“I suppose I should introduce myself properly, shouldn’t I? My name is Luifon Sandalkia Dilts, but people call me Luifon XIV. As you know, I am the third-born prince of this kingdom, and the commander of the royal knights. But none of that matters, because who I truly am is Kyros’s best friend. I hope we get along well, my little Marie,” the prince said with a smile.
I was so out of it that I’d barely been listening and forgot to answer. When I finally noticed I hadn’t replied, I let out a strangled yelp. He was royalty—an exalted person of so much higher standing than myself! I wasn’t even sure how to communicate with nobles of the same rank as me, let alone a prince!
“I-i-it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I stuttered. “Thank you for your invitation.”
He’d extended his hand to me. I’m supposed to shake his hand, right? But isn’t shaking hands a token of friendship? Sure, he’d been the one to extend his hand first, but wouldn’t it be presumptuous of me to take it?! Perhaps I should decline… But refusing a prince has to be rude—probably.
At my wits’ end, I grabbed Prince Luifon’s outstretched right hand with both of mine and bowed as low as I could. “I’m Marie Chandelan,” I said.
The prince and Mio both laughed. “Are you praying?” he quipped.
I could hear from his tone he was taking a jab at me, but I wasn’t sure what he meant.
The prince took us to the viewing area of the coliseum—to a private box, to be specific. Perched at the highest tier of the bowl-like stands, the box overlooked the entire arena. While you could look down at the rest of the audience seats, the people in the audience couldn’t see you because of a cleverly positioned wall.
“Just beneath us is the salon floor, a space reserved for the nobility. It’s closer to the stage and features a lavish buffet,” the prince explained. “We can go down there if you’d rather have a closer view of the coliseum.”
I shook my head. “I can see well enough from here, and I ate plenty while we looked at the stalls. Besides, I’m…not so good with large nobility gatherings…”
The prince nodded. “If you’re worried about those two waiting maids, don’t be; they’re not here. And our dear Mio will protect you if others like them try to approach you.”
“Th-that’s not it. I’m just…not very comfortable with lavish displays of luxury. They intimidate me.”
If I could pick, I knew I’d be far more at ease sitting with the commoners. Over there, people were casually sharing snacks. Some people were even sprawled out on the bleachers taking naps. It seemed like a lot of fun.
“Are the fighters taking a break?” I asked Mio.
The prince was the one to reply. “Yes. Next up are the semifinals. The qualifiers started early this morning, so everyone is having a lunch break now.”
I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d answered in her stead, but Mio glared at him. “I’ve yet to hear an explanation for why the mighty commander of the royal knights was bullying Lady Marie at the apple peeling stand,” she remarked pointedly.
“That was just a harmless prank. You’re as cold as ever, my little Mio,” Prince Luifon said. “Still, I’m glad the two of you came today.”
“These sorts of ‘pranks’ are called bullying, Your Highness. And I’d appreciate it if you could stop calling me ‘little’ anything. Also, I’m only here to accompany her.”
After she’d finished addressing everything he’d said to her in short order, the prince just shrugged. “I waited here for so long, but you didn’t come visit me at all,” he whined. “I wanted to go looking for you, but all I knew about Marie was that she’s tall and has red hair. I was starting to despair when I spotted the two of you together!”
“So you decided to send a decoy to lure me away from her so you could tease her while she was alone. I’m afraid my conclusion still stands—you were bullying her.”
The prince burst out laughing. “Clearly, the evidence is stacked against me!”
I wasn’t brave enough to say anything, but I agreed with Mio.
“Not to mention, you did not mention where you’d be on your invitation,” Mio added. “You didn’t even write that the event would be held at the royal knights’ fortress.”
“I didn’t write it’d be at the royal palace either. And if you wanted to find me, you could have gone to the reception or to the gatekeeper and asked,” the prince said with a smile.
“I did not want to see you, nor did I want Lady Marie to meet you.”
“Whew, talk about frigid!”
“You reap what you sow,” Mio declared mercilessly.
The prince pouted. I could see it was all an act, though—his amusement was practically written all over his face.
I was starting to get a sense of the prince’s personality. He liked pranks—ill-tempered ones, not for nothing—but he didn’t seem to be a bad person. In fact, he was very open and friendly.
I’m also starting to believe he truly is Lord Kyros’s good friend.
At that thought, the tension in my body disappeared. I looked at the stage and said, “This is a swordsmanship tournament where knights and civilians face off, right? How have the matches gone so far?”
“Sadly, most of the civilians were eliminated during the qualifiers,” Prince Luifon replied.
“The knights sure are strong!” I said admiringly.
The prince waved his hand in front of his face and joked, “No need to flatter me!” Then, he added, “I couldn’t give much notice, so there weren’t many participants to begin with. Most of the matches ended up having knights fighting one another after the qualifiers. Out of the four semifinalists, three are knights who’ve been making names for themselves in our order for quite some time.”
“Is the last one a civilian?” I asked.
“Yes. A strong lad, that’s for sure. The crowd has been loving watching him triumph over the knights match after match. He’s really made them lose face,” Prince Luifon said with a big grin.
“Y-you don’t mind? You’re their commander, aren’t you?”
While the Dilts Kingdom had been at peace for quite some time, it was originally a military nation, and the royal knights were the symbol of our military. Wouldn’t it be an issue if word got out that the knights lost to civilians?
“I wouldn’t organize such a tournament if I was going to take issue with the results,” he said. “If anything, I consider this outcome a positive. The knights have been slacking off as of late, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I’m sure this will give them the motivation they needed.”
Mio nodded. “A worthy rival is necessary to improve.”
Was that how these things worked? I didn’t know the first thing about swordsmanship. And since we weren’t at war, was there really a need for our knights to grow stronger?
I looked around at the stands. The break was likely almost over because the bleachers were much fuller than before. The majority of the spectators were men, but there were also quite a few women. Here and there, I could hear people sharing their thoughts about the tournament:
“How far do you think that man will go? He’s pretty skilled.”
“He might just bring down all the knights and win!”
“That’d be quite something!”
They were all smiling.
Mio pulled on my hem. “Lady Marie, you don’t have to force yourself to watch if you don’t want to. You don’t like these things, do you?”
I hadn’t said it out loud, but Mio seemed to have read the distaste on my face. I was about to make an excuse to leave when the prince, who’d heard her, let out an exaggerated “Reaaaaally?” His tone was very judgmental. “Why?! They’re using training swords, so you won’t see any blood. It’s just a sport—nobody is going to die. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that these sorts of tournaments are the nobility’s favorite pastime!”
“I-I’m aware, and I’m just fine, Your Highness. I will spectate with you until the end,” I stumbled to say, nodding several times.
The prince seemed to excuse my rudeness with that, and his frowned brow relaxed. I let out a sigh of relief, but Mio wasn’t done. “If you enjoying fighting that much, why don’t you participate, Your Highness?”
He laughed before whining, “No way! I hate things that hurt!”