ISMFB 31

CHAPTER 31

“…Kaath, get up.”

Linaria, after briefly hesitating, spoke firmly.

But Kaath shook his head.

Through the part where their hands touched, she could feel his fingertips trembling.

“I’m not into that kind of thing.”

She had no intention of taming him the way Maximilian had.

She had no desire to use violence on him, either.

“I’m not going to abandon you. I won’t hurt you. I told you—I love you.”

But Kaath didn’t seem to believe her.

“You have a special ability, right?”

“A… special ability?”

“I mean a power that normal people don’t have. Like controlling light, for instance.”

To Kaath, who had been consumed by the fear of being discarded, the question seemed so out of left field that he only nodded after a delay.

“That’s enough, then.”

Linaria gave a faint smile.

After breakfast, Linaria went to see her father.

Was it proof that his condition was improving?

Until now, her father had always been someone confined to the bedroom—more specifically, to the bed.

But today, the place she found him was his study.

“Liri. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, Father.”

Behind Dante stood Collin. He looked worn out, even though it had only been a day since she’d last seen him.

Linaria felt a pang of guilt.

“I’ve decided to punish Sir Collin for failing his duty.”

“Sir Collin did nothing wrong. He was just following my request. I insisted, and what could he have done to stop me?”

She desperately defended Collin, insisting that punishing him would be unfair.

“I promised to behave, but I couldn’t resist my curiosity and wandered off. I ended up getting lost and stayed out until late.”

“……”

“It was entirely my fault.”

“…If you insist that much, I’ll let Sir Collin go unpunished.”

Just as Linaria began to feel relieved—

“But,”

Dante said sternly,

“I’m assigning you a personal guard.”

“……”

“About thirty people for now.”

…That was overkill.

“‘For now’—does that mean you’ll add more later?”

“Yes.”

He’d have no excuse if people accused him of building an army.

“From what I hear, it’s only natural for girls your age to be accompanied by plenty of guards when going out.”

Linaria imagined walking around with thirty guards and shut her eyes tight before opening them again.

“Father, first, let me return this.”

She handed him the Obel signet ring.

“I heard you met the Empress. Nothing happened, I assume?”

“Yes. It seemed like she just stepped out for a short walk.”

“And I heard you bought a shop…”

She’d used the money meant for clothes to buy a shop. In front of the Empress, no less.

She was fully prepared for a scolding.

Just as she was about to explain, Dante handed her a stack of documents.

“Review this first.”

“Father, this is…”

“I picked the most popular dress boutiques around. Go ahead and choose as many as you like.”

If it hadn’t been the Empress, she wouldn’t have gone for such showy spending.

Clearly, her father had gotten the wrong idea.

“Do none of them suit your tastes? Or do you need more?”

“No, no. That’s not it at all.”

Linaria realized something.

Once Father gets fixated on something, he goes all in.

Now she was at risk of owning several boutiques and traveling with thirty guards.

She gently pushed the documents away.

“My wardrobe is more than enough.”

Dante looked visibly disappointed.

To cheer him up, Linaria handed him that gift.

“Here. It’s a present.”

“This is…”

As Dante unwrapped it, his mouth fell open.

“I commissioned a jeweler while I was out. You shared a precious secret with me, remember?”

It was a luminous stone.

Ordinary luminous stones were rough and unremarkable—barely more than a pebble on the road.

But the one Dante received had been intricately cut to look like a beautiful gem.

“Liri…”

In the bright room, it looked like nothing more than a well-polished stone.

But to her father, it held cherished memories, making it more dazzling than any jewel.

“This is the greatest gift of my life.”

Who would think to polish a glowing stone?

Logically, anyone would say it’s a waste of time and money compared to cutting real gemstones.

But Linaria had believed that little rock held value.

It was just something I said to amuse a child for a moment… but she remembered it.

Dante’s eyes turned misty.

“Is there anything you want? Oh, right—you asked me for private property last time. The signet ring is too dangerous, so how about—”

“Father.”

He was practically preparing to legally transfer family assets to her.

“I’d like to hold a knighting ceremony.”

“A knighting ceremony?”

Dante, who seemed ready to pull stars from the sky for her, paused.

“There’s a special knighting ceremony only the direct line of a ducal house can perform, right?”

