Chapter 1458

Lady Rune Bertas, a duke’s daughter, likely never intended for things to go so far. It had reached a point where even she knew she was only making things worse for herself.

It had all started with a childish outburst, words spoken in a moment when anger got the better of her. Normally, that kind of thing happened all the time in social circles. The act of crushing a weaker lady, on the other hand, was not common, but it did occur from time to time.

Of course, Lady Bertas had no intention of escalating the situation beyond a small rebuke. She’d merely wanted to use the other girl as a scapegoat to gain more attention from Prince Khrones, in whom she was interested.

Her anxiety from Laura Mel, a marquis's daughter from the Lyndis Empire, also played a part.

Although the Sparta Kingdom didn’t hold the same prestige as an empire, it was a rapidly growing kingdom. Even putting that aside, Prince Khrones was handsome, strong, and held a high status.

Eosha Patrick was already known throughout high society as a mad dog despite her young age. A sudden confrontation with her fiancé was the last thing Lady Bertas had expected.

If it hadn't been for Ratius from the Borne Marquisate, things wouldn’t have gotten so twisted. That muscle-brained idiot had taken her side without knowing the full story. She appreciated that he'd stood up for her, but he'd gone too far. He just had to provoke the mad dog’s fiancé, of all people.

That was bad enough, but then he slammed the man’s head into a table, turning the situation completely out of control. Disaster struck. The problem was that she couldn’t afford to let things get more complicated, since she had no one to vouch for her lie.

The situation only grew even more absurd when Evangline O’Rowane, the daughter of the Saint of Tionis, summoned a spirit to reveal the truth.

Lady Bertas had never imagined she would summon a spirit. Panicking, she ended up challenging her to a duel, convinced she was the root cause for everything that had happened.

Yes, she wasn't dumb enough to not know that was a foolish move. Yet, the milk was already spilled. There was no backing down for her. So, she used her family's business affairs to nominate Ratius Borne as her proxy.

Since Evangeline hadn't brought a separate knight and hadn't established any connection with a man, Lady Bertas felt the duel to effectively be a default loss for Evangeline.

But then, Prince Khrones sided with Evangeline.

‘Why? Why are you taking her side?’

“You're making a fool of yourself, Lady Bertas.”

With just that single remark, she felt a dizzying sensation, as if falling deep into an abyss.

‘It did seem like his gaze was elsewhere from the very beginning.’

She knew she should back down before it got worse, but she was infuriated that Khrones had sided with Evangeline.

“...Are you really going through with this?” Ratius asked with a particularly disgruntled look on his face.

That was because the person standing across from him was Evangeline, who was wearing a pristine white dress. Her physique didn't seem to suggest she had practiced any martial arts, and he didn't sense a large amount of mana from her either.

Everyone knew that the Saint of Tionis was powerful, but no one knew much about his daughter. Considering she was a half-blood from another race, he figured she might have a few tricks. But as long as she wasn't a dragon, the naturally powerful race described in the ancient texts, he thought he had nothing to worry about.

Prince Khrones, on the other hand, had a complicated expression. He called out, “Ratius.”

“What?”

“Your opponent is a lady.”

“I know. I'll hold back my strength. More importantly, shouldn't we fight bare-handed?”

Evangeline, the actual opponent, maintained a perfectly calm expression.

‘Is she truly hiding a secret move?’

“Ummm. Lady O’Rowane. Honestly, this situation is ridiculous, but shouldn't you at least carry a weapon?”

“A weapon, you say?” Evangeline muttered nonchalantly, then removed the gloves from her small, white hands. “I’ll use these.”

They were speechless.

‘It doesn’t matter if she’s a lady. She should not disrespect me this much.’

Ratius said with a hardened face, “I cannot just refuse, either. I apologize for the offense, but I will try to subdue you as quickly as possible.”

The onlookers backed away. In a typical setting, such ordeals wouldn’t happen often. But the current banquet was strictly for young boys and girls, full of youthful vigor.

Perhaps they were more interested in this side of things because they were at the age where titles like Swordmasters and Archmages made their eyes sparkle.

Evangeline, however, simply stood there, staring at Ratius as she repeatedly clenched and unclenched her bare white hands.

Prince Khrones continued trying to speak to her. “Lady Evangeline.”

“What is it?”

He stopped for a moment and sighed before answering, “Such an affair is too rough for a lady to handle herself.”

“You do not need to worry about me.”

“I am the one who feels uncomfortable.”

Her expression soured. “Why should you care?”

He began, “That is because—”

“It is unnecessary meddling, so please step back.”

“It is because I keep worrying. Even now, if I act as your proxy...”

“Prince Khrones,” Evangeline said, cutting him off once more. “Stop it.”

He finally backed away with a rigid face.

Then Ratius said something to Crama and walked forward. “I'll hold back as much as possible and subdue her, so don't worry.”

