Cedric turned his head when he heard my voice echoing from the hallway.
“Ci-Ciel?”
He never seemed to expect me to appear.
The tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes suddenly fell, and his surprised eyes were looking at me.
It’s my first time seeing that adult man holding Cedric’s hand.
The man frowned as soon as he saw me, and he was wearing a uniform indicating that he was a member of the Imperial Knights.
But I, who was very surprised at the time, couldn’t afford to worry about that.
I grabbed the wrist of the man who was pulling Cedric’s hand.
“What the hell was happening here?”
My hands couldn’t even fit more than half of the thick man’s wrist.
It was a pity that my hands didn’t grow.
“His Highness doesn’t hate it.”
He warned while looking at his dark eyes that looked murky like frozen eyes.
I looked at the man fiercely.
I had no intention of backing down just because I’m young.
But the man was also tough.
He raised one eyebrow, but showed no reaction.
“Well, wait, Ciel, it’s not that…”
‘Well?’
I didn’t quite understand the situation.
Why does Cedric look embarrassed?
“Hey, sorry. This wasn’t-”
Just then, I heard the man snorting.
I turned my head and looked directly at the face of the man with a sarcastic smile on his face.
“Ha, you’re interfering without knowing the subject.”
“What?”
It was ridiculous.
‘Subject?’
Wasn’t it him, who was ignorant of the subject to forcefully grab the Crown Prince, the second-in-command of the Empire, even though the Prince says he doesn’t like it?
The man slowly released Cedric’s hand.
The moment Cedric’s hand escaped from his grip, he slapped my hand.
It was clearly a sign of showing that he was in a bad mood.
“You’re the rumored one, aren’t you? The one that was hired because of the oracle.”
It sounded like a voice I’ve heard somewhere.
‘Ah.’
It was certain.
The last time I played hide-and-seek with Cedric, it exactly matched the voice of the man who came into the room.
“Brian, stop-”
Cedric was restless and stopped him.
Then the man called Brian answered, shaking his head.
“It’s all right, Your Grace. What’s wrong with not being able to speak this much?”
There was no arrogance in his voice as he turned his gaze away from me and spoke to Cedric.
But those eerie black eyes had a strange glow.
‘Was that an illusion?
For some reason, the edge of his hazy eyes seemed to be left with an unpleasantly stinky arrogance.
“I asked you what you were doing earlier.” Brian turned his gaze to me and said.
“I was trying to take His Majesty to the class in order to fulfill my duty as a swordsmanship teacher.”
A swordsmanship teacher.
Those words stuck in my ears.
Then he tilted his head and asked.
“It seemed to you nothing but an act to describe ‘what have you done?'”
Now the situation was fully understood.
The man’s name was Brian Tekarke.
A member of the Imperial Knights and the son of Marquis Tekarke, who has close ties with the Imperial Family.
He was also a swordsmanship teacher who taught Cedric how to use a sword.
‘Oops…’
If I was the one who taught Cedric how to control mana, he was the one who taught Cedric pure swordsmanship that didn’t use mana.
As mana and pure sword skills aren’t related to one another, I was thinking of visiting him soon for more effective guidance.
‘I couldn’t believe we met like this.’
Anyway, it seems that I misunderstood him.
Eventually, I bowed my head to him and spoke politely.
“I’m sorry. There seems to have been a misunderstanding.”
“Ci-Ciel…!”
I raised my bowed head and reached out to him.
To shake hands.
“I’m Ciel, in charge of his Majesty’s mana control. I’m sorry to greet you this late. I look forward to your kind cooperation.”
Brian stared at my outstretched hand, and he said in a low voice.
“Okay.”
Then, ignoring my outstretched hand, he spoke to Cedric.
No matter how noble you are, do you at best ignore someone when they reach out their hand?
At that time, while he was hiding his anger inside, he spoke in a low voice.
“I wish there was no such thing in the future.”
“Oh, of course.” I replied with a nonchalant smile.
“I understand you’re not used to life in the Imperial Palace, but I hope you know when to intervene and back down.”
Such a place.
He said it in a slightly twisted way, but it was definitely true that he was talking about the orphanage on the street.
I mean, it was a subtle disgrace to my background as a commoner.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever get used to it.”
Brian said with a sneer.
Unfortunately, this scumbag would not have reached Cedric.
Because he deliberately stood against Cedric and spoke in a small voice that I could only hear.
