‘What sword is that?’

When she first saw the sword and asked, his servant had hesitantly explained it was a masterwork sword gifted by His Majesty. What good was a masterwork sword, no matter how skilled the craftsman? To ‘Aidan’ it was just a decoration occupying a corner of the showcase.

But it was different for the current Aidan. As someone who knew how to use a sword, he could properly demonstrate this sword’s true worth. Even if he couldn’t show its full potential, it would at least be better than the cracked sword in his hand now.

Ignoring everyone’s murmurs, Karina walked right up to Aidan.

“It would be more meaningful if Your Highness won the tournament with this sword gifted by His Majesty.”

She held out the sword with both hands before him. Aidan narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the sword Karina offered, seemingly not understanding why she was suddenly doing this.

“Your Highness.”

Karina gestured with her eyes at the sword he was holding. His eyes followed, wondering what was wrong with his sword. He paused as he belatedly discovered the faint crack in the middle of the sword. Then, seeming to understand the situation, he raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“If that is your wish.”

Aidan bowed, put down the sword he was holding, and accepted the sword Karina offered.

“Please allow me to change swords in consideration of my consort’s intentions.”

He then asked the Emperor’s permission. Seeing the white scabbard engraved with the imperial crest, the Emperor noticed it was indeed the sword he had gifted, as Karina said.

“It would have been better if you had prepared and used it from the start.”

Though he pointed out how Karina’s intrusion into the tournament grounds had startled everyone, he didn’t scold her further. The Emperor nodded in permission, and confirming his intent, the Imperial Knight Commander resumed the match.

Buuuung. The horn sounded and the two raised their swords to face each other.

“You did something cute.”

Lloyd frowned at Aidan’s words.

“I understand, you must have been so scared to do that.”

One corner of Aidan’s mouth curled up mockingly. Lloyd’s face twisted more in response.

“Though I changed swords out of appreciation for Karina’s thoughtfulness…”

Trailing off, Aidan slightly lowered his upper body then quickly dove inside Lloyd’s guard. Lloyd barely reacted in time to block Aidan’s sword aiming for his abdomen.

“Actually, I wouldn’t have cared if the sword broke.”

Immediately spinning around to Lloyd’s back, Aidan swung his sword again. Lloyd struggled just to dodge his strikes in time. The tip of Aidan’s sword grazed Lloyd’s forearm. As his uniform tore and red blood welled up, the Empress rose from her seat in shock.

“Lloyd!”

The Emperor stopped the Empress as she seemed ready to halt the match immediately.

“Sit down, Empress. This is a fair match.”

The Emperor appeared to have no intention of stopping the match over such a minor wound. The Empress, who had turned pale blue, trembled while tightly gripping her dress. The ministers supporting Lloyd watched with bloodless faces, at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Aidan changed direction and dove in again, aiming for Lloyd’s side. Chang! A cracking sound rang out as the swords clashed.

“Try struggling for your life.”

Aidan whispered quietly with their swords locked. His coldly subdued voice rang clearly in Lloyd’s ears alone.

“The more you struggle, the more pathetic you’ll look.”

Aidan twisted his body again and tripped Lloyd’s legs to knock him down. Lloyd had to roll away to dodge the sword that instantly rushed at his face. Dust rose up, making it hard to see clearly. Just as he felt a chilling killing intent that sent shivers down his spine, there was a swoosh of a sword cutting through air.

“Uh… ah…”

A sharp sword was embedded right next to Lloyd’s face. His cheek stung warmly where it had been cut. If the sword had gone just a finger’s width deeper, his face would have been properly slashed.

“Oops.”

The cheerful voice sounded even more chilling. Aidan looked down at Lloyd, who had frozen without even a groan, then smiled and held out his hand. Though Lloyd knew it meant to take his hand and get up, he couldn’t readily reach for it, as Aidan’s eyes felt ice-cold despite his smile. When Lloyd didn’t move, Aidan bent down himself and grabbed Lloyd’s arm.

“If the sword had broken now, I could have properly thrust the blade into your abdomen, using the excuse that I lost control when the sword broke.”

Aidan brought his face close to Lloyd’s ear and whispered softly.

“Then I could have considered my debt paid for the stab wound in my stomach. What a shame.”

Aidan pulled Lloyd to his feet. He kindly picked up Lloyd’s fallen sword and tossed it to him. Lloyd caught the sword reflexively, but was already tense enough that his mouth had gone dry.

