“So I, ah!”

Hakin was talking with his colleagues when he felt a heavy pain in his head and stopped walking.

“What the!”

Turning around with an irritated expression while holding the back of his head, he saw a rather thick book fallen at his feet.

While the three of them, including him, were looking at the book with puzzled expressions, a cheerful voice was heard from the front.

“Ah, that’s my book.”

As soon as they confirmed it was Ibnel, their expressions immediately crumpled. Seeing this, Ibnel calmly picked up the fallen book and dusted off the dirt.

“My hand must have slipped, and the book happened to hit your head. I’m sorry.”

Unlike her words, her face showed no sign of remorse. As if she had no intention of hiding that it was a lie from the start.

“Slipped, you say?”

The three could see it at a glance. A book wouldn’t hit someone’s head precisely if it just slipped from a hand. Anyone could see she was picking a fight right now.

Realizing this, their gazes grew increasingly hostile. The fact that it was Ibnel played a part too.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“What if I did?”

She nodded readily to that question. After all, she had thrown the book with all her might towards that chatty head, hoping they would notice.

“What kind of rudeness is this?”

“Rudeness…”

The three still seemed unaware of who the truly rude ones were.

“I thought this much was allowed, given how you were badmouthing someone in such an open space.”

“Are you done talking?”

“How could I be? I have so much more to say. Surely you’re not planning to let this slide with just one hit?”

This was only the beginning. She had no intention of letting it go this easily. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have come forward like this from the start.

As it was, she had been quite irritated by how they were speaking carelessly about her at the training grounds yesterday.

‘Well, I caught them at a good time.’

“Apologize.”

Ibnel gave them one chance. If they sincerely admitted their mistake, she was thinking of letting it go here.

“What did we do wrong that we need to apologize?”

“You were just speaking carelessly about Sir Demil and the knights.”

“Ah, you mean that?”

The three, belatedly realizing why she was doing this, exchanged glances and spoke in a highly mocking tone.

“I suppose apologizing for speaking the truth is the law in Aodin. As expected, you never fail to disappoint.”

As they burst into laughter while even clapping, her eyes sank low.

It seemed they were trying to make a fool out of someone, but Ibnel had no intention of backing down either. So she returned their mockery in kind.

“Well, I suppose all you can do is gossip behind others’ backs when you lack skill. I understand. It must make you feel better to think you’re superior that way.”

“What did you just say?”

“Without that ability, the young lady is nothing special.”

As she kept saying irritating things, they seemed to be getting increasingly annoyed. It was understandable for them to feel angry hearing such words from Ibnel, whom they had been looking down on.

And that was exactly what Ibnel wanted. If they couldn’t understand through words, she had no choice but to use this method. She had been wanting to relieve this stifling feeling anyway.

“How can you be so sure? That I’m… nothing special.”

To Ibnel’s question, Hakin replied as if it were obvious. It seemed he had become arrogant after going on one subjugation mission, and she wanted to thoroughly crush that.

“Isn’t it obvious? You might be under some delusion because you can shoot a little, but we’ve been handling swords and guns since childhood. We’re on a completely different level from you, young lady.”

“Ah, is that so. But just hearing it doesn’t convince me. How great you are. I’m quite confident in my marksmanship, you see.”

The three, not realizing she was deliberately provoking them, exchanged glances secretly and then spoke as if bestowing a favor.

“Then how about we properly confirm that skill of yours this time?”

“Confirm?”

“Since you’re so confident, why don’t you compete with us in skill?”

“Ah…”

Ibnel deliberately hesitated, showing a contemplative expression. But she had been waiting for them to say just that, so she soon nodded willingly.

“Alright. I was feeling bored anyway. But shouldn’t we bet on something? It wouldn’t be fun otherwise.”

“Of course. If we win, you’ll kneel and apologize for what just happened. Ah, in front of everyone, naturally.”

“Fair enough. Conversely, if I win, you’ll kneel in front of everyone and apologize to the person in question. And for the rudeness you’ve committed against me too. Also, let’s agree that you’ll never speak behind others’ backs like you just did.”

“We accept. Then, let’s go to the shooting range we use.”

Ibnel gladly followed them. The training ground used by the 1st Knight Division was a bit far, but the atmosphere there was completely different.

The knights were busy chattering among themselves, and there was no sense that training was taking place at all. Moreover, the training ground was beyond messy, with various trash and even liquor bottles strewn about in one corner.

Her expression crumpled for a moment upon discovering this.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“But who’s that behind?”

The members of the 1st Knight Division raised their hands upon seeing Hakin and his group, then noticed Ibnel following behind.

“It’s Lady Ibnel. She said she was curious about our skills.”

“So we decided to have a contest of skills. The more spectators, the better.”

After hearing a brief explanation of the situation, they couldn’t hide their expressions of disbelief. Those gazes were clearly looking down on her.

Of course, Ibnel didn’t mind at all.

“Who will be your opponent?”

