ASE 27

Chapter 27

As the deep sunset dyed the bedroom red, Piani suddenly snapped her eyes open.
[Whew, I slept really well.]
At her energetic voice, Ope clicked his tongue as if fed up.
[Hey. How do you fall asleep so suddenly like that?]
[Why are you picking a fight over something so trivial?]
Piani said, flashing a sharp glare.
[Ahem.]
Startled, Ope avoided her gaze and muttered.
[Anyway, you’ve gotten all the sleep you need for tonight.]
[What are you talking about? I could fall asleep again right now.]
[Liar.]
[I’m serious!]

While Piani and Ope were carrying on their pointless exchange—
“I’m back.”

Chris had returned. Piani jumped in surprise.
[Oh my! Why is the Grand Duke back already from the south? Don’t tell me I didn’t just sleep a few hours but several days?]
If she’d slept that much, then yes, she’d definitely had enough sleep for tonight.

[No. His Grace can open gates, so even faraway places are just a short trip for him.]
Hesil explained. Piani was amazed.
[Wow. He can do that too…]
[Impressive, right?]
Ope puffed up his chest as if he were the one being praised.

Then Piani asked with wide, innocent eyes.
[Then does His Grace not ride in a carriage at all?]
[Hmm, I’m not sure. He probably rides one for short distances.]
[Why?]
[I—I don’t really know. Just a guess.]
[Why would you guess that?]
[S-stop asking…]

While Piani was pestering Hesil with endless questions, Chris walked over to her.
‘Eek. I can feel the Grand Duke’s breath?’

Now standing that close, Chris scrutinized Piani and the dolls with sharp eyes.
“Hm? It looks like our baby’s body has shifted about three millimeters to the left.”
[What are you talking about?! I didn’t move at a—ah!]

Piani remembered standing up to deal with Hesil and then plopping back down.
‘He noticed even that? That’s kind of scary!’

Under the shadow Chris cast, Piani trembled—though not physically, of course.
Chris raised an eyebrow as he looked at the other dolls, which hadn’t moved in the slightest.
“Hm… maybe it’s just my imagination.”

He gently picked Piani up.
Relieved, Piani spoke to Chris, who smiled brightly at her.
[Yes. It must be Your Grace’s imagination.]

That was when Ope protested.
[That’s ridiculous. It’s not his imagination—you moved!]
How could she lie so shamelessly without batting an eye!

Ignoring Ope, Piani stared blankly at Chris’s radiant smile directed at her.
‘Ah, I’m wide awake now.’
A warm smile from a cold, handsome man—this was rare.

“Baby…”
Chris called softly.
[Gulp—yes, Your Grace…]
Piani swallowed the drool that had escaped her lips as she answered. She heard Ope shout, “Ew! Gross!”—but who cared!
Piani wanted to savor this space, this moment, this handsome man to her heart’s content—

“Fortunately, it seems no one laid a hand on you, so I won’t have to stain these hands with blood any further today.”
[‘Any further’? Does that mean you already stained them today?]
Startled by the ominous tone, Piani asked.

Smiling gently, Chris said wistfully,
“Handling people without killing them is very difficult. In that sense, dealing with nobles is harder than dealing with those Akkshia bastards.”

Chris hugged Piani tightly. In that moment, the irritation and fatigue he’d accumulated throughout the day washed away.
‘Ugh! I can’t breathe!’
Piani liked looking at Chris’s muscles, but being buried in them wasn’t so great.
‘I can’t see anything, and what if the stuffing bursts when he squeezes me!’

As Piani grumbled, she suddenly felt warmth spreading around her.
‘His Grace feels especially warm today. Did he catch a cold?’

While entertaining that odd thought, Piani gasped when she saw a golden light slowly rising from Chris’s body.
‘What is that?!’

The beautifully blooming power seeped into Piani. She felt something filling her from within.
‘What is this? It feels like my insides are sloshing, as if I drank a ton of water. But it’s not uncomfortable. It’s soft and calm—like meeting someone I’ve missed.’

Chris pulled Piani slightly away and said,
“Today was the Second Knight Order’s first deployment, and they did better than I expected.”

