My Ex-Girlfriend Was Appointed as a Knight Commander

Chapter 8

Based on that one fact alone, it was easy to guess that their end would be tragic.

He got a fiancée.

Those were the last words Theodora heard before breaking up with Maxim. His attitude had definitely been strange for the past few months. He intentionally reduced the time they spent together, couldn’t look her straight in the eye when talking, and gradually decreased physical contact.

Theodora intentionally ignored those signals, denied reality, deliberately avoided the conversation, and forcibly stayed close to him. But in the end, she couldn’t stop Maxim.@@@@

Maxim announced the breakup after the graduation ceremony.

“Why...”

She tried to convince herself that there must be a reason, that there must be a reason Maxim couldn’t tell her, but the answer he gave was one.

“From the beginning, I became a knight to succeed.”

Thanks to a good fiancée, he could succeed without having to struggle. That’s what Maxim said. Theodora couldn’t look directly at his expression. She didn’t dare to look at it. She felt like something inside her would break if she saw that expression.

“...Then can’t you just come to me? It was a joke then, but you can really stay at our house as a live-in son-in-law. Our family isn’t shabby, and we have a lot of money.”

Theodora said that as if squeezing it out. Did she cry? She was probably crying in an ugly way.

“I’ll... I’ll try harder too. I’ll become a knight who can create your success.”

“... I’m sorry.”

It would have been better if he hadn’t said he was sorry. Theodora couldn’t even remember what she said next or what she did. She probably poured out unimaginably harsh words.

That day, instead of something breaking inside Theodora, it changed.

The eyes that were full of life turned cold and chilly, and her soft way of speaking became stiff. The smile gradually disappeared from her face, and only occasional sarcasm remained. People whispered that Theodora had returned to her old self.

The first place Theodora was assigned to was rough. It was in the north, and except for summer, it was always covered in snow. The snow-covered mountain valleys were crawling with monsters. It was one of the kingdom’s frontiers. There, she created achievements that could only be described as legendary.

Legend, or ghost story. A river of blood and a mountain of corpses. Theodora killed monsters as if possessed by a ghost. There was no such thing as a day off. She went to the front lines every day without fail and massacred the monsters.

In just 3 years, Theodora became the hero of the Kips region and the Sword Demon. The prestige of the Riant Empire’s new rising star echoed throughout the entire continent. Even the kingdoms farthest from it could hear Theodora’s name.

Those who proposed to Theodora were as numerous as the stars in the sky, and it was harder to find a family that hadn’t brought up a marriage proposal than one that had. However, she didn’t even glance at all those requests. At her words that she would take the sword as her companion and only look at the sword, the marriage proposals were abruptly cut off at some point.

The Bening family tried their best to change Theodora’s mind somehow, but her name had already surpassed Bening.

Theodora Bening of the Snowy Land. It was a nickname given to the noble and lonely Theodora.

The story about a change of workplace reached such a Theodora last spring.

“...The Raven Knight Order?”

“I don’t understand why they want to appoint someone of your caliber as the commander there.”

Lania Elga, the Snow Leopard Knight Order commander in charge of the Kips region, sighed and delivered the news to Theodora. With short-cut red hair as her trademark, she caressed the eye patch covering her left eye.

Theodora’s transfer would bring a huge loss of power to the Snow Leopard Knight Order. However, it was also true that she felt reassured at the thought of being able to send her, who had been so passionate to the point of seeming precarious, to the warm royal capital. Lania spoke in a voice mixed with half regret and half affection.

“The royal family’s influence must have been strong. They’re trying to revive the Raven Knight Order.”

“Can I... refuse?”

Lania found Theodora’s words both admirable and pitiful. What kind of experience must a person go through to change like this? Although she didn’t show it much in front of her, Lania always sympathized with Theodora.

“Since it’s a personnel order directly from the central government, as you may have guessed from the mention of the royal family... There’s nothing I can do about it either. Sorry, Theodora.”

“What does the royal family want?”

Lania shrugged her shoulders and began rummaging through the drawer of her office desk. Before long, her hand came up on the desk and held a stiff and luxurious envelope.

She flipped the envelope and showed Theodora the wax seal sealing the opening. On the bright red wax, a lion facing forward with a sword in its mouth.

“You should take care too, Commander.”

That’s how Theodora returned to the royal capital without even imagining what would befall her.

==

It was a day with rotten luck.

The messenger thought so. Of all days, he had to receive an errand from that loser knight commander of the Raven Knight Order and deliver a letter to the most promising knight in the kingdom.

Of course, delivering a letter to the most promising knight in the kingdom could be considered an honor. Still, the knight who received the letter now didn’t look too pleased. A chill pervaded the room. Although it was early summer, goosebumps from the cold rose on the messenger’s body.

“...Are you sure you brought the right one?”

That voice was like a blizzard. The messenger couldn’t even lift his head and froze in place. There was no way he properly heard that question.

“I... I’m sorry, but what did you sa...”

“I asked if you’re sure this letter really came from the Raven Knight Order.”

The messenger hurriedly nodded. Overwhelmed by her presence, he couldn’t even imagine that the question Theodora had just thrown was strange.

“Y-yes! I’m sure! I’m sure! I met the commander at the Raven Knight Order’s headquarters about an hour ago and brought it!”

Theodora’s expression didn’t change at the messenger’s words, but the pressure she exuded intensified.

“Eek...!”

The messenger unintentionally let out a small scream. However, Theodora’s pressure held his feet in place, not daring to move. The messenger swallowed his dry saliva. She wasn’t going to cut him down, right? He stared at the longsword hanging by Theodora’s waist with trembling pupils as if an earthquake had occurred.

Theodora folded the letter in half and placed it on the table beside her. When she raised her head, she seemed to have finally noticed that the messenger hadn’t left the room yet.

“You may go. Good work.”

“Yes! Thank you!”

The messenger opened the door and ran out without looking back. He even forgot the fact that he had to close the door. But whether the door was open or closed, Theodora didn’t notice such trivial matters.

“...Sigh.”

A sigh escaped from her lips. She picked up the letter and read it again. She read it two, three times, wondering if she had read it wrong. But the name of the vice commander written in the middle of the letter didn’t change.

Maxim Apart.

The name of a person she thought she would never see again was clearly written there. Theodora looked at the clock. Less than 30 minutes remained until the promised visit time. She got up from her seat and approached the full-length mirror standing in the corner of the room.

“It’s okay.”

She had to maintain her composure. Theodora composed her expression. She mustn’t waver. Theodora kept repeating to herself endlessly and adjusted the collar of her gray Snow Leopard Knight Order uniform. Beyond the open door, the presence of two soldiers who had arrived to escort her was felt.

“Commander?”

Theodora left the room. The two soldiers took the lead and began to guide the way.

The streets of the royal capital flashed by. Countless people’s gazes stuck and fell. But Theodora’s gaze and mind weren’t in the same space as them. Gradually, the crowds thinned, and they had already entered the uphill path leading to the knight order headquarters.

Theodora fully opened her senses to reduce her agitation before seeing Maxim’s face. Her senses, honed in the snowy mountains of Kips, were able to locate Maxim before long. At that overly familiar feeling, the desire to cry and hatred simultaneously rose within Theodora.

It’s okay.

Theodora deceived herself like that. She cut off all her feelings and emotions as if cutting with a sword.

The hill gradually became gentler. The two-story building of the headquarters entered Theodora’s field of vision. And the figure of a person standing in front of it also entered her sight.

It was the moment Maxim Apart appeared before Theodora after 3 years.