My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 111: A Battle of Wits and Mana

Chapter 111: A Battle of Wits and Mana

Stephano was determined to ride horses to the military training grounds rather than riding a carriage. It would give them more freedom and less fuss.

"When was the last time you rode?" Stephano asked Leonor. "I imagine you kept up with it at the Academy."

There was a horse available for Leonor to ride, but she wasn’t familiar with her. It made her a little bit nervous. Regardless, the horse was brought out for her and she gently stroked the well-trained animal, admiring its soft hair and even temper.

"A month before I moved here," Leonor admitted. "I haven’t had the opportunity to ride since then. Although, yes, I suppose I kept up with it at the Academy. They didn’t give us much of a choice there."

Stephano climbed onto his horse.

"That place will never change its ways," he said.

Leonor followed suit, putting her riding boots to good use for the first time in such a long time.

Sometimes horses made her nervous because of what happened to her in the past. However, it wasn’t raining and the sun was out. They wouldn’t be going on a hard path and she could already tell the horse was a good one.

"Shall we?" Leonor asked. "I have no idea where we’re off to."

"That possessive duke surely doesn’t allow you out of the house very often," Stephano chided and shook his head.

Leonor couldn’t hold back a light laugh, though it was hedging on nervousness. After the interaction with her husband in the hallway, she felt strange. She wasn’t ready to face Stephano after having such a confusing interaction with the man.

"I wouldn’t say he’s possessive," Leonor said.

However, after hearing him say he would kill her father if he hurt her again, she felt like she had peeled away a new layer and was getting to know the man she married in a different light.

Her posture was straight and she focused on the path ahead.

All she knew was that the training grounds were on the other face of the mountain the duke’s personal property was on. That was very much on purpose considering they had a great vantage point over Piedmont below.

Stephano’s grin seemed wolfish and he wanted to correct Leonor that the man was unbelievably possessive. Somehow he held back.

The pair stopped talking as their horses picked up speed, finding it hard to hear over the hoofbeats on the dried ground anyway.

Leonor found the spring day to be perfect for riding. The air could be biting but her long sleeves were enough to stave it away. Each time she felt cold, more sun peeked through the trees around and she began to look forward to warmer weather a bit more.

Without words between them, Leonor fell into daydreaming about summer trips and visits to the coast, showing Desmond fresh seafood, and going with him to winterize the duchy once the warmth left them again.

She longed for love, but the love she was looking for was more attainable than Valerio was and she had to resist grabbing the locket around her neck. She felt awful at daydreaming and about hanging onto the past as well.

These thoughts carried Leonor until they went down a hill. They came upon what was certainly an outpost of sorts.

Considering it was spring and the soldiers without families stayed there for the entire winter, most were out attending to their duties when the king and duchess arrived.

At their arrival, there was more fuss than Leonor wanted. She assured them many times that she was there to practice with Stephano and nothing more. However, there was no such thing as a casual endeavor when the person she brought with her was the king.

Eventually, things settled enough and a practice field was cleared for them to use.

"Will you be using offensive magic, then?" Leonor asked the king.

She adjusted her hair to be sure it wouldn’t come loose while the two of them exercised their mana.

"I’ll use whatever I see fit to take you down," he said. "Although, offensive magic does sound most appealing right now, doesn’t it?"

When it came to mages sparring, there were few rules outside of being fair and not killing one another.

They weren’t attacking with brute force but a game of wits and choosing the right counter. It was Leonor’s favorite part of being a mage. Destruction wasn’t inherent but the battle could be just as volatile as hand-to-hand combat. They were using their own life force to protect themselves or protect something important.

Just as Stephano said offensive magic was appealing, he conjured a flame that caused Leonor to gasp and she ran backward with a small triangle nestled between both of her hands as she held it out in front of her.

The moment the king released his first burst of offensive magic, she felt extremely grateful that he would choose to waste his time on someone like her.

Even though offensive magic was secondary to enchanting magic, Stephano’s mana was strong and beautiful. It was golden and terrifying.

Somehow she released a large triangle that formed into a circle rather than a square before she could be hit by the fire raining down on her.

"Quite the big shield for the first hit, don’t you think?" he taunted.

"Do you think I’m idiotic enough to use all of my mana on the first attack, Your Majesty?" she asked. "We were trained in the same place."

Their battle went on with no end in sight. The two of them cast their magic as best as they could. Leonor gave him the surprise of the occasional offensive attack after years of training with Quinn. However, the king was more impressive with the multitude of ways he was adept in all sorts of magic.

That day they had three major battles but there were long expanses of time between where they were exercising their mana flows in other ways including summoning their familiars and replenishing themselves.

The third and final battle was the most intense since both parties felt more exhausted and ragged. Neatness was leaving and responses were unnecessarily extreme or not large enough.

By the end of their battle, Stephano was simply enchanting chunks of ground and throwing them at her because they were both getting tired.

What made Leonor lose focus was when she was blocking with a shield but caught a glimpse of a man standing on the wall surrounding the outpost. She could tell Desmond was looking at her and it made her nervous all over again.

Stephano nearly took her out with dirt clots if it weren’t for Leonor’s quick thinking of putting a shield over her boot and kicking it away, causing a cloud of dirt to escape into the air around her.

She had to brush herself off and cough at the dust flying around her.

When the area was clear, she saw Desmond in riding gloves, gripping the wall he stood on as if holding himself back from overreacting.

She didn’t know what made him so possessive all of a sudden. It seemed to begin when the king arrived.

The ways of men were completely beyond her.