To The Eternal Knight (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 14
To have gathered thirteen years’ worth of newspapers in less than four hours after ordering them was impressive.
Nerea was irritated by the thought that Alejandro had gotten exactly what he wanted. She let out a faint sigh as she glared at the thick stack of newspapers.
The reason she hesitated to reach out immediately was precisely because it was thirteen years’ worth—thirteen years ago, when she’d first received orders to go to war.
Shaking her head as if it meant nothing, Nerea reached out her hand. But the moment she picked up the newspaper, she couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
The headline burned into her eyes read:
-“Count Nerea Esteban, the Shield of Castarti, declares intent to join the war. Deployment confirmed under His Majesty’s appointment. Will this turn the tide of the grueling conflict?”
-“Count Esteban departs for the battlefield in striking black armor. The prelude to a path of unmatched honor.”
-“Acting Count Esteban forces a smile to conceal his grief. As a father, he cannot stop his daughter’s footsteps.”
Lies.
As a bitter smile rose to her lips, a dreadful memory surfaced like a nightmare.
“Come back only in death. Do it for Brienna, who’s been crushed under your shadow.”
She’d known the moment the color of her ordinary armor changed to jet black the very next day after receiving the deployment order. Helen’s final embrace—meant as a farewell—had confirmed Nerea’s suspicion beyond doubt.
That was the meaning of the Black Knight: a glaring beacon among countless gray and silver armors, a desperate, fervent wish for her to die.
[This is the timeline separator]Meanwhile, in the Empress’s palace of Castarti.
Marchioness of Terabans, the Head Maid to the Empress, stepped out of the reception room with a blank expression. Alone in the hallway—having sent away all servants—an elegant woman stared at her with desperate eyes.
“Marchioness of Terabans… How is Her Imperial Majesty feeling just now…?”
“Your Royal Highness, the Empress is unwell from excessive worry and, as before, cannot receive your visit today.”
At the Head Maid’s flat, emotionless reply, the Crown Princess’s blue eyes welled with tears. As she lowered her head helplessly, her golden hair rippled like a shimmering wave.
Though her beauty had once melted the hearts of every man in high society, the Marchioness remained unmoved. Instead, she bowed politely and re-entered the reception room.
Left alone, Crown Princess Brienna Esteban Castarti slowly lifted her head. Her dry, stinging eyes stared at the reception room door, as if questioning when her tears had gathered.
It had been a week since the Empress began refusing the Crown Princess’s greetings and stripped her of her authority.
The door, firmly shut until then, finally opened for Brienna a week later—two days after the Crown Prince had departed for the border.
“Marchioness of Terabans, how is Her Imperial Majesty’s health today?”
“…Please come in, Your Highness.”
The Empress’s Head Maid answered differently than usual. The maids behind the Crown Princess gasped in startled surprise, but Brienna simply smiled faintly.
The summons came later than she’d expected.
She’d thought the Empress would grant an audience the moment her father advised sending the Crown Prince to the border. Today marked the second day since his departure.
But at last, the firmly closed door had opened.
“Your Imperial Majesty, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess has arrived.”
Brienna, about to bow upon entering, paused briefly. The Empress’s maids were filing past her and out of the reception room.
The Empress dismissed everyone not out of consideration for Brienna, but because she was royal to her very bones.
Brienna took a deep breath and performed her bow.
“I pay my respects to Your Imperial Majesty the Empress, the exalted moon and mother of all.”
Knowing precisely when to lower herself—this proved Brienna’s intelligence.
Waiting before the Empress’s closed door, weeping, might have helped pry it open—but it surely made the Empress even more uncomfortable.
Thus, she’d braced herself for this. After all, the Empress’s nature—openly condescending toward Brienna and constantly invoking her noble house since the engagement—wasn’t going to change.
With a slight smile still on her lips, Brienna waited for the Empress to acknowledge her courtesy.
“…Very well.”
The Empress’s permission came only after a long while. Cold sweat trickled down Brienna’s back, but she calmly took the seat opposite the Empress as directed.
“I heard that while I was unwell, the Crown Princess visited my palace daily out of concern for me. How admirable.”
Despite her gentle smile, the Empress’s blue eyes were icy. Contrary to her claim of illness, not a shadow marred her beauty—her perfectly coiled golden hair gleamed with luster.
Brienna, however, lowered her head humbly.