“I heard you are a martial artist.”

“That would be too rough for a lady.”

Evangeline smiled faintly at his words. “Is that so?”

He flicked his wooden sword as if a master was giving the first move to an inferior opponent. “Then... come in first.”

Evangeline sighed and slowly walked toward him, seven or more steps between them.

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

The spectators questioned her strange behavior. Walking in so defenselessly during a duel was baffling.

Click. Clack.

Ratius glared at Evangeline, who was approaching in heels unsuitable for combat. He even felt offended.

His confidence and pride surpassed everyone else's. There was no way he'd allow himself to lose a duel to a lady. He'd already shown as much restraint as he could out of respect for Khrones, but her actions were beyond forgiveness.

Just as he frowned, Evangeline moved slightly. She lightly curled her thin, white hands into a fist and slowly threw a punch at him. It was an honest punch without any discernible technique.

Ratius took a light step forward, unsure of her intentions. Since he had offered the first move, attacking would mean breaking his word.

It was then.

BAM!!

Following the sound of a heavy impact, he momentarily saw stars sparkling in front of his eyes.

“Huh?” He collapsed, his legs giving out, utterly failing to understand what had just happened. “W-what...?”

Everyone else was just as confused. From their perspective, Evangeline had simply extended her fist slowly and struck him in the face. Ratius looked like he tried to dodge, yet was nonetheless caught with a clean hit and crumpled to the floor.

“Pfft.”

“Cough.”

Some people laughed at his embarrassing tumble, not knowing the full story.

He instantly became furious, but he got back up even faster.

‘What was that... A fluke?’

Just a moment before, he had definitely tried to evade her punch at the last possible second.

“I-it was a mistake. I'll get serious.” Hiding his flushed face, he picked up his wooden sword. “I yielded the first move, and this is what milady wanted, so don't blame me now.”

He spun his sword and fixed his eyes on Evangeline.

At the same time, she began walking toward him slowly again.

Boom!!

He immediately shot forward. It was a speed that most people could not react to.

Yet, Evangeline’s response was simply to silently throw another punch.

‘Draw her in close, dodge, and subdue her by putting the sword to her solar plexus!’

His main weapon wasn't a sword, instead a pair of gauntlets, though his physical abilities were outstanding as well. Even without enhancing his body with mana, it would undoubtedly be too much for a frail lady.

Her fist approached slowly, as if in slow motion.

‘This is a piece of cake.’

He didn’t dodge her attack until the last possible moment. And then.

Thud!!

“Cough!?”

Something inexplicable happened again.

He should've been able to dodge it with ease. There was no way she should've been able to land a hit. Yet she punched him square in the face again.

“Aargh!?”

“What are you doing, Ratius?! Are you not taking this seriously!?”

“Ratius is quite thoughtful, I see.”

Although the onlookers jeered, they believed Ratius, who was in an awkward spot, was purposely losing to accommodate Evangeline.

Khrones and Crama were expressing admiration, seeing Ratius's action as unexpected.

“What? What happened?”

“You idiot, Ratius is purposely losing right now.”

“Losing? Ah!”

Only then did the other nobles' eyes widen in surprise.

‘What in the world!?’

Ratius himself couldn’t understand the current situation. He certainly had no intention of holding back. Yet, he had already collapsed twice, and he still didn't know why.

Her punch was nothing more than a basic self-defense technique for ladies. It wasn't some extraordinary martial art.

It was just a style taught to a handful of noblewomen, a form of self-defense that placed far too much importance on honor and elegance, something Ratius utterly despised.

Evangeline looked down on him and asked, “What are you doing? Aren't you going to get up?”

“...You sure talk big.” He slowly stood up and then said, “Alright. Even though you’re a delicate lady, you are also the daughter of the Saint of Tionis, is that it?”

He tossed his wooden sword away. At the same time, mana flowed from his body. “It seems the Lady is different from ordinary frail ladies.”

“Did you really need to get hit to figure that one out?”

Ratius frowned and clenched and unclenched his fists. “It looks like you've put a lot of time into your self-defense training. In that case, I won’t hold back anymore either.”

He surreptitiously used mana to enhance his body, enough power surging into his fist that it could crush a boulder with ease.

He knew that Evangeline would have difficulty moving properly in her dress and heels. That was probably why she wasn't moving much.

‘In that case, I’ll have to force her to move.’

Thinking that, he slightly lowered his stance. If he did what he was about to do, he’d definitely get disapproving looks from the people around, but he didn't care.

Whoosh!!

[Heavy Assault Impact]

[Buffalo]

He activated the martial art he had mastered and charged straight in. No matter how uniquely her hands moved to inflict a fatal blow, as long as he closed the distance, he knew she’d have no way to dodge.

“Wait! Ratius!!”

