“Uh?”
“I’m Norden Raglaras from the Kingdom of Raglaras. I heard this is a match the advisor absolutely cannot miss, so I came. You look familiar.”
“Hello.”
Norden, pretending not to know, smoothly took a seat next to her. While the ongoing relationship between Retina and the advisor was still a secret, Norden didn’t hide his friendship with her.
“Lady Retina, were you acquainted with the prince?!”
“We met and exchanged greetings a few times at the parties.”
“Just greetings, you say? That’s disappointing.”
Norden looked at Retina with a slightly pouting expression. Observing his one-sided, pitiful gaze, the ladies watched the interaction with keen interest.
“By the way, at the debutante ball, didn’t you request a dance from Lady Retina right after the prince?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Does the prince also have an interest in Lady Retina?”
“Haha, saying he has an interest might make her uncomfortable, so let’s just say they’re good friends.”
“Hooray, they’re good friends!!”
Basilius and Cecile clapped their hands, causing a commotion. Norden didn’t hide the subtle difference in their relationship. Retina, surprised by Norden’s display of more than just friendship in front of the ladies, glanced at him with wide eyes.
“Then, could it be that person from the masquerade ball?”
“I thought he wouldn’t recognize me with a wig covering my hair color. But it seems he did.”
“A refined person like you is easily noticeable!”
Isabel chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand. She playfully tapped Cecile’s bicep, more excited than Retina.
“Isabel Dania, the Countess. Congratulations on your engagement!”
“Oh my! How did you know? Receiving congratulations on my engagement from the prince. It’s truly an honor.”
“Being in the imperial city, various news reaches us. Especially Adrian Kyung, who went up to the main event, proposing to you in front of the pavilion while crying, is well-known.” Isabel’s face blushed with embarrassment.
‘Isabel. Huhuhu, ugh, marriage. Let’s get married, us. Ugh, I can get married now. Huhuhu.’
To be honest, Adrian crying like a child in the middle of the square, proposing to me, and insisting we go somewhere private, even for putting on the ring, was embarrassing. He rummaged through his pockets, pulled out the ring case, and said he had to put the ring on me. Isabel gently touched the ring on my left hand. Nevertheless, that was Adrian’s charm.
“Watching you two, I felt envious. It seems like you have a wonderful love.”
Norden revealed his sincere feelings. He engaged in an easy conversation with the ladies he just met. Choosing to listen rather than actively participating in the conversation, Retina, who momentarily felt uneasy about the prince’s position, quickly felt relieved seeing how comfortably the ladies treated Norden. She didn’t need to worry about rumors circulating about Norden and her. Wow—in the blink of an eye, the brief moment of respite passed, and a loud cheer engulfed the arena. The next participants were entering the arena.
The pouring cheers felt familiar, and Herald and Haint, seeming at ease, stepped forward. Haint, stretching his arms and tilting his head left and right, grinned, revealing all his teeth.
“Meeting in the semifinals after a long time, huh?”
“Now, you don’t have anything to receive from the Empress, do you?”
“Well, considering what you’re doing for Empress, does the Crown Prince want something from Empress that you’re not sparing any effort?”
Two knights, their swords held in both hands, approached them. Haint swung his sword in the air a few times, feeling the familiar grip, weight, and sensation of cutting through the air. Somehow, he had a good premonition.
“Is it because of this handkerchief?”
“What?”
“I feel like I’ll beat you again today.” Haint lifted his wrist confidently. The handkerchief that Retina had tied for him this morning was neatly in place on his left hand. “Hmph.”
Seeing that, Herald, pretending to be nonchalant, gripped his sword and deliberately adjusted the cuff of his gauntlet. A faded handkerchief was also tied to his wrist.
“What’s that? Isn’t that the handkerchief you had in your hand at that time? This is cheating! It’s invalid.”
“When did the intention of giving a handkerchief to a lover going to the battlefield get distorted? Anyway, it wasn’t about going into battle with a handkerchief given by a loved one.”
Herald spoke with a relaxed voice to Haint, who accused him of being unfair. The yellow chick had turned into a white chick, erasing the traces of blood, but the fact that it was a handkerchief given by Retina remained unchanged.
