The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

MARIUS

After the Second Consort’s second visit on the second day of the festival, things settled down to normalcy again. Dorian left—finally—and Skylark and I got to spend some time together by ourselves, after which we joined up with Dimitri, Briant, and Alexis to try out various silly but entertaining festival challenges on offer, and the group then expanded with the addition of Beatrice and Janice.

The only sore point was that somewhere along the line, Skylark went off to spend some time with Isabelle and Thomas.

Thomas—I wasn’t exactly mad at him for the way he provoked me last time. And if anything, our last encounter at the food stall seemed to suggest that he held no grudges.

But the fact that he did not join our group during the full free day we had at the festival made me feel uneasy, or even somewhat sad.

Dimitri joked that it was probably because Thomas wanted to be alone with Isabelle, but that theory was quickly debunked when Skylark joined them. That rebuttal itself was soon questioned again, however, when Alexis pointed out that Skylark was just welcomed everywhere, simply because that was how it was.

It was around evening, shortly after dinner, that Dorian turned up and announced with that disinterested look of his,

"Valenkraft. Somebody wants to see you."

I knew instinctively that it had to be Falken.

Did Dorian report anything? Did Falken really know that ’Maria’ was the Second Consort?

’How did he know?’ was not a question at this point.

The more pressing concern was what to do now that I had been given a new mission by the Second Consort that I was supposed to somehow keep secret from the man who had placed great trust in me and had been offering invaluable guidance.

’Is omission of truth a lie?’

I would have liked to think that it wasn’t.

But breaking the spirit of trust, and the command to report, was certainly unacceptable.

Nobody had told me before, though, what I should do when it was a member of the Royal Family who gave me a direct order.

And the one person who could advise me now was the person from whom I had to hide all this.

I was a little surprised to have Dorian follow me to Falken’s office, as he explained that Falken wanted to see us together, but I was even more surprised to see Isabelle, Thomas, and Skylark waiting in the room already.

Of all the people who could be brought together by Falken...

"Welcome, Marius," Falken said warmly.

I looked around. Isabelle stood expressionless, Thomas looked visibly disgruntled, and Skylark was oblivious.

"How may I be of service, Sir?" I asked first.

"First, let me apologize for interrupting your pleasant evening. I wish I didn’t have to do this in the middle of the Autumn Festival, of all times." He sounded genuinely regretful, although Thomas didn’t seem to think so.

"I trust there must be a good reason," I said.

"An opportunity has presented itself unexpectedly, and I thought this was something far too good to let pass for students with such potential as yourselves," he said.

We all listened attentively.

"Would you, gentlemen—and lady—be ready to take on a mission tonight?"

We looked at each other.

This was very sudden indeed. But Falken said it was an ’opportunity.’

"What kind of mission are we talking about?" Thomas asked bluntly.

"A real field operation. We have received information that could lead to putting an end to illegal activities that have been going on for too long," Falken explained.

"And what authority do you have to order us?" Thomas asked again.

"Thomas—" I tried to calm him down, but Falken interrupted me, saying,

"I am a member of the Ministry of Imperial Welfare."

Thomas blinked a few times, while Isabelle’s expressionless face went even more expressionless.

"What the hell is that?"

It seemed Thomas had never heard of it before, which was understandable, considering that I had never heard of it either before I met Falken. I glanced at Dorian. He was looking straight ahead.

"It’s a ministry that looks after the welfare of imperial citizens, as well as the Empire itself," Falken explained.

"I’ve never heard of such a ministry," Thomas said sharply.

"We simply focus on our work diligently and with humility. What we do isn’t often publicized," Falken said with a smile.

"I will take no orders from someone I don’t know."

By the time he finished his sentence, Thomas had already turned around and was heading toward the door.

"Very well. I wouldn’t force anyone to take on a mission they are uncomfortable with. But Isabelle Moreau, I presume you would like to participate?"

Thomas stopped cold.

"Yes, Sir," Isabelle answered.

"Isabelle!" Thomas turned and called out to her in disbelief.

"Thomas Whitmore, please take your leave. The mission briefing contains confidential information that I cannot share with you since you are not taking part," Falken said calmly.

"Why?!" Thomas ignored Falken and asked Isabelle.

"Thomas, please leave," Isabelle said. Her voice was trembling a little.

Then there was silence in the room.

From somewhere in the distance, the loud sound of a group of students laughing rang through the air.

"Fine. I will do it."

Thomas grunted and got back in the line where we were standing.

"No, leave now, Thomas," Isabelle said.

"No, I’ll do it," Thomas insisted.

"Don’t be stupid. Just leave." Isabelle sounded like she was almost pleading.

"Guys... please don’t fight," Skylark said, quietly concerned.

"Wait—is Leo coming to the ’mission’ as well?" Thomas asked Falken.

"Yes," Falken said. Short and flat.

"What for?" Thomas asked, not quite minding the fact that the question sounded as if he was asking, ’What is this boy even needed for?’

"Everybody deserves a chance, don’t you think? And Leo has been training very hard in the evenings," Falken said with a smile.

"It’s okay, Thomas. I don’t know what the mission is, but we will all be in it together, and Mathias is right. I have been training really hard! And we will have Mario with us, who can do anything!"

Thomas looked at me. His eyes were burning.

Rage. Fear. And a quiet demand that told me, ’You better make sure nobody gets hurt.’

I nodded.

That was one thing I wouldn’t allow myself to fail.

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