Episode 96. Duel (8)

“Sseu-p, haa… Sseu-p, haa….”

I slowly regulate my breathing. Franchello and his subordinates were looking at Allen with expressions of utter boredom. Despite their repeated attacks, Allen hadn’t fallen. Franchello spoke, amidst the shame of not being able to break through a single woman, the shock at her skill, and the regret of not having recruited her sooner.

“Finish it.”

“Huu….”

It wasn’t as if Allen was unscathed just because she hadn’t fallen. Her sword already had nicks here and there from excessive use and friction, and her clothes were torn in several places. Fortunately, thanks to the layers of armor she wore to avoid having sex with Edward-because seeing Marie and Edward doing it during work hours sometimes made her crave it too-none of their blades had managed to cut her skin.

But the biggest problem was still stamina. As a woman, she inevitably had less natural physical strength than men. Allen hadn’t fallen, but that was because it was a fight where she only had to endure. She had minimized stamina consumption through her experience of receiving Edward’s sword, but Allen was rapidly getting exhausted.

If she were to face each of the knights attacking her one-on-one, Allen might not lose, but she couldn’t win either. But that was only when her stamina held up. Facing several people alone, all of them knights and not just common soldiers, Allen’s stamina was bound to run out quickly.

“Heup.”

Franchello’s subordinates slowly approached at his command. They seemed to be trying to reduce the constraints of space and cooperate in attacking her by stabbing instead of slashing. Allen’s demeanor changed as she faced their formation.

She banished thoughts like, ‘This is a dirty tactic,’ and ‘Why isn’t that damn Edward coming out?’ from her mind. She was alone, and there were several swords stabbing at her. Even if she blocked them in the same way as before, could she block even two of them? It would be less unfair to take at least one of them down with her.

Allen, who had been on the defensive, switched to the offensive, scanning each of them one by one. People tend to shrink back the moment they think they’re the only ones who will lose. Franchello’s subordinates couldn’t easily step forward, as her gaze, which had suddenly turned fierce, seemed to be looking for a comrade to drink from the River Styx with.

Just as Franchello, feeling frustrated by the strange standoff, was about to shout, the door that Allen was guarding opened, and

“What a commotion.”

Edward came out.

“You, why… why are you coming out from there?”

“Why? Is there a reason I can’t be here?”

Franchello felt a chill, as if all his thoughts were coming true. Could it be that the speculation he had only vaguely considered, the absurd but inevitable thought he had secretly entertained, was actually true?

“Of course there is. What were you doing in there?”

“I don’t know why you care what I was doing.”

“You, you have no respect for your uncle!”

“Uncle, my ass. Do you think I’d consider someone who tries to kill his nephew and niece-in-law an uncle?”

Franchello no longer felt it was worth continuing the argument. In his mind, Edward was already having an affair with Marie, and the child in her womb was also Edward’s. And whatever the truth was, it wouldn’t matter if he defeated those two knights and captured Marie in this place.

“You’ve suffered enough holding out alone.”

Allen seemed to regain her vitality as he casually said, lightly embracing her shoulders.

“…Yes.”

“Let’s suffer a little more….”

Allen steeled herself, feeling reassured by Edward’s appearance as he drew his sword. Her heart, and the grip on her sword, too.

And the clash that followed was one-sided. Edward, moving forward to engage the enemies without obstructing Allen’s space, skillfully drove all those subordinates back by himself. It was swordsmanship so skillful that she couldn’t help but admire it.

‘No wonder I can’t win….’

The concise yet precise movements, which she was seeing for the first time, subdued the opponent. Edward’s sword lacked the pomp and formality for tradition found in common noble swordsmanship. Instead, it was frighteningly direct, and each strike was meant to kill, as if he didn’t care about etiquette. Franchello’s subordinates, more intimidated than before, stepped back from the swordsmanship meant to kill rather than subdue.

“Allen! Block him!”

“Yes, yes? Yes!”

But even amidst that, Franchello, with the clearest sense of purpose and a definite plan in his head, was different. He didn’t pour all his attention into Edward, the person blocking his path. After all, this battle was about whether he could take Marie’s life, or at least make her miscarry.

