Hermes turned his gaze toward where Erika was looking.

There, Gerick was gritting his teeth, shaking his sweat-soaked brilliant golden hair, as he crossed swords with his greatest rival, Ion.

Hermes stared at Erika for a long while, finding it strange that she was certain of Ion’s victory when she had always cheered for Gerick.

“Why do you think that?”

“He’s obviously weak. Especially his wrists.”

Hermes gave Erika a curious look at her nonchalant comment, then turned his head again to carefully observe Gerick’s movements.

“And his footwork is a mess. He won’t last long like that.”

Just as Erika finished speaking, Gerick fell and dropped his sword.

“I knew it. He needs to build up his lower body strength first and practice his footwork again.”

“Wow~ Our Erika has good eyes?”

Hermes lavished praise on Erika’s keen observation skills.

Perhaps having overheard the siblings’ friendly conversation, Gerick approached with long strides, looking very displeased.

“I thought you’d learned your place, but I guess not?”

His posture was crooked and his sarcastic demeanor suggested that Erika’s assessment had greatly displeased him.

‘What’s with this attitude?’

“I greet Your Highness Third Prince Gerick.”

At the mention of Third Prince Gerick, Erika awkwardly rose from her seat and gave a clumsy greeting.

As if she didn’t know Gerick well.

In truth, she didn’t know him well since she’d only read about him.

One thing was certain—Gerick was even less appealing in person than he had been in writing.

Gerick was already in a bad mood from losing to Ion, and now he felt even more furious at being seemingly dismissed by Erika, who used to follow him around.

“You think you know so much about swordsmanship? Then how about sparring with me?”

Hermes frowned at Gerick’s words.

Gerick had known Erika for years and clearly knew she couldn’t use a sword, so this was obviously just him venting his anger.

“Your Highness, how about I take her place? As you know, Erika……”

Offering his instructional sparring, which everyone desired, was quite a significant bait for Hermes to throw.

But,

“Why should my brother? You wanted to spar with me, right, Your Highness?”

Erika looked at Gerick with contempt.

With one hand on her hip and a crooked posture, Erika caught the attention of Ion, who had just sparred with Gerick, causing him to stop and stare at her.

“How dare you! I am a prince of this country.”

“Not the only one, though. I believe this country has quite a few princes.”

She held back from adding that the empire wouldn’t be affected if one of them disappeared.

“You seem quite confident?”

“Well…… I don’t really like people who are all talk.”

“Erika!”

Despite Hermes’s attempts to stop her, Erika calmly went to select a wooden sword.

Gerick irritably ran his hand through his hair.

Yet Erika felt a surge of competitive spirit at the prospect of sparring after so long.

‘I really didn’t like him, and now I get to beat him fair and square.’

Erika hid her excitement and checked her uncomfortable dress and shoes.

She figured she could still thoroughly thrash Gerick without changing clothes.

From Haena’s perspective, Gerick was an adulterer who betrayed Erika.

Even if he fell in love with the female lead, it was incomprehensible and unforgivable that he ignored Erika, with whom he was already engaged, and even caused her family’s downfall.

Even if his engagement to Erika had been arranged out of political necessity, once he found someone he loved, he should have formally apologized and broken off the engagement.

Instead of blaming Erika for being hurt and consumed by jealousy, and backing her into a corner.

Everything has its proper order, and from Haena’s perspective, Gerick had ignored all of that.

“No complaints afterward.”

“Does one spar with words? With those good eyes of yours, you must have learned something? I’m looking forward to it.”

“That’s right. They say it’s scary what one can learn just by watching.”

Erika moved with a smirk, heading to a more spacious area for their sparring match.

“Erika, no.”

“Why? He asked for a match. Shouldn’t we obey the prince’s command?”

Hermes was frantic with worry but Erika’s resolve was firm.

“It’s fine, brother. I’ll just take a few hits.”

And then I’ll deliver hundreds.

“I’ve heard that direct descendants of the Duke of Sparta know how to handle a sword from birth. Today I’ll find out if that’s true.”

Erika slightly bowed her head in greeting, then kissed the wooden sword.

‘Nice to meet you.’

“Erika……”

“It’s an honor to spar with the prince, isn’t it? Brother, please be our referee.”

Hermes sighed deeply and stood between Gerick and Erika.

“I’ll referee. If I deem it dangerous, I’ll stop the match, so please understand that.”

“That’s not right, brother. Isn’t the rule to continue until one side surrenders?”

Gerick, who was about to take his stance, snickered at Erika’s provocation.

“Fine, let’s see what you can do.”

By this point, Hermes couldn’t stop them anymore. Placing his hand on his sword hilt in case of emergency, Hermes announced the start of the match.

“A knight’s sword is a sword of protection. I swear to use the sword prudently, not taking life lightly.”

As soon as Hermes finished his oath, Erika charged at Gerick.

“Head!”

Instantly struck on the head, Gerick held back tears and retreated.

“Hey! You! That’s dirty!”

“Oh? Hadn’t the match already started?”

Erika cutely tilted her head as if she knew nothing, then adjusted her grip on the sword.

