His speed was not based on the Divine Protection of the Wind, but on the power surpassing common sense that the title of “Sword Saint” itself carried.
That night, Felt had run for no more than a quarter of an hour.
Just as she was about to turn into a familiar dark alley to catch her breath, she slammed on the brakes at the entrance.
Reinhard was standing right there.
Wearing his white knight’s uniform, with the faint moonlight resting on his shoulders, he looked at her with a calm expression:
“Lady Felt, the wind is strong at night; don’t catch a cold. Let’s go back.”
“…”
At that moment, Felt really wanted to fly into a kick and stomp on his face, which was so calm it was infuriating.
Even more so than at this very moment.
“Fine, I won’t run anymore. I can’t get away anyway.” Felt pulled back her thoughts, closed the window, and turned around to lean against the windowsill, arms crossed over her flat chest, looking at Reinhard with the posture of starting a negotiation.
“Reinhard, but I have three conditions.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“First, you are not allowed to make decisions for me anymore.” Felt held up a finger and said slowly, “What I wear, what I eat, where I go, and who I see—I decide that for myself. Stop arranging this and that for me; I’m not your pet.”
“That…”
“You are a knight; you have to listen to your liege, right? This is my order.”
“…Understood.”
“Second, no more buying clothes for me. I’ll wear what I have on, and we’ll see when it wears out.”
“If a formal occasion requires appropriate attire—”
“Then we’ll talk about it then.” Felt interrupted him with a wave of her hand.
“Anyway, don’t buy anything for me now. Even if you do, I won’t wear it.”
“Understood.”
“Third, don’t stare at me eating every day. If I’m hungry, I’ll eat; if I’m not, feeding me is useless.”
“Understood.” Reinhard nodded.
“But if you do not appear at the dining table for two consecutive meals, I will bring food to your door. This is not making decisions for you; it is a knight’s basic duty to their liege.”
“…Tch.” Felt clicked her tongue, as if wanting to retort but unable to find the right words.
Finally, she just waved her hand irritably.
“Suit yourself, anyway, if I don’t open the door, you can’t get in.”
“I will wait outside the door until you open it.”
Reinhard added unhurriedly.
Hearing this, Felt rolled her eyes and said:
“Don’t you have a lot of things to do outside? Patrols, fighting bad guys, protecting the capital! Stop hovering around me all day; I’m not some fragile piece of porcelain that will fall apart if I trip.”
“If Lady Felt wishes for me to spend more time outside, I can adjust the Knights Order’s patrol schedule.”
Reinhard was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.
“I do.”
Felt replied immediately, her speed so fast as if she were afraid he would change his mind.
“Then I shall arrange it as such.”
Reinhard nodded in agreement.
“You’re really obedient, aren’t you.” Felt tilted her head, a mocking curve on her lips as she revealed a canine tooth.
“You do whatever I tell you to do, so if I want you to go out now, will you go?”
“I am already preparing to leave.” Reinhard nodded and answered seriously,
“Because your request is reasonable. Appropriate time alone will help you sort out your mood. There are maids and other knights on standby in the mansion, so you will not lack necessary protection. My reducing the time spent in the mansion does not affect my ability to fulfill my duties as a knight.” This story is hosted at novelping.com.
“…Reinhard, you really are annoying.” Felt walked to a chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other, tapping the floor with her toe.
“Go patrol already. If I have to look at your face for one more second, I’ll want to punch you.”
“Understood.” Reinhard turned and walked toward the door.
After a few steps, he stopped and looked back at Felt.
“…Lady Felt, the tailor will come this afternoon, just to measure you for the formal attire for the Royal Selection meeting.”
“Got it.” Felt pursed her lips, turning her head to look out the window, her voice noticeably lower than before,
“Anyway, I might not even last until then.”
“Very well.” Reinhard nodded.
“One more thing, I instructed the kitchen to prepare cake and desserts this morning…”
“I told you to stop worrying about my meals!”
Felt turned her head sharply, revealing her cute canine tooth, her hair bristling like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“Apologies, Lady Felt.”
Reinhard bowed slightly, then turned and walked out of the room.
Felt watched his back disappear at the end of the corridor, then grabbed a cushion nearby and brandished it fiercely in the direction where he had vanished.
Then she walked to the window, pushed it open, and shouted down to the floor below:
“Reinhard!”
A steady response came from downstairs:
“I am here.”
“If you run into that black-haired guy on your patrol, tell him thanks for me!”
