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Her status, skills, and, on top of that, the delicate beauty she had, reminiscent of a winter season – everything about her was captivating. Nothing was lacking, and she exuded an aura that was not easily approachable.

“Oh? Isn’t that Miss Adelia, the instructor?”

“Yeah, didn’t she graduate and become a knight?”

“Why did she come here?”

A little while later, when Adelia revealed herself alongside Isaac, the commotion doubled. Like Nicole, she had a dazzling appearance that was far from common, an unbiased mindset, and, in addition, great martial prowess, making her popular among the students.

Above all, her personality, which made everyone feel naturally close to her, was impossible to dislike. Especially the notorious incidents of occasionally playing mischievous pranks on Nicole, which earned her repeated scoldings, was widely known.

Because of that, many students felt regretful, thinking they couldn’t see them anymore. However, her suddenly appearing at the academy, in the training ground no less, left everyone astonished.

But there was something even more surprising.

“They’re going to have a duel?”

“That’s what I heard. Let’s watch.”

On top of that Hiriya and Adelia were having a duel. From the perspective of a third party who didn’t know the circumstances, it was impossible to tell why they had arranged a duel.

Except for one person, Isaac, who was sitting in the audience.

He couldn’t help but feel a slight unease as he fixed his gaze on the training ground where the duel between the two began. To borrow his father’s, Hawk’s words, Adelia’s talent could be considered genius, but what was even more frightening was her effort. It was a relentless determination that went beyond just effort.

Considering that that genius could stand out among numerous talented students and become an assistant instructor, one could imagine how much effort she put in.

But this was Adelia’s story, he had no idea how strong Hiriya was. There were even instances of her physically abusing Adelia when they were younger.

Of course, this was possible because the royal family provided substantial support to Hiriya, but considering the age difference between the two, it was certain that she possessed an extraordinary talent.

‘Is it going to be alright…’

Above all, Adelia had a deep-seated trauma that she carried in her heart. Her body could react before she even had a chance to think.

In order to alleviate that trauma in any way possible, Isaac had made an irresistible proposal to her. However, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

If Adelia wins, it will be the best outcome, but if the opposite happens, things will get a bit complicated.

Her trauma will worsen as time goes, and it might even leave a lasting scar on Adelia’s heart. Hopefully, she will emerge victorious.

“As expected, you were here.”

“Huh? Oh, Lord Leort.”

While waiting for the duel to begin, a young man with golden hair approached Isaac. He was Leort, the Crown Prince of the Minerva Empire and one of the regular visitors to the training grounds on weekends.

Isaac extended his hand to greet Leort as he stood up, but he motioned to stop him. With a bitter smile and a voice filled with complexity, Leort spoke.

“Isn’t it unnecessary now? It seems I’ve been quite a burden.”

“It’s different when it’s just the two of us. There are spectators now.”

“Your personality remains consistent.”

Leort said so and took a seat beside Isaac. Afterward, they both shifted their gazes towards Hiriya and Adelia, who were facing each other with training swords.

Observing the two for a while, Leort nudged Isaac. Isaac, too, kept his eyes on the training grounds where the duel was about to take place.

With a slightly cautious tone, Leort asked Isaac a question. It was a suitable question since there were hardly any spectators in the stands nearby.

“Do you know what kind of relationship those two have?”

“Yes, I know well.”

“Then, by any chance…”

“Hiriya, the princess, doesn’t know who I am. She just knows me as Adele-noona’s master.”

“That’s fortunate.”

I wondered for a moment but was reassured. After all, if Hiriya had known Xenon’s true identity, she wouldn’t have challenged Adelia to a duel. Moreover, from the perspective of Leort and the Minerva Empire, it was an ideal situation. They may not have known, but Isaac’s reputation regarding the Ters Kingdom was deteriorating in real-time.

Sometimes, doing nothing was the top priority. This is a lesson I learned a few months ago, after experiencing a protest that would go down in history. Thanks to that, we’re still maintaining a reasonably good relationship. It was an uncomfortable situation after the protest, but Isaac’s leniency allowed them to recover.

“…Lord Leort, I have one question. Is it okay to ask?”

“What is it? I’ll gladly answer any question you have.” “

The Ters royals are originally… well, how should I put it…”

Isaac hesitated to speak and looked around. After confirming that there was no one nearby, he cautiously continued.

“Aren’t they a bit… arrogant?”

“What?”

