Book 1-4.2 I came to test my future husband!
“Huh?”
At Grace’s sudden proclamation, Yulian looked at her with a nervous expression. Grace moved back and took out the two Sosoonta (short swords with a curved blade) from her thighs, holding one in each hand before bending her hips and taking an attacking stance.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Yulian was surprised as he asked Grace, and she lifted her shoulder once to answer.
“As I indicated, a match. Throw away the thought of going easy on me because i am a woman. I am letting you know now that I am a warrior of Rivolde, who completed the men’s coming-of-age ceremony with a woman’s body.”
Listening to Grace indicate that she was approved as a warrior, Yulian could not believe it.
‘What tribe would make a woman complete the coming-of-age ceremony? Especially since the Rivolde tribe is the strongest tribe in the West…’
Of course the women of the desert had strong personalities, and since the temperament of the desert tribes were fierce in nature, there were women who took part in hunting as well, but earning the badge of adulthood through the coming-of-age ceremony, as well as participating in the tribal wars were the men’s job.
It was their job to protect the young boys who had yet to become warriors, and the women, not to fight alongside them.
“Reveal your reasoning. Pareia warriors do not fight without reason.”
“If you win, I will let you know the reason.”
Grace answered like that before quickly starting to attack Yulian in her crouched position.
Yulian lightly swung his greatsword in response, but Grace lowered her body even more to make the greatsword swing above her head, and continued to get closer, with a movement that looked like she was crawling.
“What!”
Her movement was so fast that Yulian was shocked before using the greatsword in his left hand to stab into the sand and lift his body up. Just a second later, Grace’s Sosoonta passed by, scratching Yulian’s greatsword.
Yulian felt a slight bit of anger at the fact that he almost had his body slashed, and yelled.
“Reveal the reason for this battle. If you do, I will accept that you are a warrior and fight you seriously.”
“Didn’t I tell you I will let you know if you win?”
As if trying to taunt Yulian, Grace spoke informally, before using the Sosoonta’s speed and sharpness to attack Yulian again.
The attack was too accurate to go easy on her for being a woman, and as the opponent has indicated they have received the badge of adulthood, Yulian decided to not go easy on her.
Yulian reduced his power in half and started to swing his greatsword. (TL: Decides not to go easy on her, so reduces his power in half. What the heck…)
“If you want to give up, feel free to do so at any time.”
“Don’t look down on me.”
Grace was angered at Yulian’s warning, and instead started to go at Yulian even harder.
A battle between a large greatsword and a Sosoonta the size of two hands put together was very abnormal, but Grace seemed to have a considerable amount of skills. Yulian could not help but to also use the greatsword in his left hand every so often.
After they clashed approximately twenty times?
Grace, who had been nimbly dodging Yulian’s greatsword could not avoid the greatsword in Yulian’s left hand which arrived almost instantly, and had to use both of the Sosoonta’s together to block.
“Clang.”
Since it was a training greatsword, the blade was not sharp, but as if it increased the strength, the single greatsword and the two Sosoontas made a sharp clashing noise, and Grace was pushed back from the strength of the greatsword, leading her to slide far back in the same posture, with the two Sosoontas in front of her.
Annoyed that she might attack again, Yulian chased after Grace who was sliding back and swung his greatsword once more in the exact spot the two Sosoonta’s overlapped. Grace lost her balance and fell back, as if she slipped.
Yulian felt like he might have been too harsh and quickly ran after her and helped her get back up.
“Are you okay?”
In a very evident change in personality, Grace received Yulian’s help without saying anything, and stared at him as if trying to look deep into his soul, before kneeling down and bowing her head.
“Why are you suddenly doing this?”
As Yulian nervously brought her back up, Grace answered.
“Do you not know who I am?”
“I’ve never seen you within our tribe before… Have we met before?”
Thinking that the other person knew who he was, Yulian tried to think hard about who the woman is, but he could not remember at all.
“Grace Nellisi. You’re telling me you’ve never heard of this name before?”
As Grace asked again, Yulian started to think carefully.
