IDDYD 07

Chapter 07

Alice wanted Aiden to avoid drawing attention, but unfortunately, he had become the talk of all the servants ever since he first entered the ducal residence.

“Did you guys see the guest the Young Lady brought?”
“I saw, I saw! At first, I thought he was a statue. He was so dazzling.”

The Young Lady they served rarely brought outsiders to the residence. The doors of the ducal mansion only opened when she held tea parties or invited a few mages for research.

And now, without any notice, she had brought a man. And an incredibly handsome one at that.

The maids gossiped extensively about the beautiful man Alice had brought.

*What kind of person is the Young Lady’s guest? Is he a mage like the other guests? Or a priest matching his holy appearance? Or perhaps a l-, a lover…*

Various speculations about Aiden’s identity circulated. Before long, they found out who he was.

“I heard he’s the Young Lady’s guard knight!”
“What?!”

This was far more shocking than the hypothesis that Aiden was Alice’s secret lover.

No one in the Erdin Ducal household was unaware of the significance of being Alice’s guard.

To become her guard, one had to clear the mission: ‘Defeat Alice, the genius archmage!’ It was a mission no one had ever succeeded in until now.

Yet, here was someone who had broken through that arduous process and become her guard.

*Just how exceptional must his swordsmanship be?* The residence became abuzz in an instant.

“Young Lady Alice hired a guard?!”

And the news that Alice had hired a new guard reached the ears of Sir Neil Leven, captain of the Fort Knight Order.

“That’s right, Captain. How skilled must he be for the Young Lady to have scouted him as a guard?” said Jackson, a knight of the Fort Knight Order. His tone was slightly mocking, seemingly displeased that Alice had taken someone outside the Fort Knight Order as her guard.

“The Young Lady… hired a guard… from outside…?”

Normally, Neil would have scolded Jackson for his impudent tone, but at that moment, no words reached him.

The Fort Knight Order, the military strength of House Erdin, was a knight order renowned for its skill even within the Empire.

Neil was the captain of that very order. He was confident enough in his own abilities to claim he was the strongest among the knights.

Even he could not defeat only two people: his two masters, Liam Erdin and Alice Erdin.

At first, he too thought he could beat Alice.

No matter how much of a genius Alice was, she was a mage, and mages were not accustomed to 1-on-1 duels.

On the other hand, he, as a knight, had engaged in countless sparring matches as part of his training. In terms of experience alone, he was clearly superior.

Moreover, mages, being overly reliant on their internal mana, usually had weak stamina and slow reflexes.

So, if he exploited the opening created when she cast a spell, even Alice wouldn’t be able to avoid it easily.

But in this process, Neil overlooked one crucial thing.

That Alice was an absurdly monstrous powerhouse of mana.

*’I didn’t expect the Young Lady to rain down meteors so fiercely that I couldn’t even get close to her.’*

His buttocks, which had been scorched by the falling fireballs from the sky, still felt hot.

The only consolation was that he had lasted the longest among the knights.

While other knights were knocked down in 10 seconds, he had lasted a full minute. It had preserved his pride as captain.

However, after that day, the Fort Knight Order had to double their training volume.

There was some influence from Duke Erdin, who had scolded them, asking how the entire knight order could lose to one ducal princess. But above all, it was because the knights themselves were shocked by the overwhelming difference in skill.

*We’ll improve our swordsmanship and definitely earn Young Lady Alice’s recognition.* All the knights of the Fort Knight Order trained with that resolve.

And now, suddenly, Alice had taken someone not from the knight order as her guard.

“So, he defeated the Young Lady?”

Neil glanced at Aiden, who was watching the knights train in the training grounds.

It didn’t make sense. His Young Lady was not someone who would lose to a young master who probably didn’t even know the alphabet of combat.

Moreover, since becoming a guard, he had never once participated in the knights’ training. It was clear dereliction of duty.

The absurdities didn’t end there.

“Seems like the Young Lady is quite fond of Sir Aiden, doesn’t she?”

No, well. Was the Young Lady doting on the newly arrived guard?

Neil recalled the conversation he had overheard between the maids earlier.

