Chapter 120 - Live to Sienna Pt.120

Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard Carl since the game was noisy. Sienna struck him with her elbow in disgust.

Carl said without erasing his mischievous smile.

“You don’t like the prize?”

“No thanks!”

“Is there anything else you want, then?”

“No, you don’t have to give me a prize.”

The room was still full of sellum flowers he had given her as gifts. Sienna didn’t really need anything.

“It’s too bad you don’t want a prize. Tell me. Who do you think my people are?”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a difficult question. Lord Pavenik, I have seen him in your barracks before, and I should just pick someone who has a similar system of swordsmanship.”

As a member of the Waters family, she was familiar with swordsmanship and had a good eye, so distinguishing was easy to her.

When Sienna picked out a few of the knights as her guess, starting with Pavenik, Carl was in awe. Because she guessed most of his knights.

Although the movements were similar because they were all trained in the same military, it was not easy to tell the difference even if you were someone trained in swordsmanship.

“Not bad!”

“I could tell because even the way they pull out their swords are different.”

The current game ended with one of Carl’s knights stabbing his opponent’s stomach. It was not a sharp-pointed sword fight, but rather a sword without a sharp blade, or a sword to defeat the enemy or protect his body, so the opponents did not die, but he seemed to be quite hurt.

Sienna, who confirmed his victory, whispered in Carl’s ear.

“His Majesty the Emperor’s personal guard order would be full of your people.”

“Maybe.”

He answered as if it was an obvious fact.

“By the way, you said you wanted to get a handkerchief from me, but you didn’t participate in the game?”

“It’s funny to jump into the Knights’ event as a prince. Moreover, most knights won’t be able to aim the sword properly because of my status.”

“That’s true, too.”

She nodded then changed her expression and glared at him.

“What! Did you just say that you wanted my handkerchief for no reason?”

Sienna thrust her swollen hand caused by needling embroidery before him.

“Do you know how hard it was for me to hold a needle to embroider the handkerchief that I couldn’t do well? If you weren’t going to participate, why didn’t you tell me you won’t go? You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Is it so unfair that you sewed your handkerchief for me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying! I hate sewing. Take a closer look here. I almost sewed up my finger, not the handkerchief. I’ve worked so hard to give it to you…”

Carl stroked her hair in response to her complaints.

“Then I want to have that handkerchief that you created with such care.”

“Then do you want to take it?”

“No, it’s a handkerchief you’ve embroidered while bleeding in your fingers, so I can’t just take it without doing anything.”

Carl intentionally looked to the sideways. There, Valore was watching Carl and Sienna. When his eyes met Carl’s, he turned his head with a resigned look.

“Oh! It’s my brother’s game! If he passes this game, he is going to the finals.”

Sienna put her hands together and focused on Jamie’s game. Jamie’s opponent was someone that Sienna knew.

Red Cabillion. He was the son of a small baron, but failed to succeed to his title and led a group of bandits. In the past, in a battle against Carl, he gave up one of his wrists along with his bandits.

But that was only a story of the past, and now both his arms were intact.

He caught the eye of many with his enormous physique. Jamie, who was playing against him, had the height and physique to keep up with, so they were both expected to play with their own strength.

The audience was very excited. This was because the two had clearly confirmed their skills during the games.

As the trumpet sounded to signal the start of the game, the two quickly drew their swords and rushed in. The movement was so fast that two light streams seemed to collide.

It was only three times that Jamie and Red’s swords met directly, but the swords were visibly broken. It was because the swords couldn’t stand the strength of the two.

A clear blue sword energy formed on Jamie’s sword. The audience was in a great uproar. Although the Sword Expert was capable of handling the sword energy, ordinary citizens have little chance to witness the clash of the Sword Experts themselves.

Red’s sword also exhibited reddish-black energy.

“The Lord Waters’ sword energy is blue? That’s pretty stable.”

“Sir Cabilion’s sword is stable, too. As expected, he is like a person who has gained a lot of experience in battle.”

In Sienna’s reply, Carl shook his head and said, “You really know everything. Is this also part of your intelligence?”

“Of course. I know you’ve been getting more visitors recently. Don’t try too hard to get rid of them all. A fish can’t live in clean water.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The game continued in the midst of the conversation between Carl and Sienna.

Every time a sword containing sword energy was swung, the floor was dug up and the dust was cloudy. As the game progressed so fast, the audience forgot to cheer and watched the game breathlessly.

