She Is a Daughter Raised As the Son of a Duke

Clovin, who had vowed to press May’s arrogance, was trembling with nervousness as the second round began. He was worried that he might die fighting against a Class C demon.

Seeing that sight, May turned her head in pity and scorn.

“We have stationed active-duty knights as agents throughout the area, so if you find yourself in danger, just shout for help loudly.”

If they have stationed active-duty knights throughout the area, it means that the Skeleton Ghosts are powerful.

If you’re not afraid of Class C demons, you’re lying. However, May’s desire to win a medal was stronger.

May tightly gripped the sword she had brought.

‘I will definitely win a medal.’

“Now, the second round begins!”

As the announcer signaled the start, the participants scattered in four directions, rushing towards their desired gates. All nine members entered the same gate this time.

Unlike the first round, there weren’t many demon creatures in the second round. They wondered if they would come across one or two Skeleton Ghosts if they went looking for them.

The Skeleton Ghosts could be considered an evolved form of a scarecrow. They were over 2 meters tall and wore gray cloaks.

‘Damn, why are they so strong?’

Everyone struggled to defeat the Skeleton Ghosts. Participants who felt their limits either called for the rescue of the knights or declared their surrender.

“Please save me…!”

“I give up, I give up!”

Meanwhile, Jed easily defeated a Skeleton Ghost. When May approached and looked closely, the Skeleton Ghost was dead with a sword pierced through its face.

“Wow… Impressive, Jed. You’ll be the first.”

Jed took out the Skeleton Ghost’s heart gem and advised May.

“I’ll go ahead first. Don’t overexert yourself. Your safety is more important.”

“Yeah, I’ll catch up soon.”

Jed took the gem and returned to the Arcus Center. May looked around for a Skeleton Ghost.

‘Why isn’t it appearing when I have to defeat a Skeleton Ghost?’

There was none in sight, and other participants were engaging with them.

On the other hand, Diego was watching May from afar. There was no sign of a Skeleton Ghost either.

‘I can’t possibly like a guy.’

He repeated that phrase hundreds of times without getting tired. Yet, his gaze was always fixed on May, wondering what it meant.

Suddenly, a Skeleton Ghost rushed towards Diego. In the moment when Diego roughly raised his sword and confronted the Skeleton Ghost,

“Ah!”

Red liquid splattered on the ground.

Instead of focusing on the charging Skeleton Ghost, Diego momentarily lost his concentration and was attacked. In the blink of an eye, a large scratch appeared on Diego’s left arm, and blood flowed profusely.

May heard a scream.

“What was that sound?”

When she turned her body towards the direction of the scream, she saw Diego clutching his arm and collapsing to the ground.

With the sight of the red liquid flowing from his arm and the approaching Skeleton Ghost, May rushed towards him without hesitation.

May leaped up, recalling Jed attacking and killing the Skeleton Ghost by striking its face. She firmly grasped her sword with both hands and forcefully stabbed the Skeleton Ghost’s face.

The sword pierced through the tough face of the Skeleton Ghost.

Wobbling, it collapsed to the ground.

Having dispatched it in one blow, May pulled out the sword from the Skeleton Ghost’s face and spoke.

“It seems, Your Highness, that you lack the qualities of a guardian knight. What will happen if you cower before a demon? It could lead to your death.”

To Diego, those words sounded like genuine concern.

“You… are you worried about me?”

May chuckled as if surprised. Did it sound like she was worrying about him?

She turned around and looked down at Diego. The bleeding was worse than she had thought. May knelt down in front of him and commanded.

“Take off your clothes.”

“What…?”

May reached out her hand to help him remove his clothes. At that moment, Diego flinched and recoiled in surprise. His ears turned red as an added bonus.

“W-What are you doing? Are you a pervert?”

“After I went to the trouble of saving you, you call it perversion?”

“T-Then why are you trying to undress me?”

May responded with frustration.

“We need to stop the bleeding, don’t we? Since there’s nothing else suitable for hemostasis at the moment, we have to use your clothes for that.”

Diego finally understood and raised his hand.

“…Fine. I’ll undress, so don’t touch me.”

In front of her, he took off his top. As he removed his clothes, his well-toned upper body was revealed.

Diego felt awkward and couldn’t meet her gaze properly. May found his reaction peculiar.

‘I’ve seen you with just a towel in the Nine Bathhouse, so why are you feeling awkward now?’

Back then, even when told to leave, he wouldn’t leave and proudly boasted about his good looks.

May received the clothes he had taken off and wrapped the injured area like a bandage.

Diego didn’t mind her touch as she stemmed the bleeding. In fact, he even found it pleasant.

Pleasant… It was truly maddening.

