If it were a contest of swordsmanship, there likely wouldn’t be anyone in the entire kingdom stronger than Altina.
But in a sport like badminton, Vita wasn’t any weaker than Altina. Both were very serious about showing off in front of Caine.
The warm-up stage was already intense; they went all out from the start.
Even though badminton was a newly invented sport in this world, currently a noble sport only the wealthy and aristocrats had the energy to play, professional competitions certainly didn’t exist.
But in Caine’s eyes, their performance already matched the professionals he knew.
And that was while wearing high heels and everyday clothes.
If they changed into athletic gear and used magic, Caine didn’t dare imagine how exaggerated the game would become.
This set had gone on for ten minutes without a winner, remaining in a stalemate. The beautiful sight made Caine feel a bit embarrassed, so he tried his best to focus on the ball… no, not that ball, the birdie.
While the two seemed evenly matched, such a situation wouldn’t last forever.
As time passed, Altina still looked calm and composed, but Vita’s breathing began to grow ragged.
Altina would not miss the opportunity of Vita’s declining stamina and decided to end the match.
Before the decisive shot, Altina’s gaze quickly flicked to Caine, who was sitting on the sofa watching the game.
After Vita hit the birdie back, Altina’s shapely legs in tights lunged forward. She twisted her waist and swung the racket forcefully, sending the birdie flying in the exact opposite direction of the previous shot.
This shot was incredibly tricky and swift, clearly intended to decide the match. Even Caine’s heart leaped into his throat.
‘I’m sorry, Princess Vita, I cannot hand over His Majesty’s heart to you either. This victory is mine.’
After hitting the birdie, Altina’s gaze was terrifyingly determined.
“—Heiyah!”
…!?
But as Vita failed to catch the birdie, the shuttlecock grazing her racket by a hair’s breadth before she collapsed onto the ground, Altina’s gaze wavered for a moment.
It wasn’t because she had made the King’s sister fall over a game.
It was because she heard a jarring sound, like something tearing.
“Vita?! Are you okay?”
Altina didn’t have time to look for what had torn.
Seeing Vita fall, Caine hurriedly stood up and rushed toward her with a worried expression.
“Ahahaha, I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m okay, but my clothes seem to be torn.”
Vita, who had fallen, stood up quickly. She didn’t appear to have any external injuries.
But as Vita turned to face Caine, Altina’s gaze immediately became much more somber than usual.
‘I see. So that’s how it is.’
Altina finally realized what the jarring sound she heard was.
The answer was the stockings.
The skirt Vita wore today was a medium length that ended just past her knees, and her stockings were sheerer black silk than the ones Altina wore.
During her desperate dive to catch the birdie, the black silk that was already tight against her skin finally gave way under the strain, tearing in several places.
It was impossible for Caine not to look at those holes.
In fact, he did look, and his expression became very subtle.
He felt somewhat embarrassed.
“Yes, it looks like your stockings are torn. As long as you’re not hurt, that’s what matters. This was just for relaxation; it wouldn’t be worth it if you got injured.”
After glancing at her legs, where the flesh of her thighs was faintly visible through the torn black silk, Caine helplessly warned the two not to be too intense.
“That’s true. Fortunately, the tears aren’t too big, so I’ll just leave them be.”
As if deliberately trying to attract Caine’s attention, Vita made several different movements, repeatedly leaning down to check the holes in her stockings.
While responding to Caine, she peeked at his facial expression.
Seeing that Caine was indeed a bit embarrassed, a faint, predatory smile of success flashed across the corner of Vita’s mouth.
That’s right. From the start, she hadn’t planned on winning against Altina to show off.
This was her true goal.
She could have just taken off the stockings and continued, but how could that attract Caine’s attention as well as wearing them? Naturally, she wouldn’t take them off.
“Oh dear, since I lost, it’s Big Brother’s turn to play against little Altina. I’ll take a break.”
Despite her calculating nature, Vita walked toward Caine with a bright, sunny smile and handed him the racket.
As she approached, Caine smelled a special fragrance, different from her usual scent.
Biologically speaking, it was a pheromone emitted by a living creature.
This made Caine perceive the princess before him as a very charming woman, and his heart rate accelerated slightly.
To prevent Vita from noticing his unease, Caine took the racket and quickly distanced himself, walking to the center of the room.
Though he appeared normal, Vita was very confident in her performance.
She even shot a somewhat provocative look at Altina, who had been silently watching her.
‘What a pity, little Altina—the true winner is me!’
The triumphant Vita could hardly suppress a mischievous smile. To hide it, she quickly picked up a teacup and used the act of drinking to conceal her smugness.
The good news was that she had successfully captured Caine’s attention, making him more aware of her as a beautiful woman.
The bad news was that Altina immediately responded to her provocation.
“… My apologies, Your Majesty. Actually, I’m feeling a bit warm as well. Please allow me to take off my jacket.”
“Hmm? Oh, of course. No problem.”
Looking at the “cold-blooded” young lady who hadn’t shed a single drop of sweat say such a thing, Caine could only grant permission.
Altina didn’t hold back. She didn’t just take off her jacket; she quickly pulled a common hair tie from her pocket.
After tying her shoulder-length golden hair into a high ponytail, she shed her stylish leather jacket, revealing a sleeveless blouse underneath.
This caused the previously triumphant Vita to freeze instantly.
Changing her hairstyle like that… was that a trick someone as rigid as Altina could come up with?
And a sleeveless blouse? A blouse was one thing, but a sleeveless one where you could see her shoulders and armpits!?
‘Could this girl really be trying to seduce her Big Brother as well?!’
This chapter is from a different novel. Can anyone fix this? Does nobody check which novel they are uploading the chapter too? From chapter 31 the novel is being updated with wrong chapters from some other novel. What is this? Is this site run by AI?