"Your Grace...?" Duke Joelster raised an eyebrow. Roland had actually split off part of his own Knight Order and given it to Queen Nyx? One had to know that the Lagrange Empire operated under a dual-emperor system, with the emperor and empress each commanding their own Imperial Guards!
Everyone knew that no matter how Lagrange restructured its military and government, private armies remained untouchable. The Crusaders were the Nyx family's private army! Rather than trying to absorb those soldiers, Roland had rebuilt the Nyx family's former Knight Order. Everyone could not help but regard Roland more highly—he was a man of substance!
"Consider it a betrothal gift. We had nothing when we got married, so this is to make up for what I owed you back then!" Roland smiled fondly at Nyx. In the past, he had been unable to personally place the command token of the Queen's Guard into Nyx's hands. Fortunately, he could make up for that regret today.
"..." Lavien watched Roland in silence. From the very beginning, he had looked down on this king who had no ability and relied entirely on luck. As for Grand Duke Nyx, whom he had sworn to serve unto death, he had seen no hope that Roland could give Nyx happiness. Even at the wedding, the guard that should have been bestowed upon the Queen had been nowhere to be seen... Though speechless, Lavien had held fast to his principles: he was loyal to his Grand Duke, not Roland. Thus, in every war, Lavien had cautiously protected the weak forces under Nyx's command.
In Lavien's eyes, those Crusaders and the surviving members of the Crossed Bauhinia Knights were Grand Duke Nyx's last source of support and backbone within the kingdom. Therefore, no matter how perilous the kingdom's battlefields became, he