Wounded

The piece of wood pierced through his body like an actual spear. No amount of spirit force nor battle power would be enough to ease the pain of such a wound.

Though it was painful, Emery was not too worried. After all, he had been wounded far worse before. From the orc attack back in the woods, from Granny cutting off one of his arms, or that dragon boy's relentless attacks, each of them caused him an unimaginable pain much, much worse.

The best way to handle that wound was to quickly pull out the wood piece and cast [Nature Blessing] spell on the wound. If he could do that, then the wound would close up within minutes. But now, Emery was not exactly in a good situation to do that. He couldn't just use his magic in front of thousands of people.

For now, it would be better for him to keep his magic a secret. The champion of both archery and cavalry tournaments was also a wizard? That would just lead to more problems for him.

Emery had no choice but bear the pain for a moment until he's out of prying eyes.

He rode the horse back towards the main stage, gave his respects to the knight commander and rode back to the tent reserved for Lioness squires.

The whole thing seemed so surreal and the audience was still dumbfounded. The new champion just got hurt really badly, but still casually strolled with his horse like it was nothing.

Overall, Emery showed an amazing performance that would not leave their mind for quite a while.

Right after Emery rode back to the tent, the knight commander gave his closing speech and the cavalry tournament officially ended.

People were still gossiping about the amazing thing that happened today, some also curing the fact that a certain prince somehow forgetting about a certain black prince staying on the ground while still fuming about his defeat.

--

On the royal stage, things weren't any less hectic.

They talked about the mysterious squire, about how most of them had never heard of the Dulat family before and about the extraordinary skills said squire seemed to possess. Some even talked of ways to lure the squire into serving their kingdom.

Though they did so in hushed voices, that act was enough to establish how little they thought of Lioness, the weak kingdom.

Prince Arthur did not indulge their gossips and sighed instead.

"Princess Gwenneth, what an amazing squire you have there… I would be lying if I didn't say I'm jealous."

The prince heard no answer and looked to his side, only to see the princess walking out of the stage with a hurried pace.

Prince Arthur did not show any sign of being offended. Instead, he merely watched the princess run towards the Lioness tent with an amused smile.

The concern showed how much she cared for the squire despite her status…

It was intriguing. Perhaps, there was something more to them than what the eyes could see.

--

Emery pulled the reins, stopped the horse right in front of the tent and climbed down, blood still running from his shoulder. The squires all crowded all around him, with worried looks on their faces.

It was to be expected, after all, the blood from his wound kept on running like water.

"That damned prince!" One squire stomped his feet in anger. "I think this can be used to prove he's using an illegal lance!"

"You think?! That definitely is an illegal lance! The lance provided for the tournament were all made from hollow wood!"

"Keep the lance piece so we can protest!" Another squire added.

"Hey, keep your voice down!" Another squire elbowed his friend and said in concern. "Do you forget he's a prince? How are we going to protest? Waging war against the Cantiaci?"

The group was silent hearing such statement, almost forgetting the hurt squire.

"Hey, Lanzelot, are you alright?! Can you at least walk safely on your own?"

"What the hell, that looks pretty nasty!"

The squire's concern made Emery feel a touch of happiness, but it was mixed with guilt, for no matter what. He had to keep lying to protect his identity as a wizard. He had to get away from them to use his magic as soon as possible.

"Guys, I'm fine, please… Help me and take this horse back to sir Yvain."

The other squires were dumbfounded. From a glance alone, it was clear the wound was quite severe and some of them were thinking about how Emery's blood loss might have gotten to his head. So, they tried to keep him from leaving.

Emery tried to use his strength to push away the squires and run out as soon as possible-

However, right as he reached the tent's entrance, the princess burst in, accompanied by Sir Yvain.

"Lanzelot Dulat, with my authority, I order you to stay! Squires! Help carry him to the estate right now!" Princess Gwenneth turned and looked at Yvain. "Yvain, ask for the Logress' royal physician to treat him."

Just like that, Emery was carried to the estate's guest room. People took turns to watch him the whole time.

The worst part of this was, even though the people watching him changed from time to time, the princess kept a constant watch on him, which gave him no chance to cast his healing spell.

"This girl will really be the death of me!" Emery thought to himself.

Emery tried to close his eyes and relax, figuring his situation could not get any worse. His answer came in the form of an elderly man slowly walking in.

To his surprise, the royal physician assigned to treat him was the old Logress magician he saw yesterday.

"Damn my luck!" he said to himself.

Therefore, Emery was unable to use any magic at all. The moment he tried to use magic, the royal physician would realize and suspicion would fall on him.

The old man was named Gaious and though he seemed fragile, he was a very attentive healer. The old man patiently took out the piece of wood and cleaned the wound so it was free of small splinters, before taking out a small jar filled with greenish paste.

The greenish paste felt cool on Emery's skin and after spreading a lot of it, the physician carefully bandaged the wound with soft fabric.

From a glance, the green medicine was not inferior to the 'healing paste' he usually made.

Right when Emery thought his bad luck today would end, the old physician told the princess he highly recommends Emery to rest instead of joining tomorrow's event for the sake of his health.

"That old man really wanted to ruin my chances too, hah." Emery thought with a slight, bemused smile, cursing the prince in his mind for landing him in this situation.

The night had fallen and everyone else had left except the princess.

Her stare was intense enough and as he was afraid of, the princess seemed to have many questions for him.