I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess - Chapter 55

Friend of the knight commander

At that time, Claude was visiting the plaza in the royal capital to make a final check on the security for the flower festival.

The city was already bustling with many food stalls and street vendors.

He put in his mind the lines of movement of Johannes and other royalty and nobles at the flower festival ceremonies, including the crowning of the queen of flowers, as well as church people”

On top of that, Claude was making final confirmations and giving guidance on the placement of knights and how they should move in case of an emergency.

When he finished and finally took a breath, there was a call from behind.

I turned around, and there he was, Neil, the deputy commander who had been working with me.

“Commander. Thanks for your hard work. You’re working harder than ever today”

“I’m as usual”

Claude felt something in Neil’s smile and immediately answered.

“Hmm?”

I looked sideways at Neil, who gave me a meaningful look, and frowned.

“It’s the truth. I’m definitely not happy…..”

“Ah. There was something that made you happy after all”

“……….”

Neil laughed at Claude, who dug his own grave and kept his mouth shut.

“Don’t worry. You’re as usual. I just had a feeling that something good had happened. Just a hunch as a friend…..Uwah, what a bitter face”

As I had a big frown on myself for suffering an embarrassing defeat, Neil laughed even more.

“Well, it’s not like we can go on a date on the day of the flower festival in our case, but there are already a lot of food stalls and vendors, so it should be a fun date. There will be food and all sorts of other things for sale. I’m sure Sophia sama will be delighted too?”
“…..”

How did Neil know that I was going to visit the food stalls?

Perhaps sensing Claude’s thought, Neil laughed and said, “Of course I would know”.

“I thought even you, a loser, might be able to invite her around this time of year because of the food stalls”

“…..”

After his last courtship to Sophia had ended in a disastrous way with the result of not being taken seriously, Neil had come to describe Claude as a loser.

“Well well, don’t make such a scary face”

Laughing, Neil patted Claude on the shoulder.

“I’ll tell you about a stall I recommend. That stall over there has chocolate-covered doughnuts at…..”

Neil began to explain, and I was about to listen to his words with reluctance.

“Claude”

Suddenly, Claude and the others turned around after hearing the name called out from behind.

The owner of the voice was a young man with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

He had a well-developed face, but his disheveled clothes and unkempt hair gave him a messy, rough look.

But his large stature and well-defined face were familiar.

He was easy to recognize, and Claude and Neil gasped at the same time.

“Dominic….”

“Long time no see”

The man laughed somewhat sarcastically and raised one hand as he called his former colleague’s name.

“Oh, I’d better use an honorific. I’m not a knight anymore, and you two are already the knight commander and deputy commander of the knights under the king’s direct command. ….Just kidding”

The man who laughs at himself seems to be a different person from his former friend that Claude knows well.

Dominic Lannette. He was Claude’s friend and fellow trainee who had passed the knighthood examination and aspired to become a knight of the royal court together.

However, just before becoming a knight of the royal court, he quitted the traineeship—He quitted being a knight.

A few years ago, his sister stepped on the hem of Violet’s dress at an evening party, and Violet’s manipulations led to the downfall of his birth family, so he had to give up his knighthood.

His family was no longer nobility, and the crimes that his parents had committed due to debt had been exposed.

Rumor had it that he had left the royal capital.

“Dominic. Where the hell have you been until now….?”

Claude asked, and Dominic shrugged his shoulders.

“Well. I’ve been moving from place to place. I’m a penniless man, but I’ve always had confidence in my skills. I could barely make ends meet whenever I went. ….Oh well, it’s not fun to talk about my life, is it? Anyways, you guys are getting ready for the flower festival’s security?”

Dominic looked around as he said this.

“You’re quite on high alert. I’ve heard that His Majesty is going to participate in the festival but is it true? So it’s not the archbishop of the cathedral who will be crowning the queen of flowers this time but His Majesty? It’s gonna be a tough job for guards. The guards against melee weapons seem to be in full force. How about protection against projectile weapons and bows and arrows—….”

