Chapter 81: The Reason Why You Can’t Win

Leonard was angry when Duke Blast said he would ambush Caelan. It meant that he couldn’t match up to Caelan who was unscathed, which felt like his pride was being scraped away.

But when he actually crossed swords with him, though he didn’t want to admit it, he had to acknowledge it. That his skills fell short of his.

Despite Leonard’s attacks, the fact that they weren’t effectively landing meant that he had read all his patterns.

It shouldn’t have been surprising coming from Marquis Adrian. That’s why he would only defend, as if inviting him to attack all he wanted.

“That’s the end of that.”

Leonard’s eyes gleamed as he twisted his sword’s trajectory. While deviating from his previous attack pattern, he swung his sword in an almost ambush-like manner. His target was the bleeding side.

“Hyah!”

Leonard thrust his sword forward with a battle cry, and even knowing Caelan’s sword would block it, he pushed in with force. He hadn’t expected the ambush to work perfectly anyway. So even if the sword was blocked, he applied force with the intention of never backing down.

As the attacking and defending swords clashed without giving an inch, small vibrations resonated.

In this precarious situation where whoever gave way would instantly receive a fatal wound, Leonard’s eyes widened.

“You’re now……”

Caelan, who had been blocking his attacks with an expressionless face until now, showed a smile for the first time.

Smiling during a power struggle where one should be gritting their teeth?

“Having trouble?”

“What?”

Leonard furrowed his brows and glared at Caelan.

“You found my weakness but failed to consider other variables.”

“That’s impossible……”

If he was trying to draw him in or break his concentration by talking, Leonard would have laughed it off, but Caelan’s sword hadn’t lost any strength.

“You thought you just needed to thrust at where my blood was seeping out……”

In that moment, as Caelan’s sword tilted slightly, Leonard let out a pain-filled groan. Staggering backward, Leonard clutched his burning shoulder.

For the first time, he had failed to block an attack. By the time he realized he was being attacked, his body had already been cut.

“You mean you were deliberately only defending until now?”

Caelan shrugged his shoulders and shook the blood off his sword. At this casual action, Leonard couldn’t hide his irritation, but then happened to notice the sword’s tip and smiled grimly.

“Or perhaps you had to only defend. To move minimally until you found your opportunity?”

The tip of Caelan’s sword was trembling. Though he had felt a strong force when their swords met… enduring seemed to be a different matter.

“So that wound is real after all.”

Leonard lowered his hand from his shoulder and raised his sword. Once he thought about it that way, he felt confident he could handle this. Since it seemed like Caelan had been forcing himself to endure until now, he should be able to block all attacks from here on.

“Let’s see if things go your way this time too.”

Leonard raised his sword and charged. The sword tip, sharper than before, mercilessly targeted Caelan’s body. It was the same technique he had used to cut down other opponents. Cut shallowly. Cut until blood overflows. And finally, deliver a deep wound.

As Leonard, eyes gleaming, swung his sword mercilessly, blood sprayed through the air.

“Caelan!”

Bliss called out to him as she watched the wounds multiply on Caelan’s body. What she had worried about most had finally happened.

She didn’t know how many people had fallen to Leonard’s attacks. Now that he was doing the same to Caelan, Bliss felt her blood run cold.

“We need to stop this.”

“Not yet.”

“But if this continues, he’ll collapse.”

“He’s holding on, isn’t he?”

“What if he’s barely holding on? This is dangerous.”

Bliss stood up. And just as she was about to call the referee, Echo grabbed her skirt with its mouth and pulled.

“If you forfeit for him here, everything he’s been waiting for will be for nothing.”

“…What do you mean waiting?”

Bliss looked down at Echo. Echo looked around and quietly let go of her skirt.

【Watch Caelan’s eyes carefully.】

Since they weren’t as close as before, Echo transmitted the words directly into Bliss’s mind. The words thundered in her head as Bliss whipped her head around.

The wounds had increased from before, and the blood that had fallen from him created red marks on the ground.

As the situation became more intense than before, Bliss desperately held back her urge to call for forfeit and tried to look into Caelan’s eyes.

“I can’t see.”

He had his back turned to her now, so she couldn’t see his face. Bliss walked along the wall, never taking her eyes off Caelan. During that time, he was cut by the sword two more times.

Bliss forcefully dragged her trembling legs to a position where she could see Caelan’s face.

“What the, why did you bump my shoulder……”

“Shh.”

When Bliss bumped past him, the man who had collided with her became agitated. Given his fancy clothes, he was clearly a noble, yet she had left without even apologizing, which made him even more indignant. Just as he was about to grab the woman, someone caught his shoulder.

