VGD – 32

Alan Ruos. And Bart Ruos. They were brothers of Count Ruos, a vassal of Blake Frozen [t1v: changing it from Freysen to Frozen], the Grand Duke of Prussia.

They were the knights who were responsible for the broken blade flying towards Elysee. When Blake had addressed them earlier, she hadn’t recognized their names so she had looked them up in advance this morning. As expected, they were supporting characters who appeared briefly in <The Fallen Lovers>.

Upon entering the room, they knelt in front of Elysee and bowed their heads.

‘…  Huh?’

“Your Grace!”

“Please bestow upon us a punishment!”

Elysee flinched and leaned back, their loud shout made her ears ring.

‘Which one is Bart and which one is Alan?’

There was a reason why it was so important in this predicament.

The older brother was Bart Ruos. He was strong enough to cut a sword with mana. In terms of his skills, he was comparable to the Knight Commander Claude. Although his talent was impressive his weakness was that he was emotionally volatile, with drastic ups and downs. His excessive fervor could lead to an accident.

Alan, on the other hand, was docile and calm. He was willing to cover up his brother’s shortcomings by being Bart’s sparring partner because everyone but Claude was reluctant to face him.

‘The brother I need is Bart Ruos.’

In the original story, Bart Ruos followed Grand Duchess Elysee more than his master, Grand Duke of Prussia. He takes the lead in bullying the female protagonist and even lying to the Grand Duke under Elysee’s orders. Later, he even covers up her sins by taking the blame.

So she needed to tame him in advance.

‘The problem is Alan…  ’

Alan Ruos was someone who assisted the original heroine, opposing his older brother when he witnessed Bart becoming increasingly tainted by Elysee and abandoning his knight’s honor.  That’s what the original setting was like, he interfered in every episode, opposing Elysee.

‘Hmm….  What should I do?’

Elysee was in trouble.

There were less than two weeks left before she went to the capital. If she didn’t have some of their loyalty by then, she would have a hard time secretly meeting Lucas in the Capital.

‘Even if it doesn’t work out, Blake will assign me an escort knight.’

Now that Elysee was in the castle, she was allowed to roam freely, but considering the safety of the Grand Duchess, in the capital, this was unlikely to stay the same. If she was assigned an inflexible knight, she would be stuck.

In that case, wouldn’t it be better to have at least one of these loyal brothers as an escort?

“Bart Ruos?”

The knight on her left answered Elysee’s call.

“Yes, your Grace.”

“Alan Ruos.”

“Yes, your Grace.”

Bart looked a little rough with his tanned copper skin, and Alan looked relatively slender, with soft-looking green hair.

“If I don’t punish you, what are you planning to do?”

“I’ll give up my wrist that almost harmed your Grace.”

Alan’s face turned white at Bart’s resolute answer.

“I don’t want that.”

“I’ll do it, even if it’s my life…  .”

“Then will you risk your life to be loyal to me?”

Bart raised his head at Elysee’s words, his face brightly. His dark brown eyes trembled with excitement. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment.

‘The original setting is scary.’

“If you accept it, I will fully dedicate my life to the Grand Duchess and pledge to you my loyalty.”

Alan squeezed his eyes shut as he listened to Bart swearing his allegiance, but did nothing.

“Alan Ruos, you seem to have a different opinion.”

“No. I will also swear allegiance to the Grand Duchess, however…  .”

“However?”

“As a knight, I have already sworn my allegiance to the Grand Duke, so I need the master’s permission to change my master.”

Elysee nodded her head.

“Great. In that case, I’ll have you go to his Grace first. After that, I will entrust my safety to you. Of course, if his Grace allows it.”

“Yes, Grand Duchess.”

Bart, who shouted passionately, jumped up from his seat.

“Then, I will go and come back.”

Elysee chuckled involuntarily.

‘He’s quite impatient and intense.’

Alan, who stood up and followed his brother, elbowed him in the side and bowed his respects and left the room. Mary, who had been standing to the side of the room, approached her.

“Princess Elysee, I will protect you.”

“You are my secret weapon.”

At Elysee’s words, Mary hiccuped and covered her mouth. Her face was packed with emotion; she looked like she was about to cry.

“Th—that…  So important—to me…  .”

“Yes. So you have to hide your abilities as much as possible and pretend to be an ordinary maid.”

“Yes!  Don’t worry, Princess Elysee!”

“Umm, how can I coax them to my side?”

Elysee rested her chin in her hand and tapped the table. She wondered how the Grand Duchess in <The Fallen Lovers> convinced Bart to be loyal to her. Since he was a small supporting role, too many parts were omitted.

“Was it because I am beautiful?”

No matter how good she is at acting, wasn’t beauty the only power she really had?

“No. Then it would be difficult to abandon.”

Elise did not think that no matter how pretty she was, she could control a man at will.  No, she did it more because she was pretty.  She may be able to dazzle her, but she doesn’t know where her opponent will go after that.  There were too many variables.

Elysee didn’t think she could control a man, no matter how pretty she was. Indeed it was even more because she was stunning. In the moment she may be able to dazzle those around her, but what would they do afterwards when she was out of sight? There were too many variables.

“It would be perfect if people were devoted because of something like charisma. Is there a way I can foster loyalty when I’m not around?”

While pondering it, Elysee suddenly became unhappy. Wasn’t it rather unfair? Even though she was odd, weren’t Mary’s superpowers really extraordinary?

“Mary, why don’t I have a convenient ability like you?”

At Elysee’s words, Mary’s eyes widened.

“Did Philip not tell you? Usually investigators are given one or two special abilities.”

“I just received a briefing on the situation and that was it. It was a bit rushed.”

“Ughhh, damn it…  .  I can’t believe it. How could Philip forget such an important thing?”

“Right? There must be something, right?”

“Yes, let’s find it together. I will help you.”

Elysee was quite surprised at her unbelievably reliable words. Who would have thought Mary had a side to her like this?

“How are you going to help?”

“Well…  .  first,”

Mary swung the window wide open.

“You might be able to fly, so why don’t you try jumping?”

“…….”

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