Maydare Volume 2 Chapter 2 - Those Who Protect the Savior I (Part 2)

 Makia bumps into someone surprising at the palace!

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The white tile walkway connecting the castle to the dome cut through a garden of pink and yellow roses.

The people who worked at the palace or had business there were coming and going, but Miss Airi didn’t mind their stares and waved amiably at them.

“...?”

I felt eyes on me among the people passing by, and I looked over at them.

To my astonishment, Beatrice Asta, a classmate of mine at Lune Ruschia Magic School, was watching us from a distance. She was wearing a trendy emerald dress that suited her well.

I was going to call out to her, but she went straight into the castle with her butler.

Well, that was fine. It wasn’t like we were friendly enough to say hi and wave to each other. In fact, it was the opposite.

“Heeeey, Lionel! Lionel~, over here!”

Instead, Miss Airi was waving at the sky, calling out to someone.

One of the pegasi that had been circling in the sky came down. On its back, there was a virile young man in a knight’s uniform.

He was the oldest of the Guardians, Lionel Fabray.

Even though we were on the palace grounds, he was probably watching over Miss Airi in the sky like this.

“Did you call me, Lady Airi?”

“Mmm. I wanted to formally introduce you to Miss Makia.”

When Miss Airi said that, Sir Lionel noticed me next to her and grinned.

This person didn’t seem to be overly hostile to me, but…

To put it the other way, he was a slippery person. As the vice commander of a knight’s order, there were no gaps in the air about him.

Sir Lionel flipped his cloak, dismounted from his pegasus, and placed his hand on his chest.

“Let me introduce myself once more. I am Lionel Fabray, the vice commander of the Order of the Ruschia Royal Palace. I am twenty-six years old. As a fellow Guardian, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Makia O’Drielle.”

“I would like to thank you, Sir Vice Commander, for your help on many occasions.”

I also picked up my dress and bowed lightly. It was the etiquette of a noble lady.

Normally, for a girl my age, the commander or vice commander of a knight’s order would be the object of adoration and a fluttering heart. But I didn’t have the luxury for that now.

“Hahaha! Don’t be so nervous. I’ve heard a lot about you from Thor. He called you a tyrant noble girl, but I must say, you seem to be a modest and sweet young lady.”

“Huh…”

Sir Lionel’s white teeth gleamed as he said that unabashedly.

My face froze at the “tyrant noble girl” part rather than his compliment.

That rascal, I was doing my best to act like a modest and humble young lady, but what is he...

“You’ve saved Lady Airi on the herb garden island before. I never thought the lady back then would become a Guardian, though. No, I’d say I already had a glimpse of it.”

“Back then, it was because I had brilliant team members.”

I let out a strained laugh without thinking. It never occurred to me that I would become one of the Guardians as well.

Miss Airi giggled next to me.

“Lionel’s amazing. He has a commoner background, but he’s mastered the sword and magic and has risen to become the vice-commander of the order. He’s called the ‘Hero of Ligana’ because he killed an ogre demon that was rampaging on the borders of the Ligana region.”

“An ogre demon?”

I repeated, and Sir Lionel nodded with a “yes.”

“Miss Makia, have you ever seen a ‘demon’?”

“No. I have heard about them, but I’ve never seen one.”

They were beings that were similar to spirits, but had the opposite position.

In the Kingdom of Ruschia, the blessings of the spirits were strong, and demons were rarely encountered. However, on the rare occasions that they did appear in this country, the knights were supposed to go and suppress them.

Demons were also famous for being the servants of the great magician, the〈Black Demon King〉.

Vicious and savage. They were the enemies of mankind and should be exterminated. That was what demons were, they said…

“Recently, there have been successive sightings of demons. I’ll be heading to the border area tomorrow myself.”

“...Lionel, you’re going on another subjugation?”

Miss Airi’s eyebrows knitted together, and she looked up at him worriedly.

“Don’t worry. I will investigate and return to your side immediately.”

Sir Lionel pledged. He stroked Miss Airi’s head gently.

“That’s right. The two of you, why don’t you come to the Order’s training grounds? The youngsters are practicing swordplay right now. I think Lady Airi’s presence will raise their spirits.”

