Chapter 76. I don’t want His Majesty to cry2020.10.24.
“your majesty. Who would you like His Majesty to win?”
At Larimar’s question, I looked down at the stadium.
“I am? Umm…”
It was the moment when Enrique’s match started. Standing under the brilliant sunlight, Enrique greeted the other person with a slight smile. Then, the other party was also seen to hand over the answer. It was a polite behavior that did not really seem like the son of Duke Javier.
‘Enrique also taught himself at home…’
Somehow, I felt a sense of kinship. As expected from learning swordsmanship under Lisandro with Oscar, Enrique’s skills were considerable. Like Oscar, he had high-level swordsmanship skills, even if he wasn’t yet at the level of drawing out his swordsmanship. After a while the match started. Then, the smile disappeared from Enrique’s face, who had been smiling faintly, leaving only a sharp atmosphere. Soon after, the match was decided. In the blink of an eye, Enrique’s sharp blade was aimed at the opponent’s throat. The opponent surrendered meekly.
“…I lost.”
It was a clear victory for Enrique. Wow-! Amidst the shouts of people, he looked blankly at Enrique, who had defeated his opponent in just a few seconds. All of a sudden, the sunlight became Enrique’s excellent lighting, making his golden hair shine even more.
“Big.”
An exclamation came out of nowhere.
‘I grew up well, I grew up well.’
Wouldn’t it be Enrique’s existence itself that would be designated as a national treasure? As I watched Enrique go down the pitch after a refreshing smile, Larimar urged me on.
“your majesty. You didn’t answer my question. Who would you like to win? Heck, could it be Prince Javier?!”
“Ugh huh?”
“what. Your face is red!”
Perhaps it was because of Larima’s voice, I could feel all the eyes of the people around me were focused on me. In particular, Dad’s eyes were bloody. I cupped my cheek with my palm and shook my head.
“no. It’s because it’s hot. It’s hot.”
Then the nanny was startled and ordered Larimar to do it.
“oh. Larimar. Bring your majesty at least some ice water.”
“yes.”
Larimar’s absence freed her from a difficult question.
‘I can’t believe I’m going to blush when I see a kid in his early teens.’
But my troubles did not end there. Dad called me indirectly.
“Mabel.”
“huh?”
“Answer me once. Who would you like to win?”
“I don’t know either.”
“What do you not know?”
If I don’t answer, my father hastened to answer me with the momentum to bully me for days and days. His tenacity was no less than that of Larimar.
‘The answer is fixed, so you only answer. That must be it.’
I sighed inwardly and clung to my father’s arm. And he laughed and cried.
“Of course Dad!”
“…this dad didn’t even participate?”
“I don’t know. Daddy is the best!”
just the best dad is the best Dad is awesome. Even though it was a stupid answer with no front and back, my father’s expression was satisfied with satisfaction. I was a bit embarrassed to see the other nobles around me staring at me in amazement, but I pretended not to know.
‘I wanted to be mature in front of Donovan…!’
Duke Donovan’s gaze staring at me was unbearable.
Dad, who didn’t even know my heart, smiled happily and stroked my hair.
“If I were a little younger… I would have participated in the competition and won. I’m sorry.”
Hearing his sincere words, the nobles sitting around started to jingle.
“Chuck. Isn’t His Majesty still young?”
“That’s right. Who would see him as a father with a daughter!”
Dad’s face hardened coldly at the words of an aristocratic uncle.
“…what?”
“yes?”
“Are you denying my cute Mabel now?”
“It’s not that.”
“If that’s not the case, does that mean that my ears have rotted away?”
Maybe he didn’t like the aristocrat’s words, but Dad started to fight with a straight face.
‘Ehh.’
Of course, if listening to words that are compliments is a talent, is it a talent? The aristocratic uncle, who was sweating profusely, tugged at the hem of his father’s clothes in pity.
“Why is that, Mabel?”
“You’re praising Dad. He is young and handsome and has a cute daughter like me!”
He smiled brightly as he cupped the calyx with both hands. It was less embarrassing because I had already been ashamed of it once before. At my words, Dad made a thrilled expression and hugged me.
“Yes, my daughter, the cutest and most lovable girl in the world!”
“Ugh!”
“Did you say it was hot? How to do this. Should I spread a magic circle all over the arena and cast a magic to keep the temperature?”
Today, my dad tried to spend astronomical money casually. I shook my head and pointed at the stadium.
“Start the game!”
