Aaron must've acted with Annabelle.

So, without anyone knowing, he could have known.

"Why do you look like that? As if lost..."

Braden was bewildered by Ian's bewildered face he had never seen before, but he answered anyway.

"He was going to the headquarters to deal with the drugs... Ian?"

Without listening to the end, Ian started running towards the headquarters.

He was not even conscious that this was a swordsmanship competition arena.

He wanted to see Annabelle right now. He, too, had something to say to Annabelle.

He was irrational, but he only had that thought.

Ian ran frantically and soon reached Aaron, who was on his way to the headquarters.

Aaron and Cessianne were moving slowly while talking to each other.

"So we're going to headquarters."

"Right. Isn't the qualifier round starting soon? It's okay to lose, so don't worry..."

"Cessianne, I will never be eliminated from the qualifiers round."

"But so far, the win rate is 0%, isn't it?"

"...When I was 12. It would be difficult to give statistics like that from one match and one loss."

"Still, I'm not wrong."

"I certainly wasn't playing the role of being kidnapped back then. In front of Cessianne, only my older sister took the cool role... Huh, Ian?"

Ian grabbed Aaron, who was talking with his lover, and stopped him.

Aaron blinked his eyes and murmured.

"Hmm, what you said was right. I was trying to win, but I can't..."

At Aaron's words, Ian immediately realized that he was aware of Annabelle's plan.

Apparently, Annabelle had even told Aaron that she would send Ian to the swordsmanship contest.

She put Aaron on the battlefield instead of herself.

"Aaron, where is Annabelle?"

"...Huh? Why are you asking about my sister at this point?"

Aaron squinted his eyes and looked at Ian suspiciously.

Ian growled as he grabbed him by the neck and urged him once more.

"Where did Annabelle and Prince Robert go? Don't make me say it three times."

"Even Prince Carlon said that he was simply chasing their tracks externally. If you're curious about that, you can go after the swordsmanship contest..."

"Since when did you say you listened to Annabelle so well?"

"In that sense, I have to tell you one more thing."

Aaron held out the papers he was holding.

"If Ian arrives on time, she asked me to deliver this to headquarters. It's an illegal drug distribution channel that circulated among the participants of the swordsmanship competition."

Ian reflexively accepted the document. When he read the first chapter roughly, it was a drug that instantly boosted a person's skills.

"Stupid things. This is bound to have side effects in one way or another."

Ian bit his tongue and handed the papers back to Aaron.

"You take care of these trivial little things. I need to go to Annabelle so tell me where she is."

"It's not trivial. According to your sister, the Empress is also related."

"...What?"

Aaron's words which combined Annabelle and the Empress in an instant made Ian's face become more ferocious.

"Hey."

Cessianne whispered into Aaron's ear.

"To say the Little Duke of Wade has a good personality...is just a bullshit rumor. After all, people have to experience it to know."

Of course, Ian had no time to care about her evaluation.

According to Aaron, Carlon followed Annabelle and Robert.

According to Annabelle's plan, which he heard last, of course, Carlon knew she knew the origin of black magic.

And he didn't think the Empress would have obtained illegal drugs for her own use.

'It must have been given to Lagian.'

Ian had never been interested in illegal drugs.

He had no idea how much the drug would improve his skills.

If by any chance it could exceed Annabelle's ability even more...

"For the fourth time, I need to go to Annabelle, so tell me where she is right now."

Ian finally pulled out his sword and said grimly.

Cessianne's eyes widened as she whispered more.

"Oh my gosh, he must have been counting them all..."

Of course, Aaron was the one who would give in at Ian's sword.

He took the papers again and stepped back in reply.

"Smaho Forest, Ian."

"...What?"

"There is a reason why I didn't tell you in the first place. Even if you knew it, you couldn't pursue her. Isn't it a place that only one person could go with the royal family?"

Aaron said hurriedly.

"If you don't want to go there and be attacked by monsters, just follow my sister's wishes... Ian?"

Of course, Aaron could not continue to the end.

Ian just ran past him.

~*~

The 912th Swordsmanship Tournament ended in chaos.

First of all, both participants, who were expected to be seen by everyone, did not attend.

"How did this happen?"

The Emperor clicked his tongue and touched his forehead, but there were no children to answer him.

Both Carlon and Robert left the capital to go to destroy the origin of black magic.

"I was a little concerned about them starting right before the swordsmanship competition, but..."

The Emperor, who had hoped for Annabelle's propaganda performance in his heart, muttered sadly to himself.

