Chapter 32

They couldn’t believe how Alec suddenly turned the tables, and neither could I.

Yet, somehow, a feeling of relief washed over me, as if a heavy rock on my chest had shattered.

I pressed down on my trembling chest with a sense of liberation.

‘…Ha.’

What is this feeling?

Damian gritted his teeth and rolled up his sleeves.

“Yeah, Alec. Now you’re finally at our level. You were too bland before.”

As he said that, Damian nudged Garrison’s foot.

Garrison understood the signal and with a determined look, reached inside his jacket.

“Let’s make him kneel again, like before.”

When Garrison’s hand emerged from his jacket, something glinted in the light.

‘Oh no.’

It was a short knife.

‘Are they seriously using weapons?’

As soon as the knife appeared, Eloise looked around and picked up a large rock.

Without hesitation, she hurled it at Garrison’s hand.

“Argh!”

Clang!

The knife fell to the ground after the rock struck Garrison’s hand.

“This crazy woman!”

“Who pulled out the knife first?”

Eloise shouted even louder, refusing to back down.

Alec glanced between Garrison and Eloise.

Taking advantage of this, Damian approached, raising his hand. It glinted in the light as well.

“…Alec!”

Just before the knife could graze Alec, Damian’s wrist was caught and the knife fell weakly from his hand.

Marcel, who had been struggling to get up from the ground, finally managed to stand.

But even with their combined attacks, Alec didn’t give them any openings.

I clasped my hands tightly.

“Be careful, Alec!”

The more they tried to hold onto Alec, the more they received a beating.

Marcel, already battered and exhausted, was quickly knocked down again, while Garrison and Damian couldn’t handle Alec on their own and were getting pummeled.

“…”

My lips parted in surprise.

The three ruffians were completely drained and coughing on the ground.

They hadn’t managed a single proper punch, yet their hair and clothes were thoroughly disheveled and ruined.

Alec, on the other hand, didn’t seem out of breath at all and stood as composed as ever, looking down at them indifferently.

He hadn’t been hit once.

They couldn’t even touch his clothes because his movements were too swift and precise.

It was astounding that he was unharmed, but even more so that he fought so skillfully, like someone who had been in countless battles.

‘Is this even possible?’

He fought so adeptly, like someone who had been through numerous fights.

While I was relieved that Alec had beaten them, I was also astonished by how he had done it.

“Alec…”

Marcel, sprawled on the ground, glared up with bloodshot eyes.

Alec’s hair fluttered softly in the wind as he looked down at him indifferently.

“You should have just passed by when you had the chance.”

“…”

In the early winter sunlight, his jet-black hair reflected the light in shimmering waves.

I blinked my eyelashes absentmindedly.

“You… you bastard, even if you managed to pull this off… this won’t end here…”

Marcel barely managed to speak through his bleeding lips.

Alec tilted his head a bit more.

“Why do you stutter so much? Do you miss the old me that much?”

“You… crazy bastard…”

Marcel’s fist trembled with rage.

Alec smirked coldly.

“Looking at your condition, it seems you can’t even crawl away on your own.”

Clicking his tongue, Alec glanced towards the carriage.

The two coachmen standing by the carriage, looking bewildered, froze as if struck by lightning.

As Alec’s gaze fell on them, fear washed over them.

Alec gestured at the three thugs with a nod.

“Get rid of them.”

“W-What? Oh, yes, sir…”

The coachmen hurried over to the thugs to help them up.

I, still standing in a daze, snapped back to reality when I met Alec’s gaze.

He looked at me for a moment, then glanced at Eloise before speaking.

“Let’s go.”

“……”

I nodded silently and started moving my feet.

A feeling I couldn’t describe surged within me, akin to the thrill of our fate changing.

As we finally left the place, Marcel’s angry shout echoed behind us.

“Just wait, Alec!”

* * *

On the way back home.

Alec retrieved the carriage he had left behind.

Since there was no coachman, he drove the horses himself, just as he did on the way there.

Inside the carriage, it was just Louise and Eloise.

He suddenly felt grateful for having learned horseback riding in his past life.

When he first awakened, he was forced by the system to complete various physical training quests every day.

Unlike other awakened ones who only had simple strength training quests, his were different.

In addition to strength training, he had to learn horseback riding, swimming, boxing, athletics, fencing, shooting, and many other sports, too many to list.

Completing the horseback riding quest would start a swimming quest, and finishing swimming would begin a boxing quest, and so on.

If he skipped or gave up on these quests even for a day, the penalties were severe enough to cost him his life.

For him, physical tasks were nothing, and dealing with those three thugs earlier was like playing with dolls.

If he hadn’t mastered horseback riding back then, he wouldn’t be able to handle the horses so easily now.

‘But the family must be really shocked…’

Driving the carriage at a moderate speed, he couldn’t help but feel concerned.

When they got into the carriage, Louise seemed dazed, and Eloise looked like she was at a loss for words.

Both seemed unable to recover quickly from the shock they had just witnessed.

Considering that Alec had never shown such strength before, their reaction was natural.

Now.

‘Will they suspect me?’

Surely, the family would start to doubt that he was the real Alec.

They said Alec couldn’t even kill an ant.

Given that he had been just taking blows from those thugs before, he couldn’t just stand there and take it like Alec used to.

When they got home, the family would definitely question him about what happened.

But he couldn’t think of any plausible excuse to explain his actions.

He didn’t feel like lying either.

He hadn’t planned to deceive them for long, but it seemed the time to reveal the truth had come sooner than expected.

If they really questioned him, Alec decided to tell them that he wasn’t the real Alec.

‘Does this mean I won’t be leveling up anymore?’

If Louise found out he wasn’t her real husband, she would surely kick him out.

He had been skeptical from the start anyway.

Raising affection points? That wasn’t something he believed he could do.

‘Someone like me…’

How was he supposed to gain affection points from a woman he just met?

He only felt sorry for the family that would find out the real Alec was dead.

Just thinking about revealing the truth made his heart heavy.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the carriage driven by Alec.

I sat across from Eloise with my mouth slightly open.

No matter how much the carriage jostled or what scenery passed by outside, nothing caught my attention.

It was like sitting alone in an empty space, repeatedly replaying the scene of Alec beating up the three thugs.

“This is the only time I’m letting you go. If you don’t want to get hurt more, you’d better keep moving.”

“It might get dangerous. Please step back a bit.”

“Do you think you can hit me with that skill?”

“You should have just passed by when you had the chance.”

“……”

His skilled, swift movements. The flawless execution without any hesitation.

It still felt like a dream.

What happened to Alec?

I couldn’t forget his cold gaze, his expression, and his tone of voice.

The intimidation and tension he exuded had paralyzed me on the spot.

Alec had changed a lot recently, but this was the first time he seemed so different that I was left speechless.

“Eloise?”

“Yes?”

Suddenly calling her name made Eloise jump slightly and look at me.

It seemed she had also been thinking about what had just happened.

“Has Alec… always been able to fight like that?”

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