Allen’s body reacted almost purely on instinct.
He twisted to the side, blocked, redirected the force—his movements smooth and fluid!
Caught completely off guard by Hugo’s sudden attack, Allen’s eyes widened as he angrily shouted, “What the—?! You little brat, where’s your sense of honor? First you trick me, then ambush me, and I’m just a fifteen-year-old comrade here! How is this okay? This isn’t okay. I advise you to behave yourself!”
Hugo didn’t care about any of that. He just grinned and said, “Heh heh, enough talk—let’s fight! A real man speaks with his fists!”
Hugo’s fighting style was devoid of any real technique, relying purely on the terrifying brute strength granted by his Sun Emblem. His fists howled through the air, each punch carrying enough force to shatter a wall!
Allen, on the other hand, used Military Boxing combined with traditional martial arts techniques for redirecting force, darting about the narrow alley like a slippery eel.
His body, strengthened and trained in mysterious ways, was far more capable than it had been just last Sunday—but Hugo’s strength was clearly superior, second only to the muscle-bound Anna.
Allen narrowly dodged another heavy punch. Hugo’s fist crashed into the wall beside him, leaving a web of cracks!
Of course, Allen’s counterattacks hit Hugo several times as well. He wasn’t using his full strength, but still managed to leave Hugo gasping for breath and with a few bruises on his face.
“As I thought! You’re strong!” Even though he hadn’t gained the upper hand, Hugo laughed excitedly. “I knew it the moment I saw you!”
“I was acting all timid, and you could still tell I’m strong, huh.”
Allen quipped as he found an opening to land a punch on Hugo’s face.
Hugo quickly backed off, still grinning brightly. “Come on! They said you were a robed noble, but you’re tougher than I thought!”
“You! Didn’t your mother ever teach you that randomly throwing punches at people is a breach of noble etiquette?” Allen said irritably.
“Haha! My mom’s been dead for years!” Hugo laughed without a care. “My stepmom taught me: just make sure the person you beat up never finds out who you are!”
“Didn’t you already tell me your name is Hugo du Bernard?!”
“Oh, right?!” Hugo was momentarily stunned.
Taking advantage of Hugo’s distraction, Allen swept his legs out from under him and neatly took him down.
At that moment, a Ceremony Officer noticed the commotion in the alley. Seeing two noble youths brawling, he immediately shouted, “No fighting! Whose children are you?!”
At his command, several guards rushed over.
“Damn! We’re done for if they catch us!” Allen didn’t bother finishing Hugo off—he just turned and ran.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Hugo scrambled up, brushed the dust off his pants, and dashed after Allen.
“Why are you following me?!”
“I can’t help it! I don’t know my way around!”
“I don’t know my way around either!”
Just moments before, they’d been fighting tooth and nail, but now the two were partners in crime on the run.
Gasping for breath, they finally managed to shake their pursuers.
“Not bad, Allen!” Having escaped danger, Hugo cheerfully slapped Allen’s shoulder, as if he hadn’t just been beaten up moments ago.
Allen shot him a fierce glare. “Are we close enough that you can just call me by my first name?”
“Come on, we’ve already fought—doesn’t that make us brothers?” Hugo tried to sling his arm around Allen’s shoulders again.
“I’ve got decent combat ability, right? And I didn’t even use my Engraved Mark! So, what do you say about my previous suggestion? Let’s team up and make a fortune together!”
Allen brushed his arm away and retorted loudly, “So after all that, it’s still about making money!”
Allen knew this was just how Hugo was—driven by a deep-seated desire to challenge the strong, with an almost animalistic instinct for recognizing powerful people.
“Damn! I can’t stand kids like you with that sharp intuition!”
That was exactly why Allen always tried to avoid these main characters.
As a villain who only wanted to develop quietly under the radar, he somehow always managed to bump into these chosen ones.
But then Allen thought, even Marianne—who hated him to the bone in the original—was almost PUA-ed into a sickly, clingy little black cat by now.
Maybe deliberately avoiding the protagonists was pointless.
“Fine.”
It was a pain that his hidden strength had been discovered, but at least it meant that all his efforts and training to survive hadn’t been in vain.
Not a single “Future Sight” had triggered during that brawl! Back in those early Sundays, Hugo’s first punch would probably have sent him straight back to the beginning.
This tangible feeling of getting stronger… really wasn’t bad at all.
“Alright, Bernard…”
“Call me Hugo! We’re brothers now, aren’t we?”
Despite his bruised face, Hugo was still smiling as radiantly as ever, as if he couldn’t care less about having been beaten.
Seeing Hugo’s carefree expression, Allen found himself momentarily lost for words.
“Ugh… This is why I hate these naturally sociable, overpowered types! I’m a villain lurking in the shadows, and you’re the sun that’s going to melt me!”
Allen braced himself and said, “Hugo… let me ask you: if you were given a chance to be a real hero, would you take it?”
Hugo’s eyes instantly lit up. “Tell me more!”
Allen knew Hugo’s character all too well. The guy was an idiot, but he was absolutely loyal to his friends.
He yearned for justice—he was the classic chivalric rogue. Using him didn’t bother Allen at all.
After all, he wasn’t that evil Young Master anymore—he was now determined to save humanity as the “Messenger of the Gods”!
He was a super, invincible good guy!
And as for why he was so ruthless to his enemies? Well, Allen wasn’t a saint—in fact, he rather enjoyed making villains suffer.
It takes evil to deal with evil. As the ultimate villain, Allen’s job was to relentlessly torment every last wicked soul!
“I can tell you what I’m planning,” Allen lowered his voice, “but you absolutely cannot tell anyone else.”
He laid out his plan to take down the Thieves’ Guild to Hugo, but left out the core details about the Brotherhood of the Children of Dawn and the Mutual Aid Association.
