Lancelot

To the [southwest] of the Moniyan Empire [is] Castle Gorge which had fallen into decline due to the depletion of its famous gold mines.

As the oldest noble in the Empire, House Baroque ruled over Castle Gorge. The Baroque Duke's eldest son, Lancelot, was a handsome young man with [unparalleled] swordsmanship. He received a good education in all areas, but also inherited his father's snobbery and haughtiness.

The Baroque house had been in decline for years and the Duke relied on loans to maintain a [façade]. To revive his family, the duke had a brilliant plan: choose a daughter-in-law with a nice dowry and make his fortune thanks to Lancelot's marriage. At least that's what he thought...

Lancelot was fascinated by charming knights and their heroic tales since childhood and believed that he was the most brilliant and charismatic knight of modern times. So, for him, it would tarnish his honor if he earned money from his own marriage. Thus, Lancelot left home after a ridiculous duel with his father leading to a serious falling out.

Although he had lost his father's financial support, Lancelot earned his living through his excellent swordsmanship by competing in competitions across the land. He never lost a battle in the arena and uttered his family motto "The thorns remain if the petals fall" while signing his initials on his opponent's body with his sword.

Freed from his father's control, Lancelot began to play with women and stories of his romantic adventures spread throughout the empire. People jokingly called it the Blade of Roses. But Duke Baroque clearly didn't think of it as a delightful story and was told that he had struck Lancelot's name from their family records in a fit of anger...

Lancelot played and traveled to Lake Azure, and after drinking his fill in a tavern, he held a harp, played and sang a song in its praise, secretly rejoicing in the cheers of the crowd. Then he suddenly saw a few drunks surrounding a young girl in a velvet coat. Immediately, he took out his sword to help the harassed girl out of the situation, but he was accidentally injured due to his intoxicated mind.

After chasing away the drunken hooligans, Lancelot stumbled out of the tavern, knowing his wound could be fatal, and he refused to collapse in a tavern so gracefully.

Covered in blood, he dragged himself towards a tree and fell to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he saw a pair of glowing swan wings. Perhaps they were the angels who came to welcome his soul to paradise?

Lancelot awoke to find that he was lying on a bed with bandages wrapped around his chest, an elegant young girl smiling wearily at himself. The swan wings he saw before he passed out were actually the swan crown on the girl's head. Lancelot thought he had never seen such a beautiful and innocent face, but he could barely speak before falling back into a deep sleep...

The girl treated Lancelot with great care and continued to use magic to help him heal. After a few days of struggle, his life was finally no longer in danger. It was then that Lancelot learned that he lived in the swan castle of House Alvin and that the girl who saved him was Princess Odette of the noble family.

It was forbidden to let outsiders into Swan Castle, so Odette brought Lancelot in and hid him in a room at the top of the castle tower. As Lancelot gradually recovered from his injury, Odette delivered food to him every day with a young servant.

At first, Lancelot conceitedly thought that Odette had saved him because she had been seduced by his charisma. But later he found out that she was the girl he was helping at the tavern.

During the first days they spent together, Lancelot did not change his old habit of telling half-truths about his mastery of the sword and the great adventures he had experienced across the land. He hid his Baroque identity and called himself "Lancelot, the Romantic Knight of Castle Gorge". Odette believed in every poem he sang while playing the harp, whether it was about his hometown, Castle Gorge, or the Heavenly Palace he had never been to, the bandits and thieves he had defeated, or the dark deities he had only heard about on his travels. This young princess who had been locked inside the Swan Castle since she was a child was full of curiosity about the outside world.

Rather than his usual self, Lancelot began to feel guilty for lying. When he could no longer boast of his conquests in front of Odette, he realized that he had fallen madly in love with the pure princess. He regretted the promiscuity he led before but had difficulty revealing his feelings to Odette. So every time she came to visit him, Lancelot would hold the harp and sing passionate love songs. At first, Odette did not understand his intentions, then no longer knew how to react. Later, she remained silent, her cheeks blushing...

In the few days before Lancelot was fully healed, Odette, for some reason, never showed up once. Unable to see the object of his desire, Lancelot couldn't even stop his fingers from trembling while playing the harp...

Lancelot, agitated, had to question the servant who came to deliver him food what had happened to Odette. The girl replied with a cheerful smile: "Someone proposed to our princess. She was busy with that..."

The words hit him like thunder. At that very moment, Lancelot, completely shocked, broke a string of the harp.

After thinking about the situation, he asked the maid to send a letter to Odette:

Dear princess, forgive me for leaving without goodbye. I decided to travel to all the mythical countries like in the songs I sang. I promise you that the day I return to Swan Castle, I will appear before you as a true knight. I hope that with Lake Azure and the sunlight as my witness, I will finally be able to tell you what I have been whispering to myself...

By the time Odette dropped off the letter and rushed to look out the window, Lancelot had quietly left on a grand journey across the country.

As brutal wars raged across the Land of Dawn, the Blade of Roses was about to compose a song of praise that was truly her own...