Chapter 2 (Part 5)

While worrying about the knights, Reina found herself running out of things to say, and her mind went blank, with cold sweat trickling down.

She needed to find another topic to change the subject, but her heart was pounding wildly, making it hard to think straight.

W-what should I do?

“W-where is Toby? Where did he go?”

Wanting to escape the awkward situation, Reina urgently asked about Toby. Then she saw him standing behind them, stiff and watching the two of them.

He seemed to have gone to fetch additional supplies, judging by the towels and bottles he was carrying.

“…”

Standing silently meant he had heard their entire conversation.

“T-Toby. You came at the right time! The Commander seems to have misunderstood something.”

Reina sent a desperate look to Toby, hoping he would help clear up the misunderstanding. She was worried Patrick might think she was a strange woman who lightly harassed men.

“Ah… It seems the lady intended to hit my b*ttocks but accidentally hit the Commander’s.”

Toby finally spoke, but his explanation only added to the misunderstanding.

That’s what I tried to explain earlier but failed.

“T-Toby. Wait.”

Reina tried to stop Toby hastily.

“It’s all my fault. I accidentally touched the lady’s b*ttocks, so… mmph!”

The more he explained, the more it seemed to lead to strange misunderstandings. Reina hurriedly covered Toby’s mouth.

“N-no, Toby and I are not in the habit of touching each other’s b*ttocks…”

“I’ll try to understand. It’s possible if you’re close.”

“N-no, Toby and I are not in the habit of touching each other’s butts….”

“I’ll try to understand. It can happen if you’re close.”

Reina tried to explain again, but Patrick’s cold gaze showed he couldn’t accept the situation. It was natural that someone as conservative and cautious as him couldn’t understand such casual physical contact between men and women who weren’t dating, especially not butt-slapping.

I’m doomed…

Seeing Patrick forcing a smile made Reina sigh.

Instead of making a good impression, she had caused a strange misunderstanding. She couldn’t even count how many times this had happened.

Would there be any positive image of me left?

In the end, Reina spoke in a resigned tone.

“You don’t need to understand.”

“What?”

“It was just a one-time thing today. It was an accident.”

The more she explained, the stranger it seemed, so she decided it was better to chalk it up to a mistake.

While Toby touching her b*ttocks could be considered an accident, her hitting his couldn’t be. But she couldn’t say that.

At that moment, Reina cursed her own hand. Why did it have to touch his b*ttocks and create such an awkward situation?

Of course, the biggest fault lay with her eyesight.

Mistaking hair color because it was dark? The moonlight was so bright, how could she make such an excuse?

“I won’t have any misunderstandings. I’ll head to training now.”

Despite his words, Patrick still wore a complex expression. He picked up the clean armor and left.

“I caused the misunderstanding, what should I do? I’m fine, but your image, my lady….”

Toby, watching Patrick’s retreating figure, spoke in a worried tone. He seemed to think Reina might be misunderstood as a frivolous woman who touched others’ b*ttocks.

Anyone would think that, seeing the forced smile on the Commander’s face as he left. The problem was that the person she least wanted to misunderstand her was Patrick.

“It’ll be fine. The misunderstanding will clear up eventually. Besides, the Commander isn’t the type to talk about such things to others.”

Since her plan to make a good impression on Patrick had already failed, she answered in a resigned tone.

“Sigh.”

Reina let out a deep sigh and then squatted down. She picked up a towel Toby had brought and started cleaning the armor.

“M-my lady! This is my job.”

Toby hurriedly approached to stop her.

“Can’t friends help each other with things like this?”

“…”

Toby paused at Reina’s words.

“I thought we were friends, but don’t you think so?”

“…There’s a big difference in our status, my lady.”

After hesitating, Toby answered.

The Royal Knights were originally composed only of nobles. Therefore, the 1st and 2nd Knight Divisions were entirely made up of nobles. Only in exceptional cases were commoners accepted as knights, but such instances were rare.

However, the 3rd Knight Division was different.

When Duke Lennox, formerly the commander of the Royal 1st Knight Division, was granted his ducal title, the Royal 3rd Knight Division was established and became part of the Lennox household, changing the existing system.

