Chapter 407: Lux’s Conviction
The throne room, where words had been flying just moments ago, suddenly fell into silence.
As I once again felt the dignified presence Felisiana-sama carried as the Third Princess,
The King, who had frozen along with the soldiers, spoke with a stubborn look, as if refusing to accept what was happening.
“D-don’t be intimidated! All of you! It’s true I was surprised by Felisiana’s appearance, but she’s just good with words, the situation hasn’t changed at all!! We still have them surrounded, and no matter what they say, in the end they have no choice but to submit to this King!!”
“The situation hasn’t changed? As always, your understanding of it is lacking.”
“W-what…!?”
“What you said earlier was based on the assumption that the one here was merely a maid, wasn’t it? But Siana is me… in other words, the Third Princess, Felisiana. That means you can no longer exploit Lux-kun’s weakness, and more importantly…”
Drawing the sword she had hidden beneath her maid attire, she spoke with firm resolve.
“As long as I am here, I will never forgive any of you for trying to harm Lux-kun.”
“Felisiana-sama…”
“Don’t worry, Lux-kun… I will absolutely protect you.”
She spoke gently, offering me a soft smile.
“…”
Felisiana-sama was trying to protect me.
And just earlier, I had truly wanted to protect Siana.
Then what about Felisiana-sama?
…There’s no need to even ask.
Following that feeling, I drew my sword and spoke.
“Felisiana-sama! If you’re going to fight, please let me fight alongside you!”
“W-what…!? N-no, you mustn’t! I will protect you no matter what, so stay behind me…”
“I don’t want to just be protected, I want to protect you too, Felisiana-sama!”
“…! Not just be protected… you want to protect me?”
“Yes! I’ve been doing everything I can, in my own way, to protect what matters to me! So… please let me fight with you!”
“Lux-kun… you really are… how far will you go…”
She trailed off, then after a brief pause said,
“Alright… then let’s fight together.”
“Yes!!”
Taking that as our signal, Felisiana-sama and I raised our swords at the same time.
Seeing us, the King shouted in agitation.
“W-what…!? Are you really saying you’ll fight this King head-on!?”
“Fight? The ones about to fight are the soldiers, not you, Father. Someone like you, who sits on the throne without making any effort to protect anything like Lux-kun does, shouldn’t use the word ‘fight.’”
“Guh…! Y-you…!! E-enough of this!! You there!! They’re only two people!! Crush them with your numbers!!”
At the King’s enraged command, the soldiers rushed forward, closing the distance and thrusting their spears at us.
But… compared to the thrusts of Florence-san’s rapier, which I train against regularly, they were slow, no… they weren’t even worth comparing.
With my back to Felisiana-sama’s, we moved in sync, dodging attacks aimed at ourselves with minimal motion, deflecting those that might strike each other, and counterattacking in turn.
As we repeated those movements, the soldiers who had surrounded us just moments ago quickly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
“Th… th… th… this… can’t… be…”
The only one left was the King, sitting on his throne, pale and speechless.