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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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Originally, the jousting tournament was a prelude to the mock battle. An appetizer, so to speak, to whet the audience’s appetite before the main course.
Recently, however, the jousting tournament had become the main dish, and the mock battle was fading into the annals of history.
This was partly because mock battles were expensive, and also because lords had come to realize the danger of allowing other lords to legally operate their forces in their own backyards.
The troops in a mock battle could, at any moment, be turned into a formidable enemy force.
Mock battles were conducted in two ways.
One was a team-versus-team format, where participants fought according to conditions set by the tournament organizer.
The conditions, including the number and quality of troops, and even the types of soldiers, had to be meticulously detailed. The participants were the type to raise their swords and axes, citing dishonor, if they felt they were at a disadvantage.
The second was an unlimited tournament format, an individual competition where participants were thrown into a single arena and fought until a single victor remained.
The mock battle proposed by Bronce II was the first type, a test of leadership.
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“Even for you, this will be quite a challenge, won’t it?”
Eleanor smirked as soon as the audience chamber doors closed. Her smile widened as she saw me staring at her.
“The conditions are too unfavorable for you, aren’t they? If you use brute force in a test of leadership, it will be all for naught. Your most powerful weapon is sealed. And that’s not all. The quality of your troops is also lacking. The other participants will all bring knights, but you only have three? Four, at most.”
She seemed to be genuinely enjoying my misfortune. Her steps were strangely light.
I followed her, our hands clasped, into the depths of the palace. We encountered nobles and servants along the way.
They stared at us, some with curiosity, others with disapproval, as we walked hand in hand, blatantly disregarding the strict court etiquette.
Eleanor didn’t care. As the saying goes, a dog is half-victorious in its own backyard.
The woman who had trembled with fear, afraid of the side effects of her ability, was now brimming with confidence, having entered the palace without incident.
We entered a quiet corridor on the outskirts of the palace. I pulled her hand, stopping her incessant chattering, and pressed her against the wall.
I placed my other hand on the wall, blocking her escape, and closed the distance until our breaths mingled.
Eleanor gasped.
“W-What are you doing?”
“Do you want me to fail?”
Eleanor, quickly regaining her composure, looked up at me with a provocative gaze.
“Of course I do. I helped you because it was beneficial to me and Anya. But the mock battle is different. What does it matter to me if you fail and sever your ties with Dressten? On the contrary, the more disadvantaged you are, the more Anya will have to rely on me. So it’s a good thing for me.”
“You don’t want me to marry Adelia?” I asked, staring into her clear blue eyes.
She flinched, her answer a beat too late.
“W-What nonsense are you talking about? Why would I care? If you marry that woman, Anya will be even more mine.”
“If what you say is true, then whether I succeed or fail, Anya will be further away from me. So why do you want me to fail?”
“Because… it’s more satisfying to see you fail than succeed?”
Eleanor’s voice, a question rather than a statement, lacked confidence. Her provocative gaze had fallen to the floor.
“You’re lying.”
I continued, looking down at the flinching Eleanor.
“Why do you think the King offered to cancel the marriage as a reward?”
“How would I know…!”
“He knew that we were inseparable. He must have demanded the cancellation of the marriage to pair us up, since I’m the only exception to your ability. You must have known that too. That’s why you were in such a good mood.”
I gently stroked Eleanor’s cheek, then lifted her chin, intending to kiss her.
She didn’t surrender easily. She quickly pushed my face away and slipped past me.
Putting some distance between us, she steadied her ragged breath, her face flushed, and pointed at me.
“Y-You’re delusional! How can you imagine such a thing? Know your place! I’m the King’s only sister, a princess, and you’re just a knight!”
“Let’s put social status aside for a moment. I’m curious about your true feelings.”
“All I need is Anya!” Eleanor scoffed and strode ahead, then stopped abruptly, fidgeting, and returned to grab my hand.
Our hands clasped again. She led me forward, avoiding my gaze.
“Hurry up!”
I couldn’t help but smile. For a moment, I had considered losing the mock battle and marrying Eleanor.
Of course, that was out of the question. There was an order to things. Eleanor would be mine, but not now.
I was the only one allowed by her side. For now, I had to deal with Dressten. She would be next.
‘For now, I’ll focus on winning the mock battle.’
I had to prove that I had more to offer than just brute force, gain the King’s favor, and ensure the safety of my people while I was away.
It would be even better if I could make some money.
The commonality between jousting tournaments and mock battles was that you could receive a ransom for captured opponents.
The difference was that mock battles, being group competitions, offered far more opportunities for ransom.
In other words, the mock battle was a great opportunity for me to make a lot of money, especially given my dire financial situation. It was no coincidence that I had proposed the mock battle.
In other words, everything was going according to my plan. The unfavorable conditions Eleanor had mentioned were already part of my plan.
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“This was the annex where I lived.”
Eleanor stood before a mansion with a blue roof, her arms outstretched. A small garden separated the main palace from the annex.
She sat on the edge of a circular fountain in the center of the garden and dipped her hand in the water. The water was so clear that her hand was perfectly visible.
“I remember getting scolded by my mother here. I was splashing around in the fountain and ended up drenching her.”
Her eyes, filled with nostalgia, traced the memories of the past. I followed her silently.
The closer you were to her, the more you were affected by her ability. In other words, her mother, who had been with her since birth, couldn’t escape the side effects.
She probably didn’t know that she was the one who had killed her mother. Of course, if she didn’t know, it was a truth she didn’t need to know.
“Hehe. It seems no one has noticed the broken little toe yet.”
A statue near the entrance, in a slightly bent-knee position, had a chipped little toe on its back foot. Eleanor pointed at it and smirked mischievously.
Her search for memories continued. She showed me a stain on the back of a tablecloth and a crack in the corner of a stained-glass window.
