"I am a social failure.

I have known this since I was a child.

Diana, Uncle Wednesday, the other children of the nobles, my classmates, I have lost many, many people who should have been friends.

I cannot have equal, normal interactions with people.

Because I am always timid and apprehensive.

That's why I love competition so much.

If I can be an enemy, if I can be a rival.

At least they will respect me, look at me.

I just don't know how to get closer to people...

Does the distance between crossing swords count as close?

-------------------------

It wasn't that Turing was distracted, but that Turing truly didn't feel threatened by Elizabeth.

The race consisted of three laps, and Turing had to surpass Elizabeth by a wide margin in each lap.

Except for the thorny part at the end of the track where Turing had to slow down a bit, Turing completely overwhelmed Elizabeth in other parts.

Even Joseph was injured.

Watching Elizabeth being left far behind, Turing even started feeling a bit sorry, slowing down slightly, intending to win against Elizabeth by a not too large distance.

The previous Turing would never do such a thing.

"We're almost at the finish line."

Looking at the thicket that was approaching ahead, Turing turned to look and saw Elizabeth with red cheeks, bending over and standing astride the horse.

Tiny beads of sweat covered her forehead, and Elizabeth tightly gripped the reins, her gaze fixed on Turing, her mouth twitching slightly, seemingly because of exhaustion and nervousness.

"Twitching..."

Turing's gaze met Elizabeth's eyes, and Turing felt a strange sense of unease.

Elizabeth's peach-colored pupils were like a flattened orange, small and subtly reflecting light.

Finally, Elizabeth stretched out her trembling mouth and revealed a highly inappropriate, confident smile that didn't suit her.

Then, to Turing's astonishment, Elizabeth continued to increase her speed.

"You... were you acting earlier?"

"Elizabeth... does she still possess such wisdom?"

Turing turned around and also began to speed up, but compared to Elizabeth, who had been pushing full speed from the beginning, Turing was slightly slower.

Turing immediately mobilized all impressions of Elizabeth and carefully considered what other trump cards Elizabeth might have.

"Her horse is not good enough... that's for sure. Even if she runs as fast as she can, she won't be able to surpass Joseph, who is injured."

"There's only the thicket ahead, and then there's a straight road. Even if her horsemanship suddenly surpasses mine, there's no way to turn the tide."

"And most importantly, she can't even use any magic. Her magic incantations are not only unstable but also take a lot of time."

"Wait." Turing suddenly looked surprised and turned to Elizabeth's direction again.

"Could she have been chanting magic from the beginning?"

"If she cast the spell before talking to me, I wouldn't have detected any fluctuations in magic."

"So, that means her distressed expressions and demeanor were not from nervousness... but because she was holding back the unfinished magic, suppressing the flames in her throat?"

"She endured the pain of her burning throat to speak to me, bouncing on the horse, manipulating the reins to give various commands to the horse, and only then did she finish chanting the remaining magic?"

"But... Elizabeth shouldn't be such a resilient child at all, right?"

"Charge! Don Quixote!" With a pale face, Elizabeth roared and pulled out a dagger from her pocket, fiercely stabbing it into the horse's buttocks.

"Infernal lungs..." Elizabeth's next action immediately shattered Turing's speculation. "Inferno!" A half-human-sized fireball spewed out of Elizabeth's mouth and flew straight towards Turing.

Surprised, Turing instantly finished chanting the magic barrier with an open mouth, but the fireball didn't come towards him.

"What?" A loud explosion attracted Turing to turn around again. The nearby bramble bushes were already fully ablaze.

Because of the dense branches and shrubs, the brambles easily caught fire.

The flames climbed along the thorny branches until they reached a higher place than before.

"It won't work... Joseph was already injured, and it was very difficult for him to jump over the brambles. With the towering flames, it's impossible to jump over them."

"If he forcefully jumps, he will definitely get hurt. Joseph will still have to participate in the horse racing competition with me in the future, so he can't be seriously injured here."

"Moreover, even if I can't jump over, can Elizabeth definitely do it?"

"Does she have the courage for that?"

Thinking of this, Turing loosened the reins and intended to stop in front of the burning brambles. However, at this moment, a gust of wind passed by Turing like thunder.

"You..."

Breaking through the fiery flames, Elizabeth seemed fearless. Driving the white horse, she faced the dancing flames and charged straight towards the brambles.

Don Quixote let out a painful neigh as his four legs began to ooze blood under the scorching flames. In addition to being stabbed in the buttocks by a dagger, Don Quixote couldn't maintain his balance anymore and leaned to one side.

While in the air, Elizabeth had long lost control of the horse. After leaning, she was thrown off and flew past the bushes.

Elizabeth landed heavily in the distance, rolling several times before finally stopping. As she did, she extinguished the flames on her body.

Lying exhausted on the burnt grass, Elizabeth lay in a cluster of charred golden wild grass, breathing in pain.

Motionless, she had blisters in several unnatural places on her body, and her whole body was covered in charcoal color. There were even broken thorns stuck in many places on her skin. Her once fair skin now appeared a deep, unhealthy crimson, giving her a sickly cherry-colored complexion.

Turing stared blankly at everything Elizabeth had done and didn't attempt to go past the bonfire.

【You should not be like this...You shouldn't have been like this from the beginning.】

Turing shook their head and guided Joseph around the bonfire, heading towards Elizabeth.

【Though I still have several ways to win...like using magic to carry Joseph over, or directly extinguishing the fire with a gust of wind.】

【But Elizabeth has already gone to such lengths, what reason do I have to be stricter with her?】

However,

The me she likes, in the end, is only the me she sees through her eyes.

Turing waved their hand, and a giant magician's hand, resembling a dragon's tail, violently emerged from behind them, snuffing out the bonfire.

What if, she knew that my tenderness was nothing more than a poor imitation of Merka?

What if, she knew I was a boy?

What would the outcome be then?

Turing walked up to Elizabeth, dismounted their horse, and lifted her up.

Elizabeth's body was soft, and scorching hot, and as Turing reached out and touched her, they discovered countless heartbreaking scars.

Turing reached out and touched Elizabeth's back, casting a healing spell, and whispered to her, "Don't worry, I'm here."

"Take a rest."

Upon hearing this, Elizabeth finally closed her eyes.