The next day.
Until the other friends arrived, perhaps I should raise the favorability with Romeo and Calix a bit more.
With that thought, I went to find them, but their room was completely empty.
'Where did they go?'
I asked the soldiers guarding the quarters, but they returned answers saying they didn't know.
As if on purpose, there weren't even any passing servants, so there was definitely no one to ask for certain.
'I should go for a walk too.'
Lellia, thinking Lute might come looking again, decided to go outside entirely.
It was when she was changing clothes to go out.
Knock, knock—the sound of knocking was heard.
'Surely not...'
Lellia, thinking it might be Lute again, opened the door herself with an uneasy heart.
But an unfamiliar knight she'd never seen before was standing there.
"What brings you here?"
"His Highness Prince Cedric urgently seeks Sir Raymond."
Prince Cedric? What on earth could this be about?
Lellia frowned and asked.
"For what reason is he calling for me?"
"I don't know that myself. I only received orders to bring you immediately. Let us go."
The knight spoke in an intimidating tone, as if wary that Lellia might try to escape.
"...Please wait a moment."
Lellia, just in case, closed the room door and took out medicine from the item window. It was the same medicine she had used on the Emperor.
Her gender might be suspected again.
After taking out a small medicine bottle and putting it in her sleeve, she opened the door and followed the knight who wore a stiff expression.
The place she followed the knight to was near the quarters where the princes stayed.
Upon arriving nearby, she could see people gathered in the large, wide garden of the prince's palace.
Judging by their attire, they were all nobles. What was strange was that they were all men.
'Is this some kind of gathering for male nobles?'
Lellia tilted her head, but thought it was good that she had brought the medicine.
Perhaps Romeo and Calix might be there too.
The knight delivered Lellia before Prince Cedric and left.
"You've come?"
Cedric glanced at Lellia, then downed the champagne glass he was holding in one shot.
Lellia lightly greeted him and looked around.
In the garden, desserts, drinks, and alcohol were spread out for free consumption.
The male nobles were all standing in groups of three or five, conversing.
What was peculiar was that on a wide circular stage in the center of the garden, two male nobles were competing in swordsmanship.
Several nobles surrounded the circular stage, each cheering and shouting.
Seeing them doing this while laughing, it didn't seem like a duel. In any case, it appeared to be a gathering of male nobles.
But nowhere she looked could she see Romeo or Calix.
"For what reason did you call for me? I heard you were looking for me urgently."
"Yes, that's right. I was looking for you urgently."
Cedric laughed as if it was nothing, then pointed to one side and beckoned.
At the gesture to come here, one male noble approached close.
"......"
That person did not hide his hostile gaze toward Lellia and revealed it openly. So much so that Lellia was flustered.
"Sir Raymond, I don't think you know who this is. This is Lord Namph."
"...Nice to meet you."
"......"
Even though Lellia greeted first, he was still glaring at Lellia.
When she suddenly looked around at a strange gaze, everyone was looking at Lellia. Before she knew it, silence had descended.
"Please understand even if Lord Namph isn't pleased. He is Miss Grace's fiancé, you see."
"......"
Lellia's brow narrowed. Miss Grace's fiancé?
At Cedric's words, Lord Namph raised his chin and proudly glared at Lellia.
Well, what was he trying to say?
"Do you have nothing to say?"
Lord Namph asked point-blank.
"...No, I don't."
"Ha!"
At Lellia's answer, Lord Namph snorted as if it was absurd. Cedric said 'whoa, whoa' and calmed him down.
'What is he trying to do?'
It's not like I had an affair with Miss Grace... Why is he so angry? Originally, I couldn't have an affair even if I wanted to.
Surely it's because I danced with her at the ballroom?
If he didn't like seeing that, he should have stuck by Miss Grace's side from the start.
Finding it absurd, she glared back at Lord Namph, and he finally spoke as if he couldn't bear it.
"Now please keep your promise, Your Highness. You said if he doesn't apologize, I may duel him, didn't you?"
"Hmm..."
Duel?
