Due to weaving through the crowd, the speed of the caravan was naturally not too fast. Even though the main road, Triumph Street, led directly to the palace, it still took them nearly three hours to arrive.

When they reached the front gate of the palace, the princess in the carriage had completely collapsed on the ground, like a dried-up fish.

Aya knelt silently beside her, unsure of how to express her emotions. She struggled to escape from Mimi's side and went to Tiran. Her pair of animal ears moved as she curiously reached out to poke Tiran.

"Ah..." Suddenly, Tiran sat up, her eyes empty. "My lifelong reputation is ruined like this..."

"Pull yourself together. Even I, with my self-proclaimed title, have emerged." A cold sweat dripped down the side of Aya's cheek.

"Tsk. It would be better to get rid of that old bastard Glanx early on. No matter who becomes the king, they would be better than this guy..."

"Calm down! He's your father! Are you planning to patricide by pulling out your sword?!"

...

Tiran stepped onto the stairs in front of the palace with a gloomy expression. Each step she took cracked the expensive white marble steps and left a deep footprint.

A true step-by-step approach.

The two rows of guards in front of the gate of the palace were starting to sweat. They were the elite of the elite, tasked with guarding the palace, and individually, their strength was no weaker than that of the Crusader Knights. However, they felt somewhat vulnerable in the face of the princess's full-on killing intent.

Speaking of which, although it was known that the princess and the king had some disagreements in the past, it was only small quarrels. Why was it so serious this time? Moreover, His Majesty had specially prepared a triumph ceremony and done so much promotion for the princess. There was no reason for the princess to be angry with His Majesty.

"Big brother, I'm getting a little nervous. Shouldn't we make a run for it?" a soldier whispered to the captain beside him.

"No, we can't retreat. Our duty as guards is to protect the safety of the palace. We mustn't shrink back at a time like this." The captain pretended to be calm, appearing as composed as an old dog but actually panicking inside.

"But, she's the princess. Strictly speaking, she can't be considered an external enemy, right? His Majesty will definitely be fine, but it's very likely that we'll be beaten up to vent her anger."

"I suddenly feel like you make sense. Brothers, stay alert!" The captain solemnly nodded, then suddenly saluted towards Tiran, and loudly gave the order:

"All of you, turn right, march at a run!"

A small team of twenty elite soldiers immediately and decisively executed the order, disappearing from the courtyard within ten seconds, leaving the palace gates open.

"These soldiers are poisonous." As a close maid, Aya walked together with Tiran and Mimi, listening attentively to the conversation between the soldiers and the captain, her expression dejected.

Behind a hidden window on the upper level of the palace, a figure was using a monocular to observe the situation at the gate. Cold sweat covered his forehead. "Koster is so troublesome. He swore to me yesterday that he would guard the gate."

"However, fortunately, there's a backup plan." He let out a sigh of relief and clenched his fist.

...

"Princess Tiran?"

Just as Tiran entered the front hall, she ran into two young knights dressed in Crusader Knight uniforms, wearing white cloaks and wearing the knight's emblem on their chests as they descended from the side staircase.

"Gawfit, what are you doing here?" Tiran also momentarily froze, her killing intent subsiding slightly.

"We just reported to His Majesty, but I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, Your Highness." Gawfit smiled and replied, but when his gaze fell on Aya behind Tiran, his expression visibly wavered, and his eyes awkwardly shifted away.

"Oh..." Tiran's expression suddenly became eerie. "So you've met that old bastard, huh? He should still be in that side hall where he likes to stay, right?"

"The king is indeed there..." Gawfit instinctively answered, but then realized something was off. Tiran's tone seemed... somewhat dispirited?

"Emmm... alright, thanks Gawfit. You can go ahead, and let's have dinner together later." Tiran sweetly smiled, hands behind her back, bouncing and skirting past the two of them, heading upstairs.

"Your Highness, may we delay you for a moment?"

At this moment, the brown-haired knight walking side by side with Gawfit called out to Tiran.

Gawfit furrowed his brows slightly, about to speak, but Tiran had already taken a few steps and arrived behind him. She solemnly followed knight's protocol and bowed to him.

--

(Translator's note: The translation provided aims to capture the essence of the original text while maintaining readability in English. Some minor adjustments have been made in order to achieve this goal.)Tilan turned back and looked at the knight with a puzzled expression, "Sorry...do we know each other?"

"It's normal for Your Highness not to recognize me," the knight raised his head and looked directly at Tilan, his eyes determined, "I was just promoted to the position of vice captain of the Gefield Knights three days ago."

"Oh..." Tilan was still puzzled, "What does that have to do with me?"

"Well," the brown-haired knight's eyes were filled with eagerness, "I have heard of Your Highness's accomplishment of slaying a dragon and I have been inspired by it. So, if possible, I would like to challenge Your Highness to a duel and experience the strength of a dragon slayer firsthand."

His tone was firm, revealing his determination to win.

Tch...the worry has finally come true. The reason I didn't want to make the dragon slaying incident public in the first place was because of this. Dealing with challengers one by one is such a hassle! And now, the first eager beaver appears, and he's even a member of the Kingdom's Cross Knights!

"Ioem!" Gefield stepped forward and grabbed his arm, "You are being impolite!"

