【”You even went as far as to call yourself by a false name to approach them, you’re not going to tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about at all, are you?”】
【”You sure are full of yourselves for cowards who wouldn’t even be threats without their weapons.”】
【”….. Even in this situation, that mouth of yours still won’t stop with the abuses. As expected, the stories are true, aren’t they?”】
【”You can call them stories or whatever, but at the end of the day, they’re just bullshit rumors. Don’t go thinking you can measure my power with those worthless tales.”】
【”So you’re not denying that you’re Harold?”】
【”I was never okay with taking an alias. Who the hell would call themselves “Lord” if they weren’t forced to do it?”】
【”…..Well, it’s doesn’t really matter, let’s get back to our talk. What’s your goal? And when you tried to push me to get together with Erica, was it related to that goal?”】
【”My aim, huh? What will you do with that information?”】
【”I’ll make my decision. If you’re going to harm her, then I won’t let you.”】
【”And you think you can do that? You think you can stop me?”】
【”What could you possibly do in this situation? Look, if you don’t stop running that mouth of yours I’ll――”】
【”You’ll kill me, right? I know that’s not gonna happen. You don’t have enough evidence to kill me, and right now, I’m staying at the mansion as Itsuki’s friend. If you kill me here, you’ll be nothing more than some common murderer. You’ll put the Arkwright name to shame and you’ll paint mud on the face of both the Berlioz family and even Itsuki. And your friendship with him is not one you’re willing to risk so as to get rid of a danger that might not even exist. You’re just making a fool of yourself, nothing more.”】
【”You bastard have… No, both of you bastards have made a mistake. If you didn’t want to kill me but capture me if I happened to resist, you shouldn’t have brought your swords close to my vital points. Especially since I’m empty handed and the ways I can fight you off are therefore limited. If I resist and you counterattack, you’ll be forced to end my life, or at the very least, to seriously injure me. So let me see you try pulling your sword away even the tiniest bit to avoid that outcome. At that very instant, I’ll kill you both.”】
【”Why is your face looking so awful? Where did all the energy from earlier just go? Look, Francis J. Arkwright, if you think killing me will keep Itsuki and the others safe, then go ahead, kill me. Sure, you’ll lose Itsuki’s trust as a result, but that’s only natural. Just keep in mind that once its lost, it won’t be all that easy to get it back.”】
【”…You’re even greater than the rumors say, Harold. You took the advantage from me using nothing more than words.”】
【”If that’s what you think, then you’re really helplessly stupid. You never had the advantage from the very start, moron.”】
【”But still, I….!”】
【”That being the case, I’ll give your foolish self a chance. I’ll let you duel me, with a witness. If you win, you’ll get to have me do what you want me to.”】
【”What if I lose?”】
【”Naturally, I’ll have you listen to whatever I tell you.”】
【”….. All right.”】
【”There sure seems to be more to Harold than what the rumors say about him. I’m willing to admit it, Itsuki.”】
【”Does this mean that you completely trust him now or do you still have your doubts?”】
That voice came from behind Harold. For the time being, Harold didn’t think of anything and threw a kick at whatever was behind him while turning around.
【”Ouch!”】
【”Explain yourself.”】
【”L-Last night, Franck came to my room and asked me『Say, isn’t Lord actually Harold stokes?』so I told him『What if he is?』and then…..”】
“You should check out for yourself what kind of person Harold is”.
【”So, what kind of bullshit did Itsuki tell you? And why did you approve of me just now?”】
【”『By nature, Harold’s not the villain that the bad rumors portray him as. It’s just that he’s easily misunderstood, because he’s strict with people, and even stricter with himself.』that’s what he said. I thought that if that was it, then you probably wouldn’t have been called “knight killer” and the like and yet….”】
Francis smiled in self-derision.
【”You are strong. If we fought one hundred times, you’d probably beat me every single time. So when I looked away earlier, it would have been easy for you to take control over the whole situation.”】
【”Did you create that opening on purpose? You’re really making light of me.”】
【”I could say the same about you, right? Besides, I actually put my life on the line there.”】
【”Even in this situation, you tried to arrange things so that’d we’d stay on an equal standing, despite that being only troublesome and bringing no advantage to you whatsoever.”】
【”And that’s why you approved of me?”】
【”Yeah, that’s right. And, also… my behavior just now was completely insane. If you want me to be punished for this, then I’ll resign myself to it.”】
【”I have no interest in dealing with your case. It would be a waste of time to draw out my sword every time there is some fussy insect to erase.”】
【”….Thank you for your kindness. However, I’m very sorry but…… With this alone, I still cannot completely trust you.”】
【”Therefore, I’d like to ask you something really unreasonable. Harold, may I still have that duel with you?”】
Begged Francis as he bowed down from his waist. Though Francis didn’t have Harold’s feelings in mind when he made that request, it was actually exactly what Harold was hoping for.
【”Itsuki.”】
【”What is it?”】
【”You’ll be the witness.”】
【”…… Well, guess it can’t be helped.”】
【”Thank you, thank you very much.”】
【”I don’t need your gratitude. I’ll be all good once you pathetically crawl to the ground upon realizing the difference there is between you and me.”】
