Chapter 86

Neutral Country Conference (6)

Her mind went blank.

The anger that flared up again, along with the bewilderment, overwhelmed Ashel, making her feel as if her mind was about to go dark.

'How... how could he...?'

How did he notice?

It was a dark night ten years ago, and they only met for a brief moment.

Ashel never thought he would recognize her, but it seemed she was wrong.

...No, none of that mattered.

Ashel quickly regained her composure. She glared at Changseong, who was looking at her with eyes filled with murderous intent.

His gaze was indifferent and cold, just like the look he had when he watched them from the cliff, a look that was still vivid in her memory.

The wind blew, and a moment of silence hung in the air on the terrace, where only the two of them stood.

"I thought you would have died eventually, but I didn't expect you to be alive and well."

His voice, tinged with a hint of displeasure, made Ashel clench her teeth.

"Do you... remember me?"

"Didn't I just say I did?"

"......"

"There was a troublesome Baegwol clan member who was quite fierce and hard to catch. I remember it clearly."

Changseong glanced at the banquet hall inside and continued.

"It seems you are now a bodyguard for one of the Seven Princes. Did you defect to Caldric for revenge?"

Ashel opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it.

She realized that her hand had subconsciously moved to the hilt of her sword.

Her Adam's apple bobbed as she swallowed the rising rage.

If she continued to talk to this guy, she felt she might lose control completely.

Ashel took several deep breaths and then moved away, not even glancing at Changseong.

Changseong looked at her with a strange expression and spoke again.

"Even with your clan's enemy right in front of you, you still have such a lukewarm attitude?"

Ashel ignored him and continued to move.

But his next words made her stop reflexively.

"So, you're still afraid for your life, huh? It's a pitiful but wise choice. Just keep running and don't catch my eye again."

Ashel turned to look at Changseong with a face contorted in rage.

Afraid for her life? Run?

What nonsense is he spouting now?

Unable to control her trembling body, she finally spoke.

"Shut up. You, I will kill you with my own hands someday."

Changseong snorted.

"Right, keep making excuses and run."

"I'm not running...!"

"Was the Baegwol clan member who was with you on the cliff your younger brother?"

The last thread of her sanity snapped.

"You abandoned your brother and ran then, and you're running again today. Your brother in the afterlife must be cursing you, calling you a coward."

"......!"

Ashel's entire body turned white.

A massive sword aura erupted from her sword, which she had drawn from its sheath.

Kwaang!

***

After Ashel left the terrace, Changseong, who had been sitting in a corner of the banquet hall, quietly got up and followed her to the terrace.

I was talking to the King of Earth Hill and frowned when I saw this.

'What is this?'

I excused myself and got up, feeling uneasy, though it could have been a coincidence.

My unease was justified.

As I walked to the terrace and heightened my senses, I could hear the two of them talking.

- So, you're still afraid for your life, huh?

- Was the Baegwol clan member who was with you on the cliff your younger brother?

- You abandoned your brother and ran then, and you're running again today. Your brother in the afterlife must be cursing you, calling you a coward.

I quickened my pace, my expression turning cold. But then,

Kwaang!

A massive surge of magical energy and an explosion.

Everyone in the banquet hall turned in shock.

As the smoke cleared, the two figures standing on the half-destroyed terrace came into view.

I inwardly sighed.

'Oh no...'

Ashel was standing there, her body glowing white, her racial trait activated.

She held her sword, her eyes bloodshot, and was emitting a fierce killing intent.

Changseong stood calmly in front of her, one hand extended, having just blocked her attack.

Knights quickly gathered to form a perimeter, and others moved away from the terrace.

I slowly approached the two of them.

"Ashel."

When I called her name, she glanced at me but quickly turned her gaze back to Changseong, glaring at him.

The Grand Prince, who had approached, tilted his head.

"What's going on? You're a bodyguard for one of the Seven Princes, right? What's all this commotion at a pleasant banquet?"

Changseong, who had been looking at me and the Grand Prince, withdrew his hand and said,

"I was just defending myself from an attack. It seems I've been misunderstood by this side."

I chuckled.

I had heard their entire conversation through my heightened senses, so I found it absurd.

How could he spout such nonsense after what he just said?

