Chapter 84
- Victory, the Shock and Fury
2023.12.23.
Under the midsummer sun, the spectators' mouths were parched.
Henry McDowell's words that it wasn't good for the heart were no exaggeration.
Edgar's heart, which had been operating on cold reason, began to beat erratically.
Feeling suffocated, Edgar slowly tugged at his tie, his gaze fixed on Olivia.
Olivia, having received the ball from a staff member, bounced it in her hand, regulating her breathing.
Adjusting her stance, Olivia briefly closed and opened her eyes. The blue eyes staring directly at her opponent were like sharply honed knife points.
The situation was simple.
Win.
Olivia took a deep breath and leaped with the final ball.
Sparks flew in Anneblin's eyes, and at that moment, Olivia powerfully slammed the high-flying ball down.
The ball flew with fierce speed, as if tearing through a curtain of air.
Bang! Anneblin returned it cleanly. The ball, aimed at Olivia's injured left foot, pierced through and fell far back.
It was an attack bordering on torture.
Like a sleek and agile beast, Olivia lunged toward the returning ball.
This is it.
This time, she gripped the racket firmly with both hands to prevent her wrist from turning, aiming for the empty space, precisely.
Olivia roared fiercely and threw herself.
Bang! The ball, struck with all her might, fell in front of the net and bounced up.
Simultaneously, Olivia, unable to overcome the pain, lost her balance and fell.
"!"
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Joy flickered in Anneblin's eyes. Anneblin, who had rushed like an arrow, swung her racket with all her might. The ball charged into enemy territory, cutting through the wind.
I won.
As if mocking Anneblin's wish, Olivia, whom she had believed to be completely broken and unable to stand, kicked off the ground and began to sprint.
Olivia threw herself toward the ball that had fallen and bounced on the grass.
"Oh, my goodness..."
Bang! With a powerful thud, the surroundings fell silent in an instant.
Olivia, who had tumbled onto the court, and Anneblin, who belatedly began to run toward the ball, seemed to hear the fierce beating of their hearts like drums.
Anneblin reached out her arm. The ball, flying in an unstable trajectory, crashed onto the net.
"..."
Please.
Both of them shouted inwardly at the same time.
In a state of stillness where all movement and even time seemed to have stopped, the swaying ball finally fell with a thud.
At that moment, a high-pitched shout of "Wah!" erupted, and silver flashes filled the air like fireworks from all directions.
"Blanchett wins!"
The referee's belated declaration, staring blankly at the scene, was buried in the applause, cheers, and countless flashes of cameras.
The birth of a new Queen.
It was truly a dramatic moment.
The corners of Edgar's lips slowly turned up. It was a sweet smile, as if savoring the fleeting ecstasy he had believed in without a doubt.
Everything around him was erased, and only Olivia was visible. Only that woman, burying her face in her hands and crying, seemed to be the whole world.
"Olivia! Olivia!"
They shouted the name of the new Queen and raved.
The praise from the spectators who had been with her throughout the long summer journey was as hot as the scorching sun.
Olivia's small shoulders trembled with overwhelming emotion.
It felt like a dream. She was afraid that everything would disappear when she opened her eyes.
She was afraid that this moment, achieved by her small hands, would burst like a bubble and vanish.
It was then that the enthusiastic cheers and applause shaking the stadium were suddenly mixed with the squeals of young girls.
Olivia, her ears ringing, slowly raised her head.
"!"
Once again, the world appeared convexly distorted.
"..."
A man in a white suit was walking across the blue grass.
The man, with one hand casually in his pocket and holding a bouquet of particularly red and luscious roses, smiled as he approached and stopped in front of her.
"Ed."
The scent of roses touching the tip of her nose felt like a dream.
Amidst the incessant flashing of camera lights, like stars densely embroidered in the night sky, Edgar bent down on one knee.
It was when his soft lips overlapped hers that she realized what was happening.
The cheers of the girls chanting Olivia's name and the astonished exclamations of the noblewomen erupted.
Olivia wrapped her arms around Edgar's neck and whispered in his ear.
"I... I won."
As her sweet breath touched his ear, Edgar dropped the bouquet of roses.
Instead, he gently grabbed the back of Olivia's neck. Her eyes, sparkling like a lake, were filled with him. She was maddeningly lovely.
"You did well."
Their gazes locked without a gap. He smiled and lowered his head.
Just as their lips were about to meet more deeply, Anneblin collapsed.
The stadium instantly turned into chaos.
Medical staff, who had been on standby in case of an emergency, rushed out, and the Crown Prince and maids in the VIP seats ran to the Princess.
