117. The day the first snow fell (4)

Marion buried her head in Maxim, rubbed her face, and then pushed her entire upper body into Maxim’s arms. Since she was not prepared to ignore the fact that Maxim was a patient for now, Maxim accepted Marion, who was hugged by him, without saying anything. Marion kept pushing herself against Maxim’s hands and chest, like a cat flirting.

“… what are you doing?”

When Maxim asked while stroking Marion’s head, Marion answered with a choked voice, buried in Maxim’s arms.

“I’m trying to get rid of the strange smell that clings to Maxim.”

As if asking for something obvious, Marion’s answer was plain. Maxim couldn’t bear to ask what kind of smell he was getting rid of. After answering that, Marion pushed her head even harder. Maxim couldn’t stop Marion even with a troubled laugh. There must be a crime committed, so I can’t even act or say a thing.

“It’s buried deeper than I thought… .”

Apparently, his fiancé must have some special ability, Maxim thought. Marion stopped sniffing and held Maxim for a while as if he were a giant doll. Marion raised her head again. Satisfied, she must have covered the ‘strange smell’ with her own body odor, and her smile was much brighter than before.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.”

Maxim did not ask what Marion meant. Of course, even though she succeeded in covering some of her own incense, Marion clung to Maxim and did not think of falling.

“I… Marion?”

Maxim carefully called Marion. In the current situation, if even a nurse came in, it was just a posture and expression that could be misunderstood, so it was a trick to get Marion up.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

“at all. If you are uncomfortable, you will be uncomfortable. If I’m uncomfortable being held, will you get up?”

With the cold wind in Marion’s voice, Maxim couldn’t bear to tell her to get up. It was really cute to see her clenching her fists like a cat, but Maxim couldn’t fully enjoy that cuteness right now. Marion stayed in the same position for a few more minutes, then lifted her upper body gently on the bed. Marion’s fingertips grab Maxim’s bedspread and let it go.

“Here, Maxim.”

Maxim looked at Marion’s blue eyes, which resembled a lake. The eyes did not shake with anxiety. While Maxim admired her growth, he internally reprimanded himself.

“what’s the matter?”

“A person named Christine, I’ve heard the story a few times. Also, he said that he met Maxim before me.”

It was an eye that promised to come face to face. Maxim accepted Marion’s gaze without avoiding it.

“yes. Today must have been the first time we met face-to-face.”

“Not a very good first impression, but yes. I see.”

Marion let out a deep sigh after saying such sharp words. His man is upright, but he has a lot of affection, so he will be attracted to women without realizing it.

“Tell me, Maxim. What kind of person is Christine and what is your relationship with her? How you met and what you think of her.”

do not escape Marion made that decision and faced Maxim. She probably has as many stories about Maxim as she does. That’s why I had to know. Maybe, I really didn’t want to, but maybe I should have left the seat next to me.

Maxim let out a long, shallow sigh at Marion’s question. It was complicated in my head how to tell the story of a junior who could not be far from him even though he openly admired him.

don’t hide from the very beginning. Maxim decided to tell Marion everything. Even if it was a little disillusioned, even if it was hated, it was necessary to put up with all those emotions in order to get through what lies ahead with Marion.

“… Christine is my former subordinate, junior, and related to my curse.”

Marion’s expression hardened. Quite chilly, in a terrifying way. But Marion just stared at Maxim as if he wanted to listen to Maxim’s words to the end.

“Christine is from an orphanage. Since I was young, I had a talent for mana, so I sent someone from the Mage Tower and was called to the Mage Tower to receive training.”

It was a rough life. After being recognized by the Magic Tower, the orphanage he grew up in is in crisis. The request he accepted to help with that was, as it turned out, a conspiracy to curse someone. In order to seek forgiveness, Maxim and Christine met in the ruined knights who went in search of atonement.

“… is that so.”

Marion sighed heavily, as if she didn’t know whether to be angry or let go.

“I forgave her.”

