Iris Lizer

(Everyone is advised to skip Chapters Six, Seven, and Eight. The protagonist isn't here, so it probably won't affect anything. I originally wanted to revise them, but now that the word count has grown, changing one thing would affect everything, so it's hard to revise.)

Iris Lizer strolled through the streets of Frel, breathing in the faint floral fragrance carried on the breeze. Her taut nerves finally eased for a moment.

In the year 1307 of the Flower Calendar, Iris Lizer was born in the town of Frel, within the prosperous kingdom.

Her grandfather had once been a member of the Flower Knights. After earning considerable merit in a war against the southern nations and later dying in battle, he was posthumously granted the title of viscount, which was permitted to pass down to his son, Hom Lizer.

With a title, one became a genuine noble, even if Hom had spent the first half of his life among Frel's fertile fields.

Just like in Xia Kingdom's The Scholars, when Fan Jin passed the provincial examination and crowds rushed to kneel before him and offer him money, Frel's wealthy merchants eagerly presented the seventeen-year-old, unmarried Hom with great amounts of gold, farmland, and daughters they tried their hardest to show off.

Faced with such temptations, how could the honest Hom have ever seen a scene like this? At a glance, he fell for Hailan, the daughter of merchant Hoffman, who was reputed to be the most charming young woman in Frel.

In the early days of their marriage, relying on the generous compensation paid by the Knights Order and his father-in-law's support, Hom gained some reputation in Frel. However, nearly all his assets were controlled by Hailan.

Hailan was an exceedingly shrewd woman.

She was passionate about every sort of social occasion. After gaining the title of viscountess, she dressed herself in precious gemstones even more frequently. From time to time, she rode in a carriage drawn by eight white horned horses to Falasong for parties and banquets, or invited "friends" who were neither nobles nor wealthier than herself to celebrate in her newly renovated home.

Hom was an ordinary man born among the fields. He was not suited to such extravagant social gatherings, but because his wife loved them, he tried to involve himself. The result was that, after being mocked by his wife, he silently returned to the study on the top floor.

After Iris was born, things improved considerably—at least he no longer had to pretend to read the piles of worthless papers filling the study when he could not understand a single word on them.

After Iris was born, Hailan did not rein in her social whirl, so the burden of raising the child fell upon Hom.

Hom did not know how to be a father, but he knew that whatever his child had must be the very best.

As soon as Iris was born, Hom invited one of his father's old comrades to baptize her and asked him to serve as her godfather, guiding the little girl's path through life.

Iris had beautiful golden hair. Her gemlike eyes blinked, always glimmering with a sky-blue light like a freshly washed canvas. Together with her soft pink lips opening and closing gently, she was both adorable and beautiful.

If nothing unexpected had happened, she should have followed in her mother's footsteps and become a noblewoman.

But one of Hom's father's old comrades believed she should inherit her grandfather's knightly spirit.

After experiencing the glittering, indulgent life of high society, Hom did not truly want his daughter to wear heavy knight's armor. Yet his personality had long changed from the simple honesty he possessed in the fields into meek compliance, and he raised no objection to the decision.

So, from the age of six, Iris studied martial arts under a knight. Perhaps it was a generation-skipping inheritance of knightly blood, but her talent was astonishing. Just after her twelfth birthday, she entered the Flower Knights' reserves directly. There were even rumors that she had long been groomed as the brightest Iris flower of the Knights Order.

Yet, like most children left behind by their parents, even though the adults in the Knights Order favored her in many ways, Iris still gazed up at the night sky filled with dazzling stars every evening.

She felt that Frel's sea of flowers was more beautiful than Falasong's starry sky.

The training tasks of the Knights Order reserves were not particularly demanding, but whenever she returned home during holidays under the stars and moon, she was always greeted by strange humanoid creatures and her mother's impatient gesture toward the upstairs.

When she saw her father, he would wear a stern expression and ask about every detail of her life in the Knights Order. After learning that all her grades were excellent, he would rack his brains to make up a series of cautionary tales about "not becoming too proud" and "your grandfather back then."

Every trip home seemed to become an unpleasant memory.

After returning to the Knights Order, before Iris's feelings had even settled, she caught wind of more information about her mother through gossip.

"Didn't you know? Iris's mother, Madam Lizer, is a famous social butterfly in Falasong. She shamelessly lingers at balls all day, dressed in jewels and finery as if she's afraid people won't know she's a viscountess. But what noble family's status is something you can wear? She's just a merchant's daughter borrowing someone else's glory."

"Her husband is unlucky too. He was doing perfectly well farming out in the countryside when he suddenly got granted a title. Could he even bear that burden? He couldn't handle it!"

Iris's mood grew increasingly depressed, and her temperament became more and more violent and irritable.

She rushed over, shoved apart the reserve knights who had been chatting and laughing together, then slapped a standard white glove of the Knights Order onto the face of the person who had just been laughing loudly.

"By the honor of my family, I challenge you to a duel, you insolent beast."

Iris was a genius.

Whether in combat talent or skill, Iris was undoubtedly a genius.

But when she clanged her opponent's sword from his hand, stomped on his face with her boot, and casually threw knightly etiquette into the trash, the Knights Order had no choice but to punish her behavior.

A full day and night of confinement did not make Iris restrain herself.

On the contrary, after leaving the confinement room and discovering that fewer people talked about her family, she became increasingly arrogant.

Whenever anyone in the Knights Order reserves spoke ill of her, it would not be long before that person's face gained a white glove and prepaid medical expenses.

The consequences of her actions were equally apparent.

Members of the Knights Order reserves generally became full-fledged knights at the age of fourteen, but even after Iris turned sixteen today, she still received only the meager allowance of a reserve.

Because her temper was too foul, the Knights Order's leadership had always believed she was not yet capable of bearing the honor of a Flower Knight.

Iris no longer cared about that. Becoming a knight had never been her wish. Compared to Falasong's splendor, she preferred breathing in nature's fragrance.

So, on this day of her coming of age, Iris returned to Frel, prepared to lay everything out before her father.

I've decided to leave the Knights Order. From now on, I'll walk my own path. Hmm, that sounds forceful enough. But if Father doesn't approve of my decision, how should I refute him? With his timid personality, he probably won't argue with me at all.

Iris walked along the country road that had not changed in years, her mind filled with thoughts.

When she arrived before her home's courtyard amid the chirping of insects, she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Linton Manor stood some distance from town. At night, one could often hear the chattering of birds whose names no one knew, but those sounds were usually drowned out by the manor's lights, which burned day and night, and its constant clamor.

Had Mother not invited her friends over for a banquet today? Or had she gone to Falasong again?

Where were the guards? Where were the servants?

Wasn't it a little too quiet?