Scars Beneath the Fan and the Ignored Duel
After the Eastern vs. Western single representative match ended, a brief rest period settled over the training ground. The main bracket announced by Professor Sword was as follows: First match, Western rep Rainer Roeder vs. Eastern rep Violetta Cheriot. Second match, Northern rep Kairun von Northgard vs. Southern rep Terna Godi.
Once the bracket was revealed, Kairun sprawled across the bench in the Northern faction's waiting area, dignity be damned. "Hah... hah..." He steadied his ragged breathing. His unfocused red eyes wandered blankly. The right wrist that had taken Kara's merciless blows head-on was already bruised purple and swollen thick. Beep-. A bone-rattling headache from that final rally blow to the back of his head made it feel like hundreds of cicadas were buzzing endlessly in his skull. Even the early signs of a concussion, with his vision subtly doubling.
The physical exhaustion was bad enough, but the mental drain from giving everything against Kara only to lose gnawed at his bones. But what tormented Kairun most right now...
"That was amazing, Young Master Kairun! How did you block Lady Kara's attacks like that? I could barely follow with my eyes! And that last hit to the back of your head... oh no, does it hurt a lot? I'll fan you harder!"
...was the nonstop chatter assault from the princess Elysia, plastered right beside him. Elysia fanned relentlessly at Kairun's swollen nape and wrist, red from Kara's hits. Her mouth poured out commentary on the duel like a machine gun, matching the flapping speed of her hand.
"Especially that last round! Your sword moved so fast I couldn't even see it—I thought my heart was gonna stop, it was so tense! Even the kids from the other factions looked totally deflated..."
Please... stop... my ears are gonna bleed... Kairun squeezed his eyes shut. He appreciated the sentiment, but the fanning did little. Her high-pitched voice rang through his concussed head like a gong. With bodily fatigue ruling him and the princess's endless yapping on top, even sitting still felt like his energy was being sucked dry.
If she weren't royalty... I'd have shut that mouth already.
But Elysia meant no harm. She was genuinely worried for Kairun and touched by his impressive duel, showering him with pure praise. Kairun's nature wasn't twisted enough to rudely rebuff that innocence, so he just endured the agony with a soul-drained expression.
In the midst of it, his dazed gaze shifted to Elysia's tirelessly flapping hand, and his brow furrowed slightly. Her small palm, busily waving, looked off. What's that...?
Her hand, unfit for royalty, was covered in small, ugly scars. Clear burn marks, like from fire.
Without thinking, Kairun reached out and grabbed the little hand that had been fanning him so diligently. "Ah!" Elysia's machine-gun chatter cut off the instant her hand was caught.
"Your Highness." Kairun's face hardened as he inspected her scarred palm. "What are these wounds...?"
Elysia trembled in panic, eyes darting. She forced an awkward smile and tried to pull away. "Oh, uh, just from making dessert? The oven was kinda hot, I guess. Haha..."
But Kairun didn't let go. Her flimsy excuse sharpened his gaze. He'd once seen his mother Carla von Northgard burn her palm learning to make tarts. The shape was totally different from splattered molten sugar or hot utensils in cooking.
Not a burn from making dessert.
Ugh... he knows... About "Scorching"... I even got chewed out by Sir Barg last time...
Contrary to Elysia's worry...
No way... in the imperial palace...? Kairun imagined Elysia's life in the palace. Pity welled up—what horrors had she endured for an illegitimate princess's palm to end up like this?
Kairun silently stared at the ugly scars etched into her palm. With him frozen, staring intently, even Elysia's noisy chatter shut down completely. An oddly suffocating silence fell between them.
Finally, Elysia's face flushed beet red as she whispered in a mosquito-like voice, "Um... but... you're holding it too long..."
"Ah." Only then did Kairun realize he'd been gripping—rudely—a woman's hand, no less a princess's. He yanked back in shock. "S-sorry."
He whipped his head away. Concussion or something else, the tips of his ears burned as red as the back of his head from Kara's hit.
* * *
Meanwhile, with Professor Sword's permission, Kara and I sat stuck to the instructors' group on the training ground outskirts, watching those two from afar with interest.
"Look over there, honey." Kara hooked her arm tight around my thick forearm and nodded toward Kairun and Elysia's waiting area, whispering. "She seemed super sorry during the duel... but thinking about it, I feel like I set up a pretty nice scene, right?"
"Nice scene?"
