Everyone looked on as what appeared to be the start of a fight unfolded, but the reality was quite different.
The crash did indeed co from a collision, but it was their hands colliding—Christian’s and Maximilian’s—and now they were holding hands as if sealing a deal while smiling at each other.
"Haha! Well, it seems I was wrong about you. It was all part of a misunderstanding—you’re a really nice guy. Well, it’s no wonder my sister chose you. Let tell you, I support them wholeheartedly."
"Haha, it’s also nice to see that this whole misunderstanding was resolved peacefully. By the way, can I call you Max?"
"Haha, of course, you’re like my little brother. You can even call big brother."
"Of course, big brother Max."
"Hahaha, okay, okay, you’re like my sworn brother now. If anyone bothers you, don’t hesitate to co to , I’ll take care of anyone who wants to bully you. Okay, let’s practice a little, let’s see if you’re capable of protecting Aurora."
"Okay, after all, I have to prove that I’m soone you can trust."
Saying that, Christian finally took out a weapon. It wasn’t gloves or a conventional spear, it was a long halberd, a type of weapon he thought he would start practicing with.
The reason was that he had recently discovered that, although it was not a spear, its affinity with spears influenced him, and his skills were also very effective with it.
Being more multipurpose than a spear, he thought it could be very useful, but above all, it was to take advantage of a skill he had not been able to use before: his affinity with heavy weapons.
This weapon, with a small hamr and an axe head, was considered a heavy weapon. The halberd was a middle ground that barely fell into both categories.
Christian wanted to test whether it was feasible and whether using this type of weapon would improve his combat power. Now that he was going to fight soone powerful and skilled with weapons, it was the right opportunity.
..
"What happened there? What did Chris say to him?"
On the other hand, Aurora, who was watching, couldn’t help but comnt. She didn’t understand how Maximilian’s aura, which was obviously seeking conflict, had vanished and been replaced by a pleasant and welcoming aura.
Rather, he and Christian seed to have beco sworn brothers or sothing like that.
The change was so great that not only she, but everyone was stunned. Even when looked at closely, Celestine also seed incredulous, although she quickly covered it up with her gentle smile.
What followed was a kind of light sparring. Both exchanged blows, Christian seed to be trying his best while Maximilian fought him impressively and occasionally gave him so advice.
It was a light fight without any tension or aggressive attacks, a typical practice and guidance match.
"Thank you very much for the guidance, big brother."
"Haha, you’re really talented and nice, and you have imnse potential. I know it won’t be long before we’re on equal footing. Okay, let’s continue with..."
The fight ended, and Christian thanked Maximilian, who responded happily. Now there was a certain level of admiration in Maximilian’s eyes toward Christian.
Their fight wasn’t serious, but Christian still showed much more than what young people his age are capable of, which satisfied him greatly.
Now Maximilian went to look for other people in case there were more promising talents in his kingdom. He seed excited about it.
"Sir Christian, can you give a mont of your ti?"
"Is sothing wrong? Can I help you?"
At that mont, as Christian was returning to his seat, he heard soone call him. It was Celestine, with her usual calm and fake smile.
Christian really didn’t want to get involved and would have responded more rudely and threateningly if it weren’t for the fact that they were in public and Maximilian, with whom he had just ford a good brotherhood, was nearby.
So he refrained from treating Celestine aggressively but responded curtly as he approached.
"It’s to talk to you about our conversation a few days ago."
"I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, is there? I already made a lot of things clear, or did you like that resolution 눈_눈"
Now, unlike before with the friendly aura he had with Maximilian, Christian was emitting an aura of unfriendliness, warning, and caution toward Celestine.
"That’s right. To be honest, I didn’t like the way things ended. I think there were a lot of misunderstandings and things could have turned out better."
Click!
"Okay, cut the crap and talk."
"It’s really amazing. Is it a skill that shortens the casting ti? Or is it pure magical ability?"
Christian put up a barrier and stopped beating around the bush. Princess Celestine, for her part, was more impressed by the naturalness and speed with which he raised it.
"Get to the point. What do you want, bitch? What are you planning by coming here with Max? This is obviously not a coincidence."
He got straight to the point. He didn’t want to beat around the bush with word gas and such with her.
"Actually, it’s not, but let clarify that I didn’t do it with any bad intentions. In fact, I thought I would have to diate between you and my brother.
"Stop with the nonsense excuses. Seriously, what do you want? Is it sothing silly like making Max suspicious or sothing by talking to alone? Do you want to ruin the good relationship we’ve just ford? Or now that I don’t have my blinders on, do you want to try your luck to see how many lies I can tell in a conversation?"
"I think you have a very strong, preconceived idea that everything I do has so ulterior motive."
"And I think that’s the right mindset to deal with you."
"....please, could you clarify sothing for ? From the beginning, I’ve felt a certain negativity and hostility from you towards , and not just because of what happened with Aurora. Have you heard sothing about ? If so, we can talk about it. I think you’re soone who prefers dialogue over conflict, and that together we can resolve any misunderstanding."
