Sigrid

As Morris interrupted, Count Oren snorted and said,

“So what are you going to do? Hm? Lady Ankertna. Shouldn’t you be on your knees, offering a sincere apology right now?”

Sigrid’s shoulders trembled slightly. Anger and despair swirled in her chest.

‘Why am I being treated like this when I’ve done nothing wrong?’

Just then, a bright voice was heard.

“My, Count Oren, I hear you have business with my friend?”

Entering gracefully was Lowengrin, adorned from head to toe in splendid attire. Morris’s expression showed relief, and Sigrid’s mouth fell open.

“Lowengrin?”

“Siri.”

Lowengrin smiled, using a nickname she had never used before. Count Oren, flustered, kissed the back of Lowengrin’s outstretched hand and said,

“You know Lady Alsekidna, the Viscount’s daughter?”

“Yes, she’s my dear friend from the same knight order.”

“I see……”

His face stiffened oddly. Lowengrin fluttered her fan and said,

“So what’s the matter?”

“Oh, it’s nothing major, just a small dispute.”

Count Oren made a show of taking a step back. Lowengrin tilted her head and looked at Morris.

“What happened?”

“Well—”

After Morris finished explaining, Lowengrin snapped her fan shut loudly and looked at Shemuel.

“Where did you witness my friend?”

“W-Well, in the f-field……”

“Where in the field exactly? Were you close?”

Glancing nervously at Count Oren, Shemuel said,

“It was about a hundred meters away.”

“A hundred meters— Sig, did you see this person?”

“No, I’ve never seen him before.”

“If he was within a hundred meters, a knight’s eyes wouldn’t have missed him. I find it hard to believe she would commit something akin to highway robbery with a witness present.”

“I-I was lying flat on the edge of the field, or maybe I was even further than a hundred meters away.”

“Oh? Then how did you hear their conversation?”

“Huh? Well, because that lady knight was shouting……”

“But you said you heard the Count’s words too? Was Count Oren shouting as well?”

“Well, I think he might have been……”

“And you’re saying these three knights were helpless against her?”

“Y-Yes.”

At those words, Lowengrin’s eyes widened, and she turned to Morris, saying,

“Morris, if Sigrid drew her weapon, would you just let her beat you if there were three of you?”

“Of course not. We’d subdue her, naturally.”

Morris deliberately put strength in his voice as he answered. Sigrid slightly squinted her eyes, mentally calculating whether she would win or lose. Lowengrin nodded.

“Right? Count Oren, are those knights of yours trustworthy?”

Suddenly lowering her voice, Lowengrin’s question caught Count Oren off guard.

“Well, they’ve been my loyal retainers for a long time……”

“If Sigrid truly intimidated Count Oren, how could those knights! Three healthy men, just let it happen?”

“Well, she had a sword……”

“Even with a sword, against Sig alone? My, my? My goodness?”

With a face that seemed to say ‘how could this be,’ Lowengrin rapidly fluttered her fan. She looked as if she wanted to spread this story throughout high society right away.

The faces of the knights and Count Oren contorted. Lowengrin shook her head and said,

“Couldn’t there have been some misunderstanding? Perhaps you accidentally dirtied Sigrid’s clothes as you were passing by in your carriage. You know how sensitive women can be about such things.”

“Th-That could be possible.”

Count Oren grudgingly agreed with a sour face. Lowengrin smiled and said,

“Right? So Sig might have asked for cleaning costs. You know how meager the knight order’s salary is.”

“That’s true……”

“Then this witness has muddied Count Oren’s eyes and ears with uncertain information. He only amplified the misunderstanding.”

As Lowengrin’s tongue sweetly turned the arrow towards the witness like a snake, Shemuel’s face turned pale.

“No! C-Count! I never! You know!”

“What do I know! How dare you try to drive a wedge between Lady Ankertna and me!”

Sigrid frowned.

‘But I never blocked his carriage, picked a fight, or had my clothes dirtied?’

