Attendant for Life, Lizbeth Reinnail

On this day, in the throne room of the royal palace, Hendrick and Rohm had set aside all their work and engaged in an overnight discussion.

As a result of this discussion, Lizbeth visited the Frenzel residence again the next day and brought an agreement for Riezel.

The agreement stated that Lizbeth Jinas, Jinas's ninth princess, was willing to become the attendant of the newly appointed Sword Saint Riezel Brynhart and enter into a contract with him.

However, there were two conditions.

First, unless Jinas provoked him first, Riezel was not allowed to take any action that could fundamentally shake its existence.

In other words, as long as the kingdom didn't do anything to harm or disadvantage him, Riezel could not do anything that would harm or threaten its stability.

Meanwhile, matters that did not involve the kingdom's fundamental existence were not subject to this restriction, so he was free to act as he wished in such cases.

Evidently, this was the royal family's greatest concession, the most significant compromise they had ever made, and it was considered unprecedented in history.

After learning about this, Yuri told Riezel that her own contract with the royal family was, 'no matter the circumstances, you can't harm or betray Jinas on your own initiative,' and the same also applied to another Strategic-Class Magician of Jinas.

Needless to say, this showed just how lenient Riezel's first condition was.

As for the second condition, Riezel was not to ask or request the practice methods of the War King Sword Style from Lizbeth.

Of course, this was a condition for everyone who entered into an attendant contract with the members of the royal family, without exception.

Since the War King Sword Style was an inherited swordsmanship of Jinas's royal family, it was both a symbol of the royal family and the kingdom, and thus could not be disclosed to outsiders under any circumstances.

In this respect, the royal family did not make any compromises, as this was a matter of heritage, and they could not afford to be lenient.

Fortunately, Riezel was not particularly interested in the War King Sword Style, so this condition was of little concern to him.

Both of these conditions were to be presented by Lizbeth as her wish when entering into the attendant contract with Riezel, and they would remain valid for life.

In other words, Lizbeth would also be Riezel's attendant for life.

Since the attendant contract differed from the slavery contract, being essentially a transaction based on equality, there were several powerful mechanisms within the contract.

One such mechanism was that the duration of the contract varied depending on the wish presented by the attendant. If the wish were relatively easy to fulfill, the contract's duration was generally short, typically lasting two to three years.

In this way, the attendant would need to remain loyal to their master only for that duration, and once the time was up, the contract would end, allowing the attendant to regain their freedom.

Conversely, if the wish were difficult to fulfill, the contract's duration would be much longer. If the difficulty of the wish were so high that the master could not fulfill it, the contract might even fail to be established.

Given this, the wish proposed by Lizbeth on behalf of the royal family was not particularly difficult, but since it was valid for life, the contract's duration was lifelong as well.

'Good...'

After seeing the agreement, Riezel finally nodded.

'I didn't waste my time fighting the Shadow Sword Saint just for fun.'

Clearly, Riezel fighting Rohm wasn't solely because of past events. He was using Rohm's mouth to convey his strong and uncompromising intention to the royal family.

For this reason, Riezel showcased his strength in front of Rohm, forcing the royal family to relent willingly.

As expected, the outcome was favorable.

If the conditions were only at this degree, Riezel could agree to them.

Of course, even if he agreed, the contract's binding effect on him was, in truth, practically nonexistent.

After all, the royal family didn't know he was a magician with compatibility to the Imaginary System, where his Decomposition Magic was effective not only on material objects but also on immaterial ones like magic.

In other words, as long as he wished, he could use his Decomposition Magic to dissolve the attendant contract at any time.

As for why he hadn't agreed earlier, it wasn't because he truly thought he would be bound by the attendant contract, but because he didn't see the need for it and didn't want some stranger dictating what he should or shouldn't do, so he outright resisted it.

Others who didn't know this might think he was genuinely resisting the contract's constraints, but in reality, its binding force was practically nonexistent for him.

In the end, Riezel finally agreed to the attendant contract and prepared to accept Lizbeth as his attendant.

Of course, this news only reached the royal family and was known to a few high-ranking nobles through their own channels. As for the rest of the people, including the commoners, they had no inkling of it.

No one knew that, during this time, a princess of Jinas had become Riezel's attendant.

However, another piece of news quickly spread throughout the kingdom that, in two days, Riezel would officially be awarded the Sword Saint Medal by the king.

===

Meanwhile, at the Frenzel residence, an attendant contract ceremony was about to begin.

"Are you ready?"

In the reception room, Riezel asked Lizbeth, who was standing across from him.

"Y-Yes!"