"Yeah. The young master and Her Highness. Sitting side by side on the bench, all cozy—don't they look cute together? Like the boy and girl from a fairy tale."
I turned to look at her words. Dazzling red-haired Elysia, face red and flustered after he let go of her hand. And black-haired Kairun, head turned away, coughing awkwardly nonstop.
"Yeah, from a distance, they match pretty well." I chuckled and nodded. Then added inwardly, Of course. They're the main hero and heroine of this world's story.
The shining duo of the original novel Snowflower Path of the Illegitimate Child.
The original genre isn't that fluffy teen romance, though.
Its tags were blood-soaked tragedy and despair... Especially early on, the main tragedy was between Kairun and Kara, shifting to Kairun and Elysia once she got involved.
So the scene unfolding before me wasn't bad. What should've spiraled into ruin and despair now looked like a harmless panel from a hot-blooded shonen manga or innocent school story.
Not bad at all. I rubbed my chin, feeling a strange pride and satisfaction. If the people tied to my beloved family and me could all be happy, I didn't care if the original plot shattered.
It broke from the start anyway, once Kara and I fell in love.
"Alright! Enough chit-chat!" Professor Sword's booming voice echoed from the training ground center. "First match of the finals begins! Western rep Rainer Roeder! Eastern rep Violetta Cheriot! To the center!"
With Sword's call, tension crackled through the training ground air again.
* * *
Rainer emerging from the Western side wore a deeply furrowed scowl. After his pathetic antics all morning, he had to reclaim his pride and marquis family honor in this duel. But his first-match opponent was a slender girl far below his weight class—Eastern's Violetta.
Ha! The East must be really short on talent. Sending out a wench like that as rep.
Rainer sneered inwardly. To him, Eastern swordsmanship was all fancy tricks, no real combat value. It'd tear like paper against the Roeder marquisate's heavy, brutal orthodox style.
I'll smash her quick and easy. My real goal's schooling that arrogant Northgard punk next.
He swaggered his shoulders, flicking his wooden sword cockily.
But...
Violetta's demeanor across from him in the center shattered Rainer's expectations. Gripping her wooden sword, she swept her gaze over him, but her cold violet eyes held no trace of him. She treated him like a roadside pebble or dust—utterly nonexistent.
Ignoring Rainer's arrogance completely, Violetta passed him by as if he were invisible, turned, and pointed her wooden sword's tip at Kairun, sprawled far off in the waiting area.
"Have you caught your breath enough, Northgard young master?"
Her clear, icy voice rang across the training ground. "Best calm that heavy breathing quick. I don't get thrills from cowardly beating exhausted foes."
Her arrogant declaration, treating Kairun as her inevitable next opponent as fact...
"This bitch... who the hell does she think she's ignoring...!"
Blood vessels bulged in Rainer's eyes. Before the match even started, her total dismissal and focus on the next guy twisted his face grotesquely. Worse than a slap for any swordsman.
His pent-up inferiority and rage from morning erupted like a volcano. "I'll kill you...!"
Rainer gritted his teeth and raised his wooden sword.
"Both sides, ready." Professor Sword raised his hand as he closed their distance. Rainer, on the verge of losing reason to fury. Violetta, still not even glancing his way, coolly composed.
"Allez!"
The instant Sword's signal dropped, Rainer lunged. "Uwaaaah!"
The Western Roeder house's signature brutal, destructive overhead smash hurtled at Violetta's head. The wind-whipping sound made students from other factions flinch and squeeze their eyes shut instinctively.
But Violetta didn't panic. She just twisted her body a half-beat faster, deflecting the strike, then snapped her wrist to lightly tap Rainer's waist.
Thwack-.
"Violetta, one point!" Sword's shout rang out.
The first point fell to Violetta all too easily. Rainer, stunned by the whiff and lost point, lost it further and charged. "You bitch!"
His barrage continued. Thrusts. Slashes. Uprisings. Rainer's swordsmanship was sharp and fierce enough.
Watching, Kara propped her chin, intrigued. "Ooh, check that out. Thought he was just a trembling wimp behind me all morning lecture, total lightweight... but his basics are solid? That overhead had real power."
"Yeah, he's the marquis's eldest son, after all. Didn't learn swordplay for show." I nodded, arms crossed.
As Kara said, Rainer's skill was top-tier among regular students.
"But the winner's already decided." I added indifferently.
"Yep. That lady takes it. Totally one-sided."
As Kara predicted, the center of the training ground flowed subtly in one direction.