IPBPBD 26

Chapter 26

Kirzen tilted his head in puzzlement.

What Jerome meant by “the youngest” referred to those who had joined the order most recently.
And given Kirzen’s position, they weren’t people he would necessarily know.

Even if the Ditrio Order of Knights was composed of a small, elite force, including the squires and apprentices, the number reached close to a hundred.
Most of the management of the order fell to Jerome and Heinkel, so aside from a handful of men close to him, Kirzen didn’t know most of their faces.

Who could it be?

Kirzen grew curious about the owner of that letter.
Who was it that had received a letter from someone who used that seal?

If it was from the person he was thinking of… his tightly sealed lips pressed together harder on their own.

Then Jerome suddenly snapped his fingers.

“Ah! I knew I’d seen this before. This letter’s from Baron Klein’s family, isn’t it?”

“You’re only figuring that out now?”

Kirzen looked at him with an annoyed glare.

Jerome grinned sheepishly and went on.

“My instincts are usually right. I’d wager this letter is from the young lady herself.”

Though what she has to do with that boy, I don’t know.

At those muttered words, Kirzen raised a brow.

“Who do you mean by that boy?”

“Why? Are you interested?”

“I am.”

“Oh. Don’t tell me—jealousy?”

Clink.

“If you want to keep running your mouth, go ahead.”

Kirzen pushed the hilt of the sword at his hip, flashing the barest hint of steel, his face stripped of humor.

Normally, he would have let such insolence slide. But this time, he had no intention of tolerating it.

Jerome paled and protested.

“Wait, wait! You’d draw your sword over this?”

“Who knows. That remains to be seen.”

“What do you mean, remains to be seen?! For God’s sake, stop throwing murderous intent around and take your hand off that sword!”

At Jerome’s indignant outburst, Kirzen finally released the weapon.

He crossed his arms and jerked his chin, wordlessly telling Jerome to get on with it.

With a dramatic look of relief, Jerome blew out a short breath, then pouted, wounded.

“You’ve gotten more and more frightening. At least when you were younger, you had a touch of cuteness about you. Haven’t you changed a little too much?”

“How amusing. And who do you think made me this way, if not you and your master?”

Kirzen gave a scornful laugh.

Jerome sobered.

“You make it sound like I’ve done something truly vile. People would get the wrong idea.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s entirely untrue.”

“Forget it. Forget it. I’m not wasting my breath arguing with you.”

“So. The answer?”

“There’s a boy named Rozy. You know—the commoner I brought in about four years ago?”

“…Who?”

Kirzen’s face, rarely so, showed surprise.

Jerome looked puzzled as he continued.

“Why are you surprised? I reported it back then. Granted, he was nothing special—just a green apprentice—so you didn’t pay him any mind.”

“Ha.”

A figure flickered vaguely through Kirzen’s memory.
The one who had once boldly declared he’d join his order.

So it was that boy.

The absurdity of the connection drew a hollow laugh from Kirzen.

Unbelievable.

Normally, whenever someone joined the order, a report would land on his desk.
It was mere paperwork, purely formal.
He’d assumed the others had chosen well enough, and had never paid particular attention.

Unless someone was being knighted on the spot, he rarely concerned himself with them.
And since no knighthood ceremonies were planned for years to come, the squires and apprentices remained entirely beneath his notice.

Who could have guessed that neglect would come back to him in this way?

Kirzen felt as if he’d been struck in the back of the head.
For the first time, he regretted not paying closer attention to the order.

Grinding his teeth, he said,

“First of all, you deserve a punch.”

He raised his fist menacingly, and Jerome recoiled, shouting,

“What did I do wrong?!”

“You’re the one who brought him here.”

Jerome was struck dumb with disbelief.

What kind of nonsense is that?

Is he really jealous?

Jerome adopted a serious face and offered advice.

“Master, men who act petty like this are never popular.”

“I don’t care about popularity.”

“Even if Lady Klein ends up disliking you for it?”

“Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself first?”

“Oh, come on! Rozy hasn’t even done anything wrong.”

“Wrong answer. I never intended to accept him under me in the first place.”

“Seriously? Now you say that?”

Jerome snorted in disbelief.

But Kirzen was just as shameless.

“Which means you’ll have to take responsibility.”

“That still doesn’t mean I should get punched for it!”

“Didn’t you once complain that my fists were so soft they didn’t even sting?”

“That was years ago! How long are you going to milk that line?”

“Barring unusual circumstances—probably for life.”

“Ha!”

At Kirzen’s flat reply, Jerome heaved a heavy sigh.

At this rate, he was going to get hit.
If that happened, he’d be in pain the entire day.

Desperate to avert the blow, Jerome looked around for a distraction.

And then his eyes landed on Rozy’s letter—the true cause of this mess.

Quickly, he pointed at it.

“This! Isn’t this what you were curious about? Let’s read it. We’ll have to censor it anyway, right?”

“…”

Kirzen said nothing.

But in truth, he had been dying to read it.
No—he had wanted to from the very moment the letter was discovered.

If it was addressed to Rozy, then it was most likely from Emilina.

What was written in there?
What was the state of their relationship now?
He wanted to confirm it through that letter.

And yet, he hesitated.

It felt like he would be prying for selfish reasons.
So he’d resisted the urge.

But Jerome’s words swayed him.

If it’s under the pretense of censorship…

Perhaps it would be fine.

Sensing his master’s softened demeanor, Jerome quickly handed him the letter.

Kirzen accepted it without protest.
He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the letter to read it.

Or rather—he tried to.

Until his eyes fell on the very first line.

“To my dearest darling.”

Kirzen blinked, thinking he’d misread. He looked again.

“To my dearest darling.”

No, he hadn’t misread.
The words were the same.

“Dearest.”
“Darling.”

Dearest… Darling…

Kirzen’s gaze lingered over the words again and again.

“Darling…”

In his ears, he could almost hear Emilina’s voice speaking the endearment.

“Dearest. Darling.”

His pupils shook violently, refusing to accept the truth of those words.

No matter how hard he tried to keep reading, it was useless.
Those branded words blotted out the rest of the letter.

Kirzen’s hand trembled as he clutched the paper.

Jerome leaned over curiously and tried to sneak a look.

And the moment he read aloud—

“To my dea—oof!”

Jerome doubled over, cut short by the pain in his gut.

Kirzen’s voice was low, heavy, and lethal.

“Bring him here.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Without another word, Jerome left the tent. Inwardly, he could only pray for Rozy’s future.

And then Kirzen regretted it.

Once he had dismissed the remaining men and found himself alone, he realized just how foolish he had been.

When the time came to meet Rozy face to face, what on earth was he supposed to say?

No—that was the truth of it.
He had nothing to say.

What could he say, when they were already close enough for her to be using pet names?

…I’ve made a mistake.

Self-reproach welled up at his own irrational behavior.

He glared down at the letter lying askew on the table.

He had turned it face down, unable to bear looking at the rest.
He couldn’t stand the thought of reading any further.

Even if he wanted to deny it, the truth was undeniable.
No one in Baron Klein’s household would send such a letter—except Emilina.

“Haa…”

A heavy sigh slipped out of him.

In truth, these feelings of his were ridiculous.

He and Emilina were nothing to each other.
Who she chose to be with was none of his concern.

He knew that—rationally.
But accepting it was another matter entirely.

His mood refused to settle.

He had always known that someday this day would come.
But he had never wanted to face it.

And yet here it was.

And worse—he had thought she might find someone else eventually, but he had never imagined it would be him.

Least of all that he would discover it like this.

He truly, never, in his wildest dreams, could have imagined it.