How To Choose A Knight (28 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 16
Ascela pressed her hand over her mouth as if trying to stifle a scream. Of course, she knew who the culprit was—but she couldn’t expose them here.
But Bernard merely smiled faintly.
“Thank you for your help. Let’s head back now.”
It might have taken great courage for that timid young lady, but the information was utterly worthless.
Still standing there with a dazed expression, clawing at the back of her hand, Ascela slowly looked between Bernard and Mori. Then she turned and left the room. *Thud.* The door shut behind her.
Only after her footsteps faded into the distance did Mori finally mutter,
“Ascela, of all people—what on earth is going on? The very same doll-like lady who’s too afraid of Lord Felix to do anything.”
“Well, she doesn’t seem quite the perfect doll after all. Anyway, I’ll make some inquiries here and there.”
But before they could even catch their breath, someone again pounded loudly on the door. Normally, no one ever paid them any attention—but today, visitors were coming one after another.
“Damn it! What the hell is it now? Can’t you let us work!”
Bernard deliberately shouted in a rough tone.
Yet when the door opened, the one who appeared was Rigel Hyas—the head of House Hyas and a mage officially recognized by the King himself.
A young mage, barely past adolescence, had come to visit them.
Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, Rigel Hyas snapped coldly,
“It’s obvious you two are conspiring together. Pathetic. To think these are the very subordinates serving Lady Jade Broen, who wears Summer’s Crown.”
He had always been meticulous about showing proper respect when speaking of Jade—so why was he acting so high-handed now?
“I heard you still haven’t found Lady Jade.”
Bernard crumpled the paper and shoved it into his pocket, forcing an awkward smile—though his unwashed, grimy face only made him look harsher.
“We’re doing our best, you see…”
“Don’t make me laugh. Few mages don’t know that House Broen fails to properly protect its heir. In fact, it’s already infuriating that she remains just an heir instead of the head. Yet it’s also absurd to leave such a critical task solely to useless servants like you.”
Mori frowned at the mage’s arrogant words, but Bernard—who had served alongside him in the expedition force—suddenly brightened.
Despite that tone, this mage had always shown goodwill toward Lady Jade. For him to come here of his own accord—this was an opportunity!
“You’re absolutely right. People like us—utterly insignificant—are clearly inadequate!”
“Indeed. Precisely.”
“Lord of House Hyas, renowned scholar of magic—how famed your name must be in this land! There’s an immense gap between your influence and our pitiful standing.”
Rigel cleared his throat and gave a slight nod.
“You do understand a thing or two.”
Inside, Bernard cheered silently.
Got him! He’s hooked!
…Or had he come here on purpose to be caught? Doubt flickered briefly, but there was no time to dwell on it.
“As you know, most mages close to Lady Jade are off with the expedition force, so we have no truly reliable, capable person to turn to—and thus couldn’t possibly dare ask anyone outright to trace magical traces!”
Mori, too, had vaguely realized Rigel was susceptible to flattery.
“With our lack of connections, it’s simply impossible…”
But he couldn’t match Bernard’s silver tongue, and had to desperately suppress the nervous twitch at the corners of his lips. Ugh, it was hard work catering to someone’s mood.
“Traces of teleportation magic, you say? Well, we’d need to know Lady Jade’s location first. I suppose I’ll go see Arnold—she excels in wind-element magic. We’re not particularly close, but a small gift should suffice.”
While Rigel muttered to himself, weighing various thoughts, Bernard and Mori locked eyes and nodded frantically.
From now on, tracking magical traces would be left entirely to Rigel Hyas.
Their own focus, then, would be silencing every single person within the family who dared mention Lady Jade’s funeral.
The two resolved to accomplish this no matter what.
[This is the timeline separator]Jade yawned, rubbing her drowsy eyes.
“Hmmmm.”
Rooster or no rooster, she was currently lazing about in a windowless room, wrapped snugly in five blankets.
“If only magic worked…”
She could’ve warmed her surroundings and felt even more blissful. No matter how many blankets she had, it still wasn’t the same as lounging before a fireplace, melting into cozy drowsiness.
She clicked her tongue in disappointment.
Nearly two months had passed since she’d fallen into the forest, and Jade was slowly growing accustomed to days where she didn’t need to exert herself.
It was the lesson from the “Late-Autumn Night Fever Incident” not long ago.
Focusing at this hour was good—but forcing focus through excessive effort could make you sick. And worse, it could earn you a scolding from your irritated landlord who’d had to nurse you back to health.
Knock knock.
Or perhaps she’d grown too comfortable with laziness. Someone had come to wake her already.
“Come out and stir the stew a bit.”
It was, of course, Axel who knocked. After saying that, he added suspiciously,
“You’re not still asleep, are you?”
“I’m not sleeping… just not fully awake yet…”
The door burst open immediately.
Neither of them minded that Axel freely opened Jade’s door—it was routine by now. Though the frequency had decreased, he often came to rouse her when she groaned in her sleep during occasional nightmares.
Chilled by the cold air clinging to Axel, Jade squirmed and burrowed deeper into her blankets. Ugh, so cold.
But the hand pulling the blankets away was merciless. In an instant, she was sprawled on the floor like a grub stripped of its cocoon.
“Get up quickly.”
“That’s so unfair… You used to never let me near the cooking.”
“Even you can manage stirring. Besides, it’s just like mixing potions—good enough.”
“But the sun hasn’t even properly risen yet…”
Watching Jade grumble, Axel snorted.
