Chapter 93

“Eternal glory to the Empire…”

Just as Becky and Lione were about to bow simultaneously, Einar waved his hand.

“Let’s skip the formal greetings. Rather, hmm.”

He stepped forward swiftly from behind Riina, almost as if embracing her, and lowered her hand as she reached toward Lione.

“I can roughly guess what you were doing, but would you mind explaining properly?”

At his voice sliding into her ear, Riina tightly closed and reopened her eyes.

The warmth of his touch spread vividly beneath her skin, yet when Riina opened her mouth, her voice neither trembled nor faltered.

“It seems Lione has remarkable talent for physical activities, so I was confirming it.”

That should have been the end of the matter.

As she said, the talent was essentially proven by the fact that someone who had never properly learned swordsmanship had blocked every attack from a highly skilled opponent.

But Riina couldn’t see Einar’s expression behind her, so she failed to anticipate what he would say.

“Confirming. I see. Talent, you say.”

“Yes. Now that we’re finished, we should return—”

“No, I’d like to test him a bit myself.”

Before Riina could finish speaking, Einar naturally encircled her waist and guided her behind him.

For a brief moment, Riina didn’t understand what he had said, but soon grabbed his sleeve.

“Einar? I’ve already tested him, and we’re done.”

Once again, he took her hand and whispered softly in her ear.

“He’s a personal servant who will always be by your side. It would be better to verify him once more.”

Though it was a rational and logical answer with no particular flaw, the ashen eyes gleaming coldly from Einar’s shadowed face were not particularly rational.

Looking up at him as he moved his lips away from her ear, Riina unconsciously bit her lower lip hard.

He had not given up on her.

Yes, she knew it.

Even if she pushed him away, he wasn’t the kind of man who would simply give up and retreat.

Since Einar still showed no intention of backing down, Riina swallowed a sigh.

And she had to swallow another sigh at the ticklish feeling, as if she had swallowed a dandelion seed.

Einar was jealous now.

No, he had been continuously jealous since Lione became her closest personal servant.

What was she supposed to do with this flutter in her heart?

Einar hadn’t brought up that time—when she had pushed him away while laughing through tears—nor even shown any sign that it had happened.

And wasn’t that exactly what Riina had wanted?

For time to pass as if nothing had happened, for the memory to dull.

Yet seeing Einar feel jealousy over her toward someone else was so…

Riina mocked herself.

You selfish thing.

To feel this way after pushing him away with her own words.

They say one’s heart doesn’t obey one’s will, but if she had any decency…

“…ina, Riina?”

Einar’s call pulled Riina back to reality from her inward spiral.

“You’re pale.”

His ashen eyes, caressing her cheek, now rippled with concern solely for her, as if they had never been turbulent moments before.

Feeling her mouth go dry, Riina stepped back.

“I… suppose so. Our ancestors did say to test even a stone bridge before crossing.”

Einar slowly withdrew his now-empty hand and opened his mouth.

But without saying anything, he soon turned away from her.

Lione, who suddenly found himself about to duel the Second Prince, hastily made an awkward bow, but Einar simply smiled and drew his sword.

Shing.

As the well-tempered blade flashed sharply in the sunlight and Lione unconsciously swallowed dry saliva:

Screech!

The nerve-grating sound of blades sliding against each other vibrated through the air.

With the crossed swords close enough to cut the fine hairs of his nostrils, Lione could hardly breathe.

Through his muffled ears, Einar’s dry voice rang out.

“Indeed. Remarkable talent.”

Though Einar said this with a slight smile, Lione, facing him, couldn’t smile at all.

No, he couldn’t move a single fingertip.

Because he felt that if he moved even slightly, just the tiniest bit, Einar would tear out his throat.

Though their swords were crossed, though he had blocked his attack.

This was entirely different from when he crossed swords with the guard.

The Second Prince’s genius and capriciousness were well-known facts, but this killing intent…

The murderous aura that crept up from the tips of Einar’s feet was strangling him.

Yes, Lione felt his life threatened.

