Chapter 58

Those four people hid their presence and headed for the fourth training hall.

Their steps were silent.

Their movements were quiet as well, and no one would be able to guess that these people actually consisted of one doctor, one maid, one ducal princess and one temporary knight.

Haah! Huk!

Fwick, shhk. As they soundlessly moved closer, the same repeated noises could be heard from the hall.

The surroundings were filled with shouts and blades cutting through the air.

The ground shook with the marching of many people. Evidence of this was how the grass trembled even as no breeze passed through.

The group of four turned and hid behind a huge column, dropping to the ground to camouflage themselves in the grass. This was so that they wouldn’t be seen well in the mist.

Firstly, since this was an espionage mission, it would be best to ‘look secretly’.

When people weren’t under the watchful gaze of outsiders, they would reveal their true selves and abilities.

The group of four hid themselves completely in a spot that was covered by the fence and the grass.

They sat down side by side in a line, then they took a glimpse inside the training hall.

They were all divided into several groups. Some of them were training, while some of them were taking a break.

Among them, the closest to the four seemed to be the resting group.

They were conversing, wiping off the dripping sweat or drinking water to wet their throats.

Permeating through the palpable smell of sweat, a husky voice spoke out.

“Ah, I feel like I’m going to drop dead, seriously.”

“Exactly, and it’s getting so hot that I feel like I’m gonna die.”

Hearing them complain about the scorching temperature of the hot summer, Cassion’s eyebrows furrowed.

After confirming the faces of those men as well, his brows crumpled up even more.

Rosetta was sitting right next to Cassion, and she noticed his slight agitation.

Soon, she leaned close to him.

Sensing the approaching presence, Cassion turned reflexively.

Then, their eyes met.

At the mercy of golden eyes that were peering up at him at such a close distance, Cassion blinked.

Beneath long eyelashes, black eyes looked back. And were rekindled anew.

The space between them was so narrow that they could see their own reflections in each other’s eyes.

Rosetta slowly lowered her gaze.

Then, she slipped forward to lean closer towards Cassion’s ear.

As a light exhale brushed against his earlobes, Cassion flinched.

“Do you know them?”

After the unnecessarily stimulating process, the question that reached him was simple.

No, it’s not that it was really a stimulating process either. It’s just Cassion who was feeling that way.

A simple whisper like this would have elicited a different response depending on who it was.

And it was then that Cassion realized—he was overly conscious of Rosetta.

The sensations and memories of the past quickly flitted through his befuddled mind.

Back when she gave her full attention to Logan while they were talking so close to each other, face to face.

That nameless feeling of unpleasantness.

With his throat clenched over these subtle emotions, Cassion nodded.

He reached behind him to scoot away, and with the slightly widened distance between their bodies and their eye contact now, he spoke.

“He’s the most talented in the fourth order.”

“Which one in the group?”

It was a simple, yet interesting introduction.

And it was an introduction paired with Cassion’s frown as he looked at that guy.

‘They’re not on good terms, and he’s the most talented…’

“Is he the leader…”

With a quiet murmur, Rosetta nodded.

An indifferent golden gaze was directed towards that group.

At that time, the chattering of that group was cut off now for a moment as they proceeded to drink more water, but they soon started again.

“Ha, I’m jealous of that jackass.”

The tallest man, who had gray hair, grumbled.

“Jackass? Who?”

When the freckled redhead asked, the other people around him snickered and heckled at him.

Hey, moron. Who else is there.

He shook his head as though he was thinking hard, then he finally opened his mouth.

“Ah, that street rat?”

“Yeah, that street rat.”

Even as the words ‘jackass’ and ‘street rat’ were repeatedly mentioned, Cassion only stared at them silently.

The three people who were crouching next to him were also silent.

Because they could all surmise who this ‘jackass’ and ‘street rat’ was.

“It’s Mixwell or Mexwell or whatever.”

“Hey, Mixwell is just— Haha.”

And now that he was mentioned directly, two sets of gazes turned to Cassion, one green-gray and one brown.

However, he continued to watch those men without a trace of agitation in him.

As if it was just a fluke to see him furrowing his brows earlier.

The two subsequently examined Rosetta’s expression next, but she was no different.

The only thing that could be read on their faces as they watched the men was disinterest.

Logan and Diana looked at each other.

‘They look fine, don’t they?’

‘Looks like it.’

Amidst their silent exchange, a twisted voice interrupted.

The two heads turned to the group of men again.

“Well, whatever that punk’s name is, I don’t care. He’ll be kicked out soon anyway. Did you hear the news? They’re looking for an opponent for him in our knight order.”

“Ha, how shitty.”

As the lean man prattled on, the gray-haired man uttered this roughly.

In an instant, the air around them grew cold. Laughter could no longer be heard from those who were chuckling just now.

