The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 414: Maximilian And Celestine

Everyone looked on as what appeared to be the start of a fight unfolded, but the reality was quite different.

The crash did indeed come from a collision, but it was their hands colliding—Christian’s and Maximilian’s—and now they were holding hands as if sealing a deal while smiling at each other.

"Haha! Well, it seems I was wrong about you. It was all part of a misunderstanding—you’re a really nice guy. Well, it’s no wonder my sister chose you. Let me tell you, I support them wholeheartedly."

"Haha, it’s also nice to see that this whole misunderstanding was resolved peacefully. By the way, can I call you Max?"

"Haha, of course, you’re like my little brother. You can even call me big brother."

"Of course, big brother Max."

"Hahaha, okay, okay, you’re like my sworn brother now. If anyone bothers you, don’t hesitate to come to me, I’ll take care of anyone who wants to bully you. Okay, let’s practice a little, let’s see if you’re capable of protecting Aurora."

"Okay, after all, I have to prove that I’m someone you can trust."

Saying that, Christian finally took out a weapon. It wasn’t gloves or a conventional spear, it was a long halberd, a type of weapon he thought he would start practicing with.

The reason was that he had recently discovered that, although it was not a spear, its affinity with spears influenced him, and his skills were also very effective with it.

Being more multipurpose than a spear, he thought it could be very useful, but above all, it was to take advantage of a skill he had not been able to use before: his affinity with heavy weapons.

This weapon, with a small hammer and an axe head, was considered a heavy weapon. The halberd was a middle ground that barely fell into both categories.

Christian wanted to test whether it was feasible and whether using this type of weapon would improve his combat power. Now that he was going to fight someone powerful and skilled with weapons, it was the right opportunity.

..

"What happened there? What did Chris say to him?"

On the other hand, Aurora, who was watching, couldn’t help but comment. She didn’t understand how Maximilian’s aura, which was obviously seeking conflict, had vanished and been replaced by a pleasant and welcoming aura.

Rather, he and Christian seemed to have become sworn brothers or something like that.

The change was so great that not only she, but everyone was stunned. Even when looked at closely, Celestine also seemed incredulous, although she quickly covered it up with her gentle smile.

What followed was a kind of light sparring. Both exchanged blows, Christian seemed to be trying his best while Maximilian fought him impressively and occasionally gave him some advice.

It was a light fight without any tension or aggressive attacks, a typical practice and guidance match.

"Thank you very much for the guidance, big brother."

"Haha, you’re really talented and nice, and you have immense potential. I know it won’t be long before we’re on equal footing. Okay, let’s continue with..."

The fight ended, and Christian thanked Maximilian, who responded happily. Now there was a certain level of admiration in Maximilian’s eyes toward Christian.

Their fight wasn’t serious, but Christian still showed much more than what young people his age are capable of, which satisfied him greatly.

Now Maximilian went to look for other people in case there were more promising talents in his kingdom. He seemed excited about it.

"Sir Christian, can you give me a moment of your time?"

"Is something wrong? Can I help you?"

At that moment, as Christian was returning to his seat, he heard someone call him. It was Celestine, with her usual calm and fake smile.

Christian really didn’t want to get involved and would have responded more rudely and threateningly if it weren’t for the fact that they were in public and Maximilian, with whom he had just formed a good brotherhood, was nearby.

So he refrained from treating Celestine aggressively but responded curtly as he approached.

"It’s to talk to you about our conversation a few days ago."

"I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, is there? I already made a lot of things clear, or did you like that resolution 눈_눈"

Now, unlike before with the friendly aura he had with Maximilian, Christian was emitting an aura of unfriendliness, warning, and caution toward Celestine.

"That’s right. To be honest, I didn’t like the way things ended. I think there were a lot of misunderstandings and things could have turned out better."

Click!

"Okay, cut the crap and talk."

"It’s really amazing. Is it a skill that shortens the casting time? Or is it pure magical ability?"

Christian put up a barrier and stopped beating around the bush. Princess Celestine, for her part, was more impressed by the naturalness and speed with which he raised it.

"Get to the point. What do you want, bitch? What are you planning by coming here with Max? This is obviously not a coincidence."

He got straight to the point. He didn’t want to beat around the bush with word games and such with her.

"Actually, it’s not, but let me clarify that I didn’t do it with any bad intentions. In fact, I thought I would have to mediate between you and my brother.

"Stop with the nonsense excuses. Seriously, what do you want? Is it something silly like making Max suspicious or something by talking to me alone? Do you want to ruin the good relationship we’ve just formed? Or now that I don’t have my blinders on, do you want to try your luck to see how many lies I can tell in a conversation?"

"I think you have a very strong, preconceived idea that everything I do has some ulterior motive."

"And I think that’s the right mindset to deal with you."

"....please, could you clarify something for me? From the beginning, I’ve felt a certain negativity and hostility from you towards me, and not just because of what happened with Aurora. Have you heard something about me? If so, we can talk about it. I think you’re someone who prefers dialogue over conflict, and that together we can resolve any misunderstanding."

