Chapter 8
Victor moved with the speed of lightning and the weight of thunder. It was the standard sword spirit of imperial knights, which was difficult to learn. His sword flew exactly where it was needed.
She did not dare to face the devastating power that came from his great body, which she had admired from the moment she first saw it.
She felt it every night, but she was too weak to withstand his attacks from the front.
She dodged the punches once, twice, and after swinging her blade down, she swung it back to protect her head. Victor snapped her wrist, forcing her away, and lunged at her chest.
She took a step back and deflected his sword.
SHININGG
There was a sharp sound.
It was really amazing.
How in the world was there such a swordsman? Five blows came at her in quick succession, so she couldn't even touch him.
I took a short breath and looked at him. Victor was smiling.
“My Marion.”
Immediately his sword flew out again. Instead of going back, I jumped forward. This was a technique I used when dealing with armed trolls long ago. He had longer arms than her, so it would be a disadvantage to keep her distance.
She took two steps forward and swung her sword from below. Viktor stepped aside and struck her blade. She couldn't handle his strength, and her balance was thrown off. She fell to the ground, rolled to the right, and swung her sword at his back.
She heard another crack, and stepped back with trembling hands.
“Oh, my God.”
The tip of her sword was broken. Their swords collided and their blade broke.
She raised her hands.
“I lost.”
Victor stopped and sheathed his sword.
She looked at her sword blade, and realized that their surroundings had become strangely quiet.
The knights, who had been shouting and whistling moments before, stared at the two with their mouths open.
“What's wrong with them?”
Victor approached her, puzzled. He quickly smiled ecstatically and began to brush away the hair that was stuck to her forehead and cheeks from the sweat.
“The king did not lie to me.”
What are you talking about?
“You are the best knight.”
He was really exaggerating it.
Her face turned red.
It was a compliment she had only heard in her kingdom. She didn't know how the rumors spread to the royal capital.
However, it was not good enough to be praised by the famous "Walking Death". She wasn't able to hit him once.
After he finished tucking her stray hair behind her ear, Victor spoke to his knights over her shoulder.
“These guys seem to have a lot of questions, so please talk to them for a moment. Don’t bother my wife, guys.”
When she turned, the knights flocked towards her in a crowd. As soon as Victor let go of her hand, they pestered her with questions.
“When did you start using the sword?”
“How did you avoid when you fell to the ground earlier?”
“Is His Highness kind to you?”
I was shocked.
She suddenly wished not to leave the quiet Grand Duke's palace.
***
Viktor moved away from the middle of the noisy training ground.
His deputy and chief of staff followed in his footsteps.
Chief of Staff, Karls, opened his mouth.
“I wondered if you had truly lost your mind when you heard that Your Highness had been defeated by one woman.”
I smile.
“The lady is a genius. There is no other swordsman who can compete with His Highness in this way, even if we search all over the continent.”
“I think so too.”
“I don’t think she has enough experience in dealing with people.”
Victor, who was buried in the crowd, looked at her. It was funny to watch her struggle to answer their constant questions honestly. Her blond hair, almost white, was characteristic of a Northerner. It sparkles beautifully in the sunlight.
He explained to his employees.
“She is from Amari, the northern part of the empire.”
“Is it Amari?”
“Yes. From Sealand*.”
The vice captain, Leonard, nodded seriously.
“Then her skill is understandable. I heard that Sealand is like a battlefield.”
“Yes. Monsters constantly descend from the Black Mountains in the north. She has been carrying a sword since she was less than ten years old.”
“She must be the Ammari heiress.”
Victor nodded.
He remembered the first time he saw her.
She stood awkwardly like someone who had never worn a dress in her entire life. The backs of her hands and cheeks were frozen with cold, and she looked sick.
But her posture was upright and her slender arms were well trained. He knew she was a good knight.
But he didn't know it would be this good.
Smile softly.
“But she doesn't know how good she is.”
