Chapter 110 - finally saw the real protagonist.
I looked around the arena and eventually spotted Luna standing off to the side.
A girl and a boy had approached her and were talking to her.
The girl wasn’t bad-looking, while the boy had blonde hair and golden eyes.
I made my way toward them.
As I approached, I heard the girl speaking.
"Princess Luna, this is my closest friend, Eithen."
"He’s the same age as us and extremely talented."
"I’d even say he’s the most talented person among the younger generation."
Her eyes were practically shining with admiration.
Meanwhile, Eithen looked increasingly pleased by her praise.
Then he looked toward Luna with an expression that immediately made me frown.
He looked lovesick.
I walked over and stood beside Luna.
"Do you know them?"
The girl frowned.
"Hey, can’t you see I’m talking to the princess?"
"I was introducing my friend."
I looked at her calmly.
"So what?"
"I don’t care."
Then I turned toward Luna.
"Are you okay?"
Luna nodded.
"Yeah, I’m fine."
The girl frowned even more.
"Hey!"
"Do you have no manners?"
"You just interrupted a princess while she was talking."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Are you a princess?"
She immediately stammered.
"N-No, but Princess Luna is—"
I looked toward Luna.
Then I put on an exaggerated expression.
"Oh, dear Princess..."
"Did I offend you?"
I grinned.
Luna stared at my exaggerated expression before lightly hitting me on the head.
"Gray."
I laughed.
Then I looked back at the girl.
"See?"
"She’s fine with it."
"So mind your own business."
Her eyes widened.
She looked toward Luna.
"But, Princess..."
Luna cut her off.
"Stop, Chloe."
"He can interrupt me whenever he wants."
"He’s my best friend and my fiancé, so he has every right to be here."
Then Luna continued.
"And as for you saying your friend is the most talented..."
"I don’t believe it."
"I’ve always believed Gray is the strongest among the younger generation."
Unfortunately, neither Chloe nor Eithen seemed to hear anything after one particular word.
Fiancé.
Eithen’s expression stiffened.
Chloe’s expression changed as well.
She slowly looked at me.
"You..."
"You’re the princess’s fiancé?"
I nodded.
"Yeah."
"So?"
"I saw you two standing together, and Luna was by herself, so I came over to check on her."
Eithen was the first to react.
He nodded reluctantly.
He clearly wasn’t happy.
He liked Luna.
That was exactly why he had used Chloe to get closer to her.
He didn’t realize it yet, but Chloe herself had become very close to him.
As for Chloe...
She was a regressor.
She had returned to her younger self with memories of her previous life.
In her previous life, she had loved Eithen.
She also knew that Eithen loved Luna.
Since Eithen had failed to win Luna over in her previous life, Chloe had helped him.
But she had never expected an unexpected variable to appear.
Gray.
She quickly composed herself.
Then she looked at me carefully.
"Which family are you from?"
She needed to know where this new fiancé had appeared from.
I didn’t notice anything strange about her question.
"Oh."
"I’m from the Starlight Family."
Chloe froze.
"Starlight?"
"How?"
She stared at me.
Then she asked carefully.
"Like Amy Starlight?"
I nodded.
"Yeah."
"She’s my older sister."
Chloe’s eyes widened.
Then the words escaped her mouth before she could stop herself.
"Aren’t you supposed to be dead?"
She immediately covered her mouth.
Silence.
My eyes narrowed.
Luna’s expression also changed.
She looked at Chloe coldly.
"Chloe."
"This is your first and final warning."
"If you say another word like that..."
"I don’t care about your family."
"I’ll tell Sister Amy and Aunt Seraphina."
Her voice remained cold.
"They won’t take it lightly if someone comes close to Gray and talks about him being dead."
"So mind your words."
"If you don’t..."
"Your entire family might be destroyed."
She paused.
"And don’t expect my mother to intervene."
"I don’t care how close we used to be."
"Gray is someone important to me."
I was slightly moved by Luna’s words.
But I still looked at Chloe suspiciously.
"What do you mean by saying I’m supposed to be dead?"
Chloe immediately realized the blunder she had made.
She had exposed something she shouldn’t have.
She quickly bowed her head.
"I-I apologize."
"I didn’t mean it that way."
She knew that even though her family possessed some influence, they would never want to cross either the royal family or the Starlight Family.
Without saying anything else, Chloe grabbed Eithen’s hand and quickly left.
I watched them disappear into the crowd.
My eyes remained narrowed.
Something about that girl was strange.
And that sentence...
Aren’t you supposed to be dead?
I had no idea what she meant.
I decided to let it go for now.
There was no point worrying about it during the tournament.
I turned toward Luna.