‘Grace Nellisi… Grace Nellisi...Rivolde tribe’s Nellisi family…’
A thought quickly flew by in Yulian’s head.
‘If it is the Nellisi family of the Rivolde tribe, the only one is the family of the Glow.’
Yulian was skeptical as he asked.
“What is your relationship with the Great Glow Dejaine of the Rivolde tribe?”
“He happens to be my father.”
“Ah, then… you must be the beautiful maiden Grace…”
As he was about to finish his sentence, a lightbulb went off in Yulian’s head and he remembered his father, Glow Baguna’s words before he made a terrified expression.
- I will proceed with the marriage between you and the daughter of the Rivolde Glow.
“You… you…”
As Yulian had a shocked expression and could not continue his words, Grace smiled before answering.
“So you have heard. I was afraid that you might not remember. The Rivolde tribe’s Beautiful Maiden, Grace Nellisi, makes her formal introduction to her fiance, Pareia tribe’s Young Glow, the Desert Conqueror, Yulian Provoke-nim.”
Hearing Grace’s words, the Red Storm Warriors, who were surrounding them screamed in delight. It wasn’t bad to see the woman who will end up the Mother of Pareia in the future.
Yulian’s face was red in embarrassment as he opened his mouth.
“How is it that you are here … wait, did you come alone?”
Grace nodded her head and replied.
“Yes, I came by myself.”
“For what reason did you come here… does the Great Glow Dejaine Nellisi know of this?”
“Of course he does not. If he did, I’m sure even my father who dotes on me dearly would not have approved.”
Listening to Grace answer as her cheeks became red and she cracked a smile, Yulian felt his heart beating wildly and turned his head away.
“The reason I came to look for Pareia’s Young Glow today was to see the man who will be my husband. I could not get married to a warrior who was weaker than me, could I?”
Hearing Grace continue, Yulian became a mute who ate a lot of honey, and the surrounding warriors let out a holler. (TL: Remember, Korean saying similar to cat got your tongue.)
“If...I had lost…”
As Yulian squirmed while speaking, Grace answered with a confident, yet warm voice.
“If you were weaker than me, no matter what, I would have broken off the engagement. However, after seeing that Yulian-nim is very strong, I realize that my thoughts were wrong from the beginning. You truly deserve the title of the Desert Conqueror and I, Grace, am very relieved.”
‘Ha!’
Yulian was flabbergasted at Grace’s answer. Even if she is a woman of the desert, how could she come and test her future husband.
The more flabbergasted Yulian was, the surrounding warriors continued to increase their joyous hollering.
Grace coyishly stood next to Yulian and bowed to the Red Storm warriors.
“I am sorry that I interrupted the training of Pareia’s strong warriors. However, I was so curious that I came like this, I ask that the warriors not scold this rebellious lady too much.”
“Wah!Wah!Wah!”
As the warriors continued to shout in joy, one of the warriors, Quick Two Feet Chenji Warita spoke as he shouted.
“We are just sorry we are showing such shabby selves to the future Mother of Pareia. I, Chenji, along with the rest of the Red Storm warriors, pray dearly that the Beautiful Maiden Miss Grace will quickly marry and arrive at Pareia.”
Grace showed no embarrassment to many men cheering for her and bowed her head again.
“Of course. I too will be waiting and hoping that the day arrives quickly.”
Yulian felt that his face will turn into a tomato if he stayed there any longer and moved away before speaking (TL: the actual statement is that his face will blow up red, but I thought the tomato was a good comparison).
“Since a guest has arrived, we cannot just stay like this. Let’s head into the Paoe. Mother and Father will be happy to know that you have arrived.”
As Yulian headed off disrespectfully without even looking back, seeing his awkward steps, Grace smiled, as if she knew what was going through his mind, and said a final farewell to the warriors before following after him.
“I am looking forward to quickly being a part of Red Storm’s training. Then, I shall meet you all again in the near future.”
It was obvious that the warriors would shout like they were crazy.
(TL: I debated between continuing with Sir instead of -nim, but after reading some other Korean novels, I want to stay true to the language. So you will be seeing a shift from Sir Yulian to Yulian-nim.)