“Sorry, but it’s been hours since the rooster crowed.”
“What?”
Indeed, bright light now seeped through the cracks of the door.
They say late-acquired laziness is fearsome—and she must have drifted off again without noticing the time slip away.
Jade gaped in disbelief.
“No way…!”
“Hurry up. Today we’re using up all the fresh ingredients left, and cleaning the place too.”
Axel left, leaving the door ajar. A tangy, savory aroma drifted in, and as if bewitched, Jade rose to her feet.
Outside, it was already bright—but the trees, having shed most of their leaves, revealed bare branches violently swaying in the wind.
“It’s really windy.”
Axel glanced outside briefly and furrowed his thick brows slightly.
“What about the horse?”
“I tried to bring him inside, but he’d already gone out for a stroll before we even woke up. He won’t blow away in the wind, but…”
His voice trailed off, tinged with slight worry.
But recalling how the horse always bolted away whenever they happened to meet on forest paths, Jade felt no concern at all.
That gallop was clearly extraordinary—not an ordinary horse by any means, and certainly not inferior even to elite warhorses of noble bloodlines.
No—inferior wasn’t the word. It outshone other horses so brilliantly they seemed dim by comparison. She’d even seen it perform the highly advanced equine skill of walking sideways!
“He’ll… be fine. Anyway, what are you cooking now?”
Where a low pan usually sat, a massive pot now bubbled, sending up white steam—the source of the delicious aroma filling the house.
“Hmm… Let’s just call it ‘Winter-Prep Cleanup Stew.’”
Jade tilted her head, puzzled by his words, but Axel handed her a ladle without further explanation.
As she began stirring the enormous pot, Axel stood beside her, continuously trimming ingredients and tossing them in with swift flicks.
“What even is this? Why’s there so much stuff in it?”
“It’s cleanup stew, I told you.”
Unlike the usual pale stew brewed just for warmth, this one looked intensely rich.
“Meat? And what’s that red vegetable?”
Faced again with her barrage of questions, Axel just shook his head.
“Just stir properly.”
“That’s my specialty, so don’t worry. But seriously, what’s that vegetable?”
Applying her potion-making skill, the stew grew thicker by the moment.
Glancing at Axel’s deft hands, she saw an astonishing variety of ingredients: tender meat, unfrozen fresh vegetables, and generous handfuls of forest-foraged spices. It truly felt like everything in the kitchen had gone in.
“I see why you call it cleanup stew. But after making this, won’t we starve?”
“Maybe. Better eat a lot now.”
The rising steam kept stirring her appetite. After pondering a moment, Jade declared,
“This is too fancy to be called cleanup stew. It deserves the name ‘Luxury Stew.’”
Axel gave a small chuckle.
“Call it whatever you like. I don’t care.”
“I’d be happy eating Luxury Stew with bread. But even though it looks delicious, it feels a bit wasteful—I worked so hard gathering all that.”
“These ingredients won’t keep well once it gets colder anyway, and they’ll likely spoil. Better to cook them now.”
Stirring was crucial for thick stews—but it was also dull, repetitive labor that tired the arms.
Just as Jade yawned for the fifth time in a row, Axel snatched the spoon from her.
With a simple motion, he stirred the pot thoroughly from top to bottom—effortlessly, as if every object offered him zero resistance, as always.
Jade watched closely.
He wore a sleeveless top, unaffected by the cold, and his muscles rippled visibly with every movement.
So that’s the kind of arm strength needed to swing an axe effortlessly or hurl a sword like a spear.
Actually—did back muscles matter too? Axel’s back was just as impressively cut, deeply grooved.
She ran her hand over her own back—smooth, utterly featureless. At most, she could feel her shoulder blades.
Holding onto a sliver of hope, Jade rolled up her sleeves and clenched her fist beside him, mimicking his pose.
But her arms bore no trace of definition. Her pale forearms remained perfectly straight—so much so she wondered if there was any muscle in them at all.
“Hmm…”
Axel, clearly understanding why she sighed like that, just shook his head.
“You’ve got no conscience.”
“I carried water buckets so diligently! Something should’ve shown up by now, right?”
“…”
His lips tightened with the clear intent to swallow countless retorts, which only made Jade huff.
“Showing off again.”
“It’s not that I’m showing off—it’s that you’ve got delusions of persecution.”
Ever since she’d started calling him by name—since Axel himself had blurred the line he’d drawn—his reactions had changed drastically.
The man who used to ignore her or brush her off with indifference was nowhere to be found. Now, he’d never yield unless absolutely necessary.
But she didn’t mind it. It felt like a mark of closeness.
Now, Jade felt she could confidently tell anyone—they weren’t quite best friends, but they were certainly something like friends.
A faint, barely-there smile touched her lips.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
Chapter Comments (13)
Inline Comments (64)
If only I’d had the chance to say a proper goodbye—to tidy things up—would it ha
I have a feeling in this chapter, he too will realize his feelings- or come to be mad at Jade
Before those behind could stop him, the young man gulped down the plain water fr
Hhahahah your brother must love you a lot~~ he’s probably gonna reunite you with Jade
“A handsome man with a good body.”
Hahah looks like someone is getting an entertaining sister in law hehheh
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I feel like Axel must of royal bloodline. Jade is so cute! They are gonna be so cute together
How come the comments are showing up every chapter? I thought the comment would only show up on the chapter you commented on?
How come the comments are showing up every chapter? I thought the comment would only show up on the chapter you commented on?