It had been a few days since they left Green Hollow Town.
　Garnet Argentia stepped on the soil of the royal city for the first time in a long time.

　The rock solid walls of the city. A city that stretched to the edge of the horizon.
　The roads were paved with beautiful cobblestones, and countless buildings of a scale that would be largest enough for a provincial town.

　The canals, drawn from the adjacent major rivers, branch out and travel around the city, and freighters, controlled by the magic of water flow control, come and go incessantly.

　A large quantity of goods are brought in by the canals.
　This means, without a doubt, that the population of King's Landing is vast beyond standard.

　Even in the face of the majesty of the capital, the center of the world in both name and reality, Garnett was neither pressured nor dazzled by the pomp and circumstance, but strode through the streets with a brusque expression on his face.

　As a measure to prevent rebellion, leading knights are required to move their official residence to a separate residence in the royal capital for a few months of the year.

　For this reason, the children of the relevant knights often perceived the royal capital as their second home, and Garnett was one of them.

　Until now, the royal capital was a familiar home.
　There was no reason for him to feel nervous or curious.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this as well.

　The gatekeeper didn't stop her either, but rather sent it off with respect.

　As it was, he passed through the corridor without any hesitation and unceremoniously opened the door made of expensive wood.

...... It's been a long time, father. Garnet, we have just arrived.

　Garnett glowered at the three figures in the room as he delivered a token, meaningless greeting in a tone of voice that was devoid of emotion.

　It was only his choice of words that was respectful, and his attitude was completely businesslike, and it was clear that he really wanted to turn on his heel at once.

'You're late, Alma. I've been waiting for a while since I got word that you arrived at the royal capital. You didn't use the carriage to pick me up?
'Yes, it would be a bad show. Also, you promised to call me Garnet now.
Hmmm: ...... That's right.

　The man sitting in the center of the room squints intimidatingly.

　Rembrandt Argentia. The former Commander of the Silver Wing Knights and the de facto patriarch of the Argentia family.

　If you remove the frivolity from the current Commander Carmine, who is known as a date-man, and add decades' worth of heavy responsibilities and the remnants of a grueling war, would you create such a person?

　Although he is in middle age, he shows no signs of mental or physical decline, and he is clad in a spirit that makes you think he could be ready for battle right now.

''By the way, isn't your brother here?
My brother is here.

　This time I shift my gaze to the muffled voice next to Rembrandt.

　A young man indoors, but with gloves and a cloak covering his skin, and an unperforated white mask covering his neck as well. Valentine Argentia, the second son of the Argentia family.

　Garnet had never seen this man's true face since she could remember.

　To begin with, it was doubtful that he could even see in front of him in that outfit, but I wonder if he is using some kind of skill to deal with it.

''I'm not talking about Brother Valentine, but Brother Carmine...''
She can't come on official business. Must be tough being a Knight Commander.

　It was Scarlett, the last of the three waiting for Garnet in this room, who replied with a chuckle.

　A woman whose dress and gestures reminded me more of an aristocrat than a knight, and indeed she was.

''Well, well, well, Countess. Good day.
"Stranger. You can feel free to call me sister Scarlett like you used to, okay?

　They don't sound moderate in their words to each other, but underneath it all, aggressive, accusatory emotions are evident.

　To Garnett, although Scarlett is an older sister, they don't look anything like each other, perhaps due to their different mothers.

　Rather, it's the fact that their ways of life and values are so different from each other that makes it feel pleasing.

'Well, ...... you understand why I called you here.
'It's like it says in the letter, isn't it?　He wants me to attend the evening party hosted by the Count to see if I can find someone to marry. d*mn, that's ridiculous.

　The three of them became more intimidated by the true feelings that leaked out, but Garnett passed it off as if he wasn't holding back.

　Scarlett cast a sideways glance and Valentine turned the front of his faceless white mask to his father, Rembrandt, respectively.

　It was a silent mandate to leave him in charge of dividing this occasion, and as he did so, Rembrandt spoke to Garnett on behalf of the three of them.

'Since ancient times, marriage has been the foundation of prosperity. Since ancient times, marriage has been the cornerstone of prosperity; marry a high-ranking family and you have a backbone; marry a lowly family and you have a whole host of children. I merely expect you to fulfill your role as Scarlett married into the historic Count family.

