While bathing in the sunlight that shone through the window, I was resting my chin in my hand as I propped my elbow up on my desk.
“…how did things end up like this?”
It didn"t make sense no matter how I thought about it.
My underling Wallace was crying to me,
“Liam, increase my allowance already! Give me anything, please!”
Kurt was looking at Wallace in amazement,
“Well I guess Wallace is the same as usual.”
“Shut up you! I thought I"d be able to spend my vacation in luxury at Liam"s mansion, but I was put through h.e.l.l by Serena instead! Asking for a bit more money should be fine at this point!”
It wasn"t Serena"s fault that she constantly got mad at him, just looking at Wallace even I could tell he was that bad.
I now understood why he was called neither poison nor medicine.
Less than a nuisance, he was more like an unnecessary piece of luggage you were forced to carry around.
It was a miscalculation for me to take such a baggage as my underling, but the more pressing problem right now was–
“Darling, where do you want to eat lunch today? Do you want to go to the cafeteria?”
Rosetta, who I initially thought was a woman of steel was actually an easy heroine*.
I was disappointed with how easily her cheeks flushed at the sight of me.
However, I realised that it"d be too troublesome to abandon her at this point.
If she betrayed me, I"d show her no mercy, but until then… well, I guess I could take care of her.
“I feel like buying bread from the school store today.”
“Bread? Leave it to me, I"ll buy the most popular brand of bread for you.”
Who asked you to buy bread?
In the first place, was it really okay to have a young n.o.ble lady act as a bread shuttle?
“Don"t worry about it, Wallace will buy them.”
When I said that, Wallace flipped the blue hair he was so proud of,
“It"s hopeless. Don"t you know how crazy the crowds get during lunch? It"s impossible for me to get the popular bread.”
For the former prince to so confidently declare that he couldn"t even buy bread was unimaginably pathetic.
Kurt turned a frosty look towards him,
“You really are useless, Wallace.”
“What else am I supposed to say? In any case, don"t you think Liam is the weird one for making a former member of royalty act as a bread shuttle?”
I repeated my order,
“Wallace, buy us bread.”
“Liam, give me a break here. The battle for bread during lunch time is too ruthless for me.”
He was lying straight to my face,
“You"re lying. When I went it wasn"t crowded at all.”
Everyone lined up and bought their food in an orderly fashion.
A true reminder that this school was specifically built for the refined and cultured n.o.bility.
But Kurt shook his head,
“That"s only because you were there, Liam.”
He started saying something incomprehensible.
In any case, Rosetta looked troubled, so I decided to give up on the bread,
“Forget it, let"s just eat at the cafeteria.”
“The cafeteria. Leave it to me, I"ll make sure to secure us the best seats!”
Like I said, why are you volunteering to do all these errands like a maid?
It was kind of fun to watch her do so, but I wasn"t pleased with how happily she was willing to take the initiative.
“Securing us seats is fine, but you don"t need to declare it so loudly.”
“O-of course. Yes, you"re absolutely right…”
Looking at Rosetta, you"d think I did something bad to her.
Wallace called out to me,
“Liam, I want to have dessert too.”
“You can just drink water.”
Wasn"t this different from the school life I thought I"d have?
The imperial capital.
There, the prime minister had gathered a group of officials.
a.s.sembled there were those who had been a.s.signed to monitor the Claudia house for millennia.
These people had always kept the Claudia house under watch from generation to generation, and were currently making frustrated expressions.
The prime minister smiled,
“Thank you so much for the loyal work you"ve done so far. We"ll prepare new stations for you now that your current jobs have been terminated.”
But they didn"t seem satisfied with that,
“Minister! I can"t accept changing things now, please give us the order to monitor the Banfield house!”
“Yes! We must keep the orders of his late Majesty alive!”
“Let"s make sure to keep Count Banfield in check!”
If they were suddenly deprived of the work they"ve done for many years and asked to do something new, of course they"d be troubled.
The prime minister completely understood their feelings, however…
“I see. Then let"s have all of you die here.”
