Shadowless Night

“Yes, Baiferm…”

Afterward, Dimla and Rosaline talked affectionately to each other. She mentioned how pitiful Rosaline looked as she pinched her cheeks. She then unfairly scolded Ricardis, asking whether he was starving the child at Moonstone Castle, saying her cheeks had hollowed without any fat to fill the flesh.

Dimla loved Rosaline like any ordinary great-grandmother. Ricardis was a little startled at the sight. Not because he thought of Dimla as a distinguished and scary Baiferm but because he knew about her preconception of Rosaline.

The demon scandal still surrounded Rosaline. Although the malice had softened due to various triumphs, it was not completely gone. The treatment of magic and holy power in Lagos differed from Illavenia, but he felt strange witnessing it himself. Noticing Ricardis’ doubts, Dimla, who stuffed a cake into Rosaline’s mouth, spoke up. 

“Aren’t you Imperials the ones who make a fuss about having magic or holy power? The cold of Lagos is fiercer than magic, and the sunlight of spring is warmer than holy power, so we accept each as part of the natural world.”

It was a statement that would cause an uproar were it heard in the Great Temple. Those people would jump, exclaiming, ‘How can you say this great power is a mere facet of nature? As expected, Lagos is the land of the savages!’ Ricardis ran his finger across his jawline and smiled meaningfully.

“Does Regent think God doesn’t exist?”

“If God existed, the continent wouldn’t look like this.”

Ricardis covered his mouth and chuckled. 

“That’s true. Then according to your words, the Blessed Night is also the power of nature, not God. Why has nature stopped its cycle now?”

“To think the prince would say something like that… is a little funny.”

It was a solid blow. Ricardis slowly drew a picture of the current situation as he gathered information. A grand connection between the absence of the Blessed Night and the Imperial family’s actions was just a speculation, but she spoke of it as if it were true. Ricardis didn’t flinch because of her words but raised his eyebrows.

“Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter,” Dimla continued.

“And what do you say about the nature of the access road in the valley cut off due to landslides?”

“I say it doesn’t matter how the landslide happened. Maybe it’s due to an earthquake or someone tearing down the mountain.” Dimla grinned slyly, “But isn’t that also the flow of nature?”

Dimla left Moonstone Castle after giving Rosaline and Calyx pocket money.

***

Moonstone Castle, Ricardis’ office:

“Much attention is focused on Sir Rosaline because Regent Dimla visited Moonstone Castle. I am skeptical that participating in the martial arts competition will help the current situation.”

“Sir Rosaline’s name is already known, Sir Nathan. They will only become more curious if we hide her now. It’s human instinct to open a locked door and find something hidden.” 

Munching on her cookie, Chloe added, “Like His Majesty the Emperor’s actions.”

Ricardis rubbed his tired face. As expected, the meeting between Dimla and Ricardis caused a lot of buzz. Dimla, who had been hostile to Haqab, went to the castle to meet the 2nd Prince of Illavenia. There was a rumor that something extraordinary must have happened since people believed there was no way her visit had been for a mere greeting.

The Illavenian Imperial Palace, where dignitaries from various countries had gathered, trembled, and Emperor Laino was not immune to the rumblings.

That was why Ricardis was tired. He had been held captive for several hours in Diamond Castle and was barely released.

His is not the face I want to see in the morning…

The Emperor believed Dimla’s sole purpose in visiting Moonstone Castle was to see Rosaline. Although she came from an older generation, he said he knew what kind of person Dimla was. She was someone who cherished the blood of Lagos and ostracized other countries.

Furthermore, why would she ally with a foreign prince, who couldn’t even become the successor, when Lagos suffered a major disaster due to mixing with Haqab’s affairs? He seemed to think it was absurd. It was a reasonable inference.

So Ricardis, citing the bare facts, roughly said that Dimla had visited to meet and comfort Rosaline, who had almost gotten in big trouble in Balta recently.

The Emperor nodded and listened, then looked into the distance and called out her name.

[Hmm… Rosaline. Rosaline Esther…]

It wasn’t a good sign.

Ricardis rubbed his temples with his knuckles. He had a headache.

“Hiding Sir Rosaline would be a temporary measure and may cause the Emperor to be suspicious. It’s like trying to hide something after it’s already been found out,” Ricardis muttered, keeping his gaze away. 

