Excluding all the swordsmen that have either won or lost before Ella's show-man-ship, there were a total of 3 heavily bruised individuals in the entire arena.

1) Prince Theodore.

The freshly inflicted wound on his calf was dripping mercilessly with a thick metallic liquid that molded around the Prince's boots in spatter patterns. The lower part of his black pants darkened solely because of the crimson stains and fastened to his leg due to its wetness.

But to him, that wasn't the part that required his utmost attention, to him nothing from the throne of the Mubeven Empire in the east to the heaps of gold and flock of girls he came across in Dalia in the west, mattered at that very moment. His eyes were hell-bent on one and only woman that ever garnered his body and mind in such a peculiar way.

To him, the whole world had blurred out in black and white and Ella was the only color he could conceive.

2) Ella.

Ella held her quivering lip tightly in her upper teeth, she blinked more than average and her eyebrows knit together in a daze.

What in the bloody hell was going on?

Ella was heavily bruised too, not on her calf, but on her dignity that took several years of grounding. All her pride, ego and esteem shattered down in one blow.

One blow to her sword and one to her heart.

Ella looked around her in desperation, her eyes popped in all four directions, all the shouting of slander and slurs that were piercing through the arena in such aggression, now was the time. Now was the time when Ella wanted to hear them, she hoped the screams of their ill-words could over-shadow the deafening silence.

Ella slumped a little as she noticed the audience wide-eyed and tight-lipped. Nobody was talking, nobody even dared to move, maybe it was the presence of Prince Theodore or the doubt that Ella too, might end up being one of the royals. But there was one audible commotion which Ella wished to ignore for the rest of her life if she could, and it was directly coming from Princess Irene herself.

Ella did pay her mind to The princess once or twice in this entire ordeal, but Prince Theodore, it's as of he turned into a rock, hardly did he even blink, and hardly did his eyes ever took off from Ella. If only he wasn't breathing like a rock too, Ella thought to herself.

3) And Princess Irene with her heavily bruised heart.

Princess Irene needed time to process, she didn't know how to make sense of what exactly was going on. In front of her was her dream, her love, her knight in a shining armor who was bleeding continuously to death. She breathed heavily and held her hand to her chest, she wasn't sure what she should worry about more.

Her love bleeding like an animal or her love being stolen away from her right in front of her very eyes.

She closed her eyes and tightly gripped her ruffled dress in one hand and the other, she repeatedly beat on her ribs to calm her beating heart down. Princess Irene opened her eyes again and this time it was clouded with sudden rage, she gritted her teeth roughly and pushed back the small strands that rested upon her face with her lean fingers. She bent down to take off her shoes and proceeded to tear down her regal gown by the bottom with her bare hands. She was about to leap on Ella and she made sure that nothing could manage to come in her way, not her dress and not her dainty heart.

Princess Irene bolted down the stairs with her lush hair tied neatly in a ponytail bobbing up and down with her. Her heavy steps were producing the only sound in the arena, which caught Ella's attention for a few seconds. Princess Irene's veins popping out of her temple and her round reddened cheeks were enough clues to every being present near her that she had completely lost herself today.

Her mother, Queen of Dalia, was cruelly taken away from her, and her sister, the 2nd princess of the Dalia empire soon followed after at a very young age. But that was the most she was ever letting to leave her like that. Prince Théodore was hers and she had decided that the moment her eyes were laid on him.

"Don't you even dare answer that you filthy nobody!" Princess Irene screamed on top of her lungs. There was no way Gabriella Adler was becoming Gabriella Theodore.

Her sudden uprising caused Ella to jerk back a little and shift her eyes to Princess Irene's fuming frame approaching her. Prince Irene Jumped off the last three stairs like a mad man. She did not wait to walk down, she hopped and which caused Ella to unsheathe her sword again in defense, but there was someone more eager to protect Ella than Ella herself.

It was Prince Theodore. He too skipped in front of Ella with his sword pointed at Princess Irene's face this time.

"Princess, please, you know I do not hesitate." Prince Theodore spoke in a surprisingly calm manner.

"One more step and I will be forced to forget the bond of friendship we once held." He continued.

Ella was annoyed of Prince Theodore's sudden instinct to guard her, of course, Princess Irene's tantrum was beginning to become her new favorite, where was her charm Ella once heard she possessed?

Smelling Prince Theodore's strong, manly scent caused Ella to back away from him. He smelt of vanilla that Ella loved so dearly in her dessert, he also smelt somewhat like musk and sweat.

