I just thrust my right arm straight out, with all my might.
I was leaning forward with a posture as if I was throwing a baseball.
At the signal to start the second round, I released my telephone punch . The prince was bewildered and took a defensive posture with his pure white wings.
Guard?
I donât give a damn! Iâll blow you away with it!
âGuh!â
My fist, with the added momentum of my run-up, dug deep into the princeâs wing.
âHaa!â
At the same time, I let out a yell of enthusiasm and put all my weight behind my fist and swung.
The princeâs body floated slightly, and it was unlikely that he would be able to immediately turn to attack from his guard position.
âKunpei-san!â
âKunpei-kun!â
I clenched my left fist tightly, as if responding to his fatherâs encouragement and Aoi and Mikumaâs cheers.
An effective attack? Boxing theories?
I donât care! All I can do is punch this guy as hard as I can!
If I make it too hard, Iâll get a flat tire! My brain!
âYour Highness!â
âWhoa! Kunpei-kun, that was intense!â
Just before the impact of my left fist, I hear Kayoneâs worried voice and Utaiâs loud voice.
Itâs a shame, though.
I know better than most that itâs not working at all!
This is not a cross-arm block, but a cross-wing block.
My fist blew the prince away with his folded wings.
Prince Atol retreated slightly from the ring, but the damage was probably minimal.
But.
I knew that from the beginning.
For the time being, I didnât think about anything and just mindlessly hit him with all my strength and pent-up frustration.
You bastard!
âIf it goes to the third round, youâve lost! Go with the intention of finishing him!â
I know! Even if you donât tell me, thatâs what I planned to do!
Full power with my left, super full power with my right!
I hit the prince with all the energy I had saved in the first round, or rather the energy I hadnât even been allowed to use, and use it up.
With the momentum of bringing back the right arm that I swung down, I shook off the wings that formed a solid guard.
I gave him a straight left with all my might, over the top of a defense that was one layer thinner.
âGuh!â
The princeâs torso bent slightly.
Taking advantage of this momentum. Donât stop your legs, donât stop your arms, donât stop!
Straight for the face!
A sharp angle towards the body!
Youâre about to use a kick, but you hold it back and hit, hit, hit, hit, hit!
âFuhn! Fuu! Haaaa!â
Iâve been clenching my teeth and frantically attacking, so my breathing was rough.
Iâm forcing myself to set the pace, as if Iâm trying to exchange the stress simmering in the pit of my stomach for motivation and high spirits.
âGuh! Ngh!â
With each blow, Prince Atol squeezed out a painful sound from the back of his throat as he endured my onslaught.
Just by the looks of it, the situation was completely reversed from the first round.
Iâm overwhelming, and the prince was at a disadvantage.
Thatâs what everyone would say if they were an onlooker.
However.
It was different.
Iâm beginning to understand.
The source of the discomfort Iâve been feeling is now clearly outlined, and I can already clearly see its silhouette.
It was almost three minutes into the second round.
I have the upper hand those three minutes.
No, I was given the upper hand.
This bastard!
âHold it right there! Both of you, in the corner!â
The heavy sound of gongs echoed as Nanairo-san announced the end of the round.
I stopped my swinging arm and couldnât hide my mental discomfort as much as my sweat-stained skin.
I glared at Prince Atol in front of me.
The prince spread his stiffened wings in front of his body and lowered his arm, which has turned red from the constant beating, as he slowly walked back to the corner where Kayone and Utai were waiting.
As for me, breathing heavily, I lowered my arms and continued to watch Prince Atolâs back from the center of the ring.
My whole body began to shake.
The stress that had built up over the past few days had turned to red rage in the past three minutes, and I couldnât take it anymore.
âKunpei! You did well! Come back and rest!â
Without reacting to my fatherâs voice coming from behind me, I raised my arms and grabbed my headgear.
âHey, Kazamachi. Itâs interval time, okay?
Gasara, who was outside the ring with a mallet on his shoulder, spoke to me.
I didnât respond to his voice and forcibly took off my headgear.
The headgear, which was tightly secured to the back of my head with a string, did not come off easily and was slowly removed from my head with some pain.
âK-Kunpei-san?
âKunpei-kun? Whatâs wrong?â
Aoi and Mikuma were watching at ringside.
I still didnât reply to their words, but finally put one arm through the headgear thatâs been removed from my head, and thenâŚ
âI canât do this! This son of a bitch!â
I slammed it into the ring with great force.
A throat-wrenching scream, the frustration that had been building up, erupted vigorously from the pit of my stomach.
âHah! What a duel! âSea Dragonâs Servantâ! What kind of strong person are you? ! Donât you dare make fun of me!â
My body was asking for oxygen, which was in short supply because of the amount of energy I spent in the last two rounds.
There was an imbalance between the supply and demand of the air I was exhaling and the air I was seeking.
Heat began to gather on my face from the blood that has begun to climb.
A blood vessel that was on the verge of bursting from too much anger twitched and quivered at my temple.
âK-Kazamachi-sama?â
âOh, oh? Whatâs wrong, Kazamachi-kun?â
As I glared at the prince, Kayone and Utai, standing behind the corner post, looked at me with eyes wide with surprise.
The prince, unconcerned, took the mouthpiece out of his mouth and started drinking water from a plastic bottle.
âH-hey. Whatâs the matter, Kunpei?â
âI donât give a shit about this! You made me be a part of this stupid farce! Thatâs enough, you stupid prince!â
I replied angrily to my fatherâs confused voice.
I untied the laces of my right glove with my mouth.
The difficulty of unraveling it frustrated me again, and I pulled the string roughly, biting the glove itself and pulling my arm out.
