If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 155

The awkward topic ended there.

 

Noah opened his mouth as though he had just remembered something. “I heard that Princess Silver Bird has been unwell since returning to the imperial palace. Is she alright now?”

 

“She is mostly confined to her bed. It has already been five days since I last heard her voice.” Restraining his grief, Regen’s voice was drier than usual.

 

In contrast, Noah’s reaction was intense. “What? You haven’t heard her voice? Why? Don’t she’s unconsci… Ah, that can’t be, right? According to my princess, she even visited her two days ago.”

 

For a personal knight, being unable to hear the voice of his princess was a serious matter.

 

Regen calmly explained the circumstances. “I was ordered to train at the training grounds from morning to night. Whenever I return to her chambers, she is always asleep, so there’s no chance to talk.”

 

“Ah… Then you haven’t seen Princess Silver Bird’s face for several days?” Putting himself in Regen’s shoes, Noah was horrified and looked at him sympathetically.

 

Regen denied that it was quite that bad. “I have seen her face.”

 

“How? Were you close enough that you could just enter her bedroom while she was asleep…?”

 

“At dawn, I went into her bedroom to check the fireplace in place of the maids. Since I saw her briefly each time, I suppose I have seen her face.”

 

Noah narrowed his eyes like a fox. “Be honest with me, Sir Regen. It wasn’t just briefly, was it?”

 

“…”

 

“I knew it.”

 

A personal knight understood the heart of another personal knight best. Noah patted Regen on the shoulder, saying that he would have done the same in his position.

 

“It’s much better than unnecessarily going in and out of her room all the time. Of course.”

 

“Yes…” Regen awkwardly cleared his throat and said no more.

 

Around that time, another personal knight with blazing red hair came to the sink to fetch water. It was Kilieon.

 

“Welcome!”

 

Kilieon reluctantly approached Noah, who was energetically waving at him, and Regen, who was standing straight beside him. Then, while his canteen filled with water, he glanced at Regen and spoke in a deliberately indifferent tone. “Seeing that you haven’t spilled a single drop of sweat, you don’t seem focused on training. Did you come to the training grounds just to drink water?”

 

“Thank you for worrying about me, Kilieon.”

 

“I’m not worried about you?!”

 

“Right. Thank you.”

 

“That shameless way you talk! Argh!”

 

Kilieon was extremely reactive toward Regen. Even over the most trivial remarks, he would get worked up on his own and become irritated. Regen simply assumed that Kilieon disliked whatever he said. However, in the eyes of others, the relationship between Regen and Kilieon looked different.

 

“When did you two become so close?”

 

Naturally, those who had something to hide flinched. Regen showed nothing thanks to his innate composure, while Kilieon exercised his right to remain silent by putting the canteen to his mouth.

 

Noah instinctively recognized which of the two would be easier to deal with. “Sir Kilieon, I have something I’m curious about.”

 

Noah’s serious expression made Kilieon tense. Wanting to exercise his right to remain silent for as long as possible, he kept his mouth on the canteen and waited for the question.

 

“Is it true that your nickname is Kiki?”

 

“Puff!” The flowers in the flowerbed received a refreshing shower.

 

“You have no dignity, Kilieon.”

 

“It’s because of you!”

 

“What? It’s not because of me?” Noah tilted his head.

 

At that moment, someone appeared with silent footsteps and stepped into the shadows of the three men. “What are you discussing?” A knight with a cool impression and neck-length sky-blue hair. It was none other than Yulis.

 

“Sir Yulis! I’m touched that you came before I even called for you!”

 

“It seemed you were having an interesting conversation.”

 

The knight, who usually gave off the impression of a still life due to being excessively taciturn, surprisingly seemed interested in social interaction.

 

Yulis gazed at the three of them for a while before speaking. “You seem to have grown stronger.”

 

Thinking Yulis was talking about him, Noah was about to respond. But Yulis’s gaze was directed elsewhere.

 

“Sir Regen.”

