The rest of the group had to hold Jinha from murdering Usui. Hak was hugging him from behind, while his arms were held down by both Liz and Zeno. Jinha was struggling to free from their tight grip.
Seeing this, Freya appeared in front of Jinha and touched his face softly with both her hands and made him lock his eyes on her.
" Calm down, Jinha."
Jinha who was struggling beforehand, stopped when he felt someone touching his face. He looked at those hands and saw blue eyes staring at him.
That very same blue eyes who once rescued him from his despair, the very same one who helped him avenge his parents and the very same one who is now desperately telling him to calm down.
Waking up from his daze, Jinha smiled slightly at her before he slumped against Freya. She held him tightly and whispered," It's okay... You have already avenged them. Your family is happily resting in peace now."
She felt him nodding slowly, so she looked at Hak who understood her signal right away.
Hak pulled him away from their hug and wrapped his arm around Jinha's waist while he put Jinha's arm around his shoulder and said," Come on buddy, let's get you some rest."
Jinha smiled gratefully at him as he could feel his body giving away. He was grateful to this group of people who helped him escape from his nightmares.
Worried about him, the rest decided to follow both of them excluding, Freya who turned to Usui with her cold eyes.
Meeting those pair of cold eyes, he felt a shiver down his spine. He wanted to tell her, to convince her that he didn't do it with evil intentions.
As the group neared the hall gateway, Liz noticed that Freya was not among them. She looked behind her and sighed. She called out to her, in order to ease the tension in the air.
"Freya..?"
Hearing her call out to her, the group stopped and turned to her.
Jinha sighed," Freya, Come on now. He didn't mean it, it was a match, you know that if it wasn't him, another would have tried the same. It's fine, it's my battle, I will overcome it."
Freya looked at him sharply and noticing him being serious, she turned to Usui, glared at him one last time before nodding her head and turned her eyes away from him and moved towards them.
Usui sighed and looked at Jinha apologetically.
Jinha gave a weak smile," Next time, it won't be a draw and don't hold back, we will go all the way."
Usui smiled while rubbing his nose,' Well it wasn't like I didn't know they would find out.'
He noticed Freya frowning at him while he was fighting as he put forth the illusion attack. While the group left the ground, Zelal rushed to his brother and pulled him up.
Usui groaned while holding his shoulder which was bleeding from the impact.
Zelal was worried and angrily said," Where are the healers? Why isn't anyone coming forward?"
Rin looked at his big brother slowly and softly asked," Big Brother, are you okay?"
Usui smiled assuring him and rubbed his head with his left arm.
" Zelal..stop worrying... I'm fine.."
"You are bleeding."
"It's not the first time happening."
"But...I thought..."
Zelal didn't have to finish his thought as Usui understood them clearly. Even he thought he would die if Hak hadn't stopped Jinha. He felt like he saw the death god smiling at him, for a moment.
As the healers reached the ground, Usui was laid down on a stretcher and then took him to a resting place in the palace. Rin followed the group slowly, holding Zelal's hand.
....
Nighttime...
Usui was frustrated as he wasn't allowed to move about, he was restricted to a bed. Whenever he tried to get up, his brother would glare at him and challenge him, " Do you want to battle tomorrow with the injury?"
Usui groaned and buried his head in a pillow and remembered what the king announced before he was taken away.
....
As the battle was tied and after discussing with the ministers, the king stood up and announced.
" Since the battle was a draw and the prince had fought with one of our strongest general equally. Usui, the prince of Sun kingdom, won the second round and is to battle against Freya tomorrow. "
This announcement made the crowd go wild as murmurs erupted across the field.
" Oh my!! the prince won even though it was a draw."
" Well this was a match against one of the generals and it was also mentioned before that a tie will also make the royals proceed."
"But... Isn't everyone focusing on the wrong part? Why didn't anyone mention his fighting skills? He was so dashing during the battle."
"Yes!!! Yes!!!! the way he glanced at Jinha... I wish he looked at me that way. He was more charming in a dangerous way." a lady chuckled.
While another said, " I didn't know those were your taste in guys."
The lady blushed while someone among the audience shouted.
"Nooo ... My Jinha is the best. How dare you change sides so easily. How could you even compare him to Jinha?! "
Anytime soon, it looked like two sides would begin world war three while the person involved had to pinch his eyebrows listening to the announcement while lying down helplessly.
He looked at the king to only see him smirk at him which said, 'Let's see how you will win the match.'
He knew that the king wouldn't leave him alone after he rejected the princess publicly.
He exhaled heavily as Zelal sorely said, " You should have listened to me. You dug your own grave and now you got to lie in it."