Ella hardly had any men around her, she lived her life like a lone wolf, it was mostly her and her adoptive mother alone. Ella did have a good few pals to have hearty laughs with but they were hardly any males.

Ella got herself thinking that if her losing a fight from prince Theodore showed her as a weakling. She hooded her eyes a little as she continued to stare at prince Theodore's towering form in front of her, Ella needed no protection, Ella gave protection.

"You think you can take away my prince from me this easily, YOU ESCORT?"

Princess Irene shouted, this time even louder than before. That's it. She did completely lose it today.

Princess Irene was jerked backward in a swift motion, her arm was now held by a tall lanky figure. His pitch-black hair was slightly messy due to the wind and his eyes had eradicated itself of all gentleness and softness. It's as if he was triggered. Not by Prince Theodore's ridiculous marriage proposal to Ella but by the sight of Prince Theodore's sword angled towards Princess Irene.

It was Prince Emmett, who was the 4th heavily bruised man that nobody could see.

It wasn't his calf that was bleeding, nor his pride, it was his heart that took a severe beating. His scar wasn't fresh it was chronic. Inflicted again and again, without a break for years by Princess Irene, who refused to acknowledge his undying affection for her.

"That's no way to talk to a princess my brother."

Prince Emmett spoke in an incredibly serious tone, he pushed Princess Irene behind him and moved his brother's sword away from The Princess's face with the tip of his finger.

"That's exactly what I was saying to Princess Irene." Prince Theodore replied as he eyed Ella's shorter figure behind him and gave her an intriguing smile.

Did he just call Ella a princess?

Ella furrowed her eyebrows in absolute disgust. Ella was no princess and Ella didn't plan to be one, who in the world did Prince Theodore think he was? Ella wasn't clay he could shape into whatever and whenever he liked.

"Pardon?" Ella uttered with her hands folded on her chest and her eyebrow cocked in a challenging manner, she gave Prince Theodore a stern look.

"I was saying tha-"

"Enough!" King Ernest's booming voice echoed through the arena. He stood up from his seat with his hand massaging his temple in a circular motion, his eyes were closed and the fingers of his opposite hand drummed on his thigh. He was quite fond of that, Ella noticed that he picked up upon the habit of regularly drumming his finger on his thigh whenever he was vexed.

"Irene, come back to your seat this instant!" King Ernest commanded with his gaze stabbing in Princess Irene in irritation.

"But Father, I-"

"Now!" King Ernest again declared this time his hand forming into a fist and banging the table beside him in the process, the resonation, in turn, caused all the items from the table to clatter down.

His demons were awakened and Ella hurriedly faced Princess Irene with pleading eyes, almost begging her to obey his command, she knew if he was angered any further her chance of gathering her piece of information from him would reduce down to zero.

Princess Irene was terrified, her pupils almost bulging out from her sockets and her lips shivering like a human surviving in harsh winters. She flew back with the twice the speed she came, back to her designated seat near her father.

"Tomorrow we host a banquet, I cordially invite you to be a part of it as a guest, even though you lost, but your bravery has not failed to entice me." King Ernest announced as he sat back on his comfortable chair and peered at Ella with a tiny smile.

"I, as a king, give you my word that I will grant you whatever you wish for as no man or woman has ever left my palace empty-handed."

Ella breathed in relief as both the corner her lips were dragged up in an alluring smile, she celebrated her victory in a mental dance. Ella didn't care that she lost to a vain Prince in her most accomplished sport, her real triumph lied in the mission that was now halfway fulfilled.

"The pleasure is all mine, your Majesty." Ella spoke with delight as she bowed down to king in respect

"I'm glad you will join tomorrow's banquet with me, love."

Ella spun to witness Prince Théodore sheathing his sword back in the cover and staring Ella in a relaxed manner.

There he goes again, Ella thought as she rolled her eyes to another silly name Prince Theodore petted her with.

"Love~." Ella mimicked Prince Theodore in a hushed voice.

"Your highness, you are surely mistaken, I must only come for King Ernest and nobody else." Ella fired back as she proceeded to get off the ring while covering her face back in her cloak, her job here was done.

"Oh sweet girl, you might not come for me, but you will stay for me." Prince Theodore spoke while crossing paths with Ella, he intentionally pulled down a strand of her hair lightly in a playful manner and bumped his shoulder with her.

"I have a habit of keeping people that I interest in all to myself." Prince Theodore whispered to Ella as moved past her back to his seat.

"Can't wait to see you tomorrow."

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