In fact, he was a little apprehensive from the moment Annabelle said she was leaving at this point. The swordsmanship competition was just around the corner.
"Sister, but this is your last swordsmanship contest."
Aaron finally raised his voice with a serious expression.
"Of course, you will lose to Ian, but you will be able to hold on for a lot longer than last time because you have improved a lot…"
"Thank you very much for the detailed compliment."
Annabelle answered bluntly and Aaron then continued his speech.
"If you don't attend, our parents will be very worried. It'll be rough."
"Why?"
"I mean, I'm not coming here on purpose to send you to the swordsmanship contest. I'm curious about your ranking."
"Can you believe me? I don't think you'd believe me."
"Even if I don't believe you, you can reduce their worries from 100 to 99 anyway."
"Ha, but… It would be nice if you could elevate Rainfield's name at this point."
"Sister."
Aaron bit his lower lip for a moment and thought.
"If that's the case, then Ian…"
"No, Ian will participate."
Annabelle resolutely shattered Aaron's expectations.
"So if you do well, you'll be second, but that's great anyway."
"…Thank you for the precise and detailed compliment."
"And one more."
She stopped Aaron as if she was only going to say what she had to say.
"These days, there are a lot of illegal drugs circulating because of swordsmanship competitions."
"There always is."
"This time with some particularly serious drugs… Prince Robert personally cracked down on it. This is the report."
Aaron accepted the thick report Annabelle had given him. It was a document that analyzed the users by tracing the distribution route of an illegal drug.
"Prince Robert? You're talking about three bodies…"
"It's okay. From what I saw from those close to me, fortunately, there is only one body to sit on the throne."
Annabelle spoke lightly, then she looked into Aaron's eyes and added.
"Deliver it to headquarters before the swordsmanship contest. Then we will take care of filtering the subjects and testing them."
"I, we?"
"Prince Robert will go with me… Ian might be a little late. So the only person I can trust is you."
"Unbelievable."
"I can't help it. It's also a matter for the royal family, so it's a bit heavy."
"…The royal family?"
"To be precise, the Empress… Well, you have nothing to worry about."
Aaron, who didn't want to take on such an important task, had a sad expression on his face, but he couldn't help it. All of Robert's reliable knights would accompany her on this itinerary.
And since it was related to a swordsmanship contest, if someone was intoxicated with illegal drugs and were noticed, they could have taken it by force.
Therefore, Aaron was the only person who could be completely trusted in the capital among the most talented.
"If Ian arrives on time, you can leave it to him."
"Oh, thank you. There is hope."
"Come on now."
Annabelle smiled and patted Aaron on the back.
"Please don't worry about our parents. Will you win at least one match this time?"
"Ah, sister… You are touching the memories of a 12-year-old who suffered a devastating defeat in the first match of the qualifiers."
Aaron grunted and fiddled with the paperwork for nothing.
"Besides, Ian said that he was participating. Anyway, it looks like it's broken again."
Of course, Annabelle knew how to convince Aaron perfectly.
"In return, I'll let you go through something really fun."
"Oh?"
"It's good to look forward to it. Really."
Annabelle said with confidence in her eyes.
"It might be more fun than a swordsmanship contest."
The swordsmanship competition was one of the largest events in the Empire.
The swordsmanship competition itself was worth seeing, but the awards ceremony held the next day was also spectacular.
Spectacular celebration performances, medals awarded directly by the Emperor, and even a parade.
If the day of the swordsmanship competition was a feast of games that made you sweat, the awards ceremony the next day was like a festival in which the entire capital was excited.
Even if they were not interested in swordsmanship, many people came up to see the awards ceremony.
Of course Annabelle said she never took part in the festival since she lost twice in the finals when she was in the swordsmanship contest, she said.
"I promise, really."
Aaron eventually nodded his head at Annabelle's rant.
"Alright."
And suddenly, he noticed something new.
Annabelle's expression seemed to have become lighter than before, as if she had solved something she had been thinking about for a long time.
~*~
(Annabelle's pov)
We left the capital in a pretty raucous way.
The destination was not specified, but no one said anything.
It was because we left after advertising in fifty thousand places that we were going to destroy the origin of the last remaining black magic.
"Thank you, Prince."
