Chapter 409: The Duel
Facing me, the King gripped his spear tightly, his face filled with undisguised anger as he spoke.
“You… someone like you, a mere count’s son, not even more than a child, because of you this King has been brought to this…! You are prepared for what’s to come, aren’t you!!”
“Yes. Please come at me with everything you have, so you can be satisfied, Your Majesty.”
“You…! Even if you hadn’t said it, I was going to do that!!”
With that, the King thrust his tightly held spear toward me.
But just as Felisiana-sama had said, he didn’t appear to have any martial training.
His swings were wide, the path of his spear easy to read, and the time it took him to pull back and thrust again was long.
So I continued to evade him.
Then, growing irritated that his attacks weren’t landing, the King shouted as he thrust his spear again.
“Don’t you think it’s presumptuous for someone like you to win the hearts of Felisiana, Elizalina, Rezamiliana, and Florence!!”
The me from before…
At the very least, the me before enrolling in the noble academy would have heard those words and accepted them.
Even now, if asked whether I’m truly someone worthy of receiving the love of such incredible people, I can’t fully convince myself and say yes.
But…
“Everyone has told me they love me… so instead of belittling myself for receiving those feelings, I want to keep striving to become someone worthy of them.”
“There is no ‘from now on’ for you!!”
With that shout, the King repeatedly thrust his spear at me as if trying to run me through.
But not a single strike reached me.
Before long, perhaps from repeatedly thrusting a weapon he wasn’t used to, the King’s movements came to a halt.
Breathing heavily, he spoke.
“If only you… if only you hadn’t existed, everything would have remained as it was, and all would have been secure!! My position… and this country’s future!!”
“…I don’t know how important things like position and rank are to you, Your Majesty, and I don’t intend to deny them entirely.”
Rezamiliana-sama, Florence-san, and Ashwell-san all take pride in their birth and their houses, and that pride has worked in a positive way.
I also take pride in my own house, the Rodwell count family, and it’s been a major reason I’ve been able to keep striving forward, so I can’t deny it either.
“But if you focus only on position and rank, you’ll end up abandoning those who don’t have them, and you’ll lose sight of the very reason those things should exist in the first place, to protect the happiness of many people.”
“…And so what! Are you saying that just because you’ve pointed out flaws in this King’s thinking, you can envision the correct way to lead this country!!”
“No… I don’t think I alone can arrive at the right answer to something that big… that’s exactly why I’ll think about it together with everyone.”
“…! Together… with everyone…”
The King murmured those words, then looked into my eyes for a moment.
Then, he released his spear.
As it slipped from his grasp and fell, he dropped to his knees and placed both hands on the ground.
“I…”
After confirming that the King remained there, stunned and unmoving, Felisiana-sama approached us.
“Lux-kun. Could you wait in the guest room for now… he doesn’t seem to have any will to resist anymore, but we can’t just leave Father here in the throne room like this.”
“…Understood.”
And so, the battle between us and the King came to an end.
But there was still something I had to do.
With a strong awareness that the time for it was drawing near, I left the throne room and headed for the guest room.