“Ah.”

Berndia, whose eyes curled finely, jumped up. His eyes which were curled suddenly jumped up and all the fatigue he had accumulated was relieved at once after hearing her voice.

“I’m glad you like my face. Then shall we go?”

He grabbed Psychke, who couldn’t even open her eyes in shame.

As if passing by, the two bodies came close.

* * *

The Hall in Lestir Castle had a similar shape to the Hall in the Capital. Though the size of it was over three times bigger than that of the Capital City. She looked around at the hall carefully.

‘Miya said there was heavy snow last night.’

Yet there was no snow in the Hall. There was nothing on the floor, neither on the top of the tree, there was no place where any person could see a stain of snow.

‘Duke, I was wondering why your hands were so cold.’

He must had been melting the snow outside. Since he used his strength in melting the snow, she felt sorry for making him do such a laborious work for nothing.

It will snow again in the afternoon anyway.

“Just like in the capital, I wish I would have fought with an eyepatch on.”

“Because if you cover your eyes, you won’t be able to fight with all your strength.”

Verndia, who was holding her hand, responded immediately.

Although he said that the Princess fought well even with her eyes closed, she was not at all concerned about herself, but he was. What if she gets hurt?

Even today, they used a real sword for their practice because wooden sword can’t last long.

The gymnasium was more crowded than ever.

It was because Verndia had summoned those who had time to come out.

“You’re here, Duke.”

“Good morning.”

“Yes.”

He roughly responded to the familiar faces. Three, five, seven.. there was none.

He told the commanders of the monster subjugation team that had been formed before to come out no matter what, but there no one did.

‘There was no one.’

Psychke greeted the people while she recognized the faces she encountered.

“This is Glorielle Silkisia.”

It was the first time she had seen so many northern nobles in one place because they didn’t hold a homecoming ceremony.

“It is an honor to meet you.”

“I have heard a lot about you.”

They greeted her tremulously.

As expected, unlike the employees, the eyes looking at her were not pleasant. She doesn’t think they could say anything because the Duke was right beside her.

‘Perhaps because they thought she was from a hostile family who came to get the Duke after playing around a bit.’

Psychke understood them since she would think the same, too.

She didn’t care too much because if she showed her skills, their speculations would fade away.

Verndia waited for her Psychke and other nobles to finish greeting her, and then she took her to a place far from others.

It was to start sparring.

The nobles were quite surprised to see the a man and a woman facing each other at a certain distance.

‘I couldn’t believe it, but did the duke want to spar with her directly?’

‘I thought the duke wouldn’t do that, but he fell in love with Silkisia. Whew.’

The aristocrats sighed inwardly, thinking they could understand why they gathered early in the morning.

He loved the princess this much, so take good care of her, this must what he mean.

‘Just because she has superpowers doesn’t mean they can fight well.’

‘Isn’t Duke Evergreen not good at martial arts?’

‘I don’t know how good her swordsmanship skills are, but the duke seems to be helping her.’

The future was bleak.

This is the hand that Princess Silkisia, whoever she was, discarded as unusable as a practice opponent.

She was not completely incapable of holding a sword, but she was not good enough to compete in a tournament, and she’d be a burden to carry.

That’s what they had considered until, as she was fiddling with her earlobe, she suddenly heard a sword in her hand.

However.

“…? That?”

“What did I just see?”

Immediately after exchanging agreements with Verndia, their expressions changed.

Yap! A sword that rips through the air was drawn horizontally. A few strands of silver hair that he couldn’t avoid were floating in the air.

Psychke easily dodged Verndia’s sword and struck back.

She gently received his sword attack, which no one in the subjugation team could block.

Verndia, who had been attacking a few sums with no expression, fixed his sword and held it.

“I’m attacking for real.”

Those who heard him were amazed.

Seriously, he had been just kidding.

For an instant, Verndia’s sword was enveloped in purple mana.

Everyone in the Hall was surprised.

“He was using magic while only practicing!”

