Chapter 214: A Request

The arena was completely silent as they looked at the two currently standing opposite each other.

Given who they were, one would think that the reaction would be an unending cheer, but it was not.

Instead, it felt as if the crowd was anxiously waiting for the herald to give the signal for the start of the match.

Contrary to his opponent’s and the crowd’s reaction, Adrian stood with a pleasant smile on his face.

His lady had called him her boyfriend.

Although it wasn’t a public declaration of their relationship and the crowd hadn’t heard it, the fact that she had acknowledged it in front of someone else was more than enough.

It wasn’t as though they had been particularly subtle about their feelings for one another, but her words had acted as more of a confirmation of what was already suspected by the Saintess.

Lucian, on the other hand, was in deep thought before finally coming to a conclusion and looking at Adrian.

"Adrian," he called out.

He hadn’t called him butler, servant or anything else; he actually used the butler’s name, which was quite surprising.

But the prince knew that this was a time as great as any to make his request.

After all, the butler, for some reason, seemed to be in a great mood.

"Hmm?" Adrian asked as he looked at the prince.

"I’d like to ask a favor," Lucian said, "but only after winning this battle. "

Adrian silently looked at him for a while before saying with a chuckle, "You’re not going to win, so you might as well ask now."

The prince was quite surprised at this response. After all, even though the butler might be strong, saying something like that so confidently was a different matter entirely.

He hadn’t exactly forgotten what happened at the ball, but he had come a long way since then, so he shouldn’t be any weaker now.

"You seem certain," Lucian said with a frown.

"I am," Adrian simply nodded with a smile on his face.

"Before that, though," he suddenly said, "I’m certain we both disliked each other, so are you certain you want to ask me for a favor?"

The prince was quiet for a while before letting out a sigh and honestly answering, "I do dislike you."

"After all, you seemed like a servant that didn’t know his boundaries," he continued, "but I also believe that my reactions were childish. "

"Is that so?" Adrian raised a brow at that.

"Hmm," Lucian nodded, "since I had no interest in Lady Renelle anymore, I believe the mature thing I would’ve done was leaving you two alone."

"Besides," he let out another sigh, seeming almost embarrassed, "I could’ve handled the annulment a lot better."

"And I should’ve never raised a hand at her either."

With that, he went silent and waited for the butler to say something.... and he did.

"What a lackluster apology," Adrian said, "also, you’re apologizing to the wrong person, after all, I’ll keep disliking you for as long as my lady does."

"Even if you happen to somehow get a redemption arc," he added with a shrug, "there’s also the small matter of you raising a hand at her."

"Which I don’t particularly plan on forgiving," Adrian finished pleasantly.

Lucian was quiet before finally saying, "I see."

"However," Adrian continued, "whether I like you or not is irrelevant to whether I help you."

Lucian looked at him with surprise.

"Those are different things," Adrian said. "I don’t need to like someone to work with them...as long as my lady orders it."

In other words, whatever favor he wanted to ask, he needed to direct it to Renelle.

"I understand," Lucian nodded, "then I’ll properly apologize to Lady Renelle after our fight and request a favor from her."

Though he was quite uncertain of her accepting his apology, he’d try anyway.

The prince was also certain that this favor would cost him quite a lot, but he preferred getting his actual father back rather than the puppet currently sitting on the throne.

"Then we understand each other," Adrian said with a smile, and the prince nodded.

Finally, after a long while, the herald’s patience had apparently reached its limit, and he finally said.

"BEGIN!"

Without delay, Lucian formed a giant sword made of golden light and launched it directly at the butler.

BOOM!

The sword created a massive crater where Adrian was...or at least where he was previously standing.

He was now quite a distance away from the attack after swapping positions with his shadow.

The butler had developed the habit of letting his shadow detach from him and roam around, so he was almost impossible to catch off guard.

Lucian had noticed this during the previous matches.

He’d watched every one of Adrian’s fights today specifically for this reason.

Which was why his second attack was already launched before Adrian finished reappearing.

Rather than a single attack, he launched two, one aimed at the butler and another at the place where his shadow was.

A concentrated beam of light, aimed at both Adrian and the detached shadow moving across the arena floor.

The shadow dissolved instantly on contact but the second attack didn’t hit the butler, as he had already anticipated this.

Adrian looked at where his shadow had been.

Then at Lucian.

The prince had done his homework.

’Interesting,’ Adrian thought.

Unfortunately for the prince though, his own shadow turned against him as he charged up his next attack.

The shadow suddenly spread across the arena floor like ink dropped in water, and the next second, multiple shadow hands suddenly formed, trying to grab the prince.

Lucian was forced to direct his attack at the floor below him, creating enough distraction for him not to notice a clone coming towards him.

The clone’s fist slammed into his chest, and although it didn’t do much damage, it clung to the prince, pulled him downwards towards the shadow below him and tried to completely envelop him.

To the crowd, the fight seemed as good as over, but the prince refused to lose like this.

His eyes also started glowing as a golden glow enveloped his entire body, and the next second,

BOOM!