“That… even if Adelia is a bastard child, don’t you think what they do is too much? No matter how much one says otherwise, denying family in front of her seems a bit harsh.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing that question, Leort shifted his gaze to Hiriya. The Minerva Empire and the Ters Kingdom had a growling relationship with each other, but paradoxically, their exchanges were quite active.

To take the right actions, one needed to understand the other side, and to grasp the situation properly, you needed to find weaknesses. So, active exchanges between the two sides and even royal family members meeting were natural occurrences.

In Leort’s view, the Ters royals were certainly strong personalities individually. The first princess married into the Belua Republic before they could meet, but he knew well about the crown prince and the other two princesses.

“Individual differences might exist, but I don’t think of them so negatively. The issue of a bastard child is their problem, not mine.”

“Well then, what do you think about bastards? Do you also consider them as worthless, Lord Leort?”

“If you want to curse, then curse their father who roamed around as he pleased. What sin has the child committed? If the Luminous who governs life were to see that, they would lament.”

“If you want to curse someone, you should curse the father who wandered around as he pleased. What crime can a child have? If Luminous, who governs life, were to see that sight, she would surely lament.”

Leort’s indifferent yet straightforward answer made an unexpected expression on Isaac’s face. Leort was a noble, and moreover, the Crown Prince who should be looked up to after the Emperor. Nevertheless, his attitude toward bastards didn’t seem too bad. In fact, it was close to having no interest at all, but it was something, nonetheless.

Leort smiled inwardly as he looked at Isaac’s expression. Although he didn’t have much interest because there were no bastards in the imperial family he belonged to, it was good to score points like this.

The Kingdom of Ters would take care of its self-destruction. All he had to do was just fume the flames a little.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Nicole say she was going to take the entrance test for the Navy Knights?”

“Yes. She should be coming back soon…”

Bang!

Before Isaac could finish his sentence, a loud noise came from the training grounds. His gaze shifted from Leort to the direction of the training grounds.

First, he noticed Hiriya lying on the ground. And next…

“What’s going on?”

As if she had washed away all her traumas, Adelia was confidently pointing her sword at the fallen Hiriya.

*****

About three minutes before this incident occurred, while Hiriya had a smile on her face, Adelia was standing with a stern expression. They both held training swords in their hands.

Although the training swords had no sharp edges, they were made of metal and had a weight similar to real swords. Moreover, they were still intimidating weapons, lacking only the lethality.

Normally, a spar would begin with a bow or a ceremonial sword clash as a sign of mutual respect, but for these two, there was no such formality. Only a chilling atmosphere surrounded them.

Adelia looked at the relaxed Hiriya for a moment and then turned her head slightly to the left. Isaac, sitting in the spectator seats, was watching her.

“What are you looking at? Are you watching your prince again?”

She noticed Adelia’s gaze fixed on Isaac, and taunted her with her distinctive low and sultry voice.

“Seems like Adelia has already developed feelings for Isaac.”

She had already sensed that Adelia had some affection for Isaac, so it wasn’t a big surprise to her.

This made it even more amusing for Hiriya. A half-blood, neither nobility nor commoner, having feelings for someone like Isaac, who was practically a noble. It reminded her of her own mother, who had come to the royal family’s doorstep in desperation to live a more dignified life. Eventually, she would be cast aside just like her mother.

“Why don’t you just give up? You know better than anyone else how hanging onto something useless ends up. It’s like trying to grasp a rotten rope.”

“… …”

As Hiriya continued to insult her, Adelia’s expression gradually grew more hostile. Her forehead furrowed, and her usually lively demeanor turned fierce, like a tiger.

They say when a good person gets angry, it’s even scarier, and Adelia was currently in that exact situation. Even Hiriya couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by a facial expression she had never seen before.

But soon, memories from the past flashed in Hiriya’s mind, and her smile returned. The memory of receiving support from the royal family and abusing Adelia under a pretext of their rivalry.

Was there any difference between then and now? She had become much stronger since then, and Adelia had run away to the academy with hardly any proper education.

This duel was assuredly her victory.

“I see you know how to make that expression. So…”

“Hiriya.”

Adelia, who had been silent all this time, called out to Hiriya quietly. Hiriya stopped speaking and looked at her, her expression now softer.

A mere bastard dares to interrupt my words. She wanted to smack her immediately, but he remained silent as Adelia continued speaking.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Why did someone who used to follow me so well suddenly start disliking me…?”

