Arun was sweating profusely after the many fights it took to get to the finals. He was breathing heavily and beginning to feel the strain. Thankfully, he did not have to fight his final opponent. He watched as Leo was dragged away, a cold scowl on his face. The young man did not know how to lose gracefully and that was unacceptable. Clearly, he was not very disciplined.

As the princess reemerged from behind the guards, Arun took a bow and smiled. “Thank you, Your Highness.” He said, loudly enough to be heard on the high balcony. “I look forward to meeting your acquaintance.” He straightened up, turning away to grab his towel and take the drink of water he desperately needed.

As the crowd cheered, Arun packed up his things. He was clapped on the back and congratulated him loudly wherever he walked and he paid them no mind. There was no point. He could not get them to stop, even if he tried. Glancing up at the balcony, he noticed the princess’s solemn face and shook his head. It seemed it was true. The princess truly did dislike all this fighting. She was young. She didn’t understand that the world was a violent one and there was no way to change that yet. It was fight or die and she was lucky she had the guards. She would have died without them.

Slinging his bag up onto his back, he turned to move through the dissipating crowd. The fights were over and people were quickly losing interest in him. He was thankful for that. Arun was never one for being in a crowd and the centre of attention. He had just about reached his limit when it all stopped and people walked away, back to their jobs and businesses and their mundane lives returned once again. It was time for him to go home and do the same. It wasn’t until tomorrow that he would get his prize. 

Though the personal meeting and the tour of the castle was a great privilege, Arun didn’t care about it in the slightest. The money was more important. His father was in need of the financial help. If he didn’t, Arun would never have entered such a foolish competition in the first place. All the other opponents seemed to care about was showing off and he couldn’t stand the arrogance he’d encountered that day. It had been more draining on his energies than the fights themselves.