The Blade Princess

---Painful Truth---

It was disorienting to have Bretrarum in the palace. Not because I hated him or not because I knew who he really was, it was because he was a whole other person without the mask. No one was intimidated by him or scurried away scared of his presence.

Instead, people respected him and girls ogled him. Some even had the nerve to come and flirt with the Dark Prine. But there was coldness in his indigo eyes that was intact with our without the mask. And not to sound hopeful or a fool but I have only seen him lose it when he talks to me.

And even though he was just some famous healer, the way he carried himself spelled out royalty. Without question or doubt, people respected him, even the King and the Queen. It amazed me how the Dark Prince was amidst the enemy kingdom enjoying respect and honor.

He not only managed to get the court physician sacked in just two days of his stay, but he was also assigned as Queen's personal physician. Princess' gathered for Henley's wedding options made the lamest of excuses to visit the healer as he obliged them with a smile and a cure.

I, on the other hand, avoided him. Wherever he went I went the other way. I was scared of his presence and how his mere gaze could affect me. As he mentioned help, I was not interested in receiving any kind of help from him. Last time I tried I ended up being tortured. Tahira was my new ally in this. Accept bad mouthing me and verbally threatening me, she wasn't doing much.

She didn't even know that the one who hired her was right there.

Best time of the day for my meaningless life was the League Practice since I made a few friends in there after practicing together. Since they were the coveted soldiers not everyone was allowed inside their barracks or even practicing arena. And that made me safe from the eyes of Bretrarum.

But the fourth day after his arrival when I walked in he was there with a large wooden box and various medicinal herbs with him. My feet and my heart stopped. I was suffering from severe hate and attraction towards him and his presence made me nervous.

"Princess, come in. Queen has sent the Celest Healer to check up on our conditions and provide us necessary herbs and medicines." One of the soldiers said and Bretrarum looked up.

I have been avoiding him for the past three days quite successfully but here he was one place that I thought was safe from him.

"I will step out and practice. You guys continue." And with that, I rushed outside before anyone could say anything.

Today I was paired up with Darwin for archery practice. He was probably the friendliest person in the league and as an obligation to Henely, he treated me well. We both practiced with the bow and arrow for almost an hour and for that time period Bretrarum didn't show up.

But as soon as I picked up the sword, he walked out in his bright white attire. I tried not to look at him as I and Darwin battled it out. And yet in my subconscious mind, I needed to prove it to him that I improved and I have been practicing hard. Even with my use of focus and force of energy as he taught me,  I felt like I needed to do better.

Darwin was getting better and yet he was not that hard an opponent as Bretrarum. I could sense him following my every move, my every hit and even from this distance I can feel the heat rising in my body. 

And I felt angry at myself for being weak. All the times I was tortured and everything I went through coursed through my body like adrenaline and my hits got sharper. Darwin was taken aback at my harsh hits but he defended it well.

I pictured Darwin as my punch bag at that moment, more like Bretrarum and used my best techniques. After a few minutes, I learned his new hit tactics and blocked all of them. As he was about to make the last hit I gave out a cry of anger and hit his sword too hard that it flew from his hand and my blade landed near his neck almost causing the air around us to react with my blade.