On the way to Banafarim Coast, I suddenly spoke to Robert.
"Thank you for listening to me."
"…What?"
Robert looked at me for a moment with a slightly stiff face.
In fact, allowing Ian to participate in the swordsmanship contest was a request that had nothing to do with eradicating the origin of black magic.
"Miss Annabelle. Think again. This is the last swordsmanship competition. Can you really just give up without even competing against Ian properly?"
"Only Ian needs to be able to participate well. Winning all the swordsmanship competitions I have participated in is a great honor as a swordsman."
I was going to give up anyway, but there was no reason for Ian to not participate in the last swordsmanship contest.
What an honor it was to receive a medal of victory in all the swordsmanship competitions that you had participated in.
After all, this was a battle between me and Carlon, who had the devil on his back.
Pls read only at pink muffin tl.
Robert would get a throne for helping me, and Ian would get nothing.
So Ian didn't have to sacrifice anything for this.
Of course, it was obvious that he would abandon the swordsmanship contest and help us. Even because he was in a state of liking me right now.
So, I had originally planned to arrive at Banafarim Coast on the day of the swordsmanship competition.
In a way, I should have thanked Carlon.
Thanks to the delay until the swordsmanship competition, the schedule was stretched anyway, so I was able to come up with this idea.
Ian would win the swordsmanship contest, and I would achieve world peace according to his wishes.
"Miss Annabelle…"
On the way to Banafarim Coast, I rode among the knights.
Before, I learned how to ride a horse from Aaron, so now I could ride a horse easily.
Robert came up to me and asked with hesitation, as if he was trying to say something very difficult.
"I wonder if there's really any reason why you're thinking about Ian so far… No, I could never have imagined Miss Annabelle taking so much care of Ian…"
He added seriously.
"Rather, if Ian and I were sent to the Smaho Forest and had not participated in a swordsmanship contest alone, you would have participated."
"Well, I have improved."
I replied coolly.
"But more than that, I really like Ian."
"…What?"
"Honestly, I don't expect much, but when we meet this time, I will confess that I like him."
Robert's mouth widened. I said quietly.
"That's why I couldn't accept the Prince's heart."
"Ha, but…you hated him so much, and now suddenly you like Ian…"
Robert thought for a while with a confused expression on his face before continuing.
"…Ian is a wonderful guy. But if Ian takes Miss Annabelle…"
I knew why Robert was talking behind the scenes, so I said it right away.
"Of course, there was only one thing left to do."
After talking to my mother, I decided to be honest about everything I had done before.
It was true that Ian liked me, but if he was sane, it was hard to keep liking the kid who plotted heinous crimes against him. (pr/n: But he's not sane 🤣)
It was just a different story between a real person and a vicious criminal.
'Still, it's better to be honest and be different. Especially for a good life model student like Ian…'
Of course, despite not knowing the circumstances, Robert didn't even refute my suggestion.
"Prince, Lanella and her party must be coming to the capital right now, aren't they?"
"Yes, I told them to hurry, so I think they'll probably come on time."
"I… What if things didn't change then? If only Caitlyn had not been hospitalized with my mother, if only my mother had gone to another public hospital…"
I sighed and muttered. It was something I couldn't say for fear of hurting my family.
"Then maybe if I got a proper education from the start, Ian and I could've become really good rivals instead, right?"
Robert nodded slowly in agreement.
"His Majesty once said something like that. If Annabelle Nadit had as much support as Ian Wade, the outcome could have been different."
The emperor was also serious about analyzing swordsmanship. I smiled and continued my imagination.
"I think I could have joined the Wade Knights and became a pretty good lieutenant. If Ian inherits the dukedom, I will also aim for being the knight commander. Actually, I wanted to join the knights of the nobility."
"…"
"If I grew up being loved by my parents, I wouldn't have acted crazy toward Ian without any twists."
"…"
"I'm sorry. There was a bit of meaningless self-pity. But I can't help but think about it over and over again."
Robert sighed and tried to pat me, then paused and lowered his hand. Instead he replied, he couldn't hide his pity for me.
"If your heart is broken, then come to me anytime."
It was an expression on the face that Ian wouldn't like me even with the evil deeds he had done in the past.
"Because I can wait."
It was sad but also funny because it was so desperately sincere.