Chapter 4
“Of course I’ll get you fired. I’ll tell everyone what you’ve done to me all this time.”
Contrary to Harm’s expectations, Diasta didn’t cower. Instead, he had already risen from his seat and was looking straight at him.
“You know better than anyone, don’t you? How you’ve never taught me swordsmanship and only ever put me down. I’m about to be kicked out of the succession anyway, so I think I’ll try blaming someone else for onceājust like you. I’ll say the only reason I can’t wield a sword is because of you. Wouldn’t that be fair?”
“Wh-What? Who would believe that?”
Diasta took a step closer to Harm.
“Harm, who do you think I am?”
Diasta’s red eyesāthe red eyes that only appear in the direct bloodline of House Velumāgazed coldly at Harm.
“People may have seen me as timid and weak until now. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been spouting nonsense. You asked who would believe me? What do you think, Harm? A swordsmanship tutor versus the young lady of House Velum. Which of the two do you think people will trust?”
Harm swallowed dryly. His brilliant futureāthe foundation he had thought so solidāwas crumbling.
There was only one reason his position had seemed secure: because his opponent, Diasta, was a child he thought too weak to break it.
But now that Diasta had realized the truth, the foundation collapsed in an instantābeyond anything Harm could fix.
“My lady… Well… I…”
The tongue that had been so arrogant in front of a weaker opponent now nervously licked his lips. As his blocked-up mind spun in circles searching for an exit, Diasta threw him a rope.
“Fine. Then let’s make a bet.”
“A bet?”
“Yes. I’ve grown fond of you, after all. I don’t want to part on bad terms with you. So let’s bet.”
Harm gripped his sword and stared at Diasta. He wondered if the person standing before him was truly the same child he had known.
He felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.
“Let’s fight with real swords. If you win, I’ll keep my mouth shut about you. No matter who asks, I won’t say a single word.”
“…And if I lose?”
At that, Diasta’s eyes went wide.
“Are you telling me that the youngest Aura user in Belusa might lose to a little kid like me?”
“……”
As Harm only gulped, Diasta smiled and said,
“Simple. You leave this place. Quietly. Without saying a word.”
“Is that… really all it takes?”
“Yes, of course. It’s not a bad deal for you. After all, once I’m kicked out of the succession, you’ll have to leave anyway. This just moves up the timing a little.”
The child was right. There was nothing to lose. Harm hadn’t even considered the possibility of losing in the first place. No matter what the child said, he was Belusa’s youngest Aura userāno, even without Aura, he was not so pathetic as to lose to a child who had never even properly held a sword.
But once he picked up his sword for the match… strange things began to happen.
Knights and retainers of the ducal house started gathering around the training ground. Even that so-called friend of his was there.
Harm’s friend, Knight Beiter, shouted loudly.
“Hey, Harm! Even so, a real sword? Isn’t that too much for the young lady?”
“Right! It looks dangerous!”
Judging by the knights’ chatter, they all seemed to think the match was Harm’s idea. After all, who would believe that timid Diasta had proposed a real sword fight?
As more people gathered, Harm grew increasingly anxious. He wanted to wrap things up quickly before the situation escalated.
“No need to drag this out. One round is fine.”
“Good. What are the rules? Does knocking down the opponent win?”
At her bold remark, the knights whistled, and Harm’s pride twitched.
“If you can even cut the hem of my clothes… I’ll count it as your victory.”
“Fine. I’ll give you the same condition. Try to cut the hem of my clothes.”
At her daring provocation, some knights stomped their feet and cheered for Diasta. Glaring at the stomping, Harm flashed his sword out with a flourish.
Diasta too slowly drew her sword. A very basic stance, holding the sword with both hands.
Seeing that, Harm changed his posture. He stood crookedly, holding the sword in one hand. A stance he had maintained since childhood.
Harm’s own master had warned him several times. That it was a dangerous stance.
But Harm had dismissed those warnings as nagging. His master, after all, had never once produced an Aura in his entire life. Listening to such a person was foolish.
“Come on, then.”
Harm twitched his sword, but Diasta didn’t move an inch. She just stood still, staring at him. Harm sneered at her.
There are always kids like this.
The kind that think if they approach cautiously, they’ll find the enemy’s weakness. Thinking of his friend standing over there, Harm scowled.