Although it is stated clearly in the laws of both the Knight's Association and the Kingdom that challenging other knights is a lawful and legitimate act, protected by the Kingdom's laws, openly challenging a member of the royal family as a member of the Kingdom's Cross Knights would undermine the dignity of the royal family.

However...Gefield suddenly felt a bit sorry for Ioem. Compared to this inexperienced newcomer, he understood the personality of the Princess very well. With her temperament, she would definitely find it troublesome and refuse to accept the challenge. After Ioem is rejected, he can bring him back and teach him a lesson first.

This guy, Ioem, has a straightforward personality and decent strength. Unfortunately, his progress has been too fast recently and he has been rapidly promoted. It seems like he's gotten a bit full of himself. He definitely needs a good beating.

"Alright."

Tilan nodded without hesitation.

"...What?" The expression on Knight Commander Gefield's face at that moment was quite extraordinary, difficult to describe, in short, it was very expressive.

...

A moment later, inside the arena of the royal palace.

Milania has a martial tradition, and all the monarchs have personally experienced the battlefield, fighting with all their might. As a result, the martial atmosphere in the royal family is quite strong, to the extent that a large arena has been specifically built in the palace.

In addition, the arena is equipped with various weapons and equipment, from ordinary longswords and shields to spears, hunting bows, even battle axes and hammers, both enchanted and non-enchanted. It's like a well-stocked armory. For weapons collectors, this place is like heaven.

"I understand that you guys like martial arts and I have no objections to fighting, but if you guys want to fight, why am I the one standing here?"

Aya, the dragon maid, stood in the center of the empty field, holding a normal steel knight sword. After a moment of silence, she turned around angrily and looked at Tilan and Mimi, who were standing by the side and watching.

"Oh...about that," Tilan shrugged, "it's still the same reason. This kid is too weak, it's not satisfying to fight against him."

...

In the mouth of a troubadour, knights are often regarded as a perfect combination of strong strength and noble character. In reality, the definition of a knight is slightly more complex, but generally the same: to master combat skills, adhere to the knight's code of conduct, maintain absolute loyalty to the country or the object to which they have sworn allegiance, and protect with their lives.

"So, let's get on with it, Sir Aya."

Tilan lazily waved her hand and leaned back on the railing of the spectator stands.

"What the hell! I accepted his challenge, why am I the one who has to fight?"

"As a servant, it is also one of your duties to fight on behalf of your master," Tilan said righteously. "Besides, you've always been dissatisfied with your maid role, right? If you win this match, you will become my personal guard."

"This knight is completely different from what I imagined..." Aya's expression was quite regretful. "Isn't a knight supposed to live in an ancient castle and live like a nobleman, and have the opportunity to defeat evil magicians or dragons and marry a princess?"

"Which dimension's knight are you talking about..." Tilan was also a bit dumbfounded. Did Aya's knowledge of dumb dragons come from epic legends told by troubadours?

"Oh...forget it," Aya weighed the longsword in her hand, feeling a bit eager to try it out. "So, you're saying that if I win this match, I don't have to be a maid anymore and I don't have to wear a maid outfit? Is that a promise?""Well, of course, when have I ever tricked you?"

"Please don't make me remember that painful experience..."

As the Master and servant bickered at the edge of the arena, Iomor finally walked in from the entrance on the opposite side of the arena. It wasn't that he intentionally made the princess wait, quite the opposite. To show respect, he had not even used the weapons provided by the arena, opting instead for the armor and uniform of the vice captain of the Kingdom's Cross Knights.

"He seems pretty serious, huh? Isn't it a bit disrespectful for you not to fight personally?" Aya looked at Iomor, fully dressed in shining knight armor, and then at herself, wearing a set of apprentice knight uniforms borrowed only for convenience, not even wearing the lightest leather armor. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the inexperienced youth.

"Well, maybe a little, but let's forget about it. He definitely can't beat me anyway, so there's no need to crush his self-esteem." Tilan's face also looked a bit embarrassed. He ran his fingers through the strand of silver hair hanging in front of his forehead, with a wandering gaze.

"To be honest, don't you think it would hurt his self-esteem more if he were to be defeated by a maid?" Aya was already too tired to make any comments about Tilan's thoughts.

Iomor had also noticed the situation across from him. The princess was still wearing a dress, clearly not prepared for combat, but the girl beside her was holding a sword...

Slightly puzzled, Iomor took a few steps forward, performing a knight's salute, and then loudly proclaimed, "Iomor Grandorder, in the name of a noble knight, challenges Princess Tiran Elysium to a duel!"

"Um..."

Aya weakly raised her hand. "Actually, it's me you'll be fighting."

"Huh?" Iomor was taken aback for a moment, raising his head with surprise and anger, "Your Highness? Are you asking me to fight an apprentice knight?"

He probably misunderstood because he noticed Aya's apprentice knight uniform.

"I'm not an apprentice knight," Aya's expression was very awkward, "I have no knight rank, I'm just this guy's maid. But if I win this battle, I can change jobs and become a knight."

If I had to describe Iomor's emotions at that moment, it would probably be like someone who had done all the foreplay, sent the challenge letter, and arrived at the agreed upon battlefield fully prepared for the final showdown, only to find the opponent happily eating and drinking, inviting him to join in the feast before the fight...

How can I not want to chop someone right now?