"Haaahh~ you’re so persistent. And no, I haven’t heard anything about you from anyone, since you obviously keep everything very secret. All the ss you’ve made will probably never co to light, but as I said, I don’t care, as long as you don’t involve or those around . Do whatever you want. Isn’t your target William? Why don’t you go after him? What are you doing bothering here?"
"...Well, I think it’s best to be direct with you. First of all, I called you to apologize for what happened that day. My behavior was not even close to appropriate, and it wasn’t any better with Aurora either. I will also apologize to her properly."
"I really don’t want an apology, and I think Aurora, like , wants nothing to do with you, but maybe she’ll accept it if that’s all there is to it. It’s not my place to get involved."
"I understand, and I also deeply apologize for the implicit threat I made towards you and your loved ones. It was an error in judgnt. No, it’s not sothing I should have said in the first place, and I deeply regret it."
"Yes, yes, whatever you say. I’ve accepted your apology to appease or whatever. If that’s all, I’m leaving."
"Wait a mont. I’ll use this mont to make it clear that in the future I do not intend to take any action against you or those close to you, including William... I also want to ntion that I am planning to abandon the competition for the throne of Avaloria."
"Huh?"
"Haaah~ If I think about it, it really wasn’t a competition. Maximilian is the rightful heir, and I’m the one who made this into so kind of competition on my own, and for that I also want to thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to understand that I was unnecessarily clinging to sothing that didn’t belong to . You freed from an obsession that was blinding ."
"Wait, what are you talking about? When did I do that?"
Chris was a little confused. He didn’t expect her to say all that. Most of the words that ca out of Celestine’s mouth didn’t make sense to him.
He imdiately thought that it was one of her plans again, that she was plotting sothing in a way he didn’t understand.
"Yes, I understand that wasn’t your intention, but you’ve helped a lot... Yes, and putting it that way, in a way, you’re not wrong, and I have an ulterior motive in this conversation. In addition to ending the previous conflict, I want to open up the possibility of friendship."
"Hmm, yes, a friendship, a convenient friendship from which you will extract all the benefit you can before discarding it when it is no longer necessary. I’m telling you this seriously, so stop it."
Before, he wasn’t understanding her, but now he could see where Celestine’s plans were going. For him, the request for friendship was the sa as when she threatened Aurora to et with him.
Yes, it was the sa goal of creating a friendship with him and therefore with William, then using the latter as publicity and as a support for her ambition. She was just taking a different approach, and Christian wasn’t going to fall for it.
"Why are you still taking that approach? Can’t you see that I’m being sincere? Like you did before?"
Christian’s distrust was obvious, and it didn’t seem to diminish no matter how much she apologized or what she said.
"Do you think I’m stupid? You probably noticed that my ability to detect lies was based on microexpressions and body language. You probably found sothing to counteract that, and that’s why you’re so confident."
Christian didn’t believe a word she said, and even if he had his skills and discovered that she didn’t seem to be lying, he wouldn’t fall for it.
He knew that the sa trick wouldn’t work twice with Celestine. In his mind, she must have co very well prepared to get whatever she wanted.
"I, no... haaah~ you’re not making this easy for , Sir Christian, so please tell what I have to do to make you believe , to understand that my approach has no harmful intentions towards you."
"Nothing! You don’t have to do anything, because you don’t have to convince of anything. I told you, don’t involve in your little gas and everything will be fine. It’s as simple as that. Wasn’t I clear?"
"Yes, you were very clear, and you can be sure that I have no intention of involving you in anything or causing you any harm, as I ntioned before."
"Good, I’m glad you understand. Now let’s go our separate ways without interfering with each other."
"But that’s the point I can’t agree with. Personally, I don’t want our paths to diverge."
"But why the hell not?! Why are you so damn insistent?!"
"There’s no need to get upset, Sir Christian... I understand that I am to bla for this situation, and that is why I will make sure to find a way to earn your trust. I will find a way to bring this to a satisfactory resolution."
"No, I already told you that... ugh. Whatever, just so you know, I warned you."
"Yes, well, I see that continuing this conversation could be fruitless or even counterproductive, so it’s best to end it for now. I can only ask you to think about what I said, at least in a neutral way... By the way, you should already know this, but, just like my brother, I have a faction, and if you need help, I won’t hesitate to give it to you."
"..."
Christian didn’t respond. He didn’t want to continue with this, so he walked away from Celestine. He really felt like he had a headache; he felt that continuing to talk to her was useless.
Thinking about it and rembering what he knew about her, trying to change her mind with words was a futile effort. Seeing how everything ended up almost the sa as it started made that fact very clear.
He didn’t know exactly what Celestine was thinking, nor her real goal, but the mont she made or discovered that she made any move towards him or the girls, he would find a way to deal with her.
No, in fact, he wouldn’t wait for her to make the move; as soon as he saw any sign or reasonable suspicion, he would act.
With the good mood he had gained from befriending Maximilian, leaving his conversation with Celestine behind, Christian returned to where the rest were. Perhaps playing with Selene again would alleviate his bad mood.
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