Despite being strictly ordered not to interfere, it didn’t take long for the knights to start ‘rebelling’ to join the citizens of Blue Dawn in their fight against those who were slandering Emilia.
After all, if being a part of the royal knights meant that they could no longer even defend the honor of their princess, what was even the point? Even if they one day were able to stand in front of her, would they even be able to look her in the eye?
With vicious insults and mockery flying both ways, even Penny felt helpless when she received the news. “Ugh, I knew this would happen soon.”
She couldn’t really blame the rebels, though. After all, if she hadn’t known any better, even Penny would have started suspecting the knights of having switched their affiliation. After all, for them to not even come to defend their princess, what other purpose was there for them to continue existing?
Unfortunately, she could only get in touch with Noelle, and the older girl simply refused to divulge any reasoning behind Emilia’s decisions that could perhaps be used to convince the rest of the knights.
She knew that the gray-haired girl and Crystal were actually under even more pressure than her, being public figures who actually were duty bound to protect the empress, as far as the people were concerned.
Every single day, they had to be receiving at least thousands of complaints and requests from the citizens that worried about their ‘princess’ being upset or depressed after learning something she shouldn’t.
If they could, Penny had no doubt at all that the citizens would cut off all connections from the outside world, turn off the internet and seal their borders. It was better to keep their princess happy in a bubble than to let her suffer vicious rain outside, after all.
Fortunately, the power and authority Emilia held in Blue Dawn was absolute.
The ponytailed girl could only sigh in defeat. “I suppose that in the end, the actions of the knights don’t really matter too much. And considering I’m also using all twenty of my hidden identities to do the same thing, I can’t really blame the others for not being obedient.”
In fact, though she would never admit it in front of others, Penny was actually quite proud.
Didn’t their actions right now show that even if the higher-up positions in their knight order were somehow compromised, the rest of the knights would forever remain loyal to their princess? That was one of the greatest victories she could have ever hoped for as the one who scouted and recruited most of them!
The only bad news was that the blame for their ‘failure’ this time was also on her shoulders as the commander, and even though she knew Emilia wasn’t taking any visitors, the short girl ‘had no choice’ but to come and present herself to express her apologies in person.
To her surprise, though, instead of Noelle whom she expected would have chased her away, Dixie was the one who greeted her once she was escorted in by the guards, and she didn’t look surprised to see her at all.
The dark-haired girl shushed her before Penny could even open her mouth, and led the decidedly confused shorter girl through the halls and corridors till they were right in front of Emilia’s study.
Dixie paused for a moment before knocking on the door gently. “Penny’s here, princess. Are you busy?”
The ponytailed blonde felt her heart beat anxiously. This would be the first time in a while that she would be hearing Emilia’s words directly, and she was both excited and terrified. ‘I-I hope she’s not too sad!’
If not for Penny’s concern for her princess outweighing her hatred for the heinous criminals who slandered her, she would have long since rushed out of Blue Dawn to personally deal with them all one by one, in whatever way she could.
“Oh, come on in!”
The melodious voice she expected to be either depressed or sullen still rang like the joyful tinkling of bells that she remembered. And although Penny was definitely relieved, it also heightened her confusion.
Could it be that Noelle and the others were really so daring that they managed to keep Emilia isolated from the noise outside? Were they not scared that she will hate them later?
As soon as the door was opened by Dixie, Emilia waved at her with a bright smile. “Bring us some cookies, will you?”
The dark-haired girl nodded before turning around and giving Penny a strange look, but before the shorter girl could voice her confusion, she’d already walked out with a snort.
Emilia grinned mischievously. “I was wondering when you would come.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
In stark contrast to the warm atmosphere in Emilia’s study, the long dinner table at one of the most prominent mansions in the Nightingale clan was both dark and depressed, courtesy of a certain silver-haired boy.
Looking at his son remaining silent as he chewed on the steak on his plate like it was his worst enemy, Mr. Black could only sigh sadly in his heart. ‘I suppose it’s my own fault… for letting things get to this point. If I had known earlier…’
Shaking his head, the dark-haired man quickly regained his focus back to the present. Now was not the time to wallow in regret. If he did, then there would really be no hope for the future.
What he’d done now was already the best that he could do at the moment, regardless of how much Amos hated him, or what happened in the future.
If they hadn’t fled from Oriana the moment when they did, even with the Black Tiger in the government’s hands, would they have really spared either of them? Mr. Black wasn’t naïve enough to think so.
They would be lucky if they were just confined for the rest of their lives under the state’s supervision… if they were allowed to live, that is. As for the worst case scenario… Mr. Black didn’t even dare to image it.
Naturally, the decision to flee to the Nightingale clan wasn’t made on a whim, either.
Aside from Oriana, Mr. Black knew that the greatest threat to their lives actually came from the Gray Wolfe, or more precisely, Alexander’s father.
With the man believing his son to be Alexander’s murderer, there was no way he wouldn’t seek revenge. Mr. Black knew the man’s nature very well. Even if Black Tiger had been at its peak, he still couldn’t guarantee being able to protect Amos from this wolf when it went completely rabid.
Fortunately, whoever framed his son also used the Nightingale clan as their spear, and the greatest weapon of his enemy ended up becoming his greatest shield instead.
Just like he knew the nature of the Gray Wolfe’s leader, how could those in the Nightingale clan not know the fate that awaited them?
Even if the dog that bit their master wasn’t killed, it would still be neutered and beaten half to death.
Regardless of how much of their pride had been eroded away by the years they spent serving the Gray Wolfe, there was no way those in the Nightingale clan could accept this level of humiliation and surrender.
The enemy of their enemy was their friend, and Mr. Black sought them out just in time, pressing all the right buttons that would lead to the safest way out for his son.
Unfortunately, not only was his son not grateful, but the resentment in his heart only seemed to grow at an increasingly alarming rate.
Even if Mr. Black was confident that the Gray Wolfe would never suspect the Nightingale clan of hiding the two of them, he couldn’t help but worry. What if Amos ended up doing something that exposed them?
A chuckle from his son ended up snapping Mr. Black’s attention back to reality, and he couldn’t help but be shocked.
His son hadn’t wiped that gloomy and dark grimace from his face for so long, what could it be that amused him so?
“With this kind of loose and strange rule, isn’t she just inviting degenerates to flock over to her country?”
It didn’t take long for Mr. Black to realize that the reason Amos chuckled must most likely be because of the discussion between the members of the family that was ‘hosting’ them.
Naturally, there was nothing special about them, aside from the fact that they were of a somewhat higher standing compared to others in the Nightingale clan. The reason their discussion was even of any interest to his son was because of the ‘subject’.
Emilia White.
Or more precisely, the Empress of Blue Dawn.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
