Duel

“Vasati le Demonshire, duel me. The winner will take Eira’s hand in marriage.”

It took a few moments for me to process what was being said.

‘A duel over me? That’s ridiculous.’

Interrupting me from my thoughts, Vasati smacked Cerulle’s hand away.

“Eira is not an object or property. You can’t duel for her, nor will she ever marry someone like you.” The intensity of Vasati’s Mana had reached another level, and I was seriously worried about her destroying this place.

“Elder sister, I had no intention of treating Eira as an object. I just want her to give me a chance.” His gaze focused more on me, to which I responded by quickly retreating behind Vasati.

“Well, it looks like you have no chance, but if you want a duel. Eira would be more than enough to deal with the likes of you.”

Cerulle chucked for a moment before he quickly responded to Vasati.

“I would not want to hurt Eira. I am a kind gentleman, after all.”

Hurt me? This guy would be lucky if I didn’t kill him by accident. At this moment, I knew I was going to challenge him, even if King Azziros did not wish for it.

“If that is how you feel… then we will have a duel.”

My response filled the room with tension and loud discussion once again. I made eye contact with my parents in the crowd, who were shaking their heads frantically at me.

‘I guess they don’t believe I can beat him?’ Their distress surprised me, from what I analyzed, his power cannot be far above mine.

“My dear Eira, I wish for us to get along. I do not wish to fight you.” He tried to reason with me, but I ignored him.

“I choose who I will marry. It will never be someone as disgusting as you, Prince Cerulle.” After I spoke, silence finally took over the crowd, and it locked both Cerulle and me into a stare.

“The Lady has spoken, yet you still wish to wish to duel for her?” A familiar voice caught my ear, and I turned to where the King sat to see Farru who had just showed up.

Farru walked in a straight path until he stood directly in front of Cerulle. Farru was a lot shorter than him as his head only reached Cerulle’s shoulders, but I’m very sure that Farru could kill him in an instant.

“Lord, Farru. What brings you to this place on such a beautiful day?” Cerulle quickly bowed his head, which Farru just ignored, and turned his attention to where Vasati and I stood.

“One of my maids informed me about you showing up, so I figured you would try to bully my apprentice.” As Farru spoke, his gaze quickly shifted back to Cerulle, leaving him in somewhat of a daze.

“Lord Farru I would never dare! I only came here to see my future fiancé.” As Cerulle spoke, I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Does he not realize that I am Farru’s apprentice?’

Suddenly, I felt Farru’s magic power begin to shake the room, and the hall was illuminated by his slowly forming jet-black dark Mana.

“Your… Fiancé? Have you lost your mind?” Farru’s tone was filled with scorn, as the tension between the two became evident, the once-silent crowd seemed to be lit ablaze with chatter.

“If she received training from Lord Farru at such a young age, I wonder how powerful she is now?”

“Maybe she is one of the few who could fight those legendary Holy Knights!”

As they all questioned my power with excitement, I started to understand what Azziros meant five years ago when he said that results could make everyone’s opinion meaningless.

The conversation had shifted from me and Vasati’s engagement to whether we were powerful enough to help the Demonshire army destroy the humans.

‘I guess having a common enemy does help’ As I began to smile a little, I noticed Cerulle began to stare at me with a fearful gaze. He finally understood the weight of his actions, as I had the backing of one of the most powerful demons in the country.

“A-A-Are you the apprentice of Farru… the secret weapon of Demonshire?” His cocky tone quickly disappeared when he finally realized who I was.

“I suppose so,” I replied, my expression unwavering.

All Cerulle could do was stare at me in shock. Vasati smugly grinned as she observed Cerulle's incompetence and positioned herself between Cerulle and Farru.

“My foolish younger brother, are you sure that you want to challenge Eira? I will not tell her to show mercy to you.”

Once I was finally beginning to believe this situation was over, Cerulle’s face darkened, and his gaze peered over Vasati before turning back to me.

“If that is what it comes down to, I will duel her.” His eyes looked clouded, as if he was being controlled by something. His gaze appeared to look past me to something else, but all I could do was accept his request to rid myself of him as quickly as possible.

“King Azziros, would you be a witness to our duel?” I turned to Azziros, who was holding his face in his palm. I understood he did not want to witness a duel that included his son, but Cerulle left me no choice.

“Princess Eira, you do not have to do this. That fool of a son has no business requesting a duel with you.” While Azziros’s words assured me, I was aware that plenty of the Royal Council still doubted me. This would be a perfect opportunity to show all of them how useful I could be to this kingdom.

“King Azziros, I am grateful for your thoughtfulness, but I believe it would be best for Prince Cerulle to see that I am not a princess who sits atop a tower waiting for someone to save me. If he wants to duel for me, it is only right that I handle him… personally.”

King Azziros broke into a laugh after I spoke, to the shock of everyone present. He wasn’t known as a very humorous person, and it was rare to see someone like him laugh.

“It has been years since I have heard a girl so young talk maturely. If you wish for me to witness the duel, then I will oblige. Tomorrow at dawn, Princess Eira de Bethencourt, and Prince Cerulle le Demonshire, will duel at the Pillar of Araxius! This meeting is adjourned!”

His announcement sparked the discourse of everyone once again, but as I began to walk toward my parents, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me backward.

Out of what felt like nowhere, Vasati pulled me into her embrace in front of everyone. As I stared directly into her eyes, a blush quickly spread throughout my face.

“You don’t have to wait atop a tower for everyone, but just make sure you wait for me… Eira.” As she whispered gently to me, she followed her words by leaving me with a kiss on my forehead.

“Vasati! There are people here!”

“I don’t care.” As she continued to hold me in her embrace, Farru chuckled as walked toward where the King was seated.

All Cerulle could do was scoff at Vasati as he made his exit out of the hall.

“Eira, don’t hold back against Cerulle because he’s my brother.” As Vasati let go of me, her statement was made with a hardened gaze in the direction from where Cerulle exited.

“I don’t intend to.”

Rokuro-Sama

Hi everyone! Thank you for continuing to support "Ice-Cold Vampire Princess"!

I just wanted to let you all know I will be on vacation for a bit so after the next chapter (that will release on Thursday) there will not be any updates until Monday the next week. Thank you all for understanding and have a great day!