The Knight Commander of the Second Male Lead [Novel] Chapter 37

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 37

Chapter Title: Can't Help But Worry

-----------------------------------------------------------------

‘I shouldn’t worry, but I can’t help it. If I went to find him right now and join up, they’d just send me back packing.’

I hate that.

Nina pouted.

‘But Sir Lui went with him...’

“Huh?”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Nina chuckled at Jin, who only used formal speech when it suited him.

Whatever.

“We need to let Sir Lui know a guest is coming, but he went with the Young Master, didn’t he?”

“That’s why you’re going to tell him, right, Captain?”

Nina’s eyes widened at Jin’s words.

“Me?”

“Yeah. Ugh, fine. I’ll drop the formalities when it’s just us.”

“Go ahead.”

“But if I speak casually around others, you give me a silver coin each time.”

“Deal!”

Nina quickly raised her hand, and Jin lifted his with a look of grim determination.

They clapped palms to seal the promise.

Jin cleared his throat and spoke.

“His Grace is away, and so is Sir Lui. That makes you, the Knight Order Captain, the highest-ranking person in the castle right now.”

“Huh? Oh? Whoa, you’re right?”

Me? I’m the top authority?

Nina started walking again, her mind racing.

She arrived at the executioner’s office but didn’t sit down.

Jin took her long coat as she entered.

Leaning against the desk, Nina called for the steward.

Steward Smith came running.

“Greetings, Captain.”

He bowed politely. Nina smiled brightly and said,

“An important guest is coming tomorrow. Prepare a room—the corner one on the third floor east wing. Leave the cleaning to Margaret and Anne.”

Nina ticked off her fingers as she spoke.

“Tell John and Bobby to handle the heavy furniture. Margaret and Anne can manage those two just fine.”

Steward Smith looked stunned at Nina’s words. She asked,

“Something wrong?”

“N-No, not that. It’s just... you know all their names...”

“There’s only about twenty of them. It’d be ridiculous not to know the people you eat and sleep with in the castle. How could I sleep soundly if I didn’t know what’s right under my feet?”

Smith bowed at Nina’s blunt words, replying, “Y-Yes, quite right.”

“Is that all, then?”

“Yeah. For now.”

Smith quietly withdrew. Nina propped her chin on her hand.

“This is a problem.”

“What? The sage coming tomorrow? He’s not coming alone, is he?”

“No, it’s the servants in the castle. None of them know how to act around nobles. Smith’s the only one who has a bit of manners.”

“They’ve never been trained for it, and they’re all from the village below the castle.”

“Exactly. That’s the issue. Manners aren’t just for others—they protect you too.”

Manners are a weapon to shield yourself from nobles.

Proper etiquette lets you evade noble aggression and claim justification.

It’s the weak’s fight, which makes it all the more essential.

“We need to hire new servants. Training them takes time, though. It’s not like well-trained ones will just drop out of the sky...”

Wait.

Will they?

Hold on.

Think, Nina.

Dig through your memories!!

Pulling at her twin tails, Nina groaned.

Ignoring Jin’s suspicious look and his “Nina, you okay?”, she yanked harder.

It feels like it’ll come to me any second...

“House of Viscount Chara!!”

Nina shouted suddenly. Startled, Jin asked,

“House of Viscount Chara? What about that viscount? What’s going on?”

Nina grinned and replied,

“A place with tons of good servants.”

Jin looked skeptical, but Nina flashed a confident smile.

House of Viscount Chara.

This viscount family, with the red rose as their crest, boasts a long tradition.

Their territory is small, but they have plenty of prestige.

Of course, it all goes to ruin because of their screw-up heir.

The viscount’s heir is a total scumbag who harasses the castle servants regardless of gender, then frames protesting ones and kicks them out without references—a cliché as old as a third-rate novel, but common enough in noble society.

Later, when that heir becomes Viscount Chara and shows up as an extra villain, this backstory comes up.

He gets taken care of by Adrian’s hand...

‘I should check it out. Without a reference, it’s nearly impossible for servants to find work in noble houses...’

Though hiring ones without references might be iffy for a ducal family too.

‘If Adrian checks them out and likes them, it should be fine.’

For now, I’ll ask him to look into it, Nina thought with a sigh.

‘Coming up with this means I’ll have to visit the capital at some point.’

Well-trained servants can’t be raised overnight, so I need to snag them when I can...

Building a reputation by then would make everything smoother.

Until then, I’ll make do with the current staff.

‘Randell probably won’t nitpick over that.’

She pictured Randell, the male lead.

The Sages of the Isle of Sages often take in talented children young.

Randell grew up there too, so this might be his first time out.

‘That’s how it was in the original story. He’s just coming out earlier.’

By evening, Nina checked the room where Randell would stay.

It was spotlessly clean, furnished with all necessities.

Opening the wooden shutters revealed the garden and greenhouse.

She chose this room on purpose. Someone who loves studying flora and fauna would appreciate the view.

“This is the best we can do.”

Nina latched the window shut.

After inspecting the room, she returned to the captain’s office, where Jin sat in the waiting room.

He had changed out of his uniform into casual clothes.

“How are the new recruits?”

Jin replied to her question, “They’re thrilled since they passed.”

Nina smirked and asked, “No complaints about getting beaten?” as she tossed her jacket to him.

“Y-Yes, Captain.”

Jin caught the jacket, stood, and opened the waiting room door for her.

Entering the captain’s office, Nina plopped down on the desk, and Jin hung up the jacket.

“They looked too scared to complain. But they seemed curious about what’s next.”

“Assign rooms in the knight quarters, start training. Get uniforms fitted too... Wait, where do we even get our knight uniforms?”

Nina paused while untying her shoelaces, tilting her head.

“There’s a specific workshop for that, right? Ours use special materials.”

“Yeah, they’re treated to resist stains. Come to think of it, is this treatment only for our order’s uniforms?”

“I heard they use materials from the Violet Forest. Now that I think about it, we’ve been sourcing all sorts of stuff from there originally.”

Apparently, their black uniforms were black because of the raw materials.

Jin tilted his head, then continued,

“No one else probably uses it. Cities have barriers, so no Belaks there.”

“But now Belaks are popping up everywhere because of the heretics. Ugh, seriously. Why won’t this untie.”

Watching Nina struggle with her laces, Jin finally knelt on one knee, placed her foot on his thigh, and untied them for her.

“You gonna ask us for some? As if those shameless nobles have any shame to pull that crap. None of them do.”

After fully enunciating his rant, Jin said,

“His Grace is a rare case.”

He untied the other shoe too, then flicked her round knee lightly with his finger.

“Can’t you even untie your own laces?”

“No idea why it’s so tricky. Thanks, Jin. Feels like I can breathe now.”

Nina shook her feet on the desk, kicking off her boots. It was a rude move, unlike her usual self.

Jin gave a wry smile and said,

“Don’t worry too much.”

“About what?”

“Your Young Master.”

Nina slyly lifted her eyes to look at Jin.

“That obvious?”