He wanted to finish this bet quickly. One swing of his sword would end it. After the match, he thought he’d beat her a few times, pretending it was an accident. Then those irritating red eyes would stop bothering him.
A real sword was in Diasta’s hand. How long had it been since she last held one? In her previous life, Diasta had done many things to survive in the capital, but she had never held a sword. The weight was heavy, and the tension grew with it.
In the past, Diasta had thought of Harm as a good teacher. But…
What was I even looking at back then?
Diasta realized anew. From an adult’s perspective, Harm was by no means a good teacher.
Even if she hadn’t been a perfect student, Harm was undoubtedly a terrible teacher. By trampling on Diasta, Harm had fed his own swollen ego.
There might have been issues on Diasta’s part too, but Harm was surely one of the reasons her position as successor had weakened.
After all, Harm had a good reputation thanks to his silver tongue, which was even better than his swordsmanship.
What Diasta truly wanted from this bet was something else entirely: to change people’s perceptions.
The image of me as weak, as hopelessābuilt up over all this time. I have to break it.
Prejudices built over so long wouldn’t shatter easily. So she had to show something shocking.
That was why Diasta had Marianne gather people.
Harm must have been telling everyone:
The young lady has no talent. She’s frail and timid beyond measure.
No talent. The child she used to be might have been crushed by those words and wept. But now she knew. Instead of crying, she had to rise. If she had no talent, she just had to work several times harder than everyone else.
She might never become the strongest sword of Velum like her grandfather. But she could become a sword that does not break.
This was her first opportunity. She had to seize it and show themāshow everyone, and show her grandfather.
Grippingā
Diasta gripped the hilt tightly. An untrained, small body holding an unfamiliar real sword… It looked like a foregone conclusion, but Diasta didn’t think so.
There’s something I remember about Harm.
A few years from now, there would be a huge scandal that got Harm expelled from the North. A scandal big enough to reach even Diasta’s earsāback when she had already given up the sword.
Harm lost a duel.
If it had been an ordinary duel, it might not have become a scandal.
But because the duel was over Harm molesting his friend’s lover, and because Harm refused to admit defeat until the very end, the rumors spread far and wide.
“It was a perfect defeat by anyone’s standards. Even Beiter, that friend of Harm’s, gave Harm chance after chance to pick up his sword again, didn’t he?”
“Right. And still, he lost the sword more than five times.”
“Five times? I heard it was ten.”
The rumors spread quickly, and Harm denied them. If he had only denied the defeat, it might have blown over quietly. But Harm crossed the line. He denied molesting his friend’s lover and told lies.
“It wasn’t me. That woman seduced me first. I was just fooled!”
At that sordid excuse, his friend was enraged, but his lover took elegant revenge on Harm.
“There’s a surefire way to beat that man Harm. He always takes that crooked, one-handed stance. And he has a habit of raising his sword high before swinging. If you just aim for that moment, even a child could beat Harm.”
Those words spread through high society like wildfire. At first, people were doubtful. But then one hot-blooded young noble challenged Harm to a duelāand astonishingly, won.
Not an Aura user, just a youth newly debuted in society.
And that was only the beginning.
The youngest Aura user in the North.
Once his true skillāhidden behind that hollow titleāwas exposed, all the wrongs Harm had accumulated over the years came back to haunt him. The people he had insulted or humiliated, but who had feared his Aura and backed down, now challenged him to duels. For a while, such jokes circulated in high society:
“Who’s the third weakest person in Velum?”
“Harm holding a sword.”
“Who’s the second weakest?”
“Harm without a sword.”
“Then who’s the weakest?”
“Harm standing in a duel arena!”
Soon enough, no one in the North saw Harm again. There were rumors he had left for the distant South, but Diasta didn’t know what happened after that.
Diasta, gripping her real sword, waited calmly for her opportunity. For that momentāHarm’s weaknessāthat had spread through high society.
The rumors said even a child could beat him, but that didn’t mean a child who hadn’t even learned the sword properly.
Diasta calmly tightened her grip on the hilt.
Harm stood crookedly, holding his sword in one hand. He didn’t like the straight, unwavering gaze Diasta was giving him. Until recently, those eyes had barely been able to look at him.
What if he stabbed her in the eye, pretending it was an accident? He wanted to see that neat, pretty face twist in pain. Just imagining it amused Harm greatly. Out of habit, he raised his sword high.
And at that very momentā
Diasta, who had been silently waiting for that instant, moved swiftly
