Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 8
“What?”
“If you and Sir David had a good conversation, you would have already left. You wouldn’t linger like an unwelcome guest when there’s a new visitor.”
“No, what a rude thing to say…”
The haughty lord, caught off guard, was stunned when he heard a soft chuckle from somewhere.
It was David who laughed. Despite the laughter likely being sarcastic, his expression remained unwaveringly polite.
“Let’s conclude today’s conversation here, my lord.”
“B-but there’s still…”
“The Princess is here, so it would be inappropriate for you to take up any more time.”
It was a courteous warning. The lord’s face turned pale. David’s words suggested he favored the royal family over this lord. In other words, he showed no interest in their plans to ferment a rebellion.
‘I’m more interested in the Cartamen, whether it’s real or fake.’
Sitting across Princess Edith in the parlor, David quietly observed the girl with a twinkle in his eye.
‘I’m intrigued by her assertiveness in dealing with that unruly aristocrat, but I have no intention of giving in to her demands. Not until I find out what the royal family’s true purpose for the Cartamen is.’
He didn’t expect it to be easy, but he had to try. If the Cartamen was fake, he’ll ensure no good man participated.
But if it was real…
David glanced at Edith. She was still savoring her dessert with a lively giggle. The Princess who had been observing him with cold eyes earlier now looked like the young girl that she was.
‘She seems to have a sweet tooth.’
At only sixteen, she was a revolutionary figure with exceptional alchemical abilities.
‘She’s not someone to be taken lightly.’
He considered several strategies, not letting himself be deceived by her bunny-like appearance.
‘Should I use propaganda? Or do I look for logical loopholes?’
Despite his inner thoughts, David calmly lifted his teacup. Even the way he drank tea exuded elegance, leaving Edith in awe. With an upright posture and broad shoulders, David presented an image that surpassed any of her expectations. Not even a diamond in the rough, he was more like a full-on gilded gem.
‘He’s handsome, he’s aristocratic, and once he’s in the tournament, there’s going to be a frenzy.’
In the early stages of the competition, she had to make sure to put him front and center, perhaps playing the role of the visual[1]. It’s up to David to decide whether he wants to remain in that role or go further. But…
‘He’s acting friendly, yet he has this icy glare. Still, he did invite me in, so that must mean something.’
“If you have any questions about Cartamen, why it’s happening, or if it’s real, ask away. I’ll answer.”
David, sitting across from her, coughed coolly.
Edith tilted her head playfully. “Why are you so surprised? You looked like you were getting ready to interrogate me.”
“You’re quite direct,” said David in disbelief, letting out a forced chuckle.
Behind the façade of a courteous knight, his true expression was revealed. It was cool yet confident.
“I’ve been rejected so many times,” said Edith, her words rather thorny. “I don’t have time to waste anymore.”
“Then please tell me. Why are you resuming the Cartamen, which has been in decline for 20 years?”
His tone was charming but Edith knew there was a hidden meaning behind his words. This guy was suspicious of her.
Edith smiled sweetly and said, “To revive the lost traditions of the fallen empire!”
“…”
“—Did that sound too cheesy?”
“You know it did.”
He wasn’t someone who could easily be persuaded with ambiguous, nonsensical statements crafted to appeal solely to emotions. Unlike the brutish knights who upheld the code of chivalry without giving it a single thought, David was quite intelligent. No, he wasn’t just intelligent—David was a genius.
With exceptional martial skills and intelligence, he had been forcefully knighted by the tyrant at a young age and was in danger of being taken into battle.
‘It was a well-known story that his older brother Hugo took young David’s place and was killed in the subsequent bloodshed.’
So, she had to give a sincere answer.
Edith looked David straight in the eye. “I’m opening the Cartamen to unite the empire.”
“Unite the empire…?”
The answer was unexpected, and David was perplexed. No matter how well she constructed her argument, he had expected an explanation about recruiting knights to strengthen the imperial defense. However, talking about the unity of the empire caught him off guard.
“Cartamen is open for all the people to witness, and the results are determined by their votes,” Edith explained calmly. “When the Cartamen starts, people will have a common interest and it will create a sense of empathy as everyone rallies around their heroes.”
The answer was so unexpected that it seemed all the more sincere.
While David was speechless, Edith spoke quickly.
“If you have no further questions, I formally make this request as a princess. Please participate in the Cartamen.”
Contrary to her cheerful smile earlier, her expression was quite earnest.
“Do you think I’m that necessary?”
“How can the Cartamen be called a knightly contest without the so-called ‘knight of knights’ there?”
“So you mean to use me as a tool to grab attention in the early stages of the competition?”
“Not a tool, but a symbol,” the Princess interjected. “Of course, that heavily depends on how you perform, but I have faith that you will do well.”
A symbol, not a tool.
¹ The “visual” role, popularized in the west through k-pop, just means the member who is considered the most attractive. It’s written as 비담 (short for 비주얼 담당) in Korean. However, the original text does not use this term. Instead, it uses 얼굴마담 which can be transliterated to “face madam” or just “face”. This carries a more derogatory and informal designation than “visual”, as it sometimes implies that the person in question is simply a good-looking mascot and that the other members are not attractive at all. I opted to use “visual” because the term is more well-known and to avoid confusion with western showbiz’s definition of a “face”.↩
