Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Lion Queen (3)
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After accepting her bet.
I boldly stood up from the spectator seats.
Then, I leisurely headed inside Rustyum, where the duel knights were waiting.
「Richard Stonefield」
The match scheduled right after Sir Burke's overwhelming victory.
It was the turn of the second-in-command guards, Richard and Tina.
‘Now that I've confirmed the level of Tina's knights, I can't let my guard down.’
Especially that knight named Burke—he was quite formidable.
His current mana level wasn't strong enough to easily overwhelm Misang.
However, that seasoned combat experience and wisdom that dominated his opponent.
It was particularly lethal to the ‘Richards’ who had been thoroughly beaten by me.
“Richard, I'm coming in.”
I opened the door and entered.
There, I faced a blond man sitting alone in quiet meditation.
“...”
Dressed in a white uniform, he sat silently with his eyes closed.
A sturdy blue mana enveloped his entire body.
“Cut it out and open your eyes.”
Upon hearing me, he slowly lifted his eyelids.
“Came to give me advice?”
“Yeah, you saw it too, right? That first match earlier.”
The elite of the Imperial Knight Order nodded quietly.
He was from the same order as Misang, after all.
“Yeah, Misang got beaten pretty badly.”
“Doesn't that give you any ideas?”
Richard stared at me blankly.
Then, like an old comrade, he smirked.
“The day I got thrashed by you at the appointment ceremony?”
“Hearing you say it so casually means you've finally become a real person.”
I sat down in the chair opposite him and continued.
“If I perform well this time, it’ll boost Lady Lea's position even more.”
Now showing devotion to his lord rather than himself.
I was quite satisfied with how this rival knight had embraced true knighthood.
“So, we have to win somehow.”
“Got a way?”
Emboldened by his attitude, I asked.
“If your opponent is from the Northern Frontline like Burke, he'll probably use a lot of the same techniques.”
“Yeah, their builds are similar too.”
I explained to him the characteristics of Burke that I'd observed from the spectator seats.
“Those guys generally have massive upper bodies. They wield greatswords freely like one-handed swords with their powerful arm strength.”
Burke, who had deftly parried Misang's attacks with his greatsword.
Then, he seized the initiative and shook Misang's mana to create an opening.
“So, you target their lower bodies.”
Compared to their huge upper bodies, the Vakal knights' legs were relatively slender.
Plus, Richard was big but agile, making him perfect for ambushes.
“You don't need to force effective hits. Just keep targeting their legs with sudden strikes to throw off their balance.”
Just like how Burke had fired sword energy to disrupt Misang's mana.
“Once their center of gravity wavers, push them into a contest of strength.”
“Figures you'd think so deviously. Your head works well in that department.”
Richard stood up from his chair after hearing me out.
Then, following the attendant knights' instructions to prepare, he fastened his longsword to his waist.
“You too.”
The crowd's cheers called for Richard.
Having lost to a foreign knight, they craved a new hero from an imperial knight.
“I'm off.”
“Yeah, win for sure.”
His broad back came into view.
Unlike his arrogant stride at the appointment ceremony, he entered the arena with quiet, steady steps.
“Ah.”
Then, as if remembering something, Richard halted briefly.
He glanced back at me, as if he had something to say.
“Veil.”
“What.”
His blue eyes stared straight at me.
“Thanks. Thanks to you, I finally woke up from living in a well.”
Richard expressing gratitude in a way that didn't suit him.
In his previous life, this guy had betrayed Lea and sided with the crown prince, but now he saw me as a friend.
“If you're thankful, go win. Everyone's got high hopes for you.”
He walked out leisurely.
Into the arena bathed in brilliant sunlight.
There, the Vakal knight was already waiting.
He looked younger than Burke, but his eyes were sharp with keen intelligence.
His build matched Richard's, but his upper body was even more massive.
Like gazing at a wild bear from the snowfields.
「Now, without further ado, let the second match begin!!」
The referee's booming voice echoed.
He first extended his palm toward the Vakal knight disguised as a foreigner.
「The veteran knight fresh from the Northern Frontline, Rudrik—」
Then toward Richard.
「Son of the current Radiant Knight Order Captain, Sir Richard Stonefield!!」
Perhaps because he'd lost to me and tarnished his honor, the cheers were quieter than before.
Yet, his expression remained serene.
As if freed from the long-standing obsession of being the knight order captain's son.
“Fight on, Richard!!”
“You're still our hope!! Don't lose to some foreigner!!”
Warm cheers rose in response, repaying his efforts.
“Richard's momentum seems pretty broken, Lea.”
Crown Prince Leon turned to Lea with a calm expression.
