Felix, seeing her, quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head. Aurora, who had removed her leg from Yule’s back, scuttled over and fell to her knees next to Felix.
As Aurora bowed her head, she swallowed hard at the sight of the embroidery below the other person’s knee. How elegant. Such noble embroidery is not something you see very often.

(As expected from the merchants of the Royal Family…! The work of the Royal seamstress is also incredible, bringing together this design, fabric, embroidery, and jewels. If this is what an evening dress looks like, what about the embroidery on a formal dress? Oh, I’d love to see it up close and personal once, just once…….)

Beside Aurora, who stares at the embroidery, forgetting about the brawl just a few moments ago, Felix greeted her expressionlessly.

“Your Highness, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”
“Ah, that kind of thing is needed. Well, I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared, Clavis. I asked Messalla to search for your location, to which he said he observed you casting an attack spell, which made me even more surprised. Right, Messalla?”
“Yes.”

The princess looked behind herself, from where a low voice answered her. He was dressed in black robes and, as he appeared to be, was a magician.

“Well, you can look up. Loomis, can you look up?”
“…..I’m sorry for showing you my unsightly state.”

Wiping the corner of his mouth, Yule slowly rose to his feet, moved along the wall and knelt. “Very well then,” she smiled and raised one eyebrow in dismay as she looked around the rough-and-tumble room.

“I’m amazed that they were able to cause such destruction. Even putting aside the Knight’s rank, can anyone destroy the room to this extent?”
“……Sorry about that”

Felix bowed his head again. Yule also bowed deeply, almost to the ground.

“However, it’s unacceptable for the knights of the Imperial Order to fight privately. Isn’t that right? Marquis Loomis”

The princess turns around, and the three people in the room, except Messalla, also turn their heads. The maids by the door are gone before they know it, and in their place is the Marquis of Loomis, looking very pale. Yule turns visibly blue, and Felix’s expression goes beyond expressionless to nothing.
The princess pulled up just the right corner of her mouth and looked at the two battered knights.

“Was this caused because Loomis made a move on Clavis’s fiancée?”

Yule, who was quickly identified as the cause of the incident, stared at the floor with his back against the wall. Perhaps remembering the cause, Felix bit his back teeth hard and glared at Yule from the side.

“Well, leaving aside the question of who caused it and who started it first… it is not legal to have a private fight within the members of the Imperial Knight. If you’re a member of the Imperial Knight, you do know that, right? Although I may only be a figurehead third, as long as I am entrusted with the general’s position, I can’t overlook it.”

Beside the two silent men, Aurora bit her lip. She glanced over at the princess, her eyes sparkled mischievously. Aurora involuntarily stiffened a little as she saw the expression on the princess’s face, which was surprisingly similar to the crown prince’s. The princess must be a difficult person to deal with.

“Clavis’s fianceé was, I believe, the daughter of an Earl, wasn’t she? Lady Porta, I’ll allow you to speak.”
“Thank you very much. Um, this is not a private fight. It’s just a drunken brawl!”
“Hmm?”

The princess looked at the two of them with a grin, and when she saw them awkwardly look away, she stifled a laugh in her throat.

“So?”
“Both of them were quite drunk, neither of them had weapons in their hands, and neither of them used any magic.
My mother, the Commander of the Porta Frontier Knights, said that men express their friendship with their fists. Felix-sama and Loomis-sama were born in the same year and were classmates at the military academy, so, naturally, they got into a drunken fight.”
…..Please, let this time slide it as a drunken brawl!

Aurora knew it was crazy, but she was so desperate to protect Felix that she didn’t even notice that the princess had her arms crossed and was looking at her with amusement.
Thanks to the mock battle, Aurora knows very well that he is not good at making excuses or defending himself. If left alone, he would generally accept the punishment, thinking that ‘I was also at fault.’
Moreover, this would not have happened if she had not followed the maid so readily, and even if she had followed her, she should have recognised her suspiciousness and run away as soon as possible. The same goes for Yule. He did try to make a move on her in the end, but that was not why he summoned Aurora in the first place. It was she who provoked him, who had summoned Aurora to judge and complain at the same time.

“Besides, Loomis didn’t call me here to lay hands on me.”
“Oh, was I wrong?”
“…..Loomis-sama just seemed to want to complain to me. It was a partially love, partially hate kind of relationship. Well, not to me.”
“Love and Hate…..?”
“Yes…..”

Aurora glanced up at her fiancé, who was beside her. After seeing his expression visibly twitch, she turned her gaze to the princess, who let out an exclamatory, “Hmm?”

“I see?”
“……..Sorry, Loomis. I don’t mean to be prejudiced, but I’m not interested in that.”
“What are you talking about?　My love interest is of the opposite sex!”
“Well, that’s fine, but……”
“Don’t give me that drawn-out look!　You’ve got it all wrong!”

Yule roared, and Felix took a step back. Aurora, who was watching nervously, heard another snicker from behind her. It was, of course, Her Highness the First Princess.

“Your Highness…….”
“Hahaha -no, that’s funny. You got a funny girl, Clavis!”

