The Villainous lady doesn't speak chapter 189

The Worm in the Lion’s Belly 5

When Riley and Liliana arrived at the training grounds, about thirty knights of the Royal Knights were assembled. It seemed the subjects of the inspection were the Seventh Squad, renowned for their skill. Riley appeared to know them, but this was Liliana’s first time meeting them. At the captain’s call, the knights ceased their training and lined up before Riley and Liliana. Though their gazes were fixed straight ahead, their attention was clearly on the royal pair.

Knight Commander Thomas Hegarty tapped a man who appeared to be the captain on the shoulder and prompted him to step forward. The man, with a serious-looking face, stepped forward without a word and bowed before Riley and Liliana.

“Brendon Carey, Captain of the Royal Knights’ Seventh Squad.”

“Good to see you’re as well as ever.”

Riley responded with a smile. At that, Brendon’s expression softened slightly. It seems the captain is fond of Riley, Liliana mused inwardly, maintaining a serene smile. Riley, meanwhile, turned to her.

“This young lady is my fiancée, Lady Clark.”

Though he was ostensibly introducing her to Brendon, he was in fact presenting Liliana to the entire Seventh Squad. Liliana’s smile softened into a gentle one.

“I am Liliana Alexandra Clark. I am looking forward to observing your training today.”

“You honor us with your kind words.”

Brendon, who had momentarily relaxed his expression for Riley, bowed to Liliana with the same impassive face as before. It seemed he was not yet ready to warm up to her. However, since the Royal Knights were ultimately under the command of the royal family, his attitude towards a mere fiancée was to be expected.

That being said, considering she was the future Crown Princess, Brendon’s attitude was not exactly ideal. Liliana paid it little mind, so it was not a problem, but if it had been a lady with a high sense of self-worth who took offense at Brendon’s demeanor, she would surely have made unreasonable demands of the Seventh Squad upon becoming Crown Princess.

Riley let out a small smile and moved with Liliana to the prepared viewing stands. Gild, tasked with guarding them, stood behind them, and Commander Hegarty also stepped back behind the stands.

Before them, Brendon turned to his knights and announced the start of the training.

“Today, His Highness the Crown Prince and his fiancée, Lady Clark, are observing, but we will continue our training as usual. Begin sparring.”

The knights, who had nodded gravely at Brendon’s words, dispersed throughout the training grounds and found partners to spar with.

With a few exceptions, they all carried swords and shields. Liliana blinked. She recalled that in the martial arts tournament, most of the participants in the swordsmanship division had shields, while none in the magic swordsmanship division did. At the time, she had simply accepted it as the way things were and hadn't questioned it, but seeing it now, it was strange that even within the Seventh Squad, there was a division between those who used shields and those who didn't.

“The Magic Knights do not carry shields, yet the members of the Seventh Squad do?”

It was Commander Hegarty who answered.

“A sword alone offers inferior defense. Magic Knights can defend with magic, so a shield is unnecessary and would only hinder their mobility. Those who cannot use magic, or those who can but whose magic is incompatible with a sword, have no choice but to use a shield.”

“Then, are those over there without shields because they can defend with magic?”

Liliana’s gaze fell on a group at the edge of the training grounds. About a third of them had only swords and no shields. Among them were some who wielded two swords.

“Some of them do not need shields because they can use magic specialized for defense, but others do not. As you can see—”

The commander pointed to a knight who was cheerfully deflecting his opponent’s fierce sword blows with his own.

“Those who are confident they will never take a blow from their opponent’s sword do not carry a shield.”

It was true that if one was confident in dodging all attacks, a shield would be unnecessary. But wasn't that far too risky? Liliana furrowed her brow.

Commander Hegarty, catching her expression out of the corner of his eye, smiled faintly but did not elaborate. Before them, the swordplay grew even more intense. Watching them, she could see that their swordsmanship was indeed flawless. Even when the tip of a blade came close, the shieldless knights would deftly dodge.

Watching from the side, it was hard not to feel a sense of unease, but if the knights themselves were fine with it, then perhaps she shouldn’t worry, Liliana thought, and turned her gaze elsewhere.

The captain, Brendon, did not participate in the training but walked among the knights, occasionally offering guidance on swordsmanship and shield use. And there was another man, besides Brendon, making the rounds. The vice-captain, perhaps? As Liliana was guessing, Riley, sitting next to her, leaned over slightly and whispered in her ear.