Cedric stroked his chin, pondered, then spoke to Lellia.
"Actually, Sir. I called you because Lord Namph wanted to duel with you. If you had apologized immediately, Lord Namph would have forgiven you, but..."
"......"
"Since that's not the case, it can't be helped. Will you accept the duel? Ah, dueling with swords is illegal in our Empire."
At those words, Lord Namph snorted and bumped his fist against his palm.
Cedric said.
"Instead, we duel with bare-handed combat. As long as a life isn't taken, it doesn't violate the law, so rest assured."
Cedric patted Lellia's shoulder with a gentle face.
"Ah, right. And there's also the next turn."
"Yes?"
No sooner had those words fallen than something flew toward Lellia's side face from one direction.
Before it hit her face, she startled and grabbed it—it was a brown glove.
Standing in the direction where the glove came from was Prince Damian in a slouching posture.
"I heard that you insulted my sister. I will wash away Princess Uriana's honor with a duel with you!"
"......"
Her head felt like it was spinning.
'What on earth is this situation right now?'
At that moment, the male nobles gathered at the place all shouted with cheers and surrounded the circular stage.
Lord Namph untied his cravat and rolled up his sleeves, then moved to the center of the circular stage.
At this point, there was no avoiding it either.
She thought about making some excuse to escape, but neither the time nor the method was apparent.
Lord Namph was a full span taller than Lellia, and his build was larger too. If she got hit by that fist, she would faint in one blow.
"You're not going to run away, are you?"
Cedric asked with a sneer. He looked at Lellia and pushed her shoulder as if asking why she wasn't going to the center.
With the stubborn hand, Lellia was finally pushed to the center of the stage.
'What should I do?'
Not swordsmanship, but bare-handed combat.
She had at least learned swordsmanship from her grandfather, uncle, and aunt. But she had never once fought with bare fists.
The spectators seemed to find this match, which only commoners would do, very enjoyable, and shouted cheers.
"Lord Namph! Smash that face completely!"
"As long as you don't kill him, it's fine!"
"Break his legs!"
"He looks frail, so one hit and he'll go down!"
Hearing those voices, Lellia quickly checked the item window.
If she got hit and fainted, then was moved to a physician, she might be discovered to be a woman. She had to endure somehow.
Lellia found one medicine in her inventory and quickly took it out. A small pill was held in her palm.
Pretending to touch her mouth area, she swallowed the medicine, and similarly slowly rolled up her sleeves.
At the same time, help mode popped up a message window.
[You have consumed the 'Diamond Body' medicine that makes your entire body hard as steel! ٩(๑•̀o•́๑)و Item duration is 5 minutes!]
At that moment, the whistle signaling the start was heard.
Simultaneously, a large fist flew right next to her face.
"......"
Lord Namph glared at Lellia with an expression saying 'How dare you dodge my fist?'
She had barely dodged just now, but the next time was impossible.
Immediately, a fist flew from the opposite direction.
Thud!
"Aaaaaagh!"
However, the one screaming was Lord Namph who had thrown the punch.
He clutched his fist and blinked in disbelief.
Lellia was also flustered. She thought if her body became steel, it wouldn't hurt either... but the pain was separate. Her cheek was stinging and her head was ringing.
"Why you! Die!"
Lord Namph, seemingly more resentful than expected, rushed again with eyes filled with killing intent and threw his fist.
Lellia similarly took a bare-handed combat stance, then continuously dodged his flying fists.
On the round circular stage, as Lellia scurried here and there escaping, the spectators poured out boos.
"Coward!"
"Is that what a man does!"
"Lord Namph! Crush that guy's lower body completely!"
Lord Namph was in a state where his eyes had completely gone mad.
'This won't do.'
Lellia, dodging the punches flying so frantically she could barely breathe, made up her mind. This seemed like it would only end if she took down Lord Namph herself.
With that thought, when she inadvertently threw a fist—
Thud!
With an enormous sound, Lord Namph collapsed.
She should have hit his cheek, but having never done bare-handed combat and being frantic, she ended up striking his jaw.
