CH 14.1

At the training ground of the Azbel family. Only the clear sound of swords could be heard, and there— was a woman who did not fit in the place at all.

It was the villainess, Shael— who vigorously raised her sword.

“Just swing it hard.”

Whoop hoo…

As soon as I finished my words, Shael swung the sword hard. Apart from her physical prowess, she had a tremendous talent for swordsmanship. She had no hesitation with the sword. Anyway, a bad girl was in the end, a bad girl. If a normal noble lady was new to handling sharp things, she’d usually be terrified, but… Shael wasn’t.

The villainess didn’t feel afraid of swinging a blade.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, great.”

Shael grunted and glared at me.

“Am I doing better than you when you first learned swordsmanship?”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Of course not. She was doing a lot better than me when I was just learning swordsmanship. Putting her talent aside, unlike the villainess, I was terrified of blades.

“I like it more than magic, it’s much better!”

“Are you really from the Azbel family?”

She even enjoyed swordsmanship. Even though it was a good thing from the perspective of a teacher… I was now thinking about something different. What if, by any chance, the villainess used her powers to do bad things?

At first I thought she wouldn’t. Even now, I still thought so. But she was the villainess. In the novel, she was a villainess who even killed her own fiancé. So it was natural for me to be worried. Maybe not now, but what about later? In the distant future, she might use her powers to do some bad things. 

Now that I think about it, I really needed to prepare several insurances before reaching the ultimate goal of rehabilitating the villainess. So I had to make it my main priority.

Whoop hoo…

Although she knew that I was distracted, the villainess still swung her sword.

“Ah, did you think someone like you could beat me?”

“…?”

The villainess wanted to beat me and hurt my pride. But it’s a pity she has to face disappointment again.

Chae…ae…aeng!

Because I also drew my sword.

“What are you doing?”

“I with to have a duel with you.”

It was an absurd proposal. No matter how talented she was, she had just learned the sword. There was no way she could win. Of course, it didn’t really matter to me. The same was true for the villainess. The most important thing for the villainess was to defeat me.

“If you manage to scratch me even once, I will admit defeat.”

“…!”

Anyway, Shael seemed to think it was something worth trying. She straightened her posture right away. Then she swung her sword. Except for her sloppy posture, her slash was perfect. 

The sound of a sword cutting through the air was heard. But, her sword couldn’t reach me.

‘But was it okay for her to swing the sword like this?’

If I hadn’t avoided it, it was a horizontal slash that would have split my body in two by now. Anyway, the villainess was indeed very fearless.

Chae…ae…aeng!

That was the sound of my sword blocking the sword she had suddenly swung. Now she’s even looking for chances to catch me off guard.

“Is that all? It’s too easy.”

“…”

It was a provocation that no one could ignore. Honestly, it wasn’t right to provoke someone who was learning swordsmanship for the first time. But that didn’t really apply to the villainess. 

Anyways, the villainess was sufficiently riled up by my provocation.

“How about setting a penalty?”

“Ha, a penalty? You really think you’re going to win?”

“Yes, I am.”

“…”

She fiercely stroked the sword. It was a silent threat. Do you want to intimidate me or kill me?

“So, what is the penalty?”

“How about a flick to the forehead?”

“Eh, that’s it?”

“Yes, it is.”

If the villainess laughed at me, it would be a yes, and if she frowned, I would take that as a no. 

When I looked at the villainess, she had a positive expression contrary to what she saying. She probably was imagining how hard she was going to hit me. That was made even clearer as she was even unwittingly wiggling her fingers and loosening her hands.

Still I had to ask, “You don’t agree?”

“No, I need to do that twice.”

She wanted to increased the penalty, as expected of a villainess. I gave her a nod of approval, and agreed to do it as she wished.

“If you can manage to even scratch me within 10 minutes, it’s your win. If you can’t, it’s my win.”