“Is that okay?”

If you hit the sword with a normal sword, it would be cut or melted, but could the Princess hold him back?

Those in the Hall looked at Psychke nervously.

Others said that they should go ahead and call a doctor.

But that was a misfortune.

“OMG!”

The eyes of those watching the practice suddenly widened.

He saw the clear blue sword that was overlaid on the princess’s sword.

Blue and purple light crossed in the air. Bang!

“Nonsense. Isn’t this a dream?”

“I never thought I would see something like this….”

Judging by how well she handled swordsmanship, the princess must have been a sword master.

Sword Master.

The ultimate state that humans can achieve with a sword.

There were two existences in front of them that were unlikely to come out once in a century.

They were even doing sparring there.

People were excited about the sight that they could not see even if they paid billions of dollars.

Someone was in tears.

Someone’s leg gave out and stumbled.

Some said they would have regretted it if they hadn’t come, and others said it was the best decision they ever did.

* * *

“Is she a sword master?”

As soon as the couplets were over, someone ran up to him and offered him a handkerchief.

The Hall where they fought has long since been ruined.

Burn with the heat from Verndia, melt, or freeze with the cold of Psychke.

“Right.”

Instead of taking a breath, Verndia replied.

Although he won the match, he was breathing as fast as Psychke.

‘She had definitely improved a lot.’

Is Silkisia’s blood a monster, or is the princess herself a monster?

If this was the case, she could catch up really quick. Maybe he’d lose in their next sparring right away.

The person who offered him handkerchief cried with emotion.

“How did she hide her skills like this…”

Two sword masters in one era.

Receiving the power of a duke who didn’t even look like a human!

Psychke Silkisia, the owner of poor swordsmanship, had long since disappeared from his mind, and now only Sword Master Glorielle Silkisia remains.

“I am Lerik from the Salmon family.”

“I am Reijiga Luke!”

When he revealed his identity, those who came to their senses belatedly rushed forward.

They were anxious to talk to Psychke, or even to ask for a handshake somehow.

“Wait a minute.”

Psychke, embarrassed by the crowd, stammered.

She knew that if he showed her skills, they’d be shocked but she didn’t expect it to be like this.

“Don’t touch a tired person.”

Verndia, who took the princess away from them, raised his eyebrows.

It was only after seeing the people gathered in one place that he realized which of the commanders of the punitive force was not observing.

“Where did Ruan go?”

“He said he would come later in the afternoon because he wasn’t feeling well.”

Verndia frowned slightly.

This guy didn’t come on purpose. He said he must come but he didn’t.

“Tell him to come to me when he comes here.”

“Yes.”

Leaving behind those who made a fuss, Verndia led Psychke to go back and rest.

“I have someone to introduce you to. He’s easy to notice and his brain isn’t bad, so it’ll be fine if you use him as an aide.”

“Okay.”

It was around the time that he held her hand and left the Hall.

Something cold fell on the tip of his nose.

Ah.

Before even realizing what it was, Psychke reflexively closed her eyes.

Her heart was beating anxiously.

“This.”

Verndia, who looked up at the sky, clicked his tongue.

It was snowing. Should he consider it fortunate that they got off after their practice?

“Are you okay?”

He turned to Psychke.

She frowned slightly and nodded her head.

“Yes, I am.”

Ever since she came to the North, she had tried to force myself to look into the snow, not fearing what could happen.

But the result was a disaster.

From the moment she thought of ‘seeing the snow,’ her body trembled like an aspen tree, and eventually her legs gave out and she couldn’t stand properly.

It’s okay to step on or touch it, but it’s really hard to understand why she couldn’t look at it.

Verndia was worried.

“I don’t know if it’s okay for you to compete.”

He knows how much Psychke tried to overcome the handicap of not being able to see snow.

However, practice and actual combat were two different things, so he was worried that she might get hurt.

He can’t even melt the snow on the wide battlefield.

Moreover, the problem was not only that.

“Have you checked your power?”