"Ugh..."
Lord Namph, fallen to the ground, fainted just like that.
[5 minutes elapsed. Item duration effect disappears.(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧]
Lellia too was out of breath and panting.
That was when.
Damian, who had come up onto the stage, ordered to push Lord Namph aside with his foot.
He had an expression full of anger.
"This time it's my turn, Sir Raymond. I'll make you pay properly for the sin of damaging the Princess's honor."
This is ridiculous... Lellia frowned.
If the Princess's honor had actually been damaged, a trial would have been held, not something like this duel.
Damian knew this too. That it wasn't something to go to trial over.
At that moment, another prince standing on one side of the stage, Cedric, proposed.
"Sir Raymond. Seeing as you took down Lord Namph in one blow, you seem to have considerable skill. How about facing both of us at once instead?"
"W-what do you mean..."
"Then I'll take that as permission. We'll learn a thing or two from you."
With those words, Cedric also rolled up his sleeves and walked to the center of the circular stage.
Seeing Lord Namph fall, the watching male nobles seemed excited and shouted even louder.
"Yes! Since he took out Lord Namph in one hit, 2-on-1 is appropriate!"
"Kill him! Your Highnesses!"
"Now it's fair! Smash his facial bones!"
Ha. What kind of logic is that?
Lellia looked at Cedric and Damian with an absurd, blank expression.
Standing confronting them, suddenly sorrow and injustice welled up, making her nose tingle.
"......"
To think they had tormented her like this since childhood because she wasn't enough.
Honestly, Lellia really hated Prince Cedric and Damian... but she always consciously tried not to think of them.
Because if she kept recalling and resenting them, her dead mother would be too sad.
Setting aside Emperor Perseus, those two were children her mother had borne in pain just like herself.
No parents would like their children fighting.
Being in a position where she couldn't tell the truth made her heart ache and feel unjust even more.
What grudge did she have that those two would try to torment her to this extent?
"......"
Meanwhile, Cedric and Damian, as if planning to beat Lellia to near death at this place, were glaring while pounding their large fists.
The hostility and malice-filled gaze was particularly piercing.
Above all else, the fact that they would send such looks toward her for the sake of protecting Princess Uriana's honor... that truth hurt.
"......"
With a hollow heart, it seemed like she didn't care what happened anymore.
With her will broken, Lellia didn't even take a bare-handed combat stance.
Anyway, the medicine she used earlier had no spare, and no time to make it either.
Tweet!
At that moment, whether receiving Cedric's signal, a knight standing to one side blew a whistle.
Simultaneously, Cedric and Damian took bare-handed combat stances and kept Lellia in check.
Cedric stepped forward first, and Damian stood one step behind, ready to rush in immediately if Cedric was defeated.
Cedric didn't throw his fist right away but keenly glared at her.
It seemed he was wary because Lellia had knocked Lord Namph unconscious with one punch just before.
Cedric said.
"Why not hurry and attack?"
He apparently said it with the intention to provoke, but Lellia showed no reaction.
Cedric made a subtle expression, then soon approached and threw a fist.
Definitely, compared to Lord Namph, both the speed and power of the flying fist were different.
Originally, Lord Namph was an ordinary noble, while Cedric was someone who was a properly trained knight and had even participated in the battlefield.
Thud!
With the sound of her head turning from the punch, Lellia's body tumbled to the ground.
Seeing her fall this time when she hadn't flinched even after getting hit by Lord Namph's giant fist, the spectators' shouts grew louder.
"Wooow!"
"Kill him!"
"Kill him!"
Everyone excitedly shouted kill him, tear him apart.
Cedric, feeling his mood rise with the shouts, mocked Lellia who had collapsed in one hit.
He slowly approached Lellia.
Then, nudging her with his foot, he spoke in a loud voice.
"Sir, didn't I say earlier? As long as a life isn't taken, it doesn't violate the law!"
With those words, he grabbed the back of Lellia's neck with his left hand and raised his fist-clenched right hand.
"......"
However, at that moment.
