To be honest, Vanessa didn’t have the slightest desire to sit with the knights.

Those gazes that couldn’t even be called polite… Sitting there would be like sitting on pins and needles.

But Vanessa was hungry, and she believed in eating something rather than starving to survive. Moreover, she judged it would be better to sit with the knights than to be alone in such a place where malicious men might harass her.

Although she couldn’t completely trust the knights, they were officially appointed, so they shouldn’t be complete ruffians.

Having come to that conclusion, Vanessa nodded towards the knight commander.

The knight commander, Arthur Cromaine, smiled quite amiably and politely guided Vanessa to her seat.

“You can sit here.”

Fortunately, the knights near the seat he guided her to had relatively friendly-looking expressions.

And seeing Arthur Cromaine himself sit across from her, Vanessa inwardly felt relieved. Eating face to face with this polite person shouldn’t be uncomfortable.

“What would you like to eat? You can choose from what’s written here.”

Vanessa stared blankly at the wooden board handed to her. Fried beans, pickled cabbage, fish soup, and other items that seemed crude compared to what Vanessa usually ate at the palace were listed.

However, as she was in no position to be picky about food, Vanessa gratefully decided to choose the most palatable mushroom soup. It was also much better compared to the black bread and water she had been eating in the underground dungeon.

Shortly after, the food arrived, and Vanessa slowly ate, dipping the hard bread in the thin soup. The mushrooms in the soup were all of unidentifiable types, but seeing them used as ingredients, she assumed they must be edible varieties.

As she was quietly filling her stomach for a while, she heard muffled laughter from somewhere. Glancing up, she saw some knights snickering in an undignified manner.

It wasn’t the knights sitting near Vanessa, but rather some mischievous and rude-looking knights sitting further away.

…They’re clearly laughing at me, should I just ignore this or not?

After pondering for a moment, Vanessa finally voiced her question.

“Why are you laughing?”

Then the blonde knight, after catching his breath, answered with a voice still mixed with laughter.

“Ah… well, heh… It’s funny to see a person of such noble lineage, whom lowlifes like us wouldn’t dare to look up to, eating like a borrowed sack of barley, and such miserable scraps at that.”

“……”

Noticing the rebellious quality hidden in those words, Vanessa blinked in confusion. A formal knight of a ducal family should be of middle-class status living in the castle… but judging from his speech, he seemed more like a rootless mercenary who had been through rough times.

As if noticing Vanessa’s thoughts, the blonde knight grinned, narrowing his amethyst-colored eyes, and added,

“Oh, didn’t you know? Most of us are former mercenaries. There are even some who were battle slaves fighting on battlefields before they were ten years old. Me, Andrea here, and Wilhelmina have been comrades since we were child soldiers for over 10 years. To us who rolled around in the gutters, someone noble like you is indeed unfamiliar. We laughed a bit at your humble appearance that doesn’t suit you.”

The one with sunset-colored hair grown to the shoulders and tied tightly seemed to be Andrea, and the one with short jet-black hair was Wilhelmina. Then this blonde knight…

Vanessa asked casually.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Garcia, Your Highness.”

The title he added at the end sounded just like mockery. Although his posture was properly respectful, it didn’t feel like he was showing any respect at all. Vanessa nodded sourly.

By the way, former battle slaves, he said.

There are many mercenaries who were former battle slaves, but it’s very rare for slaves to become knights. This Flügel Knight Order seemed to be composed quite uniquely.

“If you were battle slaves… I suppose you’ve been fighting for a long time on the northern defense line adjacent to the land of extreme cold.”

At the northern end of this world, there is a harsh region called the land of extreme cold, where blizzards rage all year round and temperatures never rise above freezing.

The frost monsters that endlessly advance southward from there are called ‘winter’s wicked creatures’ and are objects of fear.

The role of the Drake family is to defend against these monsters and maintain the defense line.

However, due to the heavy attrition of regular troops, it seems that the previous Duke of Drake had deployed a large number of battle slaves to the front lines for about 20 years.

It was the current Duke of Drake, Jurgen, who abolished this evil practice and focused on training an elite army to build a more efficient defense line.

“I didn’t expect a royal from a peaceful southern country like you to know about the situation on the northern front. That’s unexpected.”

Garcia sneered as usual. But Vanessa wasn’t angry or displeased. She wasn’t even perplexed. She just accepted it.

“Are there more former battle slaves in the Flügel Knight Order besides you?”

“There are, but they didn’t come on this expedition. Someone has to stay behind to guard the defense line.”

“I see.”

Vanessa ate her soup silently. She could feel the strangely uncomfortable gazes of Garcia and the other knights, but she focused on her meal, pretending not to notice. In fact, Vanessa’s knowledge of the northern front was shallow, so there wasn’t much more to say.

