The Amber Knight Swears His Love on the Saintess’s Left Hand - Chapter 12

“Good work, Quill! That was magnificent… Oh, the Saint is here!”

Sascha’s booming voice was painful to the ears. As Quill instinctively grimaced, an even larger commotion swarmed toward them.

“Whoa, it’s the Saint! She’s tiny! She’s so small, Captain! Is she going to be okay? If you pat her on the shoulder, won’t she just break!?”

“My Lady, how was it? Captain Quill is actually a decent-looking man as long as he’s holding a sword. Did you fall for him all over again? If he added his magic to the mix, he’d be a terrifyingly handsome man!”

“Shut up. Back off. Calm down,” Quill snapped.

Lined up behind Quill were the members of the Black Knights. The center of the ruckus was the Second Squad, which Quill commanded.

As for the First Squad led by Sascha…

“Commander Geis, move over and give me that spot.”

“My Lady, among the Black Knights, our Captain Sascha is also a fine specimen of a man.”

“If the Captain is good, then we’re good too. Won’t you be friendly with us?”

They had already surged in from behind Lynette.

Seeing them turn everything into a rowdy festival, Quill felt he could almost understand why the White Knights looked down on the Black Knights. Even with the most generous flattery, they could not be called refined.

An ordinary noble lady would likely have shrunk back, surrounded by such large, boisterous men, but she was the Saint. She appeared perfectly composed or rather, with her vacant expression, she simply nodded occasionally in place of a greeting and offered brief replies.

Maybe I can just leave her be, Quill thought, pushing his way through his own squad members to blend into the crowd.

The exhibition match was supposed to end with his fight against Marius. He didn’t want to keep broadcasting his interactions with his fiancée in front of the public forever.

He was just about to slip out of the circle stealthily when…

“But seriously, My Lady. Why on earth did you pick Captain Quill?”

“Exactly! No matter how you look at it, the White Knights are the safe bet. We Black Knights are the type where even if we’re drenched in blood, gold and silver don’t exactly come raining down on us.”

“More importantly, where did you and the Captain even meet?”

Quill reflexively stopped in his tracks and strained his ears. That was the thing he wanted to know most of all. It seemed the rest of the Knights felt the same; a sudden silence fell as everyone waited for Lynette’s answer.

However, Lynette replied with a feigned air of bashfulness.

“It is a secret between the two of us.”

The crowd erupted. In an instant, Quill was mobbed and dragged back into the center of the circle. Sascha’s arm hooked around his neck, and a mischievous face loomed close to his.

“So, the ‘Ice Wall Captain’ finally got caught when the opponent was the Saint, eh?”

Quill endured it in silence. Listening to the clatter and roar of the noisy Black Knights, he thought to himself that today was, once again, a day of torture.

He was worried about the spectators leaning in from the stands, and he was concerned about the White Knights watching the commotion from a corner of the arena with looks of pure loathing.

Why are we Black Knights carries on like this in such a situation?

“My Lady,” “My Lady,” they all called out.

Hearing everyone address her that way and hearing Lynette’s earnest voice responding, something inside Quill suddenly snapped.

“SILENCE!”

His roar from the gut silenced not only the Black Knights but the surrounding spectators as well.

“The exhibition match is over, so everyone should be returning to training. Commander, please give the proper orders.”

“O-oh. Right. Sorry about that.”

“And while you’re at it, Commander. Please stop turning my engagement into a festival. I myself am still not used to it, having only started yesterday. If you keep stirring things up like this…”

“What happens if we stir them up?”

“The training I assign to the Second Squad will become extremely severe.”

“That wouldn’t be good. If it gets any more severe, we’ll start seeing requests for discharge.”

Contrary to his words, Geis looked thoroughly amused. However, the Second Squad, sensing the sparks might fly their way, quieted down immediately. That handled that part.

“And Sascha.”

“Yeah? Me too?”

“If you keep getting carried away, I will consider writing down your entire history with women on paper and posting it for all to see.”

“Alright, everyone scatter! Back to work!”

Sascha began to drive his subordinates away. Quill grabbed his arm to stop him.

“What?! There’s more!?”

“Lastly, this is for everyone. There is something I want you to strictly enforce starting from this moment.”

The group, and even Lynette beside him, nodded.

The remaining spectators held their breath and listened intently to Quill’s words.

In an atmosphere that could almost be described as serene, Quill spoke the most important thing.

“She is Lady Lynette Ceryes. She is no longer ‘the Saint.'”

Lynette looked up at Quill’s face as if she had been struck.

Startled by his fiancée’s sudden reaction, Quill instinctively raised his hands. Had he said something strange?

Whether at the manor or here, it had been a constant point of friction for him.

From her perspective, “Saint” was a title of destiny forced upon her by something unseen. Because of it, she had been burdened with a heavy load and had paid an enormous price. He assumed that now that her duty was finished, it was a name she would want to lay down.

Lynette’s eyes remained fixed on Quill’s face. It looked as though her left hand twitched slightly, but unable to bear the silence, Quill was the first to look away.

Where he turned his gaze, he saw the surrounding knights all sporting identical, wide, smirking grins.

“Is something funny?”

“Well… I just realized Captain Quill is human after all.”

“What?”

An arm was clamped firmly around his neck. Of course, it was Sascha.

“He’s right, she doesn’t belong to the citizens of Eiklant anymore. She’s your precious fiancée. If people keep calling her ‘My Lady Saint’ like they still have a share in her, it’s only natural for you to get angry.”

“Sascha… you’re misunderstanding something—”

“No, I’m not. I’m just happy to know you actually possess such possessiveness. I think we should raise a celebratory toast tonight!”

“No! Sascha! That’s not what I meant—”

Sascha poked his index finger into Quill’s cheek and gave it a teasing twist.

“Don’t— be— shy— now—”

That was the limit.

“Everyone! Guide the spectators out immediately. Then return to the training grounds. Afterwards…”

“Afterwards?”

Quill covered both of Lynette’s ears and took a deep breath.

“EVERYONE, TWO HUNDRED SWORD SWINGS!!”

“THAT’S TYRANNY!!!”

The group scattered like baby spiders. Quill sighed and glared at Sascha, who was the only one who hadn’t let go of his arm. Sascha laughed, raised both hands in surrender, and whispered.

“We just want to celebrate. Try to understand.”

Quill understood that well enough.

And that was exactly why it was so complicated.

There was still no guarantee that this engagement would turn into marriage. In fact, Quill could see nothing but a path toward a swift annulment.