While his subordinates obscured his vision and bought him time, he bypassed Edward without confronting him. Because of those subordinates who actively blocked Edward as if it had been prearranged, Edward couldn’t immediately pay attention to Franchello.

So, it was entirely up to Allen to stop Franchello. She lifted her arm, which was stiff from the continuous impacts, and raised her sword to confront him. She watched the trajectory of his sword swing and overlapped her sword to receive it. Allen lightly received the sword strike, which didn’t have much force behind it.

Peok-

“Keoheok, kulleok, kulleok.”

“Haha!”

And Allen was knocked away by Franchello’s kick. Allen, kicked in the stomach by the unexpected attack, was vomiting and drooling from her mouth. Franchello, who had easily subdued Allen, turned around. Although a few had been knocked down, Edward still hadn’t shaken off his subordinates. He could only glare at him resentfully. Now, there was no one blocking him from the door.

Edward was a monster. Without delay, he went straight in. The door, which had no locking device, was wide open. Then another one. Marie would be inside. Franchello, emboldened, tried to enter through the door in the same way.

Until it was blocked with a thud.

“No, why is this…!”

Kung. Kung. He tried kicking it with his foot and pushing it with his shoulder, but this door, which had to be pushed inward, wouldn’t open. It wasn’t that it wouldn’t open at all, but it seemed to be blocked by something heavy. Franchello, grabbing the door that only rattled and wouldn’t open, even tried to tear the door off, but the door made of high-quality wood was unnecessarily sturdy.

“Hieeuk…!”

Marie’s voice, full of surprise, was heard from inside. Eventually, Franchello, becoming impatient, drew his sword again and began to break the door as if chopping firewood with an ax. It was an unfamiliar task for him, who had honed his sword to cut people.

Kwang-

“Kueuk!”

Kwang-

“Euaaak!”

Each time splinters of wood scattered, his subordinates screamed from behind, as if they were standing in for the door. The number of men he had brought was not many. The moment those voices stopped, Franchello would have to face Edward directly. Half-terrified, he swung his sword wildly.

Fortunately, perhaps knowing his heart, the door was gradually becoming tattered. As a hole formed from the top where he had swung, he could see the light leaking from inside. Seeing hope, he swung his sword excitedly. As the hole grew larger with each strike, he could also see Marie’s face, tense as she looked at the door from inside.

Kwang-

Kwang-

Puk-

“Eum?”

The sensation was different. After cutting something hard, he felt the tip of his sword pierce something soft. Looking inside through the hole in the door, he saw a bed blocking the door. So that’s why it wouldn’t open. And on top of it… a gaunt, skeletal man was lying there, his stomach cut by his sword.

Franchello, flustered by the unexpected sight, soon realized that the surroundings were as silent as a graveyard. He couldn’t hear the screams or shouts of his subordinates as they faced Edward, nor the sound of swords clashing. He quickly drew his sword, assumed a defensive stance, and turned around.

Chaeng-

As if it had been timed perfectly, Edward’s sword strike flew in at the exact moment.

“Kueuk….”

“To attack my brother!”

In Franchello’s eyes, it looked as if Edward, enraged by the attack on his brother, was driving him back. Franchello, who was busy blocking the attacks, had his back against the completely broken door with nowhere else to retreat.

“You, you were the one who moved him there!”

“I did. But who breaks down a door so crudely?”

“Kueuk….”

Edward swung his sword relentlessly. In the narrow space between the hallway and the room, where it was difficult to even spread his arms, he gripped his sword in a half-sword grip and pressured Franchello with his increased strength. Eventually, Franchello, who had run out of strength from hacking at the door like firewood, dropped his sword.

As if the sword had been uncomfortable all along, Franchello, clenching his fists, took a fighting stance, but soon holes appeared in his chest and stomach from Edward’s stab. Franchello, losing strength, slumped down and said.

“I, I surrender….”

Puk-

And because of his lowered posture, the sword that had been aiming to pierce his chest went straight through his neck.

“Oops. Didn’t hear you.”