The Chronicle of Aurelia Aurelius

Chapter 47 Practicing Sword and My Feeling

Sharing my secret with Lady Octavi, made my shoulder lighter than before. Lady Octavi's understanding and support made me feel like some weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I knew that with her by my side, I could get some bits of advice from her. The day had passed, and now I wasn't alone anymore.

On the new day, I woke up as usual with the help of Adel. As she was helping with my morning routine, I was looking at her as I thought, do I need to tell her about my secret too? However, somehow I felt surely Adel would know it when I told it to Lady Octavi; she may have overheard it because she must be at the front of the living room. Knowing Adel, she would only say something if I asked her directly. I decided to keep it to myself for now and see how things in the future.

After Adel finished my morning routine, we went to the dining room to have breakfast. As usual, everyone had arrived before me. At breakfast, Cassius told me that the practice would be after breakfast, and Lady Octavi told me about the arrival of Sophia; she would come maybe around evening. Everyone seemed as usual, and we had breakfast as usual.

Once breakfast was over, everyone excused themselves from the table including me. I went to my room to change my dress, because it was my first time practicing sword. As usual, Adel helped me to change and adjusted me to attire that was easy to move, which was like the attire that Valerie usually wore. After changing, I made my way to the courtyard, where Cassius was waiting for me. Once I arrived there, I could see Cassius and Valerie, where Cassius was standing at the centre of the courtyard and Valerie was sitting on a bench nearby, watching intently.

Their eyes immediately went into me; I could see their faces seemed to be surprised. At the bench, Valerie said loudly, "Wow, you look ready for battle with that attire! Then your usual dress."

Hearing that, I didn't know she was meant to say something like that or just mockery towards me. I changed my look to Cassius from Valerie, yet I could see Cassius seemed to be stunned. I slowly walked towards him to the centre of the courtyard, while Adel was waiting at the bench beside Valerie.

As I was in front of him, I could see that his face was so

I said to him with a soft tone, "Cassius?"

He immediately shook his head and seemed to come back to reality. His eyes widened in surprise, and he stammered out a response. "You look amazing," he finally managed to say, "My apologies, I felt like I lost direction, after seeing my lady in that attire..."

"Really?" I looked at my attire, a simple white cloth like Valerie usually wore. "Thank you," I replied with a smile, feeling a rush of warmth at his compliment. My words seemed to take him aback, as he blushed slightly and looked away.

From the distance, Valerie shouted, "HEI! Stop your flirting!" Cassius quickly composed himself, turned towards Valerie with a serious expression, and said, "Just shut up!"

Oh, it was a flirting attempt, I never thought Cassius would try to do that to me. I said to him, "So? Are we going to start the sword's practice?"

Cassius chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, let's get started," he replied, his cheeks still slightly flushed from embarrassment. I couldn't help but smile at his reaction, eager to begin our training session. He handed me a wooden sword.

We began the practice session. In this first time practicing the sword, Cassius tried to teach me about stance and footwork. As I tried to grip my sword, Cassius immediately corrected me, as his face was so close to mine. I could feel his warm breath on my cheek as he whispered instructions, that my grip should be firm yet relaxed, and he moved my grip, especially the hilt of the sword, close to my body with his hand, and his other hand guided my stance. He told me the hilt must be close to my body, and that keeping the hilt close to the body helps protect the hands and allows for better control and leverage when making strikes or blocks.