Chapter 1
“Elaine, the Vice-Captain, was dishonorably discharged!”
In the dining hall of the Empire’s 3rd Holy Knight Order,
A knight burst in, shouting at the top of his lungs.
The noisy hall, already bustling like a marketplace, fell into dead silence as if someone had poured ice water over it.
“What? Dishonorably?!”
Someone cried out like a scream.
Crash!
The silence shattered and an explosion of noise filled the hall.
“What happened?”
“Dishonorable discharge? That’s a huge punishment!”
While the knights murmured at the sudden news, someone pointed out the obvious.
“Wait a second… If Vice-Captain Elaine is gone…!”
Elaine Pascal.
She was the 3rd Holy Knight Order’s most promising sharpshooter.
If she held a musket, she never missed.
Her divine power was lacking, but with sheer accuracy alone, she had risen to the rank of vice-captain.
She was also the Order’s star marksman, winning first place in shooting at the annual Imperial Knight Tournament and upholding the 3rd Order’s honor.
“Who’s going to bring us victory in the next tournament?”
“Damn it!”
“So now we just sit back and watch the 4th Order gloat?”
With that shout, chaos broke loose.
Just then, the 3rd Order’s secretary walked in and clicked his tongue at the sight before him, shouting:
“Everyone quiet down! This is about disobeying a royal command!”
“…Disobedience?”
“From Vice-Captain Elaine?”
Someone slammed a table with a loud bang and yelled,
“I knew it. I just knew she’d cause trouble one day!”
“She always seemed like she had complaints! Ever since she used people as target practice, I knew something was up!”
“So what now? Did she punch the Pope or something?”
Shrill screams erupted like pigs being slaughtered.
Veins bulged slightly on the secretary’s forehead.
Thud!
Someone stomped hard on the dining hall floor.
The noise stopped instantly.
“Captain Istar.”
Captain Istar of the 3rd Holy Knight Order entered behind the secretary and raised his head.
With a face so handsome and serene it seemed the word “Holy Knight” had been modeled after him, he surveyed the room.
Once he confirmed the silence, he finally spoke.
“As of this moment, Elaine Pascal is stripped of her knighthood. She will never again serve in the Order or any similar institution.”
“But Captain!”
Voices of protest rose from those who knew how skilled Elaine was.
Suppressing his own frustration, Istar spoke again.
“She disobeyed a direct order from His Majesty.”
As those words fell, shock swept over the room like spilled ink—black, heavy, and clinging to the tongue, preventing anyone from speaking.
“A royal command…?”
“Not just any order… but from the Emperor himself?”
With furrowed brows, Istar continued.
“Elaine Pascal has…”
“…She released the captured enemy princesses instead of offering them to Duke Silence?”
“Goodness!”
A group of noble ladies gathered for tea gasped and fanned themselves feverishly.
One of them, unable to hide her excitement, whispered:
“That Duke isn’t just any Duke, right?”
“Duke Silence… the infamous Monster Duke?”
“Isn’t he rumored to have dragon or demon blood?”
“Probably dragon blood.”
“What’s the difference? Dragons were basically demons back in the day!”
One of the bolder ladies added:
“They say his magic is so strong that any woman who carries his child dies right after giving birth.”
“Exactly. That’s why he’s still unmarried.”
“And they say he’s a beast in bed!”
“How terrifying!”
Duke Silence held a peculiar position in the Empire.
Monsters feared the Silence bloodline, said to carry the power of dragons.
As a result, the Duchy was granted a harsh, monster-infested frontier known as Saint Portu, to use that fearsome bloodline to defend the borders.
Since that power was hereditary, marriage was essential.
But what did he have to offer? No wealth—just barren lands and deadly rumors.
No noble was willing to marry their daughter into such a place.
So, traditionally, the emperors had sent daughters of vassal states or captured enemy princesses to him.
But now, that long-standing tradition had been broken—
—by none other than a daughter of the Empire’s most prestigious military family: the Pascals.
The nobles erupted in condemnation.
Still, not all the noble ladies present were so critical.
“She released enemy princesses… just to save them from that fate?”
One girl blushed as she spoke. A moment of silence passed.
“That’s… romantic. And chivalrous.”
Someone murmured dreamily.
“Elaine Pascal… wasn’t he the youngest son of Marquis Pascal? The handsome short one?”
“Did he really have that kind of courage?”
“Courage? More like recklessness!”
Not everyone admired Elaine’s actions.
Some viewed it as arrogant.
“The Emperor is furious! It’s practically treason!”
“Not only that—didn’t he order the Marquis to send his daughter in place of the princesses?”
“Wait. The daughter of Marquis Pascal…?”
Everyone had the same person in mind.
Reina Pascal?
The rose of the social scene.
The single bloom in a house full of rugged men, generations of warriors.
Many of the ladies present idolized her.
She was already engaged, too.
“No… not her…”
“It’s cowardly! Elaine Pascal sold off his own sister!”
“Exactly! It’s not even him marrying the Duke!”
One angry noblewoman glared toward the grand Pascal estate in the distance.
Meanwhile, chaos reigned within the mansion’s drawing room.
“What were you thinking, Elaine?!”
“……”
“Disobeying a royal order and getting dishonorably discharged?! A disgrace to our military family!”
Marquis Pascal slammed his cane against the floor repeatedly.
Sitting across from him was the cause of all this uproar—Elaine Pascal.
Feigning boredom, she casually picked at her ear.
“Why? I just thought it was too cruel. First their kingdom is invaded, and now they’re being forced into marriage?”
“And your sister? Isn’t she also pitiful?”
The Marquis threw down his cane and clutched his chest in anger.
Elaine just stared lazily out the window.
Under her short brown hair, her soft green eyes blinked innocently.
For someone accused of selling off her sister to the Monster Duke, she looked remarkably unbothered.
“…Elaine.”
From beside the Marquis, Reina spoke in a weary voice.
Even her sadness seemed to enhance her beauty.
Seeing his radiant daughter, the Marquis tore at his hair.
“Because you let those princesses go, your sister now has to marry the Monster Duke! Don’t you feel any guilt?”
“Why sell off my sister?”
The room fell deathly quiet.
“……”
Reina slowly turned to look at her sibling, almost creaking like a rusty door.
“Elaine… no way.”
“Wait. Don’t tell me… you!”
Elaine nonchalantly raised her hand to her head.
Slip.
Her short brown wig came off effortlessly.
Long, silky hair fell down over her wrinkled Holy Knight uniform.
“Why sell off your sister, when you’ve got a hidden youngest daughter right here?”
“…Elaine!”
“You’ve lost your mind!”
“Perfect timing, really. I can’t serve as a knight anymore anyway.”
Brushing aside her long brown hair like it was a nuisance, Elaine gave a cool smile.
“I’ll marry him.”
