"Is it just because he was forced to escort Miss Annabelle?"

"Did Prince Robert ask him to? It might be too much for the prince himself to escort a commoner directly."

"Right! If you're the Duke of Wade, in some respects, it's appropriate since the Duchess was a commoner."

Due to such probable vain reasoning, Ian's reputation rose.

"Although...I don't know about anyone else, but Ian is a mature gentleman, so he would probably do it anyway."

They also said he was working with an opponent who has been hard to deal with for eight years to eradicate black magic.

So Ian, unintentionally, became an even greater man who differentiated between public and private matters for the public good of the Empire.

People never dared to ask him, 'Why did you escort Annabelle?', but they did get advice on this duel.

"How is it in your eyes?"

"Of course, no one knows that foreigner, but... Still, haven't you had a lot of fights with Annabelle Nadit, or, Miss Annabell Rainfield?"

Regardless of Ian's mood, it was an ordinary question asked to a master swordsman in the Empire.

"Well."

Ian did not give a particularly cool answer without releasing his stiff expression.

"I don't know anything else, but there is one thing I agree about with Richard."

However, he fixed his gaze on Annabelle and Lagian and spoke slowly.

"Annabelle Rainfield may not be second in this swordsmanship contest."

Simultaneously with those words, the servant rang the bell to announce the start of the duel, and Annabelle and Lagian's swords clashed.

"Oh my goodness. Like that, just like that..."

"Well...this."

A few sums were added

People who were expecting much began to sigh.

"Uh-huh, what... She can't compete..."

"As the earnestness has disappeared, it seems that her swordsmanship skills have also disappeared."

From the start, Annabelle seemed completely pushed back.

It was because she was so focused on blocking Lagian's sword that she couldn't even attack properly.

While Annabelle was unilaterally pushed by Lagian, the mood of the crowd was not very good.

In addition, there were many people who received orders from the empress, who had the greatest influence in the social world, to 'cut down Annabelle unconditionally'.

However, once the duel started, the audience realized something new.

That Annabelle was being pushed by a foreigner.

It seemed that she somehow hurt the pride of the empire.

It was also an aspect that Carlon, who had no patriotism, missed.

"Hmm... That escort is good."

Of course, the emperor, who watched the match with bright eyes, was also disappointed.

"Miss Annabelle's skills are pretty good, but..."

He had been watching every match of her swordsmanship contest, so he knew that Annabelle's skills hadn't really deteriorated.

Her skills and agility were not much different from what he had seen before.

However, the skill of that foreign escort that Carlon brought was far superior to what he expected.

It was when disappointment began to overshadow the emperor's face, who was cheering for Annabelle,that a sharp attack that could have killed Annabelle immediately, if it had not been blocked, was launched.

Even those who knew nothing about the sword could see that Annabelle was helplessly pushed back.

Lagian's huge sword drew a large arc toward Annabelle, who was continuously being pushed.

"Oh no!"

The emperor, who had eyes for swordsmanship even if he was not good at swordsmanship, jumped up in surprise.

"If it's that fast and at that angle, she would've probably died instantly."

The place where Lagian's sword passed, a huge bursting sound rang the banquet hall.

"Oh, my!"

It was when people opened their mouths.

Soon after, a scream pierced everyone's ears.

Obviously, the place where Lagian's sword headed was Annabelle, but she quickly avoided it at an amazing speed.

Considering how she has been pushed back, it was actually a ridiculous development.

And a very unexpected person screamed and collapsed.

"Agh!"

Carlon, who was enjoying the game, jumped up and shouted.

"Richard!"

Coincidentally, there was a huge flagpole that decorated the banquet hall in the place she avoided.

Eventually, Lagian's sword, which had lost its place to go, hit the flagpole.

As a result, a solid iron flagpole collapsed, injuring Richard.

It was a really coincidental thing that no one expected.

That heavy flagpole fell head-on to Richard's head in an instant.

