77 – The most loyal knight

* * * *

A treacherous criminal who is infinitely weak and skinny, unable to properly fulfill her role as a target for Her Highness’s magic training.

That was the impression everyone present had on me.

Except for one emperor.

Maybe that’s why, the movement of the eyes looking at me is unusual.

A look in the eyes of someone who couldn’t believe it because they recalled the skeleton-like appearance of the time in their heads.

The other person looked at me as if he was feeling guilty, as if there was something poking around.

In the midst of so many different eyes, full of joy, a look with a feeble doubt spoke to me.

“I will ask you one thing.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Emperor Alexei Ekaterina asked me.

“Do you remember the hair color of the alchemist you and I met?”

The dimples that were smiling lightly grew thicker.

It’s because I faced an obvious question that clearly showed what I was asking.

Can anyone in the world forget that hair color even after seeing it?

In other words, that was what the emperor was asking me to do.

‘Are you really the pin I remember?’ I would like to ask you to clear up the question.

Since the only two people who had personally met the alchemist, me and the emperor, he seemed to have judged that there was no more reliable source for determining authenticity than this.

“How could I forget?”

I raised my bowed head and faced the emperor’s face. For a moment, the emperor’s eyes trembled vaguely, but no one discussed Buddhist scriptures with me.

Even though the current emperor has become the owner of an unprecedented amount of power.

Even though Lily, the princess, still bowed her head.

For those who knew my every move, no meddling would be forgiven until the Emperor himself had discussed him.

It was clear that he was asking himself whether he was qualified to act like that, rather than just disrespect.

I raised my eyes that had been facing the emperor for a moment and looked at the sky, to be exact, at the ceiling chandelier.

It is studded with various jewels, colorful… A chandelier that looks like a rainbow.

“Just in time, it’s over my head, so I don’t think I need to explain in detail.”

“……her.”

Does that mean it’s ridiculous, or does it mean that I really confirmed that I was the pin.

Such doubts for a while.

As the emperor tapped his knee and let out a hearty laugh, it was clear that the latter was the correct answer.

“Ha ha ha ha! Really! Really! Really you’re the right pin! Ha ha ha!”

The laughter stopped, and the emperor’s eyes turned serious and he let out a light sigh.

“Huh…”

“…To you, I have no idea what words I should use to express my apology.”

As if the emperor was indignant, he pursed his lips and clenched his fists with a frown.

Perhaps he is recalling the past when he had no choice but to helplessly watch his one and only daughter collapse.

“As you know, an emperor shouldn’t bow his head recklessly. He’s also an emperor who was able to continue his life thanks to you, so you might think he’s shameless.”

If it was just a light conversation over tea, it would have been possible to cut him off.

However, the fact that the place I was standing in now was the audience room, and the atmosphere that was not light at all made me keep my mouth shut.

For that reason, the lament of the emperor, who has a listener but does not respond, continues.

“I’m just sorry. I can’t think of anything other than this. I, who was only a child, passed on all the responsibility and hope of saving my daughter to you… I’m a sinner.”

“And thank you. For saving my daughter, for Lily, for supporting Lily, for not forgetting Lily, here… for coming to see me in good health… Really, thank you. I can’t help but thank you.”

The emperor bites his reddened lips even more strongly, and veins appear clearly in his fists.

The vaguely blurred eyes show that he is forcibly holding back the tears he should shed.

The position of a strong emperor.

The position I kept to keep my promise to become someone who can protect Lily on my behalf.

It seemed to have become a huge dam that prevents even natural emotions from being freely expressed.

It wasn’t hard to spot him, so I opened one of the floodgates on the huge dam and let go of his pent-up feelings.

“Don’t try to apologize when you don’t have to. I don’t even want anything in return. I didn’t do it because you wanted me to bow that high head.”

“I did it because I knew how to do it, and it was a step I took with my own will to achieve a dream that is as high as the sky that contains my desire to climb a tree that I can’t climb… I shouldn’t.”

“So, bow your head, Your Majesty, and I hope you will not undermine my will.”

“Didn’t you resent Jim for turning his head to protect his daughter?”

“No resentment.”

He lifted his slightly bowed head and met the emperor’s eyes. No, I showed my will.

It was announced that they were so pure and happy that not even a single cloud of resentment could be seen.

“On the contrary, I’m grateful. For the fact that you kept the promise you made with me that night.”

“…One thing. I didn’t keep my promise not to show you the letter until the time was right.”

“…”

letter.

The moment I heard that word, my eyebrows twitched involuntarily.

Even though I realized love for the first time, I was bullied and insulted by the person I love right in front of my eyes.

It was the word ‘punishment’, which is like a dark history, that solved the depression that I couldn’t bear to bear.

I move a step that does not fall even when the time has come,

It was the letter that the emperor wrote in his eyes full of regret at the dawn sensibility.

That was the reason why I wrote a letter that was not even planned.

I just wrote a letter without realizing it because Dawn was able to release my feelings of sadness without any blockage, and the emperor pushed me on my back.

