Chapter 210: Live to Sienna Pt.210
Milton and Havali nodded at Jamie’s words.
“Sword!”
“The sword!”
“The sword!”
The three spoke at the same time.
“It looks different from the sword we’re holding.”
Milton said to Jamie.
“The Imperial Knights are supposed to wear decorative swords at these events. All but the Royal Knights, the Knights of the Emperor, must wear a sword without a blade. That’s why we’re holding these fancy swords right now.”
It was as he said. The swords hanging on the waist of Jamie and the Knights of Phoenix were non-lethal weapons with clean handles and colorful patterns embossed in silver.
“That’s right. What they carry is clearly the swords they actually use, compared to the decorative ones we have. Their sheaths were so colorful, but the handles seemed to have worn out.”
Everyone looked worried. Their well-trained sense indicated that something dangerous was about to happen.
“What if something happens? The blades we’re holding are blunt. It’s nothing more than an iron stick.”
Jamie shook her head at Milton’s words and said, “Of course, it’s better to have a sharp blade, but these are not completely useless. The edge of the knife is pointy, so you can stab with it. You’ve got to stab from the bottom of the chin towards the head or into the abdomen.”
Their expressions were not good even at Jamie’s words.
“You just have to take one of them down and fight with his sword. You’ve been in more than one or two fights. There’s no master of the sword in the war. Whoever picks up first is the keeper.”
“That’s true.”
“If we do this well, we’ll find good swords.”
Phoenix knights burst into laughter at Jamie’s words. It’s not because they’re really happy, but because they know that they don’t have to be scared of the opponent in advance, and they don’t have to be afraid of things that might not happen. They were not the same weak knights that stood like decorations as they used to be.
Sienna’s worried face, on the other hand, has not recovered. Her skin was prickly.
-I won’t regret it. Never.
Bluebell’s words sounded like a preview. Though already anticipated, she was still a little fearful of what was to come.
Sienna got her mind together. Bluebell may cause a commotion today, so they couldn’t just wait and watch it happen. Sienna called Jamie up.
“Lord Waters, please have the knights prepare the real swords instead of the fake ones and get them ready for an emergency.”
At Sienna’s command, Jamie opened his eyes wide in astonishment, but soon after he took her words and called out Sir Dmitri, the youngest of the knights.
“Dmitri! You heard that, right? Take these swords away and get the real ones out of the quarters.”
The young-faced knight, fresh from the coming-of-age ceremony, rushed to his quarters in a hurry. Although other knights would have smiled at such young behavior, Phoenix knights judged the situation was serious.
“Sir Havali, will you go to the Emperor and deliver my message? Tell him, ‘I think it’s today,’ and he’ll understand.”
“Okay.”
When Havali left, Jamie approached Sienna and asked quietly, “What’s happening?”
“Just in case. I’m just preparing for anything that might happen.”
Sienna wanted to explain to him in detail, but there were a lot of ears around them. If she said that the Ferrer family and Arya were planning a rebellion and it doesn’t happen today, it could become a pretext for an attack.
Carl led the Royal Knights. He held her in his arms as soon as he saw Sienna. He would normally hold her tightly, but he was carefully thinking of Sienna and the baby in her belly. He whispered so that no one else could hear him.
“You don’t have to worry. I ordered Kissinger to set up the knights in the palace. We’ll be on the move as soon as something happens.”
Sienna replied with a lingering look of anxiety.
“Maybe we should have called off the holiday parade. The inside of the palace was well guarded, but if they do something during a street parade, there are too many variables.”
“Even if we cancel the holiday march, they’d somehow be looking for the right time. we cannot continue to cancel the events of the Empire because of them. Besides, it’s hard to cancel the Holy Celebration Day because it’s not an annual event. They would have brought out great protest, asking for a cause.”
Sienna’s expression darkened at his words.
After letting Sienna go from his arms, Carl squeezed her hand. It was an act to reassure Sienna.
“Don’t worry. We’ve ordered the knights to patrol around the building in case there’s anything, and unlike in the past, we’ve set the route of the march as short as possible.”
The street parade was planned to allow carriages of the royal family and aristocrats to turn around the island and return to the palace through the Arc de Triomphe. The carriages were to go in a row in the middle of a boulevard full of citizens.
There were more than fifty musical bands at the front, followed by the Royal Knights, followed by carriages of Carl, Sienna, Bluebell, and Arya. After that, the carriage of the nobles was stretched according to the order of rank. On this day, the entire streets of the capital city become a stage due to the long procession.
Originally, it was a long event that traveled all over the capital city, but this time all were to return to the palace quickly because Carl minimized the route.
