How much had they done? The knight squeezed his eyes shut.

“You seem fine though, Vice Commander.”

“Well, I have good stamina.”

“Hup.”

The knights murmured at the word ‘stamina.’ They covered their mouths as if they had heard something they shouldn’t have, repeatedly exclaiming “Oh my, goodness.”

The knight bowed deeply toward Lea. Then he pleaded earnestly.

“Please be gentle with him.”

“Gentle?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of gentle?”

“You know. That… anyway, I mean.”

This was a first in his knight career. His courage wasn’t great enough to use direct words in front of the vice commander. He thought she would understand what he meant even if he spoke vaguely, so he glossed over it.

Lea currently wanted to return to the training ground quickly. Thinking it was probably just some trivial talk anyway, she immediately nodded.

“I understand. I’ll try to be gentle.”

With those words, the knights became even more convinced.

‘The real power is the vice commander.’

* * *

Allen left his office about half an hour later, having spent the time trying to calm his mind, soaked in shame and humiliation. Wanting to get some fresh air, he was passing through the training ground corridor when he encountered a knight. The knight’s eyes widened upon seeing him, and he didn’t know what to do. Allen felt an unsettling feeling at this strange reaction.

「The commander’s face looks really drained.」

“Hello, sir.”

“Hello.”

Somehow it didn’t feel right. The knight just greeted him and went on his way, but his thoughts reached Allen and left a strange uneasiness. Allen slowed his steps while trying to guess the meaning of the knight’s thoughts, and grabbed another knight walking from the opposite direction.

“Has something happened in the knight division?”

The knight stared at him blankly and shook his head.

“No, sir.”

「Something happened to the commander.」

Something happened? A sigh escaped Allen’s lips. Something flashed through his mind and his hands trembled.

No way, no way, he hoped the uneasy feeling was just his imagination. But God was not on his side.

‘That bastard James…!’

The intuition he had learned at the imperial court was no ordinary intuition. Just by seeing how cautious the knight was about speaking, he could tell that they had heard something about him. The knight’s thoughts weren’t specific, but they provided a hint.

Allen’s eyes blazed. He wondered how to punish the loose-lipped knight.

Security was important for knights. Words could be passed on unpredictably, and carelessly talking about important secrets could cause problems. Therefore, it was a knight’s duty to keep their mouth shut about whatever they saw or heard.

Allen’s humiliating prostration in front of Lea was a matter of a superior’s dignity and honor. He had believed that even if James misunderstood, he wouldn’t spread it around. But that was just his naive thinking.

From the beginning, he had overlooked the fact that the North lacked knightly principles and security awareness. Thanks to this, Allen had to receive sympathetic gazes and incomprehensible encouragement wherever he went.

「How did our commander….」

「He’s basically married now.」

「Our commander… got caught….」

What exactly had they heard and how? They were feeling sorry for Allen. From his memory, James had misunderstood until the end, thinking that Lea had pounced on him. So he thought if James spread rumors, it would be about that. But listening to the knights’ thoughts, he kept feeling uneasy, suspecting there might be more to it.

“Commander.”

Just then, a knight from the First Knight Division who had gotten along well with him approached. Allen stopped, thinking this was fortunate. This knight would likely tell him how the rumors had spread. Allen thought he would determine the severity of James’s punishment based on the level of the rumors.

The knight lowered his eyes as soon as he faced Allen.

「Commander, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.」

“Commander, are you feeling well?”

Allen frowned. It was strange that he suddenly apologized and asked about his health.

“What do you mean? Are you saying something happened that would make me unwell?”

The knight quickly shook his head. He opened his mouth with moist eyes.

「Look at that haggard face….」

“No, sir. Commander, they say eel is good for vitality. My parents prepared some for me when I was coming down to the North. I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about vitality?”

“Commander, you don’t need to be embarrassed. I know everything.”

He knew that the knight had heard about the vice commander pouncing on him. But Allen couldn’t find the connection between that and vitality. He asked pressingly out of frustration.

“So what exactly do you know?”

But the straightforward knight expressed even his thoughts indirectly.

「I need to help restore our commander’s energy.」

“In a way, it’s fortunate, Commander.”

