“Open and aboveboard? What a joke!”
William gritted his teeth in fury.
To him, a person who couldn’t even wield a sword properly winning was the greatest insult imaginable.
“William, don’t you get it yet?” Wesley scolded sharply. “Have you ever seen anyone stand behind the Princess and take orders from her directly? Either this Rita offered the Princess more benefits than all of us combined, or she was the Princess’s own person from the start.”
Wesley actually had more of his own analysis he didn’t voice.
If the Princess had made them meet Rita before today’s contest, then everyone’s defeat could be attributed to the Princess’s overwhelming authority.
But now, even if Rita’s victory wasn’t entirely aboveboard, her first win had nothing to do with the Princess.
It was completely down to her own cunning.
But if you can’t even see through a little trickery, then what right do you have to be a Holy Knight!
The only possible explanation was that she had shown more “sincerity.”
Gathering everyone in this special room, then calling Rita out for a quick appearance before letting everyone leave — there had to be ulterior motives behind it.
“Let’s go, William.” Wesley pulled his son’s hand and led the way toward the door.
“But, Father…” William didn’t want to leave but dared not disobey.
“Trust me, it’s not that simple.”
Wesley had come partly to demand an explanation, but that alone wouldn’t make his son a Holy Knight.
He knew how to prioritize.
“Wait, everyone.”
At Cecilia’s voice, William’s eyes lit up. “Father, how did you know—”
Wesley said nothing but wore a proud smile.
His smile lasted only until Cecilia finished speaking.
“I burned the gift list. I can’t even tell whose things are whose now. Find it yourselves and take it back.”
The next day, the news had already spread throughout the city.
“Did you hear? During the Holy Knight trial, there was a candidate named Rita who didn’t even draw her sword yesterday—she just kicked her opponents out one by one.”
“What? Seriously? That’s so arrogant. I already heard there was a setup in this trial, but how dare she?”
“Hey, you don’t know. She’s under the Princess’s protection. Even the Mipo Guild and the Old Bird Post were bribed by her!”
“Right, last night someone saw those people leaving the Lord Mayor’s mansion with piles of gold and silver, several times! She’s filthy rich!”
“The Lord Mayor’s mansion?! Not only is she protected by the Princess, but she lives in the Lord Mayor’s mansion? Who exactly is this Rita?”
Thankfully, most people didn’t pay attention to the chaos from the assassination attempt on the Princess on the first day—starting with Rita—otherwise, rumors would have spiraled out of control.
At the candidates’ seats.
Vulfis held back a laugh, tilting her head to look at Rita, who sat not far away with her whole face buried in her knees.
“Sis! You’re famous now!”
“Go away!” Rita lifted her head, full of grief and anger, waving Vulfis off. “Do you think I wanted this?”
“You sneaked through yesterday, what about today, sis?”
“What to do? Keep sneaking through.”
“Don’t you have to show some real skill?”
“Do I look like someone with real skill?”
“Yeah, you do.”
While the two joked, today’s contest officially began.
It was still a tournament format, with rules similar to yesterday’s, except it was now one-on-one.
Vulfis went on long before Rita but finished much faster.
As soon as Vulfis’s opponent drew their weapon, Vulfis shouted and jumped out of the ring, leaving a confused judge and opponent behind as she walked back to the audience.
Rita seriously doubted what Vulfis was up to.
Those allowed on stage had to have proof of qualification.
Except for some planted candidates meant to lose, no one with proof would just not want to become a Holy Knight.
But Vulfis neither seemed like a planted candidate—she performed far too poorly—nor like someone who actually wanted to be a Holy Knight.
By the time Rita’s turn came, it was already past noon.
“Match 33, Rita versus Grom! Enter the arena!”
Rita slowly stood from her seat, walking step by step toward the arena.
At the sound of her name, the silent candidate seats immediately buzzed with whispers.
Not everyone had watched yesterday’s matches; many wanted to see what Rita actually looked like.
With so many eyes watching, Rita felt as if her heart was about to jump out of her throat.
Her racing heartbeat wasn’t just from nerves.
After everything ended last night, Cecilia had called Rita over and said, “You did well today, but I hope you won’t win in ways that cause misunderstandings anymore.”
The problem was, she had already been misunderstood, and deeply so!
Thinking about what would happen next, Rita knew these misunderstandings would only deepen, possibly even implicating Cecilia.
That was why her heart was pounding so fast!
But it also felt quite thrilling, like a rush from playing a daring game.
Everyone, right now I am doing something greedily selfish.
Pah, pah, pah, what am I thinking! Hurry up and get this over with!
She didn’t even remember how she got to the center of the arena.
When she came to, she was standing alone.
No opponent.
“Candidate Grom! Please enter the arena immediately!”
The judge shouted again.
The candidates looked at each other, but no one stood up.
“Grom Red!”
Still no one stood or answered.
The murmur-filled arena suddenly turned as silent as death for some reason, as if the air itself had frozen.
Rita stood there all alone, looking completely out of place.
No one would give up on a Holy Knight trial for no reason, even Vulfis had entered the arena before conceding.
This was clearly abnormal!
“Grom is absent. This match is over!”
The judge’s voice was like a spark lighting a fuse, igniting the entire crowd.
“What’s this about?”
“He barely showed up yesterday, today he’s not even bothering to perform!”
“Right, I saw people from the Red Family leaving with a ton of gifts last night. Maybe…”
“Such blatant corruption!”
Rita opened her eyes wide, saluted the three chief examiners with a hand over her chest, then made a heart sign toward the audience, hopping back to the candidate seats and leaving chaos behind.
Exciting!
When I told Vulfis to keep sneaking through, I meant sneak through literally!
At the examiners’ table, Cecilia sketched a few strokes with her pen. “Let’s score this round according to the lowest base score for the winner. Any objections?”
Even the lowest score should theoretically be higher than half the candidates, unless there was a legendary, noble defeat in a battle.
Otherwise, a loss is a loss.
“No objections,” Angus replied, though he remained somewhat doubtful.
“If the Princess says so, then so be it.” Dorothea crossed her arms with a cold glance. “I wonder what kind of little trick she pulled.”
“Indeed,” Cecilia agreed, her voice unusually tinged with amusement. “What kind of little trick, I wonder?”