"I don't want to. I don't feel like it. I only do what the empire orders."
She immediately rejected all personal requests and went to eat her meal. There was a mountain of work that people wanted to oversee because of her efficiency, but she was steadfast. She generally refused all personal requests from within the order.
People began to look for ways to persuade her and researched her likes. Meanwhile, they were all able to learn that she became incredibly simple when it came to certain things.
The leader of the 67th group, Hamilton, looked confident as he carried a crepe from a famous cake shop in the city. Knight Shuraina went absolutely nuts for carbs.
"What's your request."
"Can I ask for a duel?"
Hamilton glanced at Shuraina as he handed her an armload of crepes.
Then, he was able to witness a rare sight.
"Of course."
The stiff, rude knight's scarlet eyes grew warm as they curved. That smile of hers was both mysterious and dreamy and made his heart feel all warm. It was addicting. He didn't think that she had an incredibly beautiful face, but seeing it so often made it seem extremely alluring. There were times when her beauty suddenly seemed to explode at times, almost slapping him in the face with it.
At first, he just learned about the things she liked to ask her to check over difficult tasks or ask for help when it came to checks. But now, he wanted to see her gentle smile more often and, even on normal days, collected money from others in the order or in his group to shower her with desserts. It warmed his heart to see her short legs dangle on a tall chair as she munched on a tower of cakes next to her.
"Shuraina. I'll give these all to you, so come here."
A familiar voice came from the other side. Shuraina, pleased at receiving her crepes, was currently holding a sword as she tried to oversee a duel while Hamilton, who looked pleased as he looked at her, both turned to the voice. They could see the crown prince coming close with an armful of royal desserts.
"Hup! M-my lord! How do you do?"
"How do you do."
When Hamilton stood ramrod straight and respectfully bowed, Shuraina briefly greeted him with a respectful nod.
Hylli received their greetings and only spoke to Shuraina familiarly. Once Shuraina was placed within the 1st order, the crown prince, caught up in a flurry of action for his upcoming coronation, began to come more often in search of her.
The knights all sighed as they looked at the crown prince. There was a smile on his face that didn't seem to be leaving any time soon whenever she spoke.
"I really hated myself from back then for thinking that Knight Shuraina was just a nepotism hire, and I hate myself still, but all of that aside–it's obvious that our lord is interested in the knight. To be honest, if it's her, I get it."
"He never wants to duel with us, but he always comes to Knight Shuraina and checks over her swordsmanship and even duels with her….."
The knights all clicked their tongues as they watched the two chat happily.
"Give up, the hurdle's too high."
"Yeah. If we try any more, our lives are gonna be forfeit."
Hamilton muttered, even as he was unable to look away from Shuraina. He couldn't help but think of her confident, steadfast figure and that smile of hers. He was just angry at himself for starting their relationship off with such a bad image. He felt like his prejudices had made him miss such an amazing person.
But she was generally a pretty nice person–if he kept showing her that he was becoming a better person without giving up, maybe her opinion of him would change, Hamilton thought as he looked up. Two people were leaning on a railing as they looked at Shuraina before their eyes met. Hamilton went sheet white.
From all the way up there, the Duke Blanche and, the leader of the Lunaasha–still in control of the underworld even though they were gone in name–Yvnes Lunaasha were glaring fiercely at him.
"Ah…..For real...My life would be forfeit."
The coronation for the new emperor was approaching. The empire seemed to be in festive spirits.
Maybe it was because they were a product of incest, but the emperor, who had been frail from birth, stayed ill and soon passed from sickness. The second prince was similarly frail as the former emperor, so the next emperor was slated to be the first prince–the healthy swordmaster, Hylli Orde Ianess.
The soon-to-be emperor, Hylli, was famous for quite a lot of things. First, he was famous for being the most skilled swordsman in the empire. Second, he was known for his handsome face. And third–he became famous for the diplomatic skills he had shown in the time after the passing of the former emperor. First, he created a monster safety area to take care of the monsters that occasionally entered villages and put a magical border around the area to take care of the problem. He also took care of the immigration problem that arose in the village near the Eastern continent without issue, and he also proved his worth in a series of other situations.