The Grand Prince, looking at Ashel, tilted his head.

"Hmm... Do you know, 7th Prince? From the look of it, she's not human but a Baegwol clan member."

The Grand Prince had never seen Ashel use her racial trait, so this was the first time he knew.

I had never told her to reveal it.

The people around us murmured.

"Baegwol clan? If she's a Baegwol clan member, then... she must be... from the Saintea Imperial Family...?"

"Right, the Saintea Imperial Family... ten years ago..."

No one present was unaware of the incident that had caused a stir in the empire at the time.

Even if he was a low-ranking prince, it was a major event for a member of the royal family to be executed under the name of the imperial family.

I looked around and then back at the two of them.

"The woman who attacked me is, as the Grand Prince said, a survivor of the Baegwol clan."

Changseong's voice silenced the commotion and echoed throughout the banquet hall.

"And the reason she attacked me is due to the grudge she holds against the Saintea Imperial Family. I understand that."

He then looked at Ashel and spoke in a respectful tone.

"As a member of the Five Stars of Saintea, I sincerely apologize for the past mistakes of the imperial family."

"......"

"But it was not the will of the imperial family, but a meticulously planned atrocity by the 5th Prince and his followers. They have already been punished under the strict justice of the imperial family. I understand your hatred towards the imperial family, but I am not the one who destroyed your clan."

Ashel's body trembled.

I was also completely taken aback by his despicable words.

Changseong was the main culprit who, under the emperor's orders, had directly wiped out Ashel's clan.

And now he was claiming he had no involvement.

The terrible massacre carried out by the imperial family that day was pinned entirely on the 5th Prince and his followers, who were then executed.

Only the emperor, Changseong, and Ashel, the sole survivor, knew the truth. And me, as the player of the game.

The emperor, who had quietly approached, was watching the situation with a calm but slightly surprised expression.

It seemed that Changseong's actions were not part of any plan with the emperor.

Changseong met the emperor's gaze and then continued.

"Survivor of the Baegwol clan, if you still wish to burn with such futile hatred, I will gladly accept it."

"......"

"I am willing to accept a formal duel. If your sword reaches me, I will gladly offer my head."

At that, I finally understood Changseong's purpose.

A duel.

He had provoked Ashel from the start with this in mind.

What was his goal? To take her life under the guise of a mistake?

Regardless, it was a transparent provocation that Ashel should not have fallen for.

But she already seemed to have lost half her sanity.

"Ashel, stop."

Ashel turned to look at me.

I was about to tell her not to fall for such an obvious provocation and that revenge could wait.

"I'm sorry, Ron."

"......"

"This time... just this once, please don't stop me."

Her voice, trembling with a mix of emotions, was precarious.

She turned her gaze back to Changseong, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

"I will challenge you to a duel, Changseong. I will cut off your head as you said."

The crowd murmured again, and Changseong looked at me.

"Will you allow it, 7th Prince? It will be a life-or-death duel. Swear that you will not interfere until a clear winner is decided."

"......"

The crowd's eyes turned to me.

The Grand Prince, as always, looked at Ashel and me with interest.

I sighed inwardly.

A duel between Ashel, level 82, and Changseong, level 91.

The outcome was already decided.

A 9-level difference at levels 80 and 90 was an insurmountable gap.

There was no way Ashel could defeat Changseong, one of the Five Stars.

From his words, it seemed he indeed wanted Ashel's life, as I had suspected.

But Ashel was already beyond reason.

This was the first time I had seen her emit such intense killing intent.

Her magical energy was unstable, and her hand on the sword hilt twitched, ready to strike at Changseong's neck at any moment.

...Should I stop this?

If I really wanted to, I could forcibly stop her.

There was no reason to allow a duel with a predetermined outcome. But...

"......"

I looked at Ashel's face again and decided not to.

For some reason, I felt that if I stopped this duel, she would go off the rails.

I had no choice but to nod.

"Fine."

Thus, the duel was set.

***

The duel took place in the training ground outside the banquet hall.

The only spectators were me, the Grand Prince, the emperor, and the kings of other neutral countries.

Ashel and Changseong stood facing each other in the center of the training ground.

Changseong held a spear longer than his own height in one hand.

He then said to Ashel,

"I'll let you have the first move."