Without a word, Carlos left the reception room.

Back in his room, Carlos pressed on his right arm to stop the blood flow. He bit his lips hard enough to draw blood.

‘It’s hot…’

Carlos had a secret he couldn’t share with anyone. A searing pain, as if fire had been set to his paralyzed right arm, tormented him. It was a recent symptom.

After a while, the pain gradually subsided.

Only then did Carlos release the pressure from his left hand that had been pressing on his right arm.

The pain had gotten worse ever since Duke Hart used some strange power.

‘I found out for sure today. Being with your maid alleviates my curse.’

Carlos knew that mentioning the maid would elicit an emotional response from Duke Hart.

But the reaction was beyond imagination.

‘If that’s the case, I shouldn’t get you any more entangled with Nelia.’

From somewhere, a burning scent began to emanate, and a black aura burst from the Duke.

Seeing that, Carlos felt an instinctive sense of danger, one he had never felt even in intense wars.

The Duke stood up, took a sword from the wall of the reception room, and threw it in front of Carlos.

‘How about a bet?’

Carlos bent down and picked up the sword.

‘If I win the fight, stay away from Nelia in any form. If you win, I won’t care how you act towards her.’

Why was he so confident?

Although the Duke exuded an unknown strong aura, Carlos was the empire’s sole Swordmaster.

The Duke had always been excessively calm, but it wouldn’t be easy to act so indifferent when his maid was at stake.

‘Your answer?’

‘Alright, I accept.’

But he had no choice but to accept.

Because he desperately needed that maid to escape this pain even a little.

‘And…’

With her by his side, it seemed like his dull days would change a bit.

So, first, he needed to remove the obstacle.

‘What will we fight with?’

‘Nothing is needed.’

The Duke said, smiling.

In contrast, Carlos’s expression hardened. Infuriated by the audacious response, Carlos gripped his sword tightly and quickly moved towards Duke Hart.

‘What’s this?’
Duke Hart seemed to have no intention of avoiding or taking any other action.

The moment the sword headed toward Duke Hart, he quietly murmured something.

Swoosh!

Before Carlos’s sword could touch Duke Hart, it was blocked by something. His body flew far away.

Ugh. Carlos, who had fallen, groaned as he lifted himself up.

‘…Was he a wizard?’

‘You could say something similar.’

Carlos scowled.

To use magic of that level without a wand would require one to be a Grand Mage, but he had never heard of a wizard in Duke Hart’s lineage.

Then what was the nature of that ability?

‘You don’t have time to just stand there.’

A powerful force enveloped Carlos along with Duke Hart’s words.

Carlos quickly dispersed the force with his sword energy. He might have suffered a fatal wound had he been slower.

Then it happened.

Although he blocked the attack, his right arm inexplicably began to heat up.

Although pain did occasionally strike him suddenly, the pain was now intense. It felt as if his right arm were on fire.

He needed to finish the battle quickly with a decisive blow.

Ignoring the burning sensation, Carlos gathered his sword energy. The gathered energy was enough to bring down any monster in a single blow.

Prepared, Carlos charged at the Duke once again.

Swoosh!

But as the Duke muttered something again, the sword energy that was heading toward him was deflected.

Damn it. Carlos quickly blocked it, but his body flew far away again.

The battle continued for a while.

Carlos was growing increasingly exhausted.

The pain in his right arm intensified along with a burning smell coming from somewhere.

‘How about giving up now? Nelia will be arriving soon…’

On the contrary, the Duke showed no signs of fatigue, as if nothing had happened.

‘Don’t make me laugh. I will win no matter what.’

Carlos said as he dusted off the dirt that had stuck to his clothes.

The Duke shook his head.

‘Then I have no choice but to end this forcibly.’

The Duke’s eyes sparkled.

Creak. Along with an ominous sound, the massive chandelier above Carlos’s head plummeted down.

There was no avoiding the rapidly falling chandelier. Carlos clenched his eyes shut.

However, time passed and he felt no pain.

Slowly opening his eyes, Carlos found the chandelier hanging still just above his head.

As if time itself had stopped.

‘You must realize by now that you’ll never be able to beat me.’

Soon the Duke’s relaxed voice reached him.

The Duke had intimidated him. Carlos felt no sense of humiliation against the overwhelming gap.

It was as if a man tried to break a giant rock with his bare hands. Completely impervious.

‘If you insist on continuing, I’ll have no choice, but I’d like to stop here.’

The chandelier still floated in the air.

‘I promised not to spill any blood.’

Carlos clenched his fist in a deeplyrooted sense of helplessness.

‘…’

‘Since you don’t answer, let’s take it that way.’

With a flick of Duke Hart’s hand, the chandelier that had been suspended in the air fell to the side.

And with the entrance of a maid, the situation was completely over.

All that was left for him were a sense of powerlessness as if he were facing a sturdy rock, and pain.

There was one more thing.

He was now completely unable to approach that maid.

As Carlos bit his busted lip again, blood trickled down his chin.

The last glimmer of hope seemed to have vanished far away.