Even Mitchell, who considered herself a fairly objective person, found Rapine revolting.

After all, Mitchell knew best how Rapine had been conducting her secret research on Yurisien. The reason Mitchell’s face soured when she saw Benjamin frolicking in the lawn with Rapine was not just that.

‘I thought you’d pass it on to me.’

Mitchell was well aware that she would have to act in Benjamin’s stead in emergencies when he couldn’t be there.

Judging that he couldn’t beat Calid with just swordsmanship, Mitchell focused on honing her magical skills, particularly excelling in transformation magic, which had proven extremely useful when she needed to infiltrate the Coperador Guild or replace Benjamin.

‘Please return quickly.’

Feeling jumpy at Rapine’s increased physical closeness, she prayed. But she quickly changed her prayer.

‘No, don’t come back at all.’

The sight of Rapine seducing the ‘real’ Benjamin would be just as undesirable, as would the awkwardness of Benjamin pretending to fall in love with Rapine to glean information.

“You didn’t forget that you promised to teach me how to drink brandy tonight, did you?”

‘Oh, heavens. Was there such a promise?’

Mitchell inwardly gasped. When she hesitated to reply, Rapine pouted.

“You said so before I went into the queen’s palace, didn’t you?”

That was the real Benjamin then.

‘Is this… revenge?’

She had previously dissuaded Benjamin from luring Rapine to extract information from her.

‘[It’s not the first time His Highness has engaged in affairs, but beauties? Isn’t that too much? Do you really have to go this far?]’
“Don’t whine about it. Where’s the dignity in worrying about appearances during war? What matters is doing whatever it takes to defeat the enemy.”

“No, even so, this is…”

“I’m willing to join a drinking session if necessary. Most drunk people become stupidly honest.”

“Are you insane? What’s next, you’ll share a bed too?”

When Michel recoiled and lowered his head, Benjamin had an odd expression on his face.

At that moment, Michel thought Benjamin was considering it a ‘pretty good idea’ and simply left his seat. But now that he thought about it, Benjamin’s expression at the time was likely due to Michel’s insult of “Are you insane?”

He would pay for that mistake this way.

“Huh? Huh? Your Highness the Crown Prince~”

Lapine playfully nudged him. If an ignorant man saw it, it would’ve seemed adorable enough to make him fall over. Unfortunately, the person Lapine was desperately trying to woo was none other than Michel, so it didn’t work at all.

However, Michel managed to raise the corners of his lips, thinking he was atoning for his mistake, fulfilling his responsibilities. He had to pretend to fall for the charm.

“Of course, I remember.”

“Then… I’ll come by tonight.”

Lapine blushed on both cheeks. She felt like she would faint. Nonetheless, Michel whispered in Lapine’s ear, standing firm in his dilemma.

“Feel free to look forward to it.”

In Windsor’s townhouse, the training ground behind it.

“Tsk…”

“Get up.”

“Ugh… really.”

“Draw your sword.”

“Do I really need this sword? If you just want to beat me, ugh!”

“I said, draw your sword.”

At Khaled’s stern words, Ivan clenched his teeth and reluctantly picked up the poorly made sword once more. The hilt was the only remaining part that could be called a sword, but Ivan had to hold it.

Because this wasn’t one-sided assault; it was a duel.

“Let’s go.”

“I was wrong… Ah!”

It may have looked like a one-sided beating to anyone, but it was definitely a duel.