“Huh? Ka… Karhen?”

He could recognize him as a participant in this knight tournament.

“Please continue watching what you were watching.”

“But that woman……”

“It would be better to just watch quietly.”

At Karhen’s smiling threat, the man closed his mouth. Quietly sitting down at the pressure he couldn’t handle, Karhen left again to help Bliss.

“Just a little more.”

If she ran just a bit further, she thought she could see his face.

“Caelan.”

The moment she finally saw his face, all of Bliss’s movements stopped.

She understood why Echo had told her to look at his eyes.

When her eyes met Caelan’s, who had been only half-blocking Leonard’s attacks, Bliss barely managed to hold back her urge to collapse right there.

Even as wounds appeared on his body and blood sprayed, his eyes didn’t waver at all. They looked as if observing someone else’s wounds, showing no sign of defeat. That’s why Echo had opposed her intervention. Caelan hadn’t lost yet, and he didn’t want her cutting the situation short.

Even so, it was his own body, and she had told him not to get hurt, so she felt resentful and… worried that he wasn’t taking care of himself.

“Caelan……”

As if he had heard her small murmur, Caelan’s eyes met hers and his movements changed. It was nothing like moments ago when he had been barely managing to block Leonard’s attacks.

As he swung his sword widely, Leonard instead began to focus on defense. Caelan struck down mercilessly as if Leonard’s defense meant nothing to him.

It was an attack that seemed impossible from someone who had been passive due to wounds all over his body.

Bliss gripped the railing tightly, hoping and hoping again that Caelan would be safe.

‘What’s suddenly going on?’

Leonard couldn’t shake off the strange thought as he hurriedly raised his sword above his head to block.

Clearly his attacks had been working. Seeing the wounds appear on Caelan’s body, he thought he had gained the upper hand.

But in a single moment, as soon as Caelan looked somewhere, his movements changed. Like a storm that pressed forward without looking back.

Moreover, after putting all his strength into attacking Caelan, now he could barely block Caelan’s attacks. The moment he realized he couldn’t counterattack, a sense of defeat began to rapidly cloud Leonard’s eyes.

When their swords clashed and their faces came close, Caelan whispered.

“Always seeming to wait for an opportunity but acting hastily – that’s the reason why you can’t win.”

“You……”

While Leonard was gritting his teeth, Caelan pushed him back with strong force. Watching his sword fly away, Leonard could do nothing as he saw a blade pressed against his neck.

“Sir Caelan’s victory!”

With the referee’s call, the final match ended.

***

The award ceremony takes place after emergency treatment for the knights who fought in the finals. During that time, they clean the blood-stained stage and gather the knights who made it to the quarter-finals, which takes a brief moment.

Although Caelan was receiving treatment from the doctor, the pain from his wounds didn’t seem to be subsiding.

“Are you treating this properly?”

“Yes, but……”

“Then why isn’t the pain going away?”

“That’s……”

The doctor couldn’t continue his words. He was treating him properly. Though there had been a lot of blood loss, the wounds were shallow, so it wasn’t difficult to stop the bleeding, apply medicine, and bandage them.

“Don’t wrongly accuse innocent people.”

Bliss spoke slowly and clearly in a low voice, with her arms crossed. Though she was just letting him know the doctor was treating him well, it had the effect of immediately silencing Caelan. Knowing his own guilt, he couldn’t speak even though he had a mouth.

“I just mentioned that there was pain.”

“If you were so worried about pain, you should have fought more carefully. If you pushed your body to its limits looking for an opportunity, shouldn’t you know how to endure it?”

After the treatment was finished, Bliss approached and gently stroked his wounds while speaking kindly. Though it was a voice filled with concern for her husband, it didn’t sound that way at all to Caelan.

“Now I can’t even say when I’m in pain.”

At Caelan’s words, which seemed to say that was enough of her complaints, Bliss responded by pressing on his wound.

“That’s absolutely not possible.”

When she realized he had deliberately taken those wounds, her feelings of upset were greater than her expectations of victory.

“Why did you do that? Who would be happy about winning while getting hurt like this……”

“Everyone except you seemed happy about it.”

“Then why don’t you share that joy with others besides me.”

Bliss gently stroked the wound she had been pressing. The doctor had said the wounds were much shallower than those who had faced Viscount Jimilta. Though they might look severe because of the bleeding, Bliss hated even these wounds.

“Don’t do this again. If you do this again……”

Bliss’s words of disappointment disappeared into Caelan’s mouth. As she tried to step back, he blocked her and mumbled with their lips still touching.

“I’ll let you go if you congratulate me.”

At Caelan’s sweet threat, Bliss closed her eyes and embraced him.