"You worked hard, Coton."

"No, I can’t call it hard work. This is what I should be doing."

In the kingdom delegation’s dedicated VIP lounge, Milne patted the shoulder of the victorious Coton in approval, displaying the breadth of mind and consideration of someone in power.

Sure enough, gratitude showed on Coton’s face.

"To think it took me this long to defeat my opponent... I’ve truly made Your Highness lose face."

"You already did very well. And if we’re talking about losing face..."

From the corner of his eye, Milne glanced behind him, a chill flashing through his gaze.

Over there, Teacher Hertz was personally treating Baror, who lay on a crude sickbed wrapped up like a zongzi.

Ka. Ka-ka.

The sound of bone grinding against bone kept echoing through the room, and paired with the miserable wailing of that burly man over two meters tall, it was terrifyingly eerie.

—This was Teacher Hertz setting dozens upon dozens of bones Baror had been smashed apart back into place one by one. If the bones weren’t set, treatment was impossible, not to mention that some of those bones had even stabbed straight into his internal organs.

"That woman named Ariel... she hit way too hard."

Coton frowned. He normally got along quite well with Baror; they were friends who could go out together to find some fun. And precisely because of that, he not only knew what kind of women Baror liked, he also knew what Baror’s real strength was like.

If the terrain were flat, with no obstacles or cover, then it would be hard for him to be Baror’s match. Baror’s physical body was so brutal that in a frontal clash he was always difficult to deal with. If you didn’t rely on terrain to circle, wear him down, and stall, very few people could face that kind of humanoid beast head-on.

But... someone just happened to face him head-on, and with nothing but a pair of fists—no fancy tricks—smashed him into this in three minutes. The more you understood Baror, the more you would feel fear toward that flat-chested woman named Ariel.

"Misjudged it."

When the first stage of treatment ended, Teacher Hertz let out a sigh. His expression was equally grave as he said, "I didn’t expect there to still be this kind of monster among the empire’s younger generation—and we’d barely even heard of her before."

No matter how confident the kingdom delegation was this time, it was impossible for them to come challenge the empire with their eyes closed, so they had long since collected quite a bit of information on this tournament’s participants.

But precisely because of that, they hadn’t expected that a second-year at Saint Maria Academy—a woman with no real reputation before, supposedly the illegitimate daughter of some fallen noble family—would flip their cart in the first round.

"This is pretty much within expectations, isn’t it?" Milne said. "It is the empire, after all. If it were really that easy to bully at will, we wouldn’t have to work this hard scheming for that position."

"That’s true. It’s normal for the empire’s side to have one or two unbelievable young people." Teacher Hertz stroked his beard, just about to pivot as usual and praise his proudest disciple—

When the door suddenly opened, and another figure walked in, cutting him off.

It was Sevier. After Coton, she had been the one to go on stage against the empire’s side.

"How was it?" Milne asked.

"A narrow win."

Leaning against the wall, Sevier slowly drew out her bloodstained longsword and carefully wiped it down with a handkerchief.

"It wasn’t a narrow win." Milne smiled, glancing at the clock on the wall. "You were on stage for only a little over ten minutes. A narrow win would take more time than that."

"It was only because the other side was careless." Sevier shook her head in humility. "Saint Maria Academy isn’t living off a false reputation. I looked relaxed, but in reality I’d almost already used my full strength."

"You’ve become humble."

"I’ve just become cautious."

"But no matter what, after Baror, we won." Teacher Hertz said with visible satisfaction. "That shows the only one the empire has that needs attention is that Ariel. Everyone else’s strength is still within our expected range, not worth worrying about."

"What about Muen Campbell? Maybe he’s very strong too!" Coton blinked, asking curiously as if it were a joke.

Teacher Hertz didn’t respond to him. He looked at Milne instead and asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

"We will win."

Milne had watched the entire match where Ariel crushed Baror for three minutes straight, but he was still extremely confident.

Because in his view, he himself could also deal with Baror within three minutes.

No—he could do it even faster.

"Whether it’s Muen Campbell or that so-called Ariel, I’ll trample them under my feet!"

Milne’s cold gaze flickered, releasing a frightening aura.

They were clearly all the same age, yet it was as if there were an invisible chasm between him and Coton, Sevier, and Baror.

A chasm called strength, and the very source of his confidence.

"Your Highness, that isn’t quite right to say."

Realizing he’d misspoken, Coton hurriedly drew his neck in and gave an awkward laugh. "From the rumors I’ve been hearing lately, that Muen Campbell might even make it so the next opponents—"

Coton’s words hadn’t even finished.

With a bang, the lounge door was suddenly slammed open.

A disheveled figure stumbled in, almost rolling and crawling as he squeezed into the room. The heavy stench of blood nearly overwhelmed even Baror, who had just suffered grievous injuries.

"Art?"

After recognizing that weak figure covered in bloody grime, Teacher Hertz reacted first. He flashed to his side, magic surging, and instantly drove several healing spells into his body.

But the bloodstains on him seemed to come alive, writhing as they continuously eroded his flesh. The more they felt the healing magic, the more frenzied they became. Teacher Hertz had to expend tremendous effort just to barely stabilize Art’s condition before he started working to remove those strange bloodstains. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"This damned stuff... what the hell is going on? Art, who did this to you!"

Teacher Hertz was shocked and furious. Art was the one on their side scheduled to go up later against Muen Campbell. If Art could directly defeat Muen Campbell—without even needing Milne to step in—then for their plan, it would undoubtedly be a huge help.

But the match hadn’t even started, and he’d already been beaten into this state?

Who was so brazen? This was practically slapping their kingdom in the face!

"It was... it was a ridiculous pink monster bear."

