#10. The Knights’ Tournament

Having finished his match, Lloyd sat in a designated area and drank from a water bottle prepared by his servant. On the field now stood Aidan and his opponent knight facing each other.

How did Aidan make it this far? I thought he’d be eliminated in the first round.

It must have been luck. How else could he have beaten such distinguished knights to become the winner of a bracket? Learning swordsmanship from a foreigner while hunting? That was unbelievable too. As far as Lloyd knew, Aidan had always been too busy meeting different women under the pretense of hunting. Lloyd had never heard reports of Aidan meeting any foreigner. When could he have deceived Lloyd’s eyes to practice swordsmanship?

Even while thinking of him as an incompetent fool, Lloyd had kept watching Aidan. Even when everyone said Aidan was no match for Lloyd, he could never let his guard down against him.

He has different blood, he’s different because he has legitimate lineage.

He had heard those irritating words since very young. Though no one spoke openly in front of Lloyd, he grew up hearing everyone whisper such things behind his back. Because of this, he couldn’t fully trust Aidan’s changed behavior after his mother became Empress. He couldn’t shake the anxiety that Aidan might be deceiving everyone, that he might someday show superior abilities and push Lloyd aside.

In the end, his ominous feelings weren’t wrong. Aidan had changed somehow since taking Karina Hewitt as his consort. The man who until recently couldn’t even meet his eyes now seemed to look down on him.

Why? Lloyd was still superior to Aidan in everything. So why did he have to feel this inferiority? Was it because Aidan took Karina Hewitt from him? That seemed to be the biggest reason.

Everything was a mess. Nothing had gone his way recently. But that would end today. He was confident he could far surpass Aidan in this knights’ tournament at least…

As soon as the whistle signaled the start of the match, Aidan’s movements changed. Lloyd froze while holding his water bottle as he watched Aidan instantly dive inside his opponent’s guard and swing his sword. If the opponent hadn’t blocked Aidan’s sword at the last possible moment, he would have been knocked out immediately.

Is this… really the Aidan I knew?

He couldn’t believe his eyes even as he watched. He couldn’t even follow all of Aidan’s movements. His swordsmanship was sharper and fiercer than even that of the Imperial Knight Commander, who was considered the most skilled in the empire.

“Impossible…”

Before his shock could end, Aidan’s sword flowed like water toward his opponent’s neck. Huk. Everyone watching held their breath. The sword stopped just before it touched the opponent’s neck, leaving a hair’s breadth of distance. The opponent, who thought he might die, had already collapsed to the ground with his legs giving out.

“Stop… stop! His Highness Aidan wins!”

Even the judge announced the result a beat late, either because he hadn’t expected the match to end so quickly or because of the momentary murderous intent that could be felt even from the side.

Waaaaaah.

Cheers erupted from all around belatedly. It was a clean and overwhelming match by anyone’s standards.

“We will take a short break before proceeding with the final match.”

At the announcer’s words, the watching ministers and knights rose from their seats, murmuring. Though they dispersed, planning to return when the match resumed after the break, only Lloyd remained frozen in his spot.

Just from watching, he could feel the difference in skill between himself and Aidan. It was clear he could never beat him like this.

*

“I’m truly amazed. He must not have shown his full abilities during the bracket matches.”

Princess Elena marveled. Karina agreed with her words. She hadn’t known Aidan’s skills were at this level. She had watched him sparring with knights in the training grounds and during the bracket matches. She had worried about him getting hurt, but that had been needless concern. Even then though, he hadn’t seemed overwhelming. Just better than expected, that was all.

But in the semifinals, Aidan seemed like a completely different person. You could tell he had been holding back until now, as murderous intent could be felt from the point of his sword. When he swung his final strike, she really thought he would cut down his opponent. That’s why even the ministers watched tensely, barely breathing.

That frightening killing intent disappeared in an instant. When his sword stopped in front of his opponent’s neck, Karina felt truly relieved. Even though some injuries were overlooked during the knights’ tournament, Aidan absolutely couldn’t kill an opponent by cutting their neck in front of the ministers. Instead of praise for his skill, it could have led to condemnation of his cruelty.

