If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 127

“…”

 

The armored knight flinched. It was an honest reaction, but Regen did not stop there.

 

“You’ll know once I strip it off.”

 

“…!”

 

Crack, crack. There came a sound like thin glass being shattered into pieces. The source of the noise was none other than the armor. The accumulated impacts Regen had steadily piled up had surpassed the metal’s breaking point. Starting with the helmet he had relentlessly battered, the armor split apart as if being cleaved in half.

 

Ooooooh—!

 

As the iron shell fell away, a face was revealed. The spectators, especially the nobles seated in the special viewing section, trembled in shock. Marquis Osbond became excited as well.

 

“This can’t be. Sir Blackhound’s true identity is…!”

 

Amid the scattering metal fragments, a black-haired man with a gag in his mouth widened his eyes. He was someone Regen already knew.

 

“It was Sir Bellinger!”

 

The new hound tamed by the mad emperor. He was Bellinger, formerly Vivian’s personal knight.

 

Marquis Osbond exclaimed in admiration. “Allow me to introduce him. This is Sir Bellinger, once the personal knight of Princess Blue Wave. The knight believed to be dead has returned even stronger than before. Truly, he is a knight resurrected from hell!”

 

Bellinger removed the gag himself. “Now that my identity has been revealed, I suppose I can speak.” As though relieved, he took a deep breath through his mouth. When he exhaled hard enough to empty his ribcage, murderous intent poured out alongside it, as though he could hardly wait to flaunt his strength. Only the spectators, whose breathing felt stifled for no reason, gasped nervously.

 

Rather than shrinking back, Regen’s eyes held pity. “Were you tortured by the mad emperor?”

 

His vastly strengthened mana was likely the price paid to prove his loyalty.

 

Bellinger did not want Regen’s sympathy. “How insolent. Torture? I received His Majesty’s grace and was reborn anew.”

 

“…”

 

“His Majesty took me in when I was about to be disposed of. And he personally trained me. I cannot begin to express the boundless honor of receiving his grace.”

 

“Then why did you enter the knight wheel match?”

 

Wasn’t this a place for changing one’s master? Despite Regen’s pointed questioning, Bellinger remained confident.

 

“Because the competition must be brought to its conclusion.”

 

“…”

 

“I was not eliminated. I must return to the imperial succession competition and complete the mission I left unfinished.”

 

“A mission?”

 

“To survive until the end and prove my superiority.”

 

“…”

 

“To begin with, Princess Blue Wave was never a suitable master for me. Princess Silver Bird is the one truly fit to see the competition through to the end with me.”

 

“…”

 

If Bellinger had stopped there, he might not have provoked Regen’s anger. Unfortunately, once freed from the gag, Bellinger’s tongue ran too long.

 

“Most importantly, Princess Silver Bird can keep making me stronger, can’t she? In a different way from His Majesty!”

 

“…”

 

Bellinger dared to covet the method that only Regen was supposed to monopolize.

 

Mana resonating with Regen’s mood rose from his shoulders like a cold haze. The sword in his hand emitted a low metallic whine, as though barely enduring the surging mana.

 

“Yeah, Princess Silver Bird should have chosen me from the start. So today, I’ll set everything back the way it should be!” Bellinger kicked off the ground with both legs. The sight of him charging fiercely with a crazed expression sent chills through those watching.

 

But the next moment, the one seized by fear was Bellinger. Facing him directly, Regen released without restraint the aura he normally kept buried deep within himself.

 

“Are you done talking?”

 

The disguise of a meek knight was stripped away, and overwhelming battle intent and bloodlust poured toward Bellinger.

 

“What…!”

 

Bellinger’s body instinctively halted for a moment. Unable to even reach Regen, he launched a premature attack. As he brought down his sword, a condensed mid-range mana attack shot toward Regen.

