Chapter 58

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“Greetings to His Supreme Majesty the Emperor!”

“Greetings to His Supreme Majesty the Emperor!”

Loud sounds filled the arena where the combat competition was being held. The preliminary round, which was held almost simultaneously while preparing for the competition, was already over, and all the candidates currently here were talented people who advanced to the final.

‘I forgot why the competition was held in spring.’

Raha thought with a faint smile. Since Karzen ascended the throne, precisely a few years before the previous emperor’s abdication, the combat competition had not been held, and everyone had forgotten about it for a while.

Winter was winter.

There was a limit to what the nobles could watch in the open-air arena, and that didn’t mean they couldn’t put a roof over that huge arena.

But even that was amusing to Karzen. Do you know how hard winter warfare is?

“The nobles who are confined to their comfort zones and warm heat should know a little.”

The young emperor laughed as he whispered to the Princess sitting next to him. How could the nobles not go to a place where the Emperor and the imperial Princess would attend? It was a crowd of people. Thanks to this, hot water bottles became the most popular thing in the capital for a while.

Still, the dueling arena in the Imperial Palace, where the final was held, was indoors, so it was warm. There were 100 people who made it to the final, and they were divided into five teams at a time, so they only needed to watch the matches 20 times.

Thanks to this, the seats where the nobles sat were as free as a party. Even Raha, sitting by the highest upper seat next to Karzen, could move on her own if she wanted to.

Still, there were many eyes watching, so Raha chose to just sit next to Karzen. Actually, even if she moved, there was nowhere to go.

She took place among 10 judges and watched the duels.

“It lasted longer than I expected.”

Jamela, who sat by Raha, spoke to her. If she was the Empress, she would have been seated next to Karzen, but since she was still engaged, her seat was next to Raha.

“Yes. I thought it would be quick.”

Duke Winston, who was sitting next toJamela, said with a smile.

“The final will take much longer. Princess.”

She heard that the competitors would be competing one-on-one in the final match, where only ten people were chosen. The more skill they had, the easier it was to win, but Raha had no idea it would take this long.

It was almost evening when most of the finals were finally sorted out. The final duel was the day after tomorrow …….

“Raha.”

At that moment, a voice called out for Raha. She turned her head to the side.

“Yes, Karzen.”

“Isn’t this fun? It’s much more interesting than those banquets.”

“Fighting is Karzen’s taste. It’s not my cup of tea.”

Karzen burst into laughter as he lifted his champagne glass.

“Yes, that’s why I called your slave. When is he coming?”

The chamberlain, who was standing near the emperor, said politely.

“Your majesty. He has already arrived.”

“Clear the dueling hall.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Soon Raha’s bedroom slave, or rather the man quietly known among the nobility as a bedroom doll, was ushered into the central dueling arena.

“He’s got some swords.”

Karzen mumbled, resting his chin on his hand. Having a silent cold war for a few days, Raha didn’t think Shed would be participating in this competition.

“Let your slaves join in, Raha.”

Marquis Duke, who had remembered Raha’s threat the other day, scrunched up his face at the words. After hastily managing his expression, he pretended to be nonchalant. How could it be that a lowly slave would participate in the imperial competition that was being held for the first time in a long time?

But there were High Priests.

They were too supreme people to participate in the competition, which was not a sacred prayer system but one of the many events of the empire. These were the High Priests who would never have come to such a place in their lifetimes if Karzen had not trampled on the Holy Land.

Karzen, who wanted to show the priests that the experiment, the cause of their Holy Land’s crushing, fought miserably, did not even listen to the advice of the Marquis Duke. Rather, he said with a smile.

“I think it’s going to be fun. Why do you keep stopping, Marquis Duke?”

“I was only thinking of the appearance of the participants in the competition, Your Majesty.”

“There’s a generous reward, but can’t you enjoy this much entertainment?”

“….. yes. Your Majesty.”

The central dueling arena was located in the field of vision just in front of the emperor’s platform.

The man who stood before Shed was a knight famous for his superior ability in the Kingsguard. Raha glanced at the Marquis Duke. The Marquis Duke, who had one of his eyes covered with a black eye patch with gold thread embroidery placed gorgeously, was, as expected, very pale.

‘It looks like Shed is going to win.’

