“It might spread rumors among people. Some may suspect me. But will people believe the words of Princess Ormia?”

Despite the risk of her mask being exposed to people, Leticia was overflowing with confidence.

“Your Highness knows this is escaping through divorce.”

Just then, the carriage arrived at the magnificent royal palace.

“How ridiculous. You’re so full of yourself for such a small victory.”

Leticia mocked me as she got out of the carriage.

“Princess Leticia, you look pale. Are you unwell?”

“Could it be because of Princess Ormia’s infidelity?”

The direct royal bloodline and dukes were waiting for Leticia. They support the royal family as their backing, and the royals are responsible for blessing their houses.

They often met and maintained a close relationship. It was not strange that they were together now.

“Ah, no. I’m just motion sick…”

“Quickly, call the royal physician!”

“Let’s get inside quickly.”

“Tsk, not even noticing your sister was carsick.”

“Please, let’s go inside. I want to rest.”

At Leticia’s frail voice, the dukes hurried her into the palace as if dealing with an emergency patient.

For a moment, our eyes met.

She smiled as she ate a small jewel-like red candy she took out of her pocket.

Whoosh, a heavy sound of air being cut echoed in the training ground.

It’s been nearly a month since I came to Glicia.

Liam, having obtained permission from Duke Bersi who was in charge of the imperial delegation, borrowed the training ground of Glicia’s Golden Hawk Knights and trained his body every day without fail.

Liam smiled pleasantly as he swung a rather heavy wooden sword.

‘It’s light.’

The condition of his body was clearly different.

It had been over two weeks since he received the blessing from Ormia’s flower, yet the effect continued.

Although he controlled his ability more strictly to hide his identity in Glicia, it was the same in the Empire unless he was in battle.

His body had accumulated the poison of ability throughout his life.

The royal family blessed the duke families on a monthly basis. Although the pain differed according to the strength of the ability and individual differences, the pain accumulated in the body rose after 10 to 20 days.

After that, one had to be careful not to use their ability.

In a normal case, Liam should have been suffering from the side effects of his ability by now.

Strength filled to his fingertips, and a refreshing feeling that he couldn’t feel even after taking the medicine from the Emperor enveloped his whole body.

‘If it’s now, I could kidnap the princess with my ability and take her to the Empire.’

Liam let out a laugh at this dangerous impulse and performed a horizontal slash.

The tip of the sword was unwavering and no unnecessary force was used.

His trained muscles cheered, and a tingling sensation rose to his head.

“Don’t think you’ll become a knight just by swinging a wooden sword.”

“In real battle, you’ll be a coward who runs away while pretending to fight.”

Hearing these provocative words meant to be heard, Liam stopped his practice.

As he brushed back his hair wet with sweat and turned his gaze, he saw a group of knights.

There were set training times, so Liam was allowed to practice in a corner of the training ground. Knights in dry shirts were gathered on one side, watching him.

‘They’ve held back for a while.’

The Golden Hawk Knights of Glicia were displeased with him.

Since Liam started using the training ground, the intensity of their training had increased.

The vice-captain shouted and encouraged that Glicia’s knights should set an example as the imperial delegation also trained daily.

Even though the training intensity had increased, it was child’s play compared to his elite troops who had mainly been dispatched to border conflict areas.

Liam lightly gripped the wooden sword and looked at the knights.

“What’s so great about the Empire? They’re just begging His Majesty to come to the Empire.”

‘If I hadn’t met Ormia, I might have easily fallen for their provocation out of impatience.’

Wouldn’t I have crushed them to pulp to vent my anger at Beltoa and trample their pride?

However, now Liam was concerned about the opposite.

He wanted to spar.

‘How much has my skill improved?’

The current him was different from before.

“Even the Empire is nothing before God.”

“Any knight trembles and can’t move before the Duke’s ability.”

As their eyes met, the knights frowned and provoked him.

“What are you looking at?”

“Someone who only knows how to swing a wooden sword, afraid of real swords.”

Liam looked at them. Just by observing their training, he could assess their combat power. It wasn’t much, but there’s no better training than actual combat.

His muscles, adequately warmed up, were just right. Licking his dry lips, he provoked them.

“You talk a lot. Do Glicia’s knights fight with their mouths?”

“What did you say?”

The knights who had been leisurely leaning against pillars slowly stood up.

Liam didn’t stop his provocation.

“I thought you were servants, seeing you swing swords like playing house every day. You call yourselves knights?”

“What? Playing house? Servants?”

“That bastard!”

While showing anger, their expressions revealed they had taken the bait well. Seeing their obvious intentions, Liam twitched the tip of his wooden sword.

“If Glicia’s knights are so great, stop blabbering and show your skills.”

