Wife of The Demon Prince
Chapter 214: Finals

Chapter 214: Finals

Henry wore his helmet after he expressed his gratitude to Eadlin. He then made to go and take his spear from the weapons stand, but he heard her voice, "Lord Henry, I have something for you..." Eadlin remarked as she stood up from the bench she was sitting on. He gave her a questioning look, but she didn’t say anything and walked to one of the lockers and opened it.

What was she doing? He curiously watched her bring out her dress from the locker with her good hand while her other arm wiggled as if it wasn’t part of her body beside her. Her arm...He just hoped it was a temporary paralysis or else...

Eadlin brought out her handkerchief from her dress pocket. She then walked back to him, he had an idea of what she was about to do but didn’t protest. He just watched as she managed to tie her handkerchief around his spear, she then glanced up at him, "Take this as my good luck token for the finals...don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I gave it to you because of any alternative reasons, or secret affections, but_"

"It’s fine, your highness. You don’t have to explain." He smiled faintly under the helmet. He’d noticed she wasn’t good at explaining herself, and he didn’t mind taking her handkerchief, at least after the tournament no nobleman would try to match him up with their daughters after seeing him with a lady’s handkerchief. This way they’d think he was already taken.

He bowed to her again, "Thank you again, your highness."

"Please, don’t thank me anymore. It is embarrassing when all I did was help a little."

Soon, a knock came from the door before Henry could say anything else, the guard’s voice informed, "Lord Henry, it’s your turn to step out."

He exchanged looks with Eadlin and she offered him a faint smile, then murmured, "Good luck."

He nodded then made towards the door, but before he opened it, he glanced at her one last time, and she smiled again. He didn’t know why but he somehow liked her smile, it looked warm and genuinely kind.

"Take care of yourself, your highness." He said then opened the door and stepped out of the changing room.

Out in the arena, the audience in the stands cheered loudly as the contestants who made it to the finals stepped out one by one, however it was soon declared that the crossbow soldier had forfeited the tournament. Thus, out of twelve contestants, it was now eleven. Since Eadlin hadn’t come to be in the finals.

Henry stood among the line of contestants, waiting for his turn in the arena field. The upcoming battles were a simple tournament style matches, where the winner moves up and the loser would be eliminated. Since there were a total of eleven contestants, Henry had to fight two or more matches.

However, at the moment, Kane was up on the field and was completely dominating his opponent. It looked to be a tight match, but Henry knew that the bull, (Kane) could have won awhile ago, but was deliberately toying with his opponent for his twisted amusement.

Kane’s opponent was completely worn out, his face crumbled as he realized what Kane was doing to him. He then decided to forfeit the match as Kane was much stronger, in fact, he was no match for him at all, but the moment he turned to the referee and was about to raised his hands to signal a forfeit_

Clang!

Kane’s sharp spear pierced through the man’s side stomach before he could even get a word out. Kane was so strong enough to pierce through an armour made of steel. Red blood began to ooze out of the man’s armour, "Aaahg!" He fell off his horse with a loud cry of agony.

The referee watching from the distance turned towards Kane with a frown, "My Lord, he was about to forfeit the competition, was this necessary?"

Kane simply feigned ignorance as he swiftly climbed down his horse, "Was he just about to forfeit? He should have said so. I didn’t know he was."

The referee looked doubtfully at Kane because of his unapologetic attitude, however Kane hadn’t violated any rules by stabbing his opponent, because the man hadn’t yet called a forfeit before he was struck with the spear. Therefore, the referee declared the winner.

"The victor is Lord Kane!"

Sometimes, people lose their lives in the final round of the competition, and so, it didn’t matter to the spectators what Kane had done. A thunder of applause rang in the the arena for Kane’s victory. Nevertheless, some of the audience began to murmur among themselves about Kane’s cruel nature. Even Ara, couldn’t help but frown, she turned towards Hamon,

"This isn’t right...the man had wanted to forfeit earlier."

Hamon replied with a grim expression as he also watched Kane, "That’s how Kane is, once he steps inside the arena field, he would toy with his opponent until he got bored and sometimes even ends up killing them."

Ara watched as most of the audience cheered for Kane, her mind couldn’t help but wander to her brother. What if he was matched with Kane later on? She hoped Henry would be safe...

Down at the contestants stands, Henry watched as Kane dismounted his horse, having won his first match, he exited the arena with a bold swagger in his steps, he then glanced towards Henry with a crooked grin as he mimed slitting his throat with his thumb again.

Henry shook his head, even after watching how Kane fought, it didn’t scare him one bit and only added to his morale to deal with the bull.

Soon the host announced the next fight, "Next up, Lord Greene and Lord Henry!"

"Whooo!"

This time, the audience cheered loudly for Henry as he walked to the arena. He swiftly mounted his black horse. But then his eyes moved to a certain direction, and he was met with the smiling princess, she’d worn her dress. And seemed to be hiding at the corner of the contestants stands. He noticed her wobbly arm on her side.

He glanced away from her and focused on his opponent. The match soon began, and Henry attacked his opponent without giving him a chance to even come at him. The sound of the metal clashing against metal was enough to fill the arena. Henry followed with a series of attacks, causing his opponent to lose balance on his horse.

The man unable to withstand another blow, finally toppled from his horse, he tried to push himself up quickly to make up for the disadvantage, but it was too late. Henry’s spear touched his neck, and the man weakly lifted his hands in the air,

"I...I surrender!"

Merona’s eyes widened. How was he able to make it to the finals after she’d ordered to poison his armor? The poison was supposed to make him permanently paralyzed, but here he was...

No match had ever ended this soon, but Henry’s skills were believable. There was a moment of stunned silence in the arena, before a thunderous applause and cheers broke out from the crowd.

The referee was also stunned for a moment before he came back to his sense at the crowds applause, "The winner is Lord Henry!"

The cheers bursting from the audience didn’t not abate even when Henry stepped away from the field.

Ara cheered loudly, but immediately stopped when she heard Hamon say, "Henry is doing well, I told you not to worry, my wife. You see, I didn’t have to go in his place like you suggested earlier, he can deal with Kane just fine."

"..." Earlier after watching Kane with his opponent, she’d suggested for Hamon to go and take her brother’s place and deal with Kane himself instead. Not that she didn’t believe in Henry’s abilities, it was just a sisterly instinct, and her mind had been clouded with anxiety and worry seeing Kane’s strength and how ruthlessly he dealt with his opponents, against any rational thinking she had been immensely frightened about the possibility of Henry going against Kane and being met with the same fate. However, she completely agreed with Hamon seeing her brother’s prowess, Henry would do just fine.

The final rounds of the mounted spear combat were the biggest draws of the tournament. Although the previous three games were enjoyable to watch, it was never as tense as the final battle where lives could be lost and only the most skilled warriors fought in it.

The stands were filled with cheers as the crowds called out the names of their favorite contestants,

"Lord Henry! I will surely talk my father into matching me up with him, he is so handsome and skilled!"

"Here, can’t you see his taken, look there. He has a lady’s handkerchief tied around his spear."

At the young lady’s words, Ara narrowed her eyes and also noticed that her brother really does have a handkerchief on his spear. Whose handkerchief could that be?