Chapter 38. If You Can Go

“I admit it. Your Highness the Grand Duke is strong, sir.”

Asarim dusted himself off, stood up, and offered his hand to Theo.

Theo just looked down at him with his hands behind his back.

“Your Highness, the knights are watching, we should end this beautifully, right? Sir.”

“What’s beautiful about sparring? Isn’t that why you spoke so indecently about Yuna?”

“I agree with that too. I’m the type who gets what I want, even if it’s indecent.”

Theo strangely found himself agreeing with Asarim’s statement about getting what he wanted indecently.

It didn’t make him feel good.

He turned his head without responding.

“Then I’ll go see Yuna, sir. It’s daytime, and the weather’s nice.”

Theo’s expression hardened again.

If only it had been real swords.

No, should he have crushed his ankle so he couldn’t walk?

“…Go wash up.”

“What, sir?”

“Your sweat stinks. Go wash up.”

Asarim lifted his clothes to smell himself. As Theo said, his body was drenched in sweat.

Theo pointed to the training ground building and continued.

“Wash up there. Change clothes too.”

“Alright, sir.”

Asarim shrugged and walked towards the knights.

Theo watched Asarim enter the training ground building before heading towards the path leading to the mansion.

Ulysse was standing on that path, holding a towel and water.

“Good work, Your Highness.”

“Towel.”

Ulysse held out the towel to Theo.

But instead of wiping his sweat as expected, Theo covered his mouth with the towel and let out a heavy cough.

“Your Highness!”

Ulysse’s eyes widened. There was blood around Theo’s mouth.

Theo had coughed up blood.

“Did you receive internal injuries?!”

Despite Ulysse’s urgent voice, Theo calmly wiped his mouth.

No emotion showed on his face, even with red blood smeared around his mouth.

For a moment, Ulysse’s heart sank. It reminded him of Theo during the war.

He never showed signs of pain no matter how serious his injuries were.

Theo would only call for a doctor when he was literally one step away from death.

Each time, Ulysse had urged him to please show some sign when he was hurt.

It had been quite a while since he’d gone to war.

So Ulysse hadn’t thought he would be injured.

Ulysse handed Theo some water with a worried expression.

Theo rinsed the metallic taste from his mouth.

“Asarim. That bas–, no. Is that person that skilled?”

“He didn’t learn swordsmanship just for fun.”

Ulysse was secretly surprised.

This was the highest praise Theo could give.

With wooden swords, and in such a short match.

Yet Asarim possessed the skill and power to cause internal injuries to Theo.

His striking technique was honest. Honest technique mixed with solid power.

That power included a killing intent strong enough to want to kill Theo, so it was quite powerful.

Theo had to admit it.

Asarim’s strength was even greater than he’d thought.

He possessed both the ability to break an opponent’s concentration and the agility to deliver techniques.

He would have been one of the most avoided opponents in war.

Those types were persistent and tenacious, making them difficult to shake off or kill.

“You only hit him three times after he caused you internal injuries? You should have hit him more! Why didn’t you dodge his attacks?”

“Had to take some hits.”

“What? Why?!”

Ulysse’s eyes widened. Theo continued calmly.

“I deserved to be hit. Because I got her too easily.”

“What do you mean?”

Theo knew exactly why Asarim was angry.

He must think that Theo had stolen Yuelina.

If Theo were Asarim, he would hate himself terribly too.

As Asarim said, Yuelina would have been happier in the village.

She wouldn’t have had to stay in this unfamiliar space with no connections, in the cold northern seasons, stuck beside his rough and clumsy self.

But Yuelina couldn’t return to the village.

She had to stay by his side.

Theo had no intention of letting Yuelina go.

Under any circumstances.

So Theo became very generous with Asarim. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the end.

Someone else from the village besides Asarim might come looking for him.

They might beg for Yuelina’s return, or say they regret sending her away.

If so, Theo would gladly take the hits.

He had received as his wife a woman so precious that he should be grateful just to look at her.

So what did it matter if he took a few hits?

Theo was prepared to take hits until he died.

He would take them without changing expression until they grew tired of beating him and gave up.

He could endure it as long as Yuelina stayed by his side.

But Asarim had committed the crime of being presumptuous.

So he could only let him land three hits.

Moreover, Asarim had brazenly provoked him by saying he would go see Yuelina right after the match.

Going to see Yuna?

Yeah. Go ahead and try.

If you can.

Theo gritted his teeth.

* * *

Having barely settled his internal injuries, Theo sat at his desk, reviewing a backlog of documents.

The assembly’s agenda items were always delivered to Theo after discussions ended.

Autumn in Phaenyx was also a very important season for preparing for winter.

There were many festivals hoping for a safe winter, and preparations had to be completed against attacks from barbarians and refugees living outside the north.

Theo reviewed documents related to festival budgets and carefully examined materials from the magic stone processing facility.

“Hmm.”

Theo rubbed around his chest area.

Whenever he tried to concentrate, his chest felt stiff.

Each time, his mood would sink as Asarim’s sneering expression came vividly to mind.

But it also made him chuckle.

Asarim probably hadn’t been able to meet Yuelina yet.

Theo was confident of that.

Just then,

The door burst open without a knock.

Theo already knew it would be Asarim coming in.

As he predicted, Asarim appeared, running his fingers through his chocolate-colored hair.

Asarim’s golden eyes blazed like the hot sun.

He slammed his palm on the desk and glared at Theo.

Meanwhile, Theo gazed at him with a relaxed expression.

“Weren’t you going to see Yuna?”

“Are you kidding? I can’t meet her because of you!”

“Why? Still hurting?”

Asarim bit his lip.

He had to stay at the training ground dormitory longer than expected.

It wasn’t about washing up — the areas where Theo hit him had bruised and needed treatment.

The knights said Asarim’s bruises would spread. They were injuries large enough to cover his entire upper body.

In fact, he hadn’t just been hit in the side — his entire torso had been struck, and rather than just his chest being hit, his whole upper body had been beaten.

As a result, Asarim had to cover his entire upper body with thick clothing up to his neck to hide the bruises.

Still, it was hard to control his expression due to the gradually increasing pain.

Asarim spoke with a deeply furrowed face.

“The pain isn’t the problem!”

“Then what is? Ah, don’t you know where Yuna’s room is? I thought I told you yesterday?”

“Kuk! I can’t go even though I know!”

Asarim raised his voice while breathing heavily.

He had tried to go see Yuelina even while enduring the pain.

He thought the pain might stop if he could just see her.

She was said to be living in the tall tower behind the Black Mansion.

Asarim had walked quickly to the tower entrance.

And after going to the tower entrance, he immediately turned towards Theo’s study.

Because all the stairs in the tower were destroyed.

The only way to reach Yuelina’s room would be to climb the walls.

“It was you, right? You brutally destroyed the stairs?!”

“The stairs are broken? Oh dear. What can we do?”

Theo spoke in an awkward voice with flat intonation.

Asarim was about to lose his mind.

“Are you imprisoning Yuna? To keep her from seeing me?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Theo pointed to the terrace window at the back of his study.

“Yuna’s room and mine are connected by that bridge. So if you want to meet her, go through my room.”

“What?”

“Get my permission first — tell me what business you have, what you want to talk about.”

Theo stood up.

It looked like he was taking a stance to defend the terrace window.