A black-haired knight, her hand clenched around the hilt of her magic sword, radiated open murderous intent.
Where Galehaut had dropped his prejudice, yet another stubborn and troublesome retainer stepped forward, blocking Kay's path.
"That's a line I've heard quite a bit. Britain really is consistent in its ways."
The situation was on the brink of violence. Galehaut's face contorted into a vicious grimace.
"Insolent, Calogrenant! Who do you think you are, lifting your sword's hilt in front of someone? Apologize to Lord Kay this instant!"
Galehaut, once king of a nation, bellowed so powerfully that his voice shook the training ground.
The pride of the First and Second Knight Commanders clashed, tightening the air around them like a drawn bowstring. Calogrenant likewise refused to back down as she prepared to summon her cold mana.
"That's enough, Sir Galehaut. Calm yourself. This is just how Britain is: everyone's ego is so bloated, it's a wonder. Well, they're knights after all."
Kay's rough, calloused hand lightly tapped Galehaut's massive forearm.
With that light touch, Galehaut's fierce momentum collapsed as if swept away. Kay scratched at the back of his head, pushed his hair aside, and then took measured steps toward Calogrenant.
"Do not come any closer!!"
Calogrenant shouted as she drew her magic sword. There was no further warning. Since she pulled it out still sheathed, there was no actual blade present. It was a mana-imbued strike meant to render him unconscious.
However, that sword never touched Kay.
In the blink of an eye, Kay disappeared from Calogrenant's view.
"...Huh?"
Before she even had a chance to be startled, Kay had already slid into her arms.
Tap!Whoosh!
"Wha, whoa?!"
Kay gently struck her sword-wielding wrist outward to redirect the attack and, with his other hand, grabbed her center of balance and hooked her leg.
It wasn't a display of mana or some flashy skill, but pure, precise close-quarters grappling.
The body of the woman hailed as North Wales's strongest female knight was swept off her feet and flipped through the air before she had time to resist.
Thud!
But the anticipated jolt of her back colliding with the hard training floor never came.
Just before her back met the rough training-course floor, Kay's broad, calloused palm stayed under her, softly yet firmly absorbing the impact.
Calogrenant lay dazed on the ground, staring up at Kay's face as he looked down at her.
The shock of having been subdued in an instant, combined with the unexpected care shown by the very man she'd threatened, left her mind momentarily suspended.
"Did I call you a monster who would erode the Knight Order's resolve?"
Kay's low, composed voice sounded from just above her. Still supporting her back with one hand, he picked up the magic sword she had lost with the other and slid it back into its sheath at his waist.
"Then let me ask: with a body like that, do you really think you can wield a proper sword?"
"What nonsense!"
"Your magic circuits and muscle alignments are completely twisted. Your body displays the contours of a woman, yet the flow of mana and the way your skeleton functions are crudely imitating those of a man. Is this some kind of curse? That very curse has created a disharmony in your body and soul, so that your insides are screaming in pain and festering away."
...!!
Calogrenant's eyes, still on the ground, trembled fiercely.
It was the side effect of the curse she had suppressed each night in agonizing pain—her deepest secret, one she battled to keep hidden from everyone.
Because she had lived her entire life as a man until the curse struck a few years ago, she still fought as if she were male. As a result, her body developed serious problems.
And Kay had pierced that secret with a single glance and touch.
"You've been patrolling the border without getting proper sleep, forcing yourself to cut down monsters with that twisted body, haven't you? That's why you're now soaked in extreme malnutrition and exhaustion. And yet you lecture on discipline without even noticing the faint tremor in your sword hand?"
Kay mercilessly drove home the truth, withdrew the hand that had been supporting her back, and rose to his feet.
"You say Lancer has grown lax? That the Knight Order has been seduced by cooking? No. Lancer has defended the realm for years without a single day's proper rest, and the other knights have done the same. All I've done is fill their broken bodies with warmth so they can grip their swords again tomorrow."
Kay held out his hand to her lying on the earthen floor.
"I couldn't care less if you call me a monster. But I won't tolerate you treating my cooking as if it were some disgrace to discipline. Stand up, Second Knight Commander."
Calogrenant, as if entranced, took Kay's hand and rose to her feet.
"I will feed you the cooking you detest so passionately. If, after tasting it, you still think I'm a monster devouring this country, then by all means, I'll graciously take your sword."
Without a backward glance, Kay strode toward the castle's main kitchen.
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry and follow—this is a chance offered by the lord himself!"