Everyone was excited to see such a young, hardworking, healthy and handsome crown prince finally becoming the emperor. Hylli was a bit taken aback at the almost fanatical support he received from his citizens, but he only blushed a bit and pretended to be calm.
The closer Hylli's coronation came, the busier the royal knights became. There were a lot of performances to prepare for. Seeing as how the royal knights were the face of the empire, their practices were brutal. They twirled a flag with the black dragon, marched in beat, and stood in perfect line as they practiced marching. They needed to stay on beat during the entire march, so they practiced for months with the royal orchestra to get it right. Coronation ceremonies were huge–there was a lot to prepare for it.
"I heard that the coronation was happening soon. Are you faring well?"
Shuraina was going back to her dormitory after work when she bumped into Hylli, who was coming back from a speech. They had somehow ended up heading to his office together. She was playing with his hair and rubbing off the gel in his hair to make white powder when Hylli smiled.
"Don't speak so stiffly. There's only the two of us here. It's funny to hear you speak like that."
He stared at Shuraina as she made a mess of his clean hairstyle. When he turned his head, Shuraina told him that she was going to play with his hair for a bit longer and turned his head back to its original position. Hylli just let his hair become a bird's nest and enjoyed the feeling of her hands.
"Shuraina. Living is so exhausting."
"It's only going to get harder from here. Hell yeah. Emperor, let's cheer up."
Shuraina was completely focused on scratching the gel off of his hair, as if she was a mother bird picking feathers from her children.
When he complained in the middle of her work, she just waved a fist near his face and told him to cheer up.
"Are you nervous because the coronation is coming up?"
Hylli looked quite anxious, so Shuraina gave up on playing with his hair and gave him a few pats on the back.
"No. I fear what's behind the door more than that."
Shuraina understood his words right away. She could also feel some familiar faces from behind the door.
Bam! Someone entered the room with the loud bang of the door. They had a bunch of documents resting on one hip and were carrying a black suit jacket on their other hand. Their shirt had a few buttons undone. They still had bandages peeking around his collarbone and neck. The person who had just entered was none other than the Blanche duke–Swanhaden Blanche.
"...."
Swanhaden looked around the office and found Shuraina. He looked up at the ceiling before noticing that her hand was on Hylli's back and began to speak.
"If you don't want to die, you should move yourself away from her hand and twist your spine in th..."
He threateningly glared at Hylli as he walked closer. When Shuraina slid to his side, he relaxed his gaze and politely held his hands together.
"….maybe not do that and live a long and healthy life, my lord."
He was about to spew a long list of curses without a single change in pitch before his eyes met with Shuraina's. He immediately changed his words and spoke politely.
Swanhaden wanted to break the window and run out after seeing Shuraina in uniform, but he bore through it. His stomach twisted in jealousy as he imagined Hylli getting to meet the beautiful and perfect Shuraina every single day to work with her. He was so jealous that he could die right there. I wanted to work with Shuraina too. Swanhaden kept glancing at Shuraina and wondered how he could talk to her.
Then, when Shuraina stretched out her hand to touch Hylli's hair again, Swanhaden snatched her hand away.
"I don't want you to touch anything dirty. Look, look–all of that's dandruff."
Swanhaden pointed at the white gel powder that Shuraina had scratched off of Hylli's hair with a disgusted expression.
"Hiiik!"
Shuraina covered her mouth and made a disgusted expression just like Swanhaden's.
"Wow, Shuraina! You're the one that made all of the gel into powder!"
Hylli pointed at his bird's nest of hair and yelled angrily. But Shuraina and Swan both covered their mouths with their hands and threw Hylli a grossed out look.
"Hey, guys, let's not be so mean. Our lord can have scalp issues, too. This powder doesn't seem to clean well–maybe I need some kind of magical cleaning device? You're grosser than you look, sir."
"No, I'm saying it's not dandruff! It's gel!"
Yves suddenly appeared mid-conversation with a mask on his face. He had a small broom that he used to brush off the gel powder on Hylli's hair and shoulders. Then, he sprayed some deodorant on his hair and shoulders. Yves and Swan finished raging at Hylli for trying to monopolize Shuraina and handed him a pile of documents.
"Hey, here. Approval documented for the Blanche dukedom."