 

Regen raised his sword in front of his chest. The force Bellinger unleashed wrapped around Regen’s blade as though being gathered into it. Regen casually flicked his sword downward to the lower right, as if brushing away something useless. It was an absurdly effortless dismantling and erasure.

 

“T-This, what…” In his shock, Bellinger met Regen’s gaze. Bellinger felt the hand gripping his sword begin to tremble. The sun-like golden eyes directed at him stimulated a primal fear.

 

It wasn’t even this bad when I fought Dominic. Why? Wasn’t I supposed to have become stronger? He had no time to dwell on the thought.

 

“Ghk!”

 

The instant Regen’s figure disappeared from his sight, Bellinger instinctively moved his body. The next moment, a sharp screeching noise rang beside his ears. Only then did Bellinger realize that the area he had defended with his sword was his neck.

 

I-I didn’t even perceive it! Had he been even a split second slower, his most vital body part would have been severed. Moreover, dodging the attack had clearly been thanks to his instinct and luck. There would not be a second chance.

 

“You’re this shocked already?”

 

“…!” The moment he realized the overwhelming gap between their levels, Bellinger’s fear completely unraveled. “Aaargh! Die!” Having lost his reason, Bellinger retreated far back and swung his sword. Crescent-shaped mana created from his blade shot wildly toward Regen.

 

Regen moved only the right arm holding his sword and knocked away every attack. Wherever Bellinger’s mana missed, the ground caved in. Feeling that things could not continue this way, Bellinger prepared an attack using all his strength.

 

“Die already!”

 

The sword strike infused with mana lunged to devour Regen like a beast opening its jaws. But Regen leisurely raised his sword and swung it down along the exact same trajectory. Rather than swinging a sword, it looked like a gentle gesture of command. Yet the result was devastating. A tidal wave erupted from the ground. Overwhelming power peeled away the earth’s surface as it charged forward in a straight line. It crushed Bellinger’s power and pierced through him without losing any momentum at all.

 

“Hu, Huaaaagh!” White light engulfed his terror-stricken face.

 

Boom! The horizontally extending force swallowed Bellinger whole and even reached the arena wall. With a thunderous crash, a gigantic hole was blasted open. Bellinger could not be found anywhere in the arena. Only a long trench, as though something had been dragged across the ground, stretched all the way to the hole.

 

Regen did not go to check Bellinger’s condition. As if already certain of the outcome, he smoothly sheathed his sword.

 

The audience delivered the verdict in his stead. Waaaaaaaah—! Cheers loud enough to shake the sky erupted.

 

The knight who had displayed nothing but awe-inspiring prowess throughout the match had finally seized victory as well, more than enough to move the spectators. Regen had gained enormous popularity in no time.

 

Regen, you truly are strong. Sasha’s heart pounded at the true prowess displayed by Lohengrin’s hero. At this moment, while she felt proud of him, she also felt the contradictory desire to hide him away somewhere only she knew and protect him.

 

On the other hand, someone was grinding his teeth. “Regenhart…” For Emilio, having to watch the prince receive love even after coming to the empire felt like a nightmare.

 

Meanwhile, cleanup efforts were in full swing in one corner of the arena.

 

“I-Is he dead?”

 

“No. He’s still alive!”

 

The soldiers inspecting the massive hole in the wall hurried busily. A short while later, someone presumed to be Bellinger was carried away on a stretcher.

 

“Tch, it seems his training was lacking.” The mad emperor, Axellion, quickly lost interest in Bellinger’s miserable condition. The person whose gaze he turned toward was a silver-haired knight slowly walking toward the special viewing seats. “Dominic.” Once again, he requested an evaluation of the opponent.

 

Unlike before, Dominic’s answer lacked certainty. “I do not know.”

 

“…”

 

At that unprecedented evaluation, both the mad emperor and the chief chamberlain flinched. Around then, the cheers and applause that had filled the arena like a festival gradually died down.

 

Having arrived before the special viewing section, Regen bent one knee in respect. “Your Majesty.”