Nadia's Wrath! Bella's Reluctance!
'Did I really defeat him…?'
She looked conflicted; she knew it was impossible.
She had already prepared herself in some corner of her mind that today she was going to suffer the first defeat of her life at the hands of this silver-haired, frail-looking boy.
But contrary to this, she somehow was able to win even after all that.
What was that supposed to mean?
Did he expect her to believe that?
Did he think she would accept this?
Why did he do this?
What was the reason?
Questions clouded her brain, making her overthink, a bad habit she had since she was born.
'No… I refuse to believe this. He definitely did something at the last moment.'
She was more willing to believe that he was so insanely fast that she was not able to even catch a glimpse of his movement at the end than to believe that she won against someone who had been parrying her moves from the beginning without effort.
She slowly walked up to him, who was still clutching his chest in pain and acting like he was really hit badly by her.
She didn't care as she bent down and grabbed his collar.
She roughly pulled him up and slammed him back against the tree.
Oliver, who was enjoying the reactions of those around him, was stunned by the sudden grab on his collar and the slam.
"???"
He looked at her in confusion.
Didn't you win? What happened?
Instead of a gloating expression, what he saw was entirely the opposite. She was glaring at him with fierce eyes as she snarled.
"What did you do in the end?"
Her eyes met his at that moment.
"Stop acting. I know you cannot be beaten by that attack. Not of that level. Why did you get thrown like this!? Answer me!"
She yelled at him, drawing the attention of the audience who looked at her with equally confused eyes as Oliver.
The expression of the elder from the Celestial Paradox Clan changed greatly at this time. He knew that the elder young miss was somewhat battle-crazed, but he did not know it was this serious.
However, he still did not move, since the other elders were watching. He did not take any action, especially when the one from the Mystic Purge Clan was also looking at the duo with an unreadable expression.
Oliver could not help but curse.
He thought he had been quite fast at the end and would have surely evaded her senses, but did she actually catch him doing the fake act?
Looking at her desperate and angry expression, he went silent.
Indeed, he had intentionally lost, but so what?𝒻𝓻𝑒ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝑛𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓁.𝑐𝘰𝓶
He wanted to do so and did it. Bella was the role model of her younger sister, the main protagonist.
In the eyes of her sister, she had always been the best. She was undefeated and the most powerful…
She was necessary for Evelyn to become stronger… she could not be defeated in front of her little sister.
If he defeated her now, he would be…
He would be… what?
Why did he not defeat her? Why didn't he care about his own dignity?
Was it as simple as something for the sake of the plot?
He was not sure why…
But he didn't want to defeat her earlier. For some reason, he wanted her to maintain the image she had presented in front of her sister so far.
His mind could not help but go back to a scene from his previous life where he was with his elder sister.
Although he was a disabled kid in his previous life, his sister had always acted as a shield in front of him…
She was excellent both in academics and sports, a role model for him and her peers.
But something tragic happened when she got into an unfortunate accident and lost her ability to walk.
She was quickly declared to never be able to walk by the doctors, and the wheelchair became a permanent companion in her life.
He was able to witness how her life changed right before his eyes.
How the always bright and cheerful girl turned into a shadow of her former self.
Their parents did support them however they were able to, but with both of their kids being disabled now, they were also distressed.
He was there when he noticed this shift in his sister at that time. Before losing her legs, she was the best sister he could ever ask for.
He noticed how her once so-called 'best friends' slowly cut off contact with her, leaving her alone.
Of course, he was still there for her. Even if his eyes were not the best, he still helped her in every way possible. But he knew that she was cutting herself off from everyone slowly.
He was also helpless too… He wanted to…
He was drawn out of his thoughts when Bella shook him slightly, asking him the reason.
She saw how he was still silent even after being asked and could not help but feel even more frustrated.
"You don't have even a bit of sweat on you. Are you even tired from the duel earlier… or is this a joke?"
She eyed his hand still pressing against his chest where he was supposed to have been hit.
She removed her hand holding him against the tree and gripped his hand on the chest, trying to pull it away to see if he was really as injured as he was supposed to be.
Just when she was about to pull his hand away, another hand suddenly intervened and gripped her wrist in a forceful manner.
A chilling cold voice sounded in the silent area.
"What do you think you are doing?"
The voice was cold, and an overwhelming tension suddenly filled the air.
It was Nadia. Her hand was now tightly gripping Bella's hand that was holding Oliver's hand.
At this moment, her eyes were extremely cold, and her facial expressions could not be any more devoid of emotions.
Bella felt the tight grip on her hand. The strength behind it was enough to crush the bones of a normal human.
Nadia really intended to break her hand.
"Sister…" Evelyn also went up to Bella and said anxiously.
She had never seen her sister lose her composure like this before. To her, Bella had always been a calm and noble person.
She was always the first to go to her opponent and see to their injuries after a duel.
So, she didn't understand the situation when her sister was trying to bully an already defeated opponent.
Bella ignored Evelyn and met Nadia's cold eyes. There was still a trace of unwillingness in her eyes.
She wanted to know if Oliver was actually defeated or…
The cold voice rang again, but this time, there was a hint of murderous intent in the atmosphere.
"Move your hand."