Duke Lennox, with his extensive combat experience, valued skill over status and exceptionally allowed commoners to join the 3rd Knight Division.

Toby, a commoner, had never missed the top spot at the Knight Academy and graduated with excellent grades, allowing him to join the Lennox Knights as an apprentice.

“Think about it. If I really saw a difference in our statuses, would I even talk to you? Wouldn’t I just look down on you and give orders?”

“That’s true. You’ve always been kind to me, my lady, so I’ve forgotten my place.”

Despite her efforts to explain, Toby responded with another odd remark.

“I wish you wouldn’t say such strange things. Of course, you might feel some distance. But the one who’s truly great is my father, not me.”

Ugh. This is frustrating!

While hierarchy and rank are important to knights, why can’t they understand that I’m okay with it?

Toby lacked flexibility. If Toby was like this, Patrick was likely even worse.

Of course, it was natural for knights to uphold their beliefs. But this trait was both a strength and a weakness, making Reina feel like she was talking to a wall.

Not all knights were like this, but the diligent ones often had this disposition. Patrick was like this, Toby was like this, and probably half the knight order was like this.

“…I understand.”

After a long hesitation, Toby finally agreed.

Why does it take so long to convince him….

Reina sighed in relief.

She decided to be satisfied with closing the distance this much. Other knights, too, were friendly with Reina but sometimes kept their distance.

The problem was how to persuade Patrick. Instead of seducing him, she was only creating strange misunderstandings, making her worry about changing his mind.

As she sighed deeply again, she saw Patrick, who had left his armor at the lodge.

“My lady, I think it’s time for you to go inside.”

He approached Reina immediately.

“But I haven’t finished cleaning.”

As she tried to continue cleaning the armor, Patrick firmly grabbed her wrist.

“Ah…”

Startled, she dropped the towel, which fell to the ground with a thud.

“This was originally Sir Toby’s task. Since Sir Toby couldn’t stop you, I think it’s enough to overlook this much.”

Patrick answered in a calm voice.

“That’s right. You’ve already helped me more than enough, my lady. I think it’s better for you to stop now.”

Toby whispered in a small voice.

As Reina alternated her gaze between Toby and Patrick and stood up, Patrick finally let go of her wrist.

“Thank you for overlooking my actions.”

If Patrick hadn’t overlooked it, Toby would have received a harsher punishment. Therefore, Reina bowed her head to Patrick in gratitude.

“Please wait a moment.”

As she was about to return to the mansion after her greeting, Patrick called out to her.

“I’ll escort you inside.”

“What?”

It’s a short distance, and he’s escorting me? 

Reina stopped walking, thinking she must have misheard.

“Let’s go.”

But seeing Patrick, who had already approached and gestured for her to go forward, she realized she hadn’t misheard.

“Yes…”

As she started walking, glancing at Patrick, he began walking too.

“…”

The whole time they walked, she debated whether to explain the earlier incident to Patrick again.

“Um… about what happened earlier.”

“I don’t misunderstand.”

As if anticipating she would bring it up, Patrick immediately cut her off.

“You don’t think I’m a frivolous woman?”

“Absolutely not.”

Is he serious? He doesn’t misunderstand? That’s a relief.

When she glanced up at Patrick, his lips were curved into a graceful smile, and his eyes sent a deep gaze her way.

“…”

Unable to meet his gaze anymore, she quickly looked away.

As she walked, staring at the ground with a flushed face, they soon arrived at the mansion. Though it wasn’t a long distance, it felt unusually short.

Feeling a bit disappointed, she watched Patrick’s back until he was out of sight.

Is the charm working, or is it just a coincidence?

Since receiving the charm, things that had never happened before began occurring, making her unsure. After a moment of doubt, Reina concluded it was a coincidence and climbed the stairs.

As she reached the second-floor hallway, she saw Duke Lennox walking from the opposite side.

She intended to nod and pass by her father, but he stopped as if he had something to say. When Reina also stopped, he spoke first.

“You haven’t submitted it to me yet.”

“What?”

“The training log.”

Oh, I forgot!

Her father’s words reminded Reina of one fact.

She had to write a training log once a week and submit it to her father!