Chapter 62

Chapter 62. The Royal Palace (2)

In any case, the sight of Katrin apologizing with a sorry expression, unlike how she had looked as a mercenary, seemed remarkably feminine and relaxed. As though this were her true self.

More than that, the way she treated the queen did not resemble an older sister and younger sister at all. It looked more like a daughter whining to her mother.

The whole scene looked as comfortable as a family sharing tea together.

Perhaps it was too comfortable. The queen lightly scolded her.

“You little thing, how old are you that you behave like that in front of a guest?”

But Katrin was utterly unbothered by the rebuke.

“It’s fine. He’s not a guest. He’s a comrade I fought beside.”

“Hm, then you seem closer than I thought.”

Tilting her head, the queen studied me once more.

Thanks to that, my relaxed nerves instantly tightened.

The queen’s interest, of all things. This was troublesome in its own way.

It would be best if this ended with mere sponsorship, but judging by the situation, it did not seem likely to end so simply.

Honestly, a good fight seemed easier. If my head was cut off by a blade, I could just start over, but if I mishandled a political relationship like this, I would probably only suffer without ever getting the chance to start over.

“I already told you what happened.”

“That’s exactly why it is difficult to understand so easily.”

She wore a curious smile as she looked at me, who still appeared quite young.

Certainly, looking at me, it might be difficult to believe all that had happened.

But perhaps that was precisely why they had chosen to sponsor me.

“That does not mean I distrust Katrin’s words. I am deeply grateful that you helped her, young lord. You were a great help not only to Katrin, but to House of Ratenhamar as well. As a member of that house, I thank you.”

Certainly, it was only natural for them to be grateful, since I had helped recover the relics her ancestor had left behind.

But I had already received more than enough in return, so this gratitude did not feel especially self-evident to me.

I had even ended up with that rather strange dagger.

Tch, that strange dagger had made it sound like something extraordinary was about to happen, but after that it had remained completely quiet.

I did not know whether that one moment had been the end of it, or whether it required some new trigger, but quite some time had passed and nothing else had changed.

Still, the dagger’s power had not vanished, so it was not really a problem.

“It is nothing. I already received more than enough compensation from Katrin—no, from Lady Katrine.”

“Oh? Katrin? So she really did take a liking to you.”

The queen turned toward her younger sister with an amused look. Katrin merely shrugged.

Still, this was clearly the queen’s presence chamber inside the royal palace. I had no idea whether such a relaxed atmosphere was really appropriate here. I was getting worried because I kept letting my guard down.

“That was compensation from Katrin and from our house. This sponsorship is best thought of as compensation from me personally. You need not feel burdened by it.”

It burdened me more, if anything. If anything, I was growing more worried that it would entangle me politically.

But there was no way I could say something like that in front of the queen. All I could do was thank her.

And then the conversation continued lightly.

We spoke of the ducal house, and of the adventure I had shared with Katrin. The queen was a very good listener.

“So that happened. What Katrin told me was so stiff and dry that I felt as though I were hearing a report.”

It seemed I was a better storyteller than I had thought.

And just as the pleasant talk was drawing to an end, the queen posed a question.

“May I ask what you plan to do after you graduate from the academy?”

A question about my future, out of nowhere. It felt as though I had suddenly been stabbed straight through by a sword.

This was troublesome.

I had made several plans, certainly, but none of them were things I could speak about here.

The queen’s lips still held a smile, but her eyes were shining sharply.

No matter how I looked at it, this was not the question of a benefactor merely worried about the future of the person she was supporting.

It was clearly a question laden with political intent.

Katrin, seated beside her, wore a slightly awkward expression.

It seemed they had already looked into my background thoroughly. Perhaps I had shown Katrin too much of what I could do.

I was still only a boy of fourteen, yet the way the two women looked at me was unmistakably the way one would look at an adult.

Pretending to be a child no longer seemed possible.

I sighed inwardly and opened my mouth.

“After I graduate…”

Knock, knock.

But before I could finish, there came a knock at the door.

Was that fortunate? But the queen was in the middle of speaking. Who would dare knock?

“Her Highness the Princess has arrived.”

With the maid’s announcement, the door opened.

And through it appeared a tiny little lady. A small doll-like girl of around ten years old.

When she saw Katrin inside, her face lit up at once, but the moment she noticed me, her expression stiffened.

She clasped her hands together and slowly walked inside.

“Mother, Aisha is here.”

She offered her greeting to the queen, and the queen said to her,

“Come here, my dear. I summoned you because there is someone I would like to introduce to you.”

The maid had clearly announced the arrival of the princess, and since the queen’s daughter’s name was Aisha—

Then the person who had just entered this room had to be Princess Aisha, the third child of the king of this kingdom, where royal children were few, and third in the order of succession.

They were introducing me to the princess? But why? Faced with such an unexpected development, all I could do was blink.

The princess seemed confused as well.

Still, when the queen spoke, I could not simply remain seated.

I rose and gave the princess a knightly bow.

“It is my first time meeting you, Your Highness the Princess. I am Alex de Gresia.”

Hm, this time I had not stumbled over my own name.

“I am Aisha de Carlos. It is nice to meet you.”

