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Chapter 398

“Sir Cain!” she shouted. “I told you to clear your room more often!”

“Oh, hi.” Cain waved his hand, and rolled over in his bed.

“Now is not exactly the time to say hi! This is a pigsty, not a human room! This is why you can’t get married, Sir Cain. No one likes a man who is filthy.”

That finally got Cain up from the bed. “Why are you nagging me as soon as you get here?”

“We’re living under the same roof, so you need to have common courtesy. Common!”

“Gosh, someone might have a wrong idea if they heard you right now. We’re living together in this enormous palace—there are at least a hundred roofs in this place, not one. Besides, you’re not the one responsible for cleaning!”

“It’s difficult for servants to work.”

“You’re quite a saint,” Cain grumbled.

“That is why I call you sheltered. You’ve never cleaned up a room yourself.” Icarus set an example herself by picking up the trash in front of her one piece at a time.

“Leave them be.” Cain waved his hand around.

“Forget it. I’ll do it myself instead of waiting and getting frustrated.”

“My family is greatly honored that Miss Icarus, the new power in the Imperial Palace, is personally cleaning up my room,” Cain said dramatically.

Icarus snorted. “I was born a peasant.”

While the two bickered, a teenage girl stuck out her head through the gap in the opened door.

“Amel?” Icarus said.

“Miss Icarus, I was ordered to escort you to the council chamber right away,” Amel reported.

“Huh? By whom?”

“The Lord Steward. He said His Majesty returned…” Amel cautiously informed her.

Cain and Icarus’s eyes widened.

“His Majesty has returned?”

“Just a moment ago. From what I’ve heard, he’s going to send you, Miss Icarus, to support the feudal conflict of the Pontier Family,” Amel said.

“What? A feudal conflict?”

“I ran into Miss Iceline the Ice Archmage, and she told me about it.”

“Huh…!” Cain gasped. A sparkle came to his eyes. “He said he was going to travel alone for several days and yet he returned with Miss Iceline.”

“What are you getting at?” Iceline asked.

“His Majesty must have brought a fiancée. Miss Iceline is more than good enough to be his wife. Oh, our master getting married. It shouldn’t happen…”

Icarus immediately gave Cain a death glare. “What do you mean it shouldn’t? Whose life are you trying to ruin right now? I won’t let our master meet the same future as you, Sir Cain.”

“…Well, I’m going to get married as soon as I meet someone!” Cain confidently claimed.

“The problem is that there is no someone,” Icarus shot back..

The two were not worried in the slightest about this feudal conflict because they were certain that nothing bad could happen after their master had gotten involved.

“So why is Lady Charles always looking for you when a problem rises?” Cain asked Icarus.

“I’m talented.”

“To be honest, you’re only book-smart.” Cain looked away.

Icarus scowled at him. “What?”

“Everyone calls you a heaven-sent mind, but I’ve never seen you make a brilliant exploit.”

“I didn’t have a chance to make one in the first place! Our master takes care of everything on his own, so what more can I do?”

“Wow, that is a great excuse. Hmm~ Shall I use our master as an excuse as well? ‘I’m talented, but I never had a chance to use my talent.’ Something along those lines?”

“Didn’t you always receive help from our master? You weren’t really his guard.” Icarus smirked.

“Come on.” Cain puffed up his chest. “‘Cain de Harry, the Black Lion’ means something in the continent.”

Icarus frowned. “Forget it. Get ready to leave.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh?’ You’re coming with me.”

Cain gaped blankly at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Amel mentioned a feudal conflict.”

“So?”

“His Majesty already knows what is going on in that place, but he’s only sending me. Can’t you see what he wants me to do? There is only one way to stop the feudal conflict from turning into an armed conflict and save Lady Charles’s face, and it’s a knight’s tournament.”

Icarus had analyzed the situation perfectly.

“A k-knight’s tournament?” Cain’s eyes widened. “Does the Pontier family have a knight’s order? I thought their order was annihilated by the war against Marquess Crombell.”

Icarus shrugged. “Well, there is. She said she recently created several knight’s orders.”

“She must have made them at the last minute by recruiting a few free knights.” Cain snorted.

“As you already know, a knight’s combat power isn’t the deciding factor in winning a tournament. Tactics, mobilizing and leading their fellow knights… A knight’s order in bad shape can often turn the tables due to many other factors.”

“So you mean the leader of a knight order is the most important one, but the Pontier family doesn’t have such a knight.”

Icarus stared at Cain without saying anything.

“What? Me?”

“Then who else is there?” Icarus said with a thin smile.

“Why me…?” Cain muttered in confusion.

“What do you mean, ‘why?’ Cain and Icarus are always a set.”

“…You’re ridiculous,” Cain said—but he was already heading to the council chamber.

Amel, who was watching them from behind, giggled and mumbled, “They’re always like that.”

