RNB 07

Chapter 7

Yvonne’s eyes sparkled brightly as she showed off the ring on her pinky finger.

“This is a Magic Tower ring! So I can go in now, right? I’m really going to be late.”

Right? Isn’t that correct?

As she stretched out her hand to show the ring, Dan grew even more suspicious of her. Since he had already firmly decided that Yvonne was a liar, the ring she presented as “proof” looked to him like nothing more than an ordinary ring with a tiny red gemstone set into it—nothing remotely connected to the Magic Tower.

In truth, if Dan had looked more carefully, he would have realized it wasn’t an ordinary gemstone at all, but a magic stone filled with highly refined mana.

Dan let out a deep sigh.

“Even if you go in, the commander isn’t here.”

“…He’s not? Why?”

“The knights are in training right now, so the entire building is empty. And the time you claimed you had an appointment for has already passed.”

“What? It’s already past five? Really? Are you sure?”

Yvonne’s eyes widened more at the fact that it was past five than at the news that Commander Roeln wasn’t there.

No way! I’ve never been late once in my life!

Thus, Yvonne’s flawless twenty-year record of punctuality came to a tragic end.

Whether she was shocked or not, Dan mercilessly delivered the finishing blow by pulling out his pocket watch.

“Yes. It’s exactly 5:08.”

After tucking the watch away, Dan held out his hand toward Yvonne.

It was an obvious demand for her to hand over the suspicious envelope peacefully.

No doubt it contained something like a love potion—but then again, maybe it contained something even more unexpected.

But Yvonne only stared blankly at the hand extended toward her while clutching the document envelope tightly to her chest.

Dan withdrew his hand and spoke firmly.

“I can’t just let you go. I’ll forcibly inspect what’s inside that envelope and punish you according to protocol.”

At the very least, he intended to strongly recommend disciplinary action to his superior.

Even if they tell me to let it slide, I’ll overturn the whole thing myself if I have to. I swear I will.

Dan stopped trying to persuade her politely. He decided he would simply take the envelope by force.

After all, he had already given her several chances, and she was the one who had rejected them.

The moment Dan reached out to snatch away the envelope Yvonne treasured so much, she suddenly bit down hard on his hand.

“AGH!”

Dan had never imagined that a noble lady would actually bite him.

Startled by the unexpected attack, he instinctively jerked his hand back and shoved Yvonne away.

Pushed backward, Yvonne fell onto her rear as she braced herself against the ground with the hand holding the documents.

Fortunately, the ground was grassy, so she wasn’t injured.

Still, her backside, trousers, hands, and even the envelope ended up covered in dirt.

“My lady, have you lost your mind?!”

Clutching the hand now marked clearly with teeth marks, Dan stared at the seated Yvonne in disbelief.

“You’re the crazy one. I told you over and over that these are confidential documents only your commander can see. Who the hell are you to touch them however you want?”

As if he weren’t already furious enough, Dan genuinely wondered whether he had heard her correctly.

“You’re saying that to… me?”

“Yeah, I’m talking to you, you lunatic. If you touch this envelope again without my permission, I really won’t let it slide. You may not know it, but I’ve been extremely patient with you. Next time, I won’t stop at just biting one hand. Got it?”

Yvonne’s vicious threat left Dan’s mouth hanging open.

This had gone beyond absurd—he was completely speechless.

Ignoring him entirely, Yvonne stood up while gripping the envelope and focused on dusting the dirt off her cloak.

“Ha. Fuck. This cloak was expensive as hell.”

Muttering that under her breath, she casually ignored the still-frozen Dan and started walking toward the knights’ headquarters entrance.

Only after she had nearly reached the entrance did Dan finally come to his senses and hurriedly chase after her.

“Where do you think you’re going?! I said I’m inspecting that envelope!”

The moment Dan reached from behind and touched the document envelope she was holding—

it vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed in the first place.

Dan’s eyes widened in shock.

“Wh… wh-wh-what is this?!”

Flustered, he stammered the question at Yvonne.

But Yvonne remained completely motionless, still facing away from him.

“My lady?”

Calmly, Yvonne bent down and picked up a stone about the size of her hand.

Then she slowly turned around.

Her eyes burned with rage.

Without hesitation, she swung the stone at Dan.

“W-why are you doing this?! AAGH! That hurts!”

Despite her tiny hands, she struck him with shocking force.

Before long, blood was running down the head of Dan—the man famously known throughout the knights for having an unusually hard skull.

Unable to bring himself to use violence against a noble lady, Dan instead grabbed her wrist.

“Oh?”

This guy’s stopping me?

With the hand holding her primary weapon—the rock—restrained, Yvonne immediately used her still-free hand to seize Dan’s bright red hair as if she intended to rip every strand out.

“AAAAH! Seriously, what is wrong with you?! Have you gone insane?!”

Dan desperately grabbed at the hand clutching his hair.

Being both a man and a knight, he easily managed to pry Yvonne’s hand away.

But inside her dainty hand remained a fistful of red hair like a war trophy.

Even with both arms restrained, Yvonne refused to yield and began kicking Dan wildly.