Coincidentally, two boys were standing facing each other on the pitch. And those faces were people I knew very well.
‘Aidan and… Enrique?!’
This is an unexpected match!
***
Enrique’s hands that held the sword were sweaty. I’m constantly trying not to show off my nervousness, but I didn’t know if it was going well or not. However, I could feel that the red-eyed boy standing right in front of me was not nervous at all, unlike me.
‘…Maybe I’ll lose.’
Even Oscar, the youngest knight ever to be ordained, knew that Devlin’s demon had never been defeated. So, if he was unable to express his sword skill, he would of course lose. It’s impossible to bridge the vast gap in skill. But at least Enrique didn’t want to lose badly.
‘Even if I lose, I have to put myself on the defensive.’
He fixed his sword. The young emperor was watching them from the seat of honor. Light blue eyes and golden eyes met. It was then.
“How long do I have to wait?”
Enrique averted his gaze at the indifferent word. Standing crookedly, Aidan was looking at him with his sword loosely gripped. Enrique laughed a little.
“Looks like you made me wait.”
“It was boring.”
Aidan’s attitude seemed indifferent at first glance, but Enrique noticed. From the moment he met Mabel’s gaze, Aidan’s spirits got a little rough. Enrique took a ready position. The basics learned from Lisandro were faithful swordsmanship. On the other hand, Aidan was in the same crooked posture as he was at the beginning. Taat! It was Enrique who made the leap first. His sword cut in an oblique line, but the attack was blocked by Aidan’s gesture. Even if Enrique stepped back for a moment, he quickly launched a fierce offensive. Chaeng Chaeng-! Dozens of workshops came and went. As the confrontation continued, Enrique gritted his teeth.
‘He’s playing with me.’
It felt obvious. Aidan never attacked Enrique. The only one attacking was himself. However, it was not difficult to block the attack. The sword was shed with minimal movement. Taking a few steps back, Enrique let out a rough breath and looked at Aidan.
“…why not attack?”
The answer came back quickly.
“I’m afraid you’ll get hurt.”
“What nonsense is that?”
Enrique doesn’t say harsh words, but he couldn’t stand it this time. Aidan smiled at Enrique’s warlike gaze.
“Because His Majesty will cry if you get hurt.”
“…”
“I don’t like that.”
Enrique already realized that he had lost. Aidan, breathing calmly with himself who is breathless to the end of his chin. In addition, Aidan did not draw out the slightest sword. Crucially, the fact that he hadn’t moved a single step from where he had first stood shocked Enrique as if he had been hit on the head with a blunt instrument.
“…”
Enrique straightened his grip on his sword. And leaped once again. Quaang! Sword and sword collided. And at that moment, the floor of the stadium was thoroughly ground and dust rose. A win-lose situation. The crowd started to murmur. After a while, when the dust cleared, people exclaimed. The tip of Aidan’s knife lightly cut Enrique’s throat. Enrique felt a tingling sensation and burst into a small laugh.
“I lost.”
It was Enrique’s defeat. . . . Aidan, who was going down the arena, suddenly ran his thumb over his cheek. blood came out
‘It’s quite a bit.’
At first glance, Aidan wondered if he would know that Enrique himself had unleashed sword energy in the last attack.
***
‘I couldn’t even see it with my eyes.’
Seeing Aidan and Enrique’s sparring with a blank face, Mabel admired. I’ve only heard that it’s great, but I’ve never seen such a heartfelt sparring. Because the match so far was over soon. Aidan hardly moved from the spot, but he avoided it well, and Enrique could see that he was seriously attacking. For Mabel, who had seen Aidan and Oscar sparring a few times, Enrique’s appearance with a sword felt the most unusual.
‘Anyway, they’re still little kids.’
Mabel, who smiled with her chin resting on her chin, muttered as she glanced toward the entrance of the arena.
“It’s time to start slowly…”
“What do you mean?”
Seeing Esteban suddenly ask how he heard what he muttered, Mabel smiled awkwardly.
“The game is about to start.”
“iced coffee. yes.”
The next game just started. semifinal. A total of four people survived. Among them were Aidan and Oscar. And this match was between the other two, not Aidan and Oscar.
‘Then the next match will be between Oscar and Aidan.’
It would have been a more dramatic situation if the two had competed in the final, but Mabel watched the match, feeling regretful. However, he heard the surrounding nobles murmur.
“The author is…”
“That’s right. The very first…”
“Oh, that’s right…”
The reason they murmured was that one of the two Youngshik was the one who first declared that he would propose to Mabel.
