TYFGU 40

Chapter 40

The competition began, surrounded by people.

As the matches unfolded in the official arena, the cheers of the crowd heightened the atmosphere.

At the center of it all stood a young knight who had just come of age.

It was none other than Reyana Chester.

“That’s the girl, right?”

“My gosh! She’s that skilled with a sword?”

“No wonder the Archduke has his eyes on her!”

One by one, the spectators expressed their admiration.

At first, the reactions were indifferent—she hadn’t been expected to be a contender. But as she defeated her opponents one after another, claiming victory, more and more eyes turned toward her.

By the time she reached the semifinals, she had her own cheering section in the audience.

That, of course, was a major blow to the pride of the First Knight Order members.

They had all bet on each other’s victories, only to be overshadowed by an unexpected underdog—a young female knight, the youngest of the order, and not even of noble birth.

Hurt pride led some of the knights to conspire.

Among the remaining four competitors in the final match, aside from the vice-captain and Reyana, two others—Oan and Rivane—plotted together.

Oan would preserve the vice-captain’s stamina, and Rivane would wear Reyana down.

If they could even leave a small injury on her in the process, all the better.

Determined to stop Reyana’s solo streak, the two finalized their plan.

But Rivane didn’t think he would lose to Reyana.

Sure, the knights who had underestimated her might have lost—but not him.

He was a candidate for vice-captain, after all.

He believed her victories were merely fortunate flukes.

The senior knights never had the chance to spar with her, so they were unfamiliar with her sword style—it was simply a miscalculation on their part.

But he had studied her fighting style from their past training sessions. There was no way he would lose.

When the bell signaling the start of the match rang, Rivane left the waiting room with a confident smile and headed for the arena.

Rivane entered the arena and waved at the cheering crowd with ease.

Reyana, on the other hand, merely glanced up at the stands without much reaction.

People were now expecting this to be the match where Reyana would finally fall.

Before the match started, Reyana and Rivane stood face-to-face, exchanged bows with their swords in hand.

When he saw that her expression looked uneasy, Rivane scoffed and muttered under his breath.

“Looks like you’re scared. You could surrender now.”

“……”

“Ha, totally frozen. Hey, snap out of it.”

As Rivane barked at her irritably, Reyana turned her head toward him.

“Yes? Sorry, I didn’t catch that?”

“I said, if you can’t handle this, just forfeit.”

“Oh! Were you worried about me? I appreciate your concern, Sir Rivane.”

Worried, my ass. She had twisted his words in the most ridiculous way.

“…Don’t come crying later. It’ll be too late.”

Muttering in irritation, Rivane recalled the advice he’d gotten from the lower-ranking knights.

But when Reyana completely ignored his words, he put his hands on his hips and glared at her.

“What are you looking around for?”

“I’m looking for someone…”

“You’re awfully relaxed, standing in front of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Just then, a referee stepped between them to begin the match.

“Ready. Begin.”

At the referee’s command, Rivane and Reyana stood at attention.

“Give it your all. Unless you want to be humiliated!”

“Yes, yes. I’m coming, Sir Rivane!”

The whistle blew to mark the start of the match.

Reyana was sitting in the waiting room.

The match with Rivane had taken a long time, but she had emerged victorious.

The reason it dragged on was because, after attacking with full force in the beginning, Rivane had suddenly started running away.

“Where are you going, exactly?”

Even when she asked, Rivane only kept retreating without raising his sword.

Reyana couldn’t attack an unarmed opponent, nor could she just stand around doing nothing.

The crowd began to boo, but Rivane remained steadfast.

Since this kind of situation was new to her, she had to run around chasing him to get him to cross swords with her, exhausting herself in the process.

Because it was a match, not a real battle, there were rules about going too hard on an opponent—ironically, the fight with Rivane ended up being the toughest of them all.

Collapsing onto a bench in the waiting room, Reyana mulled over one thing:

“Where is he?”

The one thought that had filled her mind throughout the entire match was her conversation with Theodore the night before.

Reyana had learned of the tournament suddenly when the Archduke informed her he had registered her on her behalf.

Theodore had been present at that moment, too.

After hearing everything, the child tugged at Reyana’s sleeve.

When she leaned down to his eye level, he whispered softly,

“Reyana, do your best.”

Just from that encouragement, Reyana had felt a surge of energy.

“If Your Highness is cheering for me, I feel like I’ll win for sure!”

She had smiled brightly as she spoke, and Theodore tilted his head.

“If I cheer for you, you get stronger?”

“Of course.”

“Hmm. Then I’ll come tomorrow. To cheer for you.”

His cheeks had flushed with shyness.

When Reyana looked awkwardly at the Archduke, surprisingly, he had allowed Theodore to attend the tournament.

“But Reyana will be in a match, so don’t distract her.”

“Yes, Father.”

Since it was a tournament hosted by the First Knight Order, the Archduke was bound to be there anyway.

Reyana had thought it would be alright.

And now, since the tournament began, she had been searching for Theodore.

She had assumed he would be beside the Archduke—but he was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe he was trying not to draw attention and had hidden in the crowd? That wasn’t the case either.

As time passed, a sense of disappointment began to well up inside her.

‘He must’ve had a hard time coming after all.’

Theodore had always feared people’s attention. He had never been in such a large crowd before—he might have been scared.

Though she understood this logically, Reyana couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

“Prepare for the next match. It’ll begin shortly.”

Just then, an assisting knight came to inform her.

“Yes, I’ll get ready.”

Reyana checked the sword at her side and wrapped her hands in bandages.

From the repeated matches, her palms throbbed from holding her sword so long.

But because Sir Oan had forfeited, the final match began immediately. Reyana hadn’t even gotten proper rest.

Now she had to face the vice-captain who had won by default—a clear disadvantage for Reyana.

‘Steady your breath.’

Just before stepping into the arena, Reyana closed her eyes to steady herself, when something small and soft suddenly grabbed her hand.

Her eyes flew open instinctively—

“Reyana!”

Falling seemingly out of thin air, the child landed squarely in her view.

For the first time, Reyana realized what people meant when they said time slows down in shock.

“Y-Your Highness?!”

“Reayana!”

Theodore, mistaking her shocked scream as joy, called her name with a beaming face.

Heart pounding, Reyana quickly scooped him up and ducked into the dressing room attached to the waiting area.

“W-What are you doing here?!”

“Why are you shaking?”

“Of course I’m shaking! You suddenly appeared in mid-air! Do you even know where this is?”

“Uh-huh. Where Reyana is.”

“Wrong! This is the capital arena, and there are hundreds of people out there. It’s dangerous!”

“Uh? I was wrong?”

The child looked puzzled and tilted his head in confusion.

“You said I could come. You said you understood.”

“I thought you meant you’d come with the Archduke. In a carriage. On foot!”

Hearing her response, Theodore’s eyes widened.

It was clear that such an idea had never occurred to him.

Reyana sighed and placed a hand on her forehead.

She swore to herself: from now on, she would explain everything slowly and in great detail.

“You promised you’d be careful.”

“I’m sorry, Reyana.”

The child apologized quickly.

Looking dejected, he wiggled his fingers and glanced up at her.

With big round eyes, he gently tugged on her fingers.