This Villain Is Mine Now - Chapter 41

Lyle and Leo drew their swords. The tip of Leo’s rapier, thin but sharp like a needle, wavered as it pointed towards Lyle. Lyle’s sword, a bastardsword, had a thick, keenly sharpened blade.

“A bastardsword? Do you really think that can keep up with the speed of my sword?” Leo sneered, as if the idea was preposterous.

However, Lyle remained completely unperturbed. Instead, he calmly observed the sword and offered a piece of advice. “That’s quite a good sword. Have you ever considered changing it?”

“What? Are you kidding me? Don’t tell me you’re getting scared now?” Leo’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but Lyle was unfazed. “You’re right, though. This sword was a gift from the commander himself when I joined the Imperial Guard.”

Leo proudly swung the sword, showing off the sharp blade as it sliced through the air with precision. “I’ve used this sword like it was an extension of my own hand. Don’t worry, I know how to control my strength. You won’t get hurt.”

Despite Leo’s confidence, Lyle wasn’t afraid or worried about getting injured. Nodding as if respecting Leo’s resolve, he answered matter-of-factly, “I’m sorry.”

Sorry? Leo couldn’t understand what Lyle meant, but the words were unsettling nonetheless. What on earth did he have to apologize for? Every time he spoke, Lyle had a knack for getting under his skin. Grinding his teeth, Leo readied himself, leaving a warning in the air.

“We’ll see if there’s anything you need to apologize for, Your Grace.”

Once again, Lyle merely smiled his usual haughty smile. ‘Showing off in front of a lady, are you?’ Leo thought. He had to teach the Archuke that his sword wasn’t something that could be dodged with mere imitations.

Swoosh—!

The rapier sliced through the air, aimed directly at Lyle. Though he swiftly evaded it, the tip grazed his cheek, leaving a thin red line.

“Aah!”

Elaina’s scream echoed from a distance.

Smiling meaningfully, Leo asked, “Oh dear, you seemed so confident, I thought you’d dodge it easily. How unfortunate. Does it hurt much?”

Lyle touched his cheek with his fingers, nodding when he saw the blood. “Yes, impressive. Your sword is even faster than I expected.”

Since returning from the battlefield, Lyle had trained alone in the training ground. No matter how diligently he trained, his swordsmanship had inevitably dulled compared to when he faced enemies on the battlefield daily.

Noble swords like rapiers were not used on battlefields. There, lethality was paramount, and weapons like swords meant for cutting down enemies or blunt instruments like morning stars, capable of causing severe fractures, were the norm.

“This is more challenging than I thought.”

And more enjoyable.

If the opponent had been too easy, Lyle would have been disappointed. He rotated his neck, the cracking sound loud and clear. When he readied his stance again, his red eyes were still and unyielding, as if a chilling stillness had settled around him, with not even a breath of wind disturbing his surroundings.

Leo noticed the change in Lyle as well. His instincts screamed that something dangerous was approaching. Gulping nervously, Leo shouted at Lyle, “If you want to end this match now, surrender. If you keep fighting, it’ll be you who finds yourself in trouble, Your Grace.”

“Not likely. I didn’t surrender in front of enemy troops, so I certainly won’t to you.”

“You might get hurt trying to show off in front of a woman.”

Leo steeled himself, clenching his sword tightly, unwilling to reveal that he had been momentarily intimidated. Nonsense, he thought, as he struck again, this time with greater speed. The rapier whistled through the air, rushing towards Lyle.

But Lyle didn’t move to dodge. Instead, he steadied himself and swung his sword diagonally. The slash was so precise that it appeared overly vivid in Leo’s eyes.

Leo’s sword aimed directly at Lyle’s heart, but despite the speed, his opponent’s movements seemed slow. At least, it seemed that way.

“Ugh.”

Before he knew it, Leo was on the ground. With a groan, his sword clattered to the earth with a metallic ring.

“What…what just happened…”

Leo looked at his hand, which trembled as if it had collided with a stone wall. Glancing around, he spotted his rapier lying far away.

His rapier was the embodiment of his pride as the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard. It was a gift given to him upon his induction, crafted personally by Marquis Olson, the commander of the guard. He had heard that it was the finest rapier ever forged by the capital’s top blacksmith.

Now, that very rapier lay twisted on the ground, bent nearly at a right angle. The pitiful sight left Leo speechless.

“I did apologize in advance, so I hope you’ll forgive me. Your sword was too fast to let it slip by,” Lyle’s voice cut through Leo’s daze.

“By the way, do you think this counts as adequate training, Lord Bonaparte?”

***

“I’ll come back again next time! And then I’ll definitely win!” Leo shouted as he turned back before getting into the carriage. It was clear he felt wronged. The fact that Lyle welcomed him back only seemed to bruise his pride further as he bit down hard and climbed into the carriage.

Thanks to Leo’s stubbornness in demanding another match, time had dragged on. After sending him off, the western sky was now tinged with the colors of dusk.

“Why didn’t you leave with him?”

The sun hadn’t set yet, but night was approaching. It was too late to go out now.

However, Elaina looked at Lyle as if to ask what he meant.

“We agreed to go out together,” she reminded him.

“At this hour?”

Elaina’s lips curled into a smile, her eyes full of mischief as she looked up at Lyle teasingly. “I dressed up nicely for a change. It’d be a shame to waste it. Don’t tell me you have a curfew.”

“I’m the one who should be saying that.” A trace of a smile appeared on Lyle’s lips as well. “Shouldn’t a young lady like you be home by now? If we go out, it’ll be quite late. Most noblewomen wouldn’t go out at this hour to maintain their propriety.”

“First, I’m not like most noblewomen. Second, it’s an outing with my fiancé. Even if there were a curfew, it wouldn’t be much of an issue if we were out late together.”

“Late into the night, you say.”

“It can’t be helped at this hour. Besides, given that today was Diane’s wedding, our outing will seem all the more significant.”

Despite her confident words, Elaina had never gone out after dark except for attending balls. She closed her eyes briefly and then opened them, passing the decision to Lyle.

“What we do is up to you, Lyle. I usually decide, so you should choose what you want to do tonight.”

Lyle thought for a moment before chuckling. “If there’s anything to do late at night, I can think of only one thing.”

“What is it?”

Instead of answering, Lyle ordered the butler to prepare a carriage.

***

“This way, handsome.”

“Hey, he’s got a lady with him.”

“Oh my, how could you bring a lady to a place like this?”

Elaina’s eyes widened as she looked around. They were in a narrow alley in a busy part of town where carriages couldn’t enter. The women, dressed in skimpy outfits, blew kisses at Lyle and flirted openly until they noticed Elaina and pouted.

“Where are we?” Elaina asked.

It was a bustling alley in a part of the city Elaina would never normally enter. She had thought it was just a dark alley, but now it was brightly lit, making her feel like she was dreaming.

“Stay close to me. We don’t want any unnecessary trouble.”

Elaina quickly clung to Lyle’s arm. Feeling her weight on his arm, Lyle’s expression flickered for a moment.

He led her deeper into the alley. Soon, the women’s voices faded, replaced by the lively noise coming from the tavern at the alley’s end.

“A tavern? You knew about a place like this?”

“I’d only heard about it. This is my first time here, too.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you want to turn back? It’s not dangerous, but if you’re worried…”

“Let’s go in. What’s there to be afraid of when I have someone who just defeated Leo next to me?”

Feeling a bit treated like a child, Elaina took the lead and opened the tavern door.