Villainess Loves

Part 64

By the time I reached the area to view the skilled racers, the winners were already determined. Man, I should have rushed earlier!

In a surprisingly large landslide, Prince Astric wins his bracket, beating Prince Caelum. I guess he is much more skilled than I thought. Bella was put in the second round so she didn't compete with these titans yet.

Plenty of boos and yells sprinkled throughout the viewing area since technically the home field is the Elden kingdom, with Prince Caelum being the home team.

His loss doesn't seem to faze him as he still waves and flirts with the audience. Some of the female viewers faint at his forward antics.

I glance over at Princess Echina to see her reaction, but she didn't even glance at the race track, talking with her attendant next to her.

What was weird was that Prince Caelum didn't even glance in her direction either, simply walking back to rest.

Hmmm. A fight perhaps?

I didn't have time to linger on that thought since the next round of races were starting. This time, everyone was much more uniformed and even the horses themselves seem to have gotten the hang of it.

In an expected landslide, similar to the devastation that Prince Astric did, Bella smokes her competition. Easily finishing her race in a record breaking three minutes! Prince Orion whoops loudly when she crosses the finish line. Running rapidly over to give her a massive hug. How cute.

"Congratulations." I smile at Bella. Her riding attire is so ordinary but her beauty and naturally dazzling aura still mesmerize those around her. In fact, you could say that her ordinary clothes help allow mere mortals to even fathom her beauty without completely fainting at a single glance. Is that too excessive of a compliment?

"Thank you, Lady Annelise." Bella smiles back, taking a swing of water from Prince Orion. It's almost like he's her gopher, tending to her every need.

"Are you all ready for the couple's race? You're in the first bracket." I ask them.

Hopefully, the thirty-minute break is enough for Bella to rest. Initially I wanted to decrease the time a bit to reduce the wait time for the viewers, but it takes a while to set up the next races and I had to give some time to rest for our servants as well since they're basically nonstop working. This turned out to be a good thing that I didn't push to reduce the time since I didn't account for racers of the last race to be in the couple's race. I forgot that racers could race in both the single competition and the couple's race. 

"Couples' Race will be starting in about twenty minutes! The ranking contest is starting!" I yell into the speaker.

To reduce the possible boredom of viewers waiting for participants to practice and rest, we are also holding an opinion contest for viewers to vote on random but fun traits of the participants such as the most good looking, most flashiest, most funny, etc. The winners are simply chosen based on how loud the cheering the viewers made when their favorite or chosen horse/rider is pointed at. The rewards for this contest are not as grand as the races, but they are still nice nonetheless.

I think these random contests of little talent and skill determinants are a great way for lesser skilled riders to enjoy the event. You may not have won the race, but you're the tallest in your bracket so you win, and so on. It's definitely entertaining for the viewers since they can participate in the decisions. Next time I might run a raffle or something to create a panel of judges to make the contest even more interesting. 

"Ah, if only you were a participant, my lady. You would have surely taken the most beautiful title." Mary complains. She glances over at Henry.

"And Sir Henry would take the most handsome! Isn't that right?" She nudges me.
"Eh, I guess." I respond to her absentmindedly.

"You guess?! Is Sir Henry not good looking enough for you?" Mary shakes me in shock.

"Wah! Stop doing that! I'm trying to run an event! YEs, yes, Henry is the most handsome, okay?" I yell at her. My gosh, I'm trying to direct people and run an event. What is she doing, distracting me?

"Thank you?" Henry's voice makes me realize what I just said. I look over at Mary's devious grin. This girl!!!!

"Ahem, well.." I try to recover from my blunder, but it doesn't stop the embarrassment from leaking out, my face increasingly getting redder.

"HAh!" Mary laughs at my blushing face. Henry looks at me, studying my face. Nothing's on my face right?

"Lady Annelise, we are ready for the couples' race." A servant comes up to notify me. I nod.

"Okay, I'll announce it. Make sure everyone is in place." I take a deep breath. After this, the final event will come. What is going to happen once the chaos ensues?