 

“…”

 

Regen didn’t panic. During the carriage journey, his mana core had fully recovered. It seemed that the mana he hadn’t fully suppressed was briefly detected by Yulis’s sharp senses. Come to think of it, he had been so focused on Sasha’s health lately that his self-control hadn’t been thorough. After all, as the God of War of Lohengrin, the further he strayed from a fully clear mind, the more his fundamental aura of intimidation would leak through.

 

Regen carefully gathered his mana even further and smiled. “It must be your imagination.”

 

“Is that so? I thought you had received Princess Silver Bird’s blessing.” Yulis spoke meaningfully, then looked over Noah and Kilieon in turn as well. “Sir Noah has certainly received Princess Amethyst’s blessing. Sir Kilieon has not.”

 

Now that he thought about it, Yulis seemed to have come not to have a conversation, but to investigate them.

 

“Blessing? You mean the imperial family’s mana-enhancement ability? What is that? How do you do it?” Kilieon looked around, demanding an answer from Noah and Regen. Naturally, both knights kept silent.

 

Regen changed the subject. “Sir Noah, may I ask you one question?”

 

“Yes! Go ahead.”

 

“What did you wish for with your martial arts tournament wish?”

 

At the time, Noah had been badly injured from fighting in the wheel battle, so it was only after recovering that he was granted an audience with the mad emperor and used his wish right. That was during the period when Regen had left the imperial palace.

 

“I made the same wish as Sir Kiki. I asked him not to put Princess Amethyst up for auction.”

 

Kilieon angrily snapped at the proud-looking Noah. “Don’t call me Kiki!”

 

“Why? I respect you, Sir Kiki.”

 

“I said don’t!”

 

“It’s a good name…” Without explicitly saying he would stop calling him that, Noah turned back to Regen. “Come to think of it, Sir Regen, you offered your wish right to Princess Silver Bird, didn’t you? Had you discussed it with Her Highness beforehand?”

 

“I will refrain from answering.”

 

“Ah, yes! I shall refrain from asking.” Noah continued, sounding disappointed. “I heard that transferring the wish right was an exception granted only to Sir Regen. What a shame. Princess Amethyst is wise, so she would have put the wish right to better use than I did.”

 

Kilieon, who had been lost in thought for a moment at Noah’s words, muttered sullenly. “Even if transferring it had been possible, I wouldn’t have given my wish right to my princess.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Because I feel like Princess Golden Deer would have asked to set me free.”

 

“Ah…”

 

Kilieon and Noah both became solemn.

 

Yulis, who had been quietly listening all this time, spoke in a voice faintly tinged with regret. “You all seem to have good relationships with your princesses.”

 

Yulis’s purple eyes sank into darkness. In the open space flooded with fall sunlight, a shadow seemed to fall only over his head. He recalled what had happened during the martial arts tournament. His wish wasn’t made for the mad emperor, but for Princess Safflower.

 

“Please do not take in any knight other than me. For the rest of Your Highness’s life, I ask that I be your only knight.”

 

It was plainly a wish that would harm the princess. Because it bound his own precarious fate to hers.

 

The gazes of the other three knights turned toward Yulis. For a different reason than before, the atmosphere around the sink grew solemn. The twisted relationship between Lilliana and Yulis had begun when Lilliana, who desired Dominic, tried to cast Yulis aside. All three knights had witnessed what happened, so they held their tongues.

 

The only person who could break the silence here was Yulis himself. He opened his mouth. “I envy you, Sir Regen.”

 

“…Me?”

 

“I feel like you haven’t had even a small argument with Princess Silver Bird.”

 

“…” Regen flinched inwardly. That was wrong, considering the major cold war they had once fought over his volunteering to attend to her at night.

 

“What must I do to have a relationship like yours with Princess Silver Bird?” Yulis was genuinely asking for advice. His expression was the kind that instinctively made one feel they ought to say something helpful.

 

Searching his memories of their cold war, Regen spoke. “If there is something you want, it is better to open your heart honestly rather than justify it with cowardly excuses.”

 

“I see.” Yulis nodded as though he understood, but Kilieon became angry.

 

“What are you talking about? Stop talking so vaguely and say it so people can understand. Were you being cowardly? What on earth did you want from Princess Silver Bird?”