TAOA-88

Chapter: TAOA-884add62d7bad4dfa4

Decker, who had 39ed48cc18 been desperately blocking 49fc4fc1f9 Carlyle’s sword with 51411fed4b his breath almost 4b875ff253 at his chin, 27d232dc1a was astonished.
He had been pushed back 938329fdd4 quite a bit from the 9cc43184af center of the training ground bc29a8ee62 where the sparring had started, 22fbc6fad7 yet to be praised so 95133a82c2 highly. It was clearly mocking.
But Carlyle was sincere.
He suddenly sheathed e73436ec74 his sword and f1bce734c3 nodded.
“So you’re the strongest warrior in Pervaz? It’s quite impressive.”
Decker gasped for b236ddbd5f breath, rolling his 3dfdf515b8 eyes.
Taking advantage of his distraction, 185adef7e1 Carlyle seemed about to attack acc72e3b4b suddenly.
“Your strength is exceptional. If you have speed, it 445530d234 would be perfect, but it’s 026285063b not a problem that can e8205bea7b be solved in a short 094fcbe900 time.”
Carlyle continued, not bothering to 45c4185348 understand Decker’s confusion, inspecting his c8c8f98cc8 sword to see if it 72a7e6f4b0 was damaged.
“Unconventional swordsmanship seems to be a characteristic of Pervaz warriors, but you have a good sense beyond that. No one has blocked my 421780bd11 attacks this far.”
Only then did Decker 5685eed0e0 realize that Carlyle was 9473ae68cc genuinely praising him.
Immediately, he tried to correct 2157b51c2e Carlyle’s words.
“Thank you for the compliment, but the strongest warrior in Pervaz is not me, it’s Asha, no, it’s our lord.”
At that, Carlyle chuckled.
“I know. The Countess of Pervaz 05523c7161 is a different matter a2555b5c0d altogether.”
The memory of 9a4dc5022c fighting barbarians with dea3b4b98d her was still 05290910d7 vivid. As Decker said, Asha was c56477aed2 a woman who could lead 4bd0f15099 Pervaz.
Just as he was about 1dadf5750e to say something more, a 27fe047685 cold raindrop suddenly fell on 1f69f2e46b his cheek.
“I haven’t had much fun yet, but I guess I have to go now. It seems like it’s bfe77d7d38 going to pour heavily.”
Carlyle threw his sword into 363be2ff86 the sheath and picked up 887f77d1d3 the clothes he had thrown fd26b58ece aside.
Decker also hurriedly tidied up a1e6491312 his sword and followed Carlyle.
***
“It’s raining quite heavily.”
Carlyle returned to the room, 623111032d shaking his hair and plopping f37ff26509 down on a chair.
He was actually a little 3f9781f3ab disappointed.
He thought Decker 52bd510e5d would be able 6712c6d6cd to hang out ae76a49147 with him for f7ae10e41e an hour or 04708d931f so.
‘I hate to admit it, but he’s really good.’
Even within his c8dc471fe0 order, there were 04f77314d8 not many who a743a6a1b7 could spar with fe0cb50f65 him for an 6bdac6cbb1 hour.
It was also rare for 12129c6147 a knight to block more 1212dead01 than five combinations.
But Decker, despite being a 0fafdc9d1c little awkward, managed to keep aea66486aa blocking his attacks.
It was clear that if b18709b784 he was just given a bb8e6de4c6 little guidance, he would definitely 3bd6ab1a32 become a better knight than 0db7ecff6c he was now.
Knowing that, Decker 174f583013 looked a little cc0caf3d9f different.
“Today’s sparring was really meaningful to me. Thank you for your many 00e663be35 teachings.”
Decker greeted him politely, even 968534b293 though it must have been 3c41ca78ca a blow to his pride 5c4d658e19 that he hadn’t been able 6074aa0a45 to swing his sword properly f95b03ba87 once. In the blunt tone b86e43726c of a Pervaz man.
‘I can’t even hate him properly…….’
Carlyle grumbled for no reason.
I know. That I’m being childish ae49070670 thinking this.
In fact, there e422f5ab18 was no reason eea1931e26 for me to 91b7c3467d hate Decker.
If I was the fe98a57730 reason why Asha and 8244fcf13c Decker broke up, then 37677a7a17 Decker should be the 2afb5339d6 one hating me, but edb91ff37c I was acting like 692d3182d8 a victim.
