0&1 Ch 20.4

I did it.

I thought that while trying to calm Alex down. I hadn’t intended to accept someone else’s oath of loyalty.

How could I take responsibility for that? I can’t be King. If Alex swore allegiance to me, the best he could hope for was to follow me, lose his power, and end up exiled to some corner of the kingdom.

Hmm? That sounds like a good life.

No, I can’t think that way.

I don’t know if Alex is driven by a desire for power or glory. He probably wants glory. He is a knight, after all.

If Alex regrets it, I’ll send him back to Edward.

I waited for Alex to calm down, then returned to the banquet hall with him.

There were things I needed to say to Alex. But I would get to say them another time.

We’d talk about it when we got back. About what Alex was thinking. About what I was thinking.

It was strange that suddenly someone had offered to be on my side, and that I believed them. I felt strangely hopeful.

Was I too used to failure? I felt lightheaded. I kept checking where Alex was standing.

Alex stood behind me as if nothing had happened. He stood in a position where he could protect me at any moment, moving in sync with me.

“Do you want to go check on Edward?”

“No, it’s okay,” Alex answered. 

I don’t think it’s okay.

Edward was staring in our direction. Grey was behind him. When our eyes met, he noticed Alex and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t seem to be coming this way.

That was Grey’s place. The other nobles were standing a little away from Edward and Grey.

Grey, the Prime Minister’s son, had been close to both Princes, but he didn’t take sides and was now with Edward.

The nobles were watching the situation.

Alex looked down at me. He seemed flustered. His expression hadn’t changed, but his eyes were wide.

I casually went to stand by the wall. Grey would remain by Edward’s side from now on.

Grey did not hide the fact that he was exchanging messages with Edward in front of me. He informed Edward of the situation between me and the Queen, and occasionally passed on Edward’s messages to me, as if to maintain a balance.

I was always aware that Grey was on Edward’s side. There were times when I felt that he was worried about me, and times when I felt close to him.

The situation remains unchanged. Edward will take everything. I just have to hand it over to him one by one.

Edward turned to the King and said something. It seemed as if the two were in conversation. The nobles did not interrupt the conversation between the King and the Prince.

“You want to go to the academy?” The King repeated. 

The banquet hall fell silent.

Soon, the nobles began to murmur. I couldn’t understand why they were acting that way.

“Yes. I have defeated the enemies of the country and relieved my father’s worries, so I would like to complete my studies as I had originally intended.”

“Isn’t it still before the Academy’s enrollment period?” The King asked.

The nobles looked at me. They thought they were glancing discreetly, but there were dozens of eyes on me.

The Queen was smiling brightly.

It seemed that the only person who did not know that I was entering the academy this year was the King.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Prince Joffrey is also planning to enroll this year.” The Queen said.

“That’s good. You can help with his entrance exam, Joffrey,” the  King said.

Me?

Me, help Edward with his exam? I almost asked him to repeat himself.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” I just answered that. I had to leave for the Academy tomorrow to make it in time for the entrance ceremony.

It didn’t matter. The King wouldn’t care about my schedule. There was no need to tell him that I didn’t have time to help Edward study for the exam.

Grey was staring at me. The atmosphere in the banquet hall was still strange. If this were a game, the dialogue window would have been filled with phrases like ‘Murmur Murmur,’ Roughly drawn nobles would have been visible above the dialogue window.

Why are they acting like that?

When I looked back at Alex, he asked me with a confused look on his face, “Your Highness, did you know that Prince Edward was going to the academy?”

“No.” 

It didn’t seem like the right time to say that I knew. Alex still looked uncomfortable.

“But… you didn’t seem surprised.”

Should I have been surprised?

I looked around at the nobles. I guess I should have been surprised.

In the game, Edward was in the same grade as Joffrey. While Edward was away on a military campaign, the Queen suggested that I enroll in the academy. The Queen wanted me to build friendships with the young nobles and make allies.

At the border, victory reports were coming in every day, and Edward’s popularity was skyrocketing. I was wondering when he would end the war and return. He couldn’t be at the border if I was going to attend the academy.

I thought Edward might be late for the entrance ceremony, but I never thought he wouldn’t attend at all.

If he didn’t enroll this year, I would have to postpone my enrollment for some reason. Joffrey and Edward were enrolling in the same year as the heroine.

But that was just my logic. 

However, that was my situation, and Edward had been fighting in the war until recently. It was strange that I wasn’t surprised that a Prince who was a war hero wanted to go to the academy as soon as he returned.

It was too late to act surprised now.

I just acted as usual. When I couldn’t help but be in the same place as Edward, I stole glances at him as I always did.

Edward didn’t seem lonely like he used to. People gathered around him and talked to him incessantly. Grey answered for him, but when Edward opened his mouth, he stepped back.

The Queen was looking at Edward.