“Yes? How could you not know?”
“I heard that she had never left her hometown in her entire life and had only competed with swarms of monsters. She had only fought with low-level mercenaries and village knights, so when they praised her, she must have thought that she was not good at all.”
He would never have imagined that she was one of the best knights in the entire continent.
Leonard was watching his master carefully. Victor's eyes narrowed strangely.
Victor was the master he had served most of his life, but when he was like this, Leonard was a little afraid.
He asked unconsciously.
“Are you going to return it?”
The Grand Duke looked at him with an uncomfortable smile on his face.
Leonard quickly vindicated himself.
“Didn’t you tell the vassals that you would keep her until she got better? After that, you would marry one of the young girls into an allied family? Besides, if she is the Amari heiress, we have to bring her back. What will happen to Sealand if she doesn’t come back?”
Carls felt worried.
Victor Morte was a master of practicality as well as chivalry.
Omarion Amari was a woman destined to become a lady and protect her land.
She must not be left in the empire as a mistress.
However, their master's gaze focused on the bone of her straight back.
No longer eyes trembling under constant fatigue, but eyes like amber arrows.
The Grand Duke expressed his doubts.
“Why should I care about that?”
“Your Highness!”
Carls shouted. But Victor smiled softly.
“I have already paid enough dowry. I can pay more if they want. No, I will send it every year.”
“…”
“It's mine.”
The Grand Duke gently tapped the hilt of his sword, which he used to fight his wife.
He was dressed like a gentleman, but by nature he was greedy. He was a knight, after all. His wife was the most precious jewel he had ever found.
He didn't want to lose this jewel or this opportunity.
“I won't let her come back.”
She will definitely be happy by his side. It will make it so.
Death smiled widely and laughed. It was a deceptive smile because it was beautiful to look at.
Flower battlefield
For a while afterward, she struggled to fulfill her responsibilities as a flight attendant. Like a lady, I tried to live in petticoats and skirts, and read as many books as possible.
'But she really didn't know much. She tore out her hair in front of the thick ledger and eventually returned them to Diederick. She needed to study more.
After her fight with Victor, she was told that she could go to the training arena whenever she wanted, but she didn't like fighting very much, and she wanted to help him more than anything else.
They started out badly, but his kindness melted her heart like sunlight. In order to return this kindness, she wanted to have enough knowledge not to embarrass him.
First I read about history, then I read about the culture and morals of the empire. After completing that, she turned her attention to medicine.
Most Sealand women were medically intelligent, but she wasn't. Her job was to transport casualties from the battlefield to her property for medical care.
However, she picked up some of the things she heard, so maybe she could learn through reading too?
She grabbed some medical books and sat down in the Duchess's office.
But her predictions were terribly wrong.
Medical books were very difficult.
It wasn't easy, and everything was worded so incomprehensibly, that she couldn't understand what she was reading. She frowned and was about to give up, when suddenly a paragraph caught her eye.
It was a cure for those who couldn't sleep.
After a brief summary, there were a lot of effective medications listed, but she knew that none of them worked for Victor.
The next chapter describes a desirable sleeping environment.
[…The atmosphere should be as comfortable and familiar as possible. Blocking out ambient noise and drinking warm wine or tea also helps…]
She quickly flipped the book over and looked at the author's name. You will also use this technique. I took a deep breath. I remembered how he would wake up and wander around in the middle of the night like a ghost.
Will he live like this for the rest of his life?
He was pitiful. For him to wake up in the middle of the night, he must be having terrible dreams. He must be carrying a sword in his hellish dream with a cold face.
Even if I put him to sleep every night, it wasn't a permanent solution. She didn't even have the magic power to erase his nightmares.
"He's a nice person." .
The maid called out to her, interrupting her thoughts.
“Madam, His Highness the Grand Duke will arrive soon.”
***
• End of chapter •
To be continued •••
My Instagram account [@I.n.w.4]