“That’s the Vice-Captain, Adrian Bajotte.”

“From the Bajotte Earl family?”

“Yes, the second son.”

Liliana had memorized the noble families of the Kingdom of Slibegrad. When she tilted her head at the familiar name, Riley provided more details.

“If I recall, the Earl Bajotte has a domain in the north.”

The north had just been a topic of conversation. A patchwork of small domains with fiercely independent lords. In fact, the earl Liliana had heard from Obsidian who was involved in human trafficking also had his domain near the northeast.

But Earl Bajotte was a different breed from the other northern lords. He maintained a detached distance from the royal family, neither currying favor nor betraying them. Citing his rule over the northernmost land, he rarely visited the capital, but there was no information that he was plotting rebellion or colluding with other countries.

Even now, with factions supporting either Riley or the Grand Duke, Earl Bajotte remained steadfastly silent. Even when approached by nobles from the Grand Duke’s faction, or those who, while not aligned with them, were not pleased with Riley becoming Crown Prince, he never sided with them.

That was why Liliana was surprised that a son of the Bajotte family, even if he was the second son, was a member of the Royal Knights. When she voiced her thoughts, Riley nodded with a faint, wry smile.

“I wondered about that myself. So I asked Earl Bajotte when I happened to meet him, and he just said that if his second son, who has no title to inherit, wants to become a knight, he has no reason to oppose it.”

Earl Bajotte held no other titles. Therefore, once the eldest son inherited the earldom, the second son would have nowhere to go. One possibility was to marry into a noble family with no male heirs, but if such a match wasn't found in his childhood, the chances of marrying in would be low. Thus, the second son had likely chosen the path of a knight to make a name for himself.

“In that case, he could have just joined his own domain’s knight order. I hear the Bajotte Knight Order, while not as renowned as the Kennys Knights, is known for its valor and indomitable spirit.”

The Earl Bajotte was located in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Slibegrad. To the north, it was surrounded by towering mountains, and in winter, it was a land sealed by snow. The knights trained in that land were rumored to be unflappable in the face of anything, possessing a strong will to overcome any hardship. They rarely left their domain, so it was unknown how their skills compared to the knight orders of other domains or the Royal Knights, but the fact that they were rumored about in the capital meant they were likely one of the top skilled groups in the northern region.

And Adrian, the second son, was skilled enough to serve as the vice-captain of the Seventh Squad at a young age. For Earl Bajotte, it would have been more advantageous to have him join his own domain’s knight order.

But at Liliana’s point, Riley’s expression turned complex.

“That’s true. The Earl will never say it, but it seems he has some ulterior motive.”

“That would be the logical conclusion. Do you know something?”

At Riley, who had fallen silent after only mentioning a possible motive, Liliana asked. Riley frowned and shook his head.

“No—it’s just a hunch. Earl Bajotte is by no means a fool. On the contrary, he’s a very capable man. That’s why I can only think there’s some reason he had his second son join the Royal Knights. And yet, no matter how much I investigate, I can’t find anything. It’s unnaturally… empty.”

Riley had likely used the “Shadows” to investigate. The royal family’s “Shadows” were extremely capable. Of course, Obsidian, whom Liliana had hired, was an exceptionally skilled assassin and spy, but apart from him, they were likely one of the top intelligence groups on the continent.

The fact that even the “Shadows” couldn't find anything meant that either the information didn't exist in the first place, or it was thoroughly hidden—in other words, known only to a very select few.

“Is that so?”

Liliana nodded slightly. It was too early to conclude that Earl Bajotte had rebellious intentions against Riley. But she should keep it in the back of her mind as a piece of information.

While they were talking in hushed tones, the knights of the Seventh Squad had finished their one-on-one spars and gathered in the center. It seemed a duel between Captain Brendon Carey and Vice-Captain Adrian Bajotte was about to begin. Both held only swords, no shields. They faced each other, sword in one hand, not moving a muscle. They were likely waiting for an opening. The knights of the Seventh Squad, while being considerate of Riley and Liliana’s view, stared intently at the duel between the two skilled swordsmen, their eyes gleaming.

It was Bajotte who moved first. He took a large step and aimed for Brendon’s torso, but it was easily dodged. However, as if expecting this, Bajotte twisted his wrist and aimed for his opponent’s legs.

“—!”

As if realizing something, Bajotte rolled on the ground and escaped. A moment before, where he had been, Brendon had thrust his sword. The two stood up again and faced each other, watching for the other’s move.