“…prime minister?”
Presented on the desk in front of them were the doc.u.ments that described the various weaknesses of certain n.o.bles they had investigated.
After receiving his congratulations for Liam"s engagement, Brian submitted all the prior materials gathered to the prime minister.
There was no reason not to use useable information.
This was the prime minister"s chance to dispose of all the undesirable officials at once.
“…it seems you"ve been sticking your noses into places you weren"t supposed to. I didn"t think you"d even be investigating myself.”
As such, the prime minister started his own investigations in retaliation.
Looking into them, it turns out they were a talentless group only good at torture.
For the prime minister, there was no need for dogs that bit their owner"s hands.
“Th-this is–”
“No excuses are necessary. Once you"re all dead, I can finally sleep with peace of mind, and for that reason alone, I"m going to have all of you disappear right here, right now.”
As the officials got ready to resist– Tia, who was on standby, pulled out her sword.
It was a rapier– a weapon that specialised in piercing attacks, that accurately impaled the officials in all their vitals spots at once.
As the officials fell. The prime minister started applauding Tia,
“What great skill. You will undoubtedly bring great results in the military academy.”
Tia wiped the blood off the blade, looking down at the bodies as she returned it to its sheath.
“Work of this degree is of no problem. I"d like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to dispose of the officials hostile to Lord Liam.”
These people had tried to lure Liam into a trap.
So for Tia, they were her enemies.
While looking at her, the prime minister asked,
“Are you enrolling in the military academy soon?”
Tia softly answered,
“Yes, I plan to enter by next year.”
As the prime minister watched his subordinates clean up the corpses, he asked,
“So what are the Count"s future plans?”
As he was currently in his fourth year of elementary school, it wasn"t long until he graduated.
In less than three years, Liam had to decide if he was going to go to either the university or the military academy.
Which was he going to choose– the prime minister was curious.
Tia replied,
“Lord Liam has decided to give priority to the academy.”
“In that case, he"ll be finishing his training in the university? I wonder if the upcoming battle will be over by then.”
Will the war with the Berkley family end before Liam successfully completes his training?
The prime minister was concerned about this.
Tia responded with absolute belief in Liam,
“Who knows? We might dispose of them sooner than you think.”
Tia left the room and returned to her work– furrowing her brows.
She quickly stepped down the hallway while venting her frustrations and complaints,
“What the h.e.l.l is a name like "Mad Dog Marie"? To leave so many of Lord Liam"s enemies alive, she"s nothing but a cur with the appearance of a faithful mutt.”
She started remembering that eyesore Marie.
It was during the engagement ceremony.
For her contributions in renovating Avid, Liam had prepared for her the position of deputy, while Tia herself was a.s.signed as the head knight.
–everything was fine until there.
But then she remembered what happened later that day.
–The day of the engagement ceremony.
After everything was finished, the knights were happily drinking in celebration.
At the seat Tia was at, Marie had approached her,
“So you"re Christiana?”
With those words, the air seemed to freeze.
In the now silent banquet hall, Tia continued drinking her beverage as she observed Marie.
“What does the mangy dog want with me?”
Marie instantly drew her sword and pressed the blade against Tia"s throat.
But conversely, Tia"s rapier was already pointed to pierce her chest.
An eerie smile rose up on Marie"s face,
“It"ll only be for a short while, so you better enjoy your status as the head knight. For that position is going to be mine.”
They withdrew their blades.
Tia"s gaze was frosty,
“Head knight? You"re not even strong enough for position of deputy. Your age is getting to you, or would it be more apt to describe you as a crusty old fossil?”
Tia laughed at Marie"s former petrification.
To her provocation, Marie answered in a dark tone,
“You little b.i.t.c.h– I could take your neck right now if I wanted to.”
Sparks were flying between the two.
Some of the knights were trembling in fear, while others were thinking about how they could kick the two of them down to take their spots.
The knights who didn"t seem interested at all were the minority.
