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The young gentleman who the crimson-haired woman addressed as Commander Middleton, slumped his shoulders because of the formal greeting that Scarlette addressed to him.
"Hey, no need to be formal, Scarlette! We're friends, right?"
The crimson-haired woman crossed her arms around her chest and raised an eyebrow at him; "Says who?"
She said coldly while looking back at him with her most dull looking eyes and the young-looking Commander sighed dramatically because of the crimson-haired woman's usual attitude.
"Oh, come on! Don't be like that! You hurt my feelings, my dear Scarlette!"
Scarlette said nonchalantly; "Then, die."
After that, she turned around and left him behind and when the young gentleman saw Scarlette leaving him behind, he immediately followed.
"Hey, Scarlette! Wait for me!"
She just ignore him as she went to her way while the other man managed to catch up on her and starts to blabber things from left and right and the crimson-haired woman just left him be.
...…..
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...…
The young gentleman that the crimson-haired woman knew about is none other than the Commander of the Imperial Army of Silveria Empire, Marquis JEFFREY ZENON MIDDLETON.
Before he became the Commander for the Imperial Army, he was a former Knight Captain for the Golden Falcon Squad, a division of the knights who's responsible for the protection of the Silveria Empire's Crown Prince.
Not only that but he is widely known as the youngest Swordmaster in history. Because of his status as a Swordmaster, he got promoted within the Imperial Army as the youngest Commander in history.
This year, he is already 28 years old but because of his youthful appearance, others tend to mistake him for being a teenager that haven't reached adulthood.
Before he had achieved his current status in this life, he had encountered countless obstacles, suffering and humiliation from other people because of his origin.
He is the third son of Viscount Middleton from his third concubine.
Polygamy is a common thing in this world and it's not that surprising to learned that most of the noble patriarchs tend to have concubines and mistresses along the way, aside from the legal wife, of course.
Since Jeffrey is a son of a concubine, who's mother's origin came from a humble origin, he doesn't have the right to inherit a noble title from his biological father since he is not one of the legitimate children from the Viscount's main wife.
At the age of 10 years old, Jeffrey conscript himself to the Knights training and suffered hardship during his childhood years as he is known as a concubine's son that wouldn't have the rights to inherit a noble title.
He might be of noble birth, but he is treated worse than a commoner by his fellow noble children within the Capital city.
He is treated as an outcast and a shame amongst his fellow peers because of his birth origin.
Even within the Middleton household, most of the concubine's children suffered at the hands of the main wife, and their mothers couldn't do anything but to obey since the Viscountess came from a Count's family and she is the legitimate eldest lady of her natal household.
The other concubines are not of a noble birth as most of them came from neither some small merchant households or from lowly commoners without titles.
Only Jeffrey's mother who came from a Baron's household, but his mother didn't have any foothold in that family since his mother is also a daughter of a concubine, unlike the Viscountess who is born in the Count family's main wife.
At a young age, Jeffrey knew how cruel the world is, and he swore to become stronger so that he could protect his mother and himself since the Viscount Middleton Household is not a safe place for them anymore.
Even his father tend to ignore all of the sufferings he had, as well as the other concubine's children who suffered from the wrath of the Viscountess.
It was not until he reached the age of 17 years old that he became the Knight Captain of the Golden Falcon Squad, a division of the knight squad that's responsible for the protection of the Crown Prince of Silveria Empire and Jeffrey became the youngest Captain in his generation.
Not only that but he was also rewarded by His Majesty, the Emperor a noble title of Baron for his dedicated hardship and when he put his life on the line to protect the Emperor during the assassination attempt.
His reputation is the noble society skyrockets and all nobles who used to scorn him before are now trying to curry favor from him.
But at the same time, some of them are trying to observe him from the shadows, waiting for him to make a mistake and to put a speck of dirt on his reputation.
Jeffrey had experienced worse than this and he is not afraid of any hardships that would come to him.
When a decreed ordered for him to be sent into the frontlines to assist the Crown Prince at the battle, he didn't hesitate to accept the decree since he is the Knight Captain of the division that solely protects the Crown Prince and it's his duty to fulfill it as a Knight.
When that decree was made, most of the nobles thought that he would die in the battle, so they didn't make a fuss about it since they could tell that although Jeffrey is a skilled Knight, he is still quite young and inexperienced to be in the frontlines.
Especially the Viscount and Viscountess of Middleton household as they didn't say anything about it as they saw Jeffrey as a thorn to their side because of his achievements and it overshadowed the legitimate children of the Viscountess.
However, that was their mistake.
The battle took place at the western border because they tried to subjugate the well-known notorious barbaric tribes that's recking havoc in some of their small territories for four years and during those times, a miracle happened.
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