TPHBK 03

Chapter 3

“You’re not even from a knight academy!”

“And you never served as a squire under a proper knight!”

“Those are requirements for taking the entrance exam, though, aren’t they? They aren’t requirements for becoming a knight.”

No matter how many decades someone spent as a squire under a famous knight, they couldn’t become a knight if they lacked the ability.

When I pointed that out, they seemed unable to come up with a proper counterargument and merely huffed angrily.

The gray-haired one, who at least seemed to be the smartest of the three, spoke through gritted teeth.

“Then prove it yourself!”

Shing.

They might have been trainees, but they were all knights.

The gray-haired guy drew the sword at his side.

“Harrison! Knock that smugness right out of her!”

“With your skills, she won’t last ten exchanges.”

Of the three, this guy seemed to have the best combination of intelligence and skill.

The other two cheered for Harrison with their eyes shining.

Apparently, they were putting their faith in his entrance-exam ranking, which had been only slightly better than mine.

I drew my own sword, and Harrison gestured with his chin toward the outside, silently suggesting that we go out.

Knights were the only people other than members of the Imperial family who were permitted to carry swords within the Imperial Palace, so using force without authorization was subject to severe punishment.

‘But when it comes to people who use swords, they take a contest of strength seriously.’

I was one of those people too.

Excited about the opportunity for a real sparring match after so long, I happily headed toward the empty lot behind the knight order’s barracks.

As I walked quickly, the glass beads on the bracelet around my wrist clinked against one another, producing a clear ringing sound.

When the training grounds were closed or crowded, people sometimes practiced individually in this empty lot, so there were a few wooden swords and wooden training dummies scattered around.

But neither Harrison nor I paid them the slightest attention.

Harrison made the first move.

I had noticed that he used a sword that seemed surprisingly light for someone of his size. Apparently, speed attacks were his specialty.

His attacks came rapidly, seemingly intended to test me.

I casually blocked and redirected each one.

After exchanging several blows—

“Hyaaah!”

Perhaps deciding that this wasn’t working, Harrison let out a battle cry and brought his sword down with all his weight behind it.

I raised my sword and blocked the attack that came down with enough force to split my body in half.

Strength collided with strength.

His attack had relied on the physical strength that came from our difference in sex, but when it failed to overpower me, Harrison looked genuinely shocked.

Yep.

Bloodline advantage.

I raised only the right corner of my mouth and gave him a relaxed smile.

Then I used the recoil of our clash to strike back.

Harrison couldn’t withstand my strength and was pushed back two or three steps.

The dirt beneath his feet was gouged out to that exact depth.

Thoroughly flustered, Harrison glanced toward his companions, who were cheering for him, then spoke with as much bravado as he could muster.

“Not bad.”

He was rubbing his wrist as though it was tingling, while making an exaggeratedly stern expression.

It wasn’t very effective.

“Harrison, don’t go easy on her!”

Unfortunately, Harrison wasn’t going easy on me at all.

If anything, I was the one going easy on him.

But encouraged by his friends’ support, Harrison began attacking again.

The brief pause ended, and our swords clashed once more.

Apparently, my skill was far better than he had expected, because his attacks gradually became more desperate.

Yep. I can block all of this, too.

I leisurely raised the corners of my lips into a smile as I blocked every single one of his attacks.

Harrison now looked thoroughly frustrated.

Even the previously sharp trajectory of his attacks had become disorganized and sloppy.

I continued fighting him for several more exchanges, almost as though I were playing with him.

Once I decided we had done enough, I met Harrison’s next strike with all my strength.

Boom!

Harrison hadn’t prepared for the recoil to be stronger than expected, and he lost his grip on his sword.

Whoosh—thud!

The sword flew through the air with a sharp metallic sound before embedding itself in the ground behind Harrison.

“Do you still think I’m unqualified?”

I asked with a victorious smile.

All three of them stared in shock, barely even able to breathe.

“Looks like you know how embarrassing this is.”

I shrugged as I looked at the three boys’ faces, flushed dark red with humiliation.

I hadn’t actually expected an answer to my question anyway.

Well, at least they probably wouldn’t openly pick a fight with me anymore.

That was more than enough compensation for sacrificing my precious sleep.

Phew.

I blew upward, sending the bangs resting on my fluffy forehead fluttering, and turned around stylishly.

The muscles that had been stiff from training all day had loosened up reasonably well thanks to the sparring, which had been about as strenuous as a decent stretching session.

My slightly heated body cooled pleasantly in the chilly evening air.

All I had to do now was return, wash up, and go to sleep.