As she was about to protest, Morris pulled her arm and shook his head. Sigrid was about to say something but closed her mouth.

Count Oren swallowed his dissatisfaction. The reputation of Viscount Alsekidna’s house was well known, and it was a known fact that the Viscount doted on Lowengrin Alsekidna, the eldest daughter of the family. He didn’t want to clash with her over a mere low-ranking knight.

‘If she’s a woman, she should stay home and bear children.’

Count Oren couldn’t understand Viscount Alsekidna’s idea of letting women out into the world.

‘Well, I’ve got that wench in my grasp anyway.’

He could take out his frustrations on her tonight.

“Lady Ankertna, I apologize for the misunderstanding. If I dirtied your clothes, I’d like to pay for the cleaning. It must be difficult for a commoner to afford such expensive clothes.”

He laughed heartily and took out money from his purse.

“I’ll have to decline.”

Sigrid said coldly. At her words, Count Oren was once again irked. Morris quickly said,

“Since it was all a misunderstanding, no apology is necessary, Count.”

“Ah, is that so? Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

Count Oren cleared his throat and said to Lowengrin,

“Please convey my regards to your father.”

Then he left the guard station. After he left, Morris let out a sigh.

“Thank you, Lowengrin. You saved us.”

Morris felt relieved that he had contacted her before coming. He was rather weak in these kinds of confrontations.

“It’s nothing.”

Lowengrin lightly curtsied, holding the hem of her dress.

“Why did you lie?”

Sigrid looked at Lowengrin. Lowengrin tilted her head and looked at Sigrid. Sigrid stepped closer and said,

“I didn’t ambush his carriage, and I didn’t take any money! He didn’t dirty my clothes either! That man was trying to harass a free woman!”

“I know, but can you prove it?”

Lowengrin’s clear brown eyes gazed directly at Sigrid. Sigrid felt like jumping up and down.

What was there to prove? Her words were the truth!

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Amu gestured to Shemuel.

“You should go now too. Don’t get involved in something like this again.”

“Y-Yes, yes.”

As Shemuel was about to leave with a bow, a light flashed in Sigrid’s crimson eyes.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Sig?”

Morris grabbed her arm again. Sigrid growled.

“He lied, so we should cut out his tongue.”

“Sig—”

“What?”

“You’d better go now.”

As Morris gestured to Shemuel, he fled the guard station as if his tail was on fire, and Sigrid shouted “Where are you—!” trying to chase after him, but was held back by Morris.

“Let go!”

“No.”

“I’m going to cut out that bastard’s tongue! I will! He lied!”

He lied.

They all lied to trap me—

The Aura Core…….

The branding iron…….

“That son of a bitch slandered me!!”

Seeing Sigrid thrash about as if in a frenzy, Morris panicked and tightened his grip on her.

“Sigrid! Calm down!!”

Feeling like he was holding back a wild cat, Morris anxiously hugged Sigrid tightly from behind. She kicked the air with her feet and screamed. Everyone present was shocked by her complete loss of composure. Everyone except one person.

Lowengrin approached gracefully.

Slap—

A light cracking sound was heard. Sigrid stared at Lowengrin with dazed eyes. Her slapped cheek stung. Lowengrin lowered her hand and said,

“Have you cooled down a bit?”

Sigrid hung her head low. As the strength left her body, Morris said “Uh……” with a face that didn’t know what to say, and released Sigrid’s arms he had been holding. Sigrid looked at Lowengrin with a face like someone who had been treated unfairly.

“Lowengrin, do you believe what that person said too?”

“No, that person did lie. He did set you up. But why do you think he did it?”

At those words, Sigrid stared blankly at Lowengrin.

“Didn’t you say you’d think for yourself and make your own decisions? Then you can’t just look at the surface of things.”

Sighing, Lowengrin looked at Morris.

“I’ll talk with Sigrid.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Lowengrin.”

“It’s nothing. And just so you know, Marie-Chez is furious.”