「Because it’s been proven that you can… function.」

“It might be harder because it’s your first time.”

The knight’s thoughts and words were like riddles. With two different sounds overlapping, it was even more confusing.

Allen finally remembered that his father was Marquis Criechean. The former knight division commander, Marquis Criechean. He was famous for his strict etiquette education. With his pride as a nobleman, he never spoke directly and enjoyed speaking indirectly.

It seemed this knight, Evan Criechean, had inherited that useless trait.

“Ahem. Anyway, Commander, good luck!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Just as Allen was holding his forehead in this incomprehensible situation, someone approached them at an incredibly fast pace.

“Commander, Commander, Commander.”

It was Tom.

Tom blew out a breath and stared intently at Allen. His mind was full of ‘Is it true?’ Allen tried to move to a different location, feeling uncomfortable.

“Tom, let’s go somewhere quiet—”

“Commander, are you really impotent and got cured through the vice commander?”

But Tom was direct.

“What, ugh. What did you say?”

Allen bit his tongue in bewilderment.

“I heard that the commander gets excited only when seeing the vice commander! Is that true, mmph.”

“Hey! H-how can you say such things directly to the commander!”

Evan frantically covered Tom’s mouth, but it was already too late. Allen stood dumbfounded, losing his senses.

‘Me getting excited over who…!’

He had heard the impotent comment a few times in the capital. Once from a woman who had failed to make advances toward him at a ball, a few times from Emperor Edner along with accusations of being gay.

Since he truly hadn’t been very interested in s*x, he didn’t particularly need to get angry about being called impotent. But the word ‘excited’ was different. He had actually gotten excited because of Lea—to be precise, because of his imagination—and he was currently in the process of denying it. Hearing this fact from someone else’s mouth made him properly realize it, and the impact was quite substantial. Not to mention, for rumors to spread so disgracefully.

Humiliation washed over him. Allen opened his mouth to explain and clear up the misunderstanding.

“That’s the truth—”

“Commander, yesterday! Yesterday! So you actually did get an er*ction! No wonder the size seemed unusual. So that was why!”

Tom’s words were unrestrained and fast. Allen couldn’t even scold him for daring to interrupt and cut in on his commander’s words. The direct word, ‘er*ction,’ entering through his ears caused an internal scream.

“Tom, what are you saying? er*ction?”

Just then, unfortunately, Lea appeared.

His face turned the color of sunset, making him unable to correct the misunderstanding and instead only adding to their conviction.

‘Our commander has fallen hard.’

“That’s not it.”

He tried to deny Evan’s resigned thought, but Allen’s words lacked strength.

“er*ction?”

Lea recalled an old memory related to er*ction. The first time she had heard this word was in a stable where her former lord and a woman were spending an intimate moment. Lea was a late teenage girl who had just awakened to sexuality. Wondering what that word meant for men and women to use it in bed, she had opened a dictionary in the library for the first time. The first meaning that caught her eye was, naturally, that a man’s p*nis becomes er*ect.

「Our fragile commander?」

An er*ction of unusual size?

Lea soon shook her head. She had seen men’s lower parts quite often. There had been quite a few men who tried to do something to her, and she had mercilessly cut off their precious parts, so it happened naturally. Through this, she realized that weak people had weak parts too. Of course, this was by Lea’s standards. Those Lea had seen were weaker than her and, unfortunately, had small ones.

Having developed this strange prejudice, Lea couldn’t imagine Allen having an er*ction of unusual size. He might be big, but “unusual” seemed too much of an exaggeration. So the “er*ction” Tom mentioned couldn’t be that er*ction. Lea recalled another meaning of er*ction from the dictionary.

「To plan and initiate a new project.」

Lea rubbed her chin with one hand and nodded her head as if she had reached an understanding. The answer was clear. Lea crossed her arms and opened her mouth with a hint of disappointment.

“Why didn’t you give me any notice?”

“No, that’s—”

“Commander, don’t you trust me?”

Allen’s mouth closed. He was in a very confused state. He was so dumbfounded that he forgot his frustration and anger, and the words he was about to say disappeared.