I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 56 - Friend from the past

It was nine years ago that Dominic Lannette and Claude met.

That day, the large hall used for knightly ceremonies was filled with murmurs.

In the place where all the boys who had recently passed the knighthood examination were gathered together, 13 year old Claude was standing quietly by the wall by himself.

He had passed the knighthood examination and had finally become a trainee.

During the year-long training, aptitude is assessed, and after a year, after becoming an official knight, assignment is decided.

Claude and most of the boys aspire to become a royal knight, a position in direct service of the royal family.

Most aspiring knights aspire to get this position, where they must be from a prominent family with a title, have good conduct, and have the highest form of sword skills and physical abilities in order to be assigned.

As I was quietly waiting for the training to begin, I was suddenly approached by a voice saying, “Excuse me”.

“Are you Claude Bradley?”

It was a clever-looking boy with dark brown hair and auburn eyes who approached Claude.

“….Yes but?”

I answered, a little wary.

At the time, Claude, who was already being trained by the knight commander under the king’s direct command, was a bit distant from the boys who were aspiring to become knights.

He had the family backing of a marquis, and he was a fiancé candidate for the infamous sole daughter of the Duke of Elford’s family.

There are many who approached him, either to criticize him for his connections, or on the flip side, to befriend him for their own benefits.

“Ohh, as expected. I knew it straight away”

The boy laughed pleasantly, paying no attention to Claude’s unfriendly reaction.

“I mean, you were the only one who had a really good posture. You looked strong. I’m trying to become a knight of the royal court too, you see”

The boy, who introduced himself as Dominic, looked at Claude from head to toe as if inspecting him carefully and laughed, “You look really strong after all”.

“We can work hard together. Let’s get along”

The hand that the boy held out to him was full of old scratches of sword and dagger.

Claude, who was fed up with what a rude person he was, looked at the palm of his hand.

“….Nice to meet you”

He held out a rugged hand, similar to the boy’s.

Dominic’s eyes became round at the hand then he smiled and shook his hand.

~~~~~

“You see, I don’t like merchants”

“Your family used to be a merchant family”

Neil said in disgust at Dominic’s words.

The three of them have become good friends during their time as trainees, and they have been spending a lot of time together on a daily basis like this.

“That’s exactly why”

Dominic frowned.

“The business world is full of shrewd, black-hearted people. In such a world, people like my grandfather who are too good-natured are preyed upon. If you let your guard down or show any affection, you’re finished”

Dominic’s birth family was the Lannettes, a wealthy viscount family, and he lamented that he would’ve to take care of his sister until her marriage because she was a weak-minded person too.

Originally, it was a wealthy merchant family as Neil said. They did a lot of business with foreign countries, and his great-grandfather was given a knighthood in recognition of their achievements in developing the town and the country.

Once his grandfather took over the family though, the trading company he ran quickly shrank and went out of business.

However, when Dominic’s father took over the title, the family quickly re-established itself.

The family originally established itself as a merchant family. Dominic’s father, who is skilled at communicating and promoting himself, is said to have been able to get along well with high-ranking nobles even though he is only a viscount, and apparently he is able to generate a surprising amount of tax revenue from his small estate, which he skillfully circulates around.

“I absolutely hate that kind of tedious world. The world of the knight is easy to understand. Well, even a knight has to deal with origins and bargains the more higher up the position is”

“That’s true. It’s the same whether for nobles or commoners. Life isn’t so kind as to be able to live comfortably over some beautiful words”

What’s more, Neil said.

“I have a feeling your talent comes from being a merchant. Not in a bad way but as your strong point”

Claude nodded in agreement.

“Dominic can judge what kind of person he is dealing with and how to talk to them in a way that is acceptable. Dominic is good at seeing through people’s hearts. I’m sure you’ll be able to make good use of your merchant talent as a knight”

It’s a talent I don’t have, Claude honestly thinks so.

However, Dominic looked a little awkward because of Claude’s praise.

“As expected, you found out. I was thinking of getting along with you and having you put in a word for me to your master, the knight commander”

“Well... We get along this well after all”

“You’re quite mean, aren’t you?”

Seeing Neil’s tired face and Dominic’s even more awkward face, Claude laughed without a thought while shaking his shoulders.

To Neil and Dominic who was shocked at Claude for he was never one to laugh much, with a smile still on his face, Claude said, “Isn’t it a good thing?”.

“For a man who held a sword to the point of bleeding, it is also a part of the efforts to promote himself to fulfill his own objective in my opinion”

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

At the amazed Dominic, Claude smiled wryly, “However”.

“It was out of expectations that you wouldn’t be able to promote yourself even if you got along with me, wasn’t it?”

Practice with the knight commander has been canceled since I have passed the knighthood examination and become a trainee. I haven’t had a chance to meet with him at all.

Since you’ve become a knight, become the royal knight with your own ability if you still want to practice with me again. That is my master’s thought.

“….No. I’m done with that already”

Dominic laughed at Claude’s words.

“I mean I’ll pass without any doubt if I keep this up”

“Uwah, wait a second. Stop raising flags”

That was probably the last time they laughed at each other without any worry.

Soon after, at an evening party he attended with Violet, a young lady stepped on the hem of Violet’s dress.

It was on the same day that Dominic got down on his knees that he realized it was his sister

“—-I’m begging you, Claude. I want you to placate the young lady of Elford”

Dominic knelt before Claude and rubbed his head against the ground.

“Dominic, stop that!”

“My sister has always been a dullard. She has done such a preposterous thing as to step on the hem of  your fiancee... the young lady of Elford’s dress”

“I’ll do what I can! Now get your head up already”

With that, he promised Dominic that he would ask Violet.

And so, he asked Violet countless times to somehow forgive them while lowering his head.

However, Violet stubbornly shook her head and looked at Claude with cold eyes.

“If the disrespect isn’t paid back with double, you’ll definitely get tripped by the feet one day”

He realized that Violet, who said nothing more than that, was never going to forgive them.

He asked his father, the marquis, if he can do something about it and even bowed down to Johannes whom he never wanted to rely on—the man he had decided to be his future lord, but the fall could not be averted, partly because of the crimes of the viscount who had worked to prevent their downfall were exposed.

The details were kept under wraps, but apparently he had been blackmailing and extorting lower class nobles and wealthy commoners.

Whether this was true or not, there was a racket at the time that the crimes were fabricated by Violet.

Either way, Dominic’s path of becoming a royal knight was ruined.

(Not as a royal knight but as an ordinary knight. There was a way to work....)

At that time, Claude desperately laid the groundwork for him to be permitted to remain as a knight, but Dominic did not choose that path.

In the meantime, Dominic disappeared.

The day after he disappeared, Claude and Neil were assigned as royal knights, which they had been aiming for.

Translator’s Notes:

I changed ‘knight of the royal court’ to ‘royal knight’. In the first place, I wonder why I was even using the long one before. Sorry for the inconvenience.