“Dame Erin? Are you all right?”

Erin lifted her head at the voice calling her.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Ah… I’m getting a strange feeling.”

“Well, this is your first time coming to the imperial palace as a knight, so it’s understandable.”

At his words, Erin realized once again where she was.

She was at the imperial palace to be recognized as a Sword Master.

A day had already passed since she arrived. Duke Asili seemed to think Erin was nervous since the time to have an audience with His Majesty was approaching.

But that wasn’t why she felt this way.

She had an ominous feeling she couldn’t explain. She could feel her heartbeat gradually quickening.

‘This is strange…’

Erin looked down at her neck. The necklace Ferdin had given her seemed to be glinting somehow.

* * *

Erin entered the training grounds prepared at the imperial palace together with Duke Asili.

“Do you know what process you go through to be recognized as a Sword Master?”

The Duke said this while turning his gaze to the training grounds.

He too had proven himself a Sword Master here.

“If you use aura to spar with another Sword Master, you can be recognized as a Sword Master. Originally it’s done as a formality.”

Duke Asili paused in thought before continuing.

“His Majesty said he would observe personally. He seems to have great expectations for you.”

Duke Asili’s words and expression didn’t match. His face was frighteningly rigid.

“If you wait, His Majesty will come.”

Not long after he finished speaking, the Emperor appeared at the training grounds.

Numerous knights followed behind him.

Duke Asili frowned at the knight directly behind the Emperor.

Marchioness Erman was entering the training grounds with the Emperor.

If Duke Asili was the representative noble of the neutral faction, Marchioness Erman was the noble representing the imperial faction.

She had a solid build befitting someone who handled a sword. Marchioness Erman followed the Emperor with a fierce expression.

The Emperor sat in an ornate chair prepared at one side of the training grounds with an arrogant posture.

“Dame Erin? Are you all right?”

Duke Asili looked back at Erin. Worry showed on his face.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Answering thus, Erin looked at the Emperor who had approached before her.

His snake-like eyes turned toward Erin. They were cold eyes that would instantly break the spirit of an ordinary person.

“I hear you killed Count Leon?”

At the Emperor’s words, Duke Asili beside her pulled her slightly behind his back and spoke.

“Your Majesty, all of that was a false accusation.”

“A false accusation?”

“Dame Erin has reached the level of Sword Master. So the rumors that she used black magic are all lies.”

“…”

“What happened to Count Leon was also an accident that occurred while Dame Erin was protecting her family member Sir Karon from false accusations.”

At Duke Asili’s words, the Emperor’s face twisted with displeasure. He had no particular rebuttal to his words.

The Emperor looked at Erin with narrowed eyes.

‘I heard she had skills enough to match Duke Asili evenly.’

But the Emperor didn’t believe those words. He simply thought Duke Asili was saying this to protect Erin Liserth.

‘He’s protecting her like his own child.’

Wasn’t that the case even now?

The way he blocked the front protectively, shielding Erin Liserth from him, was utterly presumptuous.

The Emperor looked back at the Third Knight Order around him.

They were all looking at Erin with suspicious eyes. Marchioness Erman beside him was the same.

The Emperor spoke to Duke Asili.

“Duke Asili, Dame Erin’s sparring partner will be Marchioness Erman.”

At the Emperor’s command, Duke Asili hesitated.

“Word has reached my ears that you cherish Dame Erin. Personal feelings shouldn’t be mixed into a fair match.”

Duke Asili made an awkward expression at the Emperor’s words.

He could see Marchioness Erman moving to the very center of the training grounds.

‘She’s not a bad person.’

Duke Asili couldn’t hide his mixed feelings.

Unlike Count Leon, Marchioness Erman was someone who had the basic stance of a knight.

Though he’d never shown it, Duke Asili also held her knighthood in high regard.

‘How unfortunate.’

He thought this while watching Erin and Marchioness Erman begin to face off.

Of course, the one he thought unfortunate was not Erin but Marchioness Erman.

He knew how frustrated she would be if she, with her strong pride, lost to Erin.

* * *

Marchioness Erman looked at the small knight before her.