"Here's a census for the southern region, as requested."
Yves and Swanhaden, who had made sure to come after everyone's work day was over, were both completely low-energy.
Yves thought that it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to forge a relationship with the emperor and was helping him with tasks, and Swan didn't really want to support Hylli but finished his documents because he was Shuraina's boss.
Putting all of the small excuses aside–the core reason behind them helping Hylli was because they could 'use the excuse of helping the next emperor to get visitor passes to meet Shuraina'.
They had purposely matched the time to after work hours to meet Shuraina, but both Yves and Swan had the same idea and had accidentally crossed paths. They had been avoiding each other and had ended up not being able to greet Shuraina, and they were annoyed because they had to see each other's faces.
The two of them had been elated to think that they would never have to see each other after graduating from the academy, but the other person had to keep going above their station and still like Shuraina and causing issues. Swanhaden was irritated and was delicate right now, but seeing Shuraina's face made his body and heart warm all over.
"Swan, there's something weird in here? Hold on, what's this plan about ending the Blanche family? An emperor assassination plan?"
"…..!"
Swanhaden was biting into a cookie as he sat in a chair and leaned on the wall when his eyes grew round at Hylli's question.
"Oh. Don't look at it. It's a secret."
"...why are you so embarrassed about it."
Swanhaden ran to Hylli and yanked the documents out of his hand before hugging them and muttering that it was a secret. His ears burned red.
Swan glanced at Hylli before taking out one of the documents and politely requesting something.
"Answer this questionnaire for me please."
Hylli's pupils shook as he read through the questionnaire that Swan had handed him.
"Arrows, sword, magic, drowning, getting thrown off a building, hanging. What's your least favorite way to die?"
"Be truthful when you're responding. I put a lot of thought behind this for you, you know."
Ah….. For me to pick my own method of death. Hylli hung his head as his hands shook from the death glare that Swan was shooting at him. He forced himself to smile awkwardly. He haphazardly wrote, 'Shuraina's my protection' and handed the document back to him before carefully grabbing Shuraina's shirt. Shuraina, save me.
"So, where's the documents I need to approve for the Blanche duke…..dom."
Hylli glanced through the documents that Swan had brought before carefully asking about the whereabouts for the most important documents of all.
"Oh, I totally forgot to bring it. Can you give me an entrance pass for tomorrow too?"
Oh, my head. Hylli held the back of his head and flopped onto the desk.
Meanwhile, Yvnes had his arm around Shuraina's waist and was trying to get a hug as he taunted Swanhaden, who was quietly and patiently waiting for Hylli's response. Swanhaden drew a magic circle within 0.1 seconds and shot it at Yves.
It was always madness when Yves and Swan met, so Hylli carefully raised his hands to cover his head. Shuraina also raised the cushions on top of the office sofa and covered her body with them before covering her hand with her hands. When Shuraina drew a circle to protect herself, Swan immediately stopped his attack.
"What is this, some kind of meeting hall? Is today special?"
Right at that moment, Cory knocked and entered Hylli's office. Cory, who had come in with documents stating the DuBois family's support for the first crown prince, stared with exhausted eyes as he yawned.
"Huh? Shushu!"
Cory, who hadn't expected Shuraina in Hylli's office, lowered his document bag and rushed towards Shuraina, who was buried under the tower of cushions that Swan had built up. Then, he rubbed his eyes to wake himself up.
Cory smiled as he took in Shuraina's imposing form as she wore her uniform. He had thought about visiting Shuraina when he came to the palace, but for them to meet like this. He had heard that the 1st order's training was particularly brutal and was really worried for Shuraina. He worried that she would lose even more weight, if anyone would be rude to her. Of course, he knew that Shuraina would take care of everything without issue, but it would've just sat heavy in his heart if she was having a difficult time.
But thankfully, Shuraina was the same as always. If he didn't consider how her way of speaking had gotten a bit stiffer than before, she was just as quietly exuberant and constantly eating as always.
"Hylli, here. The document you requested. Wow, is everything on your desk things you have to sign? Our lord is busy even before his actual coronation. You have even more than me."
"Half of these documents are Swanhaden's curse documents."
