Dear Contract Husband, I Didn't Know You Were Like This? - Chapter 22
“Then let’s begin the duel.”
“As you wish.”
“Haahp!”
With a shout, Alec charged forward boldly.
His figure, swinging a sword as big as himself, was indeed threatening.
Maya twisted her body to dodge the sword.
Crash!
The sword swept across the snow, making a loud noise.
“Commander! Are you serious right now!”
Shocked voices of knights around them could be heard.
“Who is this person!”
As many were still unaware of Maya, their aversion was apparent.
Female knights were that rare.
That’s why Maya had worked harder and survived tenaciously.
Even though she had fallen in her past life…
This time was different.
Maya exhaled, sharpening her senses. Her eyes darkened.
Though not awakened as a swordmaster yet, the thousands of battles she had fought were vividly etched in her mind.
She remembered even the unwanted fights painfully well.
Such a big sword was threatening but made movements sluggish.
‘Slow.’
Invisible to the average person, but to Maya’s eyes, the flaws in his movements were all too clear.
What she held could hardly be called a real sword, and her strength wasn’t fully there yet, so she couldn’t inflict serious injury.
It was a distance where, if mishandled, Maya could be split in half.
Maya ducked, deftly avoiding Alec’s strike. Her movement without hesitation resembled a nimble assassin.
“U-Uhh…”
No, more accurately, it was closer to a madman rushing to his death.
“Are you insane!”
It was impossible to dodge the sword slightly cutting off her hair.
‘To defeat an opponent, you must be willing to face death.’
This was why she could transcend human limits.
The brown hair that fell on the white snow looked like a fallen branch.
It was chestnut, as if it came from a tree that had stood its ground for a long time, with roots deeply entrenched.
Without blinking, Maya slipped through the sword and managed to thrust the sword under Alec’s neck.
“I win.”
Alec felt a chill run down his spine, not from the sword tightening around his neck, but from Maya’s eyes, which he faced up close.
“Please refrain from speaking ill in my presence, Commander. We’ll have to keep seeing each other, and there’s no benefit in painting our faces red with anger.”
Her calm voice was as if she was enjoying a cup of tea.
However, what intimidated Alec more than Maya’s words was that clear gaze, even as she had just risked being cut in two without a care, effortlessly throwing herself into the fray.
“Answer me.”
Was this what madness in clear eyes looked like?
“Or would you like to duel again?”
The pulsing vein pressed under the sharp edge of the sword seemed vividly real.
It was an overwhelming skill.
Having dueled since he first held a sword at the age of four, rising to the position of knight commander, he had never felt such a stark difference in skill.
He hadn’t held back. In fact, he had thrown away his pride, using all his strength to drive this woman out.
Because Tristan was a dear friend he truly cared for.
‘And to be pushed back like this?’
He had heard that the daughter of the Pendragon family boasted exceptional swordsmanship.
“I’m stronger with my fists than with words, you see.”
But he never imagined she would be this strong…
“Do you need to be hit more?”
He truly hadn’t realized she was this crazy.
“Do you think this is enough to convince me?”
He had his pride as a knight commander, and just having a sword at his throat wasn’t enough to end it.
“No, honestly, I didn’t think it would.”
Expecting her to explode in anger, the woman was surprisingly calm.
‘…Is this woman really that Pendragon?’
The Pendragon he had imagined and Maya were definitely different.
But complacency was dangerous. Alec widened his eyes.
Maya, having pressed the sword under his Adam’s apple, let it clang to the ground.
“It seems I haven’t beaten you enough.”
Smiling as she spoke, she looked like the grim reaper who had come to claim his life.
‘Just a kid who’s barely an adult.’
That’s what he thought.
“…F-Fine! I’ll consider it! I said I’ll consider it!”
And finally, Alec concluded to come to an agreement with Maya on this matter.
Refusing was too difficult after being so thoroughly beaten in front of the knights who admired him.
