Stolen by the Rebel King-Chapter 545: Higher Chances Than Expected

The other contestants collectively gasped, whispers quickly flying through the sea of people as they pointed and murmured amongst one another. Of all, Daphne had her eyebrows raised the most, her hands against her lips, covering her shock.

"Why do you seem so surprised?" Atticus asked, folding his arms across his chest. "It isn’t uncommon to see some underhanded dealings go about. That Waylen must have known his skills weren’t up to notch to resort to such tactics."

Daphne supposed that was true. She hadn’t thought that far, truly, and that was her miscalculation. If someone could commit a murder under the watchful eyes of the palace guards and two of the most powerful people in the world, then such simpler schemes would surely happen.

She cast a look at Cordelia discreetly. Daphne didn’t think Cordelia would mind it either. After all, she already had a winner in mind and it wouldn’t be either of those men.

Cordelia’s nose wrinkled at Atticus’s statement, but she made no comment directly. After all, she and Jonah had already discussed the probability of this happening. It was just a surprise that it took this long into the competition before it happened.

Unfortunately, she could not afford to pause the entire tournament to investigate Lord Waylen Argyle’s misdeeds. Cordelia shelved that thought for another day. Now, she had a tournament to officiate.

"What an odd decision," Cordelia said, raising an eyebrow. "You seem to have been winning, Sir Gaimont. Are you sure you wish to surrender?"

Even with the humid and stuffy Nedour weather, Cordelia’s words seemed to have the ability to freeze the air around them. Everyone waited with bated breaths for Gallagher to reply, and when he did, a few men in the crowd shook their heads in disappointment.

"Yes, Your Highness," he said. "I am sure of my decision."

Cordelia sighed, but she commented nothing on his choice. After all, it made no difference to her in the aspect of a potential partner and future king. Yet, it told her everything she needed to know when selecting future pillars of Nedour’s government.

"Very well," she said. "In that case, congratulations to Lord Waylen Argyle for continuing to the third round."

It didn’t escape Daphne’s notice that Cordelia spat out the word ’congratulations’ as though it was tainting her teeth.

Lord Waylen bowed his head, a smug smile forming on his face as he walked to the sidelines with the other winners. It gratified Daphne to know that the other contestants did not seem to approve of him, for they discreetly shifted aside.

"Next match, Nikun Anurak, and Mikhail Asalot. Please step forward," Cordelia said. And Daphne began to pay more attention.

Nikun bowed politely to his opponent, who mirrored him. Daphne raised an eyebrow― this was the man who was dressed like a priest. He had not changed his outfit since the earlier round, and his weapon of choice was a long staff.

"Bad match-up," Atticus sighed. "Now he has no way to get close enough to actually use those fancy daggers."

"Maybe he can still win," Daphne said hopefully. Cordelia’s voice heralding the start of the competition rang in the background, and the men started to move. "Has he shown any promise with daggers when you were training him?"

"Negligible," Atticus replied. "Unless he’s secretly a knife-wielding prodigy―"

Nikun flung the first blade, and it was through sheer chance that it missed Mikhail’s cheek. There was a streak of red forming as the sharp edge nicked through the skin.

Atticus fell silent. Next to him, Daphne was similarly stunned. The men yelled in surprise; they must have thought Nikun was nothing more than a young man with bravado.

"And you were saying?" Daphne asked.

"Perhaps his chances of victory are higher than I expected," Atticus said wryly, as he observed the two. Nikun didn’t have an inexhaustible supply of daggers on him, so he couldn’t be flinging them haphazardly for a lucky strike.

Meanwhile, Mikhail was more of a defensive fighter who kept his staff up, twirling it to deflect any blade that flew his way.

They were at an impasse. Atticus thought that Mikhail might simply decide to move to put an end to this bout, but then, Nikun did something Atticus hadn’t expected of him― he made a mad dash towards Mikhail, grabbing his staff. Caught by surprise, Mikhail couldn’t do much but try to tug his weapon free. Unfortunately for him, the dark horse of the competition had more strength than it seemed.

He made a sharp tug and used the staff to propel himself upwards into the air, using the time he was airborne to kick Mikhail square in the stomach. Mikhail instantly hacked out in pain due to the sudden impact, the air knocked right out of his lungs, but Nikun wasn’t anywhere near done. With another twist, the staff was successfully pulled free, and he used it to prop himself off the floor, swinging another kick which Mikhail was barely able to dodge.

"Perhaps his chances of victory are much much much higher than we all expected," Jonah added from the side, casting Atticus a glance, his one eyebrow raised.

Mikhail slid a short distance away, but Nikun wasn’t about to let his opponent rest for even a second. Preparing a second dagger, he barely even aimed before he threw it. This time, it left a nick on Mikhail’s ear, just short of his right eye.

It flew past Mikhail and towards where Atticus and Daphne were. Daphne raised a hand, stopping the dagger in mid-air before it could hit them, allowing it to clatter noisily to the ground. Those who were observing the direction of the dagger oohed and aahed.

"A little too high," Cordelia observed with a suspicious frown. She cast Atticus a surreptitious glance before looking at Daphne. She said quietly, making sure her voice was not audible to any unwanted listeners, "I didn’t realize our new guest was so equipped in martial arts."

Truly, Daphne didn’t realize it either, and neither did Atticus, who seemed increasingly dumbfounded as the seconds passed. It became more and more obvious― Nikun wasn’t ending the match because he was toying with his food.

"I didn’t either," Daphne murmured back. She worriedly looked at Atticus. "Perhaps our odd suspicion needs to be reevaluated."

At the same time, Mikhail dropped to his knees, small non-fatal cuts littering his body as his fingers dug into the dirt in rage and embarrassment.

"Congratulations, Nikun Anurak for emerging victorious," Cordelia’s voice rang out. "Your display of martial prowess is commendable. May I know how did you pick up such knife skills?"