Chapter 33
Meanwhile, the Duke of Clasta, who had returned home, was equally furious.
“How dare they touch your wrist? I can see now who you take after to say something like that!”
His adjutant, Orwell, looked at the Duke with a fearful expression.
“Order the knights to be on guard for any unexpected situation.”
“Y–Yes? Why the knights? What are you going to do?”
“What do you think?”
The Duke’s eyes flashed.
“If anyone dares to lay a finger on my daughter’s wrist, I’ll kill them. So, my dear, you needn’t worry too much.”
The Duke gently took Ariel’s wrist and stroked it.
“So thin and fragile… I make sure you eat well, but why is it that you’re not putting on any weight?”
“I’ve been eating a lot lately, though.”
Ignoring Ariel’s reply, the Duke barked orders at Orwell.
“Go brew the tonic we bought on the way back.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And bring some candy for her to have after the medicine.”
“Y–Yes, sir.”
“Why aren’t you running already?”
“Y–Yes, sir! Going now!”
The venue for the martial arts tournament’s preliminary round was a mountain near the Imperial Palace.
As Ariel listened to the rules and pondered them, her gaze met that of Ineve, who happened to be approaching.
When Ariel waved, Ineve smirked arrogantly.
“You’d better guard that wrist of yours. If I win, I’ll crush it for you.”
“And have you decided how you’ll apologize to me when I win, Lady Ineve?”
“Why would I waste time thinking about that when I’m going to win anyway?”
Just then, an announcement rang out.
[All participants in the preliminary round, please gather at the entrance immediately. I repeat, all participants in the preliminary round, please gather at the entrance immediately.]
“A lowborn like you acting without knowing your place… It’ll all be over in thirty minutes.”
Ineve gave her a cold smile and walked away first. Ariel followed after her toward the mountain entrance where the preliminaries would begin.
The rules for the preliminaries were simple:
Teams of four would be formed, and each team had to bring back a token hidden somewhere on the mountain.
However, if the name tag attached to one’s chest was removed during the process, they would be disqualified.
There were five tokens hidden on the mountain.
Twenty teams would be competing.
This meant that even if a team found a token first, they could still lose it in a fight and be eliminated.
When Ariel headed to the location assigned to her team, she saw the other members already gathered.
Three boys were chatting among themselves.
They didn’t seem particularly skilled.
Of course, since this was a team match, working together could yield good results regardless of individual ability—but the way they frowned upon seeing her didn’t give her a good feeling.
“Damn it, we’re screwed! I can’t believe we’re on the same team as that stuck-up brat!”
A blond boy shouted the moment he saw her.
Then he came over and tugged at her sleeve.
“Why are you wearing long sleeves in summer? I can’t even move freely because of you! What if we get eliminated because of you? You going to take responsibility?”
He kept pulling at her clothes, teasing her.
“Stop it.”
Even at her firm warning, he continued to stretch her sleeve mockingly.
“‘Stop it~ stop it~’—like anyone’s going to listen to that, idiot.”
Ariel sighed lightly.
Why is it that guys like this never understand words?
She grabbed the boy’s wrist and pinned it.
“Ah! Ow! Hey!”
“You’re the idiot here. The mountain’s full of branches—it’s easier to move around without getting scratched in long sleeves.”
When she twisted his arm further, the blond cried out.
“Hey! Hey! That hurts! I said it hurts!”
At that, the green-haired boy stepped in.
“Stop. The preliminaries haven’t even started yet—you’ll get someone hurt. Like it or not, we’re on the same team, so fighting already isn’t going to help.”
The red-haired boy also chimed in.
“Yeah. The mountain’s big, and we’ll need all four of us moving fast to find a token. If he gets hurt, it only helps the other teams.”
Ariel released the blond’s arm, and he glared at her while huffing.
The green-haired boy spoke again.
“I think we should split up to look for the token. We might get attacked, but finding it first is the priority.”
“I agree.”
“Do whatever you want. You’re the smart one here.”
The three boys came to their conclusion without her input.
Ariel didn’t care either way and simply nodded.
“Alright, then. Let’s split up and search the mountain.”
The four of them split up.
