Tsurugi no Joou to Rakuin no Ko:Volume 2 Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The White Rose Knight

North west of the Holy Capital the Emperor has a palace called the Emerald Palace. An imposing castle, overlooking the Holy Capital water supply of lake Takamiya, this is one of the oldest buildings in the kingdom. Every time the sun shines on the lake, the moss on the walls looks as if it was burning, dyed in a glamorous red, this is what the Emerald Palace was named after.

This place was more serene then the Divine Queen Palace, usually few people had access here. In recent years, as he was about to enter old age only Grand Duke Galerius would visit the Emperor.

But on this day, another person came with Galerius. They stopped in front of the white wooden door.

"I'm still like everyone else when it comes to visiting the emperor, we will have to wait." Galerius said to the person that accompanied him. They went into a spacious terrace close to the door.

Here a Hanging Garden was arranged, and they were greeted with the colors of spring. The garden had flowers, birds singing, squirrels playing in the foliage. With a panoramic view overlooking the city's bustling streets and lakefront.

"The view here is great right?" He turned around and asked the young man beside him.

"Yes!"

On the youth's face appeared a natural smile, delicate like a girl; shoulder-length silver hair, revealing the shape of his ears. He was wearing formal Knight clothing, the cape trimmed with a white rose badge - proof that he was a White Rose Knight, in the whole army of the Holy Kingdom less then ten people received this honor.

"Such a beautiful city, such a beautiful country, I swear to protect it with my life." he said.

Galerius sighed, thinking that this young knight couldn't be more impressed about the beauty in front of him.

"Giulio, you know you will have to do something about that habit of yours. At least when seeing a view like this, you should forget about being a knight."

The young knight Giulio's face became solemn: "I believe that in order to properly guard the nation's peace, I must meet the model of the perfect White Rose Knight."

"The whole country can not rely on one person to protect it, everyone has a role in it. Starting today, you will serve as a guard to the Emerald Palace, as long as you concentrate on maintaining peace in this city then it's just fine."

"Your servant understands." Giulio recovered his cheerful appearance and answered in a loud voice.

Can this young man really do the job properly... Galerius thought a bit flabbergasted. But this is essential for the job, Giulio had almost a perfect score. His superior swordsmanship, steadfast loyalty to the state; he was young, and not very connected, all necessary conditions. And his girlish beauty also seemed to be tailor-made for this task.

But he is too innocent, making him feel uneasy.

"His Majesty will see you later. His Majesty is of an advanced age, and he's feeling the years on his body..."

Galerius said in a careful tone, such as stamping a wax seal, making Giulio feel a bit nervous.

His Majesty the Emperor of this city had only two places he called home: one was the palace where the queen Silvia resides, and the other was this Emerald Palace.

"But following His Majesty's long years of seclusion here, it can get a bit boring. In addition to serving as His Majesty's personal servant, you will also accompany him on his walks. When he will see you, he might be happy to have someone new to talk to, but do not take too long. Say that you need to finish a report so that you will not stay long in front of His Majesty."

"Your servant understands." said Giulio while giving a courtesy bow, then lifted his head and asked: "Your servant heard that His Highness was your lordship Galerius' brother. Logically speaking His Majesty should still be young, him staying in the Emerald Palace all the time, is it because he is sick? "

I wonder if this type of curiosity is specific to young people... Galerius though. The young knight had almost blind loyalty, this curiosity was very intriguing, he could not help but smile. Giulio was indeed a very likable young man, but at the same time this made Galerius deepen his distrust.

He is needed in this post, so I will have to overlook this. Galerius did not think this youth had the ability to deceive him.

"His Majesty is not that old and he is not sick, but he refused to leave the palace, you're better off not knowing and seeing to your own duties."

Galerius finished, turned around and looked in the direction of the hallway. Two boys just came out from behind the white door, and immediately saluted Galerius as they saw him, then walked toward the left side of the hallway.

The attendants had left. The Emperor seemed ready to meet them.

"Let's go."

Galerius started walking toward the door, only to see Giulio still standing still.

"... What's the matter? " asked Galerius.