“…They said they were Count Bursley.”
Esteban remembered his family well. If I won, I had to secretly send someone to clean it up. And ironically, the winner of the match was Youngsik of the Earl of Bursley. He smiled triumphantly and waved at Mabel as he walked down the field.
“…?”
However, Mabel, the person in charge, thought that a stranger would not wave a hand at her, so she just let it go. It couldn’t have been more unfortunate. The next match started soon. The semi-finals to decide who will advance to the finals. Rather, this match drew more explosive attention than the final.
“I’m looking forward to the match between His Highness the Prince and Devlin’s devil!”
“Isn’t this the first official match for His Highness the Prince?”
“Who will win!”
Shouts of anticipation erupted from here and there. There were also those who secretly bet. As Aidan and Oscar stood facing each other, the contrast of colors was clear. Contrary to Aidan, who was also wearing black light armor with black hair, Oscar was wearing the white light armor of the Knights, like his splendid silver hair. Two boys with opposite images stared at each other. Oscar laughed first and let go of the rhyme.
“It’s been a while since we two sparred.”
“Because you didn’t ask.”
“That’s it… I don’t like fights with obvious outcomes.”
Although he never expressed it, it was a blow to Oscar’s pride that he hadn’t won a single victory over Aidan. So, from a few months ago, I did not apply for Dalian and devoted myself to training alone.
‘I want to break it like that.’
But still I wasn’t sure. How could he defeat Aidan, who was already strong enough to annihilate the enemy single-handedly? Even if people praised him as a genius, there was a monster-like person right next to him, so it didn’t touch him at all. Enrique’s feelings after the previous match were understandable. It felt like facing an insurmountable mountain in front of me.
“I said I participated in the contest because of Mabel, but Aidan, why did you participate?”
“For similar reasons.”
“Right.”
At the same time as he became comfortable with the fact that the most likely candidate for the championship had the same goal as himself, the desire to compete arose.
‘I want to be the one protecting Mabel.’
Ever since Mabel smiled at him as a newborn baby, Oscar had wanted to protect Mabel. However, Mabel always walked ahead by herself and never properly guarded her. It was always Mabel herself who saved Mabel whenever she was in danger. Rather, he was even protected by Mabel.
‘So this time.’
There was a desperate desire to play the role of a decent older brother. Like Enrique, a clear aura overflowed over Oscar’s sword, which was in the standard basic posture.
“Oh oh. also…!”
“You’re a swordsman!”
The spectators who confirmed the truth of the youngest knight roared with excitement. Oscar kicked off the ground and leaped forward, swinging his sword. Kwaaang! With a roar that was incomparable to the previous game, dust rose all around. Even as the eyes of the spectators became dizzy, the sound of banging and banging was heard one after another.
“I can’t see anything!”
“How are things going?”
It was a time when even the referee was confused. At that time, when everyone’s eyes were focused on the stadium covered in dust clouds, a bustling movement was captured at the entrance.
***
“Larima is too late, can Lisandro come pick me up?”
Following the order of the great emperor, Lisandro, who had met the handmaid, was faithfully waiting for Larimar. The sound of something being smashed came from the semi-finals.
“Looks like Oscar is serious.”
In the meantime, I was only clinging to training, and there was a reason. Lisandro, who was glancing towards the arena, wanting to see how his pupil had grown, suddenly saw a man entering the entrance. The place where he was standing was the entrance where only the royal family and nobles came in and out. However, the person walking from the other side had an aristocratic attire, but somehow gave off an awkward atmosphere.
‘It’s a face I’ve never seen before.’
Although Lisandro could not recognize the faces of nobles residing in the manor, he was confident that he knew most of the faces of nobles in the capital. But with a face I don’t know at all, suspicious behavior. Lisandro signaled with a wink to the other knights guarding the entrance.
“Excuse me, could you show me your identification card?”
At the knight’s question, the suspicious man took something out of his pocket.
“I am here.”
“Yes, I checked. We hope you enjoy watching the game. It’s the semi-finals.”
“Thank you.”
It was then that the man was trying to get inside safely.
“Keugh!”
Lisandro subdued the man in an instant. And grinned.
“It’s a carefully crafted fake identity card, isn’t it?”
“…!”
“If His Majesty hadn’t sent me here, I would have let her in.”
It must have been a mere coincidence that he sent himself here, but as a result, he caught the suspicious person. Lisandro admired it even today.
“As expected, our majesty is amazing.”