Lizbeth replied nervously, tightly holding her sword, Moslow.

"In that case, let's begin."

Riezel nodded and turned to the side.

Over there, Yuri and Marilyn were present, along with a flickering black shadow.

"Here, this is the contract document prepared personally by His Majesty."

From the shadows, Rohm's voice came through as he tossed a parchment to Riezel.

The parchment was a document used exclusively for the attendant contract ceremony, made with unique magic materials. As for the contract's contents, they were written with ink made from a powder mixed with magic crystals, detailing the two conditions from the royal family to Riezel.

Once this contract document was used in the attendant contract ceremony, the contents written on it would be enforced as the attendant's wish once the contract took effect.

"You can verify it." Rohm added.

Riezel took the contract document, unfolded it, and checked the contract's contents. As he read it carefully, everything was in order with no traps or hidden clauses—just the two conditions written plainly.

"Marilyn."

Seeing that Riezel's expression remained unchanged, Yuri understood there were no issues with the contract and called for Marilyn.

Marilyn immediately stepped forward, holding a knife.

Riezel took the knife from her hand, made a cut on his finger, and let a drop of his blood fall onto the contract document.

Lizbeth hurried over, took the knife from Riezel, cut her finger as well, and let a drop of her blood fall onto the contract document.

After doing this, magical energy began to surge from the contract document in Riezel's hand.

"Contract."

A brief chant echoed before the magical energy in Riezel's hand turned into flames, igniting the contract.

*Psss—*

In the magical flames, the contract document quickly burned to ashes.

As the ashes fell, a magic circle formed beneath Riezel and Lizbeth, emitting a faint glow before turning into particles that split into two streams—one merging into Riezel's body and the other into Lizbeth's.

Before long, the magic circle vanished, and all the phenomena disappeared, returning to calm.

"Contract... established."

Yuri announced this in a voice that showed no particular emotion.

""Hahh...""

Rohm and Marilyn both let out a sigh of relief at the same time as if they had just completed a major, difficult task.

Riezel and Lizbeth exchanged glances, feeling a subtle connection between them, which proved that the attendant contract had taken effect.

With this contract, Lizbeth would no longer be able to act against Riezel's interests. She would have to protect him wholeheartedly and, to some extent, would be unable to disobey his orders, though not as absolute as a slavery contract where every order had to be followed unconditionally.

Riezel also had to adhere to the contract, avoiding any actions that would violate it. Otherwise, depending on the situation, the contract could either become void or trigger its punishment mechanism.

At this moment, a direct link was established between them, meaning they were no longer unrelated.

Riezel smiled at Lizbeth, causing her cheeks to flush and making her shy.

In other eyes, this scene might be misunderstood.

Although it was an attendant contract ceremony, the atmosphere between Riezel and Lizbeth resembled a wedding ceremony, causing Yuri, who was standing by, to squint her eyes and feel irritated.

On the other hand, Marilyn looked at Lizbeth with a look of relief and tenderness.

'Now that this is done, this child will have it much easier in the future, won't she?'

As Marilyn thought this, Rohm, who also seemed relieved, suddenly spoke up.

"Since the attendant contract is finalized, please change your surname, Your Highness."

Upon hearing this, Riezel immediately looked at Rohm.

"Change her surname?" Riezel asked with a puzzled tone.

"It's the custom." Rohm replied calmly. "A royal family member who becomes an attendant must no longer bear the surname Jinas."

Jinas was, after all, the national and royal surname.

Since Lizbeth was no longer considered a princess, she naturally could not use this surname anymore.

"Heh, what's up? Afraid the royal family's plan to use their princess as a bargaining chip might get exposed?" Riezel remarked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"..."

Rohm remained silent.

Yuri and Marilyn, on the other hand, showed no surprise, having experienced something similar before.

"What kind of surname do you prefer?"

After sarcastically remarking to Rohm, Riezel didn't dwell too much on the issue and turned to Lizbeth.

"How about using Impesh like Marilyn?"

Upon hearing this, Marilyn glanced at Riezel but did not voice any objections.

Lizbeth hesitated for a moment before weakly asking something.

"Can I use my old surname?"

Before being brought back to the royal palace by Hendrick, her surname was naturally not Jinas.

"What was your old surname?" Riezel asked, showing no objections, just curious.

Lizbeth's face turned slightly red before she smiled, which was quite rare.

"Reinnail..."

"Lizbeth Reinnail... was my original name..."

With that, Lizbeth reclaimed her original name.

However, unbeknownst to her, the sword she had been holding in her arms, sheathed in its scabbard, began to emit a faint glow.