Chapter 104 You Endured It
Candy gritted her teeth as Samira approached, still looking down at her with cold indifference—like she was an ant to be crushed. "Don't think that just because you've been in battles, you're somehow special. When you're the winner, you can brag about your achievements all you want, but right now, I'm the one who won. You have no right to judge me however you please."
"Now, apologize to me for your rudeness."
Candy glared at Samira without making a sound. Friedel watched coldly from the side. After a long while, he finally spoke, "What, can't even take responsibility for your own mistakes?"
Holden snapped out of his daze and quickly grabbed Candy. Glancing at the murmuring crowd, he whispered to her, "Apologize, Candy."
Holden's grip hurt Candy's hand, and she could only reluctantly squeeze out an apology through clenched teeth. "...I apologize for my wrong words."
Samira didn't respond, just turned and walked away, clearly not caring much for Candy's apology.
Anne glanced at the couple and spoke coldly as well, "A loss is a loss. If I hear any more baseless, made-up rumors after this, I won't be nice about it."
Candy shouted angrily, "What are you so proud of! You just put on an act with them on purpose, making me think you were some useless show-off, you..."
"Enough, Candy."
Holden suddenly interrupted Candy. He looked somewhat tired, "We were in the wrong. Stop talking."
Candy's eyes turned red, tears welling up as she looked at Holden, "Holden, I lost, but it's not my fault."
Holden was unusually silent. After a long while, he quietly hummed in acknowledgment, "It's all over now."
"She has a father like Duke Skoda, so she can easily get guidance from sword masters and get the best weapons. She can get the best of everything, while I have nothing. Everything I have, I got on my own."
"She's not as good as me. If she had my background, Anne would never have beaten me."
Holden sighed, "Alright, Candy, let's not talk about this anymore."
No point saying more now, Holden thought. He should have stopped Candy from the start, or at least not let her bet so much. Now not only were her past military achievements gone, but for the upcoming Eastern battlefield campaign, Friedel had also made it clear that Candy's military achievements wouldn't be recorded.
No matter how hard the couple worked, only Holden would be able to stay in the army to struggle on alone.
Friedel had already walked into the training grounds. He glanced at Holden, "Take her away. I don't think my knights want to keep watching a coward who won't admit defeat."
Candy froze completely. Holden helped her away in a daze, the contemptuous looks around her making her feel humiliated and hurt. She didn't dare look back as tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
After Holden left with Candy, Friedel turned to look at Anne, his eyes full of approval.
Samira and the others had already returned to Anne's side, now surrounding her and excitedly chattering, "Finally shut that woman up! Just hearing her talk made me feel sick!"
Duncan nodded too, "Exactly. She's a woman herself, so how can she be so self-righteous about throwing that kind of dirt on another woman? And Holden actually likes her - one has a foul mouth, the other is blind. Perfect match!"
Morris circled around them cheerfully, "Alright, alright, anyway now our Anne and Samira are the winners. No one will dare to keep spreading those dirty rumors anymore, right!"
Anne noticed Cynthia didn't look too happy and quickly asked what was wrong. Cynthia pouted in dissatisfaction. "Only you and Samira got to fight. I didn't even get to challenge her yet, and she ran away so fast!"
The four of them looked at each other, all showing helpless smiles.
Anne noticed Friedel's gaze and turned to meet his eyes, but her smile seemed somewhat bitter no matter how you looked at it.
Friedel took a couple steps forward, "What's wrong, big winner? Haven't had enough fighting?"
Anne shook her head, "No, I just thought about maybe using this duel to settle things once and for all, but I held myself back."
She looked at her rough palms - it was this hand that had stopped the motion of slashing toward Candy's neck. Just a bit closer and she could have cut off her head. Anne had really wanted to kill Candy.
But Anne suddenly remembered Friedel's words. He said Candy would get the punishment she deserved. If she just killed her like that, not only would it cast a shadow of manslaughter over the Virlet family, it would also let Candy off easy.
Cynthia didn't quite understand what Anne and Friedel were talking about. She instinctively asked, "What are you guys talking about?"
Anne just smiled weakly and shook her head without answering directly.
But Friedel looked at her smile and said softly, "You held yourself back. That's good. If your father were here, he'd be very proud too."
He raised his hand and announced, "The winner of this duel is Knight Captain Anne Virlet of the Ivy Knights. According to the terms agreed upon, Knight Captain Candy's military achievements will be erased, and she will leave the Dawn Knight Order after the Eastern campaign ends!"
After his loud announcement, the crowd erupted in cheers.
There were also quite a few apologetic voices mixed in.
"Damn it, I actually doubted that Duke Skoda's daughter would be a show-off!"
"Gods bless us, I told you Captain Anne was amazing! Last time when she accepted challenges at the Ivy Knights, I watched the whole thing and was totally impressed!"
"What are you saying, you old fool? When the Dawn Knight Order people came saying Captain Anne was putting on an act, weren't you shouting even louder, saying you'd already figured out she didn't know how to use a sword at all!?"
"Shh! I was just trying not to draw attention, because the Dawn Knight Order people all said it was their Knight Captain Candy - bah, she's not a knight captain anymore - that woman personally said Captain Anne came to the Eastern battlefield to seduce her husband, and that she had a messy private life, telling us to stay away from Captain Anne!"
"How awful! Captain Anne will definitely forgive us for our earlier rudeness, as long as we go apologize sincerely, right?"
"I really hate that Candy woman now!"
"We're sorry, Captain Anne! We misunderstood you before!"
Such voices went on and on. Cynthia was unhappy for a brief moment, then spoke up excitedly again, "We shouldn't have let Candy and Holden leave so early. They should've heard these words too - that would've made them unable to hold their heads up!"