I Really Did Give It My All
The moment I saw Amari, a headache slammed into me like a truck.
Amari Durendal herself was already a walking landmine of a personality—extremely sensitive and twisted. If she thought she couldn’t get what she wanted or that someone was standing in her way, she turned vicious. Thanks to that delightful trait, she had been the most notoriously wicked villainess in Romance Tail, the one who tormented the female lead with the most ruthless bullying when players went the “normal” route. In the game she was just another annoying obstacle you ran into everywhere, but when that same twisted personality existed in real life—and was backed by the full power of one of the empire’s mightiest ducal houses—well, she became ten, twenty times more troublesome than any game boss.
And right now, I had just been caught badmouthing that very same twisted, fight-crazy, school-bullying villainess behind her back!
Amari approached me with a violent twitch at the corner of her eye, but the instant she noticed Serena standing right beside me, she froze. After a brief hesitation, she offered a perfectly polite greeting.
“It’s been a while, Amari! How long has it been since you last visited the palace?”
“If I’d known you were coming, I would have waited for you… I’m sorry we couldn’t play together.”
When Serena gave her a light wink, Amari looked flustered and quickly averted her gaze.
Watching Amari wave her hands in frantic denial, Serena folded her arms and puffed out her cheeks.
…Could someone really call an eighteen-year-old Sword Expert who also happened to be the beloved granddaughter of a duke “merely the daughter of a duke”?
“Tch.”
Serena looked slightly offended by Amari’s attempts to keep her distance and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. Thankfully, Serena seemed to be tanking the aggro for me, but that peace didn’t last long.
The girl who had been shrinking in front of the princess suddenly whipped her head toward me with a glare sharp enough to cut.
“Ah, well, starting today I’ve been assigned as Her Highness’s personal bodyguard by His Majesty the Emperor’s direct order. I look forward to working with you, Lady Durendal.”
Amari looked utterly dumbfounded.
Since Serena had been running around outside chasing after some mysterious faction and planning their subjugation, she had no idea what had happened inside the palace. With an innocently bright expression, she grabbed Amari’s hand.
“Serena! Listen to this! So earlier today, guess what happened—”
“Ah! Your Highness! We had a deal to keep that a secret!”
“I only promised not to tell Father. Me~rong~”
Serena stuck her tongue out at me, then gleefully spilled every detail of what I had done to her to Amari. The moment Amari heard how I had used a shoulder tackle, pinned her down with my knee, and completely subdued her, she lost control for a second and erupted with Aura. Only Serena’s frantic intervention managed to calm her down.
Having vented all the frustration she couldn’t tell her own father about, Serena looked visibly refreshed.
“And that’s how it happened. Then when I went back, Father suddenly declared he was appointing this guy as my bodyguard! He ambushed me, knocked out both of my guards somehow, and now I’m supposed to trust my back to someone like him? How am I supposed to feel safe? He seems to know a few cheap tricks, but I still don’t understand why Father is so dead set on making this man my guard…”
She took Amari’s hand again.
“I was actually planning to ask you to be my bodyguard later. It would be so much more reassuring, and there’s no need to even talk about skill. Not only is there no one in our age group who can beat you—when you look at people up to ten years older, there still isn’t anyone who can win against you, right?”
“………”
Amari stayed silent. Serena, who had no idea what the girl had been through, tilted her head in confusion and asked again.
“Amari…? Did something happen?”
“Huh? No… ugh…”
Apparently remembering the defeat she had suffered earlier, Amari clenched her fists so tightly they shook. Oh boy, there it was—her real personality was about to explode. What a sore-loser battle maniac.
After hearing the full story of how I had taken down Serena’s guards, Amari remained completely quiet. Then, as if she had come to a decision, she let out a short breath and turned to me.
“It’s Aran.”
“If we’re talking about that most unfortunate and purely coincidental incident, it began because Her Highness’s behavior was extremely suspicious. As a concerned citizen, I simply could not overlook it, so a significant portion of the fault lies with Her Highness herself—”
Serena whipped her head around and glared daggers at me. Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t have been acting so damn suspicious in the first place. If there had been a show like Two Doors Iron TV in this world, the verdict would have been at least 7:3, usually 8:2 in my favor.
But that wasn’t what Amari was asking about. She shook her head and cut me off.
Serena shook her head.
“Come on, Amari, that’s impossible. It must have just looked that way because of the chaotic situation. It was probably some kind of trick, right? Even if it was a surprise attack and an illusion, the fact that he took down two guards means he must have some decent fundamentals, but…”
In that instant, a ray of hope flashed across my mind.
