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Chapter 5
My parents generally gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted and not do whatever I didn’t want to do.
Learning swordsmanship directly from the Captain of the Imperial Guard had been part of that.
But even if studying wasn’t exactly my hobby, I was still a princess. Which meant I was responsible for planning the annual budget and schedule for my palace.
Thanks to that experience, I could immediately see that the knight order’s budget for winter supplies was absurdly insufficient and that they needed to request additional funding. I could also tell that they needed to put together a schedule for their off-site training as quickly as possible.
‘And they even have to submit a monthly report?’
It was obvious that this was far more work than Elias could handle alone.
‘He needs an adjutant. Definitely.’
If there was no suitable person around Elias, there were other options.
The first was to have the previous captain’s adjutant continue in the position.
‘This would be the most straightforward option.’
Just as Sir Hugo had said, Elias probably wouldn’t remain with the Tenth Knight Order for long.
If he was going to be promoted and leave soon, the previous adjutant, who was already familiar with the order’s internal affairs, would be a fairly good choice.
Of course, that was assuming he was sufficiently competent.
‘But this person isn’t a capable adjutant.’
I thought as I casually flipped through the rather free-form handover documents.
Elias had only just become a knight captain.
Of course, he was an excellent knight on the battlefield, but administrative work as a manager was an entirely different matter from fighting.
He needed a capable person who could support him carefully and competently from his side.
So the first option couldn’t be the best one.
‘The second option would be to ask my brother to recommend someone.’
Elias was clearly Crown Prince Estian’s closest confidant.
Although he had earned considerable merit by repelling Karsaz, the neighboring country that constantly invaded their borders, Elias’s rapid rise despite having no powerful background was itself evidence of my brother’s trust in him.
But the favor of a powerful person always brought jealousy with it.
If my brother’s influence extended even to choosing Elias’s adjutant, it wouldn’t be good for Elias as he tried to establish himself as captain.
But there was no way my brother, who had known Elias for longer than I had, hadn’t anticipated the difficulties Elias would face.
‘If my brother chose someone, that person would probably be a highly capable adjutant.’
Personally, I thought the second option seemed better, but I decided not to give Elias any advice until he personally realized that he needed an adjutant.
‘I’ll subtly suggest it when he’s drowning in work later.’
I didn’t particularly like the way Elias’s personality had changed over the past few years, so I wasn’t about to offer him an unwanted favor.
‘Besides, he said he didn’t need one himself.’
The next day.
Since I had gone to bed late because I was helping Elias, I was even more tired than usual.
“You there! Do it properly!”
Sir Rupert, a senior knight responsible for training the trainee knights assigned to the Tenth Knight Order, shouted.
The trainee knights, who had long since run out of stamina and were merely pretending to train, immediately stiffened.
Sir Rupert glared sharply at the trainee knights before calling my name.
“Chloe Evergreen!”
“Yes, yes!”
I had been doing vertical slashes against a wooden training dummy as though I were giving it a massage, so I answered nervously.
“The ones who don’t finish after that guy within fifteen minutes are doing special night training!”
The trainee knights gave me desperate looks, silently begging me to go easy.
“If you keep slacking off like you are now, you’ll be doing special training too.”
Sir Rupert came closer to me as though to make it clear that he would be watching.
‘Tch.’
I immediately straightened up and began concentrating properly on my training.
Before long, I could no longer hear the gasping breaths of my fellow trainees beside me.
There was only the sword, me, and the wooden training dummy that was my target.
After sweating like crazy and completing the four thousand vertical slashes that were our morning training assignment, I collapsed onto the ground.
Once enough time had passed for my ragged breathing to settle, my mind began wandering.
Yesterday had been two thousand horizontal slashes, and today was four thousand vertical slashes.
That meant tomorrow’s diagonal slashes would be eight thousand, right?
I could understand starting with basic exercises to eliminate bad habits, but eight thousand diagonal slashes was a little……
Just imagining it made me shudder in horror.
By then, the other trainee knights had apparently finished their training as well, because one by one they collapsed and began resting.
I was enjoying the brief respite until the last remaining trainee finished his training when a familiar face appeared in the corridor beside the training grounds.
‘Why is Camilla here?’
There was no way I could mistake that face.
Camilla was my friend and my personal guard knight.
