🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 19
I fell exaggeratedly and screamed with all my might.
“Ah!”
My target had been the glass vase I had spotted earlier. For something in the Royal Knights’ Commander’s office, it looked rather cheap. It wasn’t the sort of thing the palace would use to demand compensation later—it lacked dignity.
As I fell, the vase hit my outstretched arm and crashed to the floor.
Clang!
The glass vase shattered into pieces. Startled, I pretended to jump back and moved to the opposite side of the falling shards. Thanks to that, I wasn’t even slightly hurt.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry, Commander!”
Berrett’s expression tensed, his eyebrows knitting together, though his words remained gentle and calm.
“Are you hurt anywhere, Princess?”
As expected of the heir to a family that valued etiquette.
He had already realized I had broken the vase on purpose with a sidelong glance. Naturally—he was a genius knight with highly developed peripheral vision.
Perhaps because of that, he stayed at a distance while speaking words of consolation.
“Waaaaaah! Sob! Sob!”
I cried loudly, letting the sound fill the Commander’s office. I made sure it was loud enough that people outside could hear.
I wanted to create a situation where Berrett couldn’t help but support me.
Gathering my soul, I let fake tears fall like pearls. With the amount of tears I had shed in my previous life, acting like this was easier than drinking cold soup.
As expected, the etiquette-obsessed Berrett couldn’t avoid approaching me.
“You seem quite shocked. Since you’re not hurt, please calm yourself.”
Berrett couldn’t hide his annoyance at the act, though.
I buried my face in my hands and cried even louder.
Soon, there was a knock at the door.
“Miss Asha, are you alright?”
It was the nanny outside, knocking urgently despite the gatekeeper knights’ attempts to stop her.
Berrett seemed to realize something immediately.
A broken vase, the messy commander’s office, a woman crying mournfully—anyone who walked in now would surely misunderstand. They would think Berrett had committed a serious mistake.
“Princess, please calm down. If you continue, it will be troublesome for me as well.”
He gritted his teeth as he whispered.
I enjoyed his discomfort. Since he valued dignity so much, this situation must be extremely awkward for him.
“Oh my, did you really think it would be fine to upset me like this? You’re so bold!”
I whispered to him in an exaggeratedly flustered tone, teasing him just between the two of us, and then continued wailing as if nothing had happened.
“Shhh! Please stop crying, Princess! Isn’t this going too far?”
Berrett whispered through clenched teeth.
“Who’s going too far first?”
I whispered back, keeping up the act for those outside the door.
Berrett was momentarily speechless. His furrowed brows made him look as if he were pondering the troubles of the world.
Finally, he opened his contorted mouth.
“What can I do to make you stop and calm down?”
“Who said I’m acting? I’m genuinely upset. No one has ever ignored me like this, not even you, Commander.”
“Have I not treated you with proper respect?”
“Being respected while being ignored is worse. At least if someone openly insults me, it’s clearer.”
Amid the echoes of my loud crying, our whispered verbal sparring continued.
Berrett sighed, running a hand through his red hair.
“Princess, it seems my actions have hurt you. I apologize.”
His tone, however, lacked sincerity. I wasn’t someone who would be appeased by such a half-hearted apology.
“That’s not enough.”
“Then what should I do?”
“From now on, treat me as the finest lady.”
“Excuse me?”
Berrett hadn’t expected me to make such a demand.
Honestly, I didn’t particularly want to get close to him either. I would have liked to brush him off. But he was one of the candidates in the game.
And the damn compulsion to succeed in the mission kept tormenting me.
For now, I needed to meet him often and look for chances to sway his heart. But if he treated me like this again, the engagement mission wouldn’t progress.
So I decided to force him to correct his behavior.
Berrett sighed deeply again.
“Understood. I will do so from now on. But please stop crying first.”
He gently pulled my hands away from my face. My delicate hands fit snugly into his large, calloused ones—proof of a martial man.
I stopped crying as if I had never cried, looked up at him, and gave him a small, tear-stained smile.
At that moment, sunlight streamed through the Commander’s office window, briefly revealing itself from behind clouds. It formed a halo behind Berrett, illuminating my face and reflecting off the fake tears in my eyes.
