"Lord Aldrich, you're not bad," said Gewen with a laugh. He dropped her sword to the ground after Emmelyn broke through his defenses and aimed her sword tip at the man's neck.

"Thank you for your help. Lord Gewen spared me by being so lenient," Emmelyn said as she sheathed her sword.

"Have a drink. You must be tired." Suddenly that distinctive baritone voice rang beside her.

Emmelyn immediately turned her head and found Mars standing next to her, holding up a cup of water. The girl fluttered her lashes in surprise. She didn't expect the crown prince would offer her a drink in front of so many people.

[Is he dumb or something?] She pressed her forehead.

[If he gave me preferential treatment, people would be suspicious.]

[It's common sense. Which apparently he doesn't have.]

Emmelyn was about to refuse the water, but she knew people would be suspicious of her attitude.

No one dared to refuse His Highness Prince Mars Strongmoor, let alone just a lower lord from a small colony like Glendale. So, she wouldn't dream of talking back to the prince and refusing the water

Finally, with a wry smile, Emmelyn accepted the water and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Your Highness. You have been too kind to me. My father will feel very grateful."

Only Mars could recognize that Emmelyn's tone was anything but sincere.

[Gosh, what is wrong with this weird girl? I was just showing her kindness by giving her a drink.]

[Look, she sweats so much. She must be losing a lot of fluid, right?]

[So, why is she unhappy with me giving her water?]

"You're welcome, Lord Aldrich." Mars nodded.

Even though he was surprised to hear displeasure in her voice, Mars felt he already knew that Emmelyn was weird and sometimes did incomprehensible things. So, he just brushed it off.

"Hmm ... you've been training hard, Lord Aldrich. You can rest now," said Mars. He raised an eyebrow and spoke seriously before Emmelyn could argue with him. "You can also learn a thing or two by watching other people spar."

Emmelyn was forced to nod and smile wryly. "Thank you, Your Highness."

She then finished drinking the water in her cup. A servant had swiftly walked to her and accepted the cup from her.

"Do you want to spar with me, Your Highness?" asked Gewen after taking back his sword from the ground. "My warm-up with Lord Aldrich was pretty decent. Now I want to get some real practice."

"Hm ... of course," said Mars. He turned to Emmelyn and said, "Watch how I will defeat Lord Gewen. You can learn some good techniques from me."

"Yes, Your Highness..." Emmelyn nodded.

[Huh, you just want to show off.]

Mars smirked as he walked to the center of the field and pulled out his sword. He then waved his hand to Gewen. "Let's get started."

Gewen nodded and walked over to Mars. After they bowed to each other, the two handsome men immediately moved to attack the opponent.

Emmelyn, who was watching from the sidelines, could now see that Gewen had not even used half of his strength when he was sparring with her. He was indeed too lenient.

Now, as he moved to attack Mars and avoided the counterattacks, Gewen seemed to be moving faster, and he looked so dangerous. Every blow and swing of his sword looked savage and powerful.

Emmelyn even held her breath several times because she was shocked or afraid that the tip of Gewen's sword would graze Mars's neck or his hand.

However, fortunately, the prince was no ordinary soldier. His ability was equivalent to Gewen, and he could evade the general's attack after attack with alacrity. His sword would flash quickly to ward off attacks or strike back.

The sound of weapons clashing repeatedly was deafening. However, Emmelyn was not at all bothered by it. It was like music to her ear.

The spar was also beautiful to look at. The two men looked like they were dancing with their swords, following the music with perfect harmony.

This was the first time that Emmelyn could watch Mars practice from close range. She couldn't help but be amazed.

[Wow.. that was a good move!]

[Yikes! His back was open...]

[Ah, he could dodge it really well.]

After a while, Emmelyn scolded herself for being in awe of that scummy prince's skills.

[Heh, why do I admire the enemy?]

Subconsciously, Emmelyn hit her forehead. She only realized her mistake when she felt her head hurt.

The girl turned her attention back to the two men sparing in front of her. Inwardly, she felt that many ladies in Draec would gladly pay a lot of money to be where she was now.

She had heard of Lord Gewen's reputation as a lady killer, figuratively, unlike Mars, who literally killed women with his curse. The handsome general was a true Casanova.

Gewen had a lot of admirers among the noble ladies in this kingdom. He had many lovers and slept around with different women. He changed women as often as he changed his shirt. However, it seemed that girls just kept flocking to him, not caring about his reputation.

His opposite, Mars, was known as a women hater and did not allow any female to be within 100 meters of him, except for his mother.

Unfortunately, on state events, the 100-meter order was not applicable, so the ladies could still see him even though they could not approach him.

Five of his personal bodyguards would always be on guard around Mars to ensure no girl got close and touch him either on purpose or accidentally.

There was always one or two girls who thought they were extraordinarily beautiful and would be able to melt the prince's ice-cold woman-hating heart if they "accidentally" touch him and he could see how beautiful they were, up close.

The people naively thought all the women who touched Mars died because the king sentenced them to death. They didn't know that it was the curse. That's why, somehow, one or two people were still trying their luck by touching the prince.

Unfortunately, their attempts failed, and the girls who managed to 'accidentally touch' Mars still ended up dead.

Since then, the protection for the prince had become tighter. Mars even threatened that he would no longer come to the state events if such an incident occurred again.

The king and queen took his threat very seriously and attempted to better screen the guests for future events.

While watching Mars and Gewen spar, Emmelyn imagined the other girls would be eager to be where she was. She truly enjoyed watching two of Draec's most famous men practice their swords with vigor.

Whaa.. she could imagine how those girls would surely scream hysterically and cheer both men to win the match.

Tsk tsk ...

CLANG CLANG CLANG

Emmelyn watched every movement attentively and tried to remember them well so that she could use them when she was training her own skills. Emmelyn also tried to find the weaknesses of the two people sparing before her.

Now, her abilities were still far below Mars and Gewen. However, one day, Emmelyn would grow and become as strong as them. When the time came for her to face them on the battlefield, this knowledge of their weakness would come in handy.

Unfortunately, during the half an hour of observing, Emmelyn was still unable to find Gewen and Mars' weaknesses. Both were simply too fast and powerful. And it was difficult to determine who was better, Mars or Gewen.

"You've been practicing, Gewen," said Mars as he swung his sword toward Gewen's chest and Gewen dodged it by turning his upper body to the right. The blade passed him by two inches.

"Whoaa.. that's a good one!" said Gewen with a smile. "I guess, I should just admit defeat so we can end this match."

Having said that, he drop his sword and raised both hands. Mars nodded and put his sword back into his sheath.

"You did well," he said to Gewen. Then, Mars wiped the sweat from his temples dan walked toward Emmelyn. He pursed his lips when he asked her. "Are you not offering me water?"

Emmelyn hiccuped when she heard the man.

[Gosh... doesn't this man know what it means by DISCREET?]

[If I gave him water after he gave me one, people would be suspicious.]

Emmelyn rolled her eyes dan waved to one of the servants. She then turned to Mars and smiled, "Your Highness, you should drink!"

[I should talk to him about this later. Good God. Does he want everyone to think he is gay by treating this young lord so sweetly?]

[He needs to live up to his nickname as the devil.]

"Here you go, Your Highness." Emmelyn accepted the cup of water from the servant and gave it to the crown prince.

Mars downed the water in one go. After he gave the cup back to Emmelyn, he asked her with a beaming face. "So, did you learn something from my movements?"

"Yes, definitely, Your Highness," said Emmelyn. "You and Lord Gewen are powerful soldiers. I learned a lot from watching you spar."