the Villainess they took for granted

Chapter 274: v3 Chapter 35: a gamble II

The first night of the three-day reprieve had already settled over the Arena.

The three days had not been granted to the fighters simply as a reward for surviving the challenge.

They needed time to recover.

All five had walked away injured, some more severely than others, and the Arena had no interest in putting them back into the fighting grounds while they were still unfit.

But there was another reason for the reprieve.

The patron had been given three days to decide whether he wished to purchase any of them.

It was a narrow window.

Once those three days ended, the fighters would return to the Arena’s regular rotation. They could be assigned another duel, another challenge, or a match against a condemned man.

There was no guarantee that any of them would remain unharmed.

There was certainly no guarantee that they would survive.

If the patron wanted a particular fighter, waiting carried its own risk.

The Arena would release a fighter from his existing contract only after a purchase had been agreed upon. And the patron could not simply pay the Arena and take the man away. The fighter himself had to agree to the new terms.

The three days therefore served both sides.

The fighters were given time to heal.

The patron was given time to decide.

And before the window closed, the conversations had to begin.

–

Inside the Crown Prince’s private study, Lorenz sat behind his desk.

Marcus stood before him.

The contracts from the Arena lay open between them.

Five men.

Five prices.

Five possible choices.

Lorenz looked over the first document.

”Robert.”

”Fifty thousand gold coins.”

Lorenz’s gaze remained on the figure.

”Fifteen months remaining.”

”Yes, Your Highness.”

He turned the page.

”Twenty-four.”

Lorenz leaned back slightly.

”The Arena has priced him according to more than the time left on his contract.”

”His popularity.”

”Among other things.”

Marcus nodded.

”He’s one of their largest draws. People come to see him. They wager heavily on him.”

”Which means the Arena loses more than fifteen months of service.”

”Exactly.”

Lorenz looked toward Marcus.

”What do you think?”

Marcus considered his answer.

”Adaptable. Fast. Intelligent. He reads his opponent well, and when he realizes a particular approach isn’t working, he changes it rather than forcing the exchange.”

”The weapon change.”

”Yes.”

Lorenz remembered Robert abandoning the sword and taking up another weapon against Gene.

”He knew what he couldn’t win.”

”And found another way.”

Lorenz nodded.

”He has value.”

Marcus waited.

Lorenz closed the file.

”We should speak to him.”

Marcus inclined his head.

”Yes, Your Highness.”

Lorenz reached for the next dossier.

”Alex.”

”Forty thousand.”

”Twelve months remaining.”

”Twenty-seven.”

Lorenz studied the report for a moment.

”He was underestimated.”

”Badly.”

”And he used it.”

Marcus nodded.

”He remained patient until his opponent gave him an opening.”

Lorenz’s expression shifted faintly.

”He’s disciplined.”

Marcus commented.

”How?”

”He can think under pressure, and despite the fact that George was obviously underestimating him, he did not get angry. Rather, he was able to use that to his advantage.”

Lorenz considered that.

”A useful trait.”

”Yes.”

Lorenz set the file beside Robert’s.

”We should speak to him as well.”

Marcus bowed his head.

”Yes, Your Highness.”

The next dossier was Gary.

Lorenz opened it.

”Thirty-five thousand.”

”Eighteen months remaining.”

”Twenty-three.”

Lorenz’s eyes narrowed slightly.

”Of the five, he has been in the Arena for the shortest time.”

”And yet he fought as though he had already learned its worst lessons.”

Marcus was silent.

Lorenz remembered the second duel.

Gary had known he was losing.

He had continued anyway.

”He refused to yield.”

”Yes.”

”Even when there was nothing left to gain.”

”Perhaps there was.”

Lorenz looked at him.

Marcus continued.

”From his perspective, surrender may not have felt like an option.”

Lorenz leaned back.

”That kind of instinct can be useful.”

”It can.”

”Or difficult to control.”

”Also true.”

Lorenz looked down at the figure again.

Thirty-five thousand gold coins.

For a twenty-three-year-old with eighteen months remaining.

”He’s worth speaking to.”

Marcus nodded.

”Yes, Your Highness.”

Lorenz moved to the fourth dossier.

Harry.

He opened it slowly.

”Thirty-eight thousand.”

”Approximately twelve months remaining.”

”Twenty-eight.”

”Yes.”

Lorenz read for a few moments.

Then he closed the file.

”He’s good.”

”Yes.”

”He knows how to survive.”

”Very well.”

Lorenz looked up.

”But he is willing to cross lines the others hesitate to cross.”

Marcus did not disagree.

They had both watched the fourth duel.

Harry had won.

That was the only fact that mattered to the Arena.

But Lorenz was not choosing men merely for their ability to survive an Arena match.

He was choosing men he might eventually trust with something far more important.

”Would you recommend him?”

Marcus was silent for a moment.

”No, Your Highness.”

