“This… that’s nonsense! Do it again!”
In the blink of an eye, the contest was decided.
The result was Leo’s defeat.
The young boy probably didn’t see it.
That the knights, who were like fathers to him, had intentionally lost in the mock sword fight.
“The match is void! My hand slipped.”
“Ha…”
“The wind was too strong. Do it again!”
“Again?”
“Dirt got in my eyes, I couldn’t see!”
“……”
No matter how many times they repeated, the result was the same.
Leo couldn’t accept the outcome and blamed the innocent environment.
And though he didn’t show it, his new body was weak. The body of Atia, no, Gang Jiha, was at its limit with even a little overexertion.
But she knew how to produce maximum effects with minimal movements.
It wasn’t hard to suppress a young child with a wooden sword.
“Ah, what is this. It’s more boring than I thought?”
Atia yawned and stretched, and Leo, unable to contain his anger, started to pout.
He was so angry that his face turned all sorts of colors.
“Bring the real sword!”
“……”
“What are you doing? I said bring the real sword!”
Leo ordered the knights.
“Master… As you know, you can only use a real sword when practicing against a dummy.”
“Shut up! Are you disobeying me now?”
“The Duke has strictly forbidden that. I’m sorry.”
No matter how much he struggled, things didn’t go his way.
In the end, tears filled Leo’s ashcolored eyes and trickled down his flushed cheeks.
Atia scratched her head.
‘I didn’t mean to make him cry.’
Everyone around them was taken aback with their mouths wide open.
Because they had never seen Leo, who was running wild, cry before.
Atia dusted off the dirt that slightly stained her dress and smiled faintly.
“Ahem, is it manly to cry in front of an opponent wearing a dress?”
Leo, who had been sobbing, tried his best not to make a sound, but he couldn’t hold back his sorrow.
It made him cry even more.
‘…I’m not good at comforting crying children, what should I do?’
[This is the time separator]At that time, at the northern border.
The snowstorm stopped for a moment.
At the head of the endless long procession, Duke Casus of Wellington, clad in armor, rode a white horse.
With his black hair contrasting against the white snow, and his blue eyes, Casus’s handsome appearance was truly unparalleled.
Even if you live outside for a long time, your face would naturally turn pallid.
But that rule did not apply to Casus.
On the contrary, his radiant white skin was dazzling.
Casus, with a poker face, stared at the horizon where the snowstorm had subsided, then opened his mouth.
“Is this sent by Ziggler?”
A pigeon had just flown in and landed in the hand of his escort knight, Zen.
On the note tied to the white dove’s leg was the seal of the Wellington Duke’s mail supervisor.
“That’s correct.”
“It seems that an official letter from the royal court has arrived.”
Casus frowned with an annoyed look on his face.
Zen, noting Casus’s mood, delicately unfolded the note attached to the pigeon’s leg.
“Last time they suggested raising the taxes by half, what is it this time?”
“That’s…”
“It’s fine, tell me.”
“The law has passed to recruit one woman from each commoner family. That’s the content of the official document that has arrived.”
“Ha. Those madmen.”
Casus let out a long sigh.
Whenever the royal court enacted laws, they squeezed in clauses unfavorable to the common people.
As the people grew poorer, the royal and noble families became more comfortable.
“It’s a unilateral notification, isn’t it? It’s been decided, so we must follow it.”
Zen asked, loosening his grip on the reins.
“Are you going to reject it again this time?”
“Yes.”
Expecting Casus’s answer, Zen bowed his head.
The Duke of Wellington, out of favor with the royal family, was ostracized in noble society.
Anyone close to the royal family or prestigious families risked unwarranted harm.
No matter how powerful a ducal house, none could defy the power of the royal family.
“If I cannot protect everyone in the Fel Empire, at the very least, I must protect the people in my territory.”
“Understood. Shall we return to the mansion then?”
Originally, they were to venture into the enemy territory, the Aehas region.
However, the snowstorm ahead was growing severe, forcing them to abandon their plan.
Thus, contrary to their schedule, they found themselves returning to the mansion.
“That’s right. I have a mountain of matters to attend to anyway.”
[This is the time separator]“Your Majesty, you have arrived!”
As soon as Casus arrived at the duke’s mansion, the butler, an elderly man with spectacles and white hair, hastily bowed. He appeared extremely flustered.
“What’s the matter?”
Casus, sensing trouble at the duke’s mansion, asked the butler.
The butler was unable to utter a word, causing Casus to slightly furrow his brow.
Then, a noisy shout echoed.
“I can’t take it anymore! It’s so unfair! I demand another round!”
It was Leo, the lunatic of the Wellington house.
When he went closer, Leo was raising a ruckus, his face all flushed.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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