“Shall we play a bit more?”

“Ngh!”

Despite Einar’s feather-light words, Lione had to fight with all his might to survive.

Clang! Clang-clang! Screech!

Lione instinctively, letting his body move on its own, parried Einar’s attacking sword.

Barely blocking Einar’s tidal wave of attacks while stepping back one step at a time, Lione suddenly stopped, forcing strength into his legs.

Crack!

As his hand trembled on the sword hilt, Einar approached right up to his face.

Having unexpectedly met those ashen eyes from an extremely close distance, only one thought crossed Lione’s mind.

I’m going to die.

In that moment when he froze with wide eyes, instinct be damned:

“Einar!”

Like a lie, no, like magic, the violent killing intent that had seemed about to tear Lione’s throat vanished completely.

Einar looked down at Lione, then simply withdrew his sword, causing Lione to stagger.

Thud.

Einar’s voice sounded above Lione, who was barely standing by using his sword as a cane.

“Breathe.”

“Hah, hah! Hah-hah-hah!”

Only then did Lione gasp for breath, collapsing pathetically to the ground and panting.

His back had long been drenched in cold sweat, and his hand that had gripped the sword hilt felt numb from squeezing too hard.

Einar, looking down at him, had his back to the sun, making his face invisible, but he no longer seemed as savagely ready to tear out Lione’s throat as before.

Drip, drip-drip.

As the cold sweat that ran down Lione’s chin broke on the ground, Einar turned away from him.

Einar slowly approached Riina, who had called him and was staring only at him.

Stopping one step away from Riina, Einar lowered the corners of his eyebrows and said:

“I almost killed him.”

As expected.

If she hadn’t experienced death once herself, she wouldn’t have been able to stop Einar.

Einar’s killing intent had been directed solely at Lione, but Riina’s instinct had screamed.

That if she didn’t stop him now, blood would be shed.

Was this what Bolshevik’s ancestors called life’s unpredictability—misfortune turning to blessing?

Who would have thought her own miserable death would be helpful one day?

“Enough to… want to kill him.”

Having said that much, Riina swallowed countless unspoken words that had risen to the tip of her tongue.

And Einar did the same.

Though neither spoke, countless words floated between them before dissipating.

Eventually, Riina parted her dry lips.

“What do you think?”

Einar neither pondered his answer nor looked back at Lione.

“A genius. Perhaps unprecedented in the Empire’s history.”

“To that extent?”

“Yes. He survived when I charged in to kill him.”

Of course, if Riina hadn’t called out to stop him at the end, Lione would likely be lying lifeless on the training ground floor at this moment.

“He doesn’t even have the same thing I do.”

As Einar said, Lione probably hadn’t suddenly received a stroke of heavenly luck.

In the end, Lione’s ability could only be explained as extraordinary, once-in-a-millennium talent.

“It’s too precious a talent to keep him as a servant. With proper training, he could be counted among the best in the Empire.”

“But he came to me to avoid people… Anyway, that’s not what he wants.”

Einar tilted his head slightly and smiled.

“Then I’ll make things the way he wants them. I’ve confirmed he has the skill for it.”

As Riina was about to respond to his enigmatic words, he added:

“No, even if Lione’s skills had been terrible, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Einar smiled, his eyes narrowing, and whispered with his lips pressed close to Riina’s ear.

“I simply can’t bear the fact that there’s always another man by your side instead of me.”

At his words, Riina opened her mouth, then firmly closed it.

Wasn’t he being excessively direct?

If he had given some small signal before making such a direct statement, she wouldn’t have been so speechless.

Nor would her heart be pounding like this.

The vertical free-fall of her heartbeat was so loud that it nearly drowned out all surrounding noise.

With her heart pounding as if in her ears, Riina unconsciously pressed her hand against her chest.

And Einar, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her, couldn’t have missed this.

He reached out his hand.

His rough fingertips wandered near her eyes, almost but not quite touching, tickling the fine hairs on her cheek before finally withdrawing.

Just as Riina had stepped back from him before, this time Einar stepped back from her.