedly, falling against the training ground floor. Even before technique, her grip was completely wrong. It was the grip of someone who'd never held a sword in their life. Rosaline examined the sword with bright eyes, turning it this way and that. Like a child receiving a toy as a gift.

"...Rosaline... being cute is nice but... ah...urgh..."

"Is this mine?"

"No... that's my sword... you can't use it, it's too heavy for you...? Huh? It's, it's not heavy, Rosaline?"

Rosaline shrugged, then lifted the bastard sword with her fingertips to show him. Seeing Raymond's jaw drop, Kallix hastily interjected.

"Sister focused on physical conditioning during her recovery! We judged swords dangerous for someone without memories, so she did physical training at double—no, triple—her usual amount!"

"I did?"

"Yes! That's what you did, Sister!"

She'd spent the entire sick leave eating, sleeping, and playing. At this claim contradicting her memories, Rosaline radiated puzzlement across her entire face, but Kallix delivered a lengthy speech about how passionately she'd trained. Raymond nodded with a bewildered expression.

"Impressive, isn't it? Rosaline, your weak strength was always a bit of a flaw, but you compensated well while resting. No wonder you seemed extraordinary when you struck my solar plexus earlier. Haha, my grandfather who passed five years ago kept calling me over from beyond the River of Light."

"Why didn't you go?"

"No, Rosaline... it would be very bad if I went there..."

Raymond exchanged a few frivolous jokes, then soon returned to a serious expression. Objectively, Rosaline had been a decent knight. Among female knights who emphasized technique and tactics over strength, she'd already reached a level where she had no rivals. Her characteristic diligence earned high praise, allowing her to skip through a brief probationary knight period and promote directly to junior knight. But unlike probationary knights, junior knights included many with proven abilities. Slightly superior technique alone couldn't surpass their skills.