Of course, he was also predicting that the winner would be Ian.

In the 910th and 911th swordsmanship competitions, Ian defeated Annabelle too easily.

"...How did it happen?"

Of course, the Emperor was not the only one who felt sad.

"There is neither Ian nor Annabelle..."

Leslie muttered as she watched the qualifier match with uneasy eyes.

Since the registration of participants was over, even if Ian and Annabelle returned, they could not participate in the match.

"Especially Annabelle, her skills have improved a lot."

Leslie said boldly to Braden.

"This time, I really thought Ian wouldn't beat Annabelle easily."

"You must have predicted a hard win."

Aaron was easily winning against his opponents in the arena in the distance.

With this, Aaron's swordsmanship record was 1 win and 1 loss.

"Are they both okay? Did something happen?"

Leslie was so worried about her son for the first time in her life.

She wondered if something so serious had happened that he couldn't even attend the swordsmanship competition.

"I think it has to do with what Annabelle and Prince Robert said that they were going to destroy black magic..."

"You said you saw Ian at the stadium earlier."

Braden rubbed Leslie's shoulder and said.

"He was fine until at least mid-morning. There was a bit of a fishy smell."

"...Huh?"

"Even Annabelle said that she didn't participate on purpose to give Aaron a chance to participate."

"Do you believe that?"

"If it was Miss Annabelle, would she be able to do such a thing? It's because she doesn't even need a title anymore."

"Well... I don't know anything else, but she's serious about the sword. Did she miss the last swordsmanship contest like this?"

Braden swallowed a few words, fearing Leslie would worry too much.

He said that the son he had met for a while was making a face he had never seen before.

'That look in his eyes...'

Braden thought as he recalled Ian's red eyes that looked scary.

'I don't know what kind of crazy things he's going to do. It's like a face just before an explosion...'

In all this time, Braden had never seen Ian lose his temper.

Since childhood, Ian had always thought calmly and moved with the optimal strategy.

But before, he could not contain his composure, and it was an atmosphere that could lead to an accident.

'Leslie.'

Braden muttered to himself the words he couldn't get out of his mouth.

'I think our son is going to do something... I don't know what it is.'

The 912th swordsmanship competition that took place all day like this ended in a strange way in many ways.

Ian Wade, who everyone had predicted for the championship, and Annabelle Rainfield, who was expected to be runner-up, were absent.

Even if there was a slight difference in skill, the main issue of this swordsmanship competition was that it was the last participation of the two, who were rare rivals.

Instead, someone who they didn't expect to win the championship...

"Uh... The winner of the 912th Swordsmanship Competition is..."

Of course, the subject also had a slightly bewildered expression on his face.

"Aaron Rainfield!"

Everyone who bet on the rankings of the swordsmanship competitions put on a look of disappointment.

It was because Aaron did not even apply for participation in the first place.

He had never won a championship by representing himself.

"Hmm."

After the final, in which he easily defeated his opponent, Aaron muttered to himself.

"Is this the big picture?"

For once, Oscar and Marilyn sat there, not sure whether they should be happy or sad about this.

It was nice that Aaron had an unexpected victory, but they were worried about Annabelle, who had not yet been contacted.

"What is it, she really didn't attend for Aaron's sake?"

Marilyn didn't believe Aaron's words at first when he said, 'my sister deliberately didn't attend because she wanted to know my ranking.'

But when these results came out, she started to get a little confused.

"...Is my daughter like that? Did she even take Ian for Aaron's sake?"

Oscar couldn't hide his embarrassment and clapped with a bewildered expression.

"Oh."

Cessianne, who sat next to Oscar and Marilyn without any expectations, also trembled.

"Aaron... Were you that strong? To be honest, I fell in love with your humor, but this is an unexpected harvest."

She muttered as she clasped her hands.

"...It's cool, really..."

In the meantime, the Emperor got up trembling and announced the end of the swordsmanship competition.

Announcing that the award ceremony for the winners will be held tomorrow.

Since the swordsmanship competition was held all day, it was already getting dark.

Braden and Leslie returned to the duchy only after the swordsmanship competition was over.

The reason they stayed in their seats was because they thought Ian might reappear at the stadium.

However, Ian did not even show his nose until the end.

And it was not until they returned to the duchy that they could hear from Ian.

"...What?"

Braden shouted in astonishment after hearing the horseman's report.

"He broke the magic crystal in the drawing room, put acceleration magic on his horse, and left?" (tl/n: he's going cray cray)