14 — 14. The End Of A Turbulent Day

The royal palace.

“Thank you for your hard work today.”

The exam, his introduction to the king, and the “welcome” from the palace guard knights—a day that had spiraled past in mere hours—was finally drawing to a close.

It was already 7 PM.

Reet had followed the princess back from the training grounds and had been shown to the dormitory for the last time.

Starting today, Reet could sleep here.

“Rest well for the next three days.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Does that mean my duties start next week?”

When Reet asked, Iris shook her head.

“Next week the Tourney of Champions will be held. Duties begin after that.”

“The Tourney of Champions, Your Highness?”

“The Tourney of Champions is an event where knights with five years or fewer of service compete against one another. The grand prize is promotion to Seventh Rank—but since you’re already Seventh Rank, this doesn’t apply to you.”

Upon hearing the details, the first face that came to Reet’s mind was Kait’s.

“All knights within five years of joining will compete? Even those newly hired this year?”

“Yes. All young knights participate unless they’ve won a past tournament. Apparently, two new Holy Knights emerged this year. They’ll naturally be competing as well.”

Those two, of course, were Kait and Sara.

If Kait was coming, that meant—

Probably his father too—Duke Ride Welzley would attend as well.

What kind of reaction would he get?

Reet couldn’t bring himself to be optimistic about seeing him again.