She gathered her skirt in her hands and returned the greeting.

The little girl’s dainty curtsey was very adorable. Somehow, it even felt a little healing.

“Hehe, it feels like a scene I should preserve as a painting.”

Seeing the princess and me exchange greetings, the queen laughed softly. Katrin smiled beside her as well.

Hm. Then perhaps not only the princess, but I too still looked adorable in their eyes. It left me feeling somewhat strange.

“The reason is that Aisha’s Awakening Day is not far off.”

She was ten years old, if I remembered correctly. It seemed the royal family’s timing for awakening was different from ours.

But what did the princess’s awakening have to do with introducing me to her?

The queen was not finished speaking.

“Her Awakening Day is still ahead of her, and she is still very young, but she must begin receiving a proper education. So this time, Aisha will be entering the academy as well.”

“The academy?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

This little girl was going to be my classmate? She was a child! The age difference between us—

Wait, there was hardly an age difference at all.

She was definitely a child. No, no, come to think of it, I was still a child too.

And now that I looked again, we were not even that different in height.

Good grief. Everyone had been treating me like an adult for so long that even I had become confused.

So I would be taking classes with children like this?

Well, in my previous life I had known that in a premodern society it was hardly strange for several age groups to be taught together, but seeing it in front of my own eyes was still awkward.

Wait, then did that mean my brother Manuel would also be a new student alongside this tiny princess?

Oh. Then the one in the more awkward position would definitely be my brother, not me.

“As fellow new students, please look after my daughter for me, young lord. She is still just a child. She has grown up only within the royal palace, so I worry a great deal. As a fellow new student, I entrust my child to you.”

At some point the queen had drawn near and was now clasping my hand tightly as she spoke.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

I was doomed. Completely doomed.

This was no longer about political positioning through sponsorship. It was no longer about what I would do after graduation.

The real disaster was right at the start, on the very first day of admission.

This was like fleeing a wolf only to step straight into a tiger’s den.

My face, half-numb with shock, was being watched by the princess, whose eyes were sparkling brightly.

---

After that utterly unexpected meeting, I finally left the royal palace.

Katrin told me to look forward to our next meeting, but I was in no state to think about what that meant.

Even after I returned to the townhouse, Manuel kept hovering nearby, curious about my visit to the palace, and even the servants who had shown me no interest before now looked at me strangely—but I had no room left in my mind to care about any of that.

Time passed quickly.

By the time I had steadied my shaken mind and resumed training, the day of entrance to the Royal Academy had arrived.

Perhaps because I had visited the palace, life in the townhouse had not been too bad, and on the day we went to the entrance ceremony, I was allowed to ride in the same carriage as Manuel.

“You also bear the name of House Gresia, so do not do anything that will disgrace the ducal house. If I hear even the slightest strange rumor, I will report it to the family at once, so behave yourself properly!”

On the way there, Manuel fixed his eyes sternly on me and delivered his warning.

Apparently he was trying to act imposing, but to me it was simply adorable.

Still, it seemed I was the only one who felt that way, because the townhouse butler riding in the carriage with us nodded in obvious approval.

The carriage headed south through the capital.

The royal palace stood at the center of the capital, surrounded by the various ministries, knightly orders, and the mansions of the nobility.

And in the south of the capital, on a wide tract of land adjoining the southern outer wall, stood the Royal Academy.

A massive institution of learning known as the Royal Academy, or simply the Royal Institute.

After the Great War, once the first king founded this kingdom, it had been one of the very first national institutions he established.

The war had been won, yes, but the world was still full of monsters, and the newborn royal house needed a steady supply of trained people to lay the foundation of the kingdom.

Moreover, there was a need to systematically educate the inherited abilities descended from the Heroes who had led the world to victory in the Great War.

Of course, beneath those fine-sounding reasons lay another, more important one.

It was to take the children of the kingdom’s nobility and regional powerful families as hostages.

The method of marriage alliances, with nobles taking many wives, could not be used carelessly because inherited abilities would spread too widely and uncontrollably.

So, under the pretext of training talent, they had no choice but to use the children as hostages instead.

That was why not only the Kingdom of Carlos, but also the Empire and the other kingdoms, had all rushed to establish academies in their capitals after the Great War and compel the sons and daughters of the nobility to enroll.

The carriage rolled along beside an endlessly high wall for quite some time before finally arriving at the academy’s main gate.

The great gate stood wide open, and elegant carriages bearing noble family crests were passing through it.

They belonged to nobles and other people of rank and influence.

Beside that was a smaller gate through which people entered on foot. Judging by their clothes and the way they looked around nervously, they were clearly commoners.

It was a world far more advanced than what one might expect of a medieval kingdom, and yet it was also a rigid hierarchy built upon the supernatural power known as inherited abilities. So the sight was only natural.

Had I failed to awaken, or awakened with an ability of no worth, I would have entered through that gate as well.

No, perhaps I would have died before I ever had the chance.

The people entering on foot were carefully inspected one by one by the guards, but the carriages bearing noble family crests passed through without inspection.

When our carriage arrived, the guards recognized it as belonging to House Gresia and let it pass while actually saluting.