Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Vote for your knight!
Episode 5
“Pardon?”
“If your conversation with David had gone well, you’d have finished by now and left. You wouldn’t still be hovering about like an unwelcome guest when a new visitor has arrived.”
“No, that’s hardly a courteous thing to say…….”
The Lord’s indignation faltered when he heard a soft snicker from somewhere, his face going slack.
It was David who had laughed.
It was clearly meant as mockery, yet his expression remained nothing but gracious.
“Shall we end our discussion here, Lord?”
“But, but still…….”
“With the Princess present, I wouldn’t presume to keep her waiting.”
It was a courteous warning.
The Lord’s face drained of color.
His words meant he would show more deference to the Imperial court than to the Lord.
Which was to say he had no interest in this new conspiracy.
‘Though I confess Kartamen interests me far more. Whether it’s genuine or not.’
Seated across from the Princess in the Reception Room, David observed the girl whose eyes sparkled with such brightness.
‘I became curious watching him deal with the Lord, so I agreed to this private audience. But I have no intention of simply complying with whatever the Princess asks. I need to learn Kartamen’s true purpose here.’
Though it won’t be easy.
If it’s false, I’ll ensure virtuous people don’t become involved.
But if it’s true…….
David studied Edith.
The girl continued to smile softly as she savored her dessert.
The Princess, who had been observing him with such cool eyes, now appeared merely like a child.
‘She has a taste for sweets.’
Only just sixteen.
Yet a woman who had distinguished herself greatly in the revolution through her genius-level mastery of Alchemy.
‘She’s not an opponent to be underestimated.’
One mustn’t be fooled by that deceptively innocent facade.
‘Should I use Leading Interrogation? Or probe for logical flaws?’
Contrary to these thoughts, David picked up his teacup with unhurried grace.
Even the way he drank was so elegant that Edith found herself momentarily speechless.
His spine held perfectly straight, shoulders broad.
Features as if drawn by an artist’s hand, eyes like sapphires.
‘Handsome and nobility itself. Once he steps into the Tournament, there will be an uproar.’
In the Tournament’s early stages, I’ll need to position him at the center no matter what, to make him stand out.
It’s what you might call a ‘show-stealer’ role.
Whether he remains merely a show-stealer or goes further—that depends on David.
But.
‘He’s pretending to be kind, but his eyes turn cold whenever he looks at me. And yet he called me here nonetheless.’
“You’re curious about Kartamen, aren’t you? Why we’re doing this, whether it’s genuine. Ask me anything. I’ll answer you.”
David, sitting across from her, let out a soft cough.
Edith tilted her head.
“Why do you look so surprised? As if you were about to use Leading Interrogation to extract the truth.”
“You’re quite direct.”
David gave a hollow laugh, as if finding it absurd, before speaking.
Behind the kind knight’s demeanor, his true expression finally broke through.
It was cool, and yet brimming with confidence.
“I’ve been rejected so many times already—I don’t have time to waste anymore.”
It was a pointed remark.
“Then tell me: why are you reviving Kartamen after twenty years of dormancy?”
His voice held an appealing depth.
‘But don’t let his voice seduce you—don’t forget the thorns hidden in his words!’
This man is suspicious of me.
Edith smiled knowingly and spoke.
“To restore the lost traditions of the Empire!”
……
“-That would be rather tiresome, wouldn’t it?”
“You know your audience well.”
David was not a man to be swayed by mere honeyed words.
Unlike those thoughtless knights who upheld chivalry regardless of circumstance, he was quite sharp.
No—it wasn’t merely that David was clever. He was a prodigy among knights.
Gifted in martial arts and possessed of keen intellect besides.
Which is why he’d been forced into a Knight Appointment as a child by the tyrant, risking conscription into a Blood Duel.
‘It’s common knowledge that Hugo, his older brother, fought the Blood Duel in young David’s stead.’
So he needed to answer earnestly.
Edith fixed her gaze squarely upon David and spoke.
“We’re opening Kartamen for the sake of Imperial Unity.”
“Imperial Unity……?”
It was an answer he hadn’t anticipated, and David’s composure visibly cracked.
No matter how cleverly one spun it, he’d expected her to justify it as recruitment for strengthening national defense.
But Imperial Unity—that was something else entirely.
“Kartamen will be a process witnessed by all the people, with the outcome determined by their vote,” Edith explained gently.
She continued with careful precision.
“Once Kartamen begins, the people will form a common ground of understanding—all sharing a single focus. Everyone will be discussing the same subject.”
The answer was so unexpected that it felt all the more genuine for it.
Before David could gather his thoughts, Edith pressed on with quick words.
“If you have no further questions, I officially propose—as the Imperial Princess—that you participate in Kartamen.”
Her expression was earnest, belying the bright smile she’d worn moments before.
“Am I truly so essential?”
“If the Knight of Knights doesn’t appear, how can we possibly call this a Knight’s Tournament?”
“It sounds as though you’d use me as a tool to stir up interest at the outset.”
“You won’t be a ‘tool’—you’ll be a symbol,” the Princess said with clear conviction.
