Law of Space and Time

I finally got an opportunity to meet her, yet you had to ruin it! I'm going to kill you, you insolent little bastard! Brad was cursing Erwin internally as he thought back to the mocking smile that had appeared on Lana's face. Even a mocking smile from her was so captivating. What was even more infuriating to Brad was that Erwin seemed to have some romantic ties with Lana, but he still wasn't satisfied and was going after the princess as well! Just the mere thought was making Brad's blood boil, and he refused to surrender the match.

Erwin had no idea what was going on inside Brad's mind. He unleashed a few more instant-release spells, hoping to end the match as quickly as possible.

It was clear that this round of attacks from Erwin would be enough to defeat his opponent. At this point, Brad couldn't even get up anymore, and it seemed that he had already fallen unconscious.

The administrators heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this, and they adjudicated Erwin as the victor before preparing to step onto the competition platform to carry Brad away.

Erwin exhaled as he basked in the applause around him, and a sense of intense joy welled up in his heart. I made it into the top four! Looks like Professor Hawk wasn't wrong about me, after all!

Right as he was celebrating his victory, a cold smile appeared on Brad's face as he laid on the ground behind Erwin. He then silently raised his arm, and a short arrow was sent flying toward Erwin's back.

As it turned out, there had been a crossbow concealed up his sleeve this entire time. It was a weapon that he had registered, but he had never used it in any of his previous matches. As soon as he learned that his opponent for this round was going to be Erwin, he had hatched this sinister plan. For him, winning or losing was no longer important, what he wanted was to have Erwin killed!

After this experience, Erwin learned two valuable lessons, the first of which was to never underestimate an opponent, even if they seemed to be completely down and out, as one could never predict how many tricks their opponent had hidden up their sleeve. As for the second of the two lessons, it was that turning one's back on one's opponent was an extremely foolish thing to do.

...

Erwin was still lost in his own world, so he was caught completely off guard. Before he knew it, the short arrow was already sticking out of his back, and he turned around to stare at it with an incredulous expression, almost wondering if it was someone else's back he was looking at.

If it weren't for the excruciating pain spearing through his body, he would struggle to believe that he had just been struck by a sneak attack.

The spectators were also in disbelief that someone would dare to try and commit murder in front of tens of thousands of people, but that was exactly what had happened.

Several of the administrators immediately charged toward Brad to press him to the ground, but he had already used up the last of his strength, and he really was unconscious this time. However, even in a state of unconsciousness, there was a satisfied smile on his extraordinarily long face.

Even with the slightest of movements, Erwin's back immediately began to throb with agonizing pain, and he inhaled sharply through his teeth as cold sweat began to bead up on his forehead.

The stretcher that had been prepared for Brad was carried over to Erwin instead, and the administrators instructed him to lie down flat on his stomach to avoid further aggravating the injuries.

As for Brad, he had already been tied up and carried off the competition platform by several administrators.

As Erwin was carried off the platform, he heard Prime Minister Fuller announce the follow-up measures that were to be taken, as well as all of the outraged voices of the spectators. However, he couldn't focus on what was being said as the pain radiating from his back was too excruciating to bear.

Onean was in the spectators' passageway, so she naturally saw Erwin as he was being carried away, and a grim look appeared on her face as she asked, "What happened?"

"You were right about the baguette, he really is a nasty piece of work! He attacked me with a hidden weapon even after I won the match!" Erwin was sorely regretting not taking Onean's words of warning more seriously.

Onean carefully inspected Erwin's injury, then concluded, "The wound is quite deep, but the tip of the arrow doesn't appear to be poisoned."

"Poison definitely isn't a factor here, Your Highness. All of the registered weapons are thoroughly re-examined each day, so there's no way they could be poisoned," an administrator said.

Onean nodded in response. "Carry him to the same tent from yesterday, I'll be there soon."

The administrators did as they were told.

As Erwin was carried back to that familiar tent, he couldn't help but lament his own terrible luck. This was already the third time he had been carried to this tent during the course of the tournament!

Doctors were supposed to be sent by the tournament committee to treat Erwin's injuries, but the administrators were naturally aware of Princess Onean's intentions, so they waved off the doctors that were supposed to attend to Erwin. As a result, he was left all by himself in the tent.

Thankfully, Onean arrived in the tent not long thereafter, and she was holding a rucksack in her hand.

"Don't you have to compete in your match?" Erwin asked.

"The tournament committee rescheduled my match to the afternoon as they're currently dealing with the repercussions of the sneak attack," Onean said as she pulled out various items from her rucksack, including things like gauze and bandages. "Didn't I tell you to look out for your opponent?"

Erwin gulped nervously at the sight of the pieces of equipment being laid out before him, and he sighed, "I didn't think that he resented me this much, Your Highness."

"I'm going to pull the arrow out, and it's going to hurt, so make sure you're prepared," Onean said as she approached Erwin to remove his robes.