Art panted, his voice weak. "I ran into him outside. I saw that bastard actually selling gossip pamphlets slandering Senior Sevier. I couldn’t stand it and wanted to stop him, and then... then I got beaten into this."

"Gossip?" Sevier frowned. She knew Art getting beaten into this state definitely wasn’t as simple as “stopping” him, but her focus was elsewhere. "What gossip?"

"He actually slandered that you, Senior Sevier, have something going on with that Muen Campbell!"

As soon as he got to this, Art—who had looked half-dead—nearly bounced off the floor, fuming.

"He even smeared it as you throwing yourself at him! How could that be possible! Someone as pure as you, Senior Sevier—how could you like a playboy like Muen Campbell? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! That guy has nothing but a pretty face—Senior Sevier, are you the kind of person who only looks at faces?!"

Sevier: "..."

"Enough." Milne glanced at Sevier, soothed Art back down, and asked, "Are you sure the other side only attacked you for that reason? Not because of some other factor—deliberately guiding you?"

"Th-That..." Art froze for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "Back then I was so angry I blacked out, and I didn’t think that much before I... Sorry, Your Highness. I caused you trouble."

"Hmph, you know you caused trouble!" Teacher Hertz’s emotions—only just calmed a little—flared up again. The goal hadn’t been achieved yet, and their side already had two people seriously injured. This kind of accident had reached the point of making him uneasy.

"You, of all people, are usually so steady. Why would you fall for something like this?"

"I..." Art also sneaked a glance at Sevier, a hint of shyness on his face.

He didn’t say a word, but everyone knew what he meant, and everyone pretended they didn’t see it.

"Enough. At this point, saying more is useless." Milne motioned for Art to rest, then looked Teacher Hertz in the eye. "Teacher, what do you think?"

"It looks exactly like a pure accident, but that pink bear Art mentioned... that should be referring to Her Majesty the empress’s great-uncle, shouldn’t it? His seniority in the imperial family is quite high, and his strength isn’t weak either. And it’s said he has a fetish for mascot suits—he likes to wear that ridiculous costume and wander around. It matches Art’s description very well."

"But... Her Majesty’s great-uncle—why would he fabricate gossip about people and even sell it?"

"It’s rumored that Pink Bear is extremely unreliable. Even the late emperor had no way to deal with him. He’s done plenty of outrageous things."

"But outrageous and stupid aren’t the same thing." Milne pondered. "Besides, a dignified great-uncle doesn’t lack money. No matter how outrageous, it wouldn’t get to the point of specially selling this kind of thing. Isn’t he afraid of embarrassing the imperial family?"

"You mean..." Teacher Hertz’s eyes narrowed, cold light flashing. His expression immediately turned solemn. "He did it on purpose?"

"I heard his relationship with Muen Campbell is very good?"

"Possible. Before, when Muen Campbell was involved in colluding with an Evil God, it’s said he was the one who came forward to defend him, and that matter ended up fizzling out. Looks like he put in quite a bit of effort there as well. And the Saintess Trials half a year ago, he was the one who escorted—"

As Teacher Hertz followed Milne’s logic, he suddenly stopped, realizing something.

"You mean... he did this to help Muen Campbell, so that’s why he did it?"

"All I can say is... it’s possible." Milne let out a cold laugh. "It links together so naturally. It’s the most likely of possibilities!"

"That’s not right!" Sevier suddenly interrupted. "Muen Campbell has no reason to do this!"

In Sevier’s view, with Muen’s strength, he simply wasn’t afraid of an Art who couldn’t even beat her, so there was absolutely no need to take such a roundabout approach—

"Sigh, Sevier, little cousin, I know that because of the Holy City trial, you have quite a favorable impression of Muen Campbell." Milne turned back, advising her in the tone of an elder brother. "But how long have you spent with Muen Campbell? What do you actually understand about him?"

"..." Sevier fell silent.

Yes. Even she had to admit she didn’t actually understand Muen Campbell.

Even that feeling she had for Muen Campbell—most of it was only because back then, when he saved her, she was drawn in by his handsomeness.

She didn’t have the right to refute him.

"What do we do next?" Teacher Hertz asked, looking straight at his disciple. "With such despicable methods, we might as well expose it—"

"No. With no evidence—just like the previous matter of Muen Campbell having affairs with other women—if we blurt out this kind of thing, it’ll only make Her Majesty think we’re trying to sow discord within the imperial family. It’ll backfire."

"Hmph, they’re probably counting on that, that’s why they’re so fearless. Absolutely hateful!"

"Maybe."

"Then what next? Your Highness, how do you plan to pay back this humiliation?"

"By the rules."

"Your Highness means...?"

"Heh, Teacher, why don’t you think carefully. Their ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) method—aside from maliciously stirring up our emotions—does it really have any practical use?"

"This..." Teacher Hertz fell into thought again. "If Your Highness can win, then no."

"Yes. No." Milne smiled with contempt. "So what if Muen Campbell uses these petty tricks to scrape past this round? As long as the match continues, he’ll eventually fall into my hands... or into one of our hands. There’s no difference."

"Even more, calculating everything only to end up with nothing at the end—that conclusion will make him look even more ridiculous."

A bell rang out from the arena. That meant it was Milne’s turn to go on stage.

His gaze swept across the entire venue, finally landing on that empress-exclusive room with one-way light. With a hint of mockery, he muttered to himself, "Heh, Muen Campbell, and Her Majesty the empress—next, open your eyes wide and watch carefully... who is the most valuable person here!"

...

...

The empress’s VIP room.

"Ah, I have to get up."

"Mmm... no."

"Looks like that seventeenth prince is going on stage. You don’t want to watch?"

"Not interested. Keep sleeping."

"Alright..."

Muen hugged the soft, fragrant beauty in his arms and shifted into a comfortable position.

"Then keep sleeping..."