Crama and Khrones shouted at his sudden change and tried to stop him, but Ratius had already pushed off the ground.

He shot forward like a cannonball. Just as he was about to snatch Evangeline by the waist and take her down in a mount position, he instinctively sensed that she had lifted one of her legs under her dress.

While no one else noticed the subtle change, his instincts screamed for him to stop.

However.

Snap!!

The sound of the heel of her right shoe shattering echoed loudly.

“What?!”

“Um. Uh oh?”

As she lost her balance and her stance broke, it was Ratius who left himself open for an instant.

At the same moment, Evangeline lashed out with her palm as she fell. While it looked like a flailing, desperate swing, she landed her palm precisely on his cheek.

Slap!!!

Accompanied by an incredible sound, her hand struck his cheek with astonishing power.

“Gasp!!”

Countered by his own momentum, he tumbled across the floor.

“Oh dear...” Evangeline, who had collapsed onto the floor, wore a tearful expression. “It’s a white dress, so it will show a lot...”

In contrast to her complaint, Ratius, who was rolling on the floor, stared at her with wide eyes.

“Haaa?”

“Was that... luck?”

The spectators believed Evangeline had panicked and stumbled, luckily countering Ratius. But Ratius himself felt something entirely different.

Evangeline had intentionally stumbled just then. And she’d delivered a counter with impeccable timing.

He began to wonder whether he could've done something like that. He believed his strength, speed, and every other attribute far surpassed hers, yet was doubtful that he could land such a precise blow against an opponent much stronger than himself without the slightest hesitation.

Only then did he realize the true nature of his strange unease.

‘Evangeline isn’t weak.’

He reached that conclusion instinctively.

Though when he saw her clutching her head and groaning as she fell, she certainly looked like a frail lady.

‘Frail? Weak? My ass! She’s a monster.’

In the past, Evangeline had suddenly run away from home, proclaiming she’d become a hero, and had displayed tremendous power.

However, because Davey had appropriately quelled the rumors, very few people knew about her strength.

Of course, not everyone was ignorant of it. Among the young nobles present at the party who had been silent from the beginning, some who knew the rumors about Evangeline simply watched in silence.

“She was lucky.”

“True, Ratius eased off at the end. A shame, since he was gaining momentum.”

“Even so, Ratius, Princess Evangeline could have been seriously hurt.”

‘Do these two idiots pretending to be my friends even realize that I never held back, not even once?!’

The atmosphere truly suggested he was pretending to lose while going easy on Evangeline. The thought brought a scowl to his face.

‘I don’t like this. This is making me look like a fool.’

Infuriated, he materialized mana around his entire body, making Khrones and Crama shout out once again.

“Ratius!”

“What are you doing?!”

Materializing mana like that was no laughing matter. But Ratius had to find out what exactly the beautiful black-haired lady standing before him was. He needed to know if he was imagining things, or if he had truly lost against her.

Just as he was about to lash out, Khrones and Crama instinctively moved to block him.

“Stop!! Lady Evangeline’s shoe broke. The duel ends here.”

“The duel was absurd from the start, Ratius.”

‘What are these idiots even talking about?’

Ratius opened his mouth to say something to them, his face blank. “Hey. You two idiots, this isn’t a joke...”

Crack!!

At that moment, as if on cue, all the lights in the ballroom went out, and a noise erupted from the surroundings.

Whummm!!!

At the same time, an incredibly thick mana barrier enveloped the entire ballroom.

The cuckoo began to cry late at night.

* * *

“M-monster!!”

A few men in black gazed at the silver-haired girl who stood calmly with her hands behind her back and the blonde girl who held a silver sword in one hand and looked down coldly.

They couldn't understand how they were found, or even what had just happened. All that surrounded them were the corpses of their comrades.

“Is this the end?”

“I don’t think so. Judging by how thoroughly these guys prepared...”

“Heh. Hehehehe. You’re right. I had not heard that monsters like you two existed, but whatever. All I need to do is stall you.”

The man, who had been terrified a moment ago, shouted, “It seems their objective is the children in the ballroom.”

“I guess so.”

However, the two girls didn’t seem overly concerned.

“I hope Eva doesn’t get upset because her clothes got dirty,” Illyna muttered softly.

“W-what did you say? You two bitches don’t know what kind of situation this is do—”

“No, it’s probably you who doesn’t know.” Illyna pierced his shoulder with her sword, pinning him to the ground.

“Aaaargh!!”

“How dare you crawl in here! Were you trying to start a world war or something?”

“Ugh!”

“Perhaps that is not far from the truth,” Perserque suggested.

“Do you think they were truly trying to start a world war?”

“The political situation on the continent is practically stagnant right now,” Perserque muttered quietly, as if deep in thought. “First, let us hand this one over to the knights and look for Eva.”