“I caused a commotion by training to my limits every day. I will be more mindful from now on.”

Even though Litania cared about the noise coming from the training grounds, the knights’ hearts sprouted a small hope that this could be an excuse to lower the intensity of training.

“Commotion? Not at all. It was good to see you training so diligently. Please keep up the good work.”

A storm raged and frost settled on the sprout of hope. It died before it could even bloom.

“Huh? Why the expressions?”

Seeing the knights’ faces turn pale and ashen, Litania tilted her head, not understanding why the atmosphere had suddenly become so gloomy.

Only the servants nodded with understanding looks, seeming to grasp the situation.

It was the first moment of shared empathy between the knights and servants who had not been on good terms.

“Ah, is it because there’s no alcohol? Pepper. Since it’s a special day, how about bringing out some drinks?”

“Yes. I prepared some, anticipating this!”

Orbis did not enjoy alcohol, so there was originally no wine cellar in the dragon castle. The servants also did not enjoy drinking, so alcohol was scarce in the castle.

However, for some reason, 20 years ago Orbis suddenly created vineyards around the lake and ordered the servants to brew wine.

The servants harvested and aged the grapes as instructed, but were puzzled that Orbis never asked for the wine.

Why order them to make it if he’s not going to drink it? The vineyard was too large just for cooking.

That question was only answered 20 years later.

With Snow’s single remark, the servants including Pepper understood. Our master foresaw the future!

As dark red wine bottles were neatly placed on the table, the gloomy faces of the knights brightened. It was a drink they had never tasted since coming to the dragon castle.

‘Commander, just for today!’

‘It should be fine to drink, right?’

Receiving the knights’ eager gazes, Commander Bain sighed as if he had no choice.

“Just one glass each, so it doesn’t affect tomorrow’s training.”

“Thank you!”

Cheers erupted from all around. Seeing the knights’ brightened faces, Litania thought they must have been so gloomy earlier because there was no alcohol.

“My lady, please have a glass as well.”

A wine glass was placed in front of Litania, and Pepper personally uncorked the bottle and poured the wine. The sight of his large, furry hands skillfully tilting the bottle to fill her glass was close to artistry.

Litania thanked Pepper and raised her glass for a toast. The knights responded with brightened faces.

Up to that point, all was well.

‘Ugh.’

While the scent was a delightful, rich grape aroma, taking a sip spread a bitter alcoholic flavor, warming her throat.

Yet the mouthfeel was incredibly smooth, making Litania feel as if she had swallowed liquid fire.

‘Wow, this… How strong is it?’

Just one sip, and her cheeks were already flushed with heat.

Litania fanned herself, then realized she had no experience drinking alcohol in this world.

‘That’s right. The real Litania has just come of age, so this must be her first time drinking.’

It’s at times like these that she truly felt this body wasn’t her own.

Litania carefully set down her glass.

Though the taste was surprisingly smooth and deep, she felt she might get drunk if she drank more. She couldn’t make a fool of herself in front of the knights and servants.

‘I’m the lady of the house, I have to maintain my dignity!’

However, that dignity slowly melted away with the scent of alcohol wafting from all directions.

“Hmm.”

Litania leaned back against the chair and exhaled a heated breath.

Alcohol is scarce in the dragon castle. It’s too far from the capital to easily import from outside.

‘But since the knights enjoy it so much, I should look into ways to procure more alcohol in the future…’

Thinking this, she watched the knights and servants, who had somehow grown closer, chattering among themselves.

“Is it because the grapes were grown in the dragon castle? The taste is unique.”

“Yeah. The lake’s… what was it? That thing in the soil makes the taste deeper.”

“Minerals.”

“Ah, right. That’s the word. Snow, you know everything.”

“Ow.”

Snow brushed off Pepper’s hand slapping his shoulder and grumbled while rubbing his sore arm. Noticing Litania’s gaze, he smiled and approached her.

“Lady Litania, are you tired?”

“Mm. Snow, I’m hot.”