Under the relentless assault, Dan honestly couldn’t tell whether he was dealing with a noble lady in the imperial palace or a savage enemy soldier on the battlefield.

“M-my lady! Please stop! If you continue this, I won’t just stand here and take it anymore!”

Realizing things had gone too far, Dan urgently warned her.

But even his shout failed to stop Yvonne’s kicks.

At that moment, the only thing she regretted was not wearing high heels today.

I should break this bastard’s legs!

The reason Yvonne was so furious lay in the special nature of the envelope she had brought.

The knights’ confidential documents were protected with security magic set to activate if anyone other than Yvonne—the designated courier—or the current First Knight Commander touched the envelope.

Once triggered, the documents would disappear without a trace.

Because of this security measure, Yvonne had personally delivered documents to the knights instead of using mail all this time.

But today—

for the first time since she began this errand job at age ten, a massive stain had been left on her perfect record.

All those times the wizard uncles had accidentally triggered the security magic and returned empty-handed to the Magic Tower only to get thoroughly scolded by the Tower Master—

she had proudly boasted about her flawless no-accident history while mocking them mercilessly.

Now, images flashed through Yvonne’s head like a panorama:

Commander Roeln’s cold face.

The Tower Master’s endless nagging.

Her uncles clutching their stomachs in laughter.

Thinking about all of it only made her angrier.

This is all because of that insane redhead!

How many times had she told him not to touch it because it contained confidential knight-order documents?

Why the hell would he touch it anyway?!

If someone tells you not to do something, then don’t do it!

Did he ignore her because she was speaking nicely?!

Fine.

As of today, he could say goodbye forever to any future children he might have.

Gathering all her strength into the tip of her right foot, Yvonne aimed directly for Dan’s most vital area.

Just as she was about to strike with enough force to destroy anything—

“What in the world…”

A familiar deep voice rang out.

Both Yvonne and Dan turned their heads at the same time.

“What is going on here?”

Standing there with a bewildered expression was the very man Yvonne had desperately wanted to see—

the commander of the First Knight Order,

and the superior Dan had tried so hard to protect from noble ladies:

Hayden de Roeln.

Damn. I’m ten minutes late.

Hayden clicked his tongue internally.

The knight training had taken longer than expected.

Even though he had left Levin to finish overseeing the training and hurried over himself, he had still missed his appointment time with Yvonne.

Knowing that the Highwen division member always arrived early, Hayden imagined she had probably waited twenty or thirty minutes outside his office already.

That thought naturally quickened his pace.

“M-my lady! Please stop! If you continue this, I won’t just stand here and take it anymore!”

As Hayden neared the knights’ building, he heard repeated thud! thud! noises—something being kicked—along with Dan’s near-desperate shouting.

Hayden immediately ran toward the entrance.

And what greeted his eyes was—

Dan, bleeding from the head,

and the Highwen division member with both arms restrained upward while aiming kicks at him.

I’m screwed…

That was the first thought that crossed Yvonne’s mind when her eyes met Commander Roeln’s.

Actually, her original plan had been to secretly give the red-haired idiot a proper beating, then meet the commander afterward to apologize and ask for understanding before returning to the Magic Tower to handle the aftermath.

But now that she had been caught in the act, everything had gone wrong from the very first step.

I only beat him up like crazy because I thought nobody would find out!

Well, part of the reason she had gone all out was because she was certain Dan would be too embarrassed to admit he’d gotten beaten up by a woman.

Can’t be helped.

Even though she’d been caught by Commander Roeln, she didn’t regret beating up the redhead at all.

He listened to people like they were talking nonsense.

And since she’d already been discovered anyway, she immediately started scheming to turn the situation in her favor.

If she had to clean up this mess, she wanted to do as little damage control as possible—and get scolded as little as possible too.

So first, Yvonne quietly lowered the leg she’d been holding up.

At the same time, she subtly dropped the fistful of red hair in her hand and the bloodstained stone she’d been holding.

“C-Com… Commander!”

Completely unaware that Yvonne was destroying evidence, Dan tearfully called out to his superior.

The last time he had wanted to see his commander this badly was three years ago when he’d nearly died after falling into an enemy trap.

Just like back then, Commander Roeln now looked like an archangel descending to save him.

As the commander strode toward him, Dan let out a sigh of relief.

Surely now he would rescue him from this insane stalker noble lady.

Actually, he had originally thought she was merely obsessed with his superior—

but after witnessing her skill with smashing people using rocks and ripping out hair, he had changed his mind.

She was definitely a spy.

When that crazy noblewoman had raised her foot earlier, the tip had been aimed perfectly at his groin.

Not even a single degree off target.

If it had actually landed—

Ugh. Horrifying just thinking about it.

While Dan shuddered at the thought of the terrible fate he had narrowly escaped, Commander Roeln approached with a terrifying expression on his face.

Dan prepared to expose every single outrageous thing this madwoman had done.

But the moment the commander’s gaze—about 2.68 times colder than usual—landed on him, the words instantly died in his throat.

Wait… why is he glaring at me?

That’s terrifying.

Caught completely off guard by the icy stare, Dan could only swallow nervously and question it silently to himself.