“From the beginning, there was nothing that could be called forgiveness. Because the only object of hatred I should harbor was Count Benning.”

Maxim said in a calm voice. At the story that she had nothing to do with, Marion suddenly lost her temper and returned to her usual self.

“… sorry. All of a sudden, it was like this.”

“It’s something I should have told you all about. You don’t have to be sorry.”

Maxim still felt the guilt stinging in his heart and tried to say that. The story continued, leading to work in the Jackdaw Knights. After Theodora came, what happened, how they went to no man’s land, and what happened between herself and Marion. Marion’s face turned red as if she was embarrassed when Maxim remembered what had happened, but she didn’t avoid it like before.

“After the no-man’s land incident, it was Christine who stopped me from trying to kidnap me when I fell.”

Marion narrowed her eyes.

“kidnap… You said you were going to do it?”

“They must have been thinking of transforming me into a puppet and using it somehow. Although it failed.”

Christine was stabbed by Roberto’s sword and died, trying to atone for Maxim to the end. There was no need for that, even though Maxim had received enough. Then, after the wizards sent by the Mage Tower kidnapped Christine, the story flows to the present. He met Adeline, was trapped in the basement of the Mage Tower, found Christine’s clues and rescued her.

“There was a reason to save him.”

“… yes. I had to save him.”

After hearing all of Maxim’s story, Marion closed her eyes. Maxim quietly waited for Marion to organize her thoughts. Marion, who opened her eyes again, sent her eyes as if she understood something.

“I’m glad I saved you.”

Maxim blinked as if he had heard the unexpected words, then smiled bitterly.

“thank you for saying it like that.”

If he hadn’t been saved, how much despair would this person have fallen into? Marion thought so and looked at Maxim. Was he thinking that way when he saved himself? Maybe, I even thought that it might be really selfish to think about this and ask Maxim a question.

“Yeah, but I’m a little jealous.”

When Marion said that, she put on a slightly sullen expression. An important person, a precious person. As those words lingered in Marion’s mind, Marion squeezed Maxim’s bed sheet tightly. Maxim raised his hand over the dead Marion’s head. Marion, who had narrowed her eyes as if feeling good at Maxim’s touch, soon fell back on top of Maxim’s body. Marion’s hand tightly wrapped around his back made Maxim startle and his shoulders tremble slightly.

“Marion?”

Marion lifted her face slightly as she hugged Maxim. Perhaps realizing that he had wrapped himself in Maxim’s arms too tightly, his timid arms on his back were relaxed. In fact, it was wrapped around strongly or weakly, but Marion’s power couldn’t hurt Maxim.

“I’ll pretend to be a fiancé this time.”

“… yes.”

Maxim silently put his hand to Marion’s head. As Maxim’s hand gently ran through his hair, a muffled voice came from Marion.

“I am working hard at the palace.”

Maxim laughed softly at Marion’s words. I knew. In addition to the Count’s request, Marion was brilliantly carrying out the assigned mission. After rescuing her from Murat, Marion’s transformation came dramatically. I’m glad Marion is by my side. Her appearance like this was also a salvation for Maxim himself.

“You were always enthusiastic at Murat. Aren’t you overdoing it?”

“I want to help. And, the crowd is always on you.”

At Marion’s words, which seemed to be grumbling, Maxim could not refute. Marion was in a position where she was completely up on the bed.

“Her Highness told me to leave work early to see Maxim.”

When I arrived, another woman was visiting the hospital. Marion added in a voice that was barely audible.

“Good work.”

When Maxim spoke softly, Marion buried her face again. Maxim could feel Marion’s small sigh reaching into his arms.

“I didn’t want to complain like this.”

“It’s a fiancée’s privilege.”

Marion, perhaps dissatisfied with Maxim’s words, puffed out her cheeks a little.

“It’s petty.”

Without further explanation, Marion buried her head again.

It’s a shameful story, I think I’ve heard it a few times lately.