"Haaahh~ you’re so persistent. And no, I haven’t heard anything about you from anyone, since you obviously keep everything very secret. All the mess you’ve made will probably never come to light, but as I said, I don’t care, as long as you don’t involve me or those around me. Do whatever you want. Isn’t your target William? Why don’t you go after him? What are you doing bothering me here?"

"...Well, I think it’s best to be direct with you. First of all, I called you to apologize for what happened that day. My behavior was not even close to appropriate, and it wasn’t any better with Aurora either. I will also apologize to her properly."

"I really don’t want an apology, and I think Aurora, like me, wants nothing to do with you, but maybe she’ll accept it if that’s all there is to it. It’s not my place to get involved."

"I understand, and I also deeply apologize for the implicit threat I made towards you and your loved ones. It was an error in judgment. No, it’s not something I should have said in the first place, and I deeply regret it."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say. I’ve accepted your apology to appease me or whatever. If that’s all, I’m leaving."

"Wait a moment. I’ll use this moment to make it clear that in the future I do not intend to take any action against you or those close to you, including William... I also want to mention that I am planning to abandon the competition for the throne of Avaloria."

"Huh?"

"Haaah~ If I think about it, it really wasn’t a competition. Maximilian is the rightful heir, and I’m the one who made this into some kind of competition on my own, and for that I also want to thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to understand that I was unnecessarily clinging to something that didn’t belong to me. You freed me from an obsession that was blinding me."

"Wait, what are you talking about? When did I do that?"

Chris was a little confused. He didn’t expect her to say all that. Most of the words that came out of Celestine’s mouth didn’t make sense to him.

He immediately thought that it was one of her plans again, that she was plotting something in a way he didn’t understand.

"Yes, I understand that wasn’t your intention, but you’ve helped me a lot... Yes, and putting it that way, in a way, you’re not wrong, and I have an ulterior motive in this conversation. In addition to ending the previous conflict, I want to open up the possibility of friendship."

"Hmm, yes, a friendship, a convenient friendship from which you will extract all the benefit you can before discarding it when it is no longer necessary. I’m telling you this seriously, so stop it."

Before, he wasn’t understanding her, but now he could see where Celestine’s plans were going. For him, the request for friendship was the same as when she threatened Aurora to meet with him.

Yes, it was the same goal of creating a friendship with him and therefore with William, then using the latter as publicity and as a support for her ambition. She was just taking a different approach, and Christian wasn’t going to fall for it.

"Why are you still taking that approach? Can’t you see that I’m being sincere? Like you did before?"

Christian’s distrust was obvious, and it didn’t seem to diminish no matter how much she apologized or what she said.

"Do you think I’m stupid? You probably noticed that my ability to detect lies was based on microexpressions and body language. You probably found something to counteract that, and that’s why you’re so confident."

Christian didn’t believe a word she said, and even if he had his skills and discovered that she didn’t seem to be lying, he wouldn’t fall for it.

He knew that the same trick wouldn’t work twice with Celestine. In his mind, she must have come very well prepared to get whatever she wanted.

"I, no... haaah~ you’re not making this easy for me, Sir Christian, so please tell me what I have to do to make you believe me, to understand that my approach has no harmful intentions towards you."

"Nothing! You don’t have to do anything, because you don’t have to convince me of anything. I told you, don’t involve me in your little games and everything will be fine. It’s as simple as that. Wasn’t I clear?"

"Yes, you were very clear, and you can be sure that I have no intention of involving you in anything or causing you any harm, as I mentioned before."

"Good, I’m glad you understand. Now let’s go our separate ways without interfering with each other."

"But that’s the point I can’t agree with. Personally, I don’t want our paths to diverge."

"But why the hell not?! Why are you so damn insistent?!"

"There’s no need to get upset, Sir Christian... I understand that I am to blame for this situation, and that is why I will make sure to find a way to earn your trust. I will find a way to bring this to a satisfactory resolution."

"No, I already told you that... ugh. Whatever, just so you know, I warned you."

"Yes, well, I see that continuing this conversation could be fruitless or even counterproductive, so it’s best to end it for now. I can only ask you to think about what I said, at least in a neutral way... By the way, you should already know this, but, just like my brother, I have a faction, and if you need help, I won’t hesitate to give it to you."

"..."

Christian didn’t respond. He didn’t want to continue with this, so he walked away from Celestine. He really felt like he had a headache; he felt that continuing to talk to her was useless.

Thinking about it and remembering what he knew about her, trying to change her mind with words was a futile effort. Seeing how everything ended up almost the same as it started made that fact very clear.

He didn’t know exactly what Celestine was thinking, nor her real goal, but the moment she made or discovered that she made any move towards him or the girls, he would find a way to deal with her.

No, in fact, he wouldn’t wait for her to make the move; as soon as he saw any sign or reasonable suspicion, he would act.

With the good mood he had gained from befriending Maximilian, leaving his conversation with Celestine behind, Christian returned to where the rest were. Perhaps playing with Selene again would alleviate his bad mood.