Cedric momentarily paused.
It was because he suddenly felt strange due to the way 'Sir Raymond' was looking at him.
'...That can't be.'
Someone came to mind, but it was a person he had no reason to recall upon seeing this person.
He shook his head, and with an uncomfortable feeling, raised his right hand even higher.
And just before driving his fist into the small face.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly his right hand wouldn't move at all.
When Cedric turned his head in bewilderment, the nobles who had been watching were quietly looking at one place.
Someone was approaching this way, and the knights couldn't approach him and only flinched.
As if blocked by an unknown force.
It was a man wearing a white robe.
"...What?"
Cedric let go of Lellia's collar he was holding and stood up abruptly.
Damian too was frowning and looking that way.
The man walked with unhurried steps through the gap between the split spectators and came up to the stage.
Cedric tilted his head.
Looking closely at that man, he was wearing a robe with the Kreuz Church emblem engraved on it.
After coming within arm's reach of Princes Cedric and Damian, he soon removed the robe's hood.
As expected.
"Griffith, so it was you."
"......"
Cedric and Damian glared at him with unwelcome expressions.
Having participated in the battlefield, they had acquaintances, but like the other guys, they didn't get along well with Griffith.
"A duel between two and one. Quite impressive for princes."
Griffith muttered in a leisurely voice.
That was his first greeting.
Cedric and Damian were dumbfounded.
Griffith too was a prince, but he was now far pushed back in the succession rank.
A prince abandoned by the imperial family. Cedric internally sneered at Griffith.
Moreover, this place was inside the Auroria imperial palace.
To dare act so arrogantly toward them, who were princes, in this place.
"We were just dueling with someone who dared damaged the Princess's honor."
"Ah ha."
Griffith replied without sincerity, then approached Lellia who was sprawled on the ground.
Then he nudged her with the tip of his foot.
As Lellia's body turned and her face was revealed, he raised the corner of his mouth with a strange expression.
"......"
At the same time, he reached out his hand. Lellia's eyes grew large.
A clear energy was spreading inside her body. Just until moments ago it was throbbing so much her facial bones seemed shattered, but like a lie, all the pain disappeared.
It was divine power.
He turned his head and lightly proposed to Cedric and Damian.
"Then I will participate in the duel in this friend's stead."
"You? Why you?"
"......"
"What relationship do you have with that guy?"
At Cedric's words, Griffith turned his gaze and looked at Lellia.
Their eyes met.
"For a close friend, that much is nothing."
Griffith said that while sending a strange look. Lellia suddenly felt like her heart stopped.
'Close friend.'
Surely... surely he didn't recognize her?
At the absurd thought, she was utterly dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Griffith threw off the cumbersome robe he was wearing.
The robe flew over Lellia's head.
When she looked at it in bewilderment, Griffith motioned with his chin for Lellia to move aside.
"......"
Lellia inadvertently hugged Griffith's robe and stepped aside.
'When on earth did he arrive?'
While Lellia was bewildered.
The watching male nobles all sent fierce glares and didn't even try to go near Lellia.
The feeling of being treated like a bug was unpleasant, but since no one around was coming close, her mind was at ease.
Griffith said while rolling up his sleeves.
"You may come at me all at once like before."
At his provocation, Cedric and Damian's eyebrows twitched.
Cedric said.
"...Using divine power during a duel is a foul. You know that, right?"
"Ah, of course, of course."
Griffith said as if it were obvious and took a bare-handed combat stance. His appearance was as natural as fighters in gambling halls.
When Cedric sent a glance, the knight who had been at a loss blew the whistle hesitantly.
Simultaneously, Cedric's fist flew. Lellia, watching, squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
However, no sound came, and when she opened her eyes, Griffith was lightly dodging Cedric.
Damian, watching from behind, seeing that, thought it wouldn't do, and clenched his fist and stepped forward.
'Despicable bastards...!'
Lellia ground her teeth and internally condemned the two.
In the center of the stage, Griffith was still dodging their attacks. Cedric and Damian had expressions of rising irritation.