Read at noblemtl. com

Just in time, Finn’s soul was just beginning to resonate with me, so it helped to capture Finn’s feelings as he watched everything in my left eye.

In other words, it became the only blemish that existed in my plan because I was swept away by emotion and did something that was not even planned.

“Did you even assume that? Just in case Lily realized the truth? Did you think I would open the letter to hold on to the slightest bit of hope?”

… It’s not. really just… It was so sad that I wrote it without thinking.

When I pursed my lips, unable to contain the truth, I saw Lily, who was glancing at me from the side of her eye.

Apparently, Lily was also quite concerned about the inside story of the letter.

But since she had a glimpse of my feelings, the sidelong glance at me disappeared with a shake of the shoulder.

… okay.

Lily realized that the emperor’s reaction was baffling, not knowing that I had written the letter completely unintentionally.

damn it

It would be embarrassing to have been caught punished by God, but now the inside story of the letter has been revealed.

And the fact about the letter, which is like a memory she still keeps.

“I’ll leave that up to your imagination.”

“…Puff.”

laughed

Lily laughed a lot. that I laughed

It must have been so funny that I couldn’t stand it and burst into laughter because I couldn’t speak honestly.

The only good thing was that it was a small smile that only I could hear.

“Looking at it now, you two are wearing the same ring. And that on the ring finger of your left hand.”

“”ah.””

It seemed that the ring on my hand was visible because I wiggled my fingers to endure embarrassment.

“You don’t have to be so nervous. I’m not trying to blame you, but how much Lily cherished the ring made from the hairpin you gave me…”

“Ah, Obama!!”

“Now that you’re a daughter who can even yell at her father, it must be that love is so great.”

The emperor was pleased to see Lily, the dark cloud that had hung over the last time he had seen him, and now even no trace of it was visible.

Then he turned around and looked at me and said.

“No, no. You’re the one who’s really great. It’s you. Even if love is great, that a child who lost his or her parents doesn’t give up even for a moment… It’s a feat that no ordinary person can bear.”

“I just gave my all to my sun.”

“It’s the sun… You probably don’t know what it means when you discuss the sun in front of me…”

Sun.

A word meaning the emperor of an empire.

In other words, the Emperor is now telling me this.

‘It’s a remark that could lead to being arrested for treason if done wrong.’ Called.

But I didn’t want to bend my will, so I just looked straight up at the emperor and opened my mouth.

“That’s why I said that he was the owner of the empire. To me.”

‘And for you, Finn.’

“I have no intention of serving the sun other than Princess Liliciana.”

‘Because she’ll be your only sun.’

Finn’s will was like that, so I have no intention of bending it.

When that meaning was clearly revealed, the silent escort knights shook their shoulders as if they thought that this was going too far.

“stop.”

Of course, even that small movement stopped at the emperor’s gesture.

“…You deserve it. You deserve it….”

“Anyway, the only person who will inherit the throne is Lily. It’s not that wrong, so I’ll let you do that.”

“I’m sorry. Your Majesty.”

“Why, there is no one more loyal than you in this world. If you can’t even allow this, how can you be called an emperor? You can also be called an ungrateful beast.”

“Your Majesty. I have one request…”

more loyal than me

The figure of Pin that came to mind and the flowers I brought from the secret garden reminded me of it, so I said that with a blurry end.

Now, really, the fact that I had to let you go wasn’t too sad.

“Tell me.”

“…May I set up a tombstone in a sunny place where the princess’s bedroom can be seen the best?”

“If that’s the case… there’s probably a tombstone erected because you thought you were dead…”

It was probably set that way so Lily could keep looking at me.

I didn’t know about it, but if the tombstone had already been erected, it would have been fortunate.

“Is it someone’s grave?”

“…yes.”

It should have been built right away, but this was the place that came to mind as soon as the schedule to head to the empire came up.

“It’s okay. Then call someone…”

“No, I want to do it alone.”

“Your status is the same, but you are now visiting as a state guest of the empire. Is there any country in the world that would allow a state guest to dig a grave?”

“This is my earnest request. I hope you will listen. It is a tomb that has meaning only when I build it on my own.”

You won’t get help from anyone else.

I wouldn’t let a mage use magic to dig up the soil.

With a shovel if you have one.

If you don’t even have that, I’ll dig it up with my own hands, erect a tombstone, and decorate it with flowers.

For the most loyal knight I know.

For him who sacrificed his life to keep his loyalty to his master and rose to the sun.

For the soul of Finn who helped me until the end and left.

Because this is the only thing I can do.

Like a knight only for Lily.

So that I can always protect and watch Lily closest to me.

I have to plant the sunflowers I brought with Lily’s bedroom in a sunny place where Finn’s sun can best be seen.

There was a moment of silence, and the emperor, unable to find a way to persuade me, shook his head and said,

“…Ha, do that. If you need anything else, I’ll attach a dedicated lady-in-waiting, so feel free to tell me.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”