"Father! Sister Iris, are you done talking?"
Alexia cautiously asked the two of them.
"Alexia?"
"You've been waiting outside the door all this time?"
Seeing her sister, Iris's furrowed brows softened.
No matter how troubled she was, whenever Iris saw her sister, she would set her worries aside and treat her younger sister with tenderness.
Because she had secretly vowed to protect both this nation and her sister.
They were what she was meant to safeguard.
"Mhm!"
Alexia nodded slightly, showing a cute smile.
Seeing her sister's smile, Iris felt as if the gloom in her heart had been completely swept away.
"Silly girl, why did you wait for us here?"
"Weren't you told to go back?"
A light smile appeared on Iris's face as she ruffled her sister's hair.
Hearing this, Alexia replied softly:
"I just wanted to see when you were going to duel with them!"
"Duel?"
Hearing her sister's words, Iris looked puzzled.
"Yes! Aren't you going to duel now?"
"After all, he said he's not afraid of Sister Iris's sword!"
"So Sister Iris must defeat him, to prove that your sword is the strongest!"
Alexia spoke to her sister with unwavering confidence.
Listening to her sister's words, Iris felt somewhat helpless inside.
She didn't know how to explain to Alexia that their relationship with Yuki was now one of superior and subordinate.
Seeing this, the King's face darkened, and he was about to scold his younger daughter.
However, Yuki stopped him.
With a light raise of his hand from Yuki, the King swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue.
"It seems little Alexia has great confidence in her sister!"
"Well then, since that's the case, I'll go ahead and make a fool of myself. Let you see how I defeat your sister!"
Yuki smiled slightly, then made the decision to have a sparring match with Iris.
"Hmph! My sister will definitely beat you!"
Hearing this, Alexia gave a proud snort.
"Having confidence is a good thing."
A faint smile appeared on Yuki's face. He then asked Iris to lead him to a suitable area for sparring.
After walking for about ten minutes, under their guidance, Yuki and the others arrived at an open training ground within the palace.
Here, Yuki and Iris stood facing each other, ready to begin a swordsmanship duel.
As for Iris, though she had been somewhat inexplicably pressured by her sister into fighting Yuki, a spark of curiosity had indeed ignited in her heart—curiosity about Yuki's strength.
Like what she had heard from her father earlier, she was half-believing, half-doubting.
So now was a perfect opportunity to witness his strength firsthand.
Iris held her greatsword, adopting a battle stance.
"Mr. Yuki, what about your weapon?"
Seeing Yuki empty-handed, Iris frowned.
"Oh! I almost forgot."
Hearing Iris's words, a light smile appeared on Yuki's face.
With a wave of his hand, an invisible force broke a branch from a nearby tree, sending it floating into his grasp.
"Since it's a swordsmanship duel, naturally, I should use a sword!"
Holding a single branch in one hand, Yuki stood facing Iris like that.
Both Iris and Alexia were stunned by Yuki's action.
"You... you intend to use that as a sword?!"
Iris felt a sense of being belittled, and an unnamed anger began to well up in her heart.
Yuki, however, nodded nonchalantly.
"Of course."
"Hey! Is your companion an idiot? Using a fragile branch as a sword?"
Seeing this, Alexia couldn't help but frown as she asked Akane, who was also a spectator.
But Akane shook her head.
"That's because you've never seen Yuki-kun's true strength."
"Because once you truly understand his real power, even seeing him empty-handed, you'd know he's certain to win."
A light of indescribable emotion flickered in Akane's eyes, filled with admiration and something else as she looked at the man not far away.
Hearing this, Alexia found it rather baffling.
She withdrew her gaze, carefully observing Yuki.
Yet no matter how she looked, she couldn't see any special, decisive trait in him that would matter in a fight.
The only unique thing, if anything, was that he was very handsome.
"It feels like I'm being humiliated!"
Iris's tone deepened, her gaze fixed intently on Yuki.
"Heh, not at all."
"Because if I really wanted to humiliate you, I'd choose to stand perfectly still and duel you without using my hands or feet."
Yuki shrugged, stating the honest truth.
Hearing this, Iris could hold back no longer.
If she were to be defeated like that, she'd probably feel like dying.
"Ha!"
With a shout, Iris raised her sword and swiftly thrust towards Yuki.
Yuki remained where he was, motionless. Only when Iris's sword was about to strike did he lean slightly to the left, evading the attack.
Swish—!
A sound cutting through the air swept towards Iris.
Iris halted her steps, her pupils trembling, her face filled with shock as she swallowed hard.
Her eyes slowly drifted downward, only to find Yuki's branch already resting against her neck.
Iris hadn't even had time to react before being completely countered.
If this were a real battle, and that weren't a branch but a sharp blade... her head would have already been severed.
"H... how is this possible?!" x2
Both Iris and the spectator Alexia voiced their disbelief simultaneously.
"There's nothing impossible about it."
Yuki slowly moved the branch away from Iris's neck, speaking with a light chuckle.
"At that moment just now, how many times do you think I could have struck you?"
Upon hearing this, Iris's body trembled slightly, but she still refused to believe.
She swung her sword at Yuki once more.
This time, she gripped her sword with both hands and slashed down at Yuki from above.
Yuki remained as calm and composed as ever, appearing utterly unruffled. Just as Iris thought she had succeeded, the sword came down with force, but Yuki's figure scattered like a blurred shadow.
"Too slow."
Yuki's voice suddenly sounded from behind Iris.
When she whirled around, she found Yuki wasn't pointing any weapon at her.
A look of confusion crossed Iris's face, but then she noticed Yuki's gaze slightly lowering towards her.
Iris looked down and saw countless marks scratched across her clothes.
The color of those marks matched the branch in Yuki's hand, clearly all from his attacks.
In just an instant, without her even noticing, he had left so many marks on her.
This clearly confirmed what Yuki had said earlier.
"I've lost."
Iris gave up completely.
She knew she had lost utterly and completely.
From that first strike at her throat, she had already lost.
A faint smile touched Yuki's lips as he casually tossed the branch aside.
"Your swordsmanship is actually quite good. But you're bound by what's in your heart, causing you to remain stagnant."
"To advance further, you must break those shackles to truly grow."
After leaving these words, Yuki turned and walked away, heading towards Akane's side.
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