"Your lordship, I'm sorry... there is a squirrel..."

Giulio seemed like he was about to cry, Galerius could not help but frown -- a squirrel?

"It fell asleep on my shoulder..."

Taking a closer look, he could see that a squirrel got inside Giulio's cape, the tail hanging outside the cape. Galerius almost let go of his walking stick.

"Please wait your lordship, your servant will carefully put it away, so it won't wake up."

Giulio tried not to lose his balance, and carefully reached out to the squirrel.

"Fool! It's nothing but a squirrel, just drive it off!"

"But my lord, you said this humble servant's job is to maintain the palace peace. The squirrel is also a part of the palace, do I not have to ensure it's peace?"

Galerius was speechless. Giulio gently placed the squirrel in the shade. Galerius could not help but find this course of action very cute, suddenly coming to his senses, only to find this entire scene very annoying.

(This man to the end! Innocence should also have a limit!)

(... Maybe he isn't suited for the job after all?)

Now however, it's too late to not give Giulio the post. He had no energy to lecture Giulio and turned directly toward the hallway. He could hear Giulio's footsteps as he hurried to keep up. Galerius pushed the white wooden door, and got a whiff of a sweet aroma.

This was a spacious bedchamber. Near the door various tall tables could be found, some filled with books, and the guards posted inside the room. The light of the candlesticks illuminated the entire room, and a large bed placed at the far end on a raised platform, with a canopy on top and purple curtains walling it off.

"Galerius to see His Majesty the Emperor--"

Galerius respectfully bowed his head, and was about to go on, when a voice from the bed made him stop:

"Well, Galerius, the long greeting now exempt -- introduce the young man behind you."

Galerius had a puzzled expression but kept silent, then turned his head. Standing behind him was the young knight frozen in place like something happened - making him feel a bit frightened... Galerius had a very uneasy feeling - because of the Emperor - because the Emperor's bedchamber was too messy yet even light could not pass though the purple curtains that surprised him...?

No, It was the voice of the Emperor that frightened Giulio. The Emperor as Galerius' older brother, should be over 50 years old. However listening to his voice made him be extremely young, it was like an insult to his ears.

"Do not fluster, I do not know what Galerius said to you, but I am only a man not exposed to the sun. I can see you and can hear your voice."

Galerius glanced once at Giulio. The young White Rose Knight tried very hard not to make his surprised expression apparent, and at the same time went forward step by step, "... I am your humble servant and vassal - from Geriou - Geminiani's son, I'm called Giulio."

"I don't know how many times I already heard from Galerius here, that that Geminiani had raised an interesting child." the Emperor spoke and at the same time Giulio found himself starring at the floor with his cheeks slightly flushed. "I heard that you were raised as a shrine maiden of God, were you?" He spoke these words with no inflection of emotion.

"Yes, my father raised me so my humble self could one day walk this path."

But Giulio showed no sign of fear, nor anything to be ashamed of. Inside the curtains the sound of laughter could be heard. After Galerius listened to Giulio's response he couldn't not help but feel a slight surprise.

Giulio's father, Geriou - Geminiani was of low nobility. He did not care about anything else but to succeed, however unable to find a proper way. Many years he had tried to get a child, however seemingly unable to foster one, he fell into depression. When he was forty years old he finally got a son, but his son looked more like a cute girl then a boy, and Geminiani finally collapsed.

However, in order to rise to success, the only position in the Holy Kingdom that did not need large boys was beside the Queen - becoming a shrine maiden of God, then a servant in the palace... Geminiani came up with this idea, and thus Giulio was raised as a girl with theology as the center.

Most surprisingly however, was that his intention was not seen through, and Giulio at the age of 12, was admitted to the institution, successfully becoming a shrine maiden of God.

The one who noticed Giulio was actually a man, was not the High Priestess or his fellow students, but a well-known swordsman who was fortunately in the palace at the time - in the Inner Palace he was among girls, so Giulio had to hide his identity, being carefully not to stand out, however he was unable to "hide his smell" from the swordsman, so he was noticed.

