"...."

Frost Knight stared blankly at the hissing Shushruta, then obediently stood up and stepped back. He looked like a predator slowly backing away to avoid provoking an agitated beast.

Only after confirming that Frost Knight had quietly retreated did Shushruta turn her gaze to me.

"You. Are you alright?"

"No."

I answered bluntly.

"How could I be alright?"

Shushruta came to her own conclusion.

"Seeing as you can talk, you must be fine. Can you move?"

"No. I can't even lift a finger."

Shushruta looked at me with her jet-black eyes that seemed to hold the night sky.

"...I really thought you were going to die this time."

Shushruta's eyes grew moist. She looked at my battered body and whimpered.

"You're a complete rag... What is this? It's so upsetting..."

"...Calling a person a rag."

At that moment, the sound of pattering footsteps was followed by a loud thud. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a grass-green head peeking over the edge of the arena. A moment later, I realized it was a grass-green head with two braids.

Linda struggled to climb up onto the arena.

"Devil!"

...Why does that girl climb up like that when there are perfectly good stairs? No, this isn't the time for that. She was, after all, Mad Linda. Her name was still proudly on the kingdom's public enemy list. With a bounty of about 30 gold. Of course, it was ridiculously low compared to mine... but she was still one of the most heinous wanted criminals.

I unleashed a torrent of nagging at Linda, who was running towards me.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing coming up here? I told you not to leave the waiting room. What are you doing in front of all these people..."

My words were cut short as soon as I saw her tear-streaked face.

"Waaaaah! Don't die, Devil!"

"Keoheok!"

She slammed her body into my chest. The intense pain made my head spin. I wasn't dead yet, but if I did die, it would be this girl's fault.

"Waaaaah! I thought you were going to die!"

Linda buried her face in my chest and sobbed like a child who had her candy stolen. I just blinked with a bewildered face.

'What's with her?'

It was the first time someone had shed tears for me, and I was at a loss for words.

I remained frozen for a moment. I came to my senses and quickly scanned the audience, but fortunately, no one seemed to have recognized her. Seeing them cheering and chattering amongst themselves, it seemed they didn't care who she was.

I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

"Sob, sob."

"...."

But that didn't mean my bewilderment disappeared. I was still flustered. I didn't know what to do. Was I always this weak to tears? I knew how to beat up bad guys, but I didn't know how to soothe a crying child. Of course, Linda's age probably wasn't that young, but her mental age was similar to a child's, so it was just as bewildering.

"Hey, hey. Get off me."

I pleaded earnestly, but...

"Waaaaah!"

Linda just cried even louder. The tears that poured from her eyes like a waterfall soaked my clothes. Why was she crying so sorrowfully? The more she cried, the more my ribs vibrated. ...It seems my ribs are broken.

But right now, the bewilderment of not being able to handle a crying Linda was greater than the pain of my broken ribs.

I asked Shushruta for help.

"Hey. Get her off me."

But Shushruta also had tears welling up in her eyes. ...Are tears contagious?

My bewilderment doubled.

The one who saved me from this swamp of bewilderment was an unexpected person. Someone pulled the sobbing Linda away and then lifted me up with a rough hand.

"Keok...! G-gently!"

I looked to see who it was, and it was the Black Prince. The Black Prince, who had somehow come up onto the stage, draped my right arm over his shoulder and smiled.

"What's with that expression? You look like a country bumpkin who dropped his bundle in the river and doesn't know what to do. It's not appropriate for a victor's face."

I grumbled.

"A victor's face, my ass."

He grinned.

"You're surprisingly weak to this kind of thing, for a guy called a devil."

"...Shut up."

It was strange, as it seemed to be the first time I had seen him smile like this.

"Here, take him."

The chuckling Black Prince released my arm and pushed me towards someone.

"Whoa, whoa."

The moment I staggered, that someone supported me in his place.

"You've worked hard."

Fluffy was smiling at me.

"Vlad says congratulations too."

A small laugh escaped at his silly joke.

"Bullshit."

"What happened at the end? It really looked like you were wielding a demon sword."

I answered nonchalantly.

"You had a demon in your sword, but it seems I was raising a demon in my heart."

"...Is that so?"

"It is."

"I see."

Fluffy simply accepted it. Though I couldn't tell if he really understood.

This time, the Count, who had appeared with his shoulder wrapped in bandages, smiled benevolently and patted my shoulder. The demonic atmosphere I had seen when he was fighting was completely gone.

"You've been through a lot. Really."

"...It's nothing."

Linda tugged at the hem of my clothes.

"Devil! I'll, I'll support you. Here, lean on my shoulder."

Shushruta scolded Linda.

"Just stay still."

"Whyyy! I want to help the Devil too."

"You staying still is helping."

"N-no, it's not!"

I watched the two bickering in front of me... then looked forward. I saw the back of the Black Prince, who had passed me off to Fluffy and was striding towards the center of the arena. It was a back that strangely exuded dignity. He was walking across the wide arena alone, but there was no hesitation in his steps. Come to think of it, he was now the one who would be king, so it wasn't that strange.

"...."

I watched the Black Prince's dignified back... then raised my head. A cloudless blue sky was looking down at me.

The feeling that it was finally over, and at the same time, a deep lingering emotion colored my heart sky blue.

'...Tina.'

