The Last Dahlia

012

TW: attempted SA

The referee blew his horn, and the final match of the tournament began.

Everyone in the stands watched with bated breath as the two finalists drew their weapons, this time with Shoya having traded in his bamboo flute for a proper sword. At least he decided to have some common sense today, Yuehwa thought to herself. The sword in his hand wasn't the one that they had found in the underground cavern though; it appeared to be an ordinary sword with a hilt wrapped in maroon leather, not the crystal hilt that she remembered.

Standing beside her, Princess Naying was anxiously biting at her fingernails, her heart rising up to her throat as she watched the fight ensue.

"It's so close," Naying whispered as she watched the two men fly across the courtyard, swords clashing in the air. Each time one of them jabbed their sword outwards, it would come almost within a centimetre of the other. It was almost a miracle that not a single drop of blood had been spilt since the start of this match.

Yuehwa was studying the match very carefully.

Over the past few days, she had been watching Baixun's moves, trying to figure out the pattern behind how his body and his sword moved in tandem. Based on what she was seeing of Shoya and Baixun's styles of combat right now, it just so happened that both of them seemed to be each other's natural adversary—every defensive move that Baixun made served to counter Shoya's offensive, and vice versa. So the match remained in a deadlock.

An hour later, the sun had risen high in the skies and spectators were beginning to bear the brunt of the sweltering heat. Still, there seemed to be no end to this fight. People were getting restless, shuffling about in their seats trying to stop their legs from getting numb.

"What's going on?" Naying leaned over and asked. "Is this ever going to end?" If there was someone who would know the answer, it would be the Phoenix, because if she were to enter the arena there was no saying who might emerge victorious.

Yuehwa frowned. Based on her assessment, this match was no longer about skill; it was about stamina and endurance. If the two of them were immortal and could never tire then it could well go on forever, but they weren't and that meant that whoever had the ability to hang on the longest would eventually win. That automatically put Baixun at the advantage.

To be honest Yuehwa didn't mind Baixun winning. After all, she didn't want the princess to have to marry the crown prince of Feng, who seemed to be an arrogant arsehole in her shallow opinion, on top of being the princess's first cousin. Still, that didn't stop her from sucking in her breath several times when she saw the tip of Baixun's sword get dangerously close to Shoya.

"That idiot is going to get himself killed. Does he need to go this far?" she muttered under her breath.

"Look at the both of them, they're so evenly matched!" Lady Kang's voice called out, clapping her hands together in delight. "Who do you think will win, Your Majesty?"

The king chuckled, looking pleased with how things were unfolding. "It doesn't matter. Whoever wins, Naying will still get herself a fine husband! With men as brave as these under their wing, both Feng and Gi are in good hands."

"At the rate they're going, what if one of them injures the other?" the king's concubine asked, feigning a worried expression. "It wouldn't be good if either one of the princes' representatives were injured by the other, would it?"

"Don't worry about it, my lady," the prince of Feng replied dismissively. "If my representative gets wounded then he only has himself to blame for being incompetent, but I don't think that will happen." He tossed Maroo a confident smirk, his glee only increasing even further when he saw how pale and worried the latter seemed to be.