“Anyway, it’s cheating. I won.”
The two clashed sword tips and stepped back three paces. Haint, who widened the distance, spread his legs to shoulder width and lowered his stance. The posture of pressing the weight of the blade onto the ground was his ready posture.
“Let’s see who will hit whom.”
Herald gripped the sword with both hands. As soon as both of them finished preparing for the match, the flow of the arena changed. Just before the start of the match, they looked at the same place simultaneously, and as the flags placed there disappeared, they rushed forward.
Soon, the two swords collided. Immediately afterward, they clashed three times in rapid succession. Despite moving too quickly, it seemed like attacks and defenses were taking place.
“It’s a spectacular match. I’m glad to be able to watch the match between you two.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Haint struggling like this. If he swings like that, he’s bound to be pierced at least once.”
Retina exchanged a few words with Norden, tilting her head toward him. Due to the deafening cheers, the conversation was barely audible, making it difficult to understand what they were saying.
“Ladies, it seems you’re more curious about whose handkerchief is on the wrist of the Crown Prince than the result of the match.”
Norden, who had been glancing around, whispered to Retina. Those who didn’t pay much attention to the handkerchief on Haint’s wrist when they entered now gathered and murmured as the handkerchief on the Crown Prince’s wrist became visible.
Surprised for a different reason, Retina looked down at the handkerchief she couldn’t let go of throughout the match. Realizing immediately that it was her own handkerchief, Retina couldn’t control the muscles in her face and lowered her head.
“It seems like he came with the same handkerchief before. Wasn’t it given by Lady Mari?”
“Then who gave it to him?”
People with keen eyes noticed that the handkerchief was the same as the previous one. As the debate continued, the source of the handkerchief became more mysterious.
‘If they find out that the owner of that handkerchief is one person, it will cause a bigger stir.’
When she heard Helen’s story, Retina had worried that the handkerchief might be hers. She thought it had become unusable after being stained with blood, but how could he have removed those stains and used it again?
Retina turned her gaze to Helen in the guest box. Amidst the chaos of the young ladies making a fuss about whose handkerchief it was, she saw Helen’s half-smile—an awkward expression on her face. The forced lift of the corners of her mouth seemed uncomfortable.
“If this continues, it looks like Young Master Haint will win. It seems the Crown Prince’s right shoulder is uncomfortable for some reason.”
At Norden’s muttered words, Retina turned her gaze back to the arena. Herald, with his sword raised, blocked a powerful attack from Haint. The sound of the clash between the swords was different from before. Unfortunately, due to blocking with his right arm, the impact flowed directly to Herald’s shoulder.
“I told you to take it easy… What if you get hurt like that?”
In the moment when Herald’s body swayed heavily, Haint launched a surprise attack. Handling a sword twice as heavy as others with ease, he pressed Herald, who couldn’t find his balance and staggered backward.
Retina couldn’t show any signs of stepping back. More precisely, she was worried about her brother hurting the Crown Prince. What if her brother got hurt? She hadn’t even considered the possibility of him breaking a leg and not being able to walk for a month.
Herald turned his body to the left each time he blocked Haint’s attacks. It felt more like a conscious effort to avoid attacks with his left arm, accustomed to defense, rather than a natural response. Haint, aware of this, continued his relentless assault from the right.
“In the realm of combat, it seems like Young Master Haint is excellent.”
“Well, of course. My brother only thinks about using his body, whether asleep or awake. It’s natural for him to surpass the Crown Prince, who has to develop all kinds of abilities.”
“Every day, muscles! Training! Power!” – the person who shouted these three words while running around the training ground. If you invested even a bit of intelligence in developing your abilities, you couldn’t beat that muscle man. That’s why he became the youngest deputy commander of the Second Knight Brigade. Recently, he had even surpassed the youngest commander.
The momentum of the match seemed to be leaning towards Haint’s victory. Although they engaged in a strength contest with their swords, Herald began to fall behind in strength, pushing him into a defensive position. Just as it seemed like the match would end with Herald being pushed out of the arena and rendered unable to continue, something unexpected happened.
“Huh…?”
The positions of the two suddenly switched.
