TPHBK 08

Chapter 8

Camilla and Elias were coming this way.

They were still quite far away—far enough that even I, with my unusually good eyesight, had only just recognized their familiar silhouettes.

I quickly revised my plan.

“Isn’t that going a little too far?”

I deliberately gritted my teeth as though suppressing my anger while objecting to Dmitry’s words.

Since Camilla and Elias, who were on my side, were approaching, my intention was to make it look as though I was being unfairly attacked.

Seeing that both Sir Hugo and I had hardened expressions, Dmitry had no idea what I was thinking. He pulled up the corners of his mouth and gave me a nasty smile.

Then, as though delivering the final blow, he sneered.

“Or did you learn submission from a captain who was born a slave?”

Wow. What a character.

For a moment, his vicious words were enough to make me forget my plan to play the complete victim.

He had insulted Elias, who wasn’t even here, and who was also my superior, simply to provoke us.

Sir Hugo, as well as the surrounding knights of the Tenth Knight Order, had eyes blazing with anger.

They might complain that our captain was too strict, but when it came to criticizing our captain, that was something we were allowed to do.

Until a few seconds ago, I had been hoping that Camilla and Elias would get here faster.

But now I was actually glad that Elias hadn’t heard those words.

Could someone with this kind of character really be allowed to get away with it?

I asked myself that question, and the answer came quickly.

‘As expected, my first instinct is usually right.’

I decided once again to beat the knight myself.

‘Insulting the knight order I belong to is basically the same as insulting me.’

As a minimum precaution for the future me who might regret acting on impulse, I casually tossed the training sword I was holding into a corner.

‘As long as I don’t use a real sword, right?’

For someone like him, sometimes a beating really was the best way to teach manners.

“You can’t call everything you spit out words.”

I clenched my fist with all my strength and swung it toward Dmitry’s jaw.

Thwack!

Caught off guard, he took the punch directly to the jaw, and his body twisted halfway around.

I smiled, raising only one corner of my mouth.

Camilla and Elias, who had witnessed the entire scene, were running toward us with shocked expressions.

But unexpectedly, I didn’t regret it at all.

“Vi—no!”

Seeing me punch someone in the jaw from a distance, Camilla was so startled that she almost called my name before covering her mouth.

Then she firmly shut her lips and sprinted toward us at tremendous speed.

Elias was, of course, following right behind Camilla.

Around that time, Dmitry, who had been dazed after taking a hard punch from me, finally regained his senses.

“You—this!”

Apparently, he was humiliated that he had been hit by a mere trainee knight like me.

His already swelling jaw and the rest of his face were turning an equally deep shade of red.

Completely losing his reason, Dmitry strode toward me as though he intended to grab me by the collar.

I scoffed and casually took one step backward.

‘Be grateful that I’m giving you the chance to step away.’

Camilla wasn’t the kind of person who would simply stand by and watch while someone grabbed me by the collar.

He moved impatiently and recklessly, lost his balance for a moment, staggered, and then managed to regain his footing.

The face that had been filled with sadistic amusement only a few minutes ago, like a child happily tearing the wings off a dragonfly for fun, was now completely consumed by rage.

“Grrr.”

Dmitry clenched his molars and spat out a string of vulgar curses.

To summarize them because I didn’t even want to repeat them, they were the sort of insults that slandered my parents’ way of raising me.

“Do you want to die?”

That wasn’t a threat.

If I hadn’t been in the middle of my coming-of-age ceremony, those words could have gotten him executed for insulting a member of the imperial family.

When he insulted Elias, I should have knocked his teeth out instead of merely hitting his jaw.

But it wasn’t too late.

I clenched my fist again.

At my reaction, Dmitry gave me a twisted smile.

As the atmosphere became increasingly dangerous, a circle gradually formed around me, Sir Hugo, and Dmitry.

The Ninth Knight Order and the Tenth Knight Order split into two sides, with each group beginning to cheer for their own side or raise their voices at the opposing side.