âI knew something was wrong! Iâve finally figured it out! What are you going to do about it? Haaa?â
In a fit of rage, I slammed the glove into the ring and then removed the glove from my left hand.
I was able to remove it somewhat more smoothly than with my right hand, and threw it as hard as I could at Prince Atol.
â⌠What are you talking about?â
He lightly brushed off the flying glove with his hand, and without even making eye contact with me, Prince Atol feigned ignorance.
Youâve got to be kidding me.
You know best what Iâm talking about!
âYou donât want to win this duel at all, you idiot!â
Yes, the prince was not interested in the duel from the beginning.
The relationship with Kayone, the princeâs childhood, his current situation, and what Kayone and Utai have to say about the true character of Prince Atol.
All of which had led to the answer from the beginning.
Unbalanced behavior and a reckless attitude.
His irreverent manner and his usual quiet demeanor.
There was something wrong with all of it.
This was what was bothering me.
âYouâve got to be kidding me! I think I know what youâre up to now! How sad!â
Yes, maybe it was because it was me, thatâs why I was able to understand.
The rumors surrounding me and the inferiority complex that I couldnât shake.
The complex that grows in the depths of your heart and the ideals youâve sought. And the glory that you could not obtain.
Thatâs why the prince and I were so much alike.
The more we hated each other, the more the prince and I understood each other.
âI donâtâŚâ
I know where people who say things like that are bound to end up.
â⌠Nonsense. Put your gloves back on. Iâm going to beat the crap out of you, commoner!â
âStop with those shitty provocations! I havenât fallen so low as to fight a duel Iâm treated to!â
The prince, flinched at my words as he ground his molars and glared at me.
âWhat do you mean? Youâre saying that the prince challenged you to a duel with the intention of losing?â
Perhaps scared by my menacing behavior, Mikuma timidly expressed her suspicion.
Ah, I messed up. I didnât mean to scare you at all.
â⌠Ah but itâs nothing more than a nuisance to us, though! Isnât that right, Your Highness!?â
When I called him that with sarcasm and irony, Prince Atol clicked his tongue in plain sight.
What kind of attitude is that after all this time?
âBut why? Why would the prince engage in a duel that he has no intention of winning, after even offering rat-ojisama a conditionâŚâ
Aoi was so confused that she almost had a question mark floating on top of her head.
â⌠Iâm not sure what the details are, but most likely, it has something to do with Kayone.â
ââŚ!â
Look, bullâs-eye.
You canât be so blatant about it, prince.
Youâre not cut out for poker.
âM-me?â
âKayo-san?â
The person in question looked puzzled.
If you donât mind my speculation, Iâll give you an explanation.
âKayone said that the prince in the past didnât have a big attitude like he does now, and he was an honest man who never neglected his efforts.â
âY-yes, the reason why he gave up on everything is because his father, His Majesty the KingâŚâ
âKayone! What did you tell this guy?â
The prince raised his voice unusually and interrupted Kayoneâs words.
âIâll give you a guess, Prince Atol. Iâll tell you what youâre up to and why youâve decided to involve me and my daughters in this farce.â
âGuh! Shut up, youâre flapping your gums during a duel! Shut up and put your fists up!â
Donât be flustered. Your intentions will become transparent.
Itâs because youâre like that, thatâs why I sensed it.
How fragile. People who force themselves to do everything in their lives are really fragile.
âYouâre so sneaky, you know that?!â
âShut up! What do you think you know? You donât know anything about me!â
I know.
I canât help it, I just know it.
I glanced at my father.
My dad, who didnât know what was going on, tilted his head when he noticed me looking at him.
Itâs something that someone as experienced and straightforward as my father would never understand.
Itâs a kind of disease that affects people like me and the prince, who are just kids. Itâs a horrible disease that affects not only you, but everyone around you as well.
Just like I once did to my mother when I was a child.
âPrince.â
âW-what!â
As soon as I looked back at him, I looked straight into Prince Atolâs eyes.
The prince was so upset by the look that he couldnât help but look away from me.
âTo Dailan, being âSea Dragonâs Servantâ is an honor, right?â
âW-what about it!â
The one who overcame three years of grueling rituals and won it was a âroyal failureâ who the people once had great expectations for and became disillusioned on his own.
Then what is that honor?
âAnd as the âSea dragonâs servantâ, itâs your duty to fight the strong, fair and square, right?â
âAh, yes! Honorable! I represent the warriors of Dailan!â
Youâre not going to fight a one-sided battle in an unofficial setting like this with a person who canât even use magic and is in a disadvantageous position, are you?
âWhy are you secretly having this duel without telling your brothers?â
âThatâs!â
Why would the representative of Dailan, the honorable âSea Dragonâs Servantâ, be trying to hide his achievements?
âWhat will happen to you if your brother found out that you were defeated in such a sneaky duel?â
âGgh, guh!â
One step at a time, I cornered the prince.
The prince, who was stuck due to the corner post behind him, struggled to get as far away from me as possible by turning his upper body away from me.
Youâre not getting away. Iâm not going to let you get away with this.
âThis is completely my guess, but Iâm 100 percent sure itâs right. Prince Atol, your goal isâŚâ
âS-stop⌠donât say it!â
No, thatâs no good.
You brought me and my daughters into this.
You took away the card of traveling to the sphere continent, which was a matter of life and death for Jaja and Nana, and then you made fun of it.
Even if you were to come begging for forgiveness, I would never forgive you for that.
Jaja and Nana.
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Jaja and Nana, you must know that the crime of making the lives of my precious daughters the object of a bet.
âYouâll quit the royal family and give up Kayone, right?â
âYou bastaaaard!â
The light disappeared from Kayoneâs eyes as she stood behind the pathetically shouting prince.