Bright One | Empire of Blood and Swords Series

16. Stay Away

Edited
I changed Sans into Seth. Since Sans means 'without', I don't think it'll be appropriate for a name of a prince. If you see any 'Sans', then I probably didn't see it. 

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It's been three months since I stayed here. Most of my time was spent training with Ryker and Zackery. Connie spents most of her time with Kakak Erna learning maids stuff, she's probably doing better than me. Athos said I can learn sword-fighting when I am able to protect myself with marshal arts. Nixon said I can learn magic when I master sword-fighting. Challenge after challenge.

With Ryker, I don't only learn how to attack people, but to defend myself as well.

"Protecting yourself is more important than attacking others," Ryker said once.

I've learned the basics of marshal arts, but I know I'm still weak compared to Saoirse and her siblings. They started learning when they were toddlers, their skills are beyond perfection. And I'm 160 years behind them.

What Zackery taught me was easy to understand, but hard to accomplish. He would give me assignments such as searching the things he listed while spirit walking. I have to control myself and not get lost in nature's beauty. The hardest part was him throwing things at me while I was spirit walking, and I have to wake up to avoid being attacked. Sounds easy, but it's not, it's the control of the mind, body and soul.

"My lady," a husky voice called out. I turned to look, and found Athos heading towards me. He dipped his head for a bow and I nodded. "I am to inform you that you have a test next week. I will be there to observe. If you pass the test, you shall learn sword-fighting. If you are to fail, you shall continue your lessons with Ryker for another three moons until the next test is ready."

Another three moons of lessons. Another three months of training my buns off. Saoirse stopped coming to my training after the first month. She's training young children from the town while perfecting her own skills. The people here thinks that I'm part of them, so I have to act normal.

"I won't fail," I said to him with confidence.

I remember what Saoirse to me before.

"You may think you are learning from scratch, but we are actually rushing your skills. What you learn are what the teenagers here learn. You skipped the children's session, test 1 and 2," Saoirse said to me. "But your test will still be marked with your current grade. Do your best."

The castle is mostly quiet these past few months. With the uncles and aunts gone everyday only to return every Sunday, and the newer generations having to train in the Imperial City. Is it always like this? Is it always this lonely here? What do Sans feel about his family apart most of the time? What does his younger siblings feel?

Even though Rubio did explain that Saoirse and Sapphire cares about their younger siblings, but do they really? Do they put in effort into talking to them? Do they spend time with them while they still can? I understand that they have their duties as the Leader of the Mighty Seven, or the Three Keepers of Fire. But will it kill you to spend more time with your siblings? I recalled during the family dinner, they looked and acted so close to each other. But no one will know what was running through their minds. Take Samson for example, his face completely changed after being made fun of from his family.