Chapter 5

The month following graduation, the subjugation force, reorganized with the inclusion of the Duke of Gazard’s knighthood, departed the royal capital.

Command of the Duke of Gazard’s forces was held by the future duchess, Lady Diana Gazard.

Though attention gathered around her as a female commander, she was a talented woman who had graduated at the top of her class from the academy, so no one openly voiced any complaints.

(Though they might have complaints, the atmosphere is such that no one dares speak them aloud…)

Diana herself keenly felt the mood within the subjugation force.

Ever since graduating from the academy, the harsh criticisms of Diana that had previously been whispered mostly within the academy halls were now spreading widely through high society.

‘The daughter of the Duke of Gazard is supposedly acting out to draw attention, desperate for the ducal seat.’

‘To have claimed the top spot by kicking aside men must make her feel rather uncomfortable.’

‘Who would ever want to deal with a woman who doesn’t know how to defer to men?’

Such gossiping whispers had reached Diana’s ears, too.

In her previous life, after succeeding her father who had passed away from an epidemic and stepping forward to manage the mercantile house, similar harsh criticisms had spread.

In this life, the talk was surfacing much sooner than before.

She wondered if it was simply because she had done something conspicuous, yet she felt a chill sensing some underlying intent behind it.

(Come to think of it, I really did rack up quite a few enemies.)

In place of her late father, she had gone to great extremes to build up the ducal house and the mercantile house.

She had made many enemies, too.

She didn’t think that was a mistake, but looking back now, she thought she could have handled things a bit better.

Usually, one does not get to redo their life.

However—

(Right now… in this new life, I feel I can do much better. No, I will make it happen──!)

As the very first step toward that, she had joined the magical beast subjugation.

Mixing among the knights, Diana wore the formal attire of a female knight as she walked through the main camp.

Her destination was the tent set up as the operational headquarters.

“Ah, Lady Diana.”

The person she wanted to save from death even if it meant twisting fate—Grand Duke Alan Rutledge—was right there.

“Thank you once again for granting the participation of the Duke of Gazard’s knighthood, Your Royal Highness.”

“Please, stop calling me Your Royal Highness, just Alan like always is fine.”

When Diana bowed formally, Alan scratched his cheek with an embarrassed look.

“I cannot possibly do that, seeing as I am entrusted with the Gazard household’s troops, if only nominally.”

Diana smiled, her eyes narrowing.

At the sight of her smiling, the surrounding knights were momentarily taken aback and flushed.

At the academy, she had always remained cool and composed, showing only a detached expression.

She didn’t even realize that such a precious smile of hers naturally slipped out in front of Alan.

“I am grateful that you brought the troops, but…”

“Was it an inconvenience?”

“No, not at all. It’s a tremendous help, but…”

Before Diana, who tilted her head in confusion, Alan knitted his brows.

“Considering Lady Diana’s safety, I believe the Gazard Knighthood should be assigned to rear-guard defense—”

“Begging your pardon, Your Highness.”

Once more, Diana’s tone turned formal.

As the former Commander of the Order of Knights and bearing the status of royal uncle, Alan held the role of overall commander for this magical beast subjugation.

All troop placements and military strategies of the subjugation army were entrusted to Alan.

If she were assigned to a position far away from Alan, there would be no point in participating in this subjugation.

“Even if I am a woman, I will prove useful. Please issue your orders just as you would to everyone else.”

“Even so…”

“Having volunteered for the battlefield myself, I have no desire to be thought of as having lost my nerve to cowardice. Please, give this Diana a chance.”

To Alan, Diana was a friend’s daughter and one of the rare people who showed him affection.

Despite being a member of the royal family, he was looked down upon by other royals due to his maternal lineage, and kept at a distance by high nobility as well.

Amidst that, the father of Diana who treated him as a friend, and Diana who always brightened up and ran to him the moment she saw him, were his greatest solace.

If it was Diana’s wish, he wanted to grant it.

At the same time, he wanted to be mindful of her safety.

Conflicting thoughts troubled Alan’s mind.

“Subjugation is no time to let your guard down. I might not have the luxury of protecting you.”

“It’s fine. I will protect you, Your Highness!”

At Diana’s shining eyes, Alan’s expression naturally relaxed into a smile.

If any other knight had said something like that to him, he probably would have complained about how cheeky they were.

Yet, hearing it from Diana felt strangely not bad; alongside a sense of fondness, he felt a comforting, spreading warmth in his chest.

“—Understood. Just make sure you don’t leave the main unit… don’t leave my side.”

“Yes, thank you very much!”

As if drawn by Diana’s smile, Alan naturally softened his expression as well.

(I really can’t win against Lady Diana.)

Thinking that personal feelings were forbidden, he still found himself on the verge of prioritizing Diana over the other knights.

The reason he had tried to assign the Gazard Knighthood to the rear guard this time was also entirely for her safety.