Maxim shook his head and immediately focused on stroking Marion. Her hair, which she always takes good care of, is still soft and smells good.

—

A year was coming to an end. As someone said, the Mage Tower incident was gradually forgotten in people’s memories, and the number of people visiting the plaza increased again. After the first snow fell, it snowed quite often. Snow piled up in the square, and the children had a snowball fight by throwing snowballs and building snowmen on the ground where the dungeon was located.

People’s attention was now focused on the royal capital’s martial arts competition held at sunset.

What amazing articles will come out this time.

Who else will win the championship and rise to the new star of the royal capital?

People brought up stories about the winners from last year and the year before, and the stories that the contest had created. In fact, the martial arts competition in the royal capital was a festival under the guise of a competition. During the ten-day festival, people were able to put aside their other thoughts and focus on enjoying themselves.

The martial arts competition was a special event not only for the citizens of the royal capital, but also for the nobles. In their eyes, the New Year’s martial arts competition was seen as a fierce political struggle going on behind the scenes rather than a purely enjoyable festival.

To the knights of the royal capital, no, the entire kingdom, it was the most important day of the year. A huge amount of money is poured every year in order to go through the qualifying rounds, which can be said to be like hell, and go up to the finals to shine. It was to bribe the referee, or to look good to nobles in a higher position than the referee.

And, it was an outpost for those who competed for the pinnacle of power. A skirmish to gauge the opponent’s strength and determine which knights can become our strength.

In this way, ahead of the preliminary round of the tournament, the royal capital and the royal palace were spending days immersed in sharp tension. On the other hand, the Jackdaw Knights were still in rage at the belated news of the Mage Tower. Benning completely ignored the Knights of the Ravens and formed a group, so they didn’t hear from them until everything was sorted out.

“No matter how much we say that we are knights who were recruited for show, weren’t we not capable enough to be part of such a kingdom’s important events?”

Paola growled in a low voice. I didn’t really like being under the 2nd prince’s umbrella, but since I was being treated like a medal on display in a display case, I was bound to get angry. Paola contorted her face and spat out.

“We’re knights, aren’t we like babysitters?”

Expectations were not high from the beginning, but as Paola said, the second prince was a child. Mujae was quite brilliant, and seemed to have a certain amount of brain power, but basically, he had a disposition like a child who hadn’t grown up, which made the members of the Jackdaw Knights who were sometimes mobilized as escorts tired.

Opposite Paola sat Theodora. Perhaps it was the same that she did not like the current situation, but her expression was not very bright.

“Vice-captain, your voice is loud. Please be a little self-respecting.”

Paola sighed and nodded. It was the attitude that he would not care whether he dragged himself for blasphemy and beheaded or hanged himself.

“If you’re going to treat us like chaff in this martial arts competition, it’s better to go back to being an adventurer.”

Paola grumbled and sat down. Theodora spoke in a low-pitched voice to Paola, who rarely showed resentment.

“It won’t happen in martial arts competitions.”

Paola raised her eyebrows at the captain’s answer.

“Why do you think so?”

“If we are literally just for show off, then the New Year’s martial arts competition is the best opportunity to show off.”

Theodora said bitterly and looked out the window. It was the usual winter scenery. The snow was piled up, and the gaunt trees were shaking their branches. In his hand was a message from Leon Benning. In the message, the knights of the Jackdaw Knights were ordered to participate in the martial arts competition.

“Vice-captain.”

Paola accepted the letter from Theodora and put on a dark expression. Theodora, who must have accepted the letter with just as much confusion, also had an empty expression on her face.

“Yes, Captain.”

“What is right and what is wrong?”

Theodora was shaking her fists with a shadowy face.

“… What the captain wants to do is the right thing.”

Paola, who had no choice but to say the obvious, sighed deeply again. A corner of my heart was stuffy. Said to clear her thoughts while swinging her sword, Paola stood up.

It was just when news came that Prince 1’s swordsmanship teacher had returned.