***

The Black Prince approached Aron, who was chattering excitedly into the magic tool that amplified the user's voice, and spoke to him.

"Sir Aron."

Ah, so, Sir Ashuban's swordsmanship, you see. It can be said to be truly unique. It's so fast that it's hard to follow with the eyes, yet at the end, it's surprisingly delicate, and then it instantly becomes violent, it's truly a swordsmanship like the wind...

"...Sir Aron."

Only after the Black Prince tapped his shoulder did Aron startle and turn to look at the Black Prince.

"Ah, my apologies."

Ahem, ahem.

Aron cleared his throat and declared in a deliberately solemn tone.

Next, we will have the coronation ceremony.

Aron looked up at the royal gallery, and the Royal Knights who received his gaze spoke to the King.

"Let's go down, Your Majesty."

"Yes, yes."

The King smiled and stood up from his seat.

While the King was coming down, the Black Prince took a deep breath in and out and looked around the arena. It was a sight he had dreamed of. Finally... the grand plan he had been preparing for over a decade had reached its final station.

Of course, not everything had gone according to plan. How many trials and errors had there been to get to this point? Many things had gone wrong, broken, collapsed, and overturned. Just the day before, hadn't a catastrophe occurred where half of the 10 knights, 5 of them, had disappeared? And that wasn't all. To make matters worse, three Royal Knights had appeared on his eldest brother's side, wearing helmets.

But... what did it matter? The result is what's important. In the end... the one standing here is me. Not my second brother, not my eldest brother. The third prince, who was called by the half-derogatory name of Black Prince. That is me.

"Hehe."

A dark laugh escaped his lips. The ridicule, sneers, and threats he had received all this time flashed through his mind like a panorama. Most of them were from the First Prince, who was standing there in a daze.

The Black Prince looked at him and muttered softly.

"Brother. Do you remember what happened to Gwen?"

Did he hear him? The First Prince raised his head. The two brothers' eyes met.

The Black Prince looked at him, who had a strange expression, and muttered lowly in a calm tone.

"I remember it clearly. I haven't forgotten for a single moment."

The Black Prince did not avoid the eyes of the First Prince, who was staring at him with a dazed face. An expression as if he had lost the world. It wouldn't be wrong. It was true that he had lost the world he wanted.

The Black Prince gave him a full-throated sneer.

"Brother. Serves you right."

The First Prince's face contorted like a demon.

"I am the one who received Father's choice! There's no way I could lose!"

He shouted as if having a seizure. It was the pathetic denial of reality of a loser, a petty scream.

Watching the screaming First Prince, the Black Prince muttered softly.

"It would have been nice if she had seen this..."

Then he immediately turned his head away as if his business was done. There was no need to listen to the words of a worthless loser.

"...."

At his treatment, as if he wasn't even worth listening to, the First Prince finally broke down.

Thud.

The Black Prince turned his head to the opposite side and looked at the Red-Eyed Devil, who was being supported by Sir Fluffy and looking up at the sky. His blood-red eyes were the polar opposite of the flawlessly blue sky.

The Black Prince, following his gaze to see what was in the sky, tilted his head and lowered his gaze again.

Puuuuu!

With the magnificent sound of a trumpet, the King appeared in the arena. The people all stood up from their seats. The noisy arena instantly became quiet.

But the Red-Eyed Devil, as if the King's appearance was of no concern to him, just stared at the sky without moving.

Transcendent.

At his appearance, as if he had transcended all the things that other people considered important, the Black Prince stared at him as if mesmerized.

"...."

A red-eyed swordsman who had suddenly appeared from somewhere. If it weren't for him, the decisive battle would have surely ended in his defeat. Sir Ashley had fought well, but it wasn't enough. The one who had defeated the two powerful Royal Knights was none other than the Red-Eyed Devil, solely him.

Of course, the result was more important than the process. Therefore, one could say it was his own achievement for bringing the Red-Eyed Devil to his side. But that was far from the truth.

No matter how much the Black Prince valued results, this time he had to look at the process. The tenacity of fighting desperately without giving up, even while being miserably defeated and broken. The venom that transcended common sense, continuing to fight even while unconscious. His will, which was in a realm that could never be understood by the mind of an ordinary person.

It was no exaggeration to say that the victory of this decisive battle was entirely his achievement. If it weren't for him, they would not have been able to defeat those monster-like Royal Knights.

'I want him.'

The Black Prince's desire for talent flared up again.

'I want to make that man my knight.'

With that man... just as his father had kept the Knight of Frost Knight by his side, he too could keep him by his side as the strongest knight. Come to think of it, there was no one who treated him as casually as he did. It was also true that he had received a strange comfort from his attitude of treating him carelessly like a friend.

What kind of madman would swing his fist at a prince's face?

A small laugh escaped him.

"Where are you looking?"

He turned his head to see the King, who had approached right in front of him, looking at him.

The Black Prince gave a slight nod.

"...Your Majesty."

The King laughed heartily.

"You haven't even received the crown yet, and you're already getting arrogant."

The Black Prince raised the corners of his mouth.

"Well then, shall I bow or something?"

The King also raised the corners of his mouth and smiled along with him. The smiling faces were clearly those of a father and son.

"You insolent brat. Just take the crown."

The Black Prince obediently lowered his posture, and the King came over and placed the crown on his head.

The crowd erupted in cheers all at once.

—Waaaaaah

(End of Chapter)