Atropa Belladonna

~~~一~~~

~~~灯罩绽放~~~

The sun had just risen on the late winter's morning, but already a woman with long black hair that reached down to her thighs was up and applying a menthol based balm to right shin before skillfully wrapping it as she had done many times in the past.

"How did you injure yourself this time, A-Qié?" questioned a female with brown shoulder length hair and bright green eyes that sat behind round glass lenses.

"Yeah, you're never going to hear the end of it from your parents if they find out about that," added another with dark brown, almost black, hair as they appeared on the training grounds to see the first.

"I just pulled a muscle, it's not that bad," the ravenette huffed as she finished her task and adjusted the skirt of her robes so that her legs weren't seen.

"Plus, I'm sure that my mother has given up on lecturing me for getting injured so easily," she continued while standing up and picking up her sword's empty hilt and flicking it downwards to expose the blade, "I'm able to get all of my jobs done anyways."

"Yeah, and I don't get how you're able to do that when you only drill the same shit over and over again," the woman with glasses spoke as she watched the eldest of the three begin the same basics exercise they had used when they first picked up swords.

"Lǎohǔ, I drill basics everyday because that's all I use when I'm actually fighting others instead of using my poisons," she replied, keeping her toes pointed as she smoothly shifted into the next position.

"That's a lie," the youngest scoffed as she and the brunette drew their swords and picked a spot next to her to spar, "I've seen you do some pretty weird shit on the job that were clearly not basics."

"Oh, but they were," the eldest mused as she sped up the transitioning of forms, still executing each one with precision and grace, "Just variations on the forms we were taught."

"One must know the rules first in order to properly break and even change them in some cases," she continued with a chuckle before she came to the end of the first basics sequence and stood back up with perfect posture and her heels together.

"Tell that to Kōngtóu," the brunette chuckled as the dodged a swipe from the said female, "She doesn't have to know any of the rules to break literally all of them."

"Shut the fuck up, that could go for literally all of us!" she huffed in return, earning a round of laughter from the others as they continued to train.

After about two hours, the three decided that it was finally time to take a break and gathered in the shade of one of the gazebos where some of the weapon racks were placed, passing around water and some fruit that they brought with them.

"Hey, isn't Long Zhang coming by today?" the darkette questioned before taking a bite out of an apple with a crisp crunch.

"He's the Crown Prince of the Mogolla Empire, address him properly," the eldest scolded lightly before taking a sip of her water, "and I don't remember if he's supposed to be coming or not."

"What the fuck, A-Qié, he's your fiancé isn't he?" the green-eyed female asked with a raised brow, "You're getting married next year, shouldn't you know if he's coming to the estate or not?"

"You know we've been stacked up on jobs lately," the ravenette sighed as she cracked her neck, "I don't have time to focus on that when I'm hyperfixated on making sure that our target dies without us getting into too much trouble."

"You know, it's weird that at assassin is getting married to the Crown Prince," Xītong commented as the eldest stood up and grabbed her sword, "What if one of the clan gets hired to kill him?"