The Monster Lady and the Holy Knight - Chapter 45

“Look at this too, isn’t it beautiful? This is the sapphire necklace my brother Felix bought me as a birthday gift.”

Johanna smiled sweetly, holding up a blue gemstone the size of a child’s fist. Leon, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, lowered his gaze. The sapphire gleamed as if mocking the fact that he had been trapped in the princess’s chambers for two hours.

He had been dragged here the moment they arrived at the palace. He was worried about the woman left waiting alone in the reception room. He hadn’t given any hints, conscious of the perceptive princess.

“Oh, is this kind of talk boring for a knight who wields a sword?”

“Not at all. I think it suits Your Highness’s ocean-like blue eyes quite well.”

Leon replied with a dry smile to the princess, who wore a pout. In many ways, she was a troublesome woman to deal with.

The emperor’s one and only cherished daughter, Johanna, was in some ways worse than a tyrant. If she had been born a son who could inherit the throne, she would have killed her brothers and become a disaster. Though she always smiled sweetly, it was clear she concealed a knife beneath that demeanor.

For this reason, she was the first person Leon approached within the imperial family. Johanna was at the core of power. She arranged meetings with the imperial princes, audiences with the emperor, and connections with other high-ranking nobles. Without her, he wouldn’t have made it to the heart of the imperial palace so quickly, even with the Berg name.

“Really? Then can you put the necklace on me, just like that day we happened to meet at the jeweler’s?”

With a cheerful twirl, her dress billowing, Johanna swept her golden hair to one side, exposing her neck. Leon’s cold gaze vanished just before she looked at the full-length mirror in front of her. He just needed to indulge her until today, until the emperor publicly guaranteed the safety of the assimilated one.

Without a word, Leon took the necklace and fastened it. The princess looked into the mirror and asked, catching his eyes in the reflection.

“How does it look?”

“Even better than I imagined.”

The princess turned around after his curt response. She was so short that her outstretched hand barely reached his chest.

“That’s a relief. I was worried it wouldn’t suit me. I have to have everything beautiful. Everything that sparkles.”

In that case, the princess would surely want to have the woman with red eyes more than anyone else. There was nothing in the world that shone more brightly than her.

“A crow.”

Leon spoke suddenly. The princess halted her hand, which had almost touched his face, and tilted her head.

“A crow?”

“You remind me of a crow.”

In truth, it was a mutter that came out while thinking of the woman’s black hair. The princess, unaware, laughed as if she’d heard a jester’s amusing joke.

“Haha, what a strange thing to say. You have a more eccentric side than I expected. It’s surprising.”

Leon silently watched the smiling princess until her laughter faded, then asked, “I’ve wanted to ask for a while—why don’t you use informal speech with me?”

“Hmm, well, I suppose it’s a form of respect.”

The princess stroked her chin before touching her well-glossed lips with a finger.

“When I share my heart with a man, I believe mutual respect is important, even in our conversations.”

Leon blinked slowly, lowering his gaze. Then he gently pulled her hand away from his arm.

“Your Highness, I am a knight who has offered my soul to God.”

“Really? My spies told me you violated the priest’s commandment and saved the assimilated one.”

Leon felt a subtle anxiety creeping in at the mention of the one person he wished she wouldn’t bring up.

Those born into privilege, who have always had everything they wanted, were truly arrogant. He recalled the woman who acted as if she’d received the world for a cheap sword or a little warmth at night.

“I heard bodily fluids had to be exchanged. What could a grown man and woman have been doing alone in the wilderness?”

“It’s astonishing how Your Highness’s ears reach even the faintest whispers of the Holy See.”

“Do you like that woman? You looked at her with such affection.”

The princess spoke as if she had witnessed it herself, though it was merely gossip whispered by her servants. Naturally, the memory of being watched at the weapon shop and followed near the inn surfaced.

Not the Pope’s spies, but bugs sent by the princess?

“What is it that you liked so much? She’s pretty, but girls like her are common on the streets. Was she special simply because she was your first?”

“I think there’s been a serious misunderstanding.”

Leon stared expressionlessly at the princess, pausing briefly before continuing, “Nothing like what you’re imagining happened. She’s with me because I need her. If there had been any real feelings involved, I wouldn’t have handed her over to His Holiness.”

The princess only offered a faint smile, as if she already knew everything.