“Your face is very flushed. But you barely drank anything…”

Snow was a bit flustered seeing Litania’s glass still nearly full of wine. He hadn’t known she had such low alcohol tolerance.

Well, she never had a chance to drink before, so it was understandable.

“I’ll bring you a cool towel, please wait a moment.”

“Okay…”

Just as the small boy scurried off to the kitchen, the banquet hall doors opened and a tall man entered.

The knights, who had been noisily chatting and drinking, fell silent at once, setting down their glasses and sitting up straight.

It wasn’t in response to any order, just a conditioned reflex.

“You’re still enjoying the banquet, Litania.”

With just one sentence, the heat from the alcohol seemed to dissipate instantly.

The castle was surely well-heated, but the knights felt as if they were standing naked in the freezing training grounds being scolded.

Cold, so cold!

“Orbis.”

Litania, her face flushed, called out to Orbis with a slow drawl, waving her hand in welcome.

“I thought you weren’t coming. You’ve seemed busy lately.”

If it were just Orbis alone, monsters wouldn’t approach the dragon castle, but with more humans here, it seemed the human scent was attracting monsters.

Of course, they couldn’t enter the castle, but Orbis was going out daily to drive away monsters to prevent any troublesome incidents.

Of course, the reason he was absent during the day wasn’t because patrolling took time, but because he was burying the corpses of torn-apart monsters deep in the ground and controlling the wind to keep the scent of blood from reaching the castle. But Litania didn’t know that much.

“You’re today’s guest of honor. I didn’t want to disrupt the atmosphere.”

“Oh come on, why worry about such things? Between us.”

“You’re right. Between us.”

Orbis smiled gently and approached her with slightly quickened steps.

Snow, who had returned from the kitchen with a cool towel, stood a couple steps away, watching the scene.

“Litania, let me wipe your face.”

Orbis took the towel from Snow’s hands and wiped Litania’s forehead and cheeks. The cool towel must have felt good, as Litania let out a languid sigh and nuzzled her cheek against Orbis’s hand.

“You have such low alcohol tolerance, didn’t you drink too much?”

“I only had one sip though…”

“Still, you should stop now. You’re quite drunk.”

“You’re right. I don’t think I can drink anymore.”

Litania, her eyes reddened, gazed at the nearly full wine glass with a dazed expression.

‘That’s precious wine, what a waste…’

Suddenly, as if struck by a brilliant idea, she called out to Orbis in a slightly higher pitch.

“Orbis, be my black knight!”

“Black knight?”

“A black knight is a man who drinks the alcohol a woman can’t finish. This is what I was drinking, so we can’t keep it and would have to throw it away anyway. It’s precious wine made from grapes that only grow in the dragon castle, it would be a shame to waste it.”

As Litania raised the wine glass and held it out to Orbis, the knights were bewildered and the servants were shocked.

‘Good heavens, to that ice demon!’

‘Good heavens, a glass someone drank from!’

Unaware of their stiffened expressions for different reasons, Litania tilted the glass toward Orbis.

“You don’t want to?”

Good lord. Even our master can’t handle this!

The servants thought in unison.

Everyone among the dragon’s servants knew that Orbis did not enjoy alcohol.

It wasn’t just that his tastes were picky and capricious, but Orbis was quite violent.

In the past, he had torn two chefs to death for irritating him. Pepper was the third chef of this dragon castle.

‘Surely he won’t harm the lady? No matter what, she’s someone he cares for!’

With a dragon’s whims, you never know. Still, considering she’s not in her right mind due to intoxication, he might firmly refuse or just knock her out and put her to bed.

Chef Pepper clasped his bear-like hands together and prayed inwardly.

‘Please. May the lady be safe!’

Was the prayer answered, or was there no need to pray from the start? Orbis smiled gently and bowed his head, bringing his lips to the rim of the glass Litania was holding.

“I’ll be your black knight.”

As Litania tilted her wrist to pour, the dark red wine flowed along Orbis’s lips.