Civil War – Blue Knight (1)
“Memores sumus vestri me-”
The sound of a beautiful song is echoing in the Marquis de Lafayette’s residence, which was always filled with silence.
“Ostende mihi faciem sol luceat-”
Eris sings an incomprehensible song with her eyes closed, wondering what’s so enjoyable about it, while Jessie combs her pure white hair and hums an incomprehensible song.
I am in the habit of doing my own work while rolling around on the battlefield, so I tend not to be touched by servants. I go outside often.
So, Jessie was just a servant and never had anything to do with the horse, but when I brought Eris with her, I gave her a name and it seems like they quickly became friends.
I chuckled and turned my head to look at Christine, who had left the room before me and was waiting.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“are you okay. “It was fun because it was bright and lively.”
“Yes?”
I walked down the halls of the Marquis’ residence with Christine.
When the regular sound of our footsteps echoed through the hallway, Christine spoke again.
“So, is that person the person the Marquis Soo was talking about?”
“That’s right, Count.”
Is it a kid? Surely Eris is only 16 years old.
Both me and Christine are still only 19 years old, but I have memories from before the regression, and Christine also has a strong unique aura, so I often forget that she is still a teenager.
I thought of Eris, who had just introduced herself with so much friendliness and energy, and Christine, who had accepted it in a slightly awkward way.
The contrast between Christine, who always wore a black dress and had black hair and eyes, and Eris, who was all white except for her eyes, was particularly striking.
“It’s clear that it has an eye-catching charm. “The Marquis So took the risk to go and bring him back, so I hope he is a worthy person.”
“Hmm…”
As I was feeling embarrassed, Christine didn’t say any more and hurried away.
And as soon as we entered the drawing-room, Christine motioned to the maid who was following her.
“Reena.”
“Yes, Miss.”
As soon as the maid handed Christine the scroll she was holding in her hand and left and closed the door, Christine glared at me and opened her mouth.
“I thought they were going to send someone to get him. “I tried to contact you right after the lockdown ended, but do you know how surprised I was when I heard that you were out in the south in the middle of a pandemic?”
“…I’m sorry, Christine.”
“If you think of me as your partner, I hope you show a little more consideration, Pierre. “I’ve invested a lot of money, but if something suddenly goes wrong, I’m very embarrassed.”
“Be careful about that. But didn’t you take the risk of entering the enemy’s camp yourself, knowing full well that there was an assassination attempt, Christine?”
Still, Christine was looking at me with a dissatisfied gaze, so I added with a smile.
“It was necessary, and since we took only the gas cylinder with us, we were relatively safe from the plague. It wasn’t just about taking risks recklessly. “Didn’t I tell you that I will keep my contract?”
Saying that, I held out my hand to Christine, who was standing in front of the door and looking at me blankly. She looked at me intently, then gave me my hand and let out a laugh.
“If you can’t even talk.”
I escorted her to a chair, sat her down, heated her water, made her coffee, and told her a joke.
“Isn’t it true that devils make a living off of horse feet?”
“A devil bringing a saint.”
Christine then smiled lightly and watched what I was doing. When I handed her the coffee, she unwrapped the scroll handed to her by the maid and held it out.
“This is the details of the goods brought this time and the military report you requested.”
I took the scroll Christine gave me and read it. As expected, most of the items requested at the top of Aquitaine were obtained.
And the military.
I entrusted my slush fund, which was made from market profits from selling raw materials to Abyss Corporation, to Christine as an investment, and ordered some of it to be used to train troops.
“Hmm, about 1,000 people?”
“yes. We will expand further when we have time, but it is still difficult. “The Aquitaine family is not a military family.”
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter because the city specializes in handling fire weapons rather than the knight family. Please continue.”
“I am receiving compensation for this, so I am always welcome.”
If the Marquis was going to pull out that many troops from the Marquis de Lafayette, where he had already conscripted many soldiers, he would have to worry about production right away.
However, in Aquitaine, which did not participate in the civil war and had developed commerce and industry, it is much easier to supply manpower as long as you have money compared to Lafayette.
Above all, the army entrusted to Christine to be raised was a standing army hired by Pierre de Lafayette.
The army is at least known as Lafayette’s strength and is not influenced by the Marquis. This is a very important loss for me right now.
Christine savored her coffee while I looked at the documents, then opened her mouth.
“I am still paying attention to the connections with the city powers you requested, but there is not much response.”
“Is that also the case? There is no need to be impatient. “It will be a success as long as you make a good impression right now.”
Christine added with a shrug.
“Ah, I heard that among the influential people in the capital, a famous liberal writer showed interest. My name is Nicola Brisso. Did you know that he also worked as a lawyer?”
After narrowing my eyebrows and thinking about it, I was able to think of his name.
“I think I know who it is.”
He was probably a leading figure in the moderate wing of the revolutionary army.
“That’s great. I’d love to be able to line up with him if possible.”