And showing sympathy to these former battle slaves as if giving alms would be…

“Don’t you pity us?”

Garcia asked, catching her off guard. Vanessa put down her spoon in the middle of scooping soup and looked at Garcia. His amethyst-colored eyes seemed worn and weathered.

“Do you want to be pitied?”

“No, absolutely not.”

When she asked back in a flat voice, Garcia chuckled and waved his hand. And he added,

“Aren’t princesses like you originally that kind of breed? Looking down on lowly beings, pitying them, and acting like saints.”

“So you thought I would be like that too?”

“Well, yes, but it seems you’re not, after all.”

“I can see that you hate royalty and nobility.”

“I don’t hate all of them. Our Duke is a noble too, isn’t he? Of course, he’s like us…”

Garcia stopped mid-sentence and looked around for some reason, as if asking, ‘Is it okay to talk about this?’

Vanessa blinked in confusion and repeated,

“‘He’s like us’, what?”

“Uh— well, it’s nothing. But don’t you know?”

“……?”

“It’s quite a famous story.”

Just as Vanessa slightly furrowed her brow at these incomprehensible words…

“What kind of idle chatter are you engaging in?”

Jurgen appeared without a sound. Startled by his sudden intrusion, not only Vanessa but also the knights were taken aback. Especially Garcia, who clutched his chest and spoke as if gasping,

“I thought you were a ghost, Your Grace. Please make some footsteps, will you?”

“It must be because of your lax discipline that couldn’t sense my approach.”

“……”

Garcia closed his mouth at the fierce look that seemed to say he would be mercilessly drilled on the training ground once they returned to the territory. The other knights also suddenly fell silent like dead mice.

In that uncomfortable silence, Vanessa looked down wistfully at her unfinished soup.

I should finish eating, but… this atmosphere makes it difficult to even lift the spoon.

“If you don’t want to eat, leave it. It would be troublesome if you force yourself and end up vomiting.”

“What? No…”

Jurgen abruptly intervened and snatched Vanessa’s tray. He arbitrarily handed it over to a waiter and then urged Vanessa and the knights to get up quickly, saying they needed to depart in the morning.

Vanessa frowned, feeling somewhat unjustly treated as Jurgen seemed to have misunderstood her as having a picky palate.

It doesn’t seem like he was concerned about me possibly getting indigestion. In a way, it just seems spiteful.

As she glared at Jurgen’s back with eyes full of dissatisfaction, he suddenly turned around.

With a gaze filled with countless words of unclear substance and chaotic emotions. He was an enigmatic man.

How to find the answer… even thinking of a method seemed overwhelming.

“Don’t just stand there blankly, follow me. We need to depart quickly.”

Vanessa obediently nodded and moved her feet. For now, she could only watch warily. Because she still couldn’t understand what Jurgen Drake wanted from her.

✦ ✦ ✦

On the sixth day, the party finally arrived at the Drake Duchy.

The Drake Duchy of Valencia is located in the northern part of the continent, close to the land of extreme cold, and borders the Holy Kingdom of Lavinia to the west.

As it was her first time in the north as far as she could remember, Vanessa kept looking around with curiosity.

She had heard rumors that the territory’s situation had improved greatly since Jurgen ascended to the position of Duke— and it seemed to be true, as the rural areas they passed through and the city streets they just entered were filled with people with bright expressions and full of vitality.

“My Lord!”

“The Lord has arrived!”

“Thank you, my Lord.”

Unexpectedly, Jurgen seemed to be the recipient of much respect and love from his many subjects. Vanessa watched from behind the curtain of the carriage as the people came out onto the streets to cheer for Jurgen.

Despite his ruthless appearance, Jurgen Drake seemed to be a generous and good lord.

Upon arriving at the Rivadel Castle of the Drake ducal family, they witnessed the spectacle of all the retainers coming out to the garden to greet him.

They all seemed surprised to see Vanessa getting out of the carriage, but perhaps conscious of Jurgen, they quickly concealed their shock.

But among them, there was one person.

There was someone who stared at Vanessa so intently it was uncomfortable.

Vanessa felt a strange unpleasantness as she glanced at the owner of that leech-like gaze.

Black hair similar to Jurgen’s, but with a more brownish tint closer to dark brown, and two dark green eyes.

As if mocking Vanessa’s wariness, the man curled his lips into a crooked smile and approached Jurgen, offering a smooth greeting.

“I’m glad you’ve returned safely, brother. But…”

His eyes, gleaming mischievously as if he had found an interesting toy, briefly swept over Vanessa.

“…It seems you’ve brought quite an interesting spoil of war.”