Of course, Richard lost his mind as it was.

"Doctor! Get the doctor!"

Carlon jumped up and shouted.

And in the mess, Annabelle's sword reached Lagian's neck.

"Hmm."

Annabelle smiled and stared straight into Lagian's eyes.

"Don't you think I won?"

Not only Lagian, but also everyone at the banquet who watched the situation was puzzled.

They only remembered Annabelle being unilaterally pushed back, and the duel suddenly ended with Annabelle's victory.

She whispered softly to Lagian.

"Oh, that's right. I couldn't keep my promise not to hurt anyone."

She shrugged at Richard, who collapsed.

"But... Isn't it your fault? How can you swing a sword so hard that you almost killed a person?"

Lagian couldn't answer that.

This was because Robert applauded loudly as if he had been waiting.

"Trust is worth believing in."

He wedged the situation while even Lagian was still puzzled.

"It's the victory of Miss Annabelle Rainfield, who fought for the honor of the emperor."

At that, the emperor began to exhale with excitement.

~*~

(Annabelle's pov)

I smiled in high spirits.

Richard was rushed out and the atmosphere was literally a mess.

After Robert's declaration, Lagian muttered and he grinded his teeth as if he finally came to his senses.

"...I think it was luck to avoid it in the end, but the duration..."

"Yes, that's why you lost."

I shrugged, gently putting the sword back into the sheath.

"In terms of skills, it's natural that I'm greater..."

"Oh, my. Did you lose with your great skills? Great job."

"While I was flustered by an unexpected accident..."

"May I give you some advice? If a loser doesn't admit defeat and makes excuses, then they're not much to begin with."

As I cut off Lagian's words, I spoke leisurely.

"That's how I lived for 8 years."

Lagian fumed in anger, but he could no longer make a fuss. Anyways, that was because he was the party who caused the banquet hall's big accident.

And the accident was the first step in my scheme.

In the first place, he wasn't really hard for me to win against, but I was aiming for Richard from the beginning.

In fact, it required a lot more skills.

Exactly controlling Lagian to hurt Richard.

It was surprisingly hard to pretend to be pushed back without showing my original skills.

'But the skilled are the skilled.'

If it was my original form, I would have been embarrassingly defeated.

I almost played with my skills because it improved significantly by destroying two origins of black magic.

'But something is weird. I think I've never seen him before, but he's serious about killing me... This is an enemy that is hard to understand no matter how much money is at stake.'

No matter how much I thought about it, I was a little surprised because the sword wielding at me contained genuine malice.

'There must be a reason, but I don't know. Anyways, there's room for more use, so it's better to provoke him if he has malice...'

Of course, it was a cowardly move in a way to induce excessive movement while disguised as if it were my old skills.

But I didn't want to be fair while fighting a mean enemy.

It could be said that it was the difference between Ian and me, where Ian was fair all along while dealing with me.

"This, this... No..."

Lagian lost ridiculously, but he looked devastated that he hurt Richard, who was Carlon's closest aide these days, with his own hands.

I thought to myself, looking at Richard being carried away.

'It looks like he was seriously injured... It must have been very painful since he's a weak person.'

He looked like he was dying of joy while watching the duel I was 'losing'.

'It's going as planned. Try to preserve your position and lie down for a while.'

Elburn, the only family here, rushed after Richard, who was being carried away.

'You'll be next.'

I smiled at Elburn's back.

Soon, it will not be the time to worry about Richard.

Not long after, the court doctor who had followed Richard for medical treatment returned.

He sighed and reported.

"His life isn't affected, but... It seems like it will take quite a while for him to come to his senses."

After hearing the court's report, Robert immediately spoke to the emperor.

"There will be a big hole in the administration because he got an injury where we don't know how long he'll be out for." (tl/n: he's implying that someone needs to fill Richard's spot.)

Now it was time for Robert to hit the next bat.