Chapter 62

Cervan swung his sword in an annoyed mood. The victor was already decided half-way through the duel. Perhaps Cedric’s challenge to his brother for a duel wasn’t impulsive this time. As if he had already planned ahead, the tip of Cedric’s sword persistently followed his movements.

Cedric held the sword and stabbed his brother suddenly. Although the blunt tip didn’t cause any cuts, he was hit by a heavy metal which made Cervan unable to keep holding the sword. He dropped his sword with a shriek. Cervan, who had been holding his hand for a while, moaned, eventually shouting the words of surrender when Cedric approached him with the words, ‘The outcome has been decided, Brother.’

“……Damn it! Yes, I lost!”

“Of course you will return the sword, won’t you, Brother?”

“I- I get it!”

The situation of those who experienced the joy and sorrow of the duel from a few days ago had reversed.

Finally, a short smile appeared on Cedric’s face. He laughed because he won, and because he was able to get his sword back.

‘It’s just as she said. I really won. I did.’

As soon as he realized that he had won the duel, the face that came to his mind was none other than Emir Saeron’s. He was so dumbfounded upon realizing that it was her that he laughed out loud. Cedric questioned Emir in his heart, unheard by anyone.

‘Emir, what in the world… are you? Was I carrying your luck?’

* * *

The following morning after I lent Cedric my precious artifact, I came to kindergarten early and muttered to myself in an empty classroom.

“Did you win, Cedric?”

In fact, even if he didn’t tell me the outcome, I had no doubt that he would have won. Cedric’s actions are intolerable, and I hate them, but still, his swordsmanship skills are really worthy of recognition. While using artifacts would certainly lead to an advantage, Cedric was strong enough for others to not notice that he used a moderately powerful trick using the artifact, so in fact, it was Cedric’s skill that really determined the outcome.

“Uh? It looks like a carriage is coming.”

Just then, the sound of a carriage running towards the kindergarten interrupted my train of thought and I jumped from surprise. This was a road frequented by carriages, but somehow the sound of this carriage seemed to belong to Cedric and Alice. My senses were telling me.

“Cedric! Alice!”

I quickly ran outside and saw that it was them. I waved my hand at the carriage slowly approaching me and called out the names of the children who were riding in the carriage. At first glance, it seemed that someone was waving hands through the carriage window.

‘I’ll ask him right away. Did you win?!’

Even if I don’t ask, I can guess whether he won or lost just by looking at his expression. Finally the carriage stopped in front of me.

“Good morning, Alice and Cedric!”

I took a deep breath of the cool morning air and greeted them with a bright face. And fortunately, both Alice and Cedric’s faces were not gloomy.

No, he looked very happy.

“Go-good morning… Lady Emir!”

Alice seemed to be excited since I greeted her with excitement in the morning.

Cedric was…

“Hey, Emir! I won the match with my brother yesterday!”

The first thing he said when he saw my face wasn’t a greeting, but the news that he won.

But, the news was exactly what I wanted to hear.

“Wow! Congratulations!”

That was a relief for sure. I was really happy and jumped to congratulate him.

“What congratulations… It’s natural that I won, but I won with nothing special. Hmm.”

Cedric answered in a slightly embarrassed voice.

‘Oh my gosh, he is embarrassed!’

He seemed like he wanted to brag when he saw me, but when I congratulated him, he looked shy. Judging by his actions, Cedric also seemed to have a very delicate personality.

“Lord Cedric, and Lady Alice. Please come down.”

And when our warm morning greetings (?) were over, the guards from the kindergarten came and brought footrests for them to get off the carriage.

Please note that the footrest is not a big deal. It’s not made of gold like the others here, it’s just a plain wooden apple box.

But… huh?

“Uh, huh?”

I thought something was strange.

As soon as Cedric stepped on the footrest, the wooden top creaked.

“Be careful!”

Fortunately, before Cedric fell forward, the guard who was standing next to him ran immediately and supported him. They had been on high alert since the last time the Princess almost had an accident.

“Oh, thank…”

Seeing Cedric supported in the arms of the bodyguard, I muttered to myself that he was lucky, but before I could even finish speaking, another strange sound was heard.

Crack-!

We heard a sharp cracking sound as if something fell to the floor.

‘Huh? This sound…’

Somehow, hearing that sound sent a chill down my spine..

No, my God, please, I hope it’s not….

“Heuk……”

The guards panicked and took a step back to check the ‘thing in question’ that had fallen at his feet.

Then I saw the thing that fell and broke in front of my eyes.

‘Is it a dream?’

I stood there blankly for a moment, then, unable to believe this was happening, touched my cheeks with both hands.

The thing that split in two wasn’t just anything… It was my artifact.