Translator: Ataru
Editor: Ray
The July Party’s plan has failed, for now. It seemed that the July Party was planning to kill the emperor, the imperial family, the influential aristocrats, the military, and the new prime minister, Strass, at his appointment ceremony. Then, the executives of the July Party were supposed to take the reins and rule this country.
But they failed.
The new prime minister, Strass, used the treasure sword Elea to protect the emperor and the ministers. They were unharmed, due to Strass’ extraordinary effort. The ceremony could be said to be a bad omen, but nevertheless, he took up the job of protecting the Imperial Palace, even though it wasn’t his duty. There was no doubt that Strass would rise further in power because now he was labeled as commendable for protecting the emperor.
On the other hand, Sophia and the others were the ones to have extinguished the fire. The reason why Sophia disappeared immediately after the attack was because she discerned that it was a terrorist attack and set up magic circles at the venue’s key points to protect against the enemy’s magic attack. That was what Sophia said.
I said to Sophia, trying to smile naturally, "As expected, Saint Sophia. Thanks to your good judgement, we were saved.”
"Rather than that... isn’t there something else you should say?” Sophia turned her head to the side and puffed her cheeks. It was her habit when she was angry. I lightly touched her beautiful long golden hair with my right hand.
When someone thought about Saint Sophia, they immediately thought about the captain of The Knights of Saint Sophia, who has succeeded in conquering numerous challenging underground ruins. As a magician, she skipped grades at the magic school and managed to graduate top of the class. It was said that a magician belonging to the Imperial Church with that kind of ability could be counted with only five fingers.
Furthermore, Saint Sophia wasn't only famous for her outstanding talents, but she was also famous for her striking appearance. Her gorgeous long golden hair and her big jade-colored eyes, shining with mysterious brightness, coupled with her pure white monastic clothes. Sophia was a beautiful girl who has always been ranked as the top two most beautiful girls in the magic school, along with Sage Arte. After becoming an adventurer, her beauty was talked about everywhere.
That Sophia was now in front of me. My former ally.
The battle was finally over and all the enemies have been subdued. We ran around taking care of the injured after it settled down. At last, I now had the time to talk to her.
I was awkwardly facing her. Behind her, Philia and Lucy were watching us with curiosity. I cleared my throat, "Umm, Sophia? Are you angry?"
"Yes, I am.”
"I think there’s some misunderstanding here.”
"It’s no misunderstanding that Solon left me alone. It was so hard to find you, you know,” Sophia said, looking at me with tears in her eyes like she was about to start crying.
Sophia right now was an overwhelmingly skilled saint, strong enough to save the empire from crisis. However, the Sophia in front of me seemed no different from the time she was in magic school. She was the Sophia whom I know to have a sickly body and a quiet attitude. The frail Sophia always said, "I can’t do anything without Solon-kun."
But right now, Sophia was a much better adventurer than me, and she could make accurate decisions by herself. Furthermore, Sophia has already had a fiance, the Holy Knight Cleon.
She shouldn't have had any reason to make such a sad face while looking at me.
Something was wrong. Sophia should have agreed with the opinions of the Holy Knight Cleon and the executives who exiled me from the knight order. That was what Cleon said. However, it was strange that Sophia blamed me for being gone.
Besides, Sophia must have heard that I became the instructor of the Imperial Princess Philia and I was using my position as the former vice-captain of the knight order to attend this ceremony. In other words, she came to find me, knowing that.
I said to Sophia, “Sophia’s not alone. You have Cleon.”
"What about Cleon?"
"Isn't Cleon Sophia’s fiance?”
Sophia opened her jade-colored eyes wide when she understood my words. After that, she said in a gloomy voice, “So, Solon-kun. Those words, where did you hear it?"
"From Cleon himself."
"Umm.... Did Cleon really say that?"
I remembered Cleon saying he was engaged to Sophia. And it was also widely rumored that Cleon and Sophia were dating. It was natural to think that Cleon and Sophia were lovers and got engaged without me knowing.
Sophia shook her head, “I’m not dating Cleon.”
“Then why did Cleon say that he was engaged to Sophia..."
"It's not completely a lie. But it was my dad and the others that decided I was to be engaged to Cleon. He said he was going to make Cleon his son-in-law because Cleon was a holy knight with an esteemed aristocratic background.”
A political marriage between aristocrats wasn’t uncommon. It still happened occasionally, even. Cleon’s father and Sophia’s father were both influential aristocrats in the empire, so joining hands with each other would bring a lot of benefits. But I was still pretty shocked.
"But in any case, you should have told me you were engaged, why did you hide it?"
"Because... I didn't want Solon to know.”
Sophia's face became a little red. Then, she glanced upward at me.
"Solon-kun, when you heard that Cleon and I were engaged, what were your thoughts?"
"I was certainly disappointed."
When I said that, Sophia muttered, "Really?" and looked happy.
Neither Sophia nor Cleon seemed to be excited about their engagement. They have been misunderstood as lovers from a long time ago, and I felt like a third-wheel because of that. Although I thought I should be happy for them, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed, because the two of them seemed like they didn’t need me anymore.
Sophia sighed deeply as if she was relieved.
"I'm glad. It wasn't that Solon didn't need me anymore."
"The one who didn't need me anymore is Sophia, isn’t it?"
"It’s not true. I can't do anything without Solon-kun."
"But I heard you agreed to exile me from the knight order."
"It's true I didn't object with Solon’s exile from the knight order. But you aren’t the only one quitting The Knights.”
Sophia smiled softly.
"Because I am quitting the knight order with Solon."
Notes
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