He held up his index finger and smiled. I wondered what he was up to.

Miss Airi and I looked at each other, not sure of what was going on.

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The facilities used by the knights were concentrated on the west side of the palace grounds.

The outdoor training area with a ceiling was filled with the sound of vigorous voices and the metallic clanging of swords.

“It’s Lady Airi!”

“Lady Savior!”

There, young knights still in their teens and early twenties were doing their daily training. They were excited by Miss Airi’s appearance.

For them, the “princess” they had to protect was none other than Miss Airi. The force of the young knights as they surrounded her was so strong that I was thrown out of the circle.

Miss Airi smiled and conversed with the knights open heartedly.

Every time they saw her smile, they would put everything they have into training in order to protect her.

As for me, I couldn’t stand the feeling of being an outsider, so I went around to the back of a large pillar that supported the ceiling of the training area to stand back a bit.

“Huh, milady? Why are you here?”

“Mm, Thor?”

To my surprise, Thor, who had been washing his face in the fountain outside, found me with water still dripping from his bangs.

Furthermore, he was naked above the waist, as he had finished training.

“Ah…”

Despite having the appearance of a wicked woman, I was quite the maiden.

Unable to look directly at the well-trained body of a young knight, I stiffened with my back glued to the pillar and blatantly looked away.

That probably didn’t escape Thor’s notice.

“...Oh? Why are you looking away?”

He grinned evilly and approached me with a deliberate-sounding tone.

And then he put his hand on the pillar and looked down at me, his body covering me.

The water droplets from his bangs dripped down and landed on my collarbone.

My face was bright red and I was babbling in a panic. Seeing me like that, Thor let out a puff of laughter.

“Milady, you’re surprisingly innocent. From the looks of it, you still haven’t had a heart-pounding youth at magic school yet.”

“D-Damn you...Thor.”

Thor hasn’t fixed his habit of teasing me.

As he was being a bad boy, I was about to land a series of punches to his abdomen, when…

“Milady, do you really intend on being a Guardian?”

Thor asked me in a low voice with a serious look on his face.

This was the first time we had been alone together since the Guardian’s emblem appeared on me.

“That’s...out of my hands. It’s just like how you had to become a Guardian.”

“I don’t like it. You should have had your own path. What will happen to the O’Drielle house? I haven’t forgotten my vow from when we were children.”

“...Thor.”

I looked up at Thor. Behind his serious gaze, I could see great conflict. 

We once swore to each other that we would become great magicians. And, I was to be a fine baroness of the O’Drielle house, and Thor was to be its knight…

But childhood dreams were fleeting.

I didn’t have the power to overturn the status quo and make them happen.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Thor. I don’t know how it became like this. I’m still confused…”

“Milady. I wasn’t really blaming you…”

Thor was about to say something else, but hesitated.

He suddenly stepped away and turned his back to me.

There were countless painful-looking scars on his strong back. None of them were there two years ago, and I understood that there were many struggles and battles he had gone through as a Guardian.

Thor probably didn’t want me to go through those things as well.

Thinking that, I felt like I was going to burst into tears…

“Hey, Thor’s making girls cry again!”

“I bet you rejected her horribly too, didn’t you?”

“!?”

The voices of the young knights came from right beside us.

Several knights had gathered at our side before we knew it. Thor panickedly said,

“No! She’s my mistress!”

He strongly denied it while pointing at me. Hey, don’t point at your former lady.

“Oh, so you’re Thor’s scary lady?”

“You’re always talking about ‘milady.’”

“Is it true that you banished pirates to an island and flogged thieves?”

What did Thor tell these young knights…?

But I was a little relieved that he seemed to be getting along well with the other knights his age.

When he was at the O’Drielle house, he didn’t have many opportunities to interact with other boys his age, after all.

“Thor! You worked hard today!”

“Wah!”

At that moment, Miss Airi came running up and hugged Thor’s arm.

“Lady Airi, I’m all sweaty. You’ll get dirty.”

“I don’t really mind. It’s you, Thor.”

I couldn’t believe she was hugging a half-naked Thor who I couldn’t even look at directly.