“It’s a promise.”
I smiled at him.
But his reaction was strange. His violet eyes, which had been looking down at me, trembled and his face flushed.
Was he upset because he had fallen into my trap?
No, that wasn’t it. There was no aura of anger around him like before.
Tilting my head slightly, I prompted his response. He shook his head to regain his composure.
“I promise.”
Berrett flung my hand away as if burned and wiped his face dry.
“I must have lost my mind, enchanted by your beauty.”
I thought I could hear his low self-reproach.
It seemed Berrett was weak against beautifully crying women.
After meeting the nanny outside, I walked to the carriage escorted by Berrett.
He seemed determined to keep his promise to treat me as the finest lady.
Even with his handsome face twisted into a scowling expression, he still looked striking.
Regardless, I followed him gracefully, in a good mood.
We reached the entrance to the royal palace.
Even with the carriage in sight, Berrett kept leading. He seemed intent on escorting me all the way inside.
Our tense atmosphere continued as the nanny followed silently, then cautiously climbed into the carriage first. When it was my turn, Berrett offered his hand.
His handsome face wore a subtle, complex expression—part regret, part relief.
‘Has he developed some fondness for me after all?’
It seemed I hadn’t gained nothing today.
We exchanged formal greetings. His was proper, almost neat in its precision.
“May the blessing of the White Dragon accompany you, Princess Esperanza.”
“May the grace of the White Dragon always be with you as well, Commander.”
Just as I took his hand to get into the carriage, the ground shook.
Rumble…
‘Could it be… an earthquake?’
Amid the increasing tremor, a palace gatekeeper shouted urgently:
“Be careful, Commander!”
With that, the ground cracked, and Berrett, I, and the carriage sank.
Down, down, down.
As we fell, I was so shocked I forgot to breathe.
Berrett, too, seemed panicked, audibly taking only short breaths.
Inside the carriage, the nanny screamed, though the sound was half drowned out by the cracking, collapsing earth.
The impact with the ground felt dull, not painful. Berrett, surrounded by a red aura, had enveloped me.
Once I regained my senses, I quickly moved to the carriage.
“Nanny?”
Fortunately, Berrett had softened the impact with his red aura. The nanny had fainted but seemed unhurt.
The red aura, similar to the color of his hair, was his aura.
An aura that manifests when one reaches a high level of martial prowess.
Every citizen of the Deuscornu Empire would know of this.
Berrett Judizum, even at a young age, had manifested an enormous amount of aura and controlled it delicately, becoming the youngest Royal Knights’ Commander.
His legendary feats were famous among the citizens.
I turned to thank him, only to be struck silent.
The scene around me was utterly disastrous.
Berrett, surveying it with a stunned expression, clearly wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.
We had fallen a considerable distance—or rather, the ground had sunk beneath us.
About a 2-kilometer radius around the palace had collapsed like a dry moat.
Nearby citizens and some structures had been swallowed up.
We ended up at the bottom of a high cliff.
The wind carried dusty earth and the metallic scent of blood.
From everywhere came cries of the injured, and some lay in pools of blood.
“Commander Judizum!”
A palace gatekeeper, fortunate enough to be outside the accident zone, shouted urgently.
Berrett, after quickly confirming I was safe, did not answer but retrieved something from his waist.
A communication magic device. Once he confirmed it was functional, he issued orders.
“This is Royal Knights’ Commander Berrett Judizum. I order an emergency assembly for White Dragon Knight Units 2 through 10. Accident occurred…”
I shook my head to regain focus and listened intently to his voice.
“…Suspected recurrence of the anomaly from twenty years ago. All units, assemble at the palace entrance immediately.”
A recurrence of the anomaly from twenty years ago? What did that mean?
Berrett strode up to me.
At that moment, I thought of Greek and Roman myths my previous life’s teacher had read aloud. Right now, Berrett could be Ares, the god of war, and I would believe it.
His strong, defined face showed no expression. This must be his face when fully focused on his duty.
Perhaps in this emergency, his appearance was even more distracting to me.
Even in this critical moment, his looks muddled the reasoning in my mind.
