Naroaika

Chapter 22

For the next few weeks, I engaged myself in some rigorous training with Zed.

"Keep your arms straight! Don't lean against the rocks!" Zed kept shouting from above.

I was made to climb a sheer rock nearby the mansion. For someone who never did exercise regularly, this was really grueling for me. 'This is literally rock climbing!' I cried out.

It was almost noon. We started right after breakfast and I was extremely exhausted. I lay on the soft grass, face down. "My body is numb. I can't move an inch!" I whined. "How can you keep up with this? Do you do this every day?" I asked him.

Zed sat down next to me and handed me a bottle of water. "You'd be stunned to know what the knights have to go through during the recruitment."

I didn't reply anything. 'I wonder how ripped Zed's body would be.'

"My Lady?" He called out.

"Y-yeah?!" I was lost in my own thoughts. 'Lord, forgive me for I have sinned.'

"Do you want to call it a day?" he asked.

I looked at him surprised.

"Well do you want to continue?"

"No!" I shook my head vigorously.

He let out a laugh. "Well I was surprised when you came up with this idea."

I turned to him. "It was my idea?"

Zed turned to me with a confused look. "Didn't you come up with the idea of doing a mock exercise on climbing an actual mountain?"

I stared at him blinking my eyes. "Did I?"

I tuned in my brain to the past and at one point, I did say that we should try climbing a real mountain but this was getting too extreme.

My arms and legs hurt due to all the exercises I had been doing. But I noticed that my body looked quite good as I looked at the mirror. Only if my phone worked here, I would have taken a picture of myself because who knows when my body would start to lose its shape once again. My laziness would beat me from exercising.

The next day, I accompanied father to the palace. I didn't want to meet Kai but part of me wanted to ask him why he plotted to kill Al though I kind of knew the reason.

I walked aimlessly through the corridor for some time, as father had to meet the King. As I walked by, I saw Kai at an intersection of the hallway. It was obvious that he was trying to avoid me as he turned around quickly as he saw me. I called out his name that stopped him in his tracks.

"Do you have some time to spare?" I asked him but he escaped saying that he had an important meeting to attend in that hour.

'Tsk, he escaped really fast.'

I walked around hoping to meet Juliette. I had been going to the palace a lot these days that I was really familiar with the surroundings.

'My legs are aching a lot than usual.'

As I was lost in my own thoughts, I met the Queen. Seeing her, I remembered my mother back in the real world. I realized that I got so used to the family here that they seemed like my real family. I dropped into a curtsy and greeted the Queen,

She talked to me in a rather friendly manner. "Jerinah, how have you been? It was unfortunate that you had to face all of those scary events."

"Thank you for worrying about me Your Majesty-" I said.

"Oh, it's all right if you drop the formalities." She said in between.

"Um, Aunt Rowena." It was weird to call my mother by her name.
"But I'm glad that Juliette is safe."
"You've always been looking out for her and I'm really thankful to you, Jerinah but you should also take care of yourself too. Look at that scar left on your beautiful face." She caressed my cheek as she said that. "You can come to me if you need anything to share all right?"