Calogrenant stood blankly until Galehaut, who had been watching, gently shoved her from behind, and she reluctantly followed Kay.
The auxiliary kitchen lay empty in the late afternoon.
Kay hummed a little tune as he deftly stoked the fire in the stove. Calogrenant stood at the kitchen's entrance with her arms crossed, her eyes still sharp with suspicion.
"Thinking that mere cooking could break down my loyalty and vigilance... how arrogant."
She scoffed inwardly.
But just ten minutes after Kay began cooking, her arrogance faced a dire challenge.
Sizzle!
It was the violent hiss of thick wild boar meat and butter searing together in the pan.
Kay then lavishly tossed in the crimson leaves he had gathered from the Magic Realm—known to aid mana circulation and neutralize the toxin of curses—and a generous blend of spices.
He then poured in a local North Wales red wine to ignite a roaring flame, added deeply simmered bone broth, and set it to reduce.
From the bubbling pot came a heady aroma.
It was more than a simple appetite stimulant. Calogrenant's twisted magic circuits reacted to the scent alone, writhing like a starved beast.
A thunderous rumble erupted from her stomach.
"No need to go red. I already told you your body has reached its limit."
Kay let out a soft chuckle and heaped the steaming, rich meat stew into a large wooden bowl, holding it out to her. Beside it lay bread, buttered and crisped to a golden brown.
"Try it. It's not laced with poison."
Calogrenant swallowed audibly.
She lifted the spoon with trembling fingers, carefully scooping broth and chunks of meat, and brought it to her lips.
"...!!"
For a moment, it felt as if a new universe had unfolded before Calogrenant's eyes.
The tender meat dissolved on her tongue like melting snow, and the combined essence of wine and meat broth created an unparalleled umami.
But it didn't stop there. As the stew glided down her throat into her stomach, her organs—once frozen solid—burned with warmth.
The herbs from the Magic Realm, now mingling with the broth, began to gently coat and heal the misaligned gaps in her magic circuits—distorted by forcing her into a female form.
"Ah… aaah…."
The phantom pains of the curse that had tormented her all her life subsided as if they were but a lie.
The crushing pain in her chest, which had made even breathing a struggle, vanished, and lively vitality pulsed through her veins.
She lost all sense of reason.
Discarding all knightly pride and honor, Calogrenant buried her face in the bowl and began devouring the stew ravenously.
Only after scrubbing the bottom of the bowl clean with bread did she, gasping for breath, finally set down her spoon.
"Well? Feeling like you can live on?"
Kay nonchalantly handed her a damp cloth.
Calogrenant took the cloth and stared at Kay in a daze.
Only then did she understand.
This man was no monster. Amid the hellish battles and bloodstained daily life of North Wales, he was the one salvation and refuge everyone had longed for.
She suddenly saw why Lancer—exhausted from pretending to be the perfect ruler—had clung to this man's arm and laughed like a child.
Calogrenant's head slowly bowed.
Thick tears dripped from her black hair onto the empty bowl. These were the tears of a knight—never once shed, even under the terrible curse that had transformed her into a woman.
"…It's so good, I could die."
She rose from her chair, knelt on one knee on the floor, and rendered the full chivalric salute.
"Please forgive my arrogance and ignorance in insulting you as a monster, Lord Kay. You are not the one devouring North Wales… you are the true hero who rebuilds the pillars of this fallen realm."
The beautiful knight's apology, her face stained with tears.
Kay gave a wry smile and gently grasped her shoulder, helping her to her feet.
"Hero, huh? I'm just the brother who makes sure his siblings get fed. I'll sort out your twisted magic circuits by working Magic Realm herbs into your diet whenever I get the chance. So don't skip meals from now on—eat on time. Got it?"
"…I will, I'll remember."
Calogrenant's cheeks warmed with color. Within her heart, fierce loyalty—and perhaps something more—bloomed toward this rough yet gentle man who had comforted her cursed existence.
With that, following the First Knight Commander, even the most stubborn Second Knight Commander had been utterly won over at Kay's dining table.
Now that Lancer had vested him with full authority and the Knight Order had pledged blind loyalty to him,
Kay, entirely against his own wishes, had become, in practice, the de facto ruler of North Wales.
However, there were those who resented this development.
The castle's ministers? No—they witnessed Kay every day and accepted him without hesitation. To oppose Kay was tantamount to suicide.
The ones who did resent him were the leading figures of North Wales—the nobles.