“Play with me a bit more. All these spectators are expecting it.”

Aidan looked around at the audience seats and smiled. That’s when Lloyd realized it. Aidan wasn’t even using his full strength, and his goal was to thoroughly toy with Lloyd in front of all these people.

*

The knights’ tournament ended in Aidan’s victory.

“Still, His Highness Lloyd was amazing too. Wasn’t it quite an even match?”

At the banquet following the tournament, one of Lloyd’s supporting ministers tried to praise him.

“Did that look even to you?”

The Emperor asked in a low voice. The minister who had spoken earlier flinched and could only bite his lips.

“Your eyesight seems to have deteriorated greatly.”

At that quiet criticism, the minister could say nothing more and just lowered his head deeply while gulping down the alcohol before him.

In reality, the match had been Aidan’s overwhelming victory. To an untrained eye, it might have seemed like Lloyd was blocking his attacks fairly well, but that wasn’t the case at all. Aidan had repeatedly pushed Lloyd to the brink of giving up while playfully controlling his strength, then backing off. When Lloyd dropped his sword, Aidan would pick it up and throw it back to him, and when Lloyd fell, he would wait for him to get up.

Aidan was going easy on Lloyd.

This was crystal clear to those who knew swordsmanship. And that fact was a tremendous shock to everyone.

“I’m tired, so I’ll retire first.”

The Empress, who had been eating in silence with a deathly pale face, finally barely touched her food before rising from her seat first. The Emperor didn’t stop her either. The ministers on her side all kept their heads bowed low, unable to say anything.

“When did His Highness train in swordsmanship… It was truly amazing. It was like seeing His Majesty in his youth.”

“Indeed. It seems he really takes after His Majesty.”

“That’s not all. He also possesses the late Empress’s intelligence and benevolence.”

The ministers supporting Aidan, including Duke Hewitt, were several times more excited than usual. Having been desperately making excuses for Aidan’s incompetence for years, today’s achievement was more exciting than a festival for them.

The Emperor silently listened to their praise of Aidan as well. He added no words about either Aidan or Lloyd.

“But where has His Highness gone? He’s today’s protagonist.”

Aidan was nowhere to be seen in the banquet hall.

“Earlier he was looking for Her Highness…”

“Hoho, newlyweds will be newlyweds indeed. Her Highness takes priority over His Majesty’s congratulations.”

Everyone burst into laughter at someone’s playful remark. They couldn’t hide their expectations, saying that with their good relationship, a second heir would come soon.

*

“Your Highness, wait, just a moment. Ah!”

Being pulled along by Aidan while her wrist was held, Karina nearly fell when she stepped on the hem of her dress. As her body tilted, Aidan quickly extended his arm across her chest to support her from falling.

“What’s so urgent?”

When she demanded protestingly after being dragged quite far from the banquet hall, Aidan smiled brightly.

“Nothing’s urgent, I’m just still excited. I wanted to go somewhere without others around, so I hurried. Sorry.”

Unlike his overwhelming skill shown in the knights’ tournament, his smile was mischievous like a child’s. The gap felt so large that Karina could only let out a heavy sigh.

“That’s why I’m asking why you dragged me all the way here. Everyone is waiting to congratulate Your Highness.”

“I have something more important than those congratulations.”

Aidan stood facing Karina and took one step closer. Karina reflexively stepped back, but her back hit a pillar, causing her to look up at his face. A gentle smile had been on his face since earlier.

“You promised.”

Promised? Blinking her eyes, Karina realized a beat later what he meant.

“An answer to my proposal to date.”

Aidan spoke clearly, making it impossible to pretend to be clueless, as he placed his hand on the wall beside Karina’s face.

“Will you date me? Properly.”

He tilted his head and whispered near her ear. She felt his breath on her ear along with the whispered words. When she unconsciously hunched her shoulders, Aidan, who had been approaching, stopped. Karina tried to create distance by pushing his chest with one hand. However, Aidan caught her wrist.

When she looked up, her eyes met Aidan’s as he stared down at her intently. Seeing her own face reflected in his dark brown eyes, she felt captivated and couldn’t move. Though she wanted to turn her head away from his piercing gaze that felt burdensome, even that seemed impossible as her body had frozen.

“Karina.”

Her heart pounded at his low voice. She couldn’t understand why her heartbeat was becoming so fierce. At this rate, it might burst through her ribcage. No, before that, wouldn’t Aidan notice?

“Can you give me an answer?”