Lebel clenched his jaw tightly. A grinding sound of teeth could be heard.

He lowered his sword and twisted his waist, barely avoiding Jin’s attack. It was an evasion close to instinct.

Rough curses erupted from the mercenary group who witnessed the entire scene.

“Hey, hey! Isn’t that a foul? What’s the referee doing?”

But neither the referee’s hand nor flag was raised. The curses soon turned into jeers, but the judgment remained unchanged. The noble audience seats also began to stir.

“That’s too much. To openly display such cowardly behavior. As a noble, there should be honor…”

“It seems Lord Icastel was quite hasty.”

“Well… since the match wasn’t ending…”

“You mean he used such methods to defeat a mere mercenary?”

Most of the nobles leaned towards criticizing Jin for using cowardly tactics to defeat a mere mercenary.

Strength entered Ilarid’s hands as she watched the match. Her hands, always cold, quickly became damp with hot moisture. Lest others notice, she discreetly wiped the sweat pooled in her palm creases on her skirt.

As expected, Cledius took no action. He just smiled as if watching an amusing play.

Despite the sudden situation that could have disrupted his posture, Lebel showed not even a hint of wavering. Instead, he sneered at Jin, who had widened the distance and taken a defensive stance.

“I said I’d overlook one foul, but I didn’t expect it to be used like this.”

“You should have anticipated that much.”

Lebel blinked again, striving to find his vision. Even if it was provocation to shake the opponent, Lebel was the one who had spoken the words.

He didn’t voice any particular complaints, having properly paid the price for words spoken with brief thought.

In a proper duel, such an opponent was actually preferred. It was easier on both body and mind to face someone who charged in stubbornly rather than someone who cried and refused to accept the result.

Jin glared at the mercenary captain gripping his sword, resuming his stance. A monstrous human who showed no sign of fatigue despite being tired.

‘Is he deliberately hiding it?’

He would know that the moment one realizes they’re tired and struggling, they become prey for beasts.

Though it was a mission, he wanted to defeat Lebel, at least.

He just needed to subdue him without cutting him down. The desire to stand solely on skill, putting aside all the honor he shouldered as a noble and as the Duke of Icastel, began to stir.

Jin wiped his blood-stained lips and stepped forward a few paces for the final attack.

He struck swords and advanced, attacking relentlessly. Jin’s body, which had been calculating Lebel’s weak points, suddenly sank down. At the same time, a tremendous impact rose up his leg. His molars clenched tight before he could even scream.

What he thought was an opening to attack was a trap.

The moment Jin swung his sword, Lebel aimed for his leg and kicked it. It was a powerful attack, as if in retaliation for the foul he had just suffered.

Due to the tremendous impact on his shin, Jin staggered and tried to maintain balance by stabbing his sword into the ground.

“Looks like my victory.”

The cold blade of a sword approached Jin’s nape. The signal of defeat was chilling and cold.

“You bastard…”

“I’m not the type to just take it.”

“What a dirty personality.”

Jin spat out the bitter taste that had filled his mouth. Though he really hated to admit it, the defeat was certain. The cold energy of the sword lingering at Jin’s neck was withdrawn.

The flag declaring victory for the mercenary side was raised. Amidst sighs of relief and cheers mixed together, Kailem realized that Cledius’s expression was not normal.

The mercenaries’ good performance was unexpected. He hadn’t even expected the first few. They were meant as a kind of deception and to make up numbers.

But Jin, who was one of the elite members, had been defeated. The morale of the officers, who had already seen Lebel’s skills, had plummeted.

‘If it comes to this…’

Kailem quickly revised his plan.

Though his body wasn’t as light as when he was young, he had still consistently trained and kept in shape.

‘At least I should be better than those guys.’

A sigh of exasperation escaped Kailem’s lips as he looked at the officers with their deathly expressions.

He was the captain of the royal guard in name only. If he had any real authority, he would have immediately changed the training methods and mental state of the royal guard officers, but Kailem had no power to handle them.

The two matches that followed were also easily won by the mercenary group. At this rate, it seemed Lebel would face the entire royal guard alone.

Confusion-tinged unrest began to flow from the audience seats as well. The mercenaries’ good performance was by no means a good thing.

No matter how difficult it might be for ordinary people to know about a court event, how could they stop the spread of rumors? It was hard to completely silence the mouths of servants starting from the menial workers to the maids.

Commoners, or even lower beings, defeating nobles. It was enough to bother and irritate these upper-class individuals. Until now, they had maintained an attitude of ignoring and being charitable due to the difference in status, but it was dangerous to turn a blind eye to those whose power was gradually growing.

Among the crowd in the audience seats, only Ilarid felt relief. She momentarily let down her tensed body.

If there was one advantage to being mixed in a crowd, it was that it wasn’t easily noticeable who one was looking at.

She pretended to watch the match while directing her gaze at Lebel. No matter how easily he was winning, he couldn’t ignore the physical toll.

‘Will he be alright?’

As if he had sensed Ilarid’s concern, Lebel, who had been inspecting his sword, raised his head and looked up towards the audience seats.

Though it was from afar, Lebel’s blue gaze could be felt intact. Two small but strongly shining eyes. The only color of the man who hid his body in darkness.

Was it just her imagination? It seemed that he smiled faintly when their eyes met. His vow to certainly win. Lebel’s voice digging into her heart was still echoing in her ears.

Ilarid placed the back of her hand on her flushed cheeks. Perhaps because the sweat had cooled, her hand was once again devoid of any warmth. Lynette, who had been watching Ilarid’s mood, took a step closer.