I was surprised, and my tears receded. And...I felt a little stinging pain in my chest area.

“Hahaha! You really are a cruel man, Thor. The other knights will be jealous of you again. Even Prince Gilbert.”

Sir Lionel put his hands on his hips and winked refreshingly.

Indeed, the young knights seemed unable to hide their jealousy as they grit their teeth and bit their nails at Thor, who was being hugged by Miss Airi.

Thank goodness Prince Gilbert wasn’t here…

It was getting crowded again, so I slowly left that place and fled into the castle.

I was feeling strangely frustrated and impatient.

I couldn’t say that I wasn’t bothered by seeing Miss Airi and Thor acting so intimate, but I also felt like the current Thor and I were very far apart.

Thor and I were always together ever since we were kids.

I was the only one who could hug, spoil, and be selfish with Thor.

But, it was different now.

Now that we were both Guardians, we could no longer carelessly touch each other.

They were simply my one-sided feelings.

While harbouring these feelings, I would continue to watch over the master-servant relationship between Thor and Miss Airi—— 

“What’s wrong, Miss Makia, are you angry?”

Did she run after me? Miss Airi worriedly peered into my face.

“Miss...Airi…”

“Did I do something?”

“No, I’m just feeling a bit sick because of the crowd…”

Miss Airi looked at me strangely, but I took a deep breath, calmed my buzzing mind, and switched gears.

Even though I knew that freely falling in love was not allowed, when I met with Thor, I became conscious of my secret love for him.

And thus, I was one-sidedly hurt by the mutual touching between Thor and Miss Airi.

That day, Miss Airi took me all over the palace and I met many people.

I somewhat knew that I wasn’t very welcome, but it felt peaceful just knowing that Prince Gilbert wasn’t there with his unconcealed hostility.

In the evening, I staggered out of the castle and was walking along the capital’s canal when…

“Huh, Beatrice?”

I ran into Beatrice Asta, my classmate and rival at Lune Ruschia, again.

Her butler, who was always with her, wasn’t here. She was just sitting alone on a bench by the canal, absentminded. Or perhaps she was looking at something in her hand?

Even when I passed in front of her and purposely coughed, she didn’t notice.

So I decided to scare her a little, so I went behind her and called out to her from behind.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“!?”

Beatrice jumped up and spun around.

“M-M-M-Makia O’Drielle!?”

I grinned at her reaction, which was more than I aimed for, and Beatrice glared at me sharply.

“And why are you in the capital!? You didn’t go back to the countryside!”

“I was just in the palace with Lady Airi earlier. You didn’t notice me?”

“With Lady Airi...the Lady Savior…?”

Suddenly, Beatrice’s expression darkened.

I wondered what that was about. I didn’t think she had any particular connection to Miss Airi.

“By the way, what’s that thing in your hand?”

“Ah, this is…”

Beatrice hid the thing in her hand behind her.

From a glimpse, it looked like a small brooch.

“Why are you hiding it? Since we’re rivals, please show it to me.”

“Y-You don’t usually show things to your rival!”

Though she said that, perhaps because I looked so interested, she nervously showed it to me.

A simple, small opal brooch with a strong blue hue. I didn’t know it was for a woman or man, but I knew it was of fine quality.

“Wow, what a beautiful opal. You have the best things, as expected.”

“I-It’s...not mine!”

“Really?”

“I only came to return what I borrowed. But I haven’t seen that person for a long time, so I can’t return it.”

“Hmm...I see.”

Who was she trying to return this to, going all the way to the palace to do so?

“Haha, so, you have a lover, eh?”

I teased her purposefully.

Beatrice, on the other hand, turned beet red.

“N-No, you’re wrong! A-A-A lover...that cannot be!”

Her response was more innocent than I expected. I also received her usual “That cannot be!”

However, her expression gradually became somewhat sad and empty…

“A lover, you say. ...It’s someone already distant from me.”

She muttered to herself.

Gripping the brooch to her chest, Beatrice’s long blonde hair fluttered as she left, her heels clicking. Over there, her butler was waiting for her.

What was all that about?

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