The audience was in an uproar, and photographers frantically flashed their cameras to eternally capture the match of the century, which they would never see again.
In the pale silver flashes, Yohan simply stood there blankly.
At the end of his mad dash, recklessly breaking through the storm, overturning the Carriage, and even breaking his arm like a fool, what awaited Yohan was shock and fury.
Olivia.
Yohan bitterly swallowed the name that rolled sweetly on his tongue.
An already ended relationship. It was a divorce he had accepted, and it was none of his business who the woman, who had now become a stranger, fell in love with. But that woman.
Who is that woman?
Dark and quiet eyes, like a cloudy winter afternoon, stared directly at the unfamiliar woman.
The woman who had sprinted across the grass and finally seized victory. The woman who was hugging another man's neck and kissing him.
Olivia had changed.
The shock and anger that fact presented were of a kind that was not easily escaped.
The mercilessly sharp gaze shook uneasily as he stared at the back of the man who was hugging and carrying away the woman who had been his wife.
Until the Princess was carried out on a stretcher, and the audience had all left, leaving the huge center court empty.
The terribly cold gaze stared endlessly at the place where Olivia had stood.
Why, only now.
Yohan became afraid that he would lose control of the unfamiliar emotion that had ambushed him.
It was an unprecedented crowd in the history of the Dumblin Championship.
People had surrounded the Carriage that Olivia would ride in early, wanting to see the new Queen up close.
Even photographers joined in to eternally capture the historic moment.
The crowd was craning their necks, staring endlessly at the exit where the Queen would soon appear.
After a while, the people filling the entrance of the stadium began to cheer, chanting Olivia's name.
"There, there! Blanchett is coming out!"
Olivia, who was being held in Edgar's arms, was startled by the earth-shattering cheers.
Oh my god...
"P-Put me down. I can walk."
Olivia, her ears flushed red, pleaded, but it was no use.
A little while ago, Olivia, who had finished changing, came out of the locker room.
Her body swayed, unable to overcome the pain, and Edgar instantly picked up the staggering Olivia.
If she had known the situation outside, she would have relied on crutches, but she would never have allowed Edgar to hold her.
"Just relax."
A low voice landed softly.
Guards cleared a path through the disorderly chaos.
Edgar walked leisurely to the Carriage, not caring about the gazes around him.
What was this small act when they had already kissed publicly?
Deafening cheers and flashing silver lights, and various faces that seemed to sway following Edgar's movements.
The flustered Olivia fidgeted in his arms. Each time, the hem of her pure white skirt fluttered.
Relax? How?
Despite the situation being impossible to relax in, Edgar had a calm and relaxed expression.
Edgar, who got into the Carriage, closed the curtains first.
As the stinging flashes and the faces of the damn reporters disappeared, his anger seemed to subside a little. In fact, he was suppressing a rage that was about to explode.
Olivia's injury, the postponed awards ceremony, and even the press conference.
Anneblin had ruined the moment when she, the protagonist, should have shone brilliantly.
The way she couldn't accept her defeat fairly and ran away was truly cowardly. The same repertoire every time was even ridiculous.
Then, the whimper of the maid was heard.
"It would hurt less if you took off your shoes."
The sneakers, tightly squeezing her swollen foot, were not easily removed.
Anne was struggling with it again, having already tried and failed in the locker room.
"I'll do it."
"Oh, no. It's okay..."
The flustered Olivia tried to pull her foot back, but her ankle was grabbed. Ah! Olivia groaned.
"Does it hurt?"
"...Yes."
Olivia was confused whether it was the pain rising up her instep or the pain flowing through Edgar's fingertips.
Edgar pushed up the hem of her skirt. The sneakers stained with grass, the white socks coming up over her ankles, and then her smooth calves were revealed in turn.
Edgar supported her slender ankle with one hand and the heel of her sneaker with the other, carefully moving his hand.
"Oh my god..."
Anne was shocked. Edgar's eyes deepened. When he took off her socks, her entire instep was swollen red.
Moreover, blood had clotted into a purple bruise in the skin around the area where she had been stepped on.
"You've been running around with this foot for over two hours?"
"It wasn't this bad from the beginning, Anne."
Olivia smiled faintly and hid her foot under her skirt.
"Let me see."
"It's okay. Don't worry about it."
"I don't know what's okay about it."
Edgar bit his lower lip. His eyes narrowed and his blue-gray eyes became clouded.
Thinking about her enduring the pain and participating in the game, the anger he had barely suppressed surged violently. Damn Anneblin Grace Britt.
"Did you see her face?"
