The time finally came for Seulgi to meet her final challenger and in that moment, she seemed the understand the entire purpose of this competition. She scoffed at the brilliance and the cruelty of it. This competition was no mere entertainment, it was no simple selection of the brightest enlistees into the elite troop, it was harsh reality.

Faced before Sehun, the Fourth Prince, Seulgi knew the results even before the competition began. Her face broke out into a lopsided smirk as she thought about the Strategist. Life is not fair and not everyone plays by the rules. Seulgi could almost imagine how the Strategist would lecture her. Daring a glance up at the viewer’s stand, she once again caught those beautiful and sharp eyes that were trained on her and Seulgi began to wonder for the first time if she had caught the Strategist's attention. The mere thought of it was sufficient to unsettle Seulgi’s heart and mind for a moment.  

For the first time, there was no commotion amongst the audience as they all watched the third round, unarmed combat, with abated breaths.  

The Prince sure looked humble in his boiled leather armour with a silver cape, the silver of the Qi’An flag. Meanwhile, Seulgi had switched from her steel armour from before to simple black robes that were lined with crimson, the crimson of the Qi’An flag as well. This was apt, Seulgi thought. The Prince should play the part of a Prince who wears the armour of his common soldiers whilst Seulgi should play the part of the mean character. Mean characters almost always wears black. Perhaps this would make it easier for the crowd to determine who they should support. Seulgi regarded the Prince with deference in her eyes and saw the Prince flash an appreciative grin. This is a good Prince but it was too bad he was not made the Crown Prince, Seulgi thought.

Since young, the Fourth Prince had been trained in the use of all kinds of weapons and had been exceptionally talented at it. Besides, years long of being in the battlefield must have further honed his fighting capabilities. All these, Seulgi was well aware of and had witnessed the Prince sparred on multiple occasions which would undoubtedly give Seulgi an edge. Seulgi had been taught by her teachers to sieve out people’s weak points and she had always kept their words in mind. Her father had appointed the best of the best teachers to be tutor her and their teachings had never failed her. Like Jongin, the Prince could easily become impatient too but that was characteristic of most young, hot-blooded men. However, Seulgi must remind herself that she must not exploit the Prince’s weaknesses because she was not supposed to win.

Both the duellists faced each other and had gotten into the preferred stance. All that was left was for the flag that signalled the beginning of the duel to drop and it did just seconds later. Seulgi saw the Prince coming fast at her. His fists were raised as if he was in full aggression mode but Seulgi would not be tricked and knew that the Prince could change to a defence stance anytime he wanted. Seulgi retreated instead of meeting the Prince’s force head on. Startled that his opponent had not reacted the way he had anticipated to, the Prince then threw his body forward to increase his reach and misjudged for the first time in a very long time.

Seulgi stepped aside and dodged easily. She saw the Prince lose his balance from overcommitting. This would have been a good chance for Seulgi to cripple Prince by delivering a blow to his back and end the battle quickly. Instead, Seulgi slowed down to allow the Prince to recover and dealt a blow to his chest instead, which, of course, was easily blocked by the Prince.

Joohyun sighed and began to berate herself for planning such theatrics. The Strategist was yearning to see Seulgi perform his best and yet she could not. Joohyun however, must give credits to the young man. The restraint that Seulgi had imposed upon himself throughout the unarmed combat was commendable and he did an impeccable job at feigning inferiority to the Prince. Truly a martial arts prodigy and a very intelligent young man. It was as rumoured amongst the royal family that, besides the Fourth Prince, Seulgi was perhaps the most outstanding young man the country was blessed with. Despite the crowds cheers for the Prince’s apparent superiority, amongst them were faces of disappointment that Seulgi was losing. This only proved that over the duration of the competition, even if it was short, Seulgi had managed to capture the hearts of these people. Then perhaps Joohyun’s feelings were not so irrational because after all, who can resist the charms of such an outstanding young man.

The Strategist then sighed again when the match came to an end with the Fourth Prince as the clear victor of the unarmed combat. However, because the Prince had not participated in other segments and was the organiser of this competition, he would only be a victor in name whilst the prizes would be awarded to the true participants of the competition. Still, the Strategist felt terrible that Seulgi was second in name for this competition.

As per customs of their country, it was time for the Strategist, the main planner of this competition, to present the honours to the winners. Her heart felt jittery as she made her way down the viewing podium, each step getting closer to the outstanding youth who had captured everyone’s heart, especially hers.

Trying to keep her face straight, the Strategist then got herself ready to clip on the flower badge on each of the five enlistees who had outperformed the rest. They stood in a row, before the audience whose moods were still kept high. As Joohyun neared them, she heard hoots and catcalls for her, noises that she had grown used to and so she ignored them. Men’s lust…

Prince Sehun stood shamelessly amongst them, teasingly, with an expression that conveyed that he was looking forward to a big prize that would be presented to him. It took all of Joohyun’s control to not roll her eyes when she strode past the Fourth Prince.  

The Strategist, then congratulated each and every one of the enlistee with kind words as she fastened the flower badge on them. When it finally came to Seulgi, Joohyun dared herself to direct a sensuous smile at him and immediately saw the enlistee’s face redden. She smiled inwardly because she absolutely loved that shy look that had befallen across the brave enlistee’s face. Even heroes become weak before the charms of a handsome woman.

“You did well, so well you have captured the hearts of the people of this country.” And mine as well. The Strategist spoke, taking longer than usual to attach the badge to Seulgi’s robes.

When they were this close up, it was hard for Joohyun to no