The Empire's First Princess replied flatly.
“Thanks to that, he learned humility.”
“Humility... You really do have a way with words, just like always.”
Leon smirked and shook his head.
But Lea ignored his provocation.
She merely...
“Well, compared to someone I know, he's still got a long way to go.”
Stared intently at me on the first floor.
“Yeah, keep working hard.”
Leon smiled, thinking she meant him.
Then, he stopped smiling and locked eyes with someone approaching from behind Lea.
“Mother.”
Leon's mother.
At those words, Lea, who had been staring at me, furrowed her brow.
“Lea, may I sit beside you?”
A gentle yet chillingly sensual voice.
Following it, the First Princess turned her head.
Soon.
“Oh, were you too busy staring at someone to hear me?”
She faced the First Imperial Consort, Rozanna, in her beautiful and noble white dress.
“Mother.”
Lea gave a curt bow with a cold voice.
Rozanna covered her lips with a fan and sat beside her daughter.
“Richard's grown quite a bit.”
She immediately noticed his growth from afar.
Lea replied with cold eyes like her mother's.
Blue eyes frosted like a witch's.
“He's still far from the Black Knights.”
“Is that so? I thought you figured the Black Knights were manageable if they didn't use black mana.”
Rozanna asked leisurely.
“Well, imagination is free.”
Lea brushed her radiant golden hair to the side.
An elegant perfume wafted from her locks.
“If Richard wins this, your position will rise quite a bit.”
“So, you're anxious? Worried Leon might get pushed aside.”
Rozanna gazed steadily at her daughter.
Her beauty mirrored Lea's perfectly.
She looked young enough to pass for a sister.
A nickname like 'witch' suited her perfectly.
The difference was the small mole at the corner of her mouth.
The moment it moved.
“As a mother, how could I favor one child over another? Your success is my joy too.”
“...”
The princess, who resembled the consort, smirked.
She replied to her mother with a composed smile.
“Your shamelessness is as ever. Just watch the match.”
Lea leisurely pulled a small telescope from her bosom.
And peered down at the arena.
Seeing her daughter like that, Rozanna tilted her head slightly.
Because...
Her daughter's telescope gaze seemed subtly directed elsewhere.
Not at Richard, but at ‘someone.’
“Hmm... Very well.”
Rozanna picked up the teacup before her.
Then, she savored it leisurely while watching the match.
「Both sides ready? Let the match begin!!」
Grand orchestral music resounded.
Soon, only the two knights remained in the arena.
“Richard, was it?”
Rudrik, Burke's successor, faced the imperial knight of similar height.
He smirked, pleased to see Leon had such a brute too.
“As rumored, you look arrogant.”
“...”
Richard silently endured the piercing taunt.
Thanks to someone, he seemed quite accustomed to such verbal jabs.
“Let's get started. I'm no good at trash talk.”
Lea's knight drew his longsword.
He concentrated, holding it in one hand.
――――――.
Mana as deep and solid as a glacier enveloped Richard's body.
I watched silently from near the first-floor referee stand.
‘His talent is truly exceptional—enough to make me jealous.’
Such a talent should have gone to the frontlines like me.
As expected of the Radiant Knight Order captain's son.
“He looks more solidly trained than the last guy.”
Burke's successor noticed too.
Worthy of a battle-hardened warrior, his gaze was fierce.
“I hope he satisfies us this time.”
Vakal warriors who felt alive through battle.
He kicked up dust and charged at Richard.
“Unlike Senior Burke, I fight hot-blooded.”
Richard gripped his longsword with both hands.
In the past, he'd swing it one-handed to show off his strength.
Kaaang!!
From the start, he met the northern warrior's blade head-on with full force.
――――――!!
The two immediately clashed in a contest of strength.
They poured out their blue mana without restraint, trying to push back each other's blades.
Red sparks danced wildly.
Yet neither Rudrik nor Richard yielded ground.
“Hup...!!”
The blond knight poured all his strength to crush the warrior's sword downward.
Their centers of gravity shifted low.
“...!”
Rudrik's massive upper body began to lose power.
He hastily retreated.
The warrior, who demanded satisfaction, fell back first.
In response, Richard pursued immediately.
Kaaang!!
But true to his experience, the warrior quickly regrouped.
With overwhelming upper-body strength, he deflected the knight's somewhat underpowered sword.
“Ugh...!”
Richard's wrist numbed from the impact.
Yet he didn't retreat.
He tenaciously pressed Rudrik to maintain the momentum he'd gained.
“Quite brave...!!”
The warrior reflexively blocked the onslaught.