A moment of silence passed, their gazes locked. Just as Leon was about to suggest leaving, the princess spoke.

“That’s a relief. Then you won’t be angry to hear that the venue for today’s audience has changed.”

‘What a relief’ was one of the princess’s favorite phrases. And every time she said it, the exact opposite—a misfortune—always followed. Leon’s face hardened as he sensed a foreboding atmosphere, and the princess’s smile deepened.

“You see, His Majesty has become more devoted to religion lately. It seems he finds it awkward to pardon a condemned heretic whose execution has already been decided by the Holy See.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“His Majesty decided to have a duel between Sir Theodore and the assimilated one. That way, we can truly discern God’s will.”

Theodore. He was the princess’s guard and one of the few skilled knights in Kart who mastered advanced swordsmanship.

Leon barely swallowed the curse that rose to his throat. She wasn’t ready to face someone of his caliber. She’d just learned a few stances, just begun to get used to the sword.

“Don’t worry. If the assimilated one is genuinely repentant, there won’t be a problem. I heard from the church that, with God on his side, even a shepherd boy with a stick and stones could defeat a giant with a spear.”

Yes, perhaps, if God were truly with her, such miracles would be possible. But she is an assimilated one. Not with God, but with the demon.

All those eloquent words were just her way of offering the assimilated one as a sacrifice for the nobles who loved gruesome and extravagant spectacles. Leon twisted his lips into a smile.

He’d been played.

Though he’d spent his life dealing with nobles like these, he’d somehow forgotten that they valued the lives of commoners less than the stones on the road.

Leon suppressed the cold disgust and spoke calmly, “Your Highness. That woman has an irreplaceable ability. Surely you know the importance of seeing beyond the fortress walls.”

“Of course. But it’s frightening to accept someone rejected by God’s servants. By the way, I don’t think I’ve seen your eyes shine that brightly since entering this room. Are you anxious?”

The princess was blatantly teasing him. Leon tried to gauge what she wanted, as she wasn’t the type to do something like this just for fleeting amusement.

“What do you want?”

Instead of wasting time on the convoluted language of the nobility, Leon asked directly. The princess tilted her head.

“What do I want? You speak as if I orchestrated all this.”

“Then I will hear your terms later. Please allow me to leave.”

The princess laughed even more brightly, grabbing his arm as she whispered, “Oh dear, you can’t just leave; you have to escort me. Come along.”

He couldn’t even remember which path they took to reach the terrace. Leon focused only on not quickening his steps. The princess couldn’t sense his urgency. It was a game played that way.

“As you all know, the woman seated in the courtyard now is a heretic who survived assimilation with Bahamut. She sees the world through Bahamut’s eyes and borrows Bahamut’s power. Though she has come to pledge loyalty to me, as a faithful son of God, I cannot simply defy the Holy See and harbor a monster.”

Upon arriving at the terrace and standing behind the princess, Leon saw the woman kneeling in the center of the empty courtyard. Relief that she was safe was short-lived.

“However, the merciful God grants even murderers a second chance. With the age of prophecy behind us, the only way to know God’s will is through the sacred duel handed down since ancient times. If the assimilated one defeats an imperial knight in combat, I will accept her in front of all.”

The woman’s innocent eyes met his gaze. Leon felt an overwhelming impulse to rush in and pull her out of there.

The princess then whispered softly under her fan, “Swear loyalty to me, and I’ll help you.”

Though her voice disappeared into the noisy atmosphere, a part of it reached Leon’s ears.

For a moment, he hesitated, and in that time, the trumpet announcing the duel sounded.

Theodore toyed with her, just like a predator teasing its prey. The outcome was already determined.

“Oh dear, she might die like this.”

The end was inevitable; only the choices in between were free.

“I’m not asking you to give up all your convictions. As you know, many former knights of God serve in the Imperial Order.”

Clang!

At last, her sword broke in half and clattered to the ground. 

A memory of her looking up at him skeptically, as if questioning whether he would really buy it for her, and brushing her hand over the sword she held alone, passed through his mind. His complicated thoughts turned pitch black.

Leon spoke, “I will swear loyalty. Please stop the duel.”

“…Are you serious?”

“If she dies, my words will mean nothing.”

The princess’s eyes curved like a crescent moon. Though her smile was one the world praised as angelic, Leon felt nothing.

And then, the massive knight’s head flew off.