Chapter 54: Yu Xingxi

I looked at Sera, and she looked back at me.

For once, neither of us seemed to have anything clever to say.

Father’s attention had already shifted toward me, and Mother was watching from across the table with a faint crease between her brows. The dining room suddenly felt much smaller than it had a moment ago, the warmth from the breakfast doing very little against the cold that had settled somewhere beneath my ribs.

I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me."

The words came out steadier than I felt.

I pushed my chair back and stood, trying not to make the movement look as deliberate as it suddenly felt. The legs scraped lightly against the floor before settling into silence again. I could feel Sera’s eyes following me as I crossed the dining room, and when I reached the doorway, I glanced back once.

She was still watching.

I turned away and walked toward the entrance.

By the time I reached the front hall, Mr. Rowan was already standing beside the door. He opened it before I could reach for the handle, and the morning air slipped inside with him, carrying the faint smell of damp stone and the distant sounds of Kingsmere beginning another day.

Two men stood outside.

Both wore the robes of the Twilight Order.

My stomach tightened.

They were waiting patiently on the front steps, their expressions calm, their hands resting loosely at their sides. Neither looked particularly threatening, which somehow made me more nervous. If they’d arrived with weapons drawn, at least I would have known what sort of situation I was dealing with.

Instead, they looked like men who had come to deliver a message.

I stepped outside.

"Good morning," one of them said.

"Good morning."

We shook hands.

His grip was firm, professional, and completely ordinary.

The second man smiled and offered his hand as well.

I shook it.

They were smiling.

I stared at them for a moment.

’I guess it is something else, hehe.’

That thought lasted two seconds before another possibility occurred to me.

’Maybe I’m going to prison.’

My stomach sank again.

I kept my expression neutral.

One of the men reached into the inner portion of his robe, and my heart immediately lurched. He pulled out a folded document.

I watched his hand.

He smiled.

I watched his face.

"We’ve come with an official announcement."

My fingers curled slightly at my sides.

"About?"

The man looked at me for a moment before his smile widened.

"About you."

"You and three of your fellow students have been selected for a royal commendation."

I blinked.

"What?"

"The Honorable Theodore Hans, Lady Mary June, The Honorable Arthur Eesper and you."

He said each name clearly, almost as though he were making certain I understood every word.

"On the first of March, the four of you are to appear at the King’s Palace.

"You will be knighted by His Majesty, King Alfey and receive a reward."

I think I forgot how to breathe.

The man seemed to be amused by my expression.

"The four of you have accomplished something that has not happened in five hundred years."

I finally found my voice.

"What exactly did we accomplish?"

"You were the first team in five centuries in which every member advanced in their first trip to Realm of The Evil."

"But Mr. Draeus, my teacher told me we were the first..."

The Twilight Order member laughed, "Mr. Draeus doesn’t have a good memory."

For a moment, I could only stare at him.

The Royal Academy had hundreds of students. There had been countless teams before ours, countless groups of Awakened who had trained together, fought together, and graduated together. Yet somehow, the four of us had managed to become the first team in five hundred years where everyone advanced.

The Twilight Order member folded the document again.

"And because of that, His Majesty has decided that the four of you should be publicly recognized."

A smile slowly found its way onto my face.

"Thank you."

This time, the gratitude came naturally.

The man nodded.

"There is one more detail."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Because of your ages, this will be particularly noteworthy. You are all fifteen years old."

He looked at me directly.

"And you will become Knights at fifteen."

"Fifteen?"

He laughed softly, "Yes. The youngest age at which anyone has ever received the title."

Something warm spread through my chest.

I thought I was to be sent to prison and yet somehow, I was being summoned to the King’s Palace to receive a knighthood.

And I wasn’t even sixteen yet.

The other Twilight Order member finally spoke.

"You should be proud. It is a distinction that very few people receive in their lifetime."

I nodded while saying, "I am."

And I meant it.

For a few moments, neither of us spoke.

Then the first man tucked the document back into his robe.

"We should take our leave. There are still several arrangements to be made before the first of March."

"Of course."

They turned toward the road.

Something suddenly occurred to me.

"Wait."

Both men stopped as I stepped forward.

"Who were the last team?"

They looked at each other.

The exchange lasted barely a second, but there was something strange about it. Not hesitation exactly. More like recognition.

I folded my arms.

"You said ours was the first in five hundred years. So who was the team before us?"

The older-looking man smiled.

"The team of Yu Xingxi."

The name immediately caught my attention.

"The Saint of Swords."

My expression changed.

"The Saint of Swords?"

He nodded.

I looked between the two men.

"Yu Xingxi..."

The name lingered in my mind.

"He is from Rumen."

The smile on the Twilight Order member’s face remained.

I froze.

"Is!?"

Neither man answered.

The next moment, they turned and walked down the steps while smiling, their robes shifting gently with each movement.

I remained where I was.

I watched them disappear down the street.

The morning continued around me as if nothing had happened. A carriage rolled past the end of Ashwell Row. Somewhere nearby, a shopkeeper lifted a metal shutter.

Birds moved between the rooftops, completely uninterested in The Saint of Swords, royal palaces, or whatever strange connection existed between a man from five hundred years ago and a name that apparently still belonged to someone alive today.

However keeping Yu Xingxi aside, the thing that excited me the most was I was fifteen years old, and I was going to become a Knight!