“Why are you bringing it up now…”

“You were jealous of me. I could replicate anything I saw once, but you couldn’t. Isn’t that right?”

It was clearly a provocation, and not just any provocation, but words that forcibly brought out the deep-seated emotions hidden within Hiriya.

To explain those emotions… it was inferiority. Inferiority complex.

Hiriya wasn’t particularly talented in martial arts, including swordsmanship, if it weren’t for the secrets and support coming from the royal family, she would have been just an ordinary knight.

But Adelia was entirely the opposite. Due to her status as a bastard, she couldn’t even receive proper support, but what she learned on her own was more than enough.

Thanks to that, some of the knights who valued her talent taught her skills one by one, and Hiriya could only hide behind Adelia.

Initially, it was envy, then jealousy, and finally, inferiority.

There were various reasons why Hiriya disliked Adelia, but it all came down to his inferiority complex. That was the sole reason.

“What… what? Me? Jealous of someone like you?”

Adelia’s statement left Hiriya feeling bewildered at first. Jealous of someone like her? It was almost laughable.

However, before she could realize it, her heart was pounding wildly, and her hands holding the sword were trembling. Adelia checked Hiriya’s reaction and then turned her head to look at Isaac once again. Meanwhile, Leort sat next to them and engaged in conversation.

She used to experience severe anxiety every time she faced Hiriya, but not anymore. Whenever Isaac was nearby, her heart would calm down, and in a different sense, it would flutter.

‘It shouldn’t be like this, but…’

How could she resist when he was so kind? Just one of his gentle smiles could make all her worries and anxieties melt away. To the point where her family now felt insignificant, just being together could bring happiness.

Adelia smiled sincerely and met Hiriya’s gaze. Would she really be happy in the current situation? She suddenly became curious.

“Hiriya. I have one question.”

“Noisy!”

Perhaps because of the recent altercation, Hiriya charged fiercely. She had strengthened her body with mana to the point where the wind was whipping around her.

However, Adelia remained calm and predicted her attacks until the end. In the past, her body would have stiffened, allowing the attack to go through, but not today.

With her loved one watching, and the chance to reveal her intentions if she won this duel, she couldn’t afford to lose.

Swoosh!

Adelia, as Hiriya swung her sword forcefully from top to bottom, quickly blocked with one hand gripping the hilt and the other holding the blade’s edge. Without hesitation, she swiftly kicked Hiriya’s leg as seething with anger, unable to maintain her composure.

Thud!

Eventually, her balance wavered as her leg was swept away, and Adelia took advantage of the opportunity, maintaining her defensive stance, and pushed her back.

Immediately after releasing her defensive posture, she struck at her throat with the tip of her sword. It was a perfect offense and defense, and all these movements flowed smoothly in just one second.

Hawk, the knight known for his reputation as the “Crimson Lion,” had perfectly imprinted onto her the “smoothness” he had emphasized so much.

“Grrr!”

Thud!

Hiriya fell heavily, writhing in pain as she spat out saliva due to the excruciating pain in her throat. The throat was one of the human body’s vital spots, and if properly attacked, it would make it difficult to even breathe.

Thus, defending the throat was one of the most critical basic skills, but Hiriya couldn’t manage it. It’s not that she thought Adelia was foolish and wouldn’t target her throat. But due to the overwhelming difference in skill, this was the result. Thanks to the various basic skills and techniques she had learned from Hawk.

Gasp

“Ugh… You…”

Hiriya looked at Adelia with a mixture of surprise and anger in her eyes. Her expression indicated that she had no idea what was going on.

In response, Adelia slowly pointed the tip of her sword at her and spoke, a question she had just failed to ask earlier.

“Hiriya, are you happy?”

“Huh… What on earth…”

“You have status, family, wealth, and honor, unlike me. So I asked if you’re happy.”

“What kind of nonsense is that… Ugh.”

Hiriya, unable to finish her sentence due to the pain in her back, stared at Adelia in silence. Adelia slowly moved her head.

Isaac’s face, which was now looking at this side with a bewildered expression because he couldn’t grasp what was happening, could be seen. His face, which brought a smile just by looking at it.

Her true happiness was not far away. No, it could be said that she found it by chance.

Becoming “family” because of shared blood was not always the case. Family was not something that could be connected solely through blood.

“I’ll tell you now, Hiriya.”

With that thought, Adelia declared with a genuinely happy smile.

“I’m much happier now.”

Especially when she was with that man.