At those words, Morris comically hunched his shoulders and said, “Eek.”

“I’ll have to apologize again later.”

Morris looked at Sigrid with a worried face and lightly patted her shoulder as if to comfort her.

“Well, I’ll be going then.”

Grab—

As he was about to remove his hand, his sleeve was caught, startling Morris. Sigrid looked up at him and said,

“Did I do something wrong? Did I, did I……”

Morris smiled.

“No. It’s not like that. But the world doesn’t always run by the rules. Talk with Lowengrin and get some good rest today.”

At Morris’s words, Sigrid nodded obediently. Lowengrin said to Sigrid,

“Let’s go, the carriage is waiting outside.”

“Ah, okay.”

Sigrid followed behind Lowengrin. As she left the guard station, Morris turned to the Guard Captain Amu and asked,

“So, about that person Sigrid said she saved earlier, what was the address? I’d like to hear more details about their disappearance.”

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

In the carriage, Sigrid silently stared at her knees for a while. Lowengrin didn’t particularly say anything either. After a long time, Sigrid hesitantly raised her head and said,

“Lowengrin.”

“Do you feel like talking now?”

“Yeah, your clothes are pretty today.”

At her listless words, Lowengrin looked at Sigrid with wide eyes and then burst into laughter.

“You really are— Yes, that’s right. Starting a conversation with a compliment isn’t bad.”

“It really is pretty though?”

Sigrid said, puzzled. It was the first time she had seen Lowengrin dressed in such an elaborate dress. Sigrid thought she should have said it earlier when she first saw it, but the timing had been off.

“Sigrid.”

Lowengrin, with a smile on her lips, rested her arm on the carriage window and said,

“I’m not going to apologize for hitting you earlier.”

“Huh? Oh. No, I completely lost my mind……”

If it had gone on, she probably would have struck Morris. Moreover, losing her composure and behaving violently in front of lower-ranked people—that one slap had definitely brought her back to her senses.

Lowengrin smiled bitterly and gently caressed Sigrid’s cheek with her gloved hand. Sigrid shook her head.

“It’s fine, this much is nothing.”

Getting hit by wooden swords during training was commonplace, so this level of hit barely qualified as being struck. However, Sigrid had her own complaint.

“Why did you stop me?”

“Hm?”

“That bastard, I mean. Cutting out his tongue.”

“I didn’t stop you. Morris did.”

“Lowengrin.”

As Sigrid furrowed her brows, Lowengrin leaned back in the carriage seat and said,

“I agree, I did take his side. Count Oren’s personality is notoriously nasty… And both Morris and I are advocates for serf liberation……”

Trailing off, Lowengrin asked,

“If I took Morris hostage and told you to slander Marie-Chez, what would you do?”

“I can’t do that.”

“The slander? Even if Morris dies?”

Lowengrin asked seriously, and Sigrid thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, no, it’s not that I won’t do it, I can’t do it. False testimony, slander, lies, these are things a knight must not do.”

“Is being a knight more precious to you than Morris’s life?”

At those words, Sigrid’s mouth fell open. Her face contorted.

“That’s, that’s— But.”

After mumbling, Sigrid said, “Ah,” and answered,

“Then I’d rather die myself.”

Seeing Sigrid’s face suddenly brighten, Lowengrin chuckled.

“You’re so upright. But Sigrid, not everyone is like you.”

Lowengrin let out a small sigh.

“Not everyone can be as strong as you. Sigrid, you need to understand that. Not everyone lives by the law, some cleverly avoid it. Think about what happened today.”

Sigrid blinked. Lowengrin asked,

“Why did this happen?”

“Because that person gave false testimony?”

“No, that’s a secondary issue. Why did that person give false testimony?”

After pondering for a while, Sigrid said, “Oh?”

“Did Count Oren make him do it?”

“Yes, that’s right. Count Oren prepared the false testimony to trap you. Then, how do you think Count Oren made that person give false testimony?”