Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

“Yeah, I’m home.”

Stepping down from the white horse was a person even whiter than the horse itself.

Apparently, he was also one of the knights. While the iron-clad knight stood tensely and stiffly, the man called Ruifeng was carefree. At the same time, he sparkled.

His hair was pure white and shone, his skin was white down to his fingertips and sparkled, and his pale blue eyes framed by white eyelashes also glittered. His slender figure and delicate, almost feminine features made him look a little over twenty. In contrast, the knight in armor looked at least a decade older. Yet the power dynamic was clear.

—That must mean… this guy is really strong!

“Hmm? Foreigners becoming knights of Dilz, huh…”

Ruifeng, having heard about us from the knights, glanced me up and down, then gave the armored knight a mild reproachful look.

“By the way, it’s not good to turn away someone who comes to the fortress at the gate. Whether they’re citizens or foreigners, you should at least hear them out first. If they don’t know something, just teach them.”

“Ah… yes. Sorry for the rudeness…”

“You should be apologizing not to me, but to them and the citizens. It’s the army’s job to control the people with authority. We knights should be the reliable police of the city.”

“I-I'm very sorry! I’ll make sure this never happens again!”

The knight straightened up and struck his chest with his fist.

“Yes! Yes! Okay, okay, okay!”

I raised my hand and interrupted their conversation.

“Are you the highest-ranking person in this knights order? Then make us knights!”

“Hey, what kind of tone is that? Even so, this man isn’t someone you should be speaking to like that.”

“It’s okay. They haven’t been disrespectful.”

Ruifeng gently stopped the knight who was about to say something.

“You don’t sound like you’re speaking pure Sphainese. During the war, Sphain invaded and occupied everything from remote continental areas to isolated islands off the coast. Some of those small settlements don’t even have a noble system, and because of sudden biased language control, many didn’t learn the proper honorifics. Their hometown is probably like that.”

“...Huh?”

My younger brother Adam murmured in puzzlement. I didn’t understand most of the words either.

Ruifeng didn’t give us a detailed explanation but instead smiled warmly.

“Places in the Dilz Territory where Sphainese is spoken and the noble system hasn’t reached—probably the archipelago nations further south, like Luhab Island? Welcome all the way from there to Dilz Royal Capital.”

“Ah… y-yeah.”

“Unlike the islands, the mainland gets colder, right? I’ll provide you with a place to stay tonight and a warm cloak for training. Tomorrow, you should visit the employment agency. They’ll dispatch you to places where Sphainese is useful on the same day.”

His tone was casual and kind, without the slightest hint of condescension. My brother and I exchanged looks and nodded together. We turned back to Ruifeng.

“Um! Please let us work here!”

“That’s not possible.”

He answered simply.

Seeing us slump in disappointment, Ruifeng gave a wry smile.

“Sorry. Someday I’d like to let commoners join if they’re capable… but as long as that ‘iron-faced’ Crown Prince is around, it won’t happen…”

“Then, what about the lower ranks… like soldiers or gatekeepers?”

I persisted, but he shook his head again.

“This knights order consists of noble sons, from cooks to laundry maids. Fifty years ago there was a category for mercenaries, but now that the war is over, even gatekeepers are just receptionists—”

In the middle of his explanation, Ruifeng suddenly stopped speaking. He looked into the air and muttered to himself.

“Wait, gatekeepers… Cyrus said he fired a rude gatekeeper recently… In that case, they might have some work even if they don’t speak Dilz… Yeah, this is perfect.”

He stopped and suddenly grinned.

That smile was different from the gentle one before.