As Alek began to slowly assault with his sharp comments, everyone present seemed to have turned to stone.

“If our precious Evelia heard that, Alek, you would have been bleeding and hurting in the training ground today.”

“Please, I hope she didn’t hear. She was busy swinging her sword so probably didn’t hear.”

Everyone desperately prayed internally, keeping an eye on Evelia.

However, contrary to everyone’s desperate wishes, Evelia, who had been swinging her sword with shining eyes, had her shoulders droop in an instant.

As her small shoulders dropped, the short wooden sword hit the ground with a thud.

“What… what did you say…?”

Evelia asked, looking in the direction where Alek was standing.

It wasn’t so much asking out of curiosity, as it was that she seemed to be unable to believe what she had just heard.

Her oceanblue eyes were drooping, making her look utterly pitiful.

“Ah! I said you were really good at wielding a sword, considering it’s your first time!”

Herold quickly heaped praises over Alek’s harsh words in an attempt to cover them up,

“Yeah, our Evelia is really good at swinging, even though it’s her first time! She’s much better than when I was a kid!”

Cedric added more heaps of praises,

“She’s even better than I was as a kid. Isn’t that right, Edin?”

Hugo patted her gently.

Everyone agreed fervently in unison.

Our Evelia is doing so well! There’s no one saying she’s not!

“I heard it all…”

However, Alek’s harsh words could not be covered up. The training ground was too quiet.

She seemed to be doing well for her first time, even breaking three vases at once when she swung her sword.

And even if she wasn’t good, did she have to say it so bluntly? Did that make her feel better?

Evelia’s chubby cheeks puffed up even more.

“Just wait a minute! I’ll practice more! No one follow me!! Order of… the… commander… hing…!”

For the past few months, she had been saying, ‘It’s the commander’s order!’ but it was too embarrassing to claim to be a commander when her swordsmanship was being questioned.

So she mumbled the end and ran off in haste.

Her wooden sword dragged on the ground as she ran, leaving a long trail on the floor of the training ground.

It wasn’t a big deal. If she couldn’t do it, she just had to learn. If she didn’t have talent, she just had to try harder.

However, she had believed she had the natural talent to become the strongest swordsman in the empire, and it was a shock to be stomped on by the knight she trusted.

Evelia went into her room, pulled out a piece of paper, and scribbled ‘No entry for anyone’ in a way that only she could understand, and stuck it up before turning around the necklace the Duke of Kasis had given her.

She needed time to practice alone in peace, not in the training ground where all the knights were focused.

“Be careful on your way home tonight, Sir Alek.”

Karon, following Evelia’s back with his eyes, chewed out each word to Alek.

His usually calm eyes shone fiercely, as if he was ready to assassinate Alek tonight.

Being careful on the night road wasn’t enough to ensure safety. Karon could make him feel the fear of the night even inside his room.

Alek’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat as he realized his careless words had caused Evelia’s cheeks to puff up, and now there was Karon’s death threat to deal with.

This is serious… I’m in big trouble…!

On the other hand, the people who had been watching Evelia run out of the training ground with a sour expression, and Karon following her, turned their heads towards Alek as soon as the two were out of sight.

“You little…”

Edin was gritting his teeth and glaring at Alek.

As the head of the Artina Knights, Edin was the only one who was always courteous to the knights, even when he was angry, and always addressed them with the honorific ‘Sir’.

It was unprecedented for Edin to call a knight ‘little brat’, even Hugo had never heard it.

Alek’s neck shrunk like a turtle’s, proof of how angry Edin was.

“Hey, Alek. Draw your sword. Let’s see how good you really are.”

Herold, combining Alek’s name with trash to call him ‘Aletrash’, waved his hand towards Alek’s sword.

“Hold on, Sir Herold. This is about Eve, I should go first.”

Arkan raised his hand to stop Herold, and reached for his sword hilt.

“But honestly, you couldn’t really do it…”

With a miserable excuse, Alec looked at the knights and Arcan, lined up for the challenge.

You couldn’t bear it if you didn’t admit that you couldn’t do it… of course, it was my mistake, but still…

“What do you mean you can’t! What can’t our baby do! No, what can’t she do!”

Ah, my true feelings have slipped out. Cedric, who was shouting in denial towards Alec, hastily corrected his verbal slip.

“Alec.”

King of the end. After Hugo called Alec, he snapped his fingers and turned around. It was a sign to follow him.

Hugo’s tone was as cold as usual, but guessing from the overwhelming aura, it was predictable that Alec, who followed him, would be found brutally defeated.