As deftly as Burke.
“But attacks like this, lacking full power, can't stop me....”
However.
“Yeah?”
Contrary to his words, Rudrik began struggling.
‘This bastard's been targeting my legs nonstop...!’
Richard's blade kept annoyingly aiming for his legs.
Defending low became subtly harder.
“I don't fight for self-satisfaction like you lot.”
Richard followed my advice to the letter.
“As a guard knight, I focus on my duty.”
He attacked only Rudrik's legs like a madman.
“You're definitely Burke's successor.”
When he targeted the upper body, he'd parry then go for the thigh.
“Unlike him, who thinks only of victory, you're sloppy.”
Even if elbow or fist came flying, he'd dodge and slash the calf.
“Grr...!! You bastard...!!”
Unlike duels, Burke had said targeting one spot was hard in real battle.
Mocking that, he targeted only Rudrik's legs after every defense and counter.
“Hoo....”
Rudrik propped his trembling legs and barely created distance.
Grinding his teeth in frustration at being pushed by Leon's mediocre knight.
But at that moment.
“No time to catch your breath.”
Richard closed in with blinding speed.
Thanks to his rigorously trained basics, his legs were iron-solid.
“Not defending?”
He thrust his front foot powerfully and swung at Rudrik's chest.
Just enough to slice the mana shield.
Sraaak—!!
The borrowed Northern Frontline uniform tore.
The northern warrior's sturdy abs peeked through.
――――――.
In the past, Richard would utterly destroy a defeated foe to prevent resurgence.
But he ended the duel by merely slicing the clothes.
“Ha....”
Rudrik blankly looked down at his torn uniform.
The other spectators did the same.
Everyone stared at the ripped uniform symbolizing defeat.
“Satisfied now?”
As if answering his question, the arena fell deathly silent.
「Th-the duel is over...!!」
The referee stepped in to control the mood.
「Victory goes to the Radiant Knight Order, Richard Stonefield!!」
His booming voice.
In response, the crowd cheered Richard's overwhelming, relentless skill.
“Waaaaah—!!”
“Richard!! Richard!!”
Richard blankly looked up at the adoring masses.
Back on the knight appointment day.
The moment I received all the rivals' acclaim.
While he lay pathetically crushed in the dirt.
Now, on a far grander stage, he was the one celebrated.
Touched by it, he glanced back.
Then, he looked up at Lea, who had picked him despite his disgrace.
“Splendid, Richard.”
Lea clapped elegantly.
For this moment, she uncrossed her legs and applauded properly.
“Indeed. Grown both outwardly and inwardly.”
Rozanna as well.
She leisurely praised her daughter's turned-back knight.
“You learned well.”
Lea unwittingly softened her expressionless face.
With upturned lips, she gazed at me—Richard's teacher.
‘Haven't seen her smile so genuinely in ages.’
From afar, our eyes met.
Then, careful not to alert the crown prince, I waved lightly and left the arena.
“You're smiling, Lea.”
After the mere guard knight departed.
Rozanna looked at Lea and asked.
“My knight saved the Empire's face—how could I not be pleased?”
The Empire's First Princess replied with Rozanna's leisurely smile.
But it soon faded.
“No, it seems more than that.”
Rozanna, who even her daughter struggled to hide her true feelings from.
She quickly caught the subtle shift.
When she peered at the first-floor referee stand with her telescope earlier.
The unwitting upturn of her lips wasn't a monarch's sense of achievement.
More like a woman delighted by approval from a man she wanted to impress?
“Hmm-.”
Rozanna, the origin of avarice, caught her daughter's sly smile.
Then, she quietly rose from her seat alone.
――――――
‘At least one saved some face.’
I breathed a sigh of relief at Richard's performance.
Then, I strolled leisurely alone through the quiet arena corridor.
‘Next match is Allen and Batsch, in sequence?’
I glanced at my pre-made list and headed for the knight waiting room.
But then, all the lanterns flickered at once.
“...?”
I looked up ahead.
A peculiar, potent aura of sorcery emanated from that direction.
――――――.
From afar, lanterns extinguished one by one.
The moment all lights went out, plunging the passage into darkness.
「It was you.」
No one had been around me.
Yet a woman's voice whispered right in my ear.
A seductive, ecstatic queen's voice.
「The fox-like man who's bewitched my daughter.」
In the darkness, blue eyes gleamed.
Soon, my adjusted eyes caught a woman.
「Hiding in skirts all this time, daring to mock me.」
The beautiful countenance of a queen just like Lea.
「With that pretty face of yours.」
And a sensually voluptuous figure that seemed to embrace all creation.