“Sir Dmitry! Teach that insolent trainee from the Tenth Knight Order a lesson!”

“Who are you to decide whether someone from another knight order needs to be taught a lesson?”

“What are you all doing?! Stop them!”

Sir Hugo, who had realized what was happening a little late, shouted at the surrounding knights.

But no one calmed down at all.

“Ah!”

Sir Hugo grabbed his head with both hands and cried out.

Then, with an expression that seemed to show that he had made up his mind about something, he stepped between Dmitry and me as though blocking us from each other.

“Sir Dmitry, calm down.”

Then he looked back and forth between me and the knight, only to meet Elias’s eyes.

He flinched in surprise.

That was when Camilla and Elias entered the training grounds.

“Enough!”

Elias immediately understood the confrontation at a glance and shouted.

Sir Hugo’s eyes shook violently.

But the standoff didn’t end.

Neither Dmitry nor I threw another punch, but neither of us stopped glaring at the other.

Camilla strode toward me, almost running.

As she did, she waved her hand repeatedly at Sir Hugo.

Sir Hugo took several steps backward with a bewildered expression, as though Camilla had physically pushed him away.

Camilla stepped in front of me instead of Sir Hugo.

Then she asked in a cold voice,

“What happened?”

Pressed down by the presence of Camilla, who was the daughter of a duke and an exceptionally skilled knight, Dmitry tried to say something but couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.

When no answer came to her question, Camilla’s eyes grew colder and colder.

“I’ll explain.”

Unable to withstand the pressure, Sir Hugo stepped forward cheerfully.

But Camilla’s gaze moved next to me.

However, I had no intention of answering either.

‘I’m an adult too. Telling on someone is kind of childish, isn’t it?’

I pursed my lips and remained silent.

I resolved that I would personally crush that bastard later.

Camilla immediately noticed what I was thinking.

As always when I secretly did something dangerous, Camilla’s expression became stern.

Camilla stared at me without even blinking, and I refused to look away from her eyes.

Before I knew it, we had ended up having a staring contest.

‘I know I’m not telling you what happened, but why are you only trying to stop me?’

I stubbornly held my ground with an annoyed expression.

Camilla gave a faint sigh.

“I’ll ask again. What happened?”

“So…”

Without realizing it, I was about to complain and tell her the truth, but I stopped when I looked at Elias.

If I wanted to properly explain the situation, I would also have to tell him what that knight had said about Elias.

I was far too kind a person to deliver an insult directly to the person it had been aimed at.

‘Tsk.’

I bit my lower lip and swallowed the words that were about to come out.

But Camilla’s eyes continued to stare directly at me, urging me to answer.

I desperately racked my brain before deciding to leave out a small part of what had happened and tell her the truth.

“That straw-haired, um… knight insulted my parents.”

The moment I finished speaking, Camilla glared fiercely at Dmitry as though she might draw her sword at any moment.

She had every reason to.

Without even realizing it, he had committed the grave crime of insulting the Emperor and Empress of the Empire.

Elias, who had been silently observing the situation from behind, intervened.

“Sir Camilla.”

He called her name in a low, warning tone.

Camilla lowered the hand she had placed on the hilt of her sword.

Then she glanced once over the trainee knight uniform I was wearing.

If she punished someone after hearing only one side of the story, I, who was still a trainee, could end up at an even greater disadvantage.

Realizing that, Camilla quickly gathered her emotions and answered Elias in a much calmer voice.

“Yes, Captain.”

Elias gestured for Camilla to step back.

Although Camilla’s position was partly a disguise for my sake, she was currently Elias’s adjutant.

Camilla obeyed his order and quietly stepped away.

Even after removing her hand from her sword hilt, Camilla continued to radiate a subtle killing intent.

As she moved away, some color slowly returned to Dmitry’s pale face.

But it was still far too early for him to feel relieved.

Elias gave Sir Hugo an order.

“Explain. From beginning to end. Leave out nothing.”