This was a very lucky encounter for Giulio. As he grew older, he would have begun to stand out because of his body height, but at the time he was exposed it was no small matter. However, the swordsman while taking the job of becoming a fencing adviser in the Royal Palace, offered to become Giulio's teacher.

Giulio had then stopped his studies, picked up the sword, discarded the shrine maiden clothes and put on a suit of armor. After several years, he obtained mastery of the sword, recording all the techniques with his body.

And now he was offered knighthood and the medal of the White Rose Knights, climbing yet again the social ladder.

Originally his father should have been happy with this outcome, however because he was suffering from heart disease, he was admitted into a nursing home high up in the mountains. And Giulio, although having lived such a crazy life, was now accepted as a guard of the Emerald Palace. If he would have taken the normal path for knights maybe he would have never climbed the ladder to such heights.

"Giulio, you will become a part of the knights that I command directly, I have no objections to this." the Emperor's voice was heard through the curtains.

"Yes, this is a great honor for my humble self!"

"Your duty on the surface will be to protect the queen as her personal knight."

"Her Majesty the Queen's personal knight?" Giulio lifted his face to reveal a very cheerful expression.

"Yes!" The Emperor then said in a serious tone: "But what you have seen today and what was talked here must not be disclosed to anyone, if I should hear anything, I will have you and all of your immediate family beheaded."

This sentence was so heavy, Giulio could not help but grimace -- seeing this, made Galerius feel distressed. While he did not know how much to tell the knights before they were posted here. He had to at least give them enough information so that they knew what to expect, he could not tell him more while the palace Lady Luonisica had her headquarters here, Giulio will have to deal with this himself... however the Emperor's next statement made Galerius face go white.

"Yes, you may not know this, but there are queens in this generation."

"Your Majesty!" Galerius could not help the outburst and get over it.

"Do not interrupt. If you do not tell him the matter, how can he perform his duty?"

Galerius held his breath, and could only back off - however what the Emperor said was right... Although he could understand in his heart, he could not conceal the hurried look he sent toward Giulio.

"... Your Majesty means..."

"The Emperor had two daughters. The sisters have both inherited the Divine Oracle powers."

"How can there be such a thing--"

"The other sister is called Minerva, she regarded inheriting the position of Queen with extreme loathing, therefore fled the Kingdom since she was young. Now she's with the Zaccaria knights. If you were on the battlefield you should have heard her name, she is the <Salt Spraying Soul Reaper on the Battlefield>. "

Giulio could not bear to swallow his breath. "... In the end what is the reason Minerva left Your Majesty..."

"The Queen shoulders a heavy responsibility." The Emperor did not let Giulio speak before continuing."But most of Dushanda power of Oracle stayed with Minerva. So she is supposed to inherit the throne. As for Silvia, the Oracle power in her body is weak, but still refuses to write predictions and refuses to talk." Galerius dismissed the idea of interrupting. At this time Giulio's bright future vanished. Because he had heard these deep secrets, this young knight is unable to turn back to a normal life ever again.

"Because of this, within the palace, there will be people who want to take advantage of this." The priestesses resident in the palace can make predictions. Even if Silvia will not talk, they can still get Oracle predictions from her. The headquarters of Lady Luonisica has held all of these prophecies for me, there have always been three Great Dukes leading the Holy Kingdom taking sovereignty of the Inner Palace. But now inside the Inner Palace the temples hold power, there are many of your former classmates that you should know... is there anything you don't understand?"

Galerius looked briefly to Giulio, his face was pale, full of regret. Regretted coming here, regretted the severe work ahead. Now this frank and loyal youth, must now become the good knight and spy between the queen and the shrine maidens. If he would have followed the proper path for a knight, in a upright manner, he would not be here today. But now he knows too much regarding the workings of the Inner Palace... Galerius felt pity for the boy and tried not to meet his line of sight.

"Your humble servant did not understand."

Giulio answered in an unexpected way, Galerius couldn't help but stare at him.

--What? What did this guy say?

--What His Majesty had said, he didn't understand?

