"I'm sorry for letting you hear something like that, Your Majesty."
Asensio's shoulders trembled, looking pathetic.
Even though he pretended to be an adult, Leon, who was still young, could not immediately process what he had heard and only blinked his eyes.
Or perhaps it was because Jillian blocked Leon's ears on both sides in the middle of the feud, and that Asensio was getting up.
He wasn't alone.
When Elisha stood next to Asensio, the remaining children clasped together and moved.
"Huh?"
As the distance between the two parties narrowed, their presence was at the point where even the most distracted knights couldn't ignore it.
The knights widened their eyes when they saw the Crown Prince and Elisha appeared from the trees planted at the outermost part of the training ground.
It didn't matter if they didn't hear it, but it didn't mean it was okay. Dominique's face, which had been fluctuating for a while, turned to earthy color in an instant.
Thud!
Dominique hit the floor with his knees, exclaimed desperately.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince! Please consider my earnest loyalty! It is a felony to say anything about Your Highness, however, not only me but all the 2nd Knights think so! How are you forsaking us?"
"When did I forsake you?"
"Otherwise, why did you keep us isolated in the Imperial Palace? The support from the nobility of the Crown Prince faction has been cut off, there is a lot of talk regarding this within each family…!"
"What a spectacle."
Dominique, who had been raising his voice more and more, seemed to have been befuddled by his own words, and stopped at the clear voice that was poured over him.
When he lifted her eyes, he saw a woman with her thin, rich silver hair hanging casually around her sky-blue eyes.
"Pardon me… Your Majesty the 2nd Empress, are you talking to me now?"
"Otherwise, is there anyone else here? Even if I don't know much about knights, I believe this should not be the case. It is usually said that knights are those who are willing to lay down their lives in order to fulfill their master's will. However, you are now acting in your interest. Trampling on your master and trying to break his heart for the sake of it, while others are watching."
Elisha was more upset that the children had heard of it rather than that she was insulted.
"That!"
Elisha looked down at Dominique who was trying to strike back, then lowered her torso to close the distance between their eyes.
"Hiiyy!"
As the rare beauty with a doll-like indifferent face rather than a glamorous one, approached, the surprised Dominique swallowed his saliva.
"What 'that'? It's true that a knight has to defend his master unless he wants to defy the code of chivalry."
The sky blue eyes surged.
The anger and contempt within those, and a sense of intimidation engulfed Dominique at once, stabbing at him.
Dominique clenched his teeth, trying to pull his upper body back.
At the moment he was someone who was swayed by a mere slender woman who had hurt his self-esteem.
Then, suddenly.
"I thought at first that since the 2nd Empress is a wizard, she may have bad feelings toward knights, but it seems like this is not the case. Even if you are the empress, you are deserving of condemnation for slandering the loyalty of the knights! Not asking for a duel right now is because you have lost your magic. So please consider yourself lucky!"
As he thought he had caught a good point, Dominique was pleased.
The corners of Elisha's lips curled up slightly.
"This is true."
What a novel rat!
'In the beginning he said that it is the other person's fault. This time, he said the same while implying that there is a possibility of misunderstanding, however, it's not an immediate fault, but rather a bigger, more fundamental thing and put it on my head so he can hide his tail.'
'Such a rat cub must lie flat on its back by pressing the back of its neck with my foot at once.'
'The more we talked, the more it hurt.'
"Then I'll invite you to a duel."
"Do we have too? If the 2nd Empress does get hurt…"
Elisha leaned her body a little more, as if trying to whisper to him.
Dominique was not surprised, but his neck still stiffened at the approach…
Elisha's hand suddenly reached out and pulled at Dominique while holding the handle of the sword that was on his side!
Sreung!
Elisha said.
"…What did you just say…?
You insulted my child, and I condemned your chivalry. What should we do if you're this evasive even as you're being disparaged? If the duel you're talking about is the way to make it alright, let us have it."
As Elisha made the situation clearer, Dominique opened his eyes wide before narrowing it and shot her a knife-like gaze.
"…I never insulted the 3rd Prince, did I?"
"The women who were not Atien but were crowned by the Imperial family are all Emperor's women and as such, the mothers of all Imperial families."
Dominique, who had been babbling, dared not to speak a word and remained silent at the Imperial law. Instead, he reversed the story.
"Didn't I say that it was just a rather violent expression of my loyalty? Also, dueling with knights is not something that can be done in vain. Both parties have to be responsible for all the results. So we can say that you have no choice but to comply with this rule. What do you say?
Besides, why are you making a hole for me to escape? Are you trying to get favor from the 2nd Knights of the Imperial Palace through me?"
Dominique, who wanted to know why the Empress was doing that, couldn't help but ask even though he was about to die from his heated head.
Really, he was very curious.
However, Elisha's thought was actually really simple. Elisha turned her upper body to avoid Dominique's stretched hand, as she pulled out his sword and the sound of the blade coming out of its sheath rang.
Shraang!
