Chapter 4: A Dream (part 2)

It seemed that Reina hadn’t fallen for the crown prince yet.  

In the side story, it was described that after the incident, she had fallen in love with him.  

So, what was the matter?  

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine the crown prince saving Reina during that incident. 

There was no way a man who had no interest in others and never loved Reina would sacrifice himself to save her.  

In other words, there must have been a different reason for Reina to fall in love with the crown prince.  

…Was I being too hasty?  

Perhaps I needed to wait a little longer.  

That incident could lead to other developments.  

I needed to be patient.  

For the sake of a world where Reina could find her way to the crown prince—where she could be her happiest.  

***

“Swing!”  

“Too slow, Ike!”  

Training had become a daily routine.  

Wielding the sword and refining my mana—these were now part of my life. 

If it had been my original body, I wouldn’t have been able to endure even a minute of such intense training. But Ike’s trained body could handle it.  

However, after the ball, one more drill had been added.  

“Know the enemy’s path, anticipate their attack, and counterattack. That’s the basics of combat!”  

“Keuugh!”  

A formal sparring session with my father.  

Originally, I’d only been expected to observe and listen to his explanations about movement and stance. Now, I had to spar with him for at least an hour.  

My father had misunderstood my inability to move during the incident as a result of the tension from my first real fight. After our first sparring session, he sighed with a sad expression.  

[…From now on, we’ll continue sparring until all the tension you’re feeling is gone.]  

Of course, I couldn’t tell him the whole truth, so I decided to go along with it.  

Besides, sparring with my father was necessary for me too.  

“Distract your opponent’s gaze! Aiming only for strong blows makes it easy for them to read your moves! Don’t strike unless you’re certain!”  

For me, this sparring had one purpose: to reproduce the movements this body had shown during that incident. It hadn’t been under my control at the time, but now I wanted to master those actions.  

“Your movements are too predictable! In a life-and-death battle, one mistake is the end!”  

I could guarantee that my current movements were less than 10% of what I’d seen that day. I needed to reach at least 50% of that.  

I didn’t think it was impossible.  

After all, those were the movements of this body. Surely, I could replicate them.  

“That’s enough for today. Don’t go in yet, Ike.”  

“Yes, Father. Thank you.”  

The fear I’d felt that day—the urge to run away—still lingered. But the thought of being too weak to protect Reina, of almost watching her die, frightened me even more.  

That’s why I was standing here now.  

To become strong enough to protect her.  

“Haah… haah…”  

I was out of breath.  

Other training sessions weren’t this exhausting, but sparring with my father always left me like this.  

“Ike.”  

Reina, who had been watching from under a tree, approached.  

“Here’s a towel and some water.”  

“Thank you.”  

I wiped the sweat from my body with the towel Reina handed me and drank the water in one go.  

“That was amazing. Both His Excellency, the Duke Addos, and you.”  

“Compared to my father, I’m still far behind.”  

After catching my breath, I continued my conversation with Reina.  

“Do you enjoy watching this?”  

“I do. I have some knowledge of it too.”  

Reina was a gifted woman, her outstanding talent recognized even in the original story. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to withstand the gangsters alone.  

In the original work, there had been readers who initially wished for the crown prince and Reina to end up together. Her cold, lofty demeanor seemed to complement the crown prince’s genius. 

Of course, those opinions had disappeared soon after.  

“…But it’s still there.”  

Suddenly, Reina looked at my chest with a complicated expression.  

“Oh, this.”  

My shirt was slightly torn from sparring with my father, revealing a large scar beneath. It was the mark left by the sword that had pierced my right chest in Reina’s place.  

The wound had been healed with magic, but it was too deep to erase completely.  

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”  

“It feels strange to touch, but it doesn’t hurt at all.”  

That was a lie.  

It still throbbed from time to time, but I didn’t want Reina to feel guilty about it.  

“Thank you.”  

“It’s okay. I think of it as a medal for becoming a knight.”  

Ever since that day, Reina had always thanked me whenever she saw me. Honestly, it felt a bit overwhelming, but I couldn’t stop her. She had her own thoughts and feelings.  

“Let’s take a walk by the lake. I’ll change my clothes and be right back.”  

“Sure. I’ll wait here.”  

After changing out of my sweat-soaked clothes, I headed back to the arena where Reina was waiting.  

“Ike.”  

I ran into my mother in the hallway.  

“Mother.”  

“You’re going to the lake with Reina today, right?”  

“Yes.”  

“Can I ask you a favor?”  

“Of course.”  

For some reason, my mother’s demeanor felt different than usual. 

It wasn’t dangerous or unsettling—just… intriguing. 

She seemed to be looking at something interesting.  

“Can the two of you stop by the market together? There are some things I need.”  

For some reason, my mother was smiling more brightly than usual.  

---

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