Hylli said, sighing at how loud everything had become. His office had suddenly become a meeting hall for his classmates. There was someone whose mind worked just like Yves and Swan, so it was just going to get louder. Why did he have to be so thoughtless when he handed out entrance passes? Hylli rushed to work on the documents in front of him before the last person came.
"When's vacation for the 1st order knights?"
"There isn't a set time, and it's vacation for me as soon as I finish the training for the 1st training."
Cory asked, rocking Shuraina's hands in his. He sounded excited. Shuraina added that she was the group leader, so she was also provided a special break on the last day of each month.
"Shuraina, let's hang out when you're on break."
Cory suggested, smiling. Yves, who had been watching the two of them, narrowed his eyes and shoved Cory away with a finger on his forehead.
"Just the two of you? Sorry, but I can't let that happen."
"Then do you want to come too, Yves hyung?"
"…..mm."
"Seeing how you're hesitating, I guess you don't feel like it. Shuraina's let's just go by ourselves."
Cory cut off Yves from speaking further and turned back to look at Shuraina. Swanhaden had been creeping towards Shuraina before he stretched out his arms and grabbed Cory's shoulders.
"Me too, Shushu."
"Uh, Shushu's on my left... Ah, hahaha."
Shushu in uniform is pretty enough that I can't look straight either. Cory muttered as he looked at Swan before smiling.
"But Swan, you're a duke. Can you leave like that?"
"Throw it in the trash. I want my family to die off."
He had overheard that Shuraina planned on living in the countryside and opening up a magic item shop once she retired, so his plan was the downfall of his family. He was going to make sure that Shuraina accomplished everything she wanted to do, then he was going to wait until she retired and meet her in the countryside and start the second chapter of his life. That was his plan for now.
So right now, he was currently inviting every single person living in Blanche lands to come to his estate and rip out everything he wanted–the roof, furniture, the carpet. He needed to declare bankruptcy to have someone buy his family, so Swan was trying very hard to demolish his estate, throw away his family's money in the middle of the city, and was living life to the fullest.
His plan was to become homeless, but his residents said that they were touched at how he gave money to the poor and just kept giving him more in taxes. His plan wasn't going as he had hoped. He didn't know why, either, but his home was also repairing itself.
Swanhaden was getting tired of how those under his rule became more supportive of him and his finances increased, so his plan was slowly shifting his future plans so that he could become a rich, handsome, kind, gentle, cool guy that could be with Shuraina after it all. Also, trying to ruin his family was more difficult than he had assumed, so he was keeping it on the back burner for now.
At this moment, he was just going to wait and see.
Meanwhile, while Hylli was working in his office, everyone else was butting heads and planning out Shuraina's vacation travels. More people were added to their travel plans. Cory, Yves, Swan, Shushu, and puppy Shushu.
Hylli continued to work on his documents but started feeling left out.
"Why am I not included?"
"The emperor has to oversee the empire."
"Swan, you! You also ha….. Oh, right, you want your family to die off."
"If you're jealous, then you can ruin the empire too."
Cory had handed over his heirship to Viedielle and had a lot of free time, Yvnes was always free to begin with, and Swan had nothing to fear so he was free. Shuraina was free during vacation.
Thinking about how he was the only one that was going to work 365 days a year as an emperor for life made chills run down his spine. Now that he had nobody to get revenge from and Caradil was gone, he had no idea why he had volunteered for the position of emperor. He should've just handed it over to the second prince.
He deeply regretted his life choices right before coronation.
"Shuraina! Are you seriously going to leave me alone to travel?"
"Yup!"
Hylli felt deeply betrayed at her quick response. We both work in the palace, but you…..why...
"Sorry, but Shuraina already has plans."
Someone else entered Hylli's office. It was a pretty big room, but it felt stiflingly small.
Hestia walked in with her unrevised, newly written article. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore a black suit. Her clean, black pants accentuated her long legs.
"She promised to go to the beach with me during her break."
She tilted her head as she spoke, a mocking smile on her lips. Hylli, who was already drowning in documents, received another pile on top of his previous work. Now he had the original pile of documents he had to work on, then Swan's document pile, then Yves' document pile, then Cory's document pile, and now Hestia's document pile. Hylli's nose began to bleed. Nobody seemed to care, though.