Once Ariel moved ahead, the blond boy sidled over to the green-haired boy and gave him a light tap on the back.
“You’re a good actor.”
“You too. Just don’t overdo it—we almost ruined the plan. If we pull this off, we’ll make a great impression on Lady Ineve.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry—causing trouble is my specialty.”
The blond grinned confidently.
A few days earlier, Ineve had summoned the three boys and given them special instructions.
“You all know the preliminaries are always a team match, right? Honestly, facing that commoner myself would be beneath me. So I’d appreciate it if you took care of her for me.”
It was a roundabout way of saying: if you end up on Ariel’s team, make sure she’s eliminated.
“But what if we’re not on the same team as her?” one boy asked.
Ineve smiled.
“My father will handle that—you needn’t worry.”
“And here we are, actually on the same team as that commoner. The Duke of Vianeve really delivers.”
“It’s not like we’d win the championship anyway.”
“Of course not—Lady Ineve will win.”
“So it’s better to drop out here and earn points with her. The tournament will still be here next year.”
Just then, Ariel appeared through the bushes.
“What are you doing here?”
“Can’t you see? We’re looking for the token!”
“We’ll take care of this area—you go check somewhere else.”
Ariel narrowed her eyes at the three boys.
They strolled lazily, barely searching at all—more like they were on a picnic.
“Check under that tree or between the rocks, too.”
At her words, the blond snapped.
“Ugh! Stop nagging! I’m doing fine!”
“Yeah, he’s trying his best.”
Then, suddenly, the blond plopped down on the ground.
“Hearing you nag makes me not want to do this. Apologize.”
“What?”
“You ruined my mood—so I’m not moving until you say sorry.”
Searching the entire mountain meant losing even one person was a huge disadvantage.
To win the preliminaries, all four needed to cooperate.
(If I make that commoner apologize, great. If not, I can just waste time and it’s still in my favor.)
(He’s doing this just to brag to Lady Ineve.)
(He can be clever when it comes to things like this.)
The three of them barely managed to keep from laughing.
The other two piled on.
“Ariel, just apologize this time. If he drops out, how will the rest of us find the token?”
“Yeah, this is a team match—we have to cooperate. If he’s out, I won’t do it either.”
Ariel ignored them and turned away.
She didn’t have time to waste dealing with them.
The green-haired boy grabbed her arm.
“Wait. What are you doing? Just apologize so we can move on—time’s ticking.”
(She’ll never apologize with her personality. So we just have to keep her here arguing to waste time.)
“Is time really that important to you?” Ariel asked.
“Of course it is.”
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better for you to go find the token yourself instead of coaxing him? If he doesn’t want to drop out of the prelims, he’ll have to try harder.”
She tried to walk away again, but the boy still wouldn’t let go.
“I’m saying it’s better for everyone if we all make up and search together.”
The conversation kept looping.
By now, Ariel could tell something was off.
She narrowed her eyes.
“You guys never planned on passing the preliminaries, did you?”
“What are you talking about?!” the blond shouted.
Ariel’s lips twisted in a smirk.
“I knew it. No wonder you’re not even trying. Who sent you? Ineve?”
“What does it matter?”
Maybe because the secret was out, the blond spoke freely.
“Hey!” one of the others warned, but the blond said casually,
“So what? Even if she knows, what can she do? Honestly, if the three of us drop out, how are you going to find the token alone? You gonna beg us? Maybe then we’d change our minds.”
“So all three of you really don’t plan to try?”
“Yeah. So what?”
Ariel smiled.
“Then I guess I’ve been holding back for nothing.”
She reached out and yanked the name tags from all three boys’ chests.
Caught off guard, they couldn’t even lift a finger to stop her.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Do you know what you’ve done? Now we’re disqualified!”
Ariel tossed the torn name tags to the ground.
“Yeah, I know.”
“You do? Then why? We’re on the same team!”
“That’s exactly why. You already said you weren’t going to try.”
Ariel grinned.
“So why would I keep freeloaders like you on my team?”
“You’re going to do it alone? Then you’ll be out too! How are you going to find the token in this huge mountain? You think you can win by yourself?”
Ariel replied coolly,
“Yeah. I think I can.”