His fingers tapped the table clack, clack steadily. Those around him listened closely.

“The Emperor had Sir Rosaline stay by my side even though he knew information about the Blessed Night. Perhaps he thought I would not have discovered any clues about the working of the ceremony. Plus, her status as a Radwiell works to his advantage. To the Emperor, Radwiell is a faithful hunting dog. And Rosaline is a child of that family. The Emperor might be thinking that he also has her in his hands. Furthermore, her existence is useless to him because the Emperor’s weak holy power does not satisfy the conditions to call the Blessed Night. So, he allows her by my side to pit her as an opponent against the Black Moon because I’m the front-line fighter.”

Chloe held up a quill. She’d covered her paper with flowers and heart-shaped doodles, not the contents of the meeting. It was her way of organizing her thoughts.

“I can say a few more things about the reasons for his silence, but… despite them all, Sir Rosaline’s growing presence in society raises his vigilance. We’ll need to soothe him.”

“Ugh, that ugly 47-year-oldie.”

 Nathan held back his laughter as Chloe spun the quill stand on her hand while she spoke. 

“The martial arts competition is just around the corner.”

“Are we going to let her participate?”

“His Majesty asked if Sir Rosaline would appear today in the martial arts competition. We’ll have to let her go. Let the prepared stage perform as scheduled. Magic is invisible, but you can see its power with the naked eye. That moment will prove the escalating rumors, but the faithfulness of the Radwiells, who have walked alongside the Illavenian Imperial family, will make her a hero.”

“And when she wins and gains the admiration and respect of many people, all honor and glory will go to His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Sometimes childish things like that are more likely to work than you might think. And our Emperor, His Majesty, is a human being who will die for such things.”

Everyone nodded as if they understood.

“Sir Rosaline’s education on how to behave after the finals…”

“I’ll leave it to Raymond.”

“By the way, Chloe, you must have been busy preparing for the wedding. I’m sorry for keeping you away”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry. Raymond is making the preparations all by himself. I think he said he would pick out my dress today.”

He’s doing the complicated wedding preparations by himself? He’s even going to pick out the wedding dress by himself? The men inwardly prayed for his well-being.

Ricardis, who had pressed his eyes tightly together, quickly spoke as if he remembered something important.

“Oh. We better tell Sir Rosaline not to kill her opponent.”

“I will tell her to do it in moderation,” Starz replied.

“The intestines, the eyeballs, pulling out the arms or doing anything to the head. Any fighting style the audience would feel is too cruel is not allowed.”

“…I will tell her to do it in moderation.”

***

It was a spectacular sight. Whenever Rosaline and her disciples competed, people always flocked to the arena.

Leticia wielding a claymore and delivering heavy blows; Eberhard showing remarkable skills with simple swordsmanship; and the new apprentice knight Hessa using light but sharp bizarre attacks.

Disciples with the same teacher tend to have similar styles, but those taught by Rosaline all showed different aspects of their swordsmanship. If one had to pick a common point among them, it would be their frighteningly fast growth rate.

Leticia and Eberhard, newly promoted lesser knights, still lacked actual combat experience compared to those who had been lesser knights for a long time, but their skills were excellent.

Leticia’s gigantic claymore made contact with Rosaline’s sword. Her reddish-brown hair escaped her braids and scattered wildly. Wasn’t it said she was secretly called the Red Lion by the lesser knights? It was a nickname that suited Leticia.

Clang!

The swords rang with the force of unbridled power. It was loud enough to be heard by people in other buildings. Indeed, Leticia owned the iron muscles that held the weight of Rosaline while doing a hundred push-ups.

Rosaline raised her sword diagonally as a feint, then struck Leticia’s knee joint with her foot. Crack! The attack didn’t do enough damage to be effective. Leticia had lifted her leg and stopped the fierce kick with her shin.

Regulations divided arena battles into sword fighting and melee fighting. However, Rosaline directly experienced that one rarely fights only with swords or only with fists in field combat. That’s why Rosaline attacked her students with a grab bag of techniques and dirty tricks.

As a result of many duels reflecting actual combat, Leticia and Eberhard broke away from their initial struggles and now responded quite skillfully.

Rosaline scanned Leticia’s movements with her eyes and grinned. She didn’t lag even with a large weapon. 

Rosaline gave her a passing mark.