Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

I moistened my throat with water and wrapped my wrist with the bandage Sister Serine had procured.

Someone’s shadow fell over me as I did so.

Looking up, I saw the prince, my final opponent, smiling in front of me.

Auburn hair and gentle golden eyes. He was a prince with a support base even in the Carven Kingdom where public sentiment was not good.

That’s what other participants had said.

He extended his hand to me, offering a handshake.

“From the moment I saw your first match, I thought you’d make it to the finals. I look forward to our last match.”

I dazedly shook the hand of the prince, who seemed unusually friendly.

“Yes, I look forward to it too.”

The three matches the prince had fought were all speed battles.

A speed so fast it was almost invisible to the ordinary eye.

That was the prince’s weapon.

‘He has a similar specialty to mine.’

But if I win this match, I’ll get the green sword.

I reminded myself once again that the green sword had the special ability to absorb and store magic, and that was the only way to save me.

I turned my gaze from the prince who had left for the arena first, and spoke to Sister Serine who was looking at me with worried eyes.

“Don’t worry, Sister. I’ll win no matter what happens.”

When I smiled brightly, Sister Serine’s face, which had been stiff with tension, relaxed.

But soon she grabbed my hand and said:

“Still, be careful. That person doesn’t seem as nice as he appears.”

“What do you mean…?”

As I looked up at Sister with a puzzled expression, a loud voice called me from outside.

“Next, Miss Jen, who showed us an excellent match earlier, please enter!”

I had to leave Sister Serine behind with my unresolved question.

“I’ll be back, Sister.”

As I walked towards the arena, I could occasionally hear voices cheering for me.

However, the majority of voices were cheering for their country’s prince.

“Prince Alex!”

“Prince, may you win!”

“Please become the sword of our kingdom!”

The prince’s popularity wasn’t this high in the first match.

There were clearly views that saw him only as a member of the corrupt royal family.

However, as he went through one match, then two, and finally reached the finals, public sentiment towards Prince Alex gradually changed.

The presence of the second prince, which had been overshadowed by the misdeeds of the first prince who only caused trouble day after day, became prominent.

Experiencing this firsthand, I felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu rising.

What if all of this was a show prepared by the royal family?

What if it was a ploy to turn around the public sentiment that had turned its back and establish a popular crown prince like Arzenluka of Greffin?

What if they had prepared such a political show in a seemingly peaceful kingdom where it wouldn’t be strange if a rebellion occurred and the royal family was overthrown at any moment?

The walk to the center of the arena felt unnecessarily long.

‘Nervousness eats away at people.’

I wanted to think it was just needless suspicion due to extreme tension.

To begin with, it couldn’t be possible to have such a plan in a competition of skill that everyone was watching.

After all, Prince Alex had clearly defeated three excellent swordsmen with his skills in the previous matches.

‘Shake off these idle thoughts. I just need to do what I’ve been doing.’

Finally standing in front of the prince, I took a deep breath and gripped my sword firmly.

I had to correct the mistakes of the past right now.

“We will now begin the final match!”

As the big bell rang, Prince Alex and I moved simultaneously.

Amidst the nimble movements, the sound of swords clashing could be heard every second.

It was a speed that was hard to believe for a match without using sword aura.

In terms of physique, since I was smaller than the prince, I had an advantage in attacks that involved diving into his range.

But…

‘What’s this?’

Facing the prince’s swordsmanship directly, which I had only seen from afar, I could sense something strange.

He certainly had incredible speed, but it seemed like his arms couldn’t keep up with the speed of the sword.

Rather, it looked like the prince was struggling with the fast speed of the sword.

Of course, he wasn’t showing it at all outwardly, but that’s how it appeared to my eyes.

I struck down with an attack that put great force into my sword against Prince Alex’s sword.

“…!”

My suspicion was confirmed.

In the end, the prince avoided my attack.

As if being led by the sword, the sword moved first and the prince’s body was dragged along with it.

‘This person is using a magic sword.’

In the Carven Kingdom, artifacts were frequently discovered, and among them, there must have been magic swords used in the ancient Magic Kingdom.