“I understand, Pierre. “If you say so, it is a worthy greeting.”
Christine nodded gently.
We all took a moment to savor our coffee and then I spoke up.
“How is your little brother?”
“…Um….”
Christine smiled awkwardly while drinking her coffee.
“…I live like a dead rat.”
Christine answered like that after a long silence, paused for a moment, and then opened her mouth again.
“I wasn’t in a position to say anything. “Going around the child who could be the biggest threat to me.”
Her bitter emotions were evident in the voice she said.
I don’t know, but her vassals are probably also recommending that Louise be removed, or at least expelled, or sent to a monastery.
While serving Christine as the master of Aquitaine, how many times did they give advice just for them, packaged as loyalty to her?
Instead of adding that to me, I said something else.
“well. When I headed south, my vassals tried to stop me, but I came back unharmed. “It may be dangerous, but if you simply give up because you are afraid of the danger that may come, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
Christine looked at me quietly and opened her mouth.
“The so-called loyalists who defended my choice defended me by saying that it was all because I had my own thoughts. Lewis, who has no support, will not be able to do anything anyway, and if he can, he can use it to weed out internal dissatisfaction.”
He started out calmly, as if he was just calmly releasing what had been building up inside him rather than expecting an answer from me, but towards the end he started to tremble a little.
“But I just gave him the opportunity I wanted. “I didn’t want to start pointing a knife at a child who was scared like the people who tried to kill me even though I had no intention of doing so.”
This is something that can only be told to me, who is probably the one who incited her to overthrow the family from the beginning and is not her subordinate, but her equal partner.
“Just to comfort me by saying that I am different from them. “If Lewis changes his mind like that, then I
will be justified in putting my hands on that child.”
After confessing everything, Christine said that although she was bitter, she felt a little relieved.
“Whew. I’m pretty selfish. …Are you disappointed?”
I secretly laughed at the sight of Christine looking at me with a self-deprecating smile, shaking slightly, but with jet-black eyes filled with faint anticipation.
“I like it.”
Christine blinked blankly after hearing my answer.
“yes?”
“I like it because it’s humane.”
“Where are you going?”
“Just now, Christine, I don’t think you realized it, but you didn’t say that you would kill until the end, right? “As he says, he clearly wants to protect and raise his younger sibling who lost his parents.”
Christine looked caught off guard.
I really liked that face, so I naturally smiled and said.
“The justification of doing it for the family may sound good, but no one can compensate for the hurt you suffer from it. So I think you’re fine just being you. You are still doing well enough, and more than anything, I believe you because you pretend not to be like that and are emotionally weak. “Because I have to rely on you for the time being.”
After saying that, I raised my cup and savored the coffee, but she was silent for a while, so I looked at her, and Christine, with a slightly red face, was staring at me and belatedly opened her mouth.
“…Iknow, right. The Marquis will be back soon, so I’m more worried about you than I am. “I have to go back now.”
“yes. Because, like I said, I trust you. “I wish you all the best in the future, Christine.”
Christine stood up and I followed suit and shook her hand.
“I received an investment, but I didn’t keep my credit, so it’s embarrassing to go somewhere and put my name on the top. “You can trust me.”
Christine responded, shook my hand, turned around, and added in a low voice.
“…Because I believe in you too, Pierre”
–
The lords of the 1st Prince faction, who lost their heir to the throne to support, first withdrew from the northern front, and the 2nd Prince entered the capital Lumière and proclaimed the throne and became King Louis, but the civil war did not end.
The remnants of the 1st Prince faction, represented by the Duke of Lorraine, began negotiations to end the war with the 2nd Prince faction, and those negotiations were the last opportunity to stop the civil war before the revolution broke out.
However, the gap between the winners, who were eager to make up for their losses and make profits regardless of whether the kingdom burned or not, and the losers, who could not accept defeat due to the natural disaster of the plague, was not narrowed.
The sluggish negotiations eventually led to a breakdown, and King Louis declared a subjugation against the remnants of the First Prince faction as traitors.
A few days after Christine and the top of Aquitaine left.
The march of the Marquis de Lafayette’s army, which returned after withdrawing from the northern front, entered Toulouse in an orderly march.
The army of thousands of people seemed majestic at first glance, but to me, it looked rather miserable.
After fighting for such a long time and spilling so much blood.
Isn’t this a protest staged by those who deny the reality that they lost the war and can fight further even though they lost their lord, who they were trying to put on the throne, to a plague?
At the head of the army that denies defeat is a blue knight armed with symbolic blue-black armor.
I appeared in front of the marquis’ residence with my retainers and knelt down to show respect.
“Pierre de Lafayette, son of Lafayette, meets His Excellency the great ‘Blue Knight’ Hubert de Lafayette, Marquis de Lafayette.”
The Marquis jumped from his horse and lifted the flap of his helmet.
The bearded marquis’ face was expressionless, and he slowly glanced at me and the courteous vassals before smiling weakly at me.