Each word was delivered with deliberate firmness.
“Of course, whether that comes to pass depends on what you do—but I have faith that you’ll succeed.”
A symbol, not a tool.
David turned the words over in his mind before speaking.
“I’m curious. The empire is vast—how do you intend to capture the interest of all its people?”
“There are methods for that!” the Princess answered with the eagerness of one who’d been waiting for the question.
Even David, who’d anticipated a difficult response, found himself taken aback.
He blinked, collecting himself.
“We’ll broadcast Kartamen so that people throughout the realm can watch it directly from their own lands.”
“How do you mean, Your Highness?”
“You know that using Magic Stones, one can create Image Orbs, yes?”
An Image Orb was a magical artifact where two units formed a pair—one captured images while the other broadcast what had been recorded.
“You’re planning to provide an Image Orb to every household? That would require an astronomical sum.”
“That’s impossible, of course. Instead, we’ll modify this magical apparatus and construct Broadcast Towers in each region.”
“Broadcast Towers?”
“Yes. The towers will display Kartamen on enormous screens—large enough that vast crowds can all see clearly.”
Like a theater’s screen, in other words.
David’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Who exactly is supposed to create such an enormous magical apparatus?”
The Princess answered as though she’d never heard such an absurd question.
“I am.”
!
“I’ve nearly completed it already.”
Now that he considered it, this girl was a genius who’d earned her laurels in the revolution through her Alchemy abilities.
The reputation of the Kartamen name itself.
The technology of a genius alchemist.
‘And a brilliant performer like myself.’
With these three elements, Kartamen could not fail.
Having heard this much, he couldn’t defer his answer any longer.
“Very well.”
“So you’ll participate?”
“On one condition.”
David rose from his seat.
He retrieved the sword he’d been polishing to a gleam all this while.
“This is my late brother’s blade.”
He held it forth boldly—not toward the Princess herself, but rather toward the mysterious knight standing behind her.
Toward the one whose presence had drawn his attention from the very beginning.
Whish!
With a light swing, the Robe that had covered Dmitri’s face slipped away.
“If you would allow me to cut the throat of this cowardly knight who knelt before the tyrant, then I will participate.”
At those words, the princess rose sharply from her seat.
David spoke without hesitation.
“You must know that my brother was drawn into a Blood Duel with the tyrant Bobuwar. Though he emerged as the final victor, he refused to become the tyrant’s dog and took his own life. Is it not a test of me, then, to bring this man before me?”
“That was never my intention.”
Rather than stumbling over her words as he’d expected, Edith spoke calmly, as though she had foreseen his objection.
“I can explain the matter concerning Dmitri Kassel.”
“This is a question of a knight’s honor. If you attempt to shield this traitor, then my participation in Kartamen will be withdrawn.”
…….
David Berti would not participate in Kartamen.
He had refused even the princess’s own proposal, and done so publicly.
If this fact spread, Kartamen would be ruined from the very beginning.
A tournament launching with such a catastrophic blow from the start.
He couldn’t even grasp how to salvage it—or whether it could be salvaged at all.
Edith opened her mouth as though she had reached a decision.
“Very well.”
…….
“Let us forget this ever happened.”
!
“Lower your sword, Duke David.”
As David stood in shock, Edith approached him directly and pressed his hand down with force.
“Your Highness!”
“Be silent, Dmitri.”
There was authority in Edith’s voice as she rebuked Dmitri.
She lifted her cold, sharp gaze and fixed it upon David.
“I have no intention of obtaining what I desire by sacrificing my knight.”
“If word of my refusal spreads, it would be fatal to Kartamen, would it not?”
“That is a burden I must bear. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Edith turned and left the Reception Room. Dmitri followed in her wake.
Left alone, David simply stood there in a daze.
He turned over in his mind what he had just heard, and his eyes widened.
He had never expected it to unfold like this.
He had thought that since she meant to use Kartamen to maintain her power, she could easily discard one of her own people.
Especially when that person was Dmitri Kassel, the public enemy of the empire—no one would fault her for it.
‘Yet the princess truly protected even such a knight.’
Perhaps the princess was indeed capable of hosting a true Kartamen.
David hurried after the princess.
The moment he caught up to her, he fell to his knees.
“Duke David?”
Edith stopped, startled.
David bowed his head deeper still.
“Forgive my disrespect just now. Though it is merely an excuse, given what befell my brother, I could not be certain that Kartamen would differ from a Blood Duel. But seeing you protect your own knight, I am now convinced that what you are preparing is not a Blood Duel, but a true Kartamen.”
“Then you were testing me?”
“I will accept the price of my transgression.”
“Your participation in Kartamen shall be your penance.”
David looked up in surprise.
“In the meantime, I intend to use you fully as a Symbol. Be prepared.”
The word “prepared” struck him as vaguely ominous, but given his fault, David bowed respectfully and answered, “Yes.”
“Rise now. First, I need to hear how well you can proclaim a slogan.”
“A slogan……?”
Edith smiled with anticipation and declared aloud:
“‘Commander of the Imperial Knights, choose your knight!'”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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