I Request a Duel, Grand Duke
"Miss Freya!"
Sir Allen came sprinting toward me, his soft wheat-colored hair flying behind him.
"Wh-what on earth is going on here?"
The eyes that were usually brimming with nothing but warmth now churned wildly with bewilderment. And no wonder—several of the knights I'd knocked down were sprawled across the training ground floor.
Ahh, ughhh… oh no, I'm dying.
Sir Allen hastily roused the knights lying groaning on the ground, sent them off, and then hurried back to me.
"What is all this? Did those young men show you any disrespect, perhaps?"
Oh, what am I going to do with this kind, innocent man.
It seemed the possibility that I had been the one to start things hadn't even crossed his mind.
"No, of course not. Disrespect? Nothing like that."
Even though, ultimately, I was the one who had beaten them all down.
I had slipped out of my bedchamber, shaken off the servants, and run straight to the training grounds. In order to escape my confinement, I needed to prove there was nothing wrong with my health—and I'd decided the Grand Duke's knights were the perfect people to help me prove it.
The knights had readily agreed to spar with me. Presumably out of curiosity about a butler's combat abilities.
I was about to add some explanation to Sir Allen when I had to shut my mouth. I felt a massive presence approaching from behind.
There he is.
I turned around. The Grand Duke had just passed through the entrance of the training grounds and was striding toward me, radiating a murderous aura that looked ready to draw his sword at any moment.
He wasn't running, but his legs were so long that he seemed to close the distance in a heartbeat, pressing down on me with an almost unbearable intensity.
I swallowed dryly as I watched him approach.
Right, I knew you'd come.
I had raised all this fuss precisely so that he would.
I had steeled myself for this, but the moment my eyes met the Grand Duke's icy glare, my mouth went bone-dry.
"You've arrived, Your Highness."
Sir Allen and the knights behind him all straightened into formal salutations toward the Grand Duke and stepped back a pace.
"…Butler."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I answered calmly.
I can't let myself get rattled here. No matter what, my confinement ends today.
A voice, pressed low between clenched teeth, escaped the Grand Duke.
"As I recall, I never gave you permission to leave your room."
"Thanks to that, I nearly died of boredom, Your Highness."
"Butler."
"Your Highness. Couldn't you hear me out first?"
"…"
The Grand Duke narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over the knights behind me, who looked as though they'd been thoroughly beaten black and blue. Then he gave a small nod, as if to say: go on then, offer your excuses.
I took a small, deep breath, then raised the wooden sword in my hand and pointed it straight at the Grand Duke. The tip of the sword aimed precisely at him.
In an instant, the gathered knights began to stir.
"Fr-Miss Freya!"
Sir Allen, more startled than anyone, rushed over to stop me.
"Miss Freya, wait—just put the wooden sword down and let's talk this over first—"
I spoke with the wooden sword still leveled at the Grand Duke.
"I request a duel, Grand Duke."
"…"
Gasp! The knights clapped their hands over their mouths in shock.
The Grand Duke's expression was calm. No—it was the same as always. Expressionless, blunt, indifferent.
He stared for a moment at the tip of the wooden sword pointed at him, then lifted his gaze back to my eyes.
"A duel, you say."
A low voice rolled slowly out of the Grand Duke. Just hearing it made the back of my neck go cold.
Still, I couldn't back down now. Deliberately ignoring the frigid pressure radiating off him, I spoke again.
"Just now, through a legitimate sparring match with your knights, I proved that there is nothing wrong with my health."
"…"
"But if that isn't enough for you… then surely, this time, I have no choice but to prove it by crossing swords with you directly, Your Highness."
I steadied my breath for a moment, then continued in a slightly calmer voice.
"If my wooden sword so much as brushes Your Highness's collar, then please acknowledge that I have recovered my health and allow me to return to my duties."
"…"
The Grand Duke gave no answer, but he didn't refuse, either. A brief silence settled over the training grounds.
In the meantime, more and more people gathered. The knights resting in their quarters, the servants working in their respective areas—it seemed the news had spread in the time it took to blink.
They must have thought it was a rare spectacle to behold. A scene they'd never have the chance to see again amid the unchanging routine of their daily lives. Besides, it was also a chance to witness, with their own eyes, the true skill of a butler who was said to have manifested aura.
They'd only ever heard the reports about how I'd dispatched an assassin who broke in at dawn—no one had actually seen it happen.
For the briefest moment, my master's words about hiding my strength flickered through my mind.
It's fine. I'm not revealing everything.
More than anything, I felt like I'd lose my mind if I stayed cooped up any longer.
"Will you use aura as well?"
"I will. Only if I remain unharmed even while using aura will my health be fully proven."
"…And if you collapse again in the process?"
I shot him a defiant look and curled one corner of my lips into a grin.
"Then I'll stay locked in that room for as long as Your Highness wishes."
"…"
Apparently my proposal appealed to him. One of the Grand Duke's eyebrows twitched, and his mystical violet eyes gleamed sharper than ever.
"For as long as I wish… any length of time?"
"Even for the rest of my life."
