Picked Up a Beast, Turns Out He's an Emperor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 61

“Oh dear…!”

“Huh… W-what in the world!”

“Hmph…!”

Exclamations and gasps of shock erupted from all around. On the vast training ground of the Imperial Royal Guard—carved from the hill behind the palace—a tense duel was unfolding.

Beneath fluttering imperial banners, the fierce spectacle resembling an actual battlefield was not being performed by the empire’s renowned Royal Guard knights, but by six empress candidates.

The Third Empress Selection Contest.

This round evaluated the martial prowess of the empress candidates. The imperial throne, coveted by every woman, exposed its holder to great danger. Over the years, numerous assassins had slipped past the Royal Guard’s ironclad defenses to target the empress.

Fortunately, most attempts failed, but tragically, the Fifth Empress was kidnapped, and the Twelfth Empress lost her life.

The Eighteenth Empress and her newborn crown prince narrowly escaped abduction thanks to the empress’s exceptional swordsmanship.

Since then, martial arts combat had been added as a mandatory event in the Empress Selection Contest, continuing to this day—a demonstration that candidates could protect not only themselves but also the emperor and his heirs during sudden crises.

The swordsmanship of these candidates, who had trained in every possible discipline from childhood to become empress, surpassed even that of seasoned veterans.

Noble houses might not have known the other contest events, but they all understood that martial evaluation was always included. Thus, from the moment these girls took their first wobbly steps, they learned racing horsemanship and took up sword and bow.

Daily self-defense lessons were practically the candidates’ only chance to leave the palace annex and mingle freely with noble youths—at least for five of them.

Unlike the other five candidates, who darted across the training field with dazzling techniques, the eleventh candidate had become their prey, struggling desperately.

The first match—snatching cloths tied at opponents’ waists to score points—ended in a resounding victory for Princess Lilibet and a crushing defeat for Arabella, who even lost a clump of her hair.

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