Chapter 58 (1/2)

“Are you Sir Monique?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

I hesitated for a moment when I was called by that unfamiliar title, ‘Sir Monique.’

It was right to call me that way because an apprentice knight like me was still a knight, but I felt awkward since I wasn’t yet accustomed to it.

There were many changes in the organization of the knights as the regular knights division, which were as many as five during the late emperor’s reign had been reduced to three after the current emperor took office. Ten years ago, when the Duke Heidel and Duke Laurel families were ruined, the 2nd and 3rd Knights divisions whose leadership they had maintained for generations were disbanded, and the 4th Knight Division that our family was in charge of was promoted to the 2nd Knights Division.

The emperor ordered the dissolution of the 2nd and 3rd Knights, and selected only those who were loyal to him to join the 1st and 4th Knights, currently the 2nd Knights, for reinforcement. In the process, the number of both knight divisions increased somewhat, but the total number of all the knights was reduced. Therefore, it was very difficult to be appointed as an official knight in the empire because the selection standards were strict, and the overall quota was also reduced.

In order to become the aide to the captain of the 1st Knights Division, I had to be an official knight first, so I took the test to obtain knighthood a few days ago. I was not competent enough to be a knight, but thanks to my hard training, I became an apprentice knight and as a result, I was fortunate enough to be the captain’s aide.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sudin Dillon. ”

Sir Dillon greeted me with a very happy expression. Initially, I was worried that he would ignore me because I was a woman or young or I took away his job, but he didn’t. I felt nothing like that in this man who had a good and generous impression.

“Thank you for welcoming me instead of belittling me, Sir Dillon.”

“Belittling you? No way. You are my savior.”

“Pardon?”

When I was a bit puzzled, he replied with a smile, “You will find out if you come to work as his aide.”

“Ah… ”

Suddenly, memories of the past I had forgotten came to my mind. Duke Lars was one of the teachers in charge of my empress classes in the past. Unlike his cool impression, he valued his principles. He was so meticulous in everything that I was always nervous when taking his class.

So, I felt I could understand he must have been stressed out while working as his boss’s aide.

“Come to think of it, it looks like the captain is not an easy-going boss.”

“You bet. By the way, as my boss is a close friend of your father, I guess you met him often, right?”

“Yes, I see him sometimes.”

“Oh I see. What a relief! Shall we start now? ”

Touching my throbbing head, I wrote down the gist of his points in a small notebook. Even though I learned from my father over the winter, it was harder than I thought to understand lots of stuff that Sir Dillon explained in detail.

There were lots of things assigned to the 1st Knights. They were in charge of the guard of the Imperial Palace, collective combat training as well as maintaining the security of the capital. Besides that, they were responsible for supervising the training of the soldiers and sometimes dispatched to local provinces.

As a member of the 1st Knights and the captain’s aide, I had to understand all the tasks, so I had to handle a lot more work than an ordinary knight. I felt Sir Dillon took this kind of heavy workload into account when he described me as his savior.

“You are new to this job, but you understand quickly, Sir Monique. Well, I think I’m satisfied with you taking over my job at this point.”

“Oh, really? Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. As you understand quickly, it was easy for me to explain it to you. If you have any doubt, please feel free to ask. ”

“Yes, I will. Thank you.”

I smiled softly at the young knight looking at me in satisfaction, breathing a sigh of relief.

Then, I suddenly heard the door opening and saw two men with red hair coming in. They were Duke Lars, and another man familiar to me

“Oh, daddy… Well…” Carsein, who said something with a frown, opened his eyes wide.

I didn’t see him for a few months, but he changed a lot. His red hair, which was not so short, already grew down to his shoulders. He seemed taller than before.

“It’s been a while!”

“Hi, Carsein.”

He walked up to me with strides and turned me around after grabbing my hand.

“Daddy, let’s talk later. Let me talk with her for a moment.”

“… Sure, I’ll talk later. Sir Monique, thanks for your good job today. ”

The moment I said, ‘Oops!’, I was already taken out of the office by Carsein.

When I looked up at him with an embarrassed expression, he said with a smile, “How have you been?”