Gerick irritably shook his sword, gripped it with both hands, and charged.

“Thrust!”

“Ugh!”

Though it was a wooden sword, the precise strike to the collarbone broke Gerick’s stance.

Erika rushed forward and struck Gerick’s waist as he lost his balance.

“Waist!”

Gerick clutched his side and collapsed to the ground, feeling pain as if cut by a real sword.

Still, Erika didn’t stop.

Returning, she happily pummeled him, calling out each body part she was about to strike with her sword.

“Head, head, waist, knee, shoulder, waist……”

Erika’s continuous shouts and sword movements had turned this from a sparring match into a one-sided beating of Gerick.

“S-sto, st, sto, st, st…… hey……”

Gerick tried to stammer out a request to stop the match, but it didn’t reach Hermes, who was stunned by Erika’s unexpected behavior.

Only when Gerick was nearly unconscious and slumped over did Erika’s movements stop.

“Y-Your Highness!”

Gerick’s attendants rushed over and quickly moved him to the infirmary.

No one knew that Ion, watching from a distance, was rolling on the ground clutching his stomach in laughter.

Watching Gerick disappear while groaning in pain, Erika finally seemed concerned and asked Hermes:

“In a sparring match…… one can’t use their status to bully others, right?”

“Bully?”

Erika shook her head at Hermes’s puzzled face, shaking off her worries.

“Brother, let’s go home quickly.”

“Huh? Oh……”

It was from that day. That Erika’s life, contrary to her intentions, began to revolve around Gerick.

***

“Erika!”

From then on, Gerick began pestering her for sparring matches every time they met at the academy twice a week.

He regularly visited the Duke of Sparta’s residence, showering her with gifts,

Essential cheesy lines and couple roleplay,

And optional fierce battles to monopolize Erika.

He infiltrated the Sparta Knight Order training sessions, pretending to cheer for Erika’s rapidly improving sword skills.

When Erika manifested her aura, he boasted all over town that she had shown it only to him, as if it were a special privilege.

People accepted the news of Erika becoming an aura user as natural, saying it was expected of the Sparta bloodline.

Erika’s basic principle was not to stop those who came or chase those who left.

At first, she felt uncomfortable with Gerick’s advances, but she grew accustomed to them over time.

He made such a fuss that everyone believed Erika and Gerick were lovers, but she left it alone, finding it too bothersome to constantly deny.

Then one day,

“You know? My friends. This is Casano, and this is Mornie.”

Gerick, who had been making a scene preventing anyone, male or female, from approaching Erika, introduced the original story’s supporting male characters, Casano and Mornie, when she was sixteen, just before the monster extermination operation.

He had no choice but to introduce them since they would be working as a team.

He also wanted to gather forces early, as the imperial succession battle would begin right after the monster extermination.

Erika wasn’t particularly pleased with Gerick’s excessive behavior, but she let it be, assuming he would soon leave her once he met the female lead according to the original story.

Until then, she hadn’t had the slightest desire to change the original story, so she never thought she would end up changing it.

Kieeek—

“It’s a Putera!”

The Putera, boasting a height and build as large as the Lotte Tower, had a shell so hard that it was difficult to deal with unless you were an aura user.

The Putera’s core was at the top of its head.

It was located in what would be the space between the eyebrows on a human, but since there was no clear distinction between the head and forehead, it was surprisingly difficult to find.

The best way to quickly take down a Putera while minimizing damage was for four Sword Masters to attack together.

Currently, the known Sword Masters were the Duke of Sparta, Hermes, and the Sparta Knight Order Commander Ark—three in total.

‘Why is a Putera here…… Is there no choice?’

Erika glanced at Hermes.

Hermes also seemed troubled and looked to the Duke of Sparta for guidance.

The Duke of Sparta’s decision was swift, as soldiers and knights were being thrown about by the Putera’s swinging arms during that brief moment of deliberation.

“All troops retreat!”

Three people didn’t retreat at the Duke of Sparta’s command.

Knight Commander Ark, Hermes, and Erika.

“Erika! Come here quickly!”

Gerick, Casano, and Mornie called out anxiously, but Erika was just dusting off her sword, waiting for the Duke of Sparta’s instructions.

The Duke sighed deeply and raised his hand.

“Ark and I will take the upper body, Hermes and Erika the lower body.”

“Yes, sir!”

The four leaped into the air simultaneously and surrounded their swords with aura.

The aura from each sword gradually extended, creating swords almost as thick as the Putera’s body.

“Attack!”

At the Duke of Sparta’s signal, the aura swords swung simultaneously, intersecting at the center of the Putera’s body and splitting it into four parts.

The Duke of Sparta quickly rushed forward, extracted the core from the falling Putera’s head, and destroyed it.

The knights could hardly believe their eyes.

“S-Sword Master!”

Everyone already knew about the Duke of Sparta’s power, and those in the know were aware that Ark, who fought alongside him, was exceptionally skilled.

Hermes’s remarkable growth as a budding Sword Master was the dream of young knights.

But no one had expected Erika to be a Sword Master too.

“Erika is a Sword Master?”

“I thought she was just a mid-level aura user……”

“……”