A Princess Named Harry

Chapter 43

Harry's teacher stood flabbergasted. She grabbed her head and fell back onto the sofa.

"Oh, my!" she cried. "I think I've gone senile!" She looked over at Harry with concerned eyes. "Your Highness, please repeat what you just said."

"Miss Albet, I would like you to teach me about the basics for interacting with boys."

Miss Albet sat quietly for a moment. "Princess, I think my ears are deceiving me! Do you mean love? The basics of love?" She sat up from the slumped position and asked Harry with a serious expression, "Princess, are you in love?"

Harry shook her head and replied, "It isn't like that. I just want to know how I should properly interact with him."

"Him?!" gasped Miss Albet. She acted as if Harry had just confirmed her suspicions when it was the opposite. "Who's him? Is he the boy Your Highness is in love with?"

Harry tried again to convince her teacher otherwise. It really wasn't like that, her and her knight could barely even hold a proper conversation, let alone be able to fall in love with each other.

"Please, Miss Albet," Harry begged.

Miss Albet conceded to her. "Alright, alright," she sighed. "I'll tell you what to do."

"Thank you."

After composing herself, Miss Albet began to teach Harry the way of boys. The lesson went on for a while, and after, she suggested that Harry should go find some boys her age to try her new techniques out on.

She changed her clothes to look more ladylike and headed on her way with a white parasol in hand. It didn't matter what she wore to the training grounds because she would not be participating in the training sessions.

She stood watching the knights train while under the shade from her parasol. The grounds were sweat filled and most of the men were worn out. There was only one among them who was perfectly fine, and that was Kahil. He only took a break after noticing Harry's presence.

"Are you enjoying your rest day?" he asked her.

Harry nodded and answered, "Yes, it's nice."

"Well, it's good to see you finally taking a break."

"Aren't you tired?"

"No, I can go for another round."

Kahil turned to look at all of his defeated opponents. Harry wanted to spar with him, but it was her day off, not to mention the advice her teacher gave her before heading off.

She told Harry that while her swordsmanship skills were great, boys do not find sweaty girls attractive, and she should reframe from getting sweaty too often or the boys won't see her as much of a lady. Harry believed that Miss Albet's words were accurate right down to the letter, yet she couldn't resist the urge to fight.

"I'll be your opponent for one round," she said as she tossed her parasol to the side. She borrowed one of the tired knight's swords. "It's only for one round," she repeated. Kahil agreed and their battle began.

One round quickly turned to three, and from three to six. They were both drenched in sweat. They would've gone for even more, had Cambrel not intervened. "Princess, I thought you were taking a break today," he said in a worried voice.

"You're right!" she gasped. Harry never seemed to get proper rest on any of her rest days.

Cambrel smiled at her forgetful but hardworking nature. "Then let's- "

"Not so fast, Sir Cambrel."

Kahil pointed his sword towards Cambrel's chest. "You're not going anywhere until you beat me in a match."

Cambrel sighed, he seemed rather tired of training and watching people train. He tried to talk Kahil out of sparring with him, but in the end he lost.

Harry tugged onto his sleeve and smiled. "It's okay, I can go on my own." Harry felt like she was more than capable of it, but that wasn't what bothered Cambrel.

Harry was the last excuse he had to avoid the grueling training.

"I don't know, Princess," he said weakly.

"I'll be okay."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Will you really be okay, Princess?" Cambrel faltered. "It's not too much for me to take you back."

Kahil stretched his sword out in between Cambrel and Harry. He had grown tired of listening to their exchanges. "She'll be fine," he said grumpily. He smiled and pushed the sword's tip into Cambrel's suit. "You should be more worried about yourself. The crown prince isn't an easy opponent to trifle with, you know?"

Cambrel tried to ignore Kahil's threatening words as he gave a sad glance at Harry. His expression screamed apologies and regrets.

Harry noticed this and gave the brightest smile and most reassuring words she could. She hurried to retrieve her parasol and head on back. She had barely been able to turn around before Kahil started his match with Cambrel. Their match would last for a very long time.

She had planned to go back to her room, but she decided to go to the front gates. She had him in her thoughts. She thought about how soon they'd be able to reunite. She wondered if he would be happy to see her and missed her as much as she did him.

She stood inches away from the large pearly gates. She caressed them with the tips of her fingers. Thinking about Varian made her think of her teacher's advice. She paused and rubbed her forehead. Sure enough, she was sweaty. Very sweaty.

"Oh no!" she gasped. "How can I be standing here looking so unsightly?"

She could feel that her hair was no longer as pretty as it once had been. She began to brainstorm the quickest route to her room.

"It's fine," she told herself. "There's still time left, and I can change quickly anyway." She swung her parasol around and pulled away from the gates. "I have plenty of time." She started to run off, but the moment her foot hit the ground, she heard a voice call her.

"Harry!"

She knew instantly who it was before she even turned around to look. "Varian," she called back.

She planned to run off before he got close enough to see her face, but instead of running away, she found herself running towards him. She wrapped her arms around him with her face bright and her smile the biggest it had been in a long time. However, it only lasted for a moment.

"Princess," he called.

"Princess," she repeated sorely. She looked up to see what expression he was making while calling her that. "Why are you calling me so formally now?"

Despite standing on the very tip of her toes, she still only reached his shoulders. "I missed you," she said quietly.

Varian hesitated to speak to her. He even hesitated to hug her back, but after hearing her words he quit hesitating. "I'm sorry," he replied bitterly.

"I've been waiting for you," Harry said. "I need you by my side, you're my personal knight, after all."

Varian's face tensed up. "I know, I'm sorry for making you wait."

Nothing more was said, and the two continued to hug each other.