At my answer, a cool smile seeped across the Grand Duke's lips.
"I like it."
Watching that smile made my heart flutter in a strange way.
Oh, this is thrilling.
How many years had it been since I last crossed blades with the Grand Duke?
Wooden swords though they were, this was also my chance to confirm with my own hands just how far my skills had grown.
The Grand Duke shrugged off his coat and handed it to Ed, who then placed a wooden sword onto his outstretched palm. When the Grand Duke gave the sword a light flourish, a small gust of wind stirred nearby. The moment he gripped it, that wooden sword could no longer be called a mere wooden sword.
Gulp. I swallowed dryly without meaning to.
The Grand Duke lowered his sword, settled into his stance as if his preparations were complete, and fixed his gaze on me.
I, too, adjusted my grip on my sword and gave a warning.
"Here I come."
"Come."
At the Grand Duke's word, the knights shuffled away toward the far edge of the training grounds. The servants peering through the windows of the main hall, the annex, and from beyond the training grounds all held their breath.
"You— you two—!"
Annette, who had come hurrying out to the training grounds only now, pressed a hand to her forehead.
Why is Fredika, who's supposed to be recovering her strength, out there doing THAT?!
Watching Freya cross swords with her own son, Annette chewed at her parched lips.
Thwack! CRAACK—!
That was not a sound two wooden swords should have been able to make.
Wooden swords, yes—but the duel between the two of them was vicious and relentless. It was enough to make one think it was a mercy they weren't live blades.
When Kadrian pressed down on her with sheer size and strength, Fredika skidded backward across the training ground floor, dragged along on her feet. Naturally, the ground gouged deep as she dug in, refusing to be pushed back.
Fredika dodged Kadrian's heavy strikes with her signature agility, then closed the distance back into blade's reach again.
At that moment, Annette's eyes went wide.
…She moves like someone who has spent a lifetime on the battlefield?
Only now did Annette understand why Kadrian could never quite let go of his suspicions.
Who would ever believe that child fell into a coma at ten and slept for ten years?
It had been just over two years since she'd awakened.
From the flawless execution of her butler duties, to the astonishing speed of her aura's growth, to swordsmanship that stood on equal footing with Kadrian—the strongest Sword Master in the Empire.
Of course, Kadrian isn't using aura…
Annette had come out to stop them, but instead her worries only deepened.
Then, in the same instant, the two wooden swords leapt up from the ground and crashed together in midair with a dull thud—followed by a BOOM! like a bomb going off.
Aura had erupted from Fredika's blade.
Everyone present was stunned. Because the one driven back by that collision wasn't Fredika—it was Kadrian.
What in the world…
Did this even make sense? She was watching it with her own eyes and still couldn't believe it.
When she'd heard that Freya dealt with assassins herself, Annette had assumed she could handle a sword reasonably well.
But sparring on equal terms with Kadrian? That wasn't something mere strength could accomplish.
They say the world is smaller than you think—apparently it's true. To think there's another master out there who can properly stand against Kadrian.
And in the same Grand Duke's household, no less. And…
My son's fiancée…!
As she quietly observed their duel, Annette found herself murmuring her thoughts aloud.
"I heard the enemy nation had a knight with skill comparable to Kadrian…"
Ed, overhearing her, spoke up.
"Sia."
Annette turned to look at him. "Sia?"
"Yes. His Highness the Grand Duke used to call that enemy knight 'Sir Sia.'"
"Sia…"
Then one of the nearby knights chimed in.
"A knight like a monster, milady. Such a small frame, yet so impossibly quick and agile."
Then another knight who had fought alongside them on the battlefield spoke up.
"The sight of her parrying His Highness's greatsword with that slender blade was truly unforgettable."
Annette nodded.
"Yes, I've heard of her too. That's when I thought—perhaps heaven hasn't entirely abandoned the Tenasis Empire after all, seeing as it sent down such talent."
Ed replied offhandedly,
"Well, she's dead now, in any case."
"What?"
Annette turned her head, having heard this for the first time.
"You didn't know? On the day the black magician appeared in the Remarte Disputed Territory—Sir Sia was among the knights consumed by the corruption pit."
"…"
BANG! BANG! KRA-BOOM! A noise far too thunderous for a wooden-sword spar echoed across the training grounds.
"She died…?"
"Yes. A tragic loss of talent, milady. His Highness the Grand Duke intended to win her over and bring her to the Cadea Empire. …She was a master whose skill surpassed even His Highness's own, if you judge by aura alone."
"…"
"He prepared a great deal to win her over, too…"
"…"
So that's how it was… and she died…
Annette shifted her gaze back to her son and his future wife, still locked in their wooden-sword duel.
It was brutal. Would anyone believe those two were engaged?
Of course, the butler didn't know about the engagement, but still.
And yet—
Is it just me, or do they look strangely delighted?
Even as they swung their wooden swords with murderous ferocity, an inexplicable smile lingered on both of their lips.
Then, at that very moment—
KRA-KOOM—!
"Gah!"
"Wha—?!"
"…"
The two clashed one final time, and at last a wooden sword snapped and shot up into the empty air.