“Anyone is fine. If it’s troublesome to choose, all of you would be fine too.”

To Hakin’s eyes, Ibnel’s behavior seemed like nothing but reckless confidence. He even doubted if she was in her right mind. What on earth was she relying on to act so cocky?

In Caries, and right in the middle of the imperial palace at that.

‘I really don’t like this.’

So he intended to thoroughly crush it. To make sure she never dared to climb up carelessly again.

The more Ibnel acted this way, the better it was from his perspective. That way, it would be all the more humiliating when she lost later.

“Ah, I don’t have a gun right now.”

“We have some spares prepared.”

Hakin brought a gun, and while there was no particular problem with its operation, it was covered in dust as if it hadn’t been maintained for a long time.

As she just looked at the gun, he spoke in a highly sarcastic voice.

“Is it troublesome because it’s not what you usually use?”

“No. It’s fine.”

Ibnel saw his intention to make things difficult for her, but accepted it readily. They didn’t seem to realize that the more they acted this way, the more it would come back to bite them.

‘It’s welcome from my perspective, though.’

After loading all the bullets, she showed a relaxed smile and said.

“Then let’s begin.”

Shuher, who had briefly stopped by the training grounds during his official duties, recalled a face he hadn’t seen in the morning and asked Demil.

“Has the young lady come here today?”

“No, she hasn’t come.”

“That’s strange. She’s always been here earlier than us until now.”

The knights were equally puzzled that Ibnel, who had been coming to the training grounds every single day without fail, was nowhere to be seen. As if they had grown accustomed to her cheerful greetings.

However, only one person there, Demil, seemed to have a vague idea why she hadn’t come.

“Is it because of that incident after all.”

“What do you mean by that, Demil.”

“Ah…”

From his hesitant manner, Shuher could tell that he knew something related to Ibnel.

“Actually.”

While Demil thought it might be because of yesterday’s incident with the 1st Knight Division, he hesitated for a moment, remembering Ibnel’s forced smile.

At that moment, a knight entered the training grounds.

“Hey, you won’t believe what I just saw…”

He belatedly noticed Shuher and hurriedly bowed his head. However, Shuher showed more interest in what he was about to say.

“What happened?”

The knight took a moment to catch his breath and then spoke about the scene he had accidentally witnessed.

“I saw Lady Ibnel going somewhere with the knights of the 1st Division.”

“With the 1st Division?”

Shuher was equally puzzled, as they had no connection until now. At that moment, Demil asked in an urgent voice.

“Why were they together?”

“I don’t know that much myself. But the atmosphere seemed somewhat ominous.”

The knight who had witnessed the scene knew nothing more than that.

‘Together with the 1st Division.’

From Shuher’s perspective, Ibnel wasn’t someone who would move carelessly without reason. So it seemed clear that some problem had arisen related to the 1st Division.

And not in a good direction.

“What do you want to do, Your Majesty?”

He should have just left it alone and watched. As long as they didn’t kill her, there wouldn’t be any problems.

But the words that actually came out of his mouth were different.

“Where did the young lady go?”

“From the direction, it looked like they were heading towards the 1st Division’s training grounds.”

As soon as Shuher heard that answer, he left the training grounds, with Demil following right behind. The other knights, after gauging the atmosphere, ended up following the two somewhat uncertainly.

And when they arrived at their destination, Ibnel was there. But the atmosphere was completely different from what they had expected.

Among all the people present, she was the only one smiling leisurely.

“Who’s next?”

Ibnel’s voice, as she ejected the spent cartridges and loaded new bullets, was as nonchalant as if nothing had happened.

On the contrary, the expressions of those looking at her were far from normal. They all had dumbfounded faces, unable to believe what was happening before their eyes was real.

“I don’t mind doing this a few more times.”

At Ibnel’s words, Shuher’s gaze turned to the target in front of her. Seeing that, he could easily deduce what the situation was.

From the moment the gun entered her hand, there had been no reason for him to come here.

Hakin’s trembling eyes revealed his flustered state.

“It can’t be…”

“You’re not going to say it’s impossible, are you? The conditions were all the same. I even used the gun you provided.”

Ibnel completely blocked his excuse. If anything, the conditions had been unfavorable to her, not advantageous. Knowing this, everyone else was keeping their mouths shut.

“Then I suppose no one else wants to step up?”

‘How could this happen.’

Hakin couldn’t believe it even though he had seen it with his own eyes. Her skill was that overwhelming.

Even after he lost, a few knights stepped up, but it was futile. She fired dozens of shots in succession without a single one wavering.

There was no one left who confidently volunteered to try and beat her incredible skill.

“I feel somewhat sorry for disappointing your expectations. I’ll return the gun.”

Ibnel handed the gun back to him. Her hand was a bit numb, probably due to the strong recoil from its poor condition.

Of course, it hadn’t affected her skill in the slightest.

“Now it seems it’s time to fulfill the promise.”

At the mention of a promise, Shuher stopped Demil from moving. There was a need to hear the reason for this situation.