He hadn’t even put much strength into it. He had just lightly swung his sword down to a position that would be easy to block for Idel…
‘…She’s bleeding.’
That wasn’t all—Idel had even dropped her sword. The pain had made her grip weak, something he had never experienced even when he was five years old.
Facing the weakest person he had ever met, Dante’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Ha…”
“Ha?”
At the sound that escaped Dante’s mouth, Gianna’s glare intensified even more.
Instead of answering her question, he looked utterly speechless, just letting out a deflated sound.
‘It seems my thoughts were right.’
The childish Dante Knightley had taken advantage of the moment to bully Idel.
Unable to hold back any longer, Gianna snorted in frustration and shouted at Dante.
“Not answering means you can’t come up with an excuse!”
“H-huh, that’s… that’s not…”
“Idel, don’t say anything if it hurts! Just wait a little! Got it? I’ll take care of this for you!”
With a firm grip, she raised the practice sword she had brought along, as if she wouldn’t show any mercy.
“Do you trust me, Idel?”
Trust? What is there to trust!
“Wait a second…”
“Take this!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Gianna charged at Dante. He instinctively received her blow with his sword, looking at her with trembling eyes.
Seeing Dante easily absorb the impact, Gianna bit her lip in frustration.
“…Is my sword just that light?”
Though she was frustrated, now was not the time for that. Quickly biting her lip, she naturally bent her knees to gain momentum.
“Ha!”
With a loud shout, Gianna charged forward again. Of course, there wasn’t much impact.
It was true that Gianna had started learning swordsmanship before Idel, but she was still at a beginner level.
Normally, given the clear difference in skill, Dante would have easily subdued her. The problem was…
“Yah!”
“Ugh.”
The problem was that Dante was hesitating. Every time he swung his sword, the image of Idel, covered in blood, flashed before his eyes, and when he tried to push her opponent away, he recalled the sword that had been flung from Idel’s hand.
‘What if I exert too much force and end up hurting Gianna too…?’
Just thinking about it made his vision blur.
“Gianna, first put down your sword…”
“Put it down? No way, yah!”
Gianna outright rejected Dante’s words and shouted again.
In the meantime, Idel, who had finally come to his senses, wiped her nosebleed and looked up.
Before her was chaos—pure chaos.
‘I want to ask too. What on earth is going on right now…?’
Why did Dante suddenly start acting strangely and pull out a sword? And why did Gianna suddenly ask if she should trust her?
Idel gaped in disbelief at the sight of Gianna wildly charging and swinging her sword, while Dante reflexively attacked and looked startled. It was just too absurd.
‘Is it okay for the male and female leads to have such a messed-up childhood memory?’
If anything, it felt a bit more innocent…
“Did you just dodge that? Were you trying not to take my attack?”
“I was worried that Gianna would get hurt…”
“You’re ignoring me! I’ll show you the swordsmanship of the Duke of Clementine! Yah! Yah, yah!”
…This is truly a hopeless mess.
As the two of them continued to get more chaotic, Idel slowly stood up. Since her bleeding had mostly stopped, she thought it was time to call someone to stop them up.
‘By the way, how hard did he hit me?’
She had expected the pain to lessen as the bleeding stopped, but her nose still throbbed.
Now her head was starting to ache too. Idel pressed her temple with one hand while casting a glance at Dante.
‘He was talking about showing me something, but was that all just nonsense? Was he just filled with emotions?’
Of course, Dante Knightley wouldn’t actually do that; it was all just her frustration.
Pushing aside her pointless thoughts, Idel turned her body toward the entrance. She figured there would be at least one servant outside the training ground.
Just as she took a step toward the entrance, a familiar figure appeared.
“Oh? What am I seeing right now? Are you two sparring with swords? No, the atmosphere isn’t like that…?”
Patrick Icadorn!
Idel blinked quickly at the appearance of someone who could end this situation.
To be honest, he wasn’t someone she was particularly happy to see. Since he had the same symbol as Melisa, he was a dangerous person to be cautious of.