“Yes, thank you for your hard work. “I had concerns, but he performed his duties as the lord’s representative more competently than I expected.”
I almost raised my eyebrows at the words praising me differently than I remembered.
Right. Actually, it’s not strange.
I raised Lafayette’s reputation by defeating the second son of the Count Mirbeau, and also procured the excessive military equipment the Marquis requested on time.
To the Marquis, I have now been upgraded to someone who will help Lafayette’s prestige and his public spirit.
It was quite clear that he gave only a passing glance to Baron Dumont, who had worked hard to assist me alone, and praised me in front of his retainers.
The corners of her mouth that seemed to be mocking turned into a natural smile, and she bowed her head to him.
“It is an honor, Your Excellency. “Please eat it.”
“Sure.”
The Marquis nodded at me and entered the Marquis’ residence, fixing his gaze on the back of the group.
…To Eris, wearing a robe and veil.
I felt my whole body tense, but the Marquis looked at her for a moment and then walked inside as if nothing had happened.
I sighed and followed him.
however.
After leaving behind the soldiers and the marquis’s low-ranking servants, the group entered the marquis’s residence and as soon as the door was closed, the marquis stopped.
“…dismissal?”
The Marquis turned his back and started walking straight in the direction where Eris was.
“Who are you to wear a veil in front of me?”
Before Eris could open her mouth, I stepped in between her and the Marquis.
“I am an artist I support, Your Excellency. Since I am naturally weak to sunlight, I had no choice but to allow it. “I apologize for not telling you in advance.”
“Then it’s okay if I take it off now?”
“I apologize for your rudeness. Your Excellency the Marquis. “My name is Eris, and I am staying at the mansion after being invited by the Marquis.”
As soon as the Marquis finished speaking, Eris took off her veil and showed courtesy to the Marquis.
Flowing silver hair, eyebrows, and a pure white face.
The Marquis, who was examining Eris’s appearance as if he were evaluating her, looked at me and smiled strangely.
“Hmm, not bad. I’m still young, but I’m looking forward to the future. “A man should know how to covet off-white color.”
After saying that, the Marquis turned his attention to Frank, who was standing close to Eris.
The Marquis, who looked at Frank for a moment, turned his back again.
I’m sorry Eris, but it’s not a bad misunderstanding right now.
I apologized to Eris with a glance and tried to follow the Marquis.
But before I knew it, the Marquis was looking this way again.
This time, his gaze is not on Eris, but on Frank.
“Who are you?”
“A humble man meets His Excellency Hubert de Lafayette, the great ‘Blue Knight.’ It’s called Frank. “I am staying at the mansion after being invited by the Marquis to be Eris’ guardian.”
The Marquis pointed to Eris with his chin.
“Is it your daughter?”
“No, Your Excellency. “I am protecting him because he is my benefactor’s child.”
“okay. “Protection, protection.”
what? Why on earth are you interested in Frank?
While I was in confusion, the Marquis drew his sword.
While everyone was frozen in shock, the Marquis looked at Frank and said.
“Pull it out.”
“Your Excellency?”
The Marquis did not speak twice. Slowly but surely. He lifted the sword in his hand and brought it down at Frank.
Frank drew his sword with surprising speed and blocked it, but the steel scream that came out as the swords collided loudly echoed in the first floor hall.
This crazy person was really trying to kill me!
“Uncle Frank!”
While Eris was shocked.
The Marquis looked down at Frank, who had successfully blocked the attack even though his arms were trembling, and then burst out laughing and retracted his sword.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!”
The Marquis, who had been laughing inexplicably to himself in the midst of astonishment and doubt, twisted the corner of his mouth.
“It’s been a while since I saw you. Sir Frédéric de Beaumont. “Isn’t it too much of humility for a knight of the royal guard who guarded the late king’s favorite concubine to call himself a lowly person?”
Frank. No, Sir Frédéric de Beaumont opened his eyes while the Marquis continued speaking as if he was happy.
“You won’t remember me. However, I had the opportunity to see Sir in action during his time as a knight. … It was truly beautiful swordsmanship. “The face changed a lot so I wasn’t sure, but the sword can’t be faked either.”
While there was only silence, the Marquis turned his head to me.
“Pierre, there was a moment when I thought you were irredeemable, but that wasn’t the case. “I never thought you would have picked up such a gem while I was away.”
No way –
“A knight of the royal guard who threw away his title to show loyalty to the deceased king and helped a favored concubine and her daughter escape from the royal palace on the verge of civil war. “If that’s the case because it’s the little girl he protects.”
After speaking, the Marquis knelt in front of Eris, took her hand, and kissed the back of it.
The Marquis raised his head and saw a swirling, hot and sticky emotion that was difficult to describe in his eyes.
Before Eris, who was pale at the sight of her, could even reply, the Marquis said with a twisted smile.
“Aren’t you the missing Eciliste Liliane de Frangia…. Her Highness the Third Princess?”
?
