Chapter 10: Duel for a hand in marriage

Larissa yawned as she watched the two men who were currently fighting with drowsy eyes.

The elimination by fail method of the contest had began since the early hours of noon and interested men had been pouring into the palace since the early hours of morning and were only filtered to a manageable amount when they were asked to pay a certain amount of fine to be able to participate

After all, the princess wasn’t going to be handed to just  anyone who can fight

It had been fun at first when the fight was going fast and smoothly, each one not lasting up to five minutes

But ever since the current two entered the arena, it’s been ten minutes and they were still going on

They looked obviously tired, but after each strike, they pant to catch their breath and then start again and it was becoming boring to watch

Larissa felt so sorry for them since they were trying so hard but she just couldn’t take it anymore

“Father, is there no way we can call off this fight? at this rate it’s going to take forever” she whined, making red rimmed eyes Melissa roll her eyes from the other side of the king who just chuckled

“With the amount of gold and silver they had to pay to participate, it’d be unfair to just stop their fight Princess”

“But it’s so boring~”

“Well this is what a duel between men actually looks like my dear”

Larissa scrunched her face in distaste, her check on the back of her palm and she was just about to release another yawn when in the blink of an eye, both men were knocked out by a punch from a man who had quickly jumped into the arena

He had his back to the crowd with the both men now unconscious by his feet

The crowd roared

Larissa sat up with a smirk on her face

“He came” she whispered to herself just as he turned around and met her eyes

The other men who were waiting their turn to fight gasped in horror as they took a step back

“What’s a dangerous man like that doing here?”

“Nobody said anything about the king of Evergreen participating in this contest” they murmured

Patrick’s grey eyes bore into Larissa’s green eyes and she raised her chin in defiance, daring him on

“I’m running late” he began, still looking at the princess “so how about you all come at me at once so we’d get this over with as soon as possible”

“Aren’t you a cocky one?” a thick rough masculine voice came from the side and everyone turned to meet the sight of a huge masculine man who was covered in a hooded cloak

He discards the cloak and ran towards Patrick who even with his muscles looked small compared to the advancing man

The crowd didn’t see the young king move a muscle because of how fast he was, but the huge man landed on his face and his bones gave way to the impact of his fall to the ground.

Everyone gasped in shock before they were roaring with praises again

Patrick’s emotionless eyes once again met Larissa’s amused one

Ten minutes later and Patrick stood with his sword over his shoulder with unconscious men scattered on the ground round his feet

“If this is all you’ve got, then can we go already princess of windfall, we have a wedding ceremony to attend to” Patrick’s loud voice boomed in the silence that had enveloped the arena after the audience had witnessed a no kill one man massacre of over fifty men

Larissa snickered as she got up and walked up closer

“Aren’t you missing something Patrick of Evergreen?”

“What?” his voice became dangerously low at the lack of respect in the way she just called his name

“There’s still someone waiting to fight for my hand in marriage so you’re not done yet”

Everyone looked towards the entrance of the arena and so did Patrick ever so slowly

When they saw no one, everyone looked back at her but she was no longer standing there

“I am the first born child of king Collins Obedson, Princess Larissa of Windfall”

Once again everyone turned back to the arena to see her now standing behind Patrick unlike the audience wasn’t shocked at how fast she got there

Or he hid it well

“And I’ll be fighting for my own hand in marriage”

Melissa snorted as she turned to look at the king

“Is this a joke?” she asked the king who had his eyes fixated on the arena, George behind him tightening his hold over his sword in anticipation

The crowd fell silent and for the first time since he arrived, Patrick had an amused look on his face

“I don’t know what this about” he chuckled as he lets down his sword from his shoulders “but even if you were serious, I don’t fight women no matter the situation, so why don’t you cut this out and…”

“How gentlemanly of you then” The wind around them changed and her green eyes glowed “so how about you stand still and just let me cut you down”

In a blink of an eye, Larissa rushed passed him, the sound of swords hitting the only sign the two made contact in that fast movement

Patrick stood wide eyed, if he hadn’t been fast enough to block her attack just now, he would have been decapitated

He heard her fast movements again and turned just in time to see her leap off the ground, her sword held high to strike and he raised his to block it

They clashed, the force of the hit so great the ground gave in to his feet as he pushed against her

He continued for a few nanoseconds until he threw her off and took a step back

Larissa on the other hand, landed on her feet and breathed out a small laugh as she turned to face the king whose left eye was twitching and his body shaking

“What? for someone who doesn’t fight women you’re doing so much to defend yourself against me”

She had a monstrous look in her eyes as she charged forward again and their sword clashed, adrenaline rushing through their veins

“So you use a kind of weird power to fight princess” Patrick said in a calm voice as he breathed out slowly, he had managed to throw her off once again and then he stretched out his sword “in that case, bring it on”