Three Years Ago (4)

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She thought as she clicked her tongue under her veil in annoyance and since no one would notice her rude remarks as she still wears her hood then, she just let it be.

After the clarification has been made, Scarlette and Jeffrey get ready for the battle.

Since the Marquis requested to have a serious match with her, the crimson-haired woman wouldn't be polite then.

When the bell starts, Jeffrey was about to make the first charge when the woman charges forward as well but without a second thought, she disappeared in his sight.

At that point, Jeffrey caught off guard because of the mysterious woman's sudden disappearance in front of him but managed to calm himself as he perceive his eyes around the stage and feel her presence.

'Where is she?! I couldn't feel her presence at all! It's as if she deliberately erased her traces within the surrounding area!'

At the same time, the spectators who were watching the match couldn't help but to shocked as they also looked around to find the traces of the mysterious woman, but no one managed to find her at all.

"Where did she disappear from?!"

"Even Marquis Middleton was also bewildered at that moment but managed to school down his expression as he looked around within the stage for that woman's presence."

"Who is she, anyway? A strong adventurer or mercenary, perhaps?"

"Hey, have you all noticed something about that mysterious woman?"

"What is it?"

"I don't know if I'm hallucinating or what, but I noticed her wooden sword had some faint sense of Aura emitting on it…"

"What?! Are you saying that the mysterious woman wield the [Aura Blade Manifestation] that only Swordmasters could have done it?!

"You're joking, right? Are you telling us that she is also a Swordmaster?! Even though she wears a hood, and no one had seen her appearance but for me, she looks practically young! For sure that young woman isn't even in her 20's!

"Have you guys forgotten that the Marquis became a Swordmaster not even in his 20's?"

"For the love of Nexus'…! Don't tell me… there is another Swordmaster in this Empire?!"

"Possibly…"

On the other side, the few spectators who had known Scarlette could only look at each other as if they were talking telepathically and remained quiet as they watched the fight in front of them.

Because of the heated discussion that's happening right now, on the high platform where the Emperor and the Crown Prince resides, watch the fight calmly but on their thoughts, they mentally sigh.

"She really… didn't hold herself back…"

The Crown Prince said anxiously while chuckling a little bit.

"Yeah, she did it. She kept her words."

The Emperor said as he sighed in frustration and the Crown Prince chuckled more because of how stressed his Royal Father was right now.

"Hahaha! Let's just watch and see what happens. Also, we need to make sure that she won't be exposed that much, and you know that she isn't quite fond of anything troublesome, right?"

The Crown Prince said, and the Emperor snorted as he said sarcastically; "Yeah, right. She isn't fond of anything that seems troublesome and yet, it looks like trouble always follows her in every way."

After that, both the father and son continued to watch the match right now.

...…

....

......….

Back on the center stage, Jeffrey were still looking around to find any traces of the mysterious woman, but it seems like he couldn't detect her, no matter how much he tried.

However, as he continued to find her, in a split second, he didn't expect this to happen.

His sword's scabbard that he wielded as a substitute for his real sword went flying in the air and dropped on the ground.

Not only that, he felt the tip of the wooden sword on his neck but for him, it feels like a sharpened blade that's ready to be pierced on it, if this were an actual battle and not a sparring match.

"You lose."

Jeffrey heard the cold voice of the mysterious woman who just suddenly appeared behind his back, with her wooden sword pointed through his neck.

After that, silence had reign within the crowd as they didn't expect for the mysterious woman to suddenly showed up behind the Marquis' back and pointed her wooden sword through his neck.

Although there is no bloodshed that happened but for the audience who watch the entire match, they could feel that oppressive feeling coming from them, especially to that mysterious woman who seems like an ordinary person but different at the same time.

Since the Marquis lost his weapon, it means that the mysterious woman wins this round.

Jeffrey, on the other hand, was still in a daze for a couple of minutes but afterwards, he regained himself when he noticed that he wasn't holding his scabbard anymore.

'W-what in the…?! I didn't see that coming! J-just where did she appeared…?!'

At that point, the Marquis snapped from his daze as he chuckled and raised his both hands to surrender.

"Okay, I surrender for this round."

The Marquis surrendered and Scarlette withdraw her sword and move step backwards to give space for the man to regain himself from that fight.

"There is still another round so I won't lose this time."

Jeffrey said as he composed himself and Scarlette sighed in frustration as she walked out of the stage but before she went out her way, she looked at the host.

"I forfeit in this match. I won't be battling in the next round."

After she said that, she walked down but before she could do that, someone stopped her from leaving the stage and she knew who it was, and the crimson-haired woman didn't bother to looked behind her back and could only said; "Is there anything else, Marquis Middleton?"

When Jeffrey heard what the mysterious woman said, he didn't understand what came to him as he just grabs the woman's arm to stop her from leaving.

After he snapped himself back, he immediately withdrew his hand from her, and felt his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. If other spectators had noticed his reddened cheeks, they didn't comment and just pretended that they didn't see anything.

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