Chapter 36: Advice from Someone with Experience
In the captain’s office of the knight order, aside from the captain Armand and his deputy Carle who had returned with him, the ever-curious Crown Prince had also followed along in his carriage after noticing Armand's strange behavior. He clearly wanted to see what was going on.
Carle was diligently handling paperwork for the knight order, while the Crown Prince sipped flower tea brought by a servant. Meanwhile, the one at the center of it all, Armand, was lying flat on the couch, covering his head with his coat like someone ready to ‘peacefully pass away.’
“He’s just been like that the whole time?”
“Yep, Your Highness. You could go check if he’s still breathing. It would be bad if he actually died.”
“Hah.”
The Crown Prince let out a laugh, took a small sip of the slightly bitter flower tea, and looked over at Armand, who was still silently hiding under his coat.
“Armand, are you still alive?”
“……”
Armand didn’t say anything. But under the rustling of fabric, one arm slowly stretched out from under the coat and made a peace sign with two fingers, probably his way of saying, ‘Yeah, I’m still alive.’
“See? Still alive and well.”
The Crown Prince nodded knowingly.
“Alive, maybe. But ‘well’ is questionable.”
Carle didn’t hold back at all, sharply commenting on Armand's current state.
“……”
From under the coat, Armand politely gave Carle a response. He changed the peace sign into a single raised middle finger.
“You two sure get along well.”
“Yeah. I treat him like a little brother.”
Carle replied to the Crown Prince with extra emphasis on the words “little brother”. That seemed to really hit Armand, because now both of his hands popped out to give double middle fingers.
“If you’re not dying, then get off the couch. It’s work hours, and there’s still a mountain of documents waiting for your signature.”
“Ugh…”
As soon as Carle mentioned the paperwork, Armand let out a painful groan from under the coat, and even those middle fingers quickly disappeared. He went back to lying there in silence, as if not sure whether he was alive or dead.
“He’s really putting on a show…”
“What’s all the paperwork about?”
The Crown Prince put down his teacup and walked over to Carle, glancing at the large stack of files that looked like they’d take forever to finish.
“It’s the list of casualties from the battle in the far north.” Carle handed over the list directly. “That battle looked like a big success on the surface, but as you know, we lost a lot.”
The Crown Prince took the document and carefully read the pages full of names. Many of them were names he had heard before. All of those lives, once full of energy, were now nothing more than lines carved into a memorial.
“I didn’t go with Armand to the far north, but I can see how terrible the fighting must’ve been just by looking at this list. That’s why I strongly disagree with turning the Prolos Festival into some boring royal show using the knight order.”
“……”
The Crown Prince thoughtfully stroked his chin as he flipped through more of the files, details about each soldier, their families, future support plans, and compensation. Judging by the still-wet ink smudges on the papers, this must have been what Armand and Carle had spent all of last night working on.
With the Prolos Festival coming up, everyone in the knight order was extremely busy. Armand and Carle had to make policies to comfort the families of those who were injured or killed. At the same time, they needed to satisfy the royal family and keep the nobles quiet.
After working overnight, both Armand and Carle were already at their limit. Then, first thing in the morning, they were forced into a royal meeting. When someone suggested turning the Prolos Festival into a flashy event, the protective captain and deputy captain couldn’t take it anymore.
If that hadn’t been the royal conference room, and if the one stirring things up hadn’t been the Second Prince, then either Armand or Carle, maybe both, would’ve thrown their gloves at him and said, “If you’ve got that much energy, how about we settle this in a duel?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to change the whole celebration,” the Crown Prince said. “I just wanted to make it more grand. As my younger brother Eric said, ‘Armand, the returning hero, is the perfect person for this festival’.”
“I understand. We’re nothing more than political tools to you, Your Highness—”
“I don’t understand.” The supposedly “lifeless” Armand suddenly sat up.
“Hm?”
Carle turned to look at Armand, who still had his white knight uniform draped over his head. As he breathed in and out, his movements made the cloth puff up like a weird, ghostly face in black and white.
“What’s not to understand? You and I—”
“I don’t understand why she’s mad at me.”
“…?”
“?”
Carle and the Crown Prince, who had both been gearing up for a serious discussion, instantly shifted their attention to the man under the coat.
“I didn’t even do anything wrong. So why is she mad?”
“How did you turn from a dumb puppy into a lovesick puppy in just a few days?”
“Huh?” Armand turned his unseen face toward Carle, clearly not planning to take off the coat anytime soon. The hanging knight uniform swayed side to side, and the medals on his chest clinked noisily as he moved.
“Well, you’ll have to explain everything in detail if you want us to help.”
Seeing Armand liven up, the Crown Prince got interested too. He went back to sit on the sofa across from Armand, ready to hear what kind of woman, or trouble, could make their captain act like this.
“Ah… Anyway, I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
Armand started to speak, then clamped his mouth shut again.
Just as he never mentioned the Crown Prince in front of Evelia, he also didn’t intend to bring up Evelia in front of the Crown Prince. He wouldn’t reveal any information about the Crown Prince to Evelia, nor would he tell the Crown Prince that Evelia was possibly a spy sent by the Second Prince.
If only Evelia weren’t a spy…
Armand sighed silently under the coat, his hidden face showing a trace of bitterness.
If Evelia was on his side, or if she were just a normal girl, maybe things wouldn’t be so complicated.
To Carle, Armand looked like a man hopelessly in love. But deep down, Armand still kept his guard up. He got close to Evelia, but never opened his heart. He wanted to understand her better, but he was afraid that the more he learned, the more she’d see through him instead. And when it came to politics, he couldn’t afford to let feelings ruin everything.
—‘Wait… Why do I feel like I’m being a scumbag?’
“If you don’t want to say what happened, that’s fine.” Carle walked over, grabbed the uniform off Armand's head, and took it off. “But instead of wondering what you did wrong, why not just go apologize?”
“?”
Armand caught the coat Carle tossed at him and looked at the deputy captain, who already had a three-year-old daughter. “You’re telling me to say sorry when I don’t even know what I did wrong? That’s more clingy than me!”
“She’s a woman. You’ll never really know what she thinks you did wrong.”
Across from them, the Crown Prince, who didn’t have kids but was still happily married, nodded in agreement with Carle.
Among the three men, only Armand was still single and had never been in a real relationship. The other two were experienced, married men.
“Huh?” Armand raised an eyebrow in confusion. “But I really didn’t do anything—”
Smack.
Before he could finish, he felt a heavy slap on his left shoulder. Carle was standing there, pressing down with a serious look on his face.
“Don’t resist, Armand. Just go apologize.”
“What? I—”
Smack.
His second sentence was cut off by another heavy pat on his right shoulder. This time, it was the Crown Prince, also pressing down firmly. He didn’t look as serious as Carle, but his tone was just as firm.
“If you leave it alone, it’ll only get worse. A true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. Go apologize.”
“What’s wrong with you two?!”
“No.”
Carle and the Crown Prince, who were ready to argue just moments ago, were now completely united. They spoke in unison.
“—This is advice from someone who’s been through it.”
“You two are so annoying…!”