“Ian, you be the judge.”
“Pardon?”
“I said, be the judge.”
“Young Master… but…”
Ian got to face Riley’s murderous eyes. Ian gulped and walked toward the middle between the guard and Riley.
‘This is not like Young Master. He is being pretty sensitive.’
Ian was worried. However, he decided to be the judge. Standing in the middle, Ian raised his hand, and Riley and the princess’s guard each took stances.
‘I had gotten a lot of stress built up lately anyway…’
As he glared at his opponent, Riley tightly held the sword handle as if he was going to crush the handle.
‘… Wait.’
Riley furrowed his brows and looked at the guard standing in front of him.
‘Why am I…’
Riley got a hold of himself just before Ian’s arm fell. He reflected on why he got so angry. He lightly shook his head and threw the sword to the ground.
“I am sorry. I changed my mind.”
Riley did that in middle of a tight atmosphere. Both Reutrina and her guard opened their eyes and mouths big.
“… What do you mean?”
Riley looked at the sword that he dropped to the ground just now. Still reflecting on his behavior, he slightly crumpled his face. He crumpled only slightly to the point that others could not have noticed.
“I won’t do this.”
Riley could not understand why he was so worked up earlier. He shook his head and refused the duel. Reutrina’s guard ground his teeth.
“You… won’t?”
Riley faced the guard’s eyes with a cold gaze. Riley then turned to look at Reutrina and said,
“It’s because I am not confident.”
“What…!”
The guard, unable to stand the sudden turn of the event, was about to charge in and grab Riley just below the neck by the clothes. However…
“…?!”
He suddenly shook his body once, and then became as stiff as trees on the garden.
‘What? My body is?’
His body was not moving as he wanted.
He couldn’t even move his fingers and toes. Panicking, the guard moved his eyes to look at the princess.
“…?”
He looked like he was trying to say something, but he was unable to. Instead, he was just standing there, petrified. Having realized something was up, Reutrina got up from the chair and said toward Riley who was turning around.
“Young Master.”
Riley turned around with uninterested look on his face. Having heard Reutrina calling him, Riley just turned his head and looked at her.
“I need to use the toilet, so…”
“Before you go.”
Reutrina asked,
“How did you do that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, my guard…”
“Pardon?”
Riley was smiling. Looking at Riley, Reutrina could not finish her sentence.
It was because they just had a conversation that felt similar to this only a few minutes ago.
‘How did you do it?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘What you did just now.’
‘That?’
A question asking how something was done, and the responses feigning ignorance…
The conversation now felt similar to the one earlier, but the table was turned in this instance.
“If it is not something urgent, then excuse me for a moment.”
Riley did a hand gesture to tell Ian to stay here. Riley leisurely walked away, and the guard who was petrified completely bent forward and breathed hard.
“… Ughuk?! Huuuk! Huuuk!”
“…”
Collapsed to the floor, the guard was struggling to catch his breath. Reutrina observed her guard and then turned her gaze to vacantly stare at the back of Riley who was walking away.