My heart ached. I sighed and turned my gaze away.

I saw the nobles approaching me.

I motioned to Alex. He lowered his head to my height.

“Let’s go.”

Now? Alex didn’t seem to understand.

However, he didn’t ask again. He pushed the nobles aside and made a path for me to pass.

As we left the banquet hall, I could breathe again.

“Alex. Do you have time right now?”

“Command me to make time, Your Highness. I am your knight.”
“Really? Then make time. Follow me. I have something to tell you.”

Without another word, Alex followed me to my bedroom.

“Your Highness? You’re back early.” Dot rushed out to greet me. I waved him away.

“No need for tea. I’m going to rest. Don’t follow me.”

Dot’s eyes widened. I closed the bedroom door and pulled up a chair to sit next to the bed. The bedroom was the most protected place in my palace. There were two guards on the way there. No one but Dot was allowed to enter.

Edward had been coming and going like it was his own home since he was a child.

What is he actually? Is he a sword master or something?

He can’t be stronger than Alex, can he?

I was a little curious. Would Alex be able to save me if something happened?

“Sit down.”

Alex sat down on the servant’s chair. The chair looked small because of his size. His legs looked uncomfortable as he sat with them folded under him.

“Do you want to stand up?”

Alex stood up from his seat. Now I was the one who felt uncomfortable. I didn’t want to look up at him and talk.

“I’m sorry. Sit back down.”

Without complaint, Alex sat back down.

I realized that I was tormenting him. He sat on the chair, curling up his whole body.

Let’s just talk.

Looking at him, my head cleared. He was proof that I had changed something in the game.

I hadn’t changed the game that much. I didn’t have the power to bring about that kind of change.

But within the game, a little twist was allowed.

In the game, Edward had an unhappy childhood. The heroine was currently unhappy.

Two unhappy people fall in love and become happy.

Come to think of it, this game wanted a common and cliché story. Unwavering love.

When playing the game, if I hadn’t thought, ‘Isn’t it Joffrey who can comfort the heroine, not Edward?’ and continued to push for Edward, the two would have ended up together.

I would have gotten a happy ending with Edward, and the heroine would have become the Princess.

Edward was hard to win over, but once he opened his heart, he trusted the other person deeply. He was emotionally deprived and liked to cling to the other person.

The female protagonist seemed to like cute people, so she probably ended up liking Edward too.

“Alex. This might sound strange, but I hope you’ll listen to me.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please go ahead.”
“How old are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I’m an orphan, so I don’t know exactly when I was born. I’m sorry.”

Alex bowed his head.

“No, you don’t have to apologize.”

The conversation was getting complicated.

Anyway, Alex’s age wasn’t important.

“You’re planning to enter the Academy next year, right?”
“No.”
“Huh?”

Even before I got to the main point, everything was already going wrong.

“I heard that you’re enrolling this year,” Alex said.

Of course, I had to enroll this year.

”And?”
“I’m going to enroll too.”
“No, you can’t.”

“Why not?” He asked back. Why not, he says…

“You have to enroll next year, right?”
“I don’t want to.”

Alex stood up from his chair. He was huge and intimidating.

It made me want to sit him back down in the chair.

“Why don’t you want to?”

“You can’t have bodyguards or servants at the academy,” Alex said. “What if something happens to you? Who will protect you?”

“The academy’s… security guards?”

“Security guards?” Alex asked incredulously. Why are you disregarding the security guards?

Even though they couldn’t do anything while Edward killed Joffrey in the game.

It was a noble reason worthy of a knight. Alex wasn’t being stubborn. There was no reason to stop him from protecting someone he was loyal to.

But I had to stop him anyway. 

“I want you to enroll next year.”
“I don’t want to.” 

Alex was a knight who expressed his opinions well.

Dot wasn’t like that. Well, he wasn’t a servant, so it was natural for him to be different. I was so used to loyal servants that I thought loyalty was synonymous with obedience.

But when I thought about it again, the two words were very similar.

He said he would be loyal to me. Didn’t that mean he would listen to me? Was I misunderstanding what it meant to be a loyal knight?

“It’s an order.”

I tried to say something that would work on Dot.

“No.”

It didn’t work on Alex.

“Hey…”

“I’ll follow you even if I have to hitch a ride on the back of the carriage leaving tomorrow,” Alex threatened. He seemed serious.

Are you really planning to enroll this year?

No, then Alex wouldn’t be a junior character anymore.

I wasn’t sure if this was a big deal or not.

Is the junior character setting really that important? Is it? Can I change it? Is it okay to change it?

It seemed like an insignificant detail, but at the same time, it seemed like a crucial part of the story.

In any case, Alex wouldn’t back down. I think I gave him vague permission.

I forgot what I was going to say for a moment. The important thing wasn’t Alex’s enrollment.

The next day, Alex and I were riding in a carriage to the academy.