180 The Challenge 3: Never Take Your Eyes Off Your Opponen

CHAPTER 180

Another hit. The soldiers cheered for the Young General seeing as he achieved what the Prince did for his last attempt on his second.

Not that they doubted his abilities though, but they were always full of joy when he made a feat.

He got to the last three targets and stood at the centre. Steadily, he took three arrows from his quiver, ready to blow the minds of everyone again.

His eyes sharp and direct as his gaze never faltered from their target. Just as he was about to release the arrows…

"Lady Erwina!"

SWOOSH!!

Instantly the arrows were released and landed on the board. Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the sight before them.

Cullen's eyes furrowed and darkened a bit. After a few seconds, his shoulders slouched as he heaved a sigh and turned around.

Right on the board, two of the arrows hit their mark and the other slightly missed the red mark on the board, earning a sigh and frown from the onlookers.

What happened actually still had everyone in a daze. Cullen was already ready to release the arrows from the bow when suddenly a voice yelled 'Lady Erwina'.

That little interruption had caused his concentration to break a bit and his finger twitched when he let go of the arrows.

Just the slight mistake he made caused his arrow to go off target and miss the red mark by an inch. By the time they turned to the owner of the voice, they saw the Prince smiling towards a direction.

'Yes, now let's see him brag about how good he is. I didn't think I'll say this but, thank you Erwina.' Prince Owen thought inwardly as she kept on looking in her direction.

Everyone was angry because he played dirty and distracted his opponent. They had thought it was a trick and that was very low of him.

Still, no one could hold him responsible except the king and they hoped he wouldn't side with him, but indeed it wasn't a trick.

When their gazes followed his line of sight, they came face to face with the Lady Erwina.

Lady Erwina frowned upon hearing Prince Owen call her name.

'What does this pretentious Prince want? Why is he acting so familiar?' she asked in her mind.

She was fuming with anger that he was trying to familiarize with her, or perhaps he was doing it to gain favour from the soldiers and King.

Either way, she wasn't buying any of his tricks. And so she walked majestically to where the King sat, all the while keeping a smiling face.

Following closely behind her, was her godfather, Lord Ferdinand. The moment she got close enough, she bowed to King Bayard, followed by Lord Ferdinand.

Everyone followed suit and bowed to her, all except Owen. He was still the crown prince after all. After a few seconds, she rose her head and a chair was immediately brought for her to sit down close to the King.

"My Lady."

"We are having a challenge. I came to preside over it."

"I see His Majesty has enough spare time to preside over training challenges. Isn't that the work of the crown Prince or is he slacking off as usual?"

At her comment, Owen clenched his fist as he stared her daggers. 'How dare she insult me? Who does she think she is?' he thought again.

"No, you thought wrong, Erwina. This time it is a challenge between Owen and Cullen. Who best than I to preside over this matter?"

"Oh, I see. My apologies, Your Majesty. Forgive my lack of insight."

Her words were like a flower blossoming in the summer. They were like music to his ears, capturing his heart.

It was as though she had the right words in her mouth every time she spoke. One could hardly find fault in her speech.

"You did no wrong Erwina. Now let us continue."

Lady Erwina turned her head in the direction of the Prince. "Your Highness," she beamed a smile at him. It was now she chose to acknowledge him.

"I wish you luck in this challenge then. Do not make the crown lose face."

"Fret not, My Lady. You won't lose face," he replied her through gritted teeth.

'How dare she!! Look at her acting like Queen and father smiling at her, like she is the most beautiful woman he has seen. Count your days till I am king, Erwina. I would make you pay.'

"Very well, then. Who is winning this challenge?" She asked, returning her gaze back to Bayard.

"I am about to decide the winner. You came right on time."

"Alright."

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned her head back at the arena and her eyes caught sight of Cullen's sullen face. She moved her gaze from him to the board and her eyes landed on the missed target.

'Hmm, no wonder he is feeling down, but then with a man of his calibre, he shouldn't have missed now. All the other arrows are in perfect sync, right at the centre.'

Her gaze shifted to the right and she caught hold of Owen's smiling face the as his eyes lingered on the boards.

''Oh, so that was it. He distracted Cullen when he called out to me. I have got to hand it over to you, Owen. You are learning to be sly, but you have a long way to go. I wonder how this would all end!' Erwina thought to herself.

"Judging by the number of arrows that hit the target, Owen won the first Challenge. Now we would proceed to the second challenge," Bayard announced to everyone.

There was a huge grin plastered on Owen's face as the outcome was called out. Cullen walked up to him to congratulate him for his win on the archery challenge.

"Congratulations, Your Highness."

"Thank you, General."

"See you on the next round?"

"Sure. I definitely won't lose to you."

"Neither would I, Cullen."

Before long, the swordsmanship challenge started. Both men were focused on the duel as blades clashed against each other, producing a clanking sound.

It was over twenty minutes now and there seemed to be no winner till now. The battle continued for another five minutes till Bayard stopped them.

They took a two minutes break and then continued the duel. At the tenth minute after the break, both men were panting hard but still pushed through with the fight.

Lady Erwina was already getting bored with the duel and decided to help bring it to a close.

"Perhaps if I help Cullen win and not lose face, Lorelei would be grateful and owe me one. Then I can just ask her to agree to my terms or get Cullen to persuade her. It goes both ways, he wins and I win.' She thought mischievously to herself.

A minute later, she gestured towards a male servant there to come over. He obeyed and hurried up to where she sat, watching the match.

Just as the young lad climbed onto the small podium where she and the King were and made his way to her seat, she pulled her leg to the side causing him to trip.

"Aahhh!" he screamed and fell face forward on the podium in a prostrating manner.

His scream wasn't particularly as loud as when Owen called out to Erwina but, it was loud enough to cause a distraction.

'Perfect, just what I needed.' Lady Erwina said to herself in a whisper.

The male servant quickly got up and bowed down apologizing to Lady Erwina and Bayard before she excused him.

At that instant, Owen got distracted for a bit and turned his head swiftly at the scene. By the time he turned his head back, Cullen had taken hold of the opportunity and struck at him.

Before Owen could react, Cullen had hit his sword hard and flung it to the side. He lounged for Owen and he tried his best to dodge the several attacks from his opponent.

Cullen was already tired of the delay and attacked with everything he got. He swung his sword to the left and right in an alarming speed, catching Own off guard.

The next thing the prince knew, there was a sword pressed to his throat.

"Yield. You have lost," Cullen whispered into his ears.

His breathing became ragged from the continuous as he took in short and shallow breaths.

"First Lesson, Your Highness. Never you take your eyes off your opponent," he cautioned Owen.

"Don't be too cocky because you won this round," he said through gritted it to Cullen and broke free from his hold.

Cullen released his hand, moving his sword out of the way.

KPAR! KPAR! KPAR!

The sounds of their clapping could be heard as Bayard rose up from his seat to declare the winner of the challenge. Some even went as far as whistling as they nodded their heads.

A small smile crept up his lips as he watched the soldiers cheer for him. 'One down, one more to go," Cullen said under his breath.