I saw it! The silver lining! A single beam of light that could erase the dark future where I got entangled with this top-tier bullying villainess and my life went completely off the rails!
I grinned and answered Amari.
Amari clearly hadn’t expected that answer. She blinked several times, looking utterly stupid for a moment. Then, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d heard, she repeated it.
“Exactly.”
Amari narrowed her eyes in open contempt. But she was mistaken. What I wanted wasn’t money at all.
“Then allow me to tell you what I desire. I want you to swear you won’t hold any grudges or bring up the results of that earlier match in any way, shape, or form. That match is over—completely finished. I want you to promise you won’t keep any ill feelings toward me. If you swear on your own name and the honor of the Durendal ducal house, I have no problem showing you.”
Being treated like a sore loser made Amari’s face flush bright red.
Well, yeah. I literally watched you nearly beat a person to a pulp just because the guy you liked started getting close to the female lead.
“Huh? You can’t make the promise? So you really were planning to hold a grudge?”
Amari’s face turned twice as red as before. She eventually spat out the oath in a fit of irritation.
It must have been incredibly humiliating. Amari was practically snorting steam as she panted in rage.
Since she had accepted the terms, I had to keep my end of the bargain. The only magic I knew how to use was the Lightning Shield I had copied from the Red Tower Master, so I immediately began preparing it.
“Could you two please step back a little?”
I connected the focal point and circuits, then coated the circuits with my mana—in other words, I stabilized it. A Lightning Shield immediately appeared around my body.
Amari, who hadn’t seen me use magic at all during our earlier fight, widened her eyes dramatically. Even Serena, who had seen it before, looked stunned.
“It’s exactly the same… There really isn’t even the slightest trace of mana gathering.”
“No… I was too distracted before to notice, but he cast the spell without any incantation? Even if it’s a basic spell, that’s…”
“Then allow me to show you what I promised.”
I added the second step I had tested while fighting Serena’s guards—layering the structure of Aura on top of the magic. Since I had already done it once, constructing the Aura was much easier this time. Just like before, a pure white Aura settled over the spinning lightning sphere of the Lightning Shield.
Magic and Aura resonated around the same axis, and their power exploded outward in amplification. The sparks that had been gently flickering before now crackled with a dangerously sharp intensity.
I hadn’t noticed it during the rushed fight earlier, but this was valuable data. Serena stared with her mouth hanging open, completely speechless at the impossible sight. Amari gazed at it intently for a long time before slowly turning her eyes to me.
Even after I asked, Amari didn’t reply. She simply stared at me for a while… and then—
plop—
“?!”
Suddenly, tears began streaming down her face.
Amari trembled violently as she spoke in a choked, hoarse voice.
“Pardon? No, I really did give it my all back then.”
That was before I had copied the Lightning Shield, so it truly had been my best at the time. But Amari seemed convinced I had been toying with her. The tears wouldn’t stop flowing.
This was a serious misunderstanding. I was about to explain that I had simply copied the structure of her Aura after seeing it, but I closed my mouth.
…If I told the truth, wouldn’t I be admitting that I was nothing but a copycat who couldn’t use any techniques unless I saw someone else use them first? What if the Emperor, disappointed by my shallowness, revoked my qualification as the princess’s bodyguard? What about my 100 million shilling annual salary? My food allowance? My dream of owning a private villa and private beach in the southern resort, spending happy days there surrounded by beautiful women?
After a brief moment of internal conflict, I decided to let Amari keep misunderstanding me.
I couldn’t give up on that villa and private beach.
“You may not believe me, but I truly did my best back then. I had no intention of mocking you.”
The dam had burst. Big, fat tears like chicken droppings poured endlessly down Amari’s cheeks.
“Amari…”
Serena tried to calm her, but Amari quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and answered in a hoarse voice.
Before another wave of tears could spill over, Amari gave a hasty bow, turned around, and fled.
Serena watched Amari’s retreating back, then shot me a glare.
“What kind of match did you have today? You’re going to tell me everything that happened. A bodyguard shouldn’t keep secrets from his lord, right?”
“Yes, well… it’s not really a secret, so I can tell you, but…”
I glanced once more at Amari’s disappearing figure. I didn’t just remove a lump—I attached a new one, did I?
I spent the rest of the day carrying a faint sense of unease. When I opened my eyes early the next morning, I followed my old habit from Mount Ksir and headed to the training grounds to begin meditation and mana circulation.
I don’t know how much time had passed.
Step. Step.
At the sound of footsteps, I briefly opened my eyes and turned my head. There stood Amari, her eyes swollen and red from crying, holding two practice swords. She walked straight toward me.
“Lady Durendal?”
She silently held out one of the swords to me and said,