Perhaps sensing my gaze, she turned her head toward me while continuing to walk with perfect posture.
Oops.
I tried to look away belatedly, but our eyes had already met.
Perhaps taking the people around us into consideration, Camilla merely blinked slowly once before continuing on her way.
‘That direction leads to the captain’s office.’
My gaze followed the direction Camilla was heading, but only briefly.
The last remaining trainee knight finished his vertical slashes, and our short break came to an end.
After finishing all of my afternoon training, I headed toward the captain’s office to carry out my punishment of helping Elias.
After only two days in office, Elias had already gained the reputation of being ‘young, but intimidating and difficult to approach,’ so sympathetic looks followed me from behind as I headed toward his office.
I deliberately made my expression even more depressed as I entered.
The first person I saw upon opening the door wasn’t Elias.
It was Camilla.
“Your Highness!”
Camilla beamed and pulled me into a hug.
“Camilla!”
My heart nearly stopped.
I immediately looked down at my bracelet.
It was still blue.
Camilla grinned mischievously, like a child who had successfully pulled off a carefully planned prank.
“I saw His Highness the Crown Prince before coming here. He told me that the rules of the coming-of-age ceremony don’t apply to people who already knew each other.”
“You could’ve told me that beforehand.”
Now that I could relax, I pouted freely.
“I’m sorry.”
Perhaps because she thought she had really frightened me, Camilla scrunched up her nose apologetically.
“No, it’s fine.”
Since she had brought me useful information, I decided to overlook the little scare.
‘Did Dad and my brother know about this too and deliberately send Elias to the Tenth Knight Order?’
Was this some angelic act of consideration, using Captain Elias to make it easier for me to pass my coming-of-age ceremony?
‘Then I should ask him to cut my training in half.’
I happily smiled as I celebrated my bright future, then asked Camilla,
“By the way, did you come here just to tell me that?”
When I tilted my head, Camilla gave me a faint smile.
“That too.”
The smile gradually disappeared from her face.
Then she straightened her posture and spoke as though I had just ordered her to give me a report on recent developments.
“I have received orders to serve as the temporary adjutant of the Tenth Knight Order’s captain while Princess Violetta is absent!”
She was in full Sir Camilla, personal guard knight mode.
Either way, Camilla was an excellent choice for Elias, who needed an adjutant.
Camilla was the daughter of the Duke of Baltalion and my friend, so she was skilled at administrative work and well acquainted with the inner workings of the Imperial Palace.
On top of that, a personal knight directly serving a member of the Imperial family technically had a lower rank than the adjutant of the Tenth Knight Order, but held considerably more influence.
‘Other people might even think she was being demoted.’
Since her master, me, would be absent for a year, there was no problem with her working in the Tenth Knight Order either.
Aside from the fact that her secretly lively personality probably wouldn’t mesh particularly well with the serious Elias, she was perfect.
I smiled sweetly at Camilla, who had appeared at exactly the right moment, and wondered who had come up with this idea.
‘I should compliment them the next time I run into them.’
“Was it my brother? Or my sister?”
“His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Camilla easily revealed the answer to the two-choice question.
I nodded and thanked my brother silently.
“But where’s Elias?”
Now that I had finished thanking him, it was time to put my ambitious plan of cutting my training time in half into action.
I unnecessarily scanned the captain’s office with the eyes of a cat searching for prey, but Camilla calmly answered,
“His Highness the Crown Prince summoned him.”
“Why now, of all times?”
I had wanted to have a quick conversation with Elias and then go to bed early, so I grumbled for no particular reason.
But it was my brother who had summoned him, not Camilla.
“I guess I’ll just wait.”
I pouted and sat down, leaning against the sofa in the captain’s office.
“Camilla, sit down too.”
I was planning to chat with Camilla until Elias returned.
Normally, Camilla would have happily sat down without hesitation, but this time she looked troubled and cautiously opened her mouth.
“Well, Sir Elias should be returning soon. It would be troublesome if he caught us……”
We weren’t having some secret rendezvous, so why would it be troublesome?
I only understood half of what Camilla meant.
She was telling me that since Elias could return at any moment, I needed to pretend to be ‘Chloe Evergreen.’
But why?
“Elias knows I’m the princess, doesn’t he?”
Camilla scratched her chin before explaining the blind spot I had overlooked.
