NOVEL WEB Chapter 26.1
Stage 1-26. The Day Before The Duel
[Arnia Crown Prince VS Ogre Vellet: The Duel is On!!]
[A Battle for Love Over Karen Revetzenka!?]
“Hmm…”
The headline on the special edition being handed out at the academy was written entertainingly.
In reality, neither the womanizing prince nor I had any romantic feelings for Karen.
I even made it clear the other day, saying, ‘It’s not for Karen, it’s for me.’ I said it twice because it’s important.
With that, there’s no way he’d get the wrong idea.
“But when it’s built up with this many lies, it’s not even funny.”
The article also quoted the prince, saying, “I’ll face this with all my heart. I won’t let anyone take her heart.”
Is this a joke? I’d love to ask what kind of face he had when he said that.
Even I couldn’t help feeling irritated.
The academy had already started to rally in support of the prince.
Well, of course. I refused the interview and already had a bad reputation to begin with.
But this is all going according to plan.
The stage I wanted is taking shape. The more I’m portrayed as the villain, the harder the blow will be when I defeat the prince.
In other words, Karen will have plenty of chances to take advantage of him.
“Ouga-kun, you didn’t deal with the newspaper club, so they came to interview me. It’s like a festival with how excited everyone is.”
“The first duel between freshmen, and it’s between the sons of a duke and the royal family. It’s only natural.”
“Hmph, let them make all the noise they want. I’ll just walk my own path.”
“Yes. That sounds good.”
“Yep, yep. I feel so bad for Revetzenka too—whoa!”
Sensing someone nearby, I covered Mashiro’s mouth and pulled her close.
No matter how much status doesn’t matter here, it’s not great for her to hear this.
Plus, it was a nice opportunity to enjoy Mashiro’s chest.
“Yo. What do you want?”
“You’re really acting like a villain, aren’t you, failure boy?”
Crown Prince Arnia spoke with a twisted grin, far from the pleasant smile he usually showed to others.
The expression he wears for girls is fake—this must be the real him.
It fits the Arnia described by the student council president.
“You’re fine showing your true colors, huh?”
“You know this place doesn’t see much foot traffic. That was clear after that recent incident, right?”
“Yeah. Not many students come to the old school building.”
That’s why I led him here.
I’d noticed how he was blatantly trying to approach me over the past few days.
His lackeys have been hanging around, too.
Even now, he’s pretending to come alone, but there’s clearly someone else nearby.
But they’re bad at hiding. Even Alice could do better than that.
“So? What do you want, Prince? The duel’s not until tomorrow.”
“It’s simple. I’m here out of kindness to offer you some mercy.”
Arnia smacked me on the shoulder, looking smug.
“Give up on the duel. You’ve shown off enough. Time to end your hero act.”
“No.”
Since it was exactly what I expected, I answered immediately and swatted his hand away.
After staring at his hand in disbelief, Arnia gritted his teeth.
“I’m telling you, you’re not cut out for the part. Get out of the way.”
“I’ll say the same to you. I’ll deal with you tomorrow. Go home for now.”
“Who cares about your reputation? Go crawl back into your hole.”
No matter what I say, he’s not listening. I really just want him to leave…
Actually, is he really going to change his personality? I’m starting to worry.
No, this will be a shock therapy.
Once he realizes how unskilled he is, he’ll recover. He’s got royal blood in him, after all.
He must have that kind of spirit. If I don’t believe that, I won’t be able to go through with this.
…Which means I only have one thing to do.
“…What’s wrong? Are you scared of me?”
I have to provoke him so he’ll come at me with full force.
If I completely crush him, there’ll be no excuses left.
I’m cutting off all his escape routes for everyone’s sake.
“Aaahh, here I am trying to be nice… You know what? I’ve decided. I’m going to kill you.”
“Hmph. Gonna make it look like an accident?”
“Who knows? But someone like you, who can’t even use magic—no one would care if you died, right? Your family might even be happy about it.”