How did she end up worrying about this? Before the tournament began, she worried he would be eliminated in the first round. That’s what the previous ‘Aidan’ had done. He had fumbled around barely able to hold his sword properly, then pathetically lost it into the air after a single move from his opponent.

She felt complicated, though not in a bad way. While relieved that Aidan wouldn’t get hurt or embarrassed, she also felt chills from the killing intent that was occasionally revealed.

“Your Highness.”

Princess Elena gestured behind Karina with her eyes. Turning around, she saw Aidan standing there. Princess Elena joked with a smile, asking if he couldn’t wait and had to come see his consort already, and Aidan just smiled as if it were natural.

“You really surprised me.”

Left alone together, Karina expressed her honest admiration.

“Seems like you had no expectations of me at all.”

“Well…”

She started to say it was because the previous Aidan had been so terrible, but stopped herself. It felt meaningless now to even compare his past and present self.

“What will you give me if I win?”

At his sudden question, Karina just blinked at him. The Emperor would give some kind of reward to the tournament winner. She didn’t understand why he was asking her for a reward from the start.

“Don’t give me that old-fashioned answer about the Emperor giving rewards.”

She quickly looked around at his response that seemed to read her thoughts.

“Address him properly as His Majesty.”

When she warned him to use proper titles even as a prince, Aidan just shrugged as if it were nothing. Though he hid it well in front of others, Aidan showed absolutely no respect or reverence for the Emperor in private. Worrying about others finding this out fell to Karina.

“You show respect to those worthy of respect. Honestly, wouldn’t ‘Aidan’ have reason to resent him? They say he didn’t properly investigate his mother’s killer. If it were me, I would have cut ties long ago.”

“To cut ties, you’d have to leave the palace first.”

“Since I have no intention of doing that, I’ll behave appropriately in front of him.”

Aidan shot back with a smile. She realized once again that this man truly wanted to have everything. His light response made that clear.

“So about that reward?”

Aidan brought the conversation back to the beginning.

“I’m not interested in receiving rewards from others.”

Aidan’s gaze fixed on Karina’s face. His response suggesting he truly didn’t care about anything else left her unsure on how to answer.

“What do you want?”

“Are you offering to give me what I want?”

The corners of his eyes curved prettily. When he smiled like that, she keenly felt how his looks could easily captivate women. But at the same time, she grew suspicious about what he was plotting. What if he asked for something impossible? She regretted asking what he wanted instead of just specifying something herself.

“An answer about my suggestion to date.”

At his answer accompanied by a bright smile, Karina let out a short groan. She thought he might let it go since quite some time had passed without having it mentioned.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t even thought about it?”

Aidan asked seriously.

“No, that’s not it…”

She had considered it several times. Right after he said it, and even last night when he tried to embrace her while he was drugged. Even while thinking that dating seemed meaningless when they were already married, his words about wanting to date kept repeating in her mind. She had just been deliberately ignoring it.

“Does offering it as a reward mean you want a positive answer?”

“Well. While that would be nice, I want you to make your feelings clear either way, not necessarily say yes.”

This was unexpected too. To push someone this much yet say the answer didn’t have to be positive…

“I understand.”

If it didn’t have to be positive, there was no reason not to answer. Aidan raised the corners of his mouth in satisfaction at Karina’s response.

“Look forward to it. I’ll definitely win.”

“Arrogance can bring trouble.”

“Call it confidence based on solid evidence, not arrogance. Watching Lloyd, I’m sure I can win.”

Karina stared at his confident words in disbelief before turning away. His words weren’t exactly wrong. Even to her eyes, Aidan’s swordsmanship looked far superior to Lloyd’s.

“Still, don’t let your guard down.”

No one could know what might happen until the very end.

Despite Karina’s warning, Aidan just smirked. His reaction suggested he couldn’t even imagine losing.

*