Hestia shot down everyone's plans with Shuraina with a harsh tone before she turned to look at Shuraina. Her tone suddenly turned cutesy.
"Shushuuuu. You remember, right? That you were going to travel with me first? I looked for places to stay and everything. Hmm? Hmm? You didn't forget that we were going to travel, just the two of us, right? I earned enough money to pay for our travels!"
Shuraina half-heartedly listened to Hestia speak as she went to her lord and shoved newspaper bits into his nose to stop the bleeding. When Shuraina didn't answer her questions because of Hylli, Hestia ripped up some tissues into bits and shoved them into Hylli's nose before continuing to speak. The nostril that Hestia had shoved tissues into wasn't bleeding.
"Shushu, did you really forget how you came over to our estate and asked me to travel? I was so, so touched that Shushu was the one that suggested doing something together first!"
"Oh, right, I did….. I said that we should go to the beach and eat seafood. Yeah, let's go!"
"As expected of Shushu….. You only remember eating..."
Shuraina checked to see that Hylli's nosebleed had stopped before hugging Hestia and responding properly.
When the office became even noisier after Hestia's appearance, Hylli quietly lowered his pen and held his head in his hands.
'Why am I the only one working? I need to make all of them work too. Should I just give up being emperor? Doesn't anyone want to apply for this position? There has to be tons of people out there who want to work and would do it well.'
It was the start of a democracy.
Regardless of the thoughts swirling in Hylli's head, the coronation took place.
Thousands of fireworks exploded in the sky, and the emperor and the 1st order led the long march. The leaders of the 64th through the 58th groups all twirled flags. The flags twirled in the air before moving up and down.
Hylli waved his hand from his open Unhorse at his citizens.
"Hurray!"
"Hurray to the Orde Emperor!"
Whenever Hylli passed, people carpeted the floor with flowers. When there was a newborn baby, he stretched his hand to brush their forehead and spoke words of celebration towards them.
The ceremony passed without any issue. He was moving through the streets of his nation under incredible cheer, but he felt weird about it.
It might have been because of Shuraina's glances towards him.
She smiled at him, as if she was the one proud of his accomplishments. His heart felt itchy as his back straightened.
He had felt this emotion before. When Shuraina graduated from the academy and had thrown her cap into the air. When he had put the rose badge on her chest. When she had smiled after being accepted into the order she had wanted to join so much.
In all of those moments, both Shuraina and himself had been proud of each other and themselves.
Look at me, Shuraina. Look. Be proud of me. Compliment me. I worked so hard to get here.
Hylli kept looking at Shuraina as he swallowed his emotions. He didn't know why he was feeling these emotions from Shuraina. She wasn't even his birth mother like Caradil. He felt like a child, eager to show his parents the test he had done well in at school.
Even for the next few days, Hylli spent quite a lot of time in ceremonies with centrist nobles, meeting with people, and working hard. Now, everyone called him Emperor and bowed whenever he passed. Even his close friends. They all snickered about it afterwards, but it felt bitter.
On the final day of his coronation, Hylli sat on the swing in the royal garden and stared into the sky. Shuraina sat right next to him. The two of them felt the night breeze as they chatted about what had happened during the coronation.
"How does it feel to be emperor? You finally accomplished your dream."
Shuraina said, staring at Hylli's legs going back and forth.
"I don't really feel anything. I knew since I was little that I was going to be emperor. Just like how you knew since you were little that you were training to become a knight, I did the same to become the emperor."
"Ah. Then your feelings are probably similar to how I felt when I entered the order."
"How did you feel?"
He turned his head to look at Shuraina and asked.
"People celebrated and cheered with me so I was happy, but I didn't really feel anything, either. I just felt like, after practicing the sword and training until I felt like I was going to die, that entering the order wasn't my final destination in life. Maybe it was because I got in so easily? Anyway, it felt like how it felt when I entered the academy. It's a new start into another cycle, you know?"
"Mm. It's similar."
Hylli tilted his head back to rest his neck on the seat of the swing. He closed his eyes and listened to Shuraina's voice. He felt comfortable. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest, but it felt buried underneath the comfort and peace he felt near her. He breathed in before saying the name that always gave him joy.
"Shuraina."