Of course, the other nobles did not think that way. It was natural. Because the knight stood against that slave was one of the highest ranked knights in the Kingsguard.

The nobles were talking about Shed.

“My god, his face….”

“Very beautiful, isn’t it?”

“I think I know why the Princess let him live for so long.”

The last words were mixed with laughter.

The clothes Raha asked the attendant to give to Shed were similar to those worn by the knights. For it was up to the master what clothes she wanted her slave to wear. And that slave looked terribly better in that uniform than any knight.

He had a prominent physique that, when you looked up at him face to face, you could feel a definite sense of oppression. He was well over 190 centimeters, with long, straight limbs. His thickly muscled body was so fantastic under his well fitted uniform. And not to mention the unusual silver hair and a handsome face.

He was truly a beautiful doll. The nobles who had condemned or sympathized with Princess Raha’s condition were even a little envious.

Some young nobles secretly observed the imperial Princess. Since the imperial Princess had displayed a fine looking slave in front of a number of nobles, they thought they could see a hint of pride in her eyes, but they were wrong. The imperial Princess sat with her chin resting on her hand with a face of little interest.

“Princess.”

And Jamela was able to use her advantage of being the aristocrat closest to the royal family without hesitation. She leaned deliberately toward Raha and smiled intimately.

“Look, what do you think? Do you think the slave will win?”

“I don’t know.”

Raha replied with a smile.

“Of course he will lose.”

The attendant approached the Shed and showed him some of the swords. Shed chose the sword at the end of the line. A knight, standing as the referee, spoke some more, and soon the slave and the other knight lifted their swords in the dueling hall.

Many nobles were interested in the duel itself, but many were not. The eyes of such nobles gathered in one place.

“Lord Dacron is quite concerned, isn’t he?”

“I know. How did he end up in that position?”

“He can’t even scratch the body of the Princess’s precious doll.”

“I think he’d probably just slap the back of his hand and take his sword.”

“I think so, too.”

They thought Lord Dacron would win by sitting on the slave’s body so that he would not get any scratches on it, or by taking the sword away from him. It was a laugh, if it was obvious.

The judges retreated, turning the hourglass upside down. Shed and Dacron bowed lightly, as was customary. It was the moment when they lifted their heads and gripped their swords tightly.

“……?”

It was in an instant.

“……!”

Most of the nobles watching the duel simultaneously shut their mouths. Lord Dacron fell to the floor and looked up at Shed with a blank face. Lord Dacron’s missing sword bounced outside the blue line marking the area of the duel.

Shed lowered his sword and looked at the judges. The judge hurriedly put the sand clock back in place with the same stunned face as the nobles.

“S has won!”

Normally, a name must be put in front of it, but of course the judge did not know the slave’s name. It was vague but the voice declaring victory was clear.

“What is it?”

“What is it?”

“What was that just now?”

A wave of murmurs made a wide tour of the auditorium. The nobles followed Shed’s exit out of the dueling arena with their eyes to the end.

Even Jamela stared at Shed in a daze, having forgotten her noble dignity. Other than her, most of the other great nobles reacted that way, so there was no fault.

Rather, only his only master, the Princess, looked utterly bored. She was neither surprised, nor laughing, nor pleased. In that quiet, cold atmosphere, only her eyelashes fluttered slowly.

“Raha.”

At that moment, Karzen’s voice came from beside her.

“Your slave is better than I thought.”

The ears of the nobles sitting nearby perked up.

“What do you think, Raha? Should we let him advance to the final, too?”

“What if he wins?”

“Well, I don’t know. Promise is a promise, so we must make him a lord.”

“A Lord who was a slave?”

“Yes.”

Karzen chuckled. His gray eyes were full of pleasant taunts.

“A Lord from slavery. They’re going to write a new history for the Delo empire. What do you think, Raha?”

“Hmmm.”

Raha tilted his chin as if troubled.

To the winner of the competition, Karzen promised the position of the lord of a magnificent estate, so of course many commoners as well as nobles attended.

Mostly only the third or fourth sons who had difficulty in inheriting a permanent position. The resuscitation of respectable Counts often came up, which was why so many nobles participated in this occasion in this way.

Therefore, many nobles waited for Raha’s reply. She smiled lightly.

“You promised, Karzen.”

“Yes. Raha.”