Chapter 3

Kaiden was calling my name in such a gentle voice.

It gave me goosebumps, and I rubbed my arms without realizing it.

“Your Grace. You’re giving me chills.”

Kaiden paused and one of his eyebrows twitched.

It was a habit he had whenever something annoyed him.

‘Is he finally going to yell at me this time?’

But instead, he actually tried to comfort me.

“…The doctor said that if you rest for a while, the fainting whenever you see blood might get better.”

“……”

That probably wouldn’t happen.

I smiled bitterly inside.

The trauma from my previous life began when I was eleven years old.

After I witnessed my mother’s death right in front of me.

It was a car accident.

My mother’s body bleeding inside an overturned car—

For a child like me back then, it was too horrifying.

Of course, that scene itself wasn’t difficult for me now.

For ten years, I had fought magical beasts and watched countless soldiers die.

It had been a long time since torn-apart corpses affected me emotionally.

When I was young, I even slept beside rotting corpses in the slums.

Then why was the trauma from my past life suddenly affecting me now?

I thought deeply about it.

The most believable answer I could come up with was this:

Remembering my previous life had somehow affected my subconscious mind.

Slowly, I opened my mouth.

“Your Grace.”

“What is it?”

“Please let me retire.”

Ah, forget it.

I was going to stubbornly beg no matter what.

If I explained my past life out loud, people would only think I was insane.

And the trauma wasn’t even the biggest problem.

According to the novel, I might die by your hands!

“I already told you no.”

“I don’t care. I want to quit.”

“No. I can give you compensation for your injuries.”

…The money was tempting.

Come to think of it, I had some gambling debt too.

Just a little debt from harmless betting games.

A tiny bit.

I shamelessly decided to push further.

“Give me money and let me retire.”

Crunch.

I heard Kaiden grinding his teeth while trying to control his anger.

What a bad-tempered bastard.

But I couldn’t back down either.

“Think of it as retirement pay.”

“Marion Krugman.”

In the end, Kaiden said my full name.

Honestly, I doubted he had ever had a subordinate as troublesome as me in his life.

He was born the only son of the Grand Duke’s family and had been treated like royalty since childhood.

The only people who could look down on him were the imperial family.

Even the Emperor treated him with respect.

And yet here I was—

A commoner-born knight openly defying him.

The only reason I could get away with it was because I was a Swordmaster.

That was exactly why it hurt even more.

“I’ve spent ten years fighting out there. I’ve killed thousands of monsters. But I’m still just the ‘Knight of Fire.’ That’s all. The other knights say that if I weren’t lowborn, I would’ve received a baron title long ago.”

After listening to me, Kaiden sighed.

“Haah. So this is only dissatisfaction over a title?”

What?

Only?

Only dissatisfaction over a title?!

My temper exploded.

Since I had already decided to retire, I might as well say everything I had kept bottled up all these years.

“…Well, I guess someone like Your Grace could never understand a person who crawled their way up from the bottom. A filthy commoner like me should just be grateful for a knight title beyond my station and wag my tail obediently, right?”

“…Don’t twist my words.”

Kaiden rubbed his forehead tiredly.

I continued mocking him.

“I’m sooo sorry for misunderstanding. My head is completely empty since I’m an uneducated idiot. My thoughts just keep wandering everywhere instead of understanding the important point. So this stupid person is planning to disappear from here.”

“Marion. Stop.”

“Sure, I’ll stop. So prepare my retirement money. I’m leaving.”

I swaggered past Kaiden casually.

But in an instant, he pulled out his scabbard and stretched out his arm to block my path.

“Stay here. And rest.”

His broken-up words were filled with irritation.

“Are you trying to fight me right now?”

But I was just as angry.

“It’s an order.”

Yeah, right.

I immediately struck the scabbard blocking my way.

Using the recoil, Kaiden spun around once and swung back at me.

I blocked it, and just like that, the duel began.

Clang!

Crash!

A flower vase shattered after getting hit by a scabbard.

A teacup left by a maid brushed against our movements and fell to the floor.

Chairs flew through the air and split apart.

The bed curtains tore open.

At least neither of us drew our actual swords from the scabbards.

The moment one of us did, the fight could easily turn deadly.

“Marion. Are you disobeying my order?”

Riiip!

Wallpaper tore apart.

“I’m quitting anyway, so why should I care about orders?!”

Bang!

Our scabbards slammed together as we pushed against each other with force.

I glared into Kaiden’s eyes.

As always, he stared back with a strict expression.

There was a time when those blue eyes made my heart race because they looked like jewels.

Not knowing they belonged to a demon.

I gritted my teeth.

“I want to quit everything already!”

BAM!

The moment I used all my strength to knock away his scabbard, both of our scabbards flew through the air.

“What do you two think you’re doing?!”

Clang!

At that exact moment, the head maid of the Grand Duke’s castle opened the door—

And the flying scabbard hit the chandelier.

CRAAASH!

The chandelier fell with an enormous crash.

Kaiden and I instantly froze.

Of course we did.

Because the head maid had just roared in anger like a furious wife.

“Both of you stop this immediately!”

* * *

Who was Madam Marché?

She was Kaiden’s nanny and also the close friend of his mother, who was recovering in the south due to poor health.

That made her the highest-ranking woman in the Grand Duke’s castle.

When I first awakened as a Swordmaster, she was also the person who quickly taught me proper manners before I went to greet the imperial family.

And though she always wore a gentle smile, she had a terrifying talent for calmly speaking facts that made people realize their mistakes.

“Who made this room look like this?”

Like a criminal, I lowered my head and answered.

“…Your Grace started it first.”

“To be exact, you attacked first physically.”

Kaiden shamelessly defended himself, and I immediately flared up.

“Your Grace was the one who pulled out the scabbard and blocked my way first!”

“I only blocked you. You were the first one to swing.”

“Enough! I’m not trying to decide who’s right or wrong!”

At the angry voice filled with the strength of a middle-aged woman, Kaiden and I both shut our mouths like clams.

Glancing around the room, even I had to admit the situation looked terrible.

Outside the door, maids and servants were already waiting with cleaning supplies.

“It is deeply embarrassing that two Swordmasters were swinging weapons around inside a room.”

“I’m sorry, Madam Marché.”

Kaiden admitted his mistake immediately.

I still felt wronged, but for some reason I always became smaller in front of Madam Marché.

“…I’m sorry.”

After sighing once, she spoke in a softer voice.

“This reminds me of your teenage years. Back when you realized you were the only people who truly understood each other.”

Kaiden and I frowned instantly.

What kind of nonsense was that?

I was about to argue, but Madam Marché clasped her hands together like an excited young girl and continued.

“You two were each other’s only equal rivals, so you fought duels in the training grounds every single day.”

Ah.

That’s what she meant.

I had to agree with that.

Swordmasters stood at the highest level a human could reach with a sword.

Training against ordinary people was boring, so we often sparred against each other instead.

But why was she suddenly bringing that up?

“The training grounds are for fighting, though?”

My question was answered immediately.

Even though her tone had softened, I could still feel hidden anger from her.

“If you want to fight, go outside and do it.”