“Let me ask you one more question,” Cain said. “You ask me to do stuff, but why do you always treat me so roughly?”

“Think about it positively. That is how comfortable I feel around you.” Icarus’ smile deepened.

“So is it me or our master?” Cain asked.

Icarus frowned slightly. “…What part of the conversation led you to ask this question?”

“What? You’re worried about our master not getting married but not me? You can ‘save’ me, you know.”

Icarus smiled. “Sir Cain?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you have a conscience?”

“What?”

“I’m a year older than His Majesty.”

“So?”

“How much older are you than His Majesty?”

“Let’s see… When our master was nine, I was in my mid-twenties…”

“You’re at least twelve years older than me, right?”

“Come on, there is no age nor nationality in love.”

“I told you that you aren’t my type, Sir Cain.”

“So what? Are you trying to become a queen consort?”

After some time, Cain and Icarus arrived at the council chamber. Although the chamber should have been empty, someone was already here, leaning casually against the throne. That person was Cain and Icarus’s one and only master.

“Sir Cain! Icarus!” Iceline delightedly waved her hand at them from afar.

Cain beamed and waved his hand back at her. “Miss Iceline! You’ve become more beautiful.”

However, Icarus’ eyes were glued elsewhere, so Cain nudged Icarus’s waist. “We’re meeting our friend for the first time in a while, so the least you can do is to say hello too.”

“…Ah, you were here too, Miss Iceline,” Icarus quietly said.

“What the…” Cain muttered.

Icarus smiled faintly and turned to look at the throne without saying anything else. She noted that their master was nodding off on the throne, so she figured that his journey must have been tiring. After a moment, Icarus turned away.

“I saw him, so I’m good. Let’s go.”

“…What? You’re leaving like that?” Cain asked in disbelief.

“A strategist’s virtue is to know what their master wants even without receiving orders.”

“But this is the first time we’ve seen him in ages, so why don’t we say hello before we go?”

“Forget it.” Icarus shook her head. “We’re talking out loud, but he hasn’t shown the slightest sign of waking up.”

Cain raised an eyebrow. “Huh, so you’re really going to die working?”

“That is the mark of a true strategist.”

Cain pouted like an absolute child. He didn’t definitely didn’t want to leave like this, so Cain turned and shouted at the top of his lungs:

“Maaaaassssstttteeeerrrr! Your fangirl is going to go on a business tripppppppp!”

* * *

Using a warp gate, Cain and Icarus arrived at the Pontier Dukedom in less than a day.

“Welcome!” Charles, who had been waiting by the warp gate to welcome the two, hugged Icarus, beaming.

“Lady Charles!” Icarus happily shouted.

“My.” Charles gasped dramatically. “You’re also here, Sir Cain?”

“…You’ve gotten good at pretending, Lady Charles. You look like you knew I was going to come,” Cain grumbled.

“Hehe, you got me.” Charles winked. “It was the only way because I added the condition that I wouldn’t involve the Imperial Knights regarding the tournament.”

Cain nodded. “Well, I’m technically not an Imperial Knight.”

It was known across the continent that Cain de Harry was only loyal to Joshua Sanders and was his first knight.

“On top of that, you’re the one leading free knights right now, right?” Charles asked Cain.

Cain had officially become a free knight after the end of the war because he wanted to help his master outside of the framework of the empire that Joshua ruled. Since anyone talented enough could become a free knight, the job was perfect for Cain.

“…Do you really need to bother with other people’s help? I’ll smash everything on my own if anything goes wrong.”

“I knew I could count on you,” Charles said. “I know it’s shameless of me, but is it okay if I entrust you with this matter? I’ll repay this favor handsomely later.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to do it.” Cain shrugged and took a step forward. “Then I would like to be rewarded with an opportunity to have a date with you, Lady Charles.”

“…Pardon?”

“Hmm? I’m helping you at the risk of my life, so you aren’t seriously going to say no, are you?” Cain asked dramatically.

“No, I’m not…” An idea flashed through Charles’s mind, bringing a mischievous smile to her lips. “Are you sure you would be okay with that? I’m your master’s fiancée now.”

“…What?” Cain gaped blankly at her. “By my master… you mean His Majesty?”

Even Icarus’s breath caught. “W-wait, Lady Charles, what do you mean ‘fiancée’?”

“I-It wasn’t Miss Iceline?” Cain mumbled.

“Sir Cain! Stop talking nonsense! By the way, is it true, Lady Charles?” Icarus stared intently at Charles, but the noblewoman only smiled enigmatically.

“Oh my god, I feel betrayed,” Icarus moaned as she collapsed to the ground. “…I’m going to go back.”

“What?” Cain asked.

“I want to date my master and get engaged to him! Sir Cain, you said you’d smash everything on your own, right? Then please take charge of this tournament matter. I changed my mind. It’s really unfair for me to only work until I die.”

Charles and Cain stared vacantly as Icarus revealed a new side.