“Hey, Hasen! You teach that guy a lesson.”

The knights parted into two groups and called someone sitting behind. A muscular man wearing a shirt with both sleeves torn off rose from the shade.

He was a fierce-looking man with red hair and a sturdy body.

“Hasen, you from the Windsor Duke family, teach that country bumpkin from the Empire what ability is. Why other countries fear Glicia’s knights.”

“Set his ass on fire. Make him run away with his tail between his legs.”

“Give him a shocking bolt of lightning.”

“He’ll wet himself.”

The surrounding knights cheered and burst into laughter. They were full of confidence.

“Ah, how troublesome.”

Although he said that, Hasen didn’t seem to dislike being the center of attention and stepping up as a representative.

“I’m already annoyed that I can’t meet Princess Leticia often, and now some nobody is getting on my nerves.”

A brief light appeared around the man with a flash. Small sparks flew.

‘Windsor Duke family, light ability.’

Liam’s eyes deepened. A smile formed involuntarily.

Although Wilboyer had fought as the Emperor’s dog on the front lines of the Empire, they never had to clash with Glicia.

It was Liam’s first time seeing the ability of a family other than his own, but he was well-informed.

Seeing Hasen’s ability, Liam roughly calculated its strength and range.

The further from the Duke’s direct line, the weaker the ability becomes.

The stronger the ability in the family, the higher the position. Even for a knight of Glicia’s royal Golden Hawk Knights, it wasn’t at a level to threaten Liam.

“Are you afraid? This is proof that God exists. It’s too late to surrender now.”

If God really existed.

Liam couldn’t hold back his sneer.

“This is a fair duel. You won’t complain about compensation if you get hurt, right!”

Confident of victory before even starting, Hasen charged forward. Sparks formed at the tip of his raised sword, enveloping it.

The wooden sword Liam held had metal inside to match its sturdiness and weight. It was tougher than firewood but not a weapon to block a real sword.

A whooshing sound was heard. As Liam quickly stepped back, the sword barely grazed the waist of his shirt. Sparks flickered as if trying to catch Liam’s clothes.

They didn’t care about diplomatic issues that might arise since he was part of the Empire’s delegation.

He dodged twice, and on the third time, clang, he blocked with the wooden sword, but it was half embedded and the wooden sword split.

“You coward. Why don’t you kneel and apologize now?”

Hasen, now overconfident, used his ability. A sphere of light the size of a gold coin appeared around Hasen.

Small lightning-like sparks flew from that light, threatening Liam.

“Wow, Hasen is taking him seriously!”

“Surrender quickly!”

“Hasen, go easy on him. He’s a guest from the Empire.”

Encouraged by the knights, Hasen smiled confidently.

“It’s too late for regrets.”

“Easy to control and confident with just one. You’d be at your limit if it increased to two.”

When Liam, who had been quietly dodging until now, muttered this, Hasen’s neck stiffened.

It was exactly as he said. Even now, he was pushing himself quite hard. There are set days to receive blessings, so he had to endure the pain until then.

The moment he met Liam’s sharp eyes, Liam quickly dove in.

“Those with abilities are weak in close combat.”

Whack, with the hot sensation of his waist being struck, half of the wooden sword’s blade flew into the sky. It was a strike that came in an instant before he could attack with his ability.

“You bastard!”

Grabbing his waist in pain that reached his core, Hasen unleashed his ability. Belatedly, sparks flew towards Liam.

But Liam grabbed Hasen’s collar and pushed him in front of the incoming ability.

Although it was his own, a thrilling shock struck Hasen’s body.

“Argh! You coward!”

“A dog would laugh if someone using a real sword and ability calls a person with a wooden sword a coward.”

It was disadvantageous. He could see the watching knights looking flustered. Hasen was skilled enough that there was talk of recommending him as the next vice-captain of the Golden Hawk Knights.

He couldn’t lose like this in front of everyone.

“Damn it!”

Hasen created one more sphere of light with his ability. The size of the previously created sphere noticeably decreased.

“I won’t let you off easy!”

As he twisted his body away from Liam, his ability flew quickly. Liam swung the half-broken wooden sword to deflect the light.

“Kyaa!”

Along with a scream that grated on the ears, white flower petals fell like snow all over the training ground.

That’s when Liam saw it.

As the scattered light ability touched the flower petals, it disappeared like melting snow.

“This is…”

“Princess Ormia’s?”

“Ru-run away! It’s an ominous flower!”

The knights fled under the trees, afraid the flower petals might touch their bodies.

Liam turned his head, looking at the flowers falling on his shoulders and the ground.

As the falling flower petals rained down, only Ormia and Liam remained standing in the training ground.