“Natsuki Subaru is currently at the Roswaal mansion, not in the capital.”
“Oh… then wait until he gets back!”
“Understood.”
“…”
Felt closed the window, leaned against the windowsill, and slowly squatted down.
She buried her face in her knees, her short golden hair hanging down to hide her expression, revealing only the small canine tooth at the corner of her mouth biting her lower lip:
“…Some Royal Selection candidate. I’m just a thief from the Slums. You people… insisting on forcing these things that don’t belong to me onto me.”
…
On the other side.
Reinhard walked out of the mansion gate and sighed slightly.
A trace of imperceptible exhaustion appeared on his handsome face.
It was not because of battle, nor because of patrolling; it was purely because the golden-haired girl at home was just too difficult to handle.
Facing such a Felt, even as an upright knight, he was truly at a loss.
He knew very well that Felt hated him very much.
She hated him for bringing her back from the Slums, hated him for shackling her with the burden of being a Royal Selection candidate, and hated him for managing everything she did every day.
As for Felt’s hatred, Reinhard did not care.
From the day he became a knight, he never intended to make everyone like him.
A knight’s duty is not to be liked, but to protect what should be protected.
Felt was what he needed to protect now.
Whether she liked it or not.
He would stay by Felt’s side, not taking a single step back, until Felt was truly strong enough to no longer need him. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
This was the path he had chosen.
…
Reinhard walked steadily along the stone roads of the capital.
He knew the patrol route by heart.
Starting from the central avenue, passing through the fountain square, bypassing the commercial district, then going through several residential alleys, and finally returning to the noble district near the royal castle.
The morning in the capital was always lively.
Smoke drifted from the bakery’s chimney, the blacksmith’s shop clanged incessantly, and vegetable peddlers pushed their carts, shouting on the street side.
Reinhard wove through the crowd.
From time to time, people recognized him and respectfully saluted or greeted him.
He nodded to each one in response, a gentle smile always on his handsome face.
Everything was normal.
Everything was peaceful.
This was the purpose of Reinhard’s daily patrol: to let the daily life of this city continue just like this.
“…Huh?”
Then, Reinhard turned the corner and walked into the main road of the commercial street.
His gaze was suddenly drawn to something.
It was a head of long red hair.
It gleamed with a silky luster in the sunlight, every strand looking as if it were cast from a mixture of melted gold and rubies.
When the breeze blew, the hair fluttered gently, drawing a soft arc in the air.
Red hair was not common in the capital.
Occasionally, one could see a passerby with brownish-red or dark red hair, but none were as striking as this head of hair.
It was a color that one could never forget after a single glance, an existence that would definitely be caught at first sight even if mixed among thousands of people.
But what truly made Reinhard stop was not the red hair itself.
It was that among Reinhard’s hundreds of Divine Protections, the Divine Protection of Bloodline Perception was vibrating violently at this moment.
When Reinhard looked toward the red-haired girl eating an apple on the commercial street, the Divine Protection of Bloodline Perception Felt as if it had been ignited, pulsing violently in his chest.
The feeling was much stronger than when he was near his father Heinkel, and even clearer than when he stood before his grandfather Wilhelm.
“What is going on… Why would the Divine Protection of Bloodline Perception have such a strong reaction?” Reinhard stopped in the crowd, his brows slightly knitted, and a rare trace of confusion flashed in his azure eyes.
The burning sensation surging from deep within his chest was so strange and intense, as if a fire had been suddenly ignited in his chest.
He couldn’t help but take steps in that direction.
As the distance got closer, he gradually saw the side profile of the red-haired girl.
Exquisite features, eyes as azure as a clear sky, skin so fair it was almost translucent.
And that face—that face was exactly the same as the magic portrait of his grandmother when she was young, kept in his grandfather’s study.
“How can it be… so like Grandmother?” Reinhard’s heart skipped a beat.
He had passed by that portrait countless times, and each time he would inadvertently take an extra look.
Grandfather said that was what Grandmother looked like when she was young, the face he cherished most in his memories.
And now, that face appeared before him, alive and real.
Thinking this, Reinhard subconsciously quickened his pace, crossing the final distance in a few large strides.
Before the red-haired girl was about to turn and leave, he blocked her path.
“Who is it? Watch where you’re going—”
The red-haired girl, still biting into half an apple, complained mumbly, turning around as she spoke.
Then, her azure eyes met Reinhard’s gaze.