The main characters on this stage were by far Carl, Sienna, and Bluebell. The streets were covered with crowds to see the emperor with two empresses bearing royal descendants.
Sienna received Carl’s escort and went to the carriage to board. Bluebell had already been on the wagon. Bluebell had a hateful face a little while ago, but now she was looking at them with complex faces.
As Carl and Sienna climbed onto the carriage, Bluebell greeted Carl. But Carl didn’t accept her greetings as if she didn’t exist. Bluebell said with a hurtful face.
“You’re not even accepting my greetings now?”
“…”
Carl made no reply and didn’t make eye contact. It was an attitude of utter disregard for her. He thought he didn’t have to be kind to her since she prepared the treason anyway. Bluebell bit her lower lip and said to him, “You’ll regret it.”
Again, Carl spoke to Sienna without replying to Bluebell.
“I’m afraid you are already tired because of the strong sun. Should I order the sunshade over the carriage?”
As he said, the weather was clear without a cloud. It didn’t seem easy to go around the city with a fluffy smile under the strong sunlight.
Sienna was bothered by Bluebell, who was staring at Sienna with a venomous look on her face. But Sienna tried not to care because Bluebell had brought everything on herself.
“No, that’s fine. It’s been a long time since I met my people, and I can’t see them under the shade. And if we put the wrong shade on a moving wagon, we could get into an accident.”
Carl nodded. It was also true that the carriage was not originally designed to be equipped with a shade, so it would be unstable.
The magnificent military band rang out the march music, and finally, the march of the city began.
Carl and Sienna sprayed pollen on those cheering and waving their hands. The crowd of citizens reached out to the pollen.
The soldiers lined up and controlled the citizens to prevent them from falling on the road where the wagon ran. In the meantime, Bluebell looked forward, not budging.
The carriage followed the road in front of the palace and headed for the Arc de Triomphe. A large road stretched out like a capital. The larger the road got, the larger the crowd was.
The time of the parade was never short. Smiling at the citizens and sprinkling pollen on them seems simple, but she was getting tired. No, she felt tired faster because she was nervous about when anything would happen. Still, the march gradually came to an end.
‘Am I mistaken?’
The carriage went past the Arc de Triomphe and turned towards the Imperial Palace. That road was on the other side of the road they had come, connected to the east gate of the imperial palace.
Unlike before, there were not many people as there were many buildings that were three stories high in the vicinity. It was also the end of the street march, and the narrow streets lacked space for people to stand on. Still, there were quite a few people gathered.
As soon as Sienna was about to relax, Carl hurriedly wrapped Sienna’s shoulder. Turning to see what was going on, she could see a lit wagon running down a cramped alley.
The music, which had been playing cheerfully throughout the march, was interrupted with dissonance. The musicians struggled to avoid the carriage coming from the front. But the carriage came too fast for them to avoid, and the alley was cramped.
Boom-! The burning carriage lost its direction and crashed into the building, creating a roar that shook heaven and earth. The musicians’ bodies caught fire because they failed to avoid the carriage properly in time. They rolled themselves on the ground to put out the fire and struggled around, screaming in pain.
The wagons were overturned and blocked the road, causing other carriages to stop. Fortunately, the march was not speeding up much, so they could stop the carriage without much difficulty.
However, the carriages shook violently as horses were startled by the roar. The nobles on the wagon, as well as the knights, were in a flurry of amazement.
The people of the country who came out to see the march screamed and ran away. However, the road was so crowded that it was not easy for them to get out.
Shoot- Arrows poured from the sky like a shower while the knights were not grasping the situation.
“Head down!”
Carl quickly descended under the carriage, wrapping Sienna in his arms. After hiding Sienna in the blind spot of the arrow, he dragged Bluebell down the carriage. He knew Bluebell had something to do with this, but he couldn’t let her stand dazed under the pouring arrows.
What’s more, Bluebell was an important figure for Count Ferrer and Arya, who caused the incident. If she dies, their hard-won rebellion would be useless. The blade of the enemy’s sword would undoubtedly steer by Bluebell.
That’s why Carl wanted Bluebell to be by Sienna’s side. He wanted Sienna to be out of reach of their blades.
Even after hiding under the carriage, Bluebell showed no movement with a bewildered face. Despite being one of the main conspirators behind this incident, seeing it happen in person must have shown the wide gap between plan and reality. When planning, she would never have imagined that it would be full of burning smell, blood, and screams, and that she would watch people’s deaths vividly.
Looking at Sienna with a worried look, Carl told her to hide under the carriage as long as possible. Then he looked around with his back turned to the two women.
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