Chapter 23

“Huh, ha.” 

She exhaled deeply, focusing her mind.  

And without delay, she began her attack.  

When facing a larger opponent, dragging out the time only exhausted her, making it disadvantageous for someone of her smaller stature.  

Thud! Thwack! Thud, thud!  

The sound of wooden swords clashing vibrated through the night air.  

She swiftly moved her feet, targeting his openings.  

But he effortlessly blocked each of her attacks without faltering.  

‘Ugh, the skirt is a problem!’  

The flowing skirt was a hindrance.  

Every time she extended her leg, the hem got in the way.  

So instead of taking wide steps, she moved quickly, continuing her attack.  

Duke Conver also seemed cautious not to step on the fluttering skirt.  

But it wasn’t easy.  

“Ugh!”  

He was startled when he slightly stepped on the edge of the skirt, trying to move his foot, and his steps tangled, causing him to tilt to one side.  

‘There!’  

Not missing the chance, she swiftly extended her wooden sword toward his opening.  

Focused solely on attacking, she forcefully extended her foot, only to step on her own skirt.  

“Ack!”  

Before she could complete her attack, she lost her balance and tilted forward.  

His foot and her foot tangled inside the skirt, and the more they struggled to get out, the more entangled they became, unable to move.  

“Ugh.”  

“Aah!”  

As their intertwined bodies were about to topple sideways, Duke Conver quickly wrapped his arm around her waist.  

With a dull thud, they fell to the ground.  

“Ugh.”  

A groan escaped from Duke Conver.  

She tried to open her tightly closed eyes and assess the situation.  

‘How did this happen…?’  

Duke Conver was on the ground, and she was gently on top of him.  

Thanks to being completely cushioned by his body, she didn’t touch the hard, rough ground.  

Because of that, she wasn’t hurt anywhere.  

“Hah, hah.”  

“Phew…”  

In the quiet midnight garden, only the sound of their heavy breathing echoed softly.  

His arm wrapped around her was very firm.  

‘Did he protect me on purpose? No way.’  

The heat radiating from his body was intense.  

Thump, thump, the heartbeat, whose it was, pounded fiercely.  

“Aah, I’m sorry!”  

Finally grasping the situation, she quickly got up, startled.  

In her fluster, she might have pressed somewhere on his body, as another groan escaped from him.  

After managing to get up, she helped him rise.  

He stood up, holding his right elbow.  

Upon closer inspection, his elbow was swollen.  

“What should we do… Your arm… must hurt a lot.”  

Feeling embarrassed that he seemed injured because of her, she looked up at him.  

He tried to smooth out his pained expression and spoke.  

“As expected, you’re a pharmacist who took down three of Geiser’s men.”  

His weak smile sounded like that of a deranged person, making her heart sink.  

“I hope it’s not broken.”  

“Indeed. I don’t want the stigma of having my arm broken by a nanny.”  

People wouldn’t know their nanny was a pharmacist with excellent sword skills, so he laughed awkwardly.  

Even though the moonlight wasn’t particularly bright, it seemed like only his face was illuminated, or was that just her imagination?  

Either way, seeing Duke Conver’s face shining even under the moonlight made her even more embarrassed.  

She spoke with a flushed face, pouting.  

“See, the skirt is the problem.”  

The dress code of the Ducal House is strange, she dusted off the dirt from her skirt.  

“It seems you are right, Miss Astrid.”  

He trudged away.  

* * *  

“Oh my, what on earth happened?”

Seeing Duke Conver appear with his injured arm wrapped, the head maid Vanessa was taken aback.

Her sharp eyes quickly scanned the Duke’s injury and the dirt on her clothes.

Under the head maid’s sharp gaze, she had to tense up.

“I just fell while training and got a bit hurt. It’s nothing serious.”  

Despite Duke Conver’s nonchalant words, Vanessa’s deeply furrowed face showed no sign of relaxing.  

She instructed another maid to fetch the physician.  

As they went up to the bedroom, a small figure blocked their path.  

It was Ray, just woken up, with a tousled face.  

“As, you’re back?”  