“…..Dominic”

I push down the bitterness and call out his name.

We cannot afford to leak anything related to the guards, no matter how trivial it might seem.

“…..Oh. Sorry. You can’t talk to an outsider, can you?”

Dominic raised his hands when Claude called out his name.

“My bad, I just got nostalgic. More than that, Claude. I have a favor to ask you today”

“Me?”

Somewhat surprised, Claude nodded and said, “If it is something I can do”.

Dominic’s eyes lit up at those words, and he walked up to Claude.

He put his lips to his ear and called Violet’s name. “Violet Elford”

“I want you to let me meet that woman once. Let’s see, do you know when and where she’s going to be?”

“What?”

Claude was shocked and pulled his face away.

“Careful”. Dominic chuckled as he raised up his hands at Claude’s response, “It’s not like I’m planning anything”.

“I just have a few things to say. After all, I wouldn’t be able to say anything to that woman if not for now when I have nothing to lose, right?”

His tone was playful, but his voice was strangely chilling.

“The dignified young lady of the duke is becoming famous for having captured the tragic hero, isn’t she? It seems to be told as a beautiful story in the streets, but I wonder what kind of tricks she’s used this time to hunt down even her own relatives. Claude, you know all the details, don’t you?”

Claude shook his head quietly at Dominic’s words.

“As for that. Everything has already been publicly announced”

“…..What the hell? Is it something you would hide even from your friends?”

“I’m not hiding it. Violet has no culpability in this matter”

When I said that once and for all, Dominic seemed surprised.

“More importantly, the thing about wanting to talk with Violet…..I’ll try something about that. I’d like to hear again what happened. However, I don’t think she’ll listen to you if you meet with her out of the blue. I’ll ask Violet to set up a time to meet with her.….”

“Haha, what’s this? You’re more worried about yourself than friendship, aren’t you?”

Dominic interrupted Claude’s words and said snidely.

“I see. It’s tough even for you after displeasing her. I hear that you’re no longer on the list of potential fiances”

“….It’s not because I’m more worried about myself. Dominic, first of all”

“Do you really think she’ll agree to meet with me after you tell her? She didn’t agree back then, did she? Or was it a lie that you asked her to meet me then? ……You’re making a fool out of me”

“Dominic!”

Neil shouted as if he couldn’t take it anymore.

He glared at Dominic with a sharp look on his face and said, “Come on. You know that’s not true, don’t you?”

“Ha”

Dominic snickered and glared at Neil and then at Claude.

“I was a fool to think you were my friend”

“Dominic! Listen—”

“It’s not worth it. ‘Knight commander’? You’re a knight when you’re just leeching off a magician?” (*The lines he said weren’t quite this. I didn’t understand what he meant, so it was filled with imagination)

Dominic spat at him and said, “Be careful so that you don’t lose your job”.

“Your place will be taken away if you’re blamed for some sudden calamity after all”

~~~~~

“What the hell? That’s terrible. It’s not like you don’t know how much Claude has done for you”

After Dominic left. Neil, who had always been easygoing, showed a rare indignation.

“It’s a fact that I’ve accomplished nothing even though I’ve done my utmost”

“No. That is his problem”

Neil stared sternly in the direction Dominic had left.

“Without the backing of a knighthood—and that too, having a family with a crime record, it’s certainly impossible to become a knight of the royal court. But Claude. After his family’s downfall, you scrambled around and made arrangements for him so that he could be a knight at least. Whether he became a knight or not is up to him, but I think you already did everything you could for him”

Neil looked straight at Claude.

“Well, that said, I’m sure you’ll still be bothered by it”

With a wry smile, Neil patted Claude on the shoulder.

“Now, let’s get back to work, shall we?”

“…..Yea. I guess so”

Nodding, he walked beside Neil and said, “Thank you”.

“You’re welcome”

Smiling a little and appreciating the usually easy-going Neil’s concern, Claude thought back to what Dominic had said to him earlier.

“You weren’t a help one bit”

The words came back to Claude repeatedly, and a heavy feeling settled in his chest like sediments.