What would you do if you are found by vampires, then forced to marry the vampire prince?~24~
Today is the day I would get to know my instructor. Hopefully Lady Luck is smiling on me and give me a good instructor, the kind which encourages people instead of smirking at those who are weak and giving them a hard time, like what Severus Snape did in the Harry Potter series. I paced about my room; there was only five minutes left to ten thirty. This morning, I had rushed through my shower and breakfast because of my excitement and that's why I have so much time left.
Usually I would take my time showering, but today is different from any other day. Very, very different. Today is one of the days which would change my life, depending on the type of teacher I would get, based on my luck. Ha! Hope I won't get an old teacher, though the old ones are those who are more experienced in the kind of stuff which I'm expected to learn.
I glanced at my phone. Ten thirty. My heart beat rapidly as I ascended the stairs. Paul was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs, and as usual, he bowed to me before speaking. "Your highness, we'll make our way to the royal garden now."
I followed him silently. He led me to a fountain in the garden, then, when I was about to ask him when and how was my instructor coming, I realized he had already disappeared and there was no one else around the garden except myself. What the...
"Angeline.."
Could that be my teacher?
"Angeline?"
It was said softly, as if to not scare me. I turned around to look at who was calling me. Standing in front of me was a young-looking man, his hair a dark black, his skin adequately tanned by the sun, and he was about a head taller than me. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans, and one of his hands' thumb was tucked into the right pocket. I found myself a little breathless.
"Who are you?" I blurted out.
"I'm your teacher, Angeline. My name's Jared," He winked at me cheerfully.
What did he say? I think he said something about...I don't know. All I know is that my head went spinning around on a roller coaster and the feel of hands around me as my head went blank.
~
I opened my eyes. Sitting on a chair beside my bed was my teacher. What was his name? I think he had told me earlier but it did not register in my head.
"Are you feeling better?"
I placed a hand on my forehead. It felt fine to me. "I think so," I said softly as if to a child.
He smiled. "I'm glad you're feeling better. Wanna try my porridge?" At a lower voice, he said "Although I hope it's edible. I didn't get the maids or anyone else to cook for you because they might think you're skiving."
I nodded my head and he got up to get the porridge he had cooked from the kitchen downstairs. I felt so lucky to have this kind of instructor who is kind and thoughtful, and on top of that, he's so...cuuute!
He came back into my room in just another few seconds and he wasn't panting at all. So fit. "Ready to eat?"
"Yes, mister!"
I peeked at him to make sure I didn't say anything wrong, and, what do you know, he was beaming, his eyes nearly completely hidden as he sat down on the chair next to my bed. "Then say 'ahh'." His graceful fingers curled around the spoon and once he had brought it up full of porridge, he blew on it gently and I could see the smoke rising from the spoon.
"Ahh..."
"Be careful, it's still quite hot," my teacher said, chuckling quietly when I eagerly swallowed the porridge. I flinched when the hot porridge scalded my tongue. "How's your tongue? Let me take a look." Somehow that made me feel hot all over.
"It's okay," I gathered my wits and assured him that I was okay.
"I'll feed you 'till you finish this and after that I was you to sleep. We'll start our training at four. I'll wake you up when it's time to."
~
I didn't know such things existed in this kind of buildings. A door to a secret dungeon in a gym room? That's too random, but I watched in wonder as Jared (he told me his name once again when he woke me up) lit up a battery-operated torch that shone us the way down the steps as the light was blocked by the door because Jared had closed it, saying, "Other people don't have to know about this. This secret is yours and yours alone."
"Don't be surprised if there are other secret dungeons spread around the estate, they're normal in places like this. This kind of dungeon is normally made for the owner to hide or to practice their combat skills whenever they want to. As for the gym room in this case, it's just a prop. People of the past simply love secret dungeons and rooms. It makes them feel secure and stuff."
After a while, we reached the bottom of the steps. Jared went ahead to light up the dungeon with...fire? And then fire blazed from different places in the dungeon, lighting it up, showing me the true beauty of it. Ancient carvings were carved onto the walls, the floor was made of white marble, and the ceiling had things hanging down from it. Cloth? At the further end of the dungeon, there was another door. The whole of the secret dungeon should be about the size of a football field, which I thought was quite spacious if the only people coming in was going to be Jared and I. Quite a big space for two people to be in...
"This is where we'll be training in. You've noticed the door over there, right? It's where we'll be storing supplies that we will be needing during your training," he stopped in the middle of the dungeon to turn around to look at me. "So, have you had any martial arts class before?"
"No..." Not that I remembered much of my childhood.
"Have you tried kicking or punching someone before?"
"No..."Certainly wanted to try.
"Have you hated someone so much that you felt a need to hit them or something before?"
"Yeah..." But ended up being a coward. Sigh.
"Oh well, we'll just start from the basics," Jared scratched his head.
"Okay..." Good, I can beat people up after training.
"But first, just a note, if you're thinking of beating people up without any good reasons, keep in mind that you're a princess and princesses aren't supposed to be rough in front of people," he winked wickedly.
~
"Now I'll dismiss you, it's seven now, go prepare for your dinner," I can't believe Jared could still smile so happily when I was so damned tired. I guess I'm lagging way behind of him in terms of skills. Poor me.
In the bath, I pulled off my sticky clothes that were clinging to me and enjoyed the feel of the water coming out of the shower head above me.
~
"So how was the training today?" my father asked as we ate in silence. My mother was sitting on my left, my father was sitting on my mother's left, and Jared was sitting on my father's left, which also means Jared was sitting on my right.
I watched as he ate with that graceful hand of his, admiring his table manners. Of course, I'm the odd one out out of the four of us, because my table manners sucks a lot.
"I supposed it's quite okay," I answered.
"That's good to hear, but don't force yourself too hard if you really have to take a break, okay dear?" My mother patted me on the back of my hand gently. I nodded.
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really sorry for the late upload, i lost the drafts and had to rewrite the whole thing on top of other activities i have in school. please comment and vote! thanks! :)
