Chapter : 6 – What Did You Just Say?
Leonard’s words reached her ears, but Cielie couldn’t properly react.
His voice, heard like a bell, felt almost like an angel’s.
While she sat there blankly, unable to speak, Leonard waved his hand in front of her face.
How much time passed?
When her senses finally returned, she blinked and shook her head left and right.
Leonard, who had been waving his hand in front of her, now held up two fingers and moved them.
“How many fingers do you see, Knight?”
“Two. No, that’s not—”
Her voice was very quiet, but not so quiet that he couldn’t hear it.
After hesitating several times and moving her lips without speaking properly, Cielie clenched her fist and then released it.
“Um… what did you just say?”
She asked again, unsure if she had heard correctly.
“I asked if you would stay at my house for a while until you find another place to live.”
“At your house?”
“To be exact, the house you used to live in.”
At his words, Cielie thought for a moment.
But the hesitation didn’t last long, and her decision came quickly.
She had nowhere else to stay until she found a new place.
She briefly considered sleeping in the knight order’s dormitory, but it would be unfair to the on-duty knights.
If she slept in the single rest room there, others wouldn’t be able to rest properly.
“So… then—”
“I can stay at the imperial palace anyway.”
Leonard, as a Grand Duke, also had his own territory. His land was in the northern region, far from the capital, so he had rented a house in the capital—and that house had turned out to be the one Cielie had been living in.
Of course, the scammer who tricked her would have sold it to someone else if not Leonard.
Feeling like things were finally resolving, Cielie’s eyes sparkled with hope.
“Then could you just sell me the house—”
“That won’t do.”
He cut her off immediately.
Cielie pouted but quickly cleared her throat. The person in front of her was now her superior… and her landlord.
“Then… could I stay until I find another place? I’ll pay rent properly! I’ll just live on the first floor.”
“There isn’t even a proper room on the first floor.”
“I don’t mind!”
She smiled brightly, saying even a knight dormitory would be fine, so a small room was nothing.
Leonard tilted his lips slightly, looking somewhat displeased, but Cielie, lost in her own thoughts, didn’t notice.
From that day on, Cielie searched for a house after work while also fulfilling her duties as Leonard’s aide during working hours.
She scolded him for not working, but when his cold gaze fell on her, she had no choice but to back down.
But whenever her temper flared again and she urged him to work, he would avoid her complaints and run away.
And so Cielie ended up spending entire days chasing him around the imperial palace.
‘Ha, insane.’
Exhausted from chasing Leonard, she sat down on a bench in the palace garden.
Other knights on patrol clicked their tongues, looking at her with pity, but she didn’t even have the energy to respond.
‘Of all people… why does it have to be him, the landlord?!’
It didn’t matter that Leonard was the knight commander or a Grand Duke.
What mattered most was that he was her landlord.
Because of that, she couldn’t even demand approval like before, and her work wasn’t progressing at all.
“Are you okay?”
Mielle pressed a cold glass against her cheek.
She was the only female knight in the imperial knight order, and one of the few female knights alongside Cielie. With similar names, the two were close friends.
“I feel like I’m going to die.”
“I heard the Commander keeps running away from you every day.”
“Why is that guy even back?! Why?!”
“Shh.”
Mielle covered Cielie’s mouth.
After Cielie calmed down, Mielle looked around carefully and leaned in.
“I heard His Majesty called him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know that.”
‘I don’t need useless half-information like that!’
Cielie swung her fist at Mielle, but Mielle dodged easily and stepped back with a smile.
“Anyway, cheer up!”
“Hey! Don’t run!”
Mielle left behind a cold drink and walked away.
Watching her back, Cielie let out a small laugh.
‘Thanks.’
Just as she reached for the drink, someone suddenly took it away.
“I should get some too.”
Leonard appeared behind her, sweaty and breathing lightly.
He had been nowhere to be found when she was looking for him, yet now he showed up with his shirt completely soaked.
Cielie glared at him.
He finished the drink Mielle had given her in one go and smiled slightly.
“Commander.”
“I know, I know.”
“What do you mean you know?”
“You’re telling me to work. To do paperwork.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Cielie grew annoyed seeing him looking like he had just finished exercising somewhere.
‘I ran around looking for him until my feet hurt, and he’s casually working out?’
“Let’s have a duel!”
“A duel?”
“Yes!”
Her voice echoed through the palace garden.
At the training grounds, Cielie stood confidently and shouted:
“If I win, you’ll properly do your paperwork in the office!”
“And if I win?”
“Uh… that—”
She hadn’t even considered losing.
“So let’s talk about that after the duel.”
Leonard stood at one end of the training ground. No other knights were present due to working hours.
Cielie focused completely on him.
“Attack first.”
“Gladly!”
She leapt forward.
A bright light formed in her hands as a magical bow appeared, an arrow forming on it.
She fired mid-air and landed smoothly.
Her arrow was deflected by Leonard’s summoned sword.
‘I knew it.’
Leonard immediately closed in, swinging his blade.
Blue flames wrapped around his sword as he moved swiftly in all directions.
Every direction Cielie tried to move, his blade was already there.
Her expression turned cold.
Her blue eyes deepened as a wind barrier formed in front of her bow.
Leonard’s sword struck it, but couldn’t break through.
“Hmm.”
At that moment, Cielie fired another arrow through the gap.
Leonard deflected it, but the next arrow forced him off balance.
He rolled on the ground—and in that instant, Cielie was already on top of him.
She summoned a magic arrow and pressed it beside his face.
Victory.
“Huff… huff… I win!”
Sweat dripped down her face as sunlight hit her.
Her hair, once neatly tied, was completely messy. Her knight uniform was covered in dirt.
There was silence between them.
Cielie smiled brightly.
“You lost, Commander.”
“Yes. I lost.”
Leonard’s face, illuminated by sunlight, looked strangely sharp and calm.
Cielie suddenly noticed his features clearly for the first time.
Sharp jawline, straight nose, long eyes, black hair, blue eyes.
She remembered knights once saying his face looked like something carved by a god.
And now she understood.
Cielie, too, was said to be the most beautiful knight.
Her silver hair shone gold under the sun.
Her blue eyes sparkled like a goddess.
They stared at each other in silence.
Then Cielie suddenly realized her position.
‘I’m crazy.’
She quickly stood up from his chest.
“Since I won, you should work properly!”
She turned away quickly and walked off.
“Cielie.”
Leonard called her name.
She turned back.
“Knight.”
“Yes, yes?!”
“Your clothes are wet. Go wash up and come to the office.”
“O-of course!”
She quickly looked away from his soaked shirt.
‘Just go to the office.’
She walked faster, ignoring his voice calling after her.
Later, inside the office, Leonard spoke while sitting at his desk.
“There was a letter for you.”
“A letter?”
Cielie rushed over.
She opened it quickly.
Inside was a marriage proposal.
< Cielie Arius
Since the enclosed marriage contract was not returned, it is being sent again.
Fulfill your family duty. >
“…You insane people…”
Her hand shook violently as she held the letter.
“…Knight, are you getting married?”