But…
‘He’s putting on a show too; he won’t make this situation worse, right?’
Idel quickly made up his mind and approached Patrick with a calm step. When he saw Patrick’s yellow eyes looking at him, Idel pointed to the two people.
“Mister, they’re fighting.”
“Uh…”
“They’re fighting, Mister. They’re fighting.”
Do something about it.
Perhaps due to the pain in her nose, Patrick’s expression became somewhat nuanced at Idel’s clumsy outburst.
The situation before him was urgent, but he never expected Idel to speak to him.
‘Hmm, wasn’t she avoiding me?’
Since their first encounter, when she had suddenly confronted him, she hadn’t come near him at all. He thought it was because she had been warned. It was clear she wanted to keep her distance, so he initially assumed Melisa had told her to.
‘But that wasn’t the case.’
Melisa’s magic still lingered in his arm, causing pain. He remembered how she had threatened him, saying that she wouldn’t let him get away with interfering with her plans.
‘Do you know how delicate brainwashing and manipulation are? That child is my precious card. If something goes wrong because of your antics, know that your young master won’t come out unscathed.’
Recalling that venomous voice, Patrick clicked his tongue lightly.
‘Honestly, that crazy woman has such a terrible personality.’
If Dante hadn’t suddenly said he wanted to take lessons from the duke, he wouldn’t have even approached this side.
After all, he and Melissa had a bad relationship even back in ‘Nox.’ Just then…
“Mister.”
“Ah.”
Patrick looked at Idel again due to the urging from below. Above the messy face with a nosebleed, clear blue eyes looked up at him.
For a moment, he looked into the child’s eyes, which seemed to say, “Aren’t you going to stop them?” and let out a small sigh.
“Goodness…”
How did I end up having to deal with this child…?
Scratching his head in annoyance, Patrick approached the two. He quickly intervened in the fight and snatched their wooden swords with his bare hands.
“Alright, alright! That’s enough! You two, stop! Sparring time is over~!”
Clapping his hands to signal the end, he swiftly collected the swords and tucked them under his arm.
“Ugh…!”
“Ah, geez…”
Patrick sighed softly and alternated his gaze between the panting Gianna and the somewhat dazed Dante.
“I don’t know what exactly happened, but first, you two have violated the rules that must be followed during personal training. What rule could that be?”
“……”
“What was that rule?”
With a voice that showed no intention of backing down, Gianna bit her lip, looking reluctant.
“…The rule is that we don’t fight without permission.”
“Ding ding! Correct. Now, do you both know what happens if that rule is broken?”
They certainly knew.
As Patrick spoke, he couldn’t help but smile mischievously at the two children’s crumpled faces.
After seeing Patrick’s smile, Dante let out a small sigh and opened his mouth. He felt responsible for what had happened and needed to clarify something.
“Patrick, before that…”
“Oh dear, young master. Trying to divert my attention like this won’t work, you know? ‘If a fight occurs without permission, regardless of the reason, we will call your parents’—that’s the rule we established.”
“No, I’m not trying to evade that. It’s not that; it’s about Idel…”
“Miss Idel? Ah, so Miss Idel also participated in this wicked act? Then there’s nothing we can do.”
With an exaggerated sigh, he dramatically picked up Idel, who was standing there looking quite pitiful.
Suddenly taken aback, Idel hit Patrick’s back repeatedly.
“What—what are you doing?!”
“I’m carrying Miss Idel because I thought she might try to run away.”
“What? No, I’m not—!”
Oh, come on.
Patrick turned his gaze to the two people who seemed to have a lot to say, wiping his ears as if he had heard something strange. In a kindly tone that sounded even more annoying, he spoke again.
“Now, since I’m carrying Miss Idel, you two hold hands.”
“…Can’t we just go? I’ll follow along nicely.”
“No, I don’t trust you. You’ll hold hands and walk together. Don’t let go until we arrive. If you let go, I don’t know what might happen.”
“……”
“Since it seems you both understand, let’s go!”
To the duke’s office!
