Chapter 3 No Benefit to Anyone

Black Wolf Knight Order.

Though they bore the name ‘Knight Order,’ they were closer to warriors.

Rumors of their cruel methods and fierce temperaments were widespread.

Having seen them up close, these weren’t exactly rumors that could be dismissed.

However, if you were to meet them as allies on the battlefield, they were more reliable than anyone else.

Any enemy would be swept away like fallen leaves before their ferocious onslaught.

The Commander of the Black Wolf who always led them was cold and sharp.

Negatively speaking, he was no different from a cold-blooded man. Since entering the capital, he had received numerous marriage proposals and courtships from daughters of prominent families, but he hadn’t given even the slightest opening.

Yet this same Arsen was deeply entangled with Lydia.

A Marquis’s daughter who lost the Emperor’s love and drank poison, and a knight who loved such a Marquis’s daughter.

It was perfect fodder for gossips.

And there was someone who loved this material as much as the gossips did—Devon Evansi, Lydia’s only brother.

“You want to use me to bind Sir Arsen to our family?”

After leaving Devon’s study and returning to her room, Lydia sat on the bed, nibbling her fingernails.

If Lydia married Arsen, he would be completely tied to the Evansi family.

That’s what Devon wanted. Arsen and the Black Wolf Knight Order that came with him.

With them behind him, even the Emperor wouldn’t be able to treat Devon carelessly.

“And it seems our esteemed Emperor hates to see that.”

She knew. No one understood how much Richard coveted Arsen better than Lydia.

He frequently mentioned giving Arsen the position of Commander of the First Knight Order directly under the Emperor.

Though he spoke lightly as if joking, it was Richard’s true intention.

He wanted to keep Arsen, a valuable card, from being taken by anyone else.

But when rumors spread that something unusual was happening between Lydia and Arsen, he began scheming to separate them.

“Even so, he should have found a decent man, not push forward a man with two children who’s also much older as a marriage prospect.”

Lydia couldn’t understand how she had come to like such a man.

She would make him regret giving her this insult.

She would make her brother, who only wanted to use her, pay the price.

After repaying both kindness and grudges, Lydia planned to leave for the southern kingdom where it was warm like spring all year round. She had already made her plans.

The problem was that Arsen was necessary for those plans.

She needed both Arsen and the borderlands of the marquisate that he protected.

If she followed Arsen to the border of the marquisate, it was obvious that Devon would try to connect her with Arsen through engagement or marriage.

Lydia didn’t want to do anything good for Devon.

Besides, it was questionable whether Arsen would even agree to be engaged to Lydia.

Then she could simply not go with Arsen.

She could hire mercenaries or walk alone to the border of the marquisate and meet Arsen there again.

But that would be playing into Richard’s hands.

She hated that. She didn’t want to do anything that either Richard or Devon wanted, not even a little.

“What should I do.”

As the night deepened, so did Lydia’s worries. How nice it would be if Byron the priest were here at a time like this……

“Priest?”

Yes, that’s it. That was it.

Becoming a priest.

That was the way to go to the border of the marquisate with Arsen while moderately disappointing both Devon and Richard.

Among nobles who caused social controversy, though not enough to be punished, some chose the path of priesthood.

They would pay some bribes to enter as priests, do some community service for two or three years, and return when things had quieted down.

It wasn’t a popular choice because it was miserable—unable to have servants while serving as a priest, and unable to date due to the vow of chastity.

But Lydia didn’t mind not having servants.

She had learned all sorts of chores while toiling in the labor camp.

Dating?

“I’m sick of it.”

Men?

“They’re all the same.”

She planned to live chastely even without taking a vow of chastity, so there was no problem.

If Lydia became a priest and followed Arsen, Devon would be disappointed because he couldn’t bind Arsen through marriage.

However, he wouldn’t outright oppose it since there was still a possibility they might match up properly at the border.

From Richard’s perspective, he would be relieved for now since Lydia wouldn’t marry Arsen as long as she was a priest.

But he would always be wrapped in anxiety, not knowing how her relationship with Arsen might develop at the border of the marquisate.

Torturing him with hope and anxiety.

While not a completely satisfying revenge, it was a decent blow.

“Good, the plan is good, but I need to go to the temple to become a priest or not.”

Lydia was essentially imprisoned in the Marquis’s residence.