(When did she grow up so much, when she used to be so small… Back when she was little, she used to cling to me so sweetly, calling me Lord Alan all the time.)

That same Diana was now standing beside him as a dignified female knight.

While he felt happy about that, he also felt a slight touch of loneliness that she no longer acted as openly sweet and dependent on him as she had in her childhood days.

(The little girl has grown up to be so beautiful… I suppose it’s only natural that I’m getting older, too.)

Just Diana’s appearance in the main camp changed the atmosphere carried by the knights.

Everyone straightened their posture and consciously tried to present their best selves.

She possessed a charm worthy of that reaction.

Everyone was captivated by her appearance, which was as beautiful and noble as the moon.

While some spoke ill of her behind her scenes, even those fellows closed their mouths the moment they looked upon Diana in person.

Such nobility emanated from her that she could simply dismiss rumors as utter nonsense with a single laugh.

As for Alan, whenever he spotted a knight gazing spellbound at Diana like that, he couldn’t help glaring at them.

To Alan, Diana was a friend’s daughter and someone who needed protection.

While rationalizing his actions with the thought that he couldn’t let bad company near her, he had no inkling yet that other emotions might be mixed into his efforts to keep the knights in check.

The magical beast subjugation in the Forest of Demons progressed so smoothly that Diana, who had been deeply anxious about Alan’s safety, felt it was almost anticlimactic.

These were battle-tested royal knights to begin with; barring extraordinary circumstances, they wouldn’t lag behind.

All the more so when commanded by Grand Duke Alan, known for his supreme valor.

(There are no signs of a stampede looking likely to happen, at least for now…)

It was a dangerous zone known as the Forest of Demons, so naturally, it was far from peaceful.

Yet neither the subjugation knights nor Alan showed any signs of sensing anything abnormal.

Then why had so many royal knights, including Alan, lost their lives in this place?

The strange sign appeared not in the Forest of Demons, but back at the main camp set up right at its entrance.

“Our Gazard Knighthood is to return to the city?”

At the words of the Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard, who had been appointed as the vice commander of this magical beast subjugation, Diana knitted her brows in perplexity.

“I had heard that the magical beast subjugation was to continue.”

“We would like the Gazard Knighthood to escort and transport the wounded soldiers.”

The vice commander’s reply was detached and flat.

“You want our Gazard Knighthood’s five hundred troops reassigned to guard the injured?”

It was an utterly ridiculous order.

Certainly, magical beasts occasionally appeared near the Forest of Demons, but not in numbers that warranted pulling away that many personnel.

The vice commander’s words were practically synonymous with telling the Gazard Knighthood to retreat to the rear.

“Lord Alan… what did the Commander-in-Chief say about this?”

“This is a final decision. The Duke of Gazard’s household would do well for themselves not to harbor any strange rebellious thoughts.”

The vice commander’s eyes were cold, seemingly tinged with a hint of disdain.

If it were Alan, he would have explained why he wanted them to take on that role while offering words of appreciation to the hardworking knights.

He would never simply relay a command through someone else like this.

(They want to isolate us from Lord Alan’s unit…?)

Unease crossed Diana’s mind.

A stampede, an abnormal outbreak of monsters, had claimed the lives of many royal knights, including Alan.

She had never doubted the announcement from the royal castle, but now, walking her second life and stepping onto the front lines herself, she couldn’t sense even a speck of a stampede’s precursor.

“I have delivered the message clearly.”

Leaving behind those haughty words, the vice commander walked out of the tent assigned to the knights of the Duke of Gazard’s household.

In the eyes of the knights staring at his retreating back, there was clear distrust.

“A retreat right here, are they serious?”

“Pulling us off the front lines… what on earth are they thinking?”

The knights knitted their brows, and the sound of their dissatisfied whispers reached Diana’s ears.

“What should we do, milady?”

The one who spoke directly to Diana was Ian, the vice commander of the Gazard Knighthood, who had served as her bodyguard since she was a little girl.

To Diana, he was one of the few people she could truly confide in and a dependable knight.

“We can hardly ignore a direct order, can we?”

“Still, for the royal uncle himself to issue orders to you through an errand runner, don’t you find that a bit fishy?”

Ian’s voice carried a meaningful ring to it.

He must have felt the same sense of incongruity regarding that order.

“Even so, that doesn’t mean we can violate orders.”

“So you mean… as long as we don’t technically violate them, anything goes?”

At Ian’s words, as if he had caught her drift, Diana smiled gently.

The following day, exactly as scheduled, the Gazard Knighthood withdrew from the front-line base.

The expeditionary force this time was a mixed unit consisting of the Third Order of Knights to which Alan belonged, the Imperial Guard to which the vice commander belonged, and the Gazard Knighthood.

With the movement of the Gazard Knighthood, roughly a quarter of the military force was pulling back.

The anomaly occurred that very night.

A suspicious shadow moved across the quieted encampment.

The writhing shadow was not a magical beast; it clearly possessed a human form.