The princess laughed manfully. Although her figure is that of a lady, her gesture is that of a bold and open-hearted general. Aurora’s eyes widen, and the two knights look at her reproachfully.

“Can’t help it, I’ll pretend I didn’t see it today, in honour of your cute and funny fiancée. …… Well, originally, if Lady Porta wasn’t harmed, I had planned on making them clean the stables or pull weeds in the training grounds as a punishment.”
“……You had that in mind from the beginning?”
“Fufu, as Lady Porta said, knights and soldiers are certainly hot-headed. It would be unreasonable to punish them so harshly for a single fight. Well, if it was one-sided, excessive, or involved others, I would have strictly considered it as violence.”

The princess tapped her silver cane on the floor and straightened her back. Yule and Felix gave a quick salute, then put their fists against their chests. It was a bow to show that they were Welbum Kingdom knights who carried neither swords nor magic. Aurora also bowed and lined up beside them again.

“I will then order the two of you to clean up this room and pay compensation at a later date. Is that okay, Marquis Loomis?”
“Fortunately, it has not gone public….. so we will handle it as Your Highness wishes.”

In response to the princess’s question, Marquis Loomis, who looked much like Yule and must have been very popular in his youth, bowed his head deeply.

“Well, that settles the matter. You can both thank Miss Porta. –Now, get dressed and return to the soiree!　It’s almost time for the final waltz.”

＊

By the time the three returned to the dance floor, the final waltz had already begun. The evening party sparkled like a jewel, with a splendid ambience that gave no hint of what had happened behind the scenes. Aurora vaguely wondered if the fight from earlier had been a dream or something, but when she turned her eyes back to Felix in front of her, it was easy to see that it was reality.
The dress of Felix was in disarray in some places because he had made the necessary adjustments by hand. There was a white compress on his cheek, and his insignia was missing in some places.
Still, he held out his hand to Aurora with an elegant gesture, as if the scuffle from earlier had never happened. When she gently took it, he pulled her tighter around the waist.
Aurora’s dress was also shabby. She had her hair tied back in a hurry, and it looked different from before, but she left herself to the beautiful music and Felix’s arms, while twirling around and stepping on the dance floor.

『….. It’s been a tumultuous night, hasn’t it?』
『I wasn’t expecting this kind of turmoil.』

They channelled a drop of magic power on the magic stone next to their ears. And, A whisper that no one else could hear passed between their ears. Felix let out a deep sigh, and Aurora laughed deep in her throat.

『I, too, did not expect to be involved in such an event. I was prepared to be bullied and criticised.』
『……It’s because my social skills are so poor. My apologies for that.』
『I was fine, so let’s put this story to rest. It was a unique experience, if you think about it. I may never again have the opportunity to be addressed by Her Royal Highness in such a friendly manner.』

Aurora, who believed in forgetting things by what was done, smiled at Felix, but he looked gloomy and shook his head from side to side.

『When I realised you weren’t coming back, it chilled me.』

The arms around my waist tightened just a little.

『I shouldn’t have left you alone.』
『I also realised that I had let my guard down. Everything had gone so smoothly that I had forgotten that I was in enemy territory.』
『Me too…..It was only thanks to your help that we were able to enjoy some peace. I had forgotten that.』
『……Oh my, did something happen while I was gone?』
『It’s the same as always…』

Aurora smiles at him as he suddenly looks at her distantly. He must have been surrounded by women or something.

『Now that I think about it, how did you know I was there? I thought I’d been taken quite far inside. That was Felix-sama’s magic, right?』

Turning his head like remembering something, Felix nodded shallowly.

『It’s the power of the protective magic stone. I’ve placed it in your necklace and hair ornament so that when a malicious person touches you, a teleportation circle will activate and summon me.』

Aurora stared in amazement, thinking that this might have been some incredible technique, to which he nodded as if to agree with her.

『I have borrowed some help from the Royal Court Magician. My magic doesn’t work well on settings like “when ill will is directed at me”.』
『Well… that’s something pretty amazing you’ve prepared for me.』
『But, I had talked with the Royal Court Magician about how it would have been best if it hadn’t been used. …It was my fault that it came to a situation where it had to be used.』

Felix nodded his head, but still made a sharp turn. The song was nearing its end, and the evening party would soon be over.

『I’m sorry, because of me you had such a horrible experience.』
『Please don’t worry about it. I only bumped my forehead, and it is Felix-sama who is covered in wounds. Besides, you came to my rescue when I was in the most difficult situation.』

Right? When I tilted my head, Felix’s eyes shook wistfully.

The waltz enters its final phrase, and Felix gently places his hand on Aurora’s cheek. He slides his fingertips to her ear, stopping Aurora’s magic from pouring into the earpiece, and murmurs in his own voice.

“…..I’m really glad you’re safe.”

Author’s Note:-

The story is half over here.
The second half begins from the next chapter.

It should be noted that a few days after this evening party, Felix and Yule were seen pulling weeds in the knights’ quarters, with no magic permitted……
Felix was plucking the weeds diligently but still missing a lot, and behind him, Yule was plucking the weeds neatly while complaining loudly, “Pluck them more carefully!!”