"Ah, by the way, there's something I need to confirm."
"......"
Griffith asked while dodging punches, but Cedric was extremely irritated. It seemed he was very resentful about continuously dodging here and there.
"I heard earlier, you said as long as a life isn't taken, it's not illegal. Is that the same even if the opponent is of imperial blood?"
"Do you think you can beat us until we're near death? No matter what, there are two of us."
Cedric sneered. The two had participated in the battlefield late, so they had hardly seen Griffith's exploits.
Even in the last battle, Griffith only healed with divine power from the rear.
So for him to come out so confidently was absurd and laughable.
"The answer?"
Griffith asked again, demanding an answer, and Cedric scoffed.
"Fine, that's right. But something like that won't happen...!"
Unfortunately, Cedric couldn't finish his sentence.
In an instant, Griffith's fist struck Cedric's jaw. Damian, standing behind bewildered, was also instantaneous.
Thud!
As soon as he turned his head toward Griffith to avenge Cedric, his body flew.
Among the spectators who had been shouting kill him, tear him apart until just before, silence descended.
Griffith approached the fallen Cedric, grabbed his collar, and raised his fist.
Just as Cedric had been holding Lellia earlier.
Before Lellia could even think about intervening, the fist drove down.
The knights didn't know what to do and only hesitated.
Though the Prince himself had said with his own mouth that as long as a life wasn't taken it wasn't a foul, still the knights couldn't bear to watch the royals they were protecting get hurt.
When the knights approached to stop him, Griffith clicked his tongue.
"Ugh!"
The knights who had entered the circular stage to restrain Griffith were suddenly unable to move at all, their bodies bound. It was because of divine power.
Griffith spoke lightly, as if calming the knights.
"Don't worry. When it's over, I'll heal them immediately."
Hearing those words, the knights flinched but felt relieved inside.
Even if they were knights who hadn't participated in the battlefield, once they were knights, they all knew who Griffith was.
Those who achieved merit on the battlefield were all famous figures.
Among them, Griffith was famous for possessing enormous divine power.
However, at Griffith's words, Damian gnashed his teeth as if he had been insulted.
Damian rose. Irritation was rising to his head.
He had asked his mother to distract Romeo and Calix lest they interfere.
For Griffith to appear out of nowhere.
He spat and turned his head.
There he saw Cedric, covered in blood and unconscious.
How dare he do this to my brother...! Seeing Cedric's state, Damian felt his vision spinning.
"You bastard...!!!"
Damian poured curses at Griffith. But he only smiled as if it was amusing.
"Bastard, you say. Are you insulting the Nicaea Empire's imperial family?"
"You...!"
"By your words, my father is a dog. Well, that's not exactly wrong."
"......"
"Anyway, I'll heal you too, so don't be too jealous."
Griffith's voice remained calm until the end.
Thud!
With those words, Griffith stopped talking.
Lellia couldn't bear to watch and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
Let me count just 10 seconds and then intervene.
With that thought, when she opened her eyes after 10 seconds had passed.
The floor of the circular stage was splattered with blood. Cedric had long since fainted, and Damian too was swaying with his face covered in blood.
The knights had already tried to step forward, but were still unable to move and struggled.
In just the 10 seconds Lellia had closed her eyes, the situation had become even more terrible.
"Lord Griffith!"
Feeling it couldn't go on, Lellia called his name to stop him.
Griffith, at the voice calling him, looked at Lellia, then let go of Damian's collar.
Then, standing straight and adjusting his clothes, he reached out his hand.
White light from his fingertips swam gently in the air like butterflies.
Thanks to divine power, Cedric and Damian's swollen faces returned to normal.
But because of the bloodstains, they still looked terrible.
"It was a very entertaining duel. Let's go now."
Griffith said lightly toward Lellia.
"......"
Lellia followed him without a word. Looking behind her, she could see the knights carrying the princes and running away.
Staring blankly at Griffith's back again, only then did she come to her senses.
Anyway, when did Griffith arrive?
How did he come here?