When the sword cut through the air in front of him, Kai had definitely felt a chilling killing intent. Killing intent from Aidan… Thinking he must have imagined it, he shook his head, but then noticed a small tear in the front of his uniform jacket. Had it caught on something? His face gradually hardened as he felt the torn area with his hand.

The tear was clean and straight. This wasn’t from catching on something. It had been cut when Aidan swung the sword down earlier.

He cut cloth with that dull sword? No, before that, he had such precise control to just barely cut the clothing?

Above all, the fact that he hadn’t noticed any of this process left him standing frozen, staring blankly at Aidan’s retreating back.

“You there. Peter, right?”

Aidan pointed to one of the knights who were training. The knight’s eyes widened in surprise that his name had been called correctly. Though they had all previously stated their names and affiliations before Aidan, no one had expected him to remember them all.

“Would you help me warm up a bit?”

Aidan asked after twirling and adjusting his grip on the sword.

“Are… are you sure that’s alright?”

The knight called Peter stepped forward hesitantly.

“No need to hold back, give it your all.”

Unlike the knight’s concern, Aidan grinned and raised his sword. The knight was visibly confused by this. His stance was completely different from the swordsmanship they knew. Was he just going to do whatever since he hadn’t trained properly? The knight worried about what would happen if he went all out and the prince got hurt.

As he hesitantly raised his sword with uncertainty, Kai signaled the start of the match. Aidan’s eyes instantly changed from their previous playful, mischievous expression.

He dove into the knight’s inside at high speed. The knight, caught off guard, barely managed to dodge by turning his body sideways. The sound of the sword cutting through the air made his skin crawl.

“You might get hurt if you don’t take this seriously.”

Aidan, who had somehow moved to the opposite side of his original position, warned in a low voice. No trace of playfulness remained.

*

Karina was returning from the Emperor’s palace. The Emperor wanted Karina to guide Princess Elena, the representative of the Icinian delegation. She was a guest coming to celebrate Aidan and Karina’s marriage, and being similar in age to Karina, they would find it easier to converse.

Thinking about it, Karina had only recently entered the palace herself, so it might be difficult for her to give palace tours. Of course, now, she knew the palace better than anyone with three years of accumulated memories, but only she knew this fact. She couldn’t tell whether entrusting her with palace guidance showed trust in her or was meant to test her.

Karina remembered Princess Elena. Back then too, Princess Elena had visited as Icinia’s delegation representative and had even had a private dinner with Lloyd, who had won the knight tournament.

Everyone could tell that the Empress had tried to match Lloyd with Elena while she was here, clearly marking her as Lloyd’s potential consort. It was obvious she was trying to replace the Hewitt duchy, since there were no better matches within the Griffith Empire, with foreign royalty.

However, things hadn’t gone according to the Empress’s wishes. After Lloyd and Princess Elena’s dinner together, something must have happened because Princess Elena avoided meeting Lloyd and eventually returned to her country, politely declining the marriage talk.

The Empress had looked into several other potential matches for Lloyd afterward, but none worked out. Given the situation, the ministers had whispered that Lloyd must have been rejecting them all.

Though many things had changed from her memories, some situations still flowed the same way. Princess Elena’s visit and this knight tournament were such cases. She couldn’t know if the princess would have dinner with Lloyd this time too, but…

“Have you heard the rumors about the Icinian princess?”

Bernice asked. The rumors about the arrival of the princess of Icinia had already spread among the ministers and servants.

“I heard… she’s bright and wise.”

She hadn’t just heard it — she had experienced it firsthand. Princess Elena was too good for Lloyd. Back when she didn’t know Lloyd well and hadn’t understood how this imperial court worked, she had thought that if Elena married Lloyd and lived in the same palace, she could get along well with her regardless of the competition for the throne between Aidan and Lloyd.