“Brian!”
When Cedric called out his name, Brian looked startled.
But soon after sneaking a glance at me with his disdainful eyes, he led Cedric away.
Standing blankly in the hallway, I immediately came to my senses and grudgingly gritted my teeth.
‘I’d get a higher salary, you unlucky son of a bastard. We’ll see.’
✧✧✧
“So, you’re saying you’ve met the new commoner in person?”
A small man in an imperial knight’s uniform raised his voice, revealing his front teeth that looked like mouse teeth.
The man who sat cross-legged in the middle of the resting room for the knights, with the coat of the imperial knights hanging on his arms and a flashy sword adorned on the wall, smiled contentedly at the words of the man who resembled a mouse.
“Yeah, I’ve met her, and she’s not a big deal.” Brian sneered and raised the teacup and said.
“A child of an oracle, I thought there would be some extraordinary qualities about it. But that’s not the case at all. How ugly that stupid face looked.”
At those words, the five men surrounding Brian burst into laughter.
Brian calmly put down his teacup at the sound of laughter mixed with ridicule at the object of the backstory and half flattery to please himself.
“No, you have to have a sharp edge to teach the Crown Prince. What was she thinking about shamelessly pushing her face into the imperial family?”
“Well, she just doesn’t seem to know how to think.”
Once again, the living room was buzzing with laughter.
“No, to what extent are you saying that?”
A man with crumbly blonde hair pressed against his eyes and asked in a squeaky voice.
“When she saw that I was going to take his highness for class, she ran and started to get angry at me. She asked the Crown Prince what the hell was happening. It’s only natural for me as a teacher to take his highness to the practice ground.”
Brian’s answer was greeted with cheers from all over the place.
“Hey, the kid jumped in without knowing what’s going on and got angry right away?”
“She doesn’t have a clue…”
Brian murmured low, looking down at them.
“His Highness, well I don’t know what the hell was so beautiful about it.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I didn’t expect you to miss class because of that unlucky little kid.”
Brian buried himself in the back of a soft chair and opened his mouth with a voice full of complaints.
“Did you expect that? The gentle and docile prince skipped class because of that word. Then he wouldn’t even come to the next class, so it was hard to appease him.”
“Exactly what did you say? What was it…”
The blonde knight rolled his eyes around, stroking his sideburns with his fingers.
“I didn’t say much. I just hinted that if he had learned to adjust his mana from me instead of a new inexperienced teacher, he would have made progress faster.”
“Then His Highness jumped and became angry?”
“Yeah.”
Brian spoke in a low voice.
“I don’t know how she did it, but she must have been very good at it. If the one who didn’t make a loud noise gets so angry like that.”
“Oh, she’s a commoner with no place to accept someone like her!”
Everyone laughed as if they were happy at the remarks of the person who had front teeth like a mouse.
“Yes. I’m going to humiliate her sooner or later. Even if it wasn’t before, his Majesty has awakened his mana now, so if it’s not for that kid, the role of mana control teacher would return to me.”
Of course, that’s a natural thing to say!”
Satisfied with his men’s answers, Brian curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled despicably.
“I would make her miserable so that she would realize her place and never look at the Imperial Palace again.”
Once again, the lounge became noisy with laughter.
The feast of those who foretold victory was filled with laughter and enthusiasm.
But they overlooked one thing.
‘Oh, did you mean that?’
That was the fact that I, the person who was listening behind, heard their conversation through the open door of the lounge.
Now I know everything.
The reason why the gentle Cedric didn’t want to go to class.
And even the conspiracy of that unlucky guy, which was drizzling with dirty oil.
If he would retire, I would welcome him with open arms no matter what he did, but it was too early.
I had no intention of quietly leaving the Imperial Palace until my excess mana was healed.
“Well, I’m going to train now. If I didn’t go, the leader would say something about it.”
“Yes, Vice-Captain Tekarke!”
I stood still in front of the door of the lounge and laughed, hearing the gruff voices of the knights walking out of the lounge.
The first person I saw when the door was wide open was Brian Tekarke, whose face was greasy.
“Oh, hello.”
I smiled brightly at him who came out with the young knights behind him.
The knights standing behind Brian rolled their eyes and exchanged glances with each other.
It was evident that he was uncomfortable with my existence.
“You’re telling a very interesting story-”
I spoke to them in a fresh voice, smiling even more broadly.