Standing still in that position, she stood with her back straight, stretched out the sword she had taken, and put it on Dominique's neck.
There was no force at all, but the mouths of those who were watching how smooth the sequence of movements were opened wide.
Receiving everyone's attention, Elisha spoke arrogantly.
"You don't have to worry about me. I'll take responsibility for it. What you can do is either whistle and run away while whining that the loyalty you spoke of has been corrupted, or accept my duel. It's up to you to decide whether or not to save your face."
"How can that be called saving face?"
On the contrary, it's stepping on a bigger piece of shit!
Elisha shook her head as Dominique spoke with his teeth clenched.
"If you use swordsmanship instead of mana in a duel, you must have something hidden in your sleeves."
"There's none. This is not food. It's bait. I know what you can pick up and eat, so I'm going to make you follow me."
Ping!
Elisha turned the blade that was holding Dominique's neck to the side.
The blade that turned from horizontal to vertical scratched his neck.
A long red line is drawn on the side of Dominique's neck.
After finishing the threat, Elisha pulled the sword towards her, turned it half a turn to the side, pointed the sword toward the floor, and held it out to the owner.
"How is it? Have you decided now?"
Dominique felt it then.
The woman in front of him has many talents, but the best of them is provocation.
She excelled at making people crazy.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will accept the duel."
Dominique, whose eyes were flushed with anger, took the sword and answered.
The Crown Prince, who had been dazed, insisted that he would rather take charge of the duel, but kept his mouth shut at Elisha's whisper.
Asensio clasped his brother's hand and walked closer to the training ground, Jillian came over and grabbed Leon's opposite hand.
In the middle of the training ground, two people stood facing each other.
One is a knight, and the other is the 2nd Empress.
It's a good thing that Elisha usually prefers practical things and her clothes are simple because she doesn't have luxury.
If she had been wearing a dress with an inflated skirt, she would have looked even more ridiculous.
Elisha gently swung the sword in her hand, which the Crown Prince had lent her.
Shoo! Shh!
It was fortunate that the sword was not heavy because he was still a boy.
In fact, Dominique's sword was quite heavy for Elisha.
It didn't show, but Elisha had used a lot of force to keep her grip on that sword just so it wouldn't slip off.
Cold sweat flowed down Dominique's back, knowing that the occasional trembling of the sword held at his neck was not a threat, but literally because her hands had lost strength.
Elisha took her position and took a long breath.
When a wizard is put into battle, all they can do is perform ranged attacks.
This is because their brain activity is great, but physical ability is low, and it requires several processes to implement magic by moving mana.
So, when Elisha was still a proper wizard, she never had a sword in her hand.
At one point, Elisha began to put mana in her broken body and experimented with it. Miraculously, Ignis, the Spirit of Fire, responded to her.
A spirit can leave the spirit world and exists in reality as long as there is supply of mana.
There is no special process required, and it is easy to maintain the connection regardless of distance.
It's like getting a helper who moves as one body when fighting.
Moreover, spirits are compatible with swordsmanship.
This is why Elisa made a contract with the fire spirit that has the strongest destructive power among her spirits, and among them, the only being worthy of being called the king, and did not stop holding a sword in her hand.
Her enemies were not alone, and only then was she strong enough to defeat them.
"Please advance, Your Majesty"
Dominique showed splendid manners.
Elisha shook her head.
"You come. I'm going to have to save my strength to run around with my sword."
It seems that the other person didn't hear it like that, even though it was sincere.
To Dominique, who thought that Elisha had a trump card for bringing the situation to this point, those words seemed to mock him.
"I'm just curious as to what the heck you have. I'll find out soon enough."
Tak-tatatak!
Dominique, running on the marble floor, leaped into the air three meters in front of Elisha.
Instead of collecting mana through Mana Road in his body, which any intermediate knight possesses, Dominique put only his physical strength in his sword.
Shh!
With that alone, Dominique's sword made a ferocious enough noise and slashed at Elisha.
Of course, he wasn't aiming for Elisha.
He's trying to hit the sword that Elisha is holding, but…
If the 2nd Empress didn't even have the proper moves, that means she merely treated him as a fool who ate provocations!
The recoil of the sword strike is to the extent that either three fingers may be broken if one does not let go, or that the sword will be thrown on the floor!
However.
Chaeeng! Chaeng!
Although the swords as they collided, Elisha persevered.
No matter how lacking the 2nd Knights Order was compared to the 1st Knights, the elite of the elites directly under His Majesty the Emperor, the pride of Barossa, or the 3rd Knights Order loyal to the 2nd Prince Stoneham, the only son of the 1st Empress…
In any case, the Knights Order is a place that has enough power and pride.
Even if he didn't use his mana, how could he be swayed by that slender woman!
How pathetic would His Highness the Crown Prince and his colleagues look at him!
If this is the only move that the 2nd Empress has…!
'You won't be in a good shape either after that strike!'
Dominique gave strength to his hand holding the sword.
Dominique's sword movements, which had been only a continuous sequence of simple attacks, began to change.