“Since my father was involved in causing Your Majesty such distress, I feel even more ashamed. Although His Royal Highness, ever kind, immediately reassured me, how could I possibly hold my head up?”
“It was hardly the Count’s fault. Clearly, it was that Grand Duke’s scheming.”
The Empress spoke lightly.
As everyone expected, the Empress undoubtedly believed the Grand Duke was behind both the swapped painting and the vanished artist, Le Souer.
Thus, she must have gladly accepted her father’s suggestion to seize credit for the Grand Duke’s accomplishments. But then, why open the door only now? Brienna was just beginning to harbor a small doubt when—
“There. Now that you’ve seen me today, you’ll surely sleep peacefully tonight.”
Ah. So that was it.
The Empress narrowed her eyes, testing her. Brienna replied evenly.
“Though I should rightly find peace under Your Majesty’s benevolence…”
“…”
“…I’m ashamed to admit I keep thinking of His Royal Highness, sleeping on that hard camp bed at the border…”
Brienna let her sentence trail off. The Empress smiled warmly, like a spring breeze.
“Oh my. What a tender heart you have.”
Apparently pleased with her answer, Brienna had just started to relax slightly when the Empress suddenly clicked her tongue.
“Yet, if your worry for the Crown Prince runs so deep… why do we still hear not a single infant’s coo in this palace?”
“…I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty.”
The Empress looked at the Crown Princess with clear displeasure. Though her voice sounded submissive, Brienna’s face betrayed not a hint of shadow.
As if it were perfectly natural that, even after five years of marriage, there’d been no word of an Imperial Grandson.
[This is the timeline separator]Brienna returned to the Crown Princess’s palace a little over an hour later.
“Your Highness, you’re back! How is Her Majesty?”
In the reception room of the Crown Princess’s palace,
Helen abruptly stood up, interrupting her herbal brew, to welcome her daughter.
Mother, really—you should leave such tasks to the maids.
But Helen, who loved her daughter more than anyone, would never accept such reasoning. Brienna smiled gently to reassure her curious mother.
“She’s much better after resting. She even thanked me for my efforts and instructed me to continue supporting His Royal Highness.”
In other words, she was to resume leading social events like tea parties to sway public opinion. Helen released an overly relieved sigh, as did the maids behind her.
“That’s a relief, Your Highness. While you’ve been busy paying respects to Her Imperial Majesty, Lady Lancaster has been strutting about so boldly.”
Lady Amandel.
“Yes, Your Highness. She looked just like a skylark showing off its feathers.”
Lady Rodin.
The other young noblewomen standing behind echoed similar remarks. Amid their haughty comments, Brienna faintly curved her lips.
“Instead of this, I should’ve just brought an invitation card for you, Your Highness.”
After the excited maids had all left, Brienna muttered petulantly,
“Father should’ve killed that girl on the battlefield. Then we wouldn’t be stuck with this nuisance.”
“Oh dear, but didn’t Your Highness yourself insist she not be killed back then?”
Helen said playfully, smiling.
“I did wish that girl would die early. But thanks to our wise Highness’s choice, we received an enormous compensation and even watched her fall into the mud—so it turned out rather well.”
Sharing a secret smile known only to conspirators, Brienna reflected on the past.
Ten years ago, the world had belonged entirely to Nerea.
Wherever one went, dolls of the red-haired knight in black armor were everywhere, and newspapers competed to publish news of her.
“Count Esteban sounds victory!” “Count Esteban seizes the momentum!” Count Esteban, Count Esteban.
Amid crowds proclaiming as if only one person bore the name Esteban—the Imperial Shield, the Black Knight Nerea Esteban—Brienna had merely smiled.
After all, it was Brienna who had persuaded her parents—the ones who’d raged, “How can that child even wield a sword? How is she still alive? Kill her now!”—not to end Nerea’s life.
“You must wait, Father. It’s not yet her time to die.”
Though puzzled, her father trusted his daughter’s judgment—and soon learned of the victory reparations Nerea’s triumphs would bring, laughing until his mouth nearly split.
“Truly, my clever daughter—Brienna.”
When Nerea finally killed King Gauwe, the compensation surpassed even Castarti’s five most fertile granaries, eight jewel mines, and mountains of jewels and silks as far as the eye could see.
Receiving two comital titles and eight viscountcies was, of course, guaranteed—and all would go to Gabe.
But Brienna’s reason for opposing Nerea’s death had never been about compensation.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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