In this sorry state, Erwin wasn't in the mood to enjoy the princess's alluring fragrance, and he could only grit his teeth with a painful wince as Onean stripped him down.

He turned around to take a glance, upon which he discovered that Onean had just picked up a pair of silver pliers, and he hurriedly looked away again with a fearful expression as he implored in a feeble voice, "Please be gentle."

Onean offered no response as she smiled in silence, remarking to herself that Erwin had very good skin.

She was preparing a numbing lightning spell with one hand, while holding the pliers with her other hand.

The pliers were locked around the base of the arrowhead, and she gave Erwin some verbal warning before executing the procedure.

Erwin felt a numbing sensation spread through his back, followed by a burst of excruciating pain, and he knew that the arrowhead had been pulled out.

Onean set down her pliers, then gently dabbed at his wound with a piece of handkerchief that had been dipped in magic potion.

"That really hurts!" After being dabbed at with the potion-infused handkerchief, Erwin felt as if his wound had been set on fire. He then turned his head to look at Onean before asking, "Your Highness, that's not the handkerchief that you used to wipe my drool from yesterday, is it?"

"It is," Onean replied with an amused expression. "What? Are you disgusted by your own saliva?"

"Well, no," Erwin replied with a sheepish expression.

"Did you really think I would use the same handkerchief from yesterday?" Onean chuckled. "Are you an idiot? I already threw away the one that was used to wipe your drool. There's no way I would carry something like that with me!"

Erwin turned away with a glum expression, but at the same time, he was astonished by the efficacy of Onean's magic potion. It had only been less than a minute since its application, and his pain had already been significantly alleviated.

Onean sealed his wound with a piece of gauze, then instructed, "Sit up."

Erwin obediently did as he was told and sat up with his legs crossed.

Onean had one hand pressed over the piece of gauze, while her other hand was wrapping bandages tightly around Erwin's chest and shoulder.

Now that his injury no longer hurt anywhere near as much as before, Erwin's mind was beginning to creep elsewhere. He could feel Onean's soft and delicate skin tracing over his own skin and her warm breath on his back. At times, the two of them were pressed against one another so that he could directly feel Onean's body heat, and his skin was beginning to crawl. His brain began to suffer from oxygen deprivation, and his eyelids felt extremely heavy, but he was thoroughly enjoying the process.

Even though Erwin was already quite experienced when it came to physical relations with the opposite sex, he was still a healthy young man. With someone as breathtakingly beautiful as Onean so close to him, his mind would inevitably wander down more lustful avenues, and his blood was quickly filtering out of his brain to flow toward another vital organ. In addition to that, Erwin had never been known for his self-restraint.

Thus, as Onean walked around so that she was facing him while wrapping his bandages, his hand shot forward like lightning to catch her wrist, and he rolled over to press her against the bed with his body over hers, looking down Onean's shocked expression with heavy-lidded eyes that were filled with desire.

However, as soon as Erwin completed this sequence of movements, he let loose an agonized howl before collapsing onto the bed. As it turned out, he had aggravated the injury on his back, so the pain had come roaring back with full force.

Onean naturally wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily. An enraged look appeared in her golden eyes, and she pounced onto Erwin like a ferocious lioness before sinking her teeth viciously into his shoulder.

Erwin was already in excruciating pain, and he took a glance at his own shoulder to find that Onean was biting him with such force that her teeth were drawing blood! Soon, another agonized howl rang out within the tent.

"That's what you get!" Onean looked on at Erwin's agonized display with a cold expression, but there was clearly a deep flush on her cheeks.

After rolling around in agony for a while, Erwin curled up into a ball on the bed and fell still.

"You reap what you sow! Are you happy now?" Onean asked in a cold voice.

Erwin remained silent with his back facing Onean, perhaps because he was feeling guilty over what he had done, or perhaps he was regretful that his injury had thwarted him at the last moment.

Onean pouted with a displeased expression to find that the blood from his injury had already seeped through the bandages. She briefly contemplated leaving Erwin to fend for himself, but in the end, she couldn't bring herself to do that and dressed his wounds again, but as she did so, she made sure to be extra forceful when tying the bandages around Erwin's body. Erwin no longer had the energy to resist. Thus, after an excruciating sequence of events, the injury was successfully bandaged. Right before she left, she gave Erwin's injury a parting flick with her finger, and Erwin let loose another agonized howl as he began to roll around on the bed again. It seemed that he still had an ounce of energy left, after all.

Erwin buried his chin against his own chest as he looked at the teeth marks on his shoulder with a glum expression.

Meanwhile, Onean was looking at him with a furious gleam in her eyes, but her anger quickly faded, and she couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of Erwin's despondent display.

"Alright, have a good rest. Try to move around as little as possible so you don't open up your wound any further," Onean instructed before leaving the tent.

Erwin laid on the bed and took another close look at the teeth marks on his shoulder. All of a sudden, a smile appeared on his face, and it seemed that the progress he had made was worth all of the pain that he had suffered.