Allen wasn’t ready to bring Hugo into his revolutionary group just yet.
For a loyal Knight, the first loyalty always belonged to the king and the feudal order he represented.
As a sword-bearing noble, Hugo had neither the motive nor the consciousness to overthrow the old system.
Hugo had a protagonist’s way of thinking: as long as you eliminate the source of evil, the world will be at peace.
He didn’t worry about how order would be rebuilt, or whether the enemy would return, stronger and harder to defeat.
After hearing Allen’s plan, Hugo’s jaw dropped in shock.
“Heavens! You’re scheming something that big? Amazing! Meeting you is the best decision of my life!”
“Not for me it isn’t…”
“So, all that dirty money the Thieves’ Guild hoarded—does that mean it’ll all be ours?”
“You can take a bit for pocket money, but most of it needs to go to compensate the poor people they oppressed.”
“Oh! Right! We’re chivalric heroes, defending the weak and righting wrongs! How could we be greedy for money?” Hugo immediately struck a heroic pose, chest out.
Allen couldn’t help but smirk at how easily he’d managed to set Hugo on the path to becoming a Chivalric Knight—just a bit earlier than in the original.
The Chivalric Knight came from a legendary romance known throughout the Kingdom and Empire.
The story went: whenever people were in desperate need, a mysterious Knight would appear, riding a boat drawn by swans.
Noble yet silent, no one knew his origin or name—his only companion was the swan.
He would always show up at the crucial moment and resolve the crisis with his extraordinary skill.
Legend said he once saved a noble lady and married her, but with one condition: she must never ask his name or origin.
Years later, she broke her promise, and the Knight sailed away on the swan boat, never to be seen again—leaving only his legend behind.
Many noble families claimed their Engraved Mark lineage came from this Swan Knight.
In the original work, the Swan Knight was real—he was actually Livia’s ancestor.
Every time Allen thought of this, he couldn’t help but complain: Come on, Livia! Your Engraved Mark lineage is already OP, now even your ancestor’s a legend? The production team seriously doesn’t know how to write a story without a bloodline twist!
By the way, the old ancestor was buried in the underground ruins beneath the ancient oak grove east of Saint Nora Academy. In the original, those ruins were a legendary dungeon.
Livia would find the place guided by her bloodline, and meet her ancestor’s remains.
The old ancestor would set a series of trials for his descendant, which Livia solved one by one with her wits. In the end, she faced him in a duel and won his approval.
The legendary Swan Knight would then grant her his divine weapon—the Starshine Sword—before dissolving into starlight.
That was the strongest weapon in 《Starlit Romance》, and only Livia could wield it.
If Livia got her hands on that sword, it would be even harder for Allen to beat her! He was determined to prevent that event from happening.
Anyway, the legend of the Swan Knight inspired many noble youths. Thus, the “Chivalric Knight” was born.
They were a special honorary class in the Lorraine Kingdom.
Noble children without inheritance rights could swear a noble oath (such as upholding justice or vanquishing evil), then spend their lives fulfilling it.
The journey was dangerous, and most died along the way.
But those who returned in glory would receive immense social standing—even becoming the king’s personal guard.
Of course, a Chivalric Knight might only appear once in decades, but when they did, they became national heroes, their stories sung by bards across the land.
Allen always thought the system existed mainly to get rid of surplus nobles and preserve inheritance stability—in other words, to send all those bold second sons to their deaths.
Hugo actually had inheritance rights, but his family’s title would be stripped away later in the plot for various reasons.
That was why he would eventually become a Chivalric Knight.
For the record, in most of Livia’s story routes, she didn’t inherit her father’s title (her brother did), so things weren’t easy for her either.
In Hugo’s route, she followed him as a Chivalric Knight—partly because she was a bit of a stray herself.
“Sigh, that Livia… She’s basically a Mary Sue but still so miserable. No wonder she’s the main heroine in an otome game. Isn’t this the very definition of a female protagonist?”
In any case, after all the fuss, Hugo agreed to join up.
Still, he retained some sense of nobility: “By the way, what if my identity gets exposed?”
“Idiot! Just don’t use your Engraved Mark, and wear a mask!”
“Oh! Right! So, what kind of mask do you think looks coolest?”
“A clown mask would suit you,” Allen mocked.
Hugo didn’t catch the sarcasm at all—he just laughed. “I’ll have to look for one! I’m gonna go change my clothes, then watch the victory parade in the commoners’ district.”
Remembering his unpleasant experience with the sword-bearing nobles earlier, Hugo clenched his fists in frustration.
“Ugh! Hanging around those idiots is unbearable! They’re all weaklings, yet act like their ancestors were something great! Makes me want to fight them all!”
“So the reason you fought me just now was to vent your anger on me?”
Allen deadpanned. “…Well, what a coincidence. I was just about to go to the commoners’ district myself.”
“Perfect! Let’s go together! Honestly, I’ve been in the capital for a while and haven’t had any fun in the lower districts. My old man keeps dragging me to visit other noble families and introducing all these noble ladies to me…”
Hugo grumbled, not realizing he was being set up for matchmaking.
“Ugh! What’s the use of a vase that can’t even hold a sword? Giving them Engraved Mark bloodlines is such a waste!”
Allen couldn’t help but think, with emotional intelligence like that, it would be a miracle if Hugo could ever win Livia over.
“If anyone else hears you talk like that, you’ll never get a girlfriend in your life.”
“Eh? Really? Hahaha, I don’t need a girlfriend! Having a great friend like you is enough, isn’t it?”
Allen let out a helpless sigh.
“A friend, huh… Well, I guess that’s not so bad.”
Despite all the chaos, the villainous Young Master Allen de Laval, somehow, ended up gaining his very first “friend.”
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