"You put up a very good fight." He said, plunging the sword deeper into my chest.

I could feel the blood rushing out from my limbs, trying to fill the hole in my chest.

Pain was secondary. Or so I had believed. I wanted to dismiss it. But I couldn't think straight. My head was clouded.

Mustering up the last of my strength, I looked him in the eye.

"Fierce. I like it." With a tug, the sword fell out.

"Mph." I couldn't help but grunt.

At this point, my brain wanted to jump out of the confines of my head. Painful. It was painful. My chest felt like it was on fire. As if there was a scorching fire dancing on it...fueled by my blood.

I looked at my arms. My bare hands were revealed for the world to see, full with cuts and wounds. I couldn't find the power. I couldn't move them. My legs that were crouched also gave in. It was too soon. Sooner than I had hoped.

"Rest well."

I fell on top of the shredded metal of the gauntlets. The pain of falling... It didn't matter.

"Did you really think I'd say that? Someone like you will never beat someone like me. You never had a chance. Know your place."

'What was I doing with my life?'

The fire in my chest came to an abrupt stop. And my mind. Became a void. Devoid of thought.

—x minutes later—

"Hey, are you okay? How did you fall asleep?"

"We were waiting ages for you to go up to the stage and receive the prize."

"Don't worry, Daniel got the prize in your stead."

"It's fine. Let her rest. She's probably tired." Daniel said.

"Oh yeah, sorry for acting so cold before."

"It's fine. I understand why." Daniel said.

"So..."

"I'll carry her." Daniel said.

—Daniel's PoV—

'Just what did he say to her?' I thought, taking a good look at her face.

That listless expression kind of reminded me of ███... Bad times. Let's not think about that.

As I looked into her eyes, it finally struck me.

Aldous just so happened to have to go to the bathroom so there was only me and Rachel in the waiting room. It had already been a good hour since the conclusion of the tournament.

I sat down next to her and looked at the wall, just like she was doing.

After staring off into the nothingness for a while, I finally got my head into the game. I moved my face closer to hers, until my mouth was right beside her ear.

I whispered a little something. Pronouncing every word with absolute clarity. Such that only she could hear.

I slowly pulled back, all the while keeping my eyes on her. Only then, did she finally react.

She didn't speak, nor did she open her mouth. She only watched me, just like how I was watching her.

I only gave a slight nod in affirmation to her "question."

"Don't treat the future as a responsibility. It is only a possibility." I said, in a calm demeanor.

It didn't matter if she was confused by the sudden revelation. I had known her long enough. And I had a feeling that this was the right choice. Though, I wasn't going to tell her how I knew about it. Not yet.

"Don't lose sight of the present."

"I—" I stopped myself.

I replaced what I was going to say with a look of understanding. It was that kind of look that old people gave to young folks. My face was only that of an eleven year old so I wonder if it would work.

"ACHhooo!"

We both moved our attention toward the disturbance.

"Ahh! Sorry. I guess I'm the third wheel huh? Well, carry on! I'll go on ahead first." Aldous said, quickly leaving and closing the door to the waiting room.

We waited in the room awkwardly for a while.

"Shall we go?" I asked.

She nodded.

Looks like she still didn't want to talk. This just got me more and more curious. What did the prince say to her? Although I had good guesses, the only way to confirm it was to hear from the man himself. Well, the only thing I can do is console her. Even if I confronted the prince, there was no use. Besides, he was the prince of a fricken kingdom.

—Ross's PoV—

"So. Are you going to tell me your motives?" I said, looking at the disheveled appearance of a humanoid machine. There were still some strips of human skin on some areas.

"Shouldn't you be more worried for your daughter?" It said.

"And shouldn't you be worried for your life?" I replied while waving my hand in the air.

Having received my signal, Dean sent another jolt of electricity at the thing.

Still no response huh.

"Kill it." I said.

Dean continued sending jolt after jolt of electricity from his hands until the thing was deformed well past what it had been earlier.

"To think that there was something like this among the servants. I'm sorry master for my foolishness."

"It's fine. If it weren't for those two being gone for so long, we wouldn't have been able to find this intruder. Keep this a secret from the others."

"Yes master! I'll secretly check all the servants later. Should we also send all our forces to search for Miss Rachel?"

"Hmm. No. But be on the lookout for them if anything big happens. I have a feeling that she will be just fine."

"..."

"Master. I know this isn't in my place to say, but are you sure the boy will take care of Miss Rachel."

I didn't say anything to that. But I could understand what he meant. Dean may see me as crazy, but my gut feeling told me that he would definitely protect Rachel. I saw it in his eyes the moment I met him. He was the loyal type. If I was wrong about my judgement, then that would only mean I wasn't suitable to be a Duke.