But my bedtime was delayed yet again.

“Hey, you there!”

I turned around again, only to flinch at the yellow eyes staring back at me.

‘It’s Sir Catherine.’

She was the last person I wanted to run into right now.

Especially considering what I had just been doing.

Catherine, who was in charge of training the trainee knights, was famous for being extremely strict.

My expression, which had been light and cheerful at the thought of going back to bed, immediately hardened.

I hesitantly sheathed my sword.

Sir Catherine looked at me with an expression of utter disappointment before calling all three of the others over as well.

“All of you. Follow me!”

The four of us were dragged away by Sir Catherine and scolded like troublesome children.

She didn’t care in the slightest that everyone here was a fully grown adult who towered over the average Imperial citizen.

‘They said she worked as a swordsmanship instructor at the academy for a long time.’

Perhaps because of that, she already seemed familiar with the other three.

“Do you think you’re still academy trainees? Want me to send you back there?”

“No, ma’am!”

The three of them answered with rigid military discipline.

As someone who hadn’t attended an academy, I quietly shrank into myself.

But I was just as nervous.

‘If you use a real sword inside the Imperial Palace without permission, you could potentially be charged with treason.’

Of course, there was no way I would actually be punished, but if things escalated, my coming-of-age ceremony would be ruined without a doubt.

‘I should’ve just used a wooden sword.’

There had been wooden swords lying all over the empty lot, yet I hadn’t used one.

Regret surged through me, but what was done was done.

The bracelet around my wrist now felt like an iron chain.

I hadn’t been discovered yet, but I kept glancing nervously at the bracelet, worried that its beads might have turned red.

‘It’s still bright blue.’

Thank goodness.

Watching Sir Catherine treat these fully grown men like snot-nosed children gave me a tiny bit of hope.

‘Maybe she’ll lecture us for a while and let us off?’

But my hope was crushed in an instant.

“By the rules, all of you should be expelled from the knight order as of now.”

One of the most important criteria for my coming-of-age ceremony was not only keeping my identity hidden, but also successfully fulfilling the role I had been assigned for the entire year.

I could practically see the points for my coming-of-age ceremony being deducted in real time.

If I was expelled from the knight order, I wouldn’t pass my coming-of-age ceremony.

And if I failed the ceremony, my ‘existence’ would be erased.

No one had ever failed before, so this had never been confirmed, but historians speculated that ‘having one’s existence erased’ meant either death or being forgotten from everyone else’s memories.

Either possibility was absolutely unacceptable.

‘Mom, Dad, Sis, Bro…….’

It felt as though the faces of my family were floating around inside my head.

The me who had been excited about getting to live as someone other than the youngest Imperial Princess for a year was nowhere to be found anymore.

At some point, I had begun praying desperately in my heart.

Please. I promise I’ll do a proper job from now on if I can just get through this one time. Please.

The other three, who seemed to have barely managed to pass the Imperial Knight Order’s entrance examination, wore expressions similar to mine.

Fortunately, the merciful god whom I only remembered when I needed something heard my pitiful prayer.

“You hot-blooded idiots have only just joined the knight order. It’s not as though this is the first time recruits have fought over establishing the pecking order. Since nobody was injured, I’ll let it go this once.”

Sighs of relief erupted from every direction.

However, that didn’t mean she was letting us off entirely.

Sir Catherine added in a stern voice,

“However, all of you will receive the lowest possible score for your trainee period evaluation. Your assigned senior knights will also be informed that you picked a fight.”

Those three would have to deal with the consequences for their future careers as knights, but that had nothing to do with me.

‘Besides, I’ll be going back to my position in a year anyway.’

I tried not to let my relieved expression show too much.

Sir Catherine continued lecturing us for a little while longer before finally waving her hand and telling us to return to our quarters and go to sleep.

The three boys trudged out of Sir Catherine’s room looking completely exhausted.

They didn’t even seem to have the energy to look back at me.

That was fortunate for me, since I didn’t have the energy to deal with any more provocations from them either.

It was already three in the morning.

I needed to get at least three or four hours of sleep if I wanted to survive tomorrow’s brutal training.

Like the other three, I trudged into my room.

No knights wanted to share a room with me, whom the Captain of the Imperial Guard had personally arranged to join the order, so I had the room all to myself.

‘Even better.’

I hurriedly washed up, barely bothering to do anything properly, and jumped into bed.

I closed my eyes.

And when I opened them again, it was already morning.

I had thought the trouble I caused yesterday—or rather, today—would be buried and forgotten.

But Sir Catherine’s punishment was not over yet.a