"Your servant has received the White Rose badge. Your servant does not understand what Your Majesty has said, exactly at what point is that in line with the duty of a knight."

Underneath those curtains I have no idea what kind of face you have older brother... Galerius couldn't help but wonder. Giulio completely blind-sighted him with his sense of Knight duty.

"Her Majesty's reluctance to speak, is Her Majesty's own will. Protecting her is my duty as a White Rose Knight, but such a duty does not include spying for Your Majesty."

"Shut up Giulio! Do you know what you are talking about!" Galerius could not help but interrupt. "These are His Majesty, The Emperor's orders!"

But this young knight actually did not give a thought to the warning and continued to open his mouth saying: "Your servant was warned, and knows that I am unable to leave. Your servant is willing to cut off his ears and to cut off his tongue to express the determination to keep everything a secret if Your Majesty so orders. But if ordered to act against Her Majesty the Queen, that will be difficult to obey."

His remarks made Galerius speechless, this was not just a frank and loyal man, his strong will made Galerius feel ashamed. Then he realized that Giulio was mentally tough, mentally strong enough to even think to such an unnecessary degree, but also Giulio's display was so strange that he was filled with fear and started trembling.

Galerius stood by and listened, and felt that he had a very weak character, always subservient to other men, playing along with their desires. And he wished to know if Giulio's strong mentality, that was so strong he could self-destruct, came from practice...

Galerius was unlikely to help Giulio now -- too afraid of being beheaded... Just when Galerius started to think, laughter sounded from behind the curtains.

"... Interesting. I have seen a lot of knights, that see themselves as the object of duty, all fragile like thin rope. The object of their declaration of loyalty, only wealth."

After after hearing the Emperor speak, Giulio did not display any trace of fear, his eyes staring straight at the curtains.

"You say you will refuse, but I told you that I will kill all of your immediate family, do you still refuse?"

"If Your Majesty orders your humble servant to protect the Queen's life at all cost, then I will gladly accept. But if your humble servant in his capacity of White Rose Knight cannot act contrary to Her Majesty's will, and also the White Rose badge honoring the families of Aetna, future children and grandchildren, will see it as disgrace with their eyes."

The Emperor laughed, hard enough to shake the curtains on the bed.

"Your Majesty, please pay attention to your image."

Galerius pointed out to the Emperor. The Emperor stopped laughing, replaced with heavy breathing, not laughing, but unable to hide the joy in his voice.

"... Well, it's not up to you at all. Galerius, you brought a really interesting guy."

This man is not here to entertain your boredom away -- Galerius almost pointed this out, but chose not to do it seeing the regret in Giulio's heart spread.

"Giulio, do not take seriously what I have just said. I order this of you now -- you should enjoy being the Queen's personal knight in the future."

Galerius couldn't help but swallow a sigh of relief. The Emperor then continued to say: "Your duty is to protect Silvia in the future, and nothing else, how about it?"

"Your Majesty, please wait, this --"

"Galerius, keep your mouth shut."

"Your servant will obey."

Giulio finished speaking, and bowed deeply to the Emperor. Galerius had a somber look, and pulled back from the edge of the bed, this is actually... Now we can only do this. After all, other than Giulio, he could probably not find another candidate. He's tight-lipped, so this task might still be feasible.

Despite Galerius thinking this, he still felt uneasy inside. He worried that he may have committed a fatal error, so the shadows of doubt covered his heart.

"I wish I was able to wield a sword right now." said the Emperor. "Galerius you help him hold the ceremony. While this task is anything but enjoyable, this young man seems to like such stiff ceremony."

Galerius took the sword from Giulio's scabbard, patted him on the shoulders with the sword then whispered the chant of the first Charter. Although only a stripped-down ceremony, but this is a Royal Family Order of Knights and needs a ceremony - Servant of the Gods and the crown, with absolute loyalty to the flag...

Right when Giulio was about to leave the Emperor's bedchamber, Galerius whispered to Giulio saying:

"You listen well, because you are both young and highly educated as a shrine maiden, so you are able to enter the temple, you can probably get Lady Luonisica to recognize it. But inside the Palace are all the enemies. The priests dislike Her Majesty dealing with the Three Grand Duke families and the military."