She was as excited as a child visiting an amusement park for the first time. It was understandable, given that it was her first time back in her hometown after being forced to leave. However, her excitement didn’t last long.
“Something… has changed a lot…”
The further we went, the more she noticed the differences from her memories. She frowned when she saw the intense crimson silk curtains adorning the bed.
“My mother liked beige curtains that fluttered in the breeze…”
The palace staff told her that it was the divorced queen’s taste. The bed wasn’t the only thing that had changed, and she grew more and more despondent.
“Memories are inevitably beautified.”
Eleanor sat on the bed, her back to me, fiddling with the blanket and pillow, her touch gentle and nostalgic.
Taking advantage of her distraction, I untied the bed curtains. She didn’t notice, even when I had closed all but one of them.
“I shouldn’t have come.”
On the contrary, memories confronted with reality were bound to fade. Eleanor tried to cling to her fading memories.
I closed the last remaining curtain. The space within the bed was instantly bathed in a crimson glow, creating a strange atmosphere. As expected, it was a device with a sexual purpose.
Eleanor finally turned to me, her eyes trembling slightly.
“W-What are you doing?”
“Since we’re here, why not make some new memories?”
I stepped closer. Eleanor, trying to escape, leaned back, her body stretching out on the bed. I climbed onto the bed and looked down at her.
Her face, bathed in the crimson light, her features accentuated by the deep shadows, was captivating. The slight tremor of her eyelids revealed her nervousness.
“I-I’ll scream!?”
“Have you forgotten? I sent most of the staff away.”
Even the remaining staff were positioned as far away as possible. Eleanor, lost in her memories, had habitually kept people at a distance, as she had done when she couldn’t handle the side effects of her ability.
Realizing this belatedly, her face paled.
“N-No!”
Trapped between my arms, she trembled.
Her pitiful state aroused my sadistic urges. I lowered my head, and she squeezed her eyes shut. I kissed her snow-white forehead lightly and stood up.
Eleanor, after waiting in vain for the expected to happen, slowly opened her eyes and met my gaze, which was filled with amusement.
I chuckled at her puzzled expression.
“What were you imagining?”
Realizing my prank, she glared at me.
“Y-You were going to pounce on me!”
“I said let’s make new memories, not that I was going to fuck you.”
“F-Fuck… Please, can you not use such vulgar language?”
Eleanor quickly got off the bed and stood by the door, ready to flee at any moment, pointing at me.
I feigned innocence.
“Didn’t you like it?”
“When did I ever say that!”
“You did, when we spent the night together in Quaran.”
Her face flushed crimson, as if she remembered that wild, stimulating night.
“I-I never did that…!”
“Hmm. If you say so, I’ll believe you.”
“I’m telling you, I didn’t!”
“Alright. If you grant my request, I’ll forget all about it.”
Eleanor, trembling with rage, asked with a sullen expression,
“What is it? Your request.”
“Could you teach me how to dance?”
Before concluding the audience, Bronce II had made one request. He wanted me to attend the banquet before the mock battle with Eleanor.
He intended to use the occasion to dispel the rumors of Eleanor being a witch.
Thanks to that, I had to learn how to dance, something I had never done before. I was the only one who could be her partner at the banquet. Eleanor looked at me with suspicion.
“Hmph, do you think I’d believe that? You must be up to something. Does it make sense for a notorious womanizer to not know how to dance?”
“Womanizer? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t tell me… you’re going to deny it? You’ve touched both me and Anya, and you’re going to marry Lady Adelia. And when Fiore heard you were going to the capital, she wanted to come too. You’ve touched her too, haven’t you?”
Eleanor pressed on, a triumphant smile on her face, as if she had caught me in a lie. I chuckled.
“Are you jealous again?”
“Oh, for crying out loud!!!”
Eleanor screamed, on the verge of swearing.
I then calmly explained my situation. I hadn’t had the opportunity to receive a proper education due to my wicked stepmother.
She had no choice but to believe me. She had already experienced Anya’s similar situation. Her hostility softened.
“No funny business during the lessons. And… don’t even think about… pouncing on me!”
“I’m a man who gets things done, when I have to.”
“Hmph. You won’t be able to even if you want to. My lessons are strict!”
Eleanor smirked mischievously. She was clearly planning to torment me under the guise of lessons. However, her smile didn’t last long.
“Ouch! You stepped on my foot again!? You! You did that on purpose! Didn’t you?!”
I had been stepping on her feet repeatedly. I feigned innocence.
“I told you. I didn’t receive a proper education.”
“Even so! You’re a knight! An undefeated one at that! Does it make sense that you can’t even follow a simple dance step?”
“I could be clumsy.”
“A knight who can kill a troll single-handedly?”
Eleanor, as if amused by her own words, burst out laughing.
I shrugged.
“Well, that’s the truth.”
“Haa… really…”
Eleanor laughed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes.
Her gloomy mood, after seeing her brother changes and her faded memories, had vanished.
I took her hand again and asked,
“Anyway, are you feeling better now?”
“You’re really a womanizer. You still have a long way to go, so follow me.”
Eleanor, taking advantage of my compliance, dragged me out of the palace for a tour of the city, something she hadn’t been able to do for a long time.
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The capital was a metropolis, on a different level compared to the cities I had seen so far. It was full of sights and entertainment.
Eleanor quickly regained her energy and was as excited as a child at an amusement park. Just as the sky began to turn crimson,
“Hey, you…!?”
Eleanor pointed at a dark corner of an alley. A hunched old woman, her body completely covered by a hooded robe, stood there.
The old woman turned her head towards me, and a glint of light flashed from beneath her hood. I stared back at her silently.
‘The Star Witch.’
An unwelcome guest had appeared.
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Thanks Teot!
wlcm uncle!