Unlike when Liam had first inherited the territory, there were now many knights gathered there.
Some of them had come because they wanted to serve Liam, while others pledged their loyalty in thanks for the help he"s given them.
A lot of knights had high expectations for the Banfield house, which had recently rose to power.
There were many who wanted to join the new up-starts.
However, considering his position of a Count, the number of them gathered was still insufficient.
More were sure to converge there in the future, but whether they"d be able to work together was another matter.
Liam"s order of knights were still in the middle of a.s.sembling themselves.
Since they were only held together by their high loyalty, many problems had arisen as a result.
Above all else, there wasn"t anyone there who could rally together such powerful individuals.
Tia and Marie were potential candidates, but neither of them was willing to cooperate with the other.
“You mangy mutt, Lord Liam doesn"t need someone like you. I"ll put you down like the dog you are.”
When Tia said so, Marie replied,
“A minced-meat b.i.t.c.h like you is unnecessary for Lord Liam"s ambitions. I"ll prove it so.”
They recognised each other as nothing but enemies.
The first building of the elementary school.
“Twelve Knights of the Round Table– isn"t that cool?”
It was Wallace who said such a thing.
Kurt turned to him with cold eyes,
“There you go again. What did you come up with this time, Wallace?”
“No you see, it"s a t.i.tle bestowed to select knights of particular talent. I read about it in a book from the inner palace, don"t you think it"s cool?”
“Isn"t that from a comic book?”
Apparently such a knight group was from a comic series.
Twelve capable knights of talent and strength.
The king bestowed the t.i.tle on the knights, giving them privileges and status.
We were talking about this behind the school building.
“It"d be troublesome finding twelve individuals that fit the criteria.”
Kurt followed up on my comment,
“Liam, don"t take him seriously. Wallace"s idea is mostly based off of fiction, and in any case, it should be easy for you to find twelve of such people.”
“Huh?”
“No, just think about it. There are bound to be innumerable knights back in your territory, you can just choose twelve from there.”
“But what about the criteria to choose–”
“It"d depend on their qualifications, but I"m pretty sure your knights would clear them.”
“In that case, I"ll immediatel–”
“No, many problems will arise if you start handing out special treatment. In the first place, the twelve knights Wallace was talking about were the enemies in that story.”
I looked at Wallace, and he turned away from me.
Apparently, it was the truth.
However, I didn"t hate such things.
It took guts to join the path of evil.
For serious-based evil lords like Kurt, it"s only natural he"d see it as inefficient– since despite all the flair, weren"t they just a gathering of villains with a fancy name?
They"d be like the four heavenly kings to a demon lord. It was that kind of feeling.
But I wanted that kind of knight order.
Recently, I couldn"t help but feel like I haven"t been that active as an evil lord.
Well, while I was stuck in school, it couldn"t be helped, but–
“A round table of twelve knights…”
Wallace raised his head at my mutter,
“Liam, I"m going to be the one to establish the Knights of the Round Table, so don"t steal my idea!”
Wallace was saying something immature, but I couldn"t care less.
I guess even he came up with interesting things every once in a while.
As I thought so, Kurt looked at us in amazement,
“Liam is being corrupted by Wallace.”
Wallace then turned to him,
“Hey… isn"t your treatment of me a bit too harsh?”
As the three of us continued our conversation, Rosetta approached while waving her hand.
“Darling! There you are!”
Watching the easy heroine happily run over to us, I fell into thought.
A beaming smile.
Fluttering hair curled into ringlets.
A swaying chest.
Her cute way of running… there was nothing about Rosetta that"d make you think she was a woman of steel.
“…how did this happen?”
“Darling, what happened?! Is there something wrong?! Are you not feeling well?! Let"s immediately go to the infirmar–”
“No, it"s nothing.”
Rosetta seemed to be genuinely worried about me.
If this was all a ruse and she was just trying to trick me– then I might still be able to have some fun with this.
However, it didn"t seem that way at all.
Where did the girl with the spirit of steel disappear to?
“…just how did this happen?”