“That’s right. I heard the Young Lady bought all the men’s clothes at Bijoux’s dress shop and gifted them to Sir Aiden? Thanks to that, his wardrobe is so full they might have to make a separate dressing room just for him.”
“On top of that, our Young Lady has been sticking close to him ever since he arrived.”
“Could they already be lovers? I saw them whispering intimately in the corridor the other day…”
“Really?”
“Why are you only telling me this now? Tell me more details!”

Alice stuck close to Aiden almost all the time to monitor him and prevent him from causing trouble, but to the maids’ eyes, they looked like a fresh young couple newly in love.

*’The Young Lady and him… as lovers?’*

But Neil didn’t think so.

Installing one’s lover as one’s guard was nothing but nepotism. Alice wasn’t that kind of person.

So that meant he became Alice’s guard through legitimate procedures, but Neil couldn’t understand that either.

There was no one in the Empire who could defeat Alice. His Young Lady was the world’s strongest mage.

If this eye-catching Aiden possessed martial prowess sufficient to defeat Alice, he should already be a world-renowned figure.

But right now, no one in the ducal residence truly knew his capabilities.

Finally, Neil decided to approach Aiden himself. He intended to verify whether he was truly a talent worthy of being Alice’s guard.

“Hey.”

Neil called out to Aiden, who was watching the knights train.

It was important to establish dominance first. Neil deliberately lowered his voice.

“Are you calling me?”

Aiden shifted his gaze to Neil, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

*Minus 2 points.* Minus 1 for daring to use informal speech with him, the captain, and minus 1 for his sloppy posture.

For reference, minus 10 points meant failure.

Neil flinched slightly at Aiden’s informal speech but quickly regained his composure.

“Yeah, you. I heard you’re the Young Lady’s guard.”
“So?”

Aiden tilted his head. His posture wasn’t one of listening attentively. *Minus 1 point.*

“What are you doing just standing there? Being the Young Lady’s guard means even daily training isn’t enough.”
“Observation. Alice allowed it.”
“……”

Using that insolent tone even with Young Lady Alice. Calling it observation, but his attitude showed zero interest in training.

Less than 30 seconds into the conversation, and it was already *minus 5 points*.

He couldn’t take it anymore. Neil was about to raise his voice at him.

“What do you mean, observation…”

The knights, seeing Neil confronting Aiden, joined the conversation.

“You seem pretty full of yourself just because the Young Lady recommended you. Being her guard doesn’t automatically make you something special, you know?”
“That’s right. You have to pass the Fort Knight Order’s entrance exam to be officially recognized as the Young Lady’s guard.”
“……Heh.”

Aiden scoffed at the knights picking unnecessary fights. They seemed dissatisfied that Aiden was Alice’s guard.

But this wasn’t very important to Aiden. What did it matter if they were unhappy?

“If you’re unhappy that I’m Alice’s guard, take it up with Alice. What, are you scared of Alice, the ducal princess, but think I’m nothing and an easy target?”

Aiden twisted one corner of his mouth into a smile. Neil’s eyebrow twitched at the provocation.

The standoff between Aiden and the knights continued. The maids who had stopped by the training grounds to fetch laundry items one by one paused and began to hover around them.

As their standoff dragged on, more and more servants, having heard rumors from somewhere, gathered around them to watch the impending fight.

“Insolent brat.”

Neil clenched his fist tightly.

*A decent crowd has gathered now.* Neil drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at Aiden.

It was time to show this impudent newcomer a lesson.

“I cannot tolerate that disrespectful attitude of yours. I challenge you to a duel.”

People murmured at Neil’s challenge. Aiden looked at him with an intrigued expression.

“What on earth is going on here?”

Just then, Alice pushed through the crowd and appeared, placing herself in front of Aiden. As she ended up facing the pointed sword, Neil quietly lowered his blade.

Confirming the sword was lowered, Alice immediately whipped her head around to glare at Aiden.

*’What the heck is this all about?!’*

We agreed you’d live quietly! Alice’s eyes were screaming that.

“I really didn’t do anything.”

*They started the trouble, so why suspect me first?* Aiden looked at Alice with an aggrieved expression.