Lorenz nodded.

”Then we won’t approach him.”

Marcus bowed.

”Understood.”

Only one dossier remained.

Neither man spoke for a moment.

Lorenz placed his hand on it.

Carlo.

Fifty-five thousand gold coins.

Fifteen months remaining.

Lorenz opened the file.

The information was almost laughably incomplete.

Twenty-one months in the Arena.

No confirmed age.

No reliable family history.

No verified origin.

Nothing that explained how a man with that kind of swordsmanship had ended up behind the Arena walls.

Lorenz read through the few details again.

Then he looked at Marcus.

”This is the problem.”

Marcus knew what he meant.

”His identity.”

”Yes.”

”Or what he was before the Arena.”

Lorenz leaned back.

”If that swordsmanship is Imperial, he could be almost anyone.”

”A soldier.”

”A noble.”

”Someone trained by a military household.”

”Or someone sent here deliberately.”

Marcus’s expression hardened slightly.

”A spy.”

Lorenz was silent.

The possibility existed.

It could not simply be dismissed.

But neither could it be treated as the most likely explanation.

”Do you believe he is?”

”No, Your Highness.”

”Why not?”

Marcus thought for a moment.

”Because it makes little sense.”

Lorenz waited.

”An Imperial agent would have to enter a foreign kingdom, allow himself to be sold into an Arena, remain there for nearly two years, and somehow survive long enough to be noticed by the Crown Prince.”

Marcus shook his head.

”That is an extraordinary amount of effort for an uncertain outcome.”

Lorenz nodded slowly.

”And he could not have known we would be here.”

”No.”

”So he could not have planned for this.”

”Not reasonably.”

Lorenz looked down at the file again.

It was possible.

But improbable.

”What concerns me is that we don’t know enough to dismiss the possibility.”

Marcus inclined his head.

”And finding out would not be simple.”

”No.”

Lorenz looked toward the window.

”The Empire is three weeks from here.”

”At least.”

”To the border.”

”Yes.”

”Then we would need people inside the Empire.”

Marcus nodded.

”Quietly. We would be making inquiries in hostile territory, about a man whose identity we don’t even know.”

”And even if we found something...”

”It could take months.”

Lorenz finished the thought.

”And then another three weeks to return.”

Marcus said nothing.

Half a year.

Perhaps more.

All to answer one question about one man.

Lorenz leaned back.

”We don’t have that kind of time.”

”No.”

”We need men now.”

Marcus’s gaze moved to the other contracts.

The purpose that had brought them to the Arena had not changed.

They needed capable men quickly.

Men who could be trained further.

Men who could be trusted with responsibilities beyond the Arena.

They could not divert resources for months simply to uncover the identity of a fighter whose past might ultimately prove irrelevant.

Marcus looked back at Carlo’s file.

”Then perhaps we shouldn’t consider him.”

Lorenz looked at him.

”Why?”

”Because we don’t know what we’re taking.”

”And?”

”We could be purchasing a man whose loyalties we cannot establish.”

Lorenz was silent.

Marcus continued carefully.

”We have three other men whose backgrounds are clearer. We can investigate them without crossing a border.”

Lorenz looked down at the contract again.

Fifty-five thousand gold coins.

Fifteen months.

A man with no history they could verify.

A risk.

He should have set the file aside.

Instead, Lorenz found himself thinking about the final duel.

About the moment Carlo had changed.

He had not been forced to reveal that stance.

He had chosen to.

He had known that someone important was watching.

And he had taken the gamble anyway.

Lorenz’s gaze hardened.

”No.”

Marcus waited.

”We’ll speak to him.”

Marcus looked at him.

”Your Highness?”

”I want to meet him.”

The decision surprised even Marcus.

Lorenz closed the file.

”If he wanted to deceive us, he could have continued hiding.”

Marcus said nothing.

”Instead, when he realized he could not defeat you with what he had shown us, he revealed more.”

”He knew we were watching.”

”Yes.”

”And you believe that was an act of goodwill?”

”Not necessarily goodwill.”

Lorenz paused.

”But it was an invitation.”

Marcus considered that.

Lorenz continued.

”He took a gamble by showing us what he could really do.”

His eyes returned to the file.

”We can take one in return.”

Marcus bowed his head.

”Then we speak to him.”

”I’ll speak to him.”

Marcus understood immediately.

”Personally.”

”Yes.”

Lorenz set Carlo’s dossier down.

”But not yet.”

Marcus waited.

”We’ll approach the others first.”

”Robert?”

”Yes.”

Then Lorenz remembered something.

”He’s Imperial-born.”

Marcus nodded.

Lorenz glanced toward Carlo’s file.

”If he agrees to work for us, ask him about Carlo.”

Marcus understood.

”Of course.”

Robert had already earned his place on the list on his own merits.

His Imperial background was simply another reason to begin with him.

--

Tbc