Since Devon would never approve her plan to become a priest, she had to leave secretly, but how?

When she slightly opened the door, she heard murmuring voices from outside the corridor.

It seemed they had set up surveillance because Lydia had mentioned wanting to go out today.

Just then, the curtain hanging over the balcony window caught her eye.

If she tied the curtain and bed sheets together, couldn’t she climb down from the second floor?

It wasn’t even the third floor, just the second.

Lydia tore down the curtain and stripped the bed sheets. When woven together, they were long enough to reach the first floor.

Lydia tied the curtain to the balcony railing and bravely stepped outside the balcony.

It was frightening, but there was nothing she could do while trapped in the Marquis’s residence.

Besides, climbing down a rope wasn’t that big of a deal.

Lydia had even pulled carts full of mana stones before.

“……Hup!”

But there was something Lydia overlooked. First, the first floor of the Marquis’s residence was higher than other floors, and second, Lydia no longer had the working muscles from her days of pulling mana stone carts.

“Ugh.”

Her arms gradually lost strength. Climbing back up was out of the question.

Then she’d have to jump down, but what if her legs broke?

Surely both legs wouldn’t break? Somehow, if she could just hold back her screams and limp along……

“Lady Lydia?”

“Ah, Sir Arsen?”

Just as she decided to jump, Lydia was startled by a voice from below.

Arsen, the Arsen she had been waiting for so desperately, was standing right beneath her.

“What on earth are you doing up there?”

“Well, it’s a long story to explain, ugh!”

Once again losing strength in her hands, Lydia bit her lip mid-sentence.

From below, Arsen muttered to himself, then sighed faintly.

“Jump.”

“What?”

“Jump, I’ll catch you.”

Arsen came under Lydia and stretched out his arms. Although she had resolved to jump down, now that the moment had passed, fear crept in slightly. Moreover,

“What if your arms break from catching me, Sir Arsen?”

“……What kind of worry is that.”

Arsen was so dumbfounded he lost his words for a moment.

Do I look that weak?

If anyone else in the Knight Order had heard this, he would have been the butt of jokes for ten days.

He considered persuading her further, but there was no need.

Lydia’s arms, already drained of strength, let go of the rolled cloth regardless of her will.

“Ah!”

Arsen caught Lydia with ease. She was extremely light.

Are all women this light? Or perhaps she hasn’t eaten since then? Did Devon end up starving her?

Otherwise, how could she feel almost weightless?

“Um, Sir Arsen?”

“My arms aren’t broken, so please stay still.”

Arsen held the squirming Lydia more firmly.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he could tell she was trying to sneak out of the Marquis’s residence.

“Bear with the discomfort.”

“That’s, that’s not it, my, my clothes……”

It wasn’t a matter of comfort or discomfort. If it were simply uncomfortable, Lydia would have stayed still.

When she fell into Arsen’s arms, her nightgown flipped up to above her thighs.

Each time Arsen adjusted his hold on her, the hem of her skirt crept higher toward her stomach. At this rate, not only would her bare legs be exposed, but her underwear as well—how could she stay still?

“Ah.”

Arsen, who had been looking down with an expression that seemed to ask what was wrong with her clothes, also became flustered.

It was already embarrassing enough that she was in her nightclothes, but when her white legs dangled over his arms, he froze stiffly.

“Could you put me down for a moment?”

“Me, you mean?”

“……?”

Lydia’s request to be put down meant she wanted him to set her on the ground.

Then naturally her skirt would fall down, and she could tidy up her appearance at the same time.

However, Arsen seemed to have understood differently.

Flustered, he almost hoisted Lydia onto his shoulder, then used his arm around her waist to pull down her skirt.

“……”

“……!”

Of course, it didn’t work well, and every time his rough fingers touched her bare skin, Lydia flinched. When Lydia flinched, Arsen also hesitated.

Lydia considered asking him to put her down completely, but Arsen was too serious about it.

‘If I tell him I meant to be put on the ground, it will surely be embarrassing. I can’t bear that embarrassment.’

Lydia hid her blushing face behind her hair.

Meanwhile, Arsen was on the verge of losing his mind as he experienced pulling down a woman’s skirt for the first time in his life.

He pulled down her skirt as if it were nothing, but he couldn’t help feeling nervous.