Then—
Tap.
I quickly tapped her forehead and ran.
Luna froze.
For a moment, she looked completely bewildered.
Then she realized what I had done.
"You!"
She immediately chased after me.
I laughed.
But before she could catch me, her name was called.
"Luna von Valtherion!"
Luna stopped.
I turned around and gave her a provocative smile.
Then I gestured toward the arena.
She clenched her fists.
"Just you wait."
"I’ll get you back for this."
She huffed before heading toward the arena.
I laughed.
"Okay."
"Then I’ll wait for that."
But when Luna turned away...
A small smile appeared on her face.
She stepped into the arena.
This was her next match.
If she won this one, she would only have one more match before securing a place in the top five.
The referee raised his hand.
The match began.
Luna immediately moved.
Her sword flashed through the air as she fought her opponent.
I watched from the side, quietly observing her movements.
She was getting stronger.
Much stronger.
And it was obvious how much her confidence had grown.
Meanwhile, I waited for my own match.
Eventually, my number was called.
I stood up and walked toward the arena.
When I entered, I saw my opponent.
He was a boy with a huge build.
I stared at him for a moment.
Is he really the same age as us?
He wielded a greatsword and immediately entered a battle stance.
He looked determined to defeat me.
I calmly introduced myself.
"Gray Starlight."
He didn’t reply.
The referee gave the signal.
The match began.
The boy immediately rushed toward me.
I unsheathed Eclipse and waited.
He swung his greatsword with an enormous amount of power behind the strike.
I simply watched him.
Then—
Step.
I moved backward and easily avoided the attack.
The boy glared at me.
"Coward!"
I looked at him without changing my expression.
His attack had forced him to put a great deal of momentum into his movement.
He needed a brief moment to recover before preparing his next attack.
That was enough.
I stepped forward.
Instead of using Eclipse’s blade, I struck his hand with the blunt side of the sword.
Bang!
He screamed from the pain and immediately loosened his grip.
I moved to finish the match by placing Eclipse against his neck.
But at that moment—
A powerful burst of fire erupted from his body.
I immediately stepped backward.
If I had remained there, I would have been burned.
Flames spread across the arena.
I narrowed my eyes.
"So that’s your ability."
I immediately formed several Ice Spears.
Then I launched them.
Whoosh!
One after another, the Ice Spears tore through the flames.
The boy continued unleashing fire, but I relentlessly attacked him with Ice Spears until the flames were finally broken apart.
The moment an opening appeared—
I rushed forward.
The boy seemed to have been waiting for exactly that moment.
He raised his greatsword and swung it toward me.
I blocked the attack with Eclipse.
Clang!
The impact echoed through the arena.
I immediately activated Gravity and reinforced my body with mana.
My strength increased.
I pushed his greatsword backward.
The boy’s eyes widened in complete surprise.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to overpower him.
I took advantage of the opening.
Eclipse flashed forward.
I placed the blade against his neck.
The referee immediately raised his hand.
"The winner is Gray Starlight!"
The boy lowered his greatsword.
I removed Eclipse from his neck.
He had fought well.
But the difference between us was simply too great.
I turned around and left the arena.
Another victory.
Now...
I just needed to find Luna.
When I returned to the waiting area, my perception immediately detected a familiar presence.
Luna.
I relaxed and turned toward her.
"Hey, Luna."
But before I could say anything else, she immediately stood in front of me.
A mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"So..."
"What did you say you were going to wait for?"
She raised her hand as if she were about to hit me.
I immediately remembered what I had done before her match.
Oh no.
Panic flashed through me.
"Oh..."
"That?"
"My hand just slipped."
I quickly put on a pitiful expression.
"You’re a princess, so surely you don’t mind an innocent person’s hand slipping, right?"
I paused.
"Right?"
A black vein appeared on her forehead.
She immediately lightly hit me on the head.
"You always try to talk your way out of everything."
"If someone doesn’t teach you a lesson, you’ll never learn."
I barely felt the hit.
But I immediately pretended to be hurt and rubbed my head.
"Ouch..."
"It seems this princess doesn’t forgive this innocent person."
Luna looked at me with amusement.
"Can you stop calling me princess?"
"And who exactly is the innocent person here?"
She pretended to look around.
"I don’t see one."
Then we both laughed.
———
A/N:-
Winter_Metor thanks for the golden ticket
im in a bad mood today i got sick and got a bad comment that don’t leave my mind so i try figure out how to create it i used ai to make my novel polish like grammar and so now i compere my original graph and polish one witch one i got messed up 😭😭 so if didn’t work out i re writing whole 1 half after the exam
Thank you for suppor all of you
B.S