“Wh-what’s this…”
Two identical pocket watches.
One had been carried by Lark during the competition, and the other had been kept in the imperial palace in the capital.
The messenger she had contacted immediately after the first match brought the watch from the palace.
The two watches, which were supposed to turn precisely to the hour hand, had a time difference of ten minutes.
Gulp.
Aristana, absently comparing the two watches, swallowed dryly.
‘B-Brother Nathan really cheated?’
Aristana, who liked Nathan’s kind and innocent personality that was different from Lark’s sometimes mysterious side, was shocked.
A jousting match is a game between honorable knights who value fairness. Even if there was room for foul play, everyone implicitly believed that no one would dare to…“Your Highness the 3rd Princess, I’d like to ask you a favor.”
Aristana recalled Madame Ruby’s voice at the meeting a week ago. It was as if she had foreseen Nathan cheating.
***
Exactly a week ago.
It was her first meeting with Madame Ruby, who came to Lubon with the finished winning product, the Afante tiara.
Aristana was surprised to see the real ‘Madame Ruby’, the most famous figure in the capital these days.
‘I thought she was a commoner…’
Even though she was wearing a mask that completely covered her face so that no eye contact could be made, there was an elegant corner to her outward atmosphere and gestures.
Her calm attitude while facing the imperial family and the tea party manners of the aristocrats seemed familiar…
Aristana was convinced when she saw the familiar elegant hand movements of the madame sitting opposite her.
‘… She’s a noble, for sure. And she looks younger than me. Which family’s lady?’
“Please forgive me for the rudeness of not taking off the mask to greet you. It’s all business strategy.”
“Don’t worry, Madame Ruby. How could I not understand that?”
“Thank you.”
“By the way, about Madame’s request… Umm. How about thinking about it again?”
“Does my request burden Your Highness?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s not…”
Aristana bit her lip with a puzzled expression.
The madame requested that she could use some of her spirit power. There was nothing wrong with that. She was just a little worried about where her powers were used.
“I know what Madame is worried about. There are quite a few participants in the imperial family who have knighthoods and you might suspect that they might secretly use the spirits’ power.”
“Of course, I believe in the imperial highnesses, but I’m afraid there will be a backdoor in the honor-oriented competition. I’m sure Your Highness, as the host, also hope it will be a fair match.”
“Of course it is, but…” The troubled Aristana rubbed her forehead and added. “Brother Nathan, ah—His Highness the 2nd Prince is not someone who would cheat. Madame, you’ve never met my brother, so you don’t know…”
Madame Ruby was concerned that the members of the imperial family, who were summoners, would violate the rules and use the power of spirits.
To be precise, the contract of the spirit ‘Pose’, the 2nd Prince Nathan’s.
“I’ve already heard a lot about His Highness’s beautiful story through rumors. I just want to leave no doubts for a fair game.”
“Yes. If Pose’s contractor, Brother Nathan, uses the power of spirits, it can’t be judged as foul with the naked eye…”
Madame Ruby, who had been watching Aristana begin to hesitate, drove her further as if she had been waiting, “I made the honorable prize myself at <Blanc de Ruby>… So, this event is very meaningful to me.”
Aristana flinched when she understood the meaningful words.
Since you used the hot topic of <Blanc de Ruby> and ordered the production of the reward for free, shouldn’t you do me a favor in conscience?
That’s what it meant.
‘As expected, this woman is a businesswoman to the core!’
Cough, Aristana cleared her throat at her embarrassment and nodded her head lightly. “Okay, then.”
“You might be worried because it looks like you’re secretly monitoring him, but it shouldn’t be a problem as long as he doesn’t use his powers, right?”
“That’s true. Alright, let’s do that.”
“Thank you very much.”
Madame Ruby smiled under her mask and took out something of hers from within her sleeve. Crrrrrrkk— The long iron wire made a sound.
What she took out was an ordinary pocket watch with a strap attached to it.
“Then, please.”
***
When Aristana escaped from the flashback, the angry emperor appeared before her.
“How shameful!”
“F-Father, don’t be too angry…”
The imperial family was urgently summoned to the VIP lounge prepared at the stadium.
The emperor shuddered angrily, and all the brothers and sisters who heard about this situation were watching.