May tied her clothes tightly to prevent them from coming undone and stood up. As May tried to leave, Diego grabbed her wrist.

“Where are you going? Leaving the patient alone?”

“I need to find the attending physician. They need proper treatment.”

“Fine, I’ll go with you.”

Diego also stood up from his seat, not letting go of her wrist.

“Suit yourself.”

After May and Diego left to find the attending physician, Clovin, who was hiding in the nearby grassy forest, cautiously revealed his face.

“They’re gone…?”

Clovin had been observing the situation since Diego got injured. He had entered the forest to hide because he was scared he might get hurt too.

“So, you went into the forest to find the attending physician without even taking out the bead, right?”

Clovin laughed softly.

“Then, is this mine?”

Clovin walked out of the forest and headed towards the place where the skeleton spirit I had defeated was. He intended to take the bead.

While rummaging through the skeleton spirit’s body with a bent waist, Clovin leisurely muttered to himself.

“That’s why you should have guarded the bead carefully. If no one takes it away, no one will steal it, right?”

It was the moment when Clovin was about to take out the bead.

Shiiing—

A sword was placed close to Clovin’s neck. Even the slightest movement would have caused the sharp blade to cut his throat.

“I told you, you won’t get a second chance.”

Luckily, May found the attending physician promptly and sent Diego. Before Clovin could steal the bead, she discovered him.

“Damn it…”

“Take your hands off the bead.”

Feeling indignant about surrendering, Clovin tightly clenched the bead in his hand but slowly lowered it when he saw the sword pointed at his neck.

“Now that you’ve let go, sheathe the sword. You might end up with a wound on your neck at this rate.”

Rather than apologizing, he spoke firmly, implying that he wouldn’t let it go if even a scratch marred his precious body.

May thought to herself that he still hadn’t come to his senses.

““Are you happy  to see me?”

Clovin asked, as if he hadn’t heard correctly.

“What?”

“Is that what I know? It has nothing to do with me whether you get hurt or not.”

Clovin raised his voice, feeling triumphant.

“Do you want to be sued for assault? Or attempted murder?”

“For a crime to be established, there needs to be evidence. Since there are only the two of us here, we won’t have any witnesses.”

May deliberately spoke in an unpleasant manner.

“Oh, so you’re not sure if it was me or the skeleton spirit who hurt you?”

“Are you kidding me?”

As Clovin became irritated, May pushed the sword closer. Clovin froze in place.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“No.”

Feeling the threat to his life, Clovin immediately backed down. May’s vision caught sight of the sword Clovin was holding.

“Drop the sword.”

“Why…?”

“Drop the sword.”

Firmly ordering, Clovin let the sword he was holding fall to the ground. May kicked the sword away.

She waited in that position.

“What are you trying to do…?”

“It’s coming.”

As she waited, a skeleton spirit approached us.

“It seems the skeleton spirit has spotted us. It’s coming this way.”

“Excuse me…?”

Clovin couldn’t move his head, so he glanced sideways. The skeleton spirit was indeed approaching.

Trembling, Clovin pleaded.

“T-The skeleton spirit is going to attack us…! Please, put away the sword!”

May casually replied as if it was no big deal.

“Tell it to attack. If it tries to attack, I’ll push you away to buy time and run away.”

“A-Are you serious…? No, right?”

“I am serious.”

In reality, she wasn’t serious. Dealing with just one skeleton spirit like before, she could knock it down by attacking its face. She was just trying to frighten him.

But Clovin, unaware of this, was so terrified that tears welled up in his eyes. He was scared to the point where his body trembled.

Even in the midst of that, his upper body remained fixed without trembling, as if being cut by the sword wasn’t scary.

“P-Please spare me. I’m not even a D-grade, but a C-grade! It means I can die from one attack…!”

“That’s why I’m going to use you as a distraction and then run away, you fool.”

Soon, sobbing could be heard.

Sniff, s-sniff, sob…

“What’s wrong? Are you crying?”

Was scaring him to this extent enough?

Clovin cried and apologized.

“Sniff, it’s all my fault… Sniff, sob. Please spare me, Young Lord. Sniff…”

“What did you do wrong?”

“I-I’m sorry… Sniff…”

“What are you sorry for?”

Clovin sobbed, repenting for his sins.

“The crime of disrespecting Young Lord, the crime of stealing the pocket, the crime of lacking proper manners, the crime of denying the obvious…”

“You know them well.”

It was fortunate that Clovin wasn’t a complete idiot who didn’t know his own sins.

“I’m sorry…”

“Really?”

“Yes… From now on, I will never… sob, never do it again, sob…”

Clovin apologized several times, but it was somewhat unsatisfying to end it like this.

“Because of Clovin, I almost couldn’t make it to the second round.”