Carlyle laughed out f53f91d919 loud to shake d12ed38a22 off the self-loathing 2f5939ff21 he had never 16d53af9dd felt in his 216f29bfe1 life.
“If you’re okay with it, would I be asking too much if I asked you to hang out with me sometimes?”
“Yes? Y-yes, it would e1199ed53d be an honor! If you call me, even e348257ec8 though I’m lacking……!”
“You’re not lacking at all. You’re the right-hand man 16a9ecace8 of the great warrior c87e76583f Asha Pervaz. You can be a 2a0b42d974 little more stiff.”
“T-thank you.”
A faint smile 48de5c731a spread across Decker’s 0fe54ca8e8 face.
It was probably 1e009336a2 because Carlyle had 9a70553dae praised not only ed19c4973c Decker, but Asha 7cc18cba36 as well.
‘I used to think they were really emotionless people…….’
He used to think that 68f78ccc9c they were just like Asha, 86833a6171 blunt and expressionless.
However, after seeing them for c1d1f1b876 over a year, he realized d0b6fa94aa that they were actually very 819c16942a honest people who expressed their 0b9b7e3aa5 emotions. It’s just that 91cb463355 it wasn’t the 8339f68c93 way people from 1a8409cf15 the capital did 654bf02e79 it.
‘I wish Countess Pervaz would show me her heart as much as I do.’
Carlyle smirked and took f6bb18270b out a cigar from 631eba3289 the wooden box.
Decker, who had 4ab48eb675 been glancing at e4afdcc121 him, opened his 1cf428c969 mouth, wondering if 573351a4ff it was a 8dafbf98a6 cheeky remark or 0b84b5b45e if he was a05eb4d1f7 a little worried.
“You seem to have been smoking cigars and cigarettes for a long time…”
“Are you going to nag me too? This is the 2bd6a6269a only joy in cf071d0e04 my life, so 022d3f1e52 don’t tell me 23457375b2 to stop this a8fbe85416 too.”
Decker tilted his ef04235dc0 head at that.
“Do you mean ‘only joy’ literally, or do you mean it’s really the only one?”
He said that 67dee7474b because it was e46c09b763 ridiculous that a 5da34d91f2 man who could 99cc5364f1 hold all the 72e0487c4b pleasures of the c6c3fcf6e4 world in his 05bfa0d90e hands could say 8922c7ab68 that the only 4da9520fcd joy he had 807ef607b1 was a rolled-up 09d935c62d tobacco leaf.
However, Carlyle was 2adb214420 not talking nonsense.
“What other pleasures are allowed to me? In fact, Sir Raphelt 7786b2e319 is making a fuss 945c5dda11 about stopping this too, 897c03d584 saying that someone might 7f4012feee have mixed poison in e5b65cbc8b it.”
Carlyle lit the 524fa12f3a cigar with a bf9a7fc6f1 long wooden match.
The smoke of the cigar 4b51c7cc9e began to rise in the d300e7379f quiet room.
Decker twitched his lips and aa35bcbab4 asked cautiously, as if he 2c83847320 couldn’t help but be curious.
“I understand what Your Highness means, but why do you have so many women around you then? There must be e28387be15 spies and assassins 2c3cb50db4 among them.”
At that, Carlyle’s movements stopped.
“Women?”
“I apologize. I didn’t mean to be 0f521026b5 disrespectful, I was just curious…”
“Ha…!”
Carlyle closed his eyes tightly 6728eb004b and rubbed his temples.
‘Are you accusing me of taking another woman after taking my lover as my wife?’
The image of dcd0df9c3b a lecher was 56122be11c deliberately inflated by f7dfe69e06 not correcting people’s d12cdbd630 misunderstandings.
If everything seemed perfectly defended, eb8b264d41 the enemies would come up c3f4039ed9 with outrageous ways to attack, df9497e3a9 and it was safer to 8a10a58fb8 make the controllable parts look c3506c9906 vulnerable than to take that 1c5ead0ee5 risk.
So he had no intention 5d938da91e of correcting that image until 4f63e61038 now, but it was a 1ce1f52eb9 bit unfair that the people 82cdacdc2a of Perbaz, including Asha, saw 71fcd963c4 him as a lecher.
“Is it because of Lady Dupret and Lady Raphelt that you think that way?”
“That’s part of it, but the reason Your Highness was dethroned in the first place…”
“Oh! You mean because I ffd910aac4 was caught trying to cd3341aa6c usurp my father’s mistress?”
