TFM 85

Chapter 85

***

Immediately afterward, a thunderous roar shook the training ground.

Lucas exhaled deeply, releasing the breath he had been holding.

Varkas pulled his halberd from the man’s chest and turned his horse around.

As the glowing light illuminated his striking features, the crowd’s cheers grew even louder. Lucas scanned the faces of the warriors, flushed red with excitement, before turning his gaze back to Varkas.

Amidst all the commotion, the man appeared utterly serene.

With an expressionless face that seemed to betray a hint of boredom, Varkas crossed the training ground and leaped down from his saddle.

“Find out if there are any other capable men in the Gutvan family.”

Handing his weapon to a servant who had rushed over, Barkas issued an order to Daren.

“If there is no suitable heir, you may look among the vassals for another candidate capable of managing the southeastern region.”

“Well… there is a fairly capable warrior among his half-brothers. "

Daren replied in a trembling voice.

“He was originally supposed to join the Wolfram Spear Knights… but… I hear he attended the Academy in the capital, so he should be capable of fulfilling the role of a lord.”

Varkas removed his iron gauntlets and handed them to the attendant, then lightly stroked his lips with a pensive expression.

“Bring him before me as soon as possible. If I deem him suitable, we’ll hold the investiture ceremony immediately.”

Just then, two attendants removed the heavy breastplate from his chest. Feeling lighter, Varkas immediately cut through the crowd and approached him.

Lucas instinctively took a step back. Then, as the woman he was holding onto staggered as if about to fall, he instinctively grabbed her waist.

In that moment, his head grew hot.

Her waist was so slender that it fit comfortably in his hands, even though he hadn’t yet finished growing. Moreover, her skin, which glowed white even in the darkness, gave off a sweet scent he had never smelled before.

What on earth is that smell?

Before he knew it, he was leaning his face toward the nape of her neck and sniffing, but with a sharp slap, his cheek burned.

Lucas covered his face with a dazed expression.

The woman who had pushed him away glared at him with eyes full of anger and shouted.

“What the hell are you doing, you perverted little brat!”

“P-pervert?”

He opened his mouth in shock.

“I was just trying to catch you before you fell…!”

“If you were catching me from falling, why were you sniffing me?”

Lucas’s face turned bright red. As she gave him a look of contempt, an intense wave of shame—something he had never felt before—swept over him.

With a look of indignation, he raised his voice.

“I just noticed a strange smell coming from your body……!”

At that, a burning heat spread across his other cheek. Lucas stumbled backward.

What kind of woman is this?

He was no stranger to bruises all over his body from rigorous training, but he had never been struck in the face like this by anyone in his life.

Frowning with humiliation, he glared at the woman. Just as he was about to snap at her, Raina rushed over and roughly shoved the woman aside.

“How dare you lay a hand on anyone’s face! You witch!”

Thanks to the powerful arm strength honed by horseback riding, the woman’s body fell backward like a sheet of paper. Lucas, who had been fuming, reflexively reached out.

Just as he was about to catch her, a long arm snatched the woman away. Lucas looked up in surprise.

Varkas, who had suddenly appeared right before him, was holding her in his arms and looking down at him with a cold gaze.

“……It seems everyone needs to relearn the basic rules.”

Varkas muttered coldly, then turned to the deathly pale Raina and added.

“Both of you are forbidden from riding horses for the time being.”

“B-but that’s impossible………………!”

Turning his back on the protesting Raina, Varcas issued an order to Daren.

“Assign a strict tutor to those two. Don’t let them set foot outside the castle until they’ve mastered proper etiquette.”

Without waiting for Daren’s reply, he set off toward the castle.

As he walked away, the warriors’ enthusiastic cheers followed him. It seemed that most of the Easterners, who worshipped strength, were completely captivated by him.

In contrast, the servants, seemingly frightened by the extraordinary martial prowess he had displayed, were muttering prayers or making the sign of the cross. The nobles, too, were engaged in a heated debate over the next leader’s radical actions.

Leaving all that commotion behind, the man calmly walked out of the hall.

Raina, who had been watching his retreating figure with bated breath, blurted out a belated protest.

“This is so unfair!”

She looked around as if seeking agreement.

“That woman is the cause of this commotion! So why do we have to be the ones punished?”

Lucas left his younger sister, who was on the verge of tears, and stepped into the center of the chaotic training ground.

The soldiers who had been clearing away Alec Gutvan’s body instinctively made way for him. Kneeling beside the charred corpse, Lucas scrutinized his brother’s handiwork.

The dead man appeared to have been pierced straight through the heart. Thick, sticky blood was oozing from inside the mangled breastplate, and brain matter was slowly seeping from the skull, which looked as though it had been crushed when it slammed into the ground.

When the soldiers completely stripped off the crushed helmet, they revealed wide, white eyes and thick lips lathered with blood.

The end of the man who, just this morning, had been hailed as the strongest spearman in the East was truly pitiful.

“He was just big—guess his skills were nothing to write home about.”

“That can’t be.”

Tyron, who had approached him, shook his head with a wry smile.

“This is a man who, as a teenager, took down a troll with his bare fists, without a weapon. He was a warrior who possessed not only that brutal brute strength but also exceptional skill. No one would have ever imagined this man would meet such a meaningless end.”

Lucas looked up at Tyron with a worried expression.

“Won’t this cause a problem?”

“It was a duel accepted by both sides. If they make an issue of it, the Gutvan family will become the laughingstock of everyone.”

He replied indifferently.

“Besides, although it was the young lord who proposed the duel, I’ve heard it was this man who first challenged his authority. No one will be able to blame the Shiokan family for this outcome.”

Tyron, who had spoken so decisively, gazed thoughtfully at the gathering of nobles.

“However, there might be some discord among the lords.”

Lucas followed his gaze toward the head table. The local nobles seemed flustered by the fact that the administrator of the southeastern region had been replaced overnight.

Tyron, watching the murmuring nobles, added with a sigh.

“The succession ceremony might be brought forward. To resolve all this chaos, we’ll need a powerful Grand Duke.”

***

“Why are you so angry?”

Talia, who had been sitting hunched on the edge of the bed with a sullen expression, finally couldn’t hold back any longer and demanded an answer.

Varkas didn’t respond, instead walking over to the shelf and rummaging through the display case. He appeared as calm as ever. But Talia could easily tell that his mood had hit rock bottom. He had returned to the room without saying a word and hadn’t even glanced at her.

It was absurd. She was the one who should be angry. Wasn’t it this man who had stormed off without even pretending to listen to her?

Talia glared at him with a fierce look.

As the image of that monstrous man charging at Varkas flashed through her mind, a chill ran through her body and her stomach twisted in agony.

The events that unfolded after that failed to shock her in the slightest. She simply felt like thanking God that he was safe.

At the same time, she wanted to beat the living daylights out of this man who had made her heart race so. If her legs hadn’t been trembling so badly she was on the verge of collapsing, she would have run straight over and acted on that impulse.

***

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