âAnd Marquis⊠I must have troubled you, havenât I?â
Yves narrowed his eyes, then nodded in response.
âThatâs, well⊠I should apologize. Iâm sorry.â
âMaster? What kind of trouble?â
Yves opened his mouth.
âLet me explain briefly. Seven years ago, Sir Sheldon secretly came down to the South under His Majesty the Emperorâs orders, and he asked me to allow him to use the warp gate so that there wouldnât be a record of his travels. It wasnât a difficult thing to do.â
Yvesâ voice was filled with so much irritation.
âBut the problem is thisâSir Sheldon went off the grid ever since then! Sure, itâs possible to lose contact when youâre in the middle of a mission, but the problem is that itâs been like that for six entire years!â
Armanoâs shoulders slowly cowered just as his chin was slowly tucked inwards as if heâd become a turtle.
âThe Emperor demanded that I bring Sir Sheldon in front of him. But tell me, would it be an easy task to find someone whoâs determined to hide? And the one whoâs making sure to hide himself well is none other than the twelfth member of the White Dragon Knights?â
Yves snorted.
âBut, you were just at House Tilrod!â
âI have nothing to say to you, Your Excellency. Iâll make sure to pay back this debt to you.â
Armano smiled awkwardly, then he turned to Radis.
âRadis, I have nothing to say to you either.â
But Radis just grabbed one manâs hand, her eyes twinkling.
Of course, she grabbed Armanoâs hand.
âMaster, Iâm so gladâŠ!â
âHuh?â
âMaster, you donât know how sorry I was that you were kicked out like that without even a letter of introduction for your next employer. Besides that, the Marquis saw me practice my swordsmanshipâbut then I just found out that itâs a technique that shouldnât be talked about. Thatâs why I was so worried that thereâll be a problemâŠ!â
Armano jumped up and hugged Radis tightly.
âOhh, what a lovely heart you have, my cute and lovable student!â
âMaster!â
As she was in her teacherâs arms, Radis felt as if she had gone back to the days of her childhood.
Her eyes started welling up with tears of joy.
She didnât care whether her teacherâs name was Armano or Daniel, or whether he was a knight of the White Dragon Order or just a knight without a title to his name.
In both her lives, Armano was the only one who had stood by her side at any given moment.
As though he was holding a baby in his arms, Armano took out a silk handkerchief and wiped Radisâ tears away.
âTo be honest with you, I was thinking of bringing you in as my disciple. Iâm not in a favorable position myself, but I thought that it would be better than leaving you at House Tilrod. Still, Iâm glad to see that youâre doing well.â
Yves scoffed for a moment, then he dug in between Radis and Armano.
âYes, Radis is doing very well at the Russell Marquisate. Her situation there is a hundred times better than being lugged around by the irresponsible Sir Sheldon.â
âMarquisâŠ!â
âHahahaha! I have nothing to say. Your Excellency is right, a hundred times over.â
Daniel accepted Yvesâ words with ease.
Normally, this matter would have ended here.
Yves, however, was not aware of it himself, but he was feeling pretty jittery right now.
Witnessing Danielâs shameless cheerfulness nearly made him hate the man, but what grated at his nerves even more was that Daniel kept hugging Radis. Itâs twice in a row now.
Yvesâ nostrils flared up.
âShe is now under the care of the Russell Marquisate, and it will continue in this way as far as youâre concerned. Please note that treating her recklessly like this is tantamount to treating the Marquisate in the same way.â
At Yvesâ cold warning, Armano looked at Radis awkwardly.
And Radis, on the other hand, was at a loss for words.
All she could do was look at Yves as she wondered what might be wrong with him right now.
âMaster put the Marquis in such huge trouble a long time ago⊠Maybe thatâs why heâs so upset right now?â
This was what Radis thought inwardly, trying to rationalize just whatâs gotten into Yves here.
Then, Armano smiled brightly as he placed a hand over Radisâ shoulder.
âYour Excellency, Iâve been Radisâ teacher ever since she was ten years old. Donât you think that the relationship I have with her is like a parent-child relationship? Itâs true that Your Excellency is now in charge of Radisâ personal affairs as you are her current guardian, but itâs only been a few months. How can you split us up when weâve built our relationship for such a long time alreadyâŠâ
As soon as Danielâs hand was about to reach Radisâ shoulder again, Yves jumped up with a start.
He hugged Radis, hid her completely behind him, and then shouted.