"Yup."
"Can't I become sworn siblings with you or something?"
Shuraina scrunched her nose at the sudden declaration. She already had siblings both older and younger, but the number kept increasing.
"Sworn siblings with the emperor. Am I climbing social classes?"
Shuraina brushed her chin and raised an eyebrow as she pondered the question before shrugging and smiling brightly.
"It doesn't matter. Actually, I like it. But you have to be my younger brother."
"….why am I younger?"
"My birthday's earlier."
She liked having a younger, mature brother like Karim, but she wanted a younger brother she could bicker and fight with. Shuraina grabbed Hylli's hands as her eyes shone with excitement.
"We're the same age. Why am I younger?"
"It's in a world where we're twins."
"No, I mean, is there a reason why I have to be a younger brother?"
"It fits your image. I want to tease you."
"..."
He just stared at Shuraina as she continued to calmly speak treason. He didn't really understand why he had to be a younger brother, but being sworn siblings sounded nice. He didn't really know why, but it felt familiar. He felt overwhelmed with emotions because of how much he liked the idea of being her sworn younger brother. Hylli felt like it was a matter of pride to try and dislike it, so he pretended to not like the idea before nodding.
"Sure. I'll let you do what you want, younger brother or twin brother or whatnot."
Shuraina clenched her fist and cheered when Hylli approved. Nice.
To be honest, their relationship wouldn't change much even if he became her sworn younger brother. Having another younger brother made her feel comforted somewhat.
"Even if we're not blood related, you admitted that we're family, okay?"
"Okay."
Shuraina rested her face on her knees before nodding slightly. The swing creaked as it moved gently. Shuraina had twirled the flag all day and had exhibitions and had been busy. Her eyes blinked slowly. Her head kept nodding forward, so Hylli let her rest on his shoulder. But her head kept falling forward even on his shoulder, so he let her rest her head on his lap.
There was nobody else in the emperor's private gardens, so Shuraina folded her body on the long swing and laid there. Hylli gently, carefully rested his hand on Shuraina's small head. He thought she would push his hand away, but Shuraina just glanced at Hylli before yawning.
"Shuraina."
"What."
Hylli called her name again. He said nothing for a long time. He just stared at the sky, the floor, next to him before speaking.
"You know how home is where you're with family? I always feel like I'm at home when I'm with you, no matter if it's the academy or the palace."
"Kind of like me."
Shuraina smiled with her eyes closed. Her breaths were slowly growing more even.
"I have a request."
"….what is it."
Shuraina slowly said, rolling her eyes towards him. Hylli's face grew red as he combed his hand through Shuraina's hair.
"Until you have someone you really really love, stay by my side."
"...?"
"No. Just don't date anyone and stay with me, Shuraina. Be a knight forever. I won't fire you, even after you age out of the position."
Hold on. Did….did he want me to work forever? What an obsessive male character. His obsession seeped into weird parts of his life. Shuraina briefly woke from the chilling request, but she pretended that she was asleep and didn't hear it.
Hylli noticed Shuraina's expression stiffening somewhat. He gently brushed her forehead before smiling.
"It's a joke. Let's be friends for a long, long time."
Shuraina breathed easy at the last statement and relaxed.
The conversation stalled from then. Hylli gently patted Shuraina as she drifted off to sleep. He listened to her even breaths and the creak of the swing.
He stared into the pitch black of the night sky before gazing down at Shuraina, who was asleep with her head on his lap. She was small, but she was dependable and absolutely beloved.
Seeing her with a smile on her lips and sleeping comfortably brought tears into Hylli's eyes. There were times when he was overwhelmed with emotions when he looked at Shuraina from time to time. He felt overwhelmed again, so he let his head hang.
He quietly shed a few tears before wiping them away with his sleeve. He swallowed the sounds that almost escaped his throat before sighing and looking up. His gaze kept creeping towards the rose badge on her uniform.
Hylli gently brushed Shuraina's forehead and hair and swept away her baby hairs. His emotions came in waves. He shed a few more quiet tears before lowering his head towards Shuraina's face.
"Let's be happy this time—the both of us."
Hylli muttered, as if he had been controlled by something. Hylli pressed a short kiss on Shuraina's forehead.