“Did you call?”
At that time, Nathan, who had been called, entered the lounge with a confused expression.
“Yes, you damned thing!”
Nathan flinched as the emperor, bloodshot, shouted in rage. Meanwhile, Aristana closed her eyes tightly.
“What is it, Your Majesty? Why are you so angry?”
“Did you break the rules and use the power of the spirits in a match between honorable knights?”
“Yes?”
Surprised, Nathan shook his head as he approached.
“No. There’s no such thing. There seems to be some misunderstanding.”
“What a misunderstanding!?”
The emperor pointed to the two pocket watches on the table in the break room.
“Lark wore one during the match, and the other was in the imperial palace. If you didn’t use your abilities, how could the same watches point to different times?”
“Aah.”
Nathan smiled quietly as if he’d just found out.
“Your Majesty, it is natural that each watch has a time difference. Isn’t it rather difficult to find two watches that show the exact same time?”
“…”
“…”
“How can you prove my foul play by comparing two watches, which may have had different times from the beginning and may have started showing errors?”
Among those who were silent all at once, Nathan continued to chime.
‘Brother, please just keep your mouth shut, admit it, and beg him honestly.’
Nathan even pretended to be angry, not knowing Aristana’s anxiety.
“I feel a little sorry for Your Majesty. You don’t even know the person I am. How could I betray fairness in a match between honorable knights?”
“Huff.” The emperor gently closed his eyes, buried himself in the back of the sofa, and sighed. “Foolish thing.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Brother!” Eventually, Aristana interjected, closing her eyes tightly. “Sorry, but those two watches can never point to different times. Because it’s the ‘same’ watch.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
For a moment, the words of Nathan, who had narrowed his eyes and wondered, stopped. He seemed to have guessed what he had done.
“It’s a watch I copied…”
“…”
The spirit of the 3rd Princess Aristana, Kapine, had the ability to replicate everything that existed.
“He might argue that every watch has an error. To prevent that, we need a ‘same’ watch that can never point to a different time. Please copy this watch with your power, Your Highness.”
What’s with Madame Ruby? She had even expected Nathan’s excuse.
“You are a very disgrace to the name of the imperial family.”
“Your…Majesty… I-”
“Since it happened. Either go ahead with the rematch with honor or admit the fou play and abstain.”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The emperor, who got up, calmly left the lounge. The rest of the imperial family, who glanced at Nathan, followed suit.
Only the host, Aristana, who had to listen to Nathan’s decision, was left.
Rematch? Abstain? Whichever he chose, his dignity would sink to the bottom.
How could he beat Lark in a rematch without using his spirit’s power? But openly admitting cheating in front of the people…
“B-Brother? Uh, what would you like?” Aristana asked, but Nathan just trembled.
***
“I inform the audience. The result of the evaluation of the first match two hours ago: an unfair situation was detected, so the match is declared null and void.”
When the 3rd Princess declared, the audience became agitated.
I looked at the crowd’s reactions one by one with a relaxed mind of watching a show while eating rice cakes.
“What?”
“What does an unfair situation mean?”
“A rematch should be carried out, but contestant Nathan van Rashmagh Descarde complained of shoulder pain and demanded abstention.”
‘Oh, shoulder pain…’
I pressed my lips together under the mask.
The efforts of the 3rd Princess, Aristana, who spoke in a roundabout way to somehow protect the image of the imperial family, were visible.
However, many people gathered here were not fools.
“Wow. Could it be that His Highness the 2nd Prince cheated?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Other than that, there is no way the match will be invalidated.”
“No wonder the crown prince who’s said to excel in martial arts looked so sloppy!”
“I believed! I believed in His Highness the Crown Prince!”
The chatter of the crowd echoed in my ears.
“The 2nd Prince Nathan van Rashmagh Descarde’s abstention resulted in the Crown Prince Lark van Rashmagh Descarde’s victory by default. The next game will start in 10 minutes.”
At the end of the trembling voice of the 3rd Princess, I burst into laughter that I couldn’t hold back.
“Fuhahaha!”
<Hey, hey!>
Wishit, next to me, panicked and stabbed me in the side.
<The sound of your laughter even leaked out of the mask. Be quiet.>
“Aha, hahaha…”
What a victory of justice!
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