The gap between Jamie and Red has widened considerably. The two men’s armor and helmet were covered with dusty fog.

During such confrontations, Red’s sword faded first and then lost its shape. It was great in itself to be able to keep the sword energy this long, but the opponent was too strong.

Jamie rushed at Red’s sword as soon as he found that it had been broken. Red tried to defend himself by lifting the sword, but it was torn more easily by the sword than by a piece of his black paper.

When the half-cut sword fell to the floor, the audience cheered with breathless attention.

“Wow!”

Sienna clapped happily. Jamie’s victory was also a victory, but I was grateful enough that he ended the game without getting hurt.

The finale was held the next day. The days of the game were in a state of great excitement. It was because of the expectation that they would see a better game than the previous one.

The finale, however, turned to Jamie’s victory with a frivolous ease. Red, who played the semi-final against Jamie, also finished third with overwhelming strength in the third-and-fourth place matches. Everyone thought Red should have won second place.

The first to fifth places were directly gifted swords with congratulatory speeches by the emperor. After the Emperor’s award, not only Jamie, who won, but all the knights on the list had the chance to ask for a handkerchief from a lady they desired.

It was a tense moment not only for the knights but also for the women sitting in the stands. There were no women who didn’t want to hand over their handkerchiefs to the leading players of the Mutu competition.

The knights approached the ladies one after the other, and soon Jamie’s turn came.

Jamie didn’t ask anyone for a handkerchief. Before participating in the game, Sienna said that receiving a handkerchief was meaningful, so if there was anyone he wanted to marry, he should ask for it, which seemed rather burdensome. There was a lamentable exclamation of some women from the stands.

Valore said out loud.

“Your skills were so great that the Knights of the Imperial Household seemed inexperienced in comparison. I thought the talent pool was only in the imperial family, but I think this competition helped me realize that there were so many hidden talents like you. It is the nation’s blessing that there are so many talented people like you everywhere. From now on, if anyone has the skills, I will open the way for them to join the Knights of the Imperial Household. I promise in the name of the Emperor.”

An opportunity for anyone to enter the Imperial Knights. This, on the contrary, was a willingness to expel anyone in the imperial order of knights if they lacked skills. The audience roared with cheers at the emperor’s words.

Sienna looked at Arya, who was looking so angry and smiled.

This was a promise proclaimed in front of many by the Imperial order. If Arya and her forces opposed his opinion when Valore began to reform the Order, it would be an act of dishonor to the Emperor.

Although the imperial power was weak now because Valore was young and fragile, the Leipsden Empire was originally a strong country. If Arya tried to stop Valore from reforming the Knights Order, it could have been seen as an act against the imperial power.

“I have a favor to ask of you. Will you do me a favor?”

Not only Jamie but also the audience stared at Valore breathlessly. Everyone wondered what the emperor would ask a knight to do.

“Please speak.”

“The original winner was supposed to be my Royal Knights, but if you don’t mind, would you be my Empress’ Knight?”

The thoughts of many nobles, as well as Sienna’s, were spinning fast.

It was a demotion to assign a person who was supposed to go to the Royal Order, the emperor’s knights, to the empress’ knights. She wondered why the emperor made such a request to him.

“I will sacrifice my life to protect the Empress!”

Whatever the Emperor’s intention, Jamie readily accepted.

“Thank you. Then take the head of the Knights of Silver Wolf, the Knights of the Empress.”

Jamie acted courteously, by bowing. Unlike his calm expression, the audience was filled with loud cheers.

It was also an honor to be a knight of the Royal Knights of the Imperial Guard, but it was also an honor to be the head of the Knights of the Order of the Empress. When he becomes a knight of the imperial family, he was basically a baron, but the leader of the knighthood gains a bigger title than a baron.

Sienna remembered the conversation she had with Marie before the game. Her knights in the finals suddenly quit. The leader must have been one of them.

‘I don’t know if I should celebrate my status as the head of the knights.’

While Sienna was agonizing, Carl, who was sitting next to her, stood up. She asked him where he was going. He only smiled an unexpected smile and headed toward Valore.

“Your Majesty, I have a favor to ask.”

Carl bent one knee in front of Valore and asked.

“Prince Carl, what kind of request?”

“If it doesn’t offend you, would you give me a chance to compete with Lord Waters?”