"Your humble servant will keep it in mind."

Giulio answered and at the same time a smile flourished on his face. It seemed as though he was thanking Galerius from the bottom of his heart, Galerius almost felt like adding: this is only for your ears... however "This humble servant will as a knight only think about protecting the Queen, regardless if such action may bring dangers to myself."

Galerius sighed. He was expecting a reply like this.

After the White Rose Knight left the Emperor's bedchamber, immediately the atmosphere all of a sudden felt heavy.

"... This man is truly unfortunate." the Emperor said from his bed though the purple curtains. "However, Galerius, I offer my thanks for finding such a man, a commendable job."

"This is not my credit, those octopuses who found him." Galerius spit a coldly. The "octopus" was actually a generic term for spies - or denigration.

"You seem to have found a very sharp fellow. I've never seen such a beautiful man before. Also, those beautiful eyes, rather sharp – ha-ha, it really is a shame, if not for such a duty, I'd want to keep him by my side. "

"Older brother, you really need to behave. Your body simply cannot handle this idea."

Now that this room held no other people, Galerius' tone became natural and relaxed.

"My body was very abiding lately. Do you want to see?"

"That's disgusting. I can't even look."

"You don't want to see?"

"I have not crawled to the status that I can live in seclusion. Besides I'm old and always feared this. "

"Ho-ho-ho, if you get sick, your idea will be casually overthrown. You see, my left hand has stabilized."

The Emperor finished speaking, the curtains opened up slightly and a hand stretched from the inside. Galerius cast a sidelong glance, and investigated the visible hand. The joints had the appearance of old age, but some skin outside the joint did not have any wrinkles, with cherry-colored skin just like a boy's hand.

However, the scary part lies in the place above the wrist, the exposed flesh and blood like a layer of skin. Galerius's entire body pulled back at the sight - repulsive, no matter whether this was merely a hand or a man, simply ugly and disgusting.

"I still can not compare to Lady Luonisica."

Galerius felt the Emperor's voice as he refused to give up and persisted in nipping the neck.

The palace Headquarters, the Palace Priest group is managed by one person, Lady Luonisica. No matter how much time passes, she always looks young and beautiful maintaining the same appearance, so it gives a creepy and disgusting impression.

"There seems to be something missing, we have no way to make it look like Lady Luonisica does."

Results, that's the real purpose ... Galerius heart suddenly felt a gushing sense of hopelessness.

The Emperor and the three Grand Duke families did not have any interest in the peace and future of the Holy Kingdom. Their eyes only lay upon the unique surgery Lady Luonisica uses that gives youth. The reason he sent Giulio into the palace was for this, Silvia simply did not matter to him. Galerius didn't want to spend time with the old man's obsession, since he never had the idea to go back to being young in this way. Whether his older brother or Lady Luonisica, the feelings for them are equally disgusting.

But that's not important. Since Giulio was intended to infiltrate the Inner Palace, Galerius had to start figuring how best to maximize the use of him as well as planning matters with the three Grand Duke families.

"By the way, you have to make sure Minerva comes back." The Emperor withdrew his hand back behind the purple curtains, and then muttered : "With great difficulty there are two daughters, huh, huh."

Galerius felt shivers runs down his back. As he tried to get rid of the chilling experience, he got up and left the Emperors bedchamber.

In the scenery outside the Emerald Palace, the spring sun hung as if to paste with the lake. Galerius could slide to the Atrium, and saw Giulio walking toward the door - he looks like a handsome young Knight once put up to such a task, the future of this boy will probably sink into the lake like dense algae, and unable to see a bright future again... But in Galerius' mind there was no pity or sympathy, but rather thoughts on how to best use the young knight - Giulio.

He had in fact not needed the Emperor to urge him, Galerius also planned to bring Minerva back. But this is not for the sake of the old man's obsession, but for the Holy Kingdom of Aetna. Galerius was calculating whether to make Giulio also contribute to this, while also starting to walk slowly following the corridor.

Translator's notes & references

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