‘She killed Count Leon, they said.’

When she first heard the news, she absolutely couldn’t believe that fact.

But seeing Erin before her now, she could finally accept that truth.

“Impressive.”

She admired purely.

The presence emanating from Erin’s body was intimidating.

Marchioness Erman recalled the order the Emperor had given her before coming here.

“You may kill her under the pretense of sparring.”

“If you can’t kill her, make her a cripple.”

She didn’t want to follow such an order from the Emperor literally.

Marchioness Erman, as the leader of the imperial faction nobles, had always been loyal to her lord, but she was someone who knew propriety.

The Marchioness, as someone who handled a sword, didn’t dislike talented knights.

That’s why she couldn’t understand why the Emperor was angry at Erin.

But she couldn’t ignore the Emperor’s command. A gloomy light appeared in Marchioness Erman’s eyes.

“We will begin the match.”

The moment the observing knight announced the start, Marchioness Erman moved first.

She put the maximum power she could muster into her sword. The explosive force from her muscular arms was astonishing.

The sword flew toward Erin’s arm, ready to cut it.

Duke Asili’s face hardened momentarily. Marchioness Erman’s sword contained a slight but definite k*lling intent.

However, Erin blocked the sword at a speed exceeding Marchioness Erman’s expectations.

White mana formed on her sword. It was aura, the symbol of a Sword Master.

Blocking one attack didn’t end the match. The Marchioness’s sword drew a semicircle, trying to cut Erin’s neck.

Clang! Chang!

A rapid exchange occurred in an instant.

The knights just stared blankly at them.

Erin was demonstrating through skill that she was a Sword Master.

An undeniable truth was contained in her sword.

At some point, Marchioness Erman forgot even the Emperor’s words and began focusing only on exchanging swords with Erin.

Duke Asili smiled slightly watching this.

Only the Emperor watched their match in silence with a crumpled face.

* * *

After the match ended, Duke Asili headed to the ducal residence near the imperial palace with Erin. He was in a good mood now.

Marchioness Erman had acknowledged to the Emperor that Erin was a Sword Master. Her face saying this seemed somewhat dazed.

The Duke could understand the feeling the Marchioness experienced since he’d been through it himself. After sparring with Erin, he too had been unable to collect himself for a while.

The Emperor finally acknowledged with a frustrated face that Erin was the Empire’s third Sword Master.

“He had no choice but to acknowledge it somehow. How could he deny that you’re a Sword Master?”

“Marchioness Erman’s sword contained k*lling intent.”

At Erin’s words, Duke Asili nodded.

“Let’s continue talking in the study.”

He said this while opening the study door. Then his eyes widened in surprise at the unfamiliar scene.

The Princess was drinking tea in his study. Karon and Lilia were with her.

“You’re here?”

“What about the academy? Why did you come here?”

“I decided to take a leave of absence for a while.”

“A leave of absence?”

At the Princess’s words, the Duke’s brow narrowed. He began examining every corner of his daughter’s face.

Now that he looked, her face seemed quite gaunt. Duke Asili hesitated at an inexplicable eerie feeling.

“Suddenly a leave of absence… Are you very ill somewhere?”

The Princess with a hardened face shook her head.

“I’ll tell you about that later. Right now I have something to discuss with Dame Erin.”

“…”

“I’m going to use Father’s study.”

Duke Asili shook his head like he couldn’t stop her. Karon and Lilia were the ones surprised by the Princess’s words.

“P-Princess? I think we should leave.”

“That’s right. In the Duke’s study… to send the Duke out.”

Karon looked at the Princess with wavering eyes. Lilia also began fidgeting and watching Duke Asili’s reaction.

Unlike Karon and Lilia’s worries, the Duke didn’t get angry.

He simply looked at the Princess with worried eyes.

“If you’re hurting anywhere, don’t endure it and tell me right away.”

At the Duke’s words, the Princess tightened her grip on the teacup she was holding.

It was hard to suppress the surging sadness. But she soon shook her head with a resolute face.

The Duke, watching this for a moment, took the knights waiting outside the study and vacated the room.