　Garnett swallowed the repugnance, along with the curses.

　What was most difficult to understand was the fact that the party involved, Scarlett, was smiling with a heartfelt pride.

　In terms of the degree of physiological disgust, her incomprehensible sister was far superior to her father, who was forcing her into an unwanted marriage.

'But, father. Didn't you promise that you could continue to be a knight until you were eighteen or until you took down the Mithril Trafficking Organization (Agat Ram)?
It would be too late to make preparations after that.

　Rembrandt shook his head, as if to say that he didn't understand these obvious things.

'For now, I'll take the form of a fiancée, and as soon as you're done being a Garnet Argenteer, you'll be married as Alma Argenteer. This evening party is just the right prep for that.

　I thought it was a grace period (moratorium) where I could forget my position as the daughter of the former Knight Commander as long as I was active as a knight.

　But apparently, my father's perception was different.

...... What if I say no?
"We'll get to the bottom of this and tell the Order what happened. If you do that, Carmine won't be able to get you out of office.

　With just that one word, Garnett had to choke on his words.

''There are still many members of the Order who support the law against women. Revealing the truth won't change Carmine's continued hold on the real power of the Order, but you will definitely not be able to stay in the Order.''
............
'The only reason I haven't done so before is because I value my promise to you. You understand?

　There was no room for refutation.
　Indeed, many of the members of the Silverwing Knights supported the archaic rule of no women, boys only.

　Otherwise, Carmine would have changed the rules long ago.

　The only reason why the archaic recruiting standards have been maintained even after Carmine has taken over the real power of the Order is because it is preferred by many of its members.

　The Knight Commander is not a dictator.
　Trying to push through an imposition will only result in the defection of the constituents.

　And Garnett could see why Carmine was not here.

　He said it was because he had official business to attend to, but perhaps he deliberately bumped his schedule to Carmine's official business.

　To get rid of the only immediate family member who was on his (Garnett's) side from the situation.

'The night party is the night after tomorrow. Be ready for it by then.
I don't know if you'll find anyone you'll like at ......, though.
You don't have to make up your mind once or twice. Just keep repeating them until you get it right.










　Garnett left the room in silence and walked down the hallway with his large gait, his face contorted in disgust.

　To put it bluntly, everything is unpleasant.
　Engagement?　Marriage?　Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up.
　I've always thought they were the kind of people who wanted to interfere in people's lives, but I've never been this uncomfortable before - I've never been this uncomfortable before.

...... Huh?

　Then Garnet suddenly realized the uncomfortable feeling that had been born in her mind, and she slowed her pace and stopped in the middle of the hallway.

　It was true that she hadn't always liked her father, her sister and her brother over there.

　When I had appealed to them to become a knight to avenge my mother's death, they had denied that it was out of the question and pressured me to prepare for the marriage.

　I hated it. I couldn't tolerate it. I couldn't accept it.

　But it should have been disgust at the fact that he had almost trampled on his desire to avenge her, not disgust at marrying her as the daughter of the former Knight Commander.

　That's why she accepted to play the deception of Garnet and Alma's 'fictional twins', even if it was to convince and convince her father.

　Because he thought that if he had successfully defeated his mother's enemies, he would have been happy to marry them as his father wanted.

　So what about it now?

　Thinking back on it calmly, my father's only argument was that I should be prepared for the promise once it was fulfilled, as long as it didn't interfere with my own goals.

　Making a fiancée as Alma would have no effect on her ability to fulfill her knightly duties as Garnet.

　My former self would not have been so disgusted by the marriage itself.
　I would have accepted my father's proposal as an outdated idea, but the procedure itself was reasonable.

'(Why on earth--)

　Suddenly the image of a man popped into her mind.

　Garnet felt her face burning hot and shook her head violently.

　Why did that guy's face come to mind?
　I think I know why.
　I think I understand, but I don't know what would happen if I became clearly aware of it.

' (No, no, no, no ......!)　(I can't believe you got that guy involved in this stuff: ......!)

　Garnett struggled to shake off the thoughts that were bubbling up from deep in his chest and ran to his room.