Chapter 1. Kill the Empress
***
It wasn’t where anyone could see it, but a quick reach under the covers and there it was again, the dagger. Tamon was his boss, but he was a crazy kid.
‘How can you hide several knives in a place where you are sleeping?’
“…… that’s why I told you not to go in there…”
The chamberlain sighed and held out a plain white handkerchief that had been ironed.
“What is it for?”
“There’s blood. Lord Ronasso.”
The chamberlain tapped his cheek lightly.
Ronasso finally noticed a small scratch on his cheek. It was the first threat, a trace that grazed past his face.
“I’m going to pry. It’s not like my abilities are rusty…”
Both heartbroken and happy, Ronasso smiled, but he felt that despite being the First Knight Commander of Barnes, he was still far from keeping up with Tamon.
Ronasso looked even a little frustrated, but on the other hand, he was proud that Tamon’s skills remained the same.
If it wasn’t for the blood disease or something, he would still be a grudge on the battlefield, and would only make his enemies tremble in fear.
‘Pull it together! I can’t be told I’m worse than a sick man!’
It wasn’t enough that he had almost died from the dagger, the chamberlain shook his head all the while at the sight of Ronasso laughing despite the blood.
He had watched them for a long time, and the friendship between the two was truly strange.
In the past, the Bashel family had a significant presence, so Ronasso belonged to a higher class than Tamon.
The Krasis family had been frontier count families for generations, and the area they were entrusted with was rugged and not rich.
Tamon was born, and the previous Count Krasis decided to send him to the Royal School. Because he judged that Tamon’s outstanding talent could not be wasted.
It was at that time that Tamon met Ronasso Bashel and Prince Theo Lantifu.
Ronasso was quite arrogant at the time and tormented Tamon who came from far away.
Tamon ignored Ronasso until the academy was over.
During that first battle,Tamon and Ronasso had an accident where they fell together into a dark cliff… When Ronasso saw Tamon, he was helpless. (*Ronasso saw something about Tamon)
Only the people involved knew what had happened. They wouldn’t tell…
But something bigger happened after that. By some kind of trickery, the Bashel were driven into rebellion.
The Bashel were caught in the middle of a power struggle, and the head (leader) was slain to prevent the downfall of the family.
However, this led to the fall of Ronasso’s sister, who died shortly thereafter.
With the exception of distant relatives, only Ronasso remained in the direct line of descent.
However, it was Tamon Krasis who relieved the Bashel family’s injustice.
They also clear the stigma of being a traitorous family.
Anyway, since then, the two had a master-servant relationship, but they were rivals, friends and a strange relationship with one sided respect.
***
“I can’t help it. Just tell him quietly that I’ll be waiting for him.”
Ronasso patted his cheek and headed for the parlor.
Seeing Ronasso’s back as he walked swaggeringly, the chamberlain quietly swallowed the words, “I can’t go in there either.”
“What the hell? What’s the matter?”
Tamon came out into the parlor a few moments later, not properly dressed.
Ronasso looked at him strangely as Tamon yawned briefly in the dangling gown as if he was tired.
Tamon was always the one who went to bed the latest and woke up the first in the academy.
From the time he studied at the Royal School until he joined the battle, his pattern was never once broken.
Tired? That word wasn’t in Tamon Krasis’s vocabulary.
Sleep deprivation? What a total crush that monster was, and he was a man who could stay up all night for three days and still bare his teeth.
For the first time in his life, Ronasso saw Tamon yawning, it was like an illusion.
“Why do you think that? I came to see if the Tamon Krasis I know is okay.”
“Nonsense, tell me what’s going on. I’m busy.”
Tamon leaned back on the large, soft velvet couch, rubbing his stiff shoulders.
He was dressed in a loosely tied gown, and as he leaned back against the couch, his solid thighs were fully visible through the gap in his opened gown.
Along the hardened muscles, the roughly split thighs looked as hard and smooth as a sculpted statue.