Whether it was good news or not, she wouldn’t see Elena again after this delegation visit. It would have been terrible if Princess Elena had married Lloyd but he had still remained obsessed with her. Her relationship with someone she had liked would have inevitably become awkward.

“They say if the prince of Icinian hadn’t been born so late, Princess Elena might have become queen.”

Bernice shared the information she had heard. She would have made a good queen, Karina thought to herself, but since Bernice didn’t know they had met before, she kept quiet to avoid seeming strange.

“It seems quite noisy.”

They heard cheering from one direction as they passed through the corridor.

“I think it’s over there.”

Bernice pointed in one direction. When she asked a servant behind them what that place was, they informed her it was the knights’ training ground. Karina already knew what the place was, but she had never had reason to visit in her previous life.

“Let’s stop by briefly.”

She remembered how nonchalant Aidan had been about the knight tournament. She recalled that he would start preparing for the knight tournament at the training ground from today, so he might be there now. What if he was seriously injured during training? Her steps quickened at the thought that the knights’ tremendous cheering might mean someone had defeated Aidan.

“Wow…”

Bernice marveled at the vast size of the training ground. Unlike her, Karina didn’t even notice the training ground’s size. She only saw where numerous knights were gathered in a circle. The servants following them panicked as she entered the training ground holding up the front of her dress.

“Your Highness! Your dress…!”

The servants worried about the hem of her dress getting dirty from the dust, but she headed toward the gathered knights regardless. One of the knights standing at the back noticed Karina’s arrival and quickly stepped aside with a bow. Others nearby also cleared a path for her, bowing their heads.

“Ah…”

Karina let out a short gasp when she saw Aidan surrounded by them. He was completely different from what she had imagined. Aidan deflected all his opponent’s attacks with quick movements. Moreover, he aggressively thrust forward to threaten his opponent.

“Ugh.”

Someone let out a pained groan. Aidan had moved behind his opponent and was bringing his sword down toward the other’s back. Karina’s eyes widened too. She felt a chill, wondering if he meant to kill his opponent during training.

Thud. With a dull sound, the opponent fell forward. However, contrary to her concerns, no bloodshed occurred. One of the knights rushed forward to help the fallen one up. The knight who had faced Aidan rubbed his nape with one hand. Aidan had struck his neck with the sword’s handle rather than its blade at the last moment.

“Whooo… Whoooah!”

“Waaah!”

Exclamations erupted from all around. Aidan lowered his sword tip to the ground and approached the knight he had sparred with, extending his hand. The knight hesitated before grasping the offered handshake.

“Good work.”

After the brief greeting and a pat on the shoulder, the knights once again cheered and surrounded Aidan.

“I’ve never seen His Highness like this before.”

Kai spoke, having approached to stand beside Karina. This was a first for Karina too. Aidan wielding a sword… She had never imagined it before.

“I’ve never seen such swordsmanship anywhere. For someone who never came to training before, where did he learn such skills… No, when did he even have time…”

Kai muttered in confusion. He seemed surprised for different reasons than Karina.

Well… I understand how he feels.

Karina nodded quietly while answering internally. It made sense that he used unfamiliar swordsmanship since he was essentially a different person who came from somewhere other than the Griffith Empire. Kai’s confusion was natural, as he didn’t know the circumstances.

Aidan, surrounded by knights, paused when he spotted Karina while breaking away from the group. He immediately approached her with a bright smile.

“Here to watch?”

He expressed happiness to see her instead of asking why she came.

“I heard cheering while passing by and wondered what was happening.”

“Ah.”

He nodded casually and brushed back his sweat-soaked hair. Sweat droplets sparkled in the sunlight.

“It feels good to move my body after so long.”

Unlike the knight who was exhausted and needed support, Aidan showed no signs of fatigue. He truly looked refreshed and unburdened, as if he had shaken something off.

Only Kai seemed confused by the phrase ‘after so long.’ It sounded as if ‘so long’ meant just a few days. As far as he knew, Aidan hadn’t moved ‘at all’ for several years.