Tension filled the air.

—The match was decided in an instant.

Brendon’s body blurred for a moment. With a speed that would be lost in the blink of an eye, he caught Bajotte’s sword with the tip of his own and sent it flying from his hand. A split second before Bajotte could draw the dagger at his waist, Brendon pressed the tip of his sword to the vice-captain’s throat.

The knights, who had been holding their breath, erupted in cheers. Even Liliana, a novice in swordsmanship, could clearly see that Captain Brendon Carey’s skill was a cut above the rest. For Riley, who also practiced swordsmanship, the impression must have been even deeper.

When Liliana glanced sideways, she saw, as expected, Riley’s eyes sparkling as he watched the match between the Seventh Squad’s captain and vice-captain. And when she looked further back, Gild was letting out a bored yawn. For him, a descendant of the Alvaldi, even the training of the Seventh Squad, said to be a group of elites, might seem monotonous.

However, the knights’ excitement did not last long.

“Don’t get carried away. I want a report from each of you on what you learned from this mock battle.”

At Brendon’s words, the knights’ faces paled. It was true that the captain and vice-captain wouldn't duel for mere entertainment. Above all, it was their training time, so it was logical to expect them to learn not just by moving their own bodies but also by watching.

After that, at Brendon’s instruction, the knights divided into two groups. It seemed they were going to have a mock battle in two teams. Perhaps to ensure the skills were evenly matched, the number of shieldless members was roughly the same in each group.

“Begin!”

The command was given. The next moment, the knights vanished from before Liliana’s eyes.

＊＊＊＊＊

After observing the training, Riley and Liliana returned to the palace in a carriage provided by Commander Hegarty. Unlike the journey there, the return trip was free of ambushes.

“That was the first time I’ve seen the Seventh Squad train. It was quite a spectacle.”

After entering his office and closing the door, Riley sat down on the sofa and shook his head in admiration. Liliana, at Riley’s prompting, also sat and nodded.

“I never imagined they possessed such physical prowess without using body enhancement.”

“The first time they seemed to disappear, that was an illusion, wasn’t it?”

Liliana nodded.

There were no Magic Knights in the Seventh Squad. But that didn't mean there were no magic users. While they didn't have the aptitude to be Magic Swordsmen and belong to the Second Squad, which was composed of them, there were some who could use magic to a certain extent. And there were also those who, while unable to combine magic with swordsmanship, were capable enough in each to be effective in battle.

And their fighting style was to use magic to confuse the enemy while simultaneously seeing through the enemy’s magic to identify weaknesses. The battle, though just training, looked so real that both Riley and Liliana had watched with bated breath.

“I think I understand why the Seventh Squad is called a meritocracy.”

Riley’s cheeks were still slightly flushed, his excitement yet to cool.

The individual members of the Seventh Squad were indeed highly skilled. But what truly made them an elite group was their coordination and fighting style in team battles. They maximized each individual’s strengths, maintained mobility, and made preemptive strikes their creed. To say they were valorous was one thing, but they possessed a different kind of strength from the Kennys Knights.

In a sense, the Kennys Knights focused on “robustly defending the border,” while the Seventh Squad prioritized “confounding and dismantling the enemy with unrestricted movement.”

While agreeing with Riley, Liliana recalled the fighting style of the Kennys Knights she had seen up close.

(If the Kennys Knights and the Seventh Squad were to team up, it would be the strongest formation, I think.)

Even if there was a situation where they had to fight together, there was the question of whether the respective knights could cooperate, but if they were to join hands, the Empire would surely be hard-pressed.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door. When Riley gave permission to enter, it was the Vice-Commander of the Royal Knights, Miles Spencer, who appeared. He entered the room with a tense expression and closed the door firmly. After confirming that only Riley, Liliana, and Gild were in the room, he turned to face Riley.

“What is it, Spencer?”

Riley asked. Spencer, having received permission to speak, bowed his head slightly and said bluntly, “I have a report to make.” There was only one reason Spencer would be here now. Riley, Liliana, and probably Gild too, all knew what he was here for.

“Is it about the assassins?”

“Yes.”

Spencer nodded. He looked up, but his expression was extremely hard. It didn't seem to be good news. Thinking this, Riley silently watched Spencer’s face.

“What happened?”

Silence filled the room.

—-

Toc

Chapter 190