He spoke with childlike innocence, like a kid chattering about a fun day to their parents. Looking at his relaxed face, Piani thought—
‘He’s handsome… no, wait! This light—doesn’t it seem like His Grace can’t see it?’

Piani asked the dolls under the bed.
[Hey! You guys!]
[What? Why?]
Ope replied curtly.
[Look at me! Am I glowing right now?]

Ope squinted hard at Piani and Chris before answering.
[What are you talking about? All I see shining brilliantly is His Grace’s face.]

Piani felt disappointed. If even the dolls couldn’t see it, then this light must be visible only to her…
‘That’s unsettling for no reason. Still, it doesn’t feel bad.’
Not just “not bad”—she even felt like it would be nice if this power filled her completely.
‘I don’t know why I feel this way, but…’

Then Chris gently stroked Piani’s cheek with his thumb.
“I saw a sea serpent for the first time today. It was huge.”

From under the bed, Hesil shouted excitedly.
[A sea serpent? I’ve seen areas devastated by one, but I’ve never seen an actual sea serpent!]
[What kind of reaction is that? Do you want to see one?]
At Piani’s question, Hesil breathed heavily.
[Of course! It’s a legendary monster!]

At that moment, Kitty spoke proudly.
[Gyao gyao!]

The world of monsters was governed by absolute strength. Naturally, the weak feared the strong.
But Kitty was a dragon at the very pinnacle of all monsters—specifically, the strongest of them all: a black dragon.
‘A sea serpent… that was a monster beneath me. It used to tremble and run away whenever it saw me.’

Lost in old memories, Kitty kept going “Gyao gyao,” until Ope asked Hesil,
[What is it saying?]
[Uh… it says it wants to see one too.]
[Gyao?!]
Kitty was dumbfounded. When had it ever said that?!

Then Chris, who was gently rocking Piani, said,
“Anyway, the Second Knight Order brats are probably training themselves to death right now. Shall we go take a look?”
[Do we have to? I’m feeling lazy.]

Unable to hear Piani’s inner thoughts, Chris took her outside to the training grounds to give her some fresh air.
Careful not to let even a speck of dust get on her, he headed to a high platform overlooking the grounds.

Thanks to that, Piani could take in the Hesphia Ducal House’s training grounds at a glance.
‘This is really a training ground?’

The area looked even larger than the Ribe Count’s estate, and men were running with all their might while shouting strange slogans.
“Let’s crush the First Knight Order!”
“Kill them!”
“Let’s kill them all!”

The fact that the noise reached Piani even from this distance was telling.
‘Just how furious are they? And wait—the First Knight Order?’

She recalled Chris saying they were going to see the Second Knight Order.
‘So those people must be the Second Knight Order? But both orders belong to the Hesphia Ducal House. Why are allies acting like this?’

Piani didn’t know it, but there was bad blood between the First and Second Knight Orders.
Chris had merely gathered relatively new knights and formed the Second Knight Order…

“As expected of His Grace. He separated those deadweights into the Second Knight Order so they wouldn’t hold us back.”
“The Hesphia Ducal House has never lost the title of strongest since the founding of the Loroa Empire, but those guys are embarrassingly weak. And most of them are commoners, too.”

The First Knight Order constantly picked fights with the Second. As a result, the Second Knight Order had grown to grit their teeth at the mere sight of the number “one.”

‘We should’ve finished our first real battle perfectly…!’
‘Damn it! Why did a sea serpent have to show up—why!’

When word spread that Chris himself had stepped in, the First Knight Order mocked the Second mercilessly.
‘As if it happened because we were weak!’
‘They couldn’t beat a sea serpent either!’

Burning with rage toward the First Knight Order, the Second Knight Order seethed.

Then the knight at the front shouted,
“Everyone—strip!”

Before the words had even finished, the Second Knight Order knights suddenly tore off their shirts.
‘W-what?!’

Piani’s eyes nearly popped out at the sudden shirtless spectacle.
Look at those gorgeous, beautiful muscles! Shiny with sweat—just incredible!
‘Gulp. I want to see them up close!’

Just as Piani’s eyes sparkled—darkness suddenly covered her vision.