‘I have thighs too…’
Ronasso, who looked at Tamon’s thighs as thick as logs, sat cross-legged. He told himself that it wasn’t an act of trying to erase his comparative mind.
“Ahem. It’s time for you to have a little more open dialogue with me, don’t you think? Tamon brought you ‘the woman’, didn’t you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Tamon took a cigarette from under the table with an expressionless face.
Inhaling the smoke deeply until his head was foggy, he let out a big breath. The unique white smoke scattered like fog.
“The woman from before!”
Tamon, who’d been staring at Ronasso, lowered his head and asked.
“Did you see her?”
“Yes, of course! I saw her!’
‘Few strands of hair…’
Ronasso thought to himself.
“Hmmm.”
Tamon took another deep gulp of his cigarette.
He inhaled so hard that his cheeks scrunched up, then exhaled the smoke like a sigh and asked again.
“How much?”
Ronasso, who couldn’t say a few strands of hair, answered boldly.
“All!”
Tamon said with a chuckle.
“Then I’ll have to pull out your eyes.”
“I didn’t see……!”
Ronasso hastily stepped back and raised his hand.
“Well, I only saw a few strands of hair! But it was uncommon hair.”
“It’s silver hair. Come out and say it.”
“So you rescued a silver-haired woman while the delegation was all rushing and held her for twenty days?”
“That’s right.”
“Ha! Now it makes sense. That’s why Her Majesty asked about it. It doesn’t matter, but it’s a message!”
“Why the sudden mention of Her Majesty?”
It was then that Ronasso brought up the main topic.
“One knight said that Her Majesty had summoned him and asked him what it was that Tamon had come back with.”
He also remembered to tell them that there was a king’s care within the mission.
“I don’t care. What a big deal…”
Tamon rubbed his cigarette into a thick glass ashtray and distinguished it, then stood up from his seat and stretched for a long time.
After a few painful movements of his body, he heard the sound of crunching and tearing muscles.
“Perhaps the one who delivered the words to Her Majesty is Axion. A few years ago, when he was a member of the emperor’s infantry corps, he was beaten a lot. I guess he didn’t want to get beaten anymore.”
“Axion…… You traitor!
“Let it go. Don’t we belong to the emperor anyway?”
“Even if Axion is……. What are you going to do about it?”
“What am I going to do?”
At Tamon’s blunt words, Ronasso tapped his chest.
“Her! Are you going to tell me?”
Tamon stared at Ronasso.
He tapped the table ponderously for a moment, then chuckled and said,
“No.”
Ronasso looked at Tamon as if he didn’t know what to make of him. Tamon stretched out and basked in the sunshine that poured in through the window.
The exhaustion on his face seemed to fade away.
After looking at Tamon for a while, as if he had made up his mind, Ronasso spoke.
“Okay. If you’re right, I’ll do my best to match your opinion, but I think it would be easier for you if we just agreed on something. If His Highness finds out, he’ll certainly try to take her away.”
At Ronasso’s words, Tamon turned around and looked at him.
Ronasso bit his lip, trembling. Probably from the nervousness that he had to deceive the king.
In front of Tamon, Ronasso showed all kinds of emotions, but when it came time to be in front of others, he was a pretty imposing Knight Commander.
They had been best friends for a long time, and after the accidental sharing of life and death with him, Ronasso has shown him his true feelings.
However, not all of them were reasonable enough for him to dare to lie to the king.
At least that was Tamon’s point of view.
To deceive the king.
It was not easy to deceive Theo Lantifu, a sharp blade, and he didn’t know what would happen if he got caught later.
And yet, that friend offered to lie for him so easily and willingly.
“Ronasso.”
“Yes.”
Sighing, Ronasso lifted a glass of water from the table to soothe his burning senses.
He took a gulp, thinking that the water would soothe him a little, even if it wasn’t cold.
“Are you in love with me?”
“Ack! Ack!”
The water that Ronasso had gulped down spurted straight out.