The magic sword, with its own consciousness, seemed to be controlling the prince’s body as if it were its own.

“You’re getting distracted.”

At that moment, Prince Alex suddenly appeared in front of me and launched an attack.

“…!”

I barely blocked that attack and looked at the judges’ stand.

It was where the kingdom’s renowned knights had gathered to judge any foul play.

However, they merely watched the prince’s abnormal speed and the strangeness that could only be noticed up close.

As if the match was proceeding smoothly without any problems.

“Crazy…”

A curse word came out involuntarily.

Had I been practicing with blood and sweat all this time for a play these people had concocted?

With everyone in cahoots and turning a blind eye to the prince’s cheating, their purpose seemed clear.

“Prince Alex! Prince Alex!”

The people of Carven were constantly calling his name and cheering.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that their goal was already on the verge of success.

As I was about to block another burdensome attack from the magic sword…

“Wh-What…?!”

Sudden bewilderment appeared on the prince’s face that had been composed until now.

The magic sword he was holding suddenly started emitting a dark blue mist.

“What the…”

At the same time, the magic sword, which had been disguised as an ordinary training sword, gradually changed into its hideous original form.

“What is this!”

Prince Alex, terrified at the sight, tried to shake off the magic sword, but to no avail.

As he was struggling, using all his strength to try to remove the sword with his other hand…

Suddenly, Prince Alex bowed his head deeply, and soon let out an eerie voice.

[We meet again…]

In an instant, the atmosphere changed so drastically it gave me goosebumps.

‘Has his consciousness been taken over by the magic sword…?’

It seemed like the magic sword had completely swallowed Prince Alex.

He raised the magic sword high and sent an aura towards me strong enough to split the ground.

“…!”

I barely avoided the aura, but the place where I had been was completely destroyed.

Seeing the ground split right in front of the spectator seats, a woman sitting in the front row screamed.

“Kyaaaah!”

The spectators were thrown into confusion by the sudden situation.

The King of Carven, who had been watching the match, seemed to have noticed what was happening a step ahead, knowing the identity of the sword the prince was holding.

He hurriedly fled with his close aides.

* * *

The magic sword had gone berserk.

What could this mean?

‘If we’re not careful, everyone here could be wiped out…!’

The match was over, and the situation before my eyes could only be described as a disaster.

I gripped the red sword and activated its sword aura.

Then, Alex, whose mind was controlled by the magic sword, grinned and said:

[Ah, Claire. Is it really you?]

‘Claire?’

[I wasn’t sure when our swords first crossed, but now I’m certain. Why do you have only one sword? You need the other one to seal me again!]

Alex let out an unpleasant laugh and attacked me in an instant.

“Ugh…!”

Even with the red sword surrounded by sword aura, I couldn’t properly block the magic sword’s attack.

[I’ve been waiting for hundreds of years! To kill you!]

I vaguely remembered what my master had said.

That the seal on black magic had weakened over time, and it was rampaging again here and there.

The magic sword before me must have come into the world because of that.

‘Moreover, it thinks I’m Claire.’

The red sword I’m holding now is Claire’s sword that sealed the Magic Kingdom and their black magic in the Great War 700 years ago.

Considering that it mistook me for her, and that this magic sword was sealed by Claire, the situation was very bad.

I barely avoided the attacks while constantly looking for an opening.

The magic sword seemed to not care at all about the prince’s body being damaged, making him swing the sword madly.

At that moment, the red sword I was holding hummed.

Just like when it resonated with the green sword the king was holding before the competition started.

The green sword was still placed on the platform.

‘I need to go get that!’

Only by using the red and green swords to seal the magic sword, as Claire had done in the past, could this situation be ended.

Due to the reckless attacks, casualties were also occurring in the spectator seats.

Even though people tried to evacuate urgently, most were trapped as they swarmed like ants into the narrow single passage.

If more time passed, there would inevitably be human casualties.

I nimbly lowered my body to avoid the magic sword’s attack and at the same time started running towards the platform.