As though laughter itself had become forbidden.

This was a frequent occurrence between them. The group’s mood was determined by the leader.

And that leader was David, the gray-haired man.

“Oh, come on, David. It’s a waste of time to even care about him.”

One of the men who was trying to gauge his mood finally spoke.

It was Peter, the man with vermillion hair who seemed to be the second-in-command of the group.

David was so terribly moody that a situation like this often happened.

At a time like this, Peter’s next step was to curry favor from David.

“But it really is shitty. If that punk is gonna get grouped with us, that’s the same thing as disregarding us, too, right?”

David nodded, then bellowed ferociously at the people around him.

“That’s exactly it, when in fact us in the fourth order are mostly from the knight’s academy.”

“Yeah, that’s right. We’re less experienced compared to the first, second and third order, but I still can’t believe we’re being pitted against that street rat…”

“And to think, a street rat is going to be an escort knight in a duchy? Even a passing dog would laugh.”

Right, right.

After pitching in like this, they also nodded.

But even as they looked at each other, there was still a slight tension there.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Only then did David’s stiff lips fall loose into a smile.

Tch, the sound broke out as the derisive smirk tilted crookedly.

“Well, it’s no surprise with her. A street rat punk like him and a girl like her could date just like that, and suddenly, it’s rags to riches.”

After hearing the mocking jab, the other men swallowed their breaths. David was obviously cursing not only Maxwell, but also the ducal princess.

“Uh… That’s…”

When someone stammered, David cracked his neck slowly.

Crack, crack. The popping sounds from his joints rang out to break the silence around them.

“Why? Did I say something I’m not supposed to? I’m part of House Valentine, so am I not allowed to say this much?”

“No! You can. Of course you can.”

Just as David mentioned, he had the blood of the Valentines in his veins.

Rather, it would be better to categorize him as part of the branch family since he was so far removed from the main family.

At the hasty affirmation, David nodded.

“Honestly, that girl’s the problem.”

“That girl… You mean the Princess?”

“Yeah, that Princess. My parents never liked her from the start. She’s the daughter of a maid—no, the daughter of a criminal, and yet she’s considered a ducal princess and has even inherited the family name…”

In an instant, the voices chiming in a while ago faded away.

Gulp. The only sound that could be heard were their gulps.

Rosetta was a ducal princess who was being given the same treatment as Alicia. They didn’t know what the true situation inside the household was, but for outsiders, that’s how it looked like.

A knight was supposed to be dedicating his loyalty to the family they would serve, but if one were to say something like this, it was an act tantamount to ridiculing their master’s household.

David, however, was that kind of person. Seemingly undaunted, he continued speaking.

“Just look at what she did recently. Everyone who used to work at the lateral mansion was replaced because of that wench.”

When David said the word ‘replaced’, the face of a woman flashed through his head.

It was a pretty maid he had spotted the other day.

He was trying to score with her to have a little fun, but because of that incident, she had to leave the manor.

All for a useless princess.

Ptui.

When he spat on the floor, the feet of the men around him flinched back as though it was lava.

“But, you know, the nanny…”

“What?”

When someone tried to mutter back, David’s eyes glinted.

David and everyone else knew what kind of words would follow after the mention of that ‘nanny’.

It’s that, ‘the nanny abused the two ducal princesses’, and the incident had already become such a huge deal that there was already a rumor going around among the nobles. There’s no way the knights inside the household wouldn’t know about the rumors that were already circulating outside.

However.

“She must have been hit because she’s the one at fault in the first place. Princess Alicia shouldn’t have gotten scolded, right? That wench probably made a fuss all by herself because of jealousy. Abuse? Pfft, sure.”

“……”

“She’s trying to take advantage of the personnel change to bring her lover in. He’ll become an escort just like that so they can stick together.”

“…Anyway. That street rat won’t pass the test though.”

As Peter tried to laugh and lighten the mood, David dug one finger into Peter’s shoulder.

“That’s obvious.”

The shoulder he had pushed down throbbed.

Though it was supposedly a lighthearted act, it was clearly an instance of power play.

Even as David pushed the other man’s shoulder away like that, he only laughed playfully. In response, Peter had to smile awkwardly, unable to retort.

Seeing the awkward smiles on the other men’s faces, David scoffed.

‘You’re all a bunch of weak and stupid morons.’

They ever-so-timidly match his mood like this, but if he ever talked about that ducal princess, they would scuttle away like criminals.

“Anyway, I don’t know who’s going to be that bastard’s opponent, but…”

If it’s me, I’ll crush him with my own hands.

The crude voice was full of confidence and mockery, yet also thinly veiled inferiority and fury.

He did not know that, in the near future, these words would come back to bite him in the arse.