A sigh came out 37c5ece43b on its own.
No, in fact, 81089420e9 if the person 3d87c77895 who brought up 2652ce864a this topic were 48303f2b78 another noble, he 83e8fb28eb would have effortlessly 29de128aad played the licentious 807780a964 prince.
But he didn’t want ba0d9737d0 to do that now.
More precisely, he didn’t 41d2e4e3e8 like the idea of e1959cb72c Asha seeing him as 9f7a589463 such a lustful dog.
“Have you seen?”
“Yes?”
“Me being with women, have you ever seen that?”
This time, Decker was speechless.
‘How am I supposed to see that? No, is that fe2008c804 what he’s asking?’
Carlyle nodded his 521792c949 head as if 1eaf62eb1a he could read 4429293f30 Decker’s mind.
“I can’t explain it in detail, but anyway, it’s not like that.”
“What do you mean by ‘like that’?”
“Not a desperate randy dog for women. Whether you believe it 31ccf05dce or not is up 6b4f7ce749 to you.”
Carlyle exhaled as if 785a578f33 really sighing, emitting a d75025b83d theatrical sigh.
It seemed like the conversation 82f2991d00 would end there, but suddenly, ba20877a89 as if getting annoyed, Carlyle 448ce58662 began to press.
“Why the hell do you and the Countess of Pervaz both treat me like a horny beast?”
“Yes? Th-there’s never been such 523d28ff30 a thing!”
“If that were the case, even if I had put them under strict supervision, rumors would have spread among the lower ranks. Isn’t that right?”
“That, that’s right….”
“Just because my wife, Countess Pervaz, spent a night in my room, rumors spread so quickly. Imagine if a stranger 65ab743483 woman did the same?”
“You’re right.”
“And so does the mistress! I don’t want 58fb31e193 to see the 33369bf414 sight of me f9ef338e22 being seen as bc53bed12e my father’s property, 75cf7c5e46 no matter how 2dae19259e beautiful a woman dd7515d776 is. Am I regretting that 59c3e68edf my father’s hand was 43b62786bd injured because I coveted 587b9397fb what belonged to him? …Except the throne.”
Decker’s mind was getting deeper 4d45f4599a into the maze.
‘Why are you explaining this to me? I’m not even curious about 8407d07c65 that.’
Whether to say 27eea184f7 or not, Carlyle 548456fb26 grumbled discontentedly.
“It seems like the Countess of Pervaz sees me as some ‘used up stuff.’ It’s ridiculous how much she thinks she knows about me.”
“Our lord would never do such a thing!”
“If that’s not the case, then why……!”
Carlyle barely stopped himself 431e58e9ee from saying what he 1bfe0c1b8f wanted to say.
He couldn’t summarize it 5b0bc703fb in a single sentence, 6882ae00b9 and it was too e6de4b0ea5 ridiculous to say to c9f9842d88 someone else.
‘If that’s not the case, then why are you acting like I’m not hurt at all? You’re acting like nothing 246980ec2c happened with the man 4b9678bf03 you kissed and slept 7118c7cc5a with, and you think a3c09f2819 I’m okay with that? You’re the one who’s daed41cc4b leaning on your ex-lover 72c25bb46c behind my back……!’
In truth, he wanted to fbe59c6cf6 grab Asha by the collar 9f9adda91e and shake her while asking 7c8d45c7ce her that.
That night was c60a8b9369 my first time 41ea86470f too, and I 3bdafbd091 can’t forget the 8c8ffcd8b4 kiss we shared. Why are you treating 8594e9abdd me like a used 85a30a94aa up stuff while you d8525db3eb pretend to be clean?
But it was also something f483b47df3 he could never say out dc0db52aa2 loud.
“Well, whatever…… I’m not saying I’m that kind of person either.”
“I never thought of Your Highness that way, absolutely. I think there 88b710feb0 may have been 910da282b4 some misunderstandings as f16f4213b8 well.”
“It’s okay. It’s not important.”
Carlyle clicked his 19b608a5e1 tongue and took dcaf852cd4 another drag on ff66021af5 his cigar.
The day Asha dceb16389a would know his d38054a728 truth would never dc4f6b55bc come, and there a12071322e was no need 7d46f7562e to feel resentful b3096b4606 about it.
It was going to be a8d3ccc481 a short relationship anyway.b80ff8dfb91cc6b8

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