IVCH 03

Chapter : 3

“You’re not even from the Knight Academy!”

“You didn’t even serve as a squire under an official knight!”

“That’s only one of the conditions for taking the entry exam. It’s not a condition for becoming a knight, is it?”

No matter how many decades you endured as a squire under a famous knight, you couldn’t become a knight if you lacked skill.

Pointing that out left them unable to come up with a rebuttal, and they just snorted in frustration.

Among them, the gray-haired one who seemed slightly more intelligent spoke up in anger.

“Then prove it yourself!”

Swoosh.

Even if they were still trainees, they were all knights.

The gray-haired guy drew the sword he was carrying.

“Harison! Crush his arrogance flat!”

“With your skill, that guy won’t last even ten exchanges.”

The other two seemed to trust Harison as the best in both intelligence and skill among them.

They cheered him on with shining eyes.

They must be relying on my slightly better ranking in the entry exam.

I also drew my sword, and Harison silently gestured for me to follow him outside.

Knights were the only people in the imperial palace, aside from the royal family, permitted to carry swords. Using force without permission carried severe punishment.

‘But guys who use swords always take pride in contests of strength.’

And I was one of those sword users too.

Excited by the rare chance for a real spar, I happily headed toward the open yard behind the knight order’s dormitory.

As I walked quickly, the glass bead bracelet on my wrist clicked together, making a clear sound.

When the training hall was closed or crowded, people sometimes trained in the open yard, so wooden practice swords and wooden training dummies were scattered around.

However, neither Harison nor I spared them a glance.

Harison struck first.

Despite his large build, he used a light sword—it seemed speed was his specialty.

As if probing, he launched a rapid series of attacks.

I blocked and deflected them casually.

After exchanging several blows—

“Haaah!”

As if deciding it wasn’t enough, Harison shouted and brought his sword down with full force.

A strike that looked like it could split a body in half came crashing down, and I raised my sword to block it.

Steel met steel.

Harison, who had relied on male strength differences, was shocked when it didn’t work.

Yeah. Bloodline privilege.

I smirked slightly, lifting only the corner of my mouth.

Then I used the recoil of his force to counterattack.

Harison couldn’t withstand it and was pushed back a few steps.

The dirt ground of the yard caved in under his heels.

Startled, Harison glanced at his cheering companions and said with forced bravado,

“Not bad.”

He massaged his numbing wrist and frowned, but it didn’t look convincing.

“Harison, don’t hold back!”

Unfortunately, Harison hadn’t been holding back at all.

If anything, I might have been the one going easy.

Fueled by his friends’ encouragement, he attacked again.

After a brief pause, our swords clashed once more.

Perhaps realizing my skill was far beyond expectations, his attacks grew more desperate.

Yeah, you can’t get through this, right?

I smiled leisurely as I blocked every single strike.

Now Harison looked visibly frustrated.

Even the sharpness of his blade began to lose form, turning messy.

I toyed with him for a few more exchanges.

Once I decided I’d done enough, I met his next strike head-on with full force again.

Bang!

With more recoil than expected, Harison lost his grip on his sword.

Whoooosh—thunk.

With a metallic sound, the sword flew behind him and stuck into the ground.

“Still think I’m unqualified?”

I asked with a victor’s smile.

All three of them froze in shock, unable to even breathe properly.

“Looks like you’re aware of your shame.”

I shrugged at their red, embarrassed faces.

I hadn’t expected an answer anyway.

Well, at least they wouldn’t openly pick fights anymore.

That alone was a fair price for cutting into my precious sleep.

Hah.

I blew upward, brushing my bangs off my forehead, and turned around coolly.

My muscles, which had been tense from training all day, had loosened nicely from the spar.

My slightly heated body cooled pleasantly in the evening air.

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

But my bedtime was delayed once again.

“Hey, you there!”

I turned back and met a pair of yellow eyes, flinching.

‘It’s Knight Catherine.’

Someone I absolutely did not want to run into right now.

Not after what had just happened.

Knight Catherine, who was in charge of training the trainee knights, was infamous for being strict.

My relaxed expression, which had been looking forward to sleep, stiffened instantly.

I hesitated and sheathed my sword.

Knight Catherine looked at me with a disappointed expression, then called out to all four of us.

“All of you. Come with me!”

We were dragged away and scolded like troublesome children.

Catherine didn’t care at all that everyone here was a full-grown adult, well above the average imperial physique.

‘She really did spend years as an academy sword instructor.’

It seemed she already knew the other three.

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

“No, ma’am!”

The three answered stiffly.

As someone not from the academy, I quietly kept my head down.

But I was just as tense.

‘Using a real sword in the imperial palace without permission could be treated as treason.’

I wouldn’t be punished directly, of course—but if this escalated, my coming-of-age ceremony would be ruined.

‘I should’ve used a wooden sword.’

There were wooden swords everywhere in the yard.

Regret surged in, but it was already done.

The bracelet on my wrist now felt like a chain.

Even though my identity hadn’t been exposed yet, I kept glancing at it in case its beads had turned red.

‘Still blue.’

Relief.

Watching Catherine treat grown men like unruly children, I felt a faint spark of hope.

‘Maybe she’ll just scold us and let it go?’

But that hope was crushed almost instantly.

“Normally, I should expel you all from the knight order right here.”

Beyond hiding my identity, how well I performed my role during this one year was also part of the evaluation criteria.

I could practically see my coming-of-age points dropping in real time.

If I got expelled from the knight order, I’d fail the ceremony.

And if I failed the ceremony, my “existence” would be erased.

It was still only a theory, since no one had ever confirmed a failure, but historians believed “erased existence” might mean death—or being forgotten by everyone.

Either way, it was unacceptable.

‘Mom… Dad… Sister… Brother…’

Their faces floated through my mind.

The version of me who thought she could live one year as someone other than the youngest imperial princess… was gone.

At some point, I was desperately praying inwardly:

Please. I’ll do better. Just let this pass.

The three others who had barely passed the knight entry exam looked just as pale as I did.

Fortunately, the merciful god answered my pathetic, last-minute prayer.

“It’s not like newly admitted hotheads fighting for rank is anything new. And no one is injured, so I’ll let it go this once.”

Sighs of relief spread everywhere.

But that didn’t mean we were forgiven.

Catherine added in a strict voice,

“However, all of you will receive the lowest possible evaluation scores for your probation period. And your supervising knights will be informed of this fight.”

Their future knight careers would likely be complicated, but that wasn’t my problem.

‘In a year, I’ll go back to my place anyway.’

I tried not to show too much relief.

After a bit more lecturing, Knight Catherine waved her hand and told us to go sleep.

The three boys left her office looking exhausted, dragging their feet.

They didn’t even have the energy to glance at me.

That was a relief—I didn’t have the energy to deal with them either.

It was already 3 a.m.

If I wanted to survive tomorrow’s harsh training, I needed at least a few hours of sleep.

I shuffled back to my room like the others.

Because the captain of the Royal Guard had personally arranged it, there were no knights who wanted to share a room with me, so I had it all to myself.

‘Even better.’

I quickly washed up and threw myself onto the bed.

I closed my eyes—and when I opened them, it was already morning.

I had thought last night’s incident would be buried.

But Knight Catherine’s punishment wasn’t over yet.