“Your Majesty the Empress. Shall I bring you the fan again?”

“…No.”

She knew better than anyone that it wasn’t heat rising due to the weather. Ilarid tried to suppress her embarrassed feelings as she turned her eyes back towards the arena.

By now, Lebel had gained the upper hand in the seventh match. At this point, only relaxed applause was flowing from the mercenary side.

And as soon as that applause ended, Kailem entered the arena.

“Truly a splendid match. I can’t help but admire it.”

Lebel briefly bowed his head towards Kailem who had suddenly appeared. Mixed in with gratitude in his greeting was also perplexity.

“Instead of the remaining five matches, I will step in.”

“…This is different from the rules we heard. May I know the reason?”

“There is no reason. Just reminded me of my younger days.”

Kailem waved his hand and gave a hearty laugh. Since it was a laugh he hadn’t made in a while, it looked somewhat awkward. Wasn’t he the one carrying out a plot in the name of a mission?

He turned towards the canopy where Cledius sat and gave a polite greeting.

“Your Majesty the Emperor. Please grant me permission. The vigor of my youth has thoughtlessly emerged just now.”

“That’s enough humility. It’s an opportunity to face the unrusted skills of the Captain of the Royal Guard.”

Cledius’s smile contained permission. Realizing this intent, Kailem expressed his gratitude to the emperor and immediately entered the training ground.

Lebel only showed slight suspicion about the suddenly changed opponent without expressing any particular complaints. No matter what underhanded methods were used, winning was all that mattered.

Kailem’s sword was also coated with poison. He just needed to inflict a small wound on that mercenary captain. The poison was said to have an incubation period. Perhaps the emperor intended to eliminate Lebel slowly, without anyone noticing.

The existence of mercenaries was originally close to pawns easily used and discarded when no longer useful. Cledius was slowly laying that foundation.

And Kailem was the one who followed the emperor’s orders more eagerly than anyone. He maintained distance from Lebel, waiting for the signal to start the match.

The previous emperor, the empress dowager, and the current emperor. Kailem Western had served all three of these people.

He recalled the empress dowager who had upheld the discipline and majesty of the imperial family. A person as strong as steel and at the same time the most secretly cruel. In terms of research on poisons, there was no one in the empire’s history who could match the empress dowager.

Once when he was young, he had tentatively expressed concern to the empress dowager. But the empress dowager immediately denied his words.

‘Kailem. The strongest weapon for surviving in the imperial family is poison.’

There were even rumors circulating that the previous emperor might have been poisoned. But the imperial doctor issued an official statement denying it, so only suspicions remained, floating around the imperial palace like ghosts.

Kailem had observed the empress dowager from the closest position and was now serving Cledius.

He was also aware of the fact that Cledius was secretly continuing to develop poisons. So he had done his best to hide his lord’s secret.

Wasn’t there also a request from the empress dowager? A request to protect Cledius until the end.

Kailem had been guarding and assisting the emperor to fulfill that command.

‘So this time too, there must be no failure.’

Another loyalty covered with loyalty. Kailem re-checked the faint traces on the blade before facing Lebel.

“Match start!”

The shout announcing the start was heard. Lebel was the first to dive into Kailem’s opening. He didn’t avoid but raised his sword to fully block Lebel’s attack.

Lailo, who was watching the match, let out a worried voice.

“This one seems a bit tough.”

“Why?”

“Suddenly a captain-level appears breaking the flow after five weaklings? Usually when that happens, it means there’s something tricky. Or there’s some other scheme.”

Several metallic sounds rang out over the sandy arena. It was the most exchanges in any match so far.

Kailem glared at the mercenary captain standing in front of him, taking a defensive stance while gripping his outward-turned sword. The youthful fighting spirit he had hidden was slowly rising up in Kailem.

The feeling of facing a skilled opponent after a long time was quite heart-pounding and even trembling. The heart that had been calmly settled for the sake of the mission began to beat again.

The sound of the two men’s swords cutting through the air was heard.

Soon, the friction sound made by steel poured fiercely into each camp and under the canopy. Their blades met with a grating sound as they blocked each other’s attacks.

“…Not bad.”

“Not bad yourself. As expected of a captain.”

A curve also formed on Lebel’s lips. The two men were genuinely enjoying this match. Kailem somewhat understood that disgrace Jin had shown a few matches ago.

The life of the Captain of the Royal Guard had always been like a tangled skein of thread wrapped in missions. He had lived with the empress dowager’s last words, almost like a will, wrapped tightly around his entire body.

But for this moment, it unraveled limply and rolled on the ground. He wanted to clash swords with this man called Lebel just a little more. He wanted to give his all until the end of the result, befitting the name of a ‘duel’.

The mercenary captain always seemed calm, but at times he looked impatient. The subtle desperation felt from Lebel’s sword. It was similar to the feeling Kailem had when he was young.

Days when he had to somehow survive on skill among the cracks of nobility.

Kailem too had to endure humiliation and rise up tenaciously to obtain the one thing he wanted. He had to remain by someone’s side and had sworn to live for that person.

Lebel was soon Kailem Western’s younger days. Through the meeting of swords, Kailem asked casually.

“It seems you have something you want.”

“Of course.”

“Even if that desire kills you, you have no regrets?”

Instead of answering, Lebel widened the distance from Kailem. The grating sound of metal stopped and the two swords moved apart.

Perhaps the next attack would be the final blow. Kailem, even forgetting his mission, accepted the final strike as it was.