“Sorry I’m late. Did we wake you?”  

“Huh? Father, are you hurt?”  

“A little. I just fell while training.”  

Ray, observing the expressions of Duke Conver and her, seemed to grasp what had happened and sighed deeply, shaking his head.  

“As, you should’ve been gentler.”  

“Well, that’s…”  

As she struggled to continue, scratching her forehead, Duke Conver suddenly spoke.  

“Ray, you seem to misunderstand, but it wasn’t like that. It was evenly matched. But the skirt…”  

“I know. You don’t need to explain, I understand.”  

Ray interrupted his father, nodding as if he understood everything, with a generous smile on his face.  

“Even if it wasn’t…”  

“I’ll go back and try to sleep again.”  

Though Duke Conver, his face flushed, seemed to want to say more, Ray slipped back into his bedroom, leaving his father’s words behind.  

It was likely to spare his father some embarrassment in front of his son.  

He was a child with incredibly quick wits.  

Knowing this, Duke Conver didn’t call Ray back and kept his mouth shut.  

The one who sighed deeply was none other than Vanessa, the Head Maid.  

‘It’s not my fault! Duke Conver suggested the spar first! The skirt caused the fall!’  

Even though she wasn’t at fault, she felt unnecessarily guilty, which was bothersome.  

That night, she couldn’t easily fall asleep.  

Usually, she would fall into a deep sleep the moment her head hit the pillow.  

But that night, memories of the spar with Duke Conver kept surfacing, disrupting her sleep.  

His swift movement to protect her as they fell, and his firm arm.  

‘Is it chivalry or something?’  

The sensation of his touch still felt vivid.  

The heartbeat she heard in her ears was the same.  

‘Ugh… so embarrassing.’  

Feeling a rush of heat, she threw off the blanket.  

It wasn’t her first time sparring with a man, nor was it the first time rolling on the dirt with one.  

But it was strange how only today her mind felt so unsettled.  

Was it because his face shining in the moonlight left such an impression?  

Or because he was the male lead?  

If not, was it just because he was handsome?  

‘Enough, let’s just sleep.’  

Pushing aside unnecessary thoughts, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to sleep.  

* * *  

At the same time, there was another person at the Ducal House unable to sleep, and that was Bryce.  

Though the discomfort from the bandaged arm was part of it, the main reason for his sleeplessness was elsewhere.  

‘Astrid Vaughn…’  

It was because of the spar with her.  

Though he had heard of her feat of taking down three of Geiser’s men, he still doubted it.  

He was confident in his sword skills, believing they were second to none, and thought that size difference couldn’t be ignored in a sword duel, so he was a bit arrogant.  

But she was by no means an easy opponent.  

Each of her precise, unembellished movements was very sophisticated.  

Her techniques were not flashy but straightforward, indicating her skills were honed through real experience.  

She expertly highlighted her strengths while cleverly concealing her weaknesses.  

If it weren’t for the mishap with the skirt, it was impossible to predict who would have won.  

Bryce was completely overwhelmed by the powerful energy emitted by someone smaller and more slender than him.  

It was a feeling he had never experienced before.  

Her body, which he held as they fell, was even smaller and more delicate than it looked.  

Seeing her apologize with a flushed face while looking at his injured arm made her seem even more fragile.  

She seemed weak but wasn’t, appeared strong but wasn’t.  

‘I can’t figure her out.’  

But one thing was certain.  

Astrid genuinely enjoyed wielding the sword.  

The gleam in her eyes as she firmly gripped the wooden sword was something he had never seen before.  

The flame in her eyes as she swiftly swung her sword through the air resembled a roaring predator.  

‘A predator, yet beautiful…’  

Does that even make sense?  

No, it doesn’t.  

A beautiful predator, really.  

Bryce shook his head.  

It must have been the medicine to reduce inflammation that made his head fuzzy, leading to such strange thoughts.  

Bryce tried to clear his mind and sleep again.  

But perhaps because the spar with Astrid was so impressive.  

Or maybe because the medication was potent.  

He had to toss and turn for quite a while after.