One could only obtain a contract sigil by bloodline. But there was one exception.

“I want to have my own knight.”

Those who held the Grand Sigil could appoint a knight once in their lifetime by bestowing a Minor Sigil to someone without a contract.

Perhaps long ago, such privileges were used to create loyal retainers.

As time passed and more people gained contracts through birth, the tradition dwindled, until now it was limited to a one-time exception.

“Knights are all born with contracts, so they’ll look down on me. But someone who received a sigil from you—they’d be different.”

“They’d look down on you? That’s ridiculous.”

“Father, do you know what society calls me behind my back?”

Linaria knew this would hurt him, but she said it anyway.

“They call me ‘half-blooded.’ How many nobles in the empire don’t know that the Obel daughter is a half-breed?”

Dante fell silent.

“Rather than be surrounded by people who secretly mock me, I want to have one person I can truly trust.”

Dante’s face hardened, then he sighed.

“So be it. You want to choose someone from the commoners, I presume. I’ll look into it.”

“I already have someone in mind. Due to some unfortunate events, he’s currently a slave, but he…”

“He? It’s a man?”

At that, Dante’s face completely froze.

“What kind of scoundrel is he?”

“Scoundrel?”

It was the first time Linaria had ever heard her father speak so harshly.

Her eyes widened in shock.

“I mean… what kind of person is he?”

He tried to cover it up, but his tone was still rough.

“Don’t worry about his skills. No one can beat him.”

Hearing that made Dante’s face go pale.

The strongest man in the world, she said.

He must’ve been truly smitten—just like his wife once had been.

There was no other explanation for her saying the exact same thing.

Apparently, that scoundrel had completely stolen his daughter’s heart.

Yes… he was speaking from experience.

Kaath was found near the mansion and dragged in by the servants.

“We spotted a man matching the description loitering nearby.”

“…A slave, huh.”

Dante swallowed his words.

“This morning, Anna told me she saw a slave near the grounds. I guess he didn’t leave because I accidentally became his owner yesterday.”

“I suppose something happened yesterday that I wasn’t told about.”

“He said he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. I found him while he was escaping the black market. At the time, I didn’t plan to take him in, so I even removed his choker and told him to go. But… he refused.”

Most of what she said was true.

Only a few details had been reworded or left out.

“Now that it’s come to this, he has nowhere else to go. No family. I want to make him my knight.”

Dante examined Kaath’s hair and eyes closely.

“He didn’t dye it, did he?”

Kaath shook his head.

“He says he never has.”

As agreed beforehand, Kaath kept his mouth shut while Linaria answered as if she didn’t know anything.

“I see.”

Dante wanted to honor his daughter’s wishes, but there were still several concerns.

“Liri, do you have to make this slave your knight? If it suits him better, he could work as a gardener or a stable hand—”

“He’s good with a sword.”

He tried to persuade her, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Just as Dante was hesitating—

“My lady, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

“It’s me.”

As usual, Magnus strode in confidently.

“What’s going on here?”

Dante explained the situation to the bewildered Magnus.

“What?!”

A slave of unclear origin, as her knight?

“Linaria, bow your head. I need to check your temperature.”

Magnus treated her like she was sick in the head, but Linaria lowered her head without complaint.

Then she whispered into his ear,

“Tower Master. He’s the one we were searching for at the Imperial Palace.”

“What?”

So making him her guard wasn’t a rash decision—it was premeditated.

Magnus looked at Kaath again, more seriously this time.

Just what kind of guy is he, to make Linaria go this far?

“He doesn’t even look like he can swing a stick, let alone a sword. What kind of knight is this supposed to be? I doubt his skills. Let’s see what he’s got.”

“……”

“I bet I could beat him with a few swings of my staff.”

Magnus gave Kaath a couple of light pokes.

Then Dante cut in.

“No. I’ll do it.”

“What? Aren’t you still recovering? You shouldn’t be getting involved in things like this.”

“Linaria has requested a formal Obel knighting. That means I should be the one to test him.”

From what he’d heard, it didn’t seem like his daughter was simply infatuated. But there were still uncertainties.

If Kaath proved himself, he’d accept both his daughter’s decision—and the man.

Noticing Dante’s intentions, Magnus stepped forward quickly.

“Then I’ll serve as judge.”

The arrival of a gloriously biased referee.