"Ugh!"Seth parried Anna"s nails with his daggers, taking two steps back to stabilize himself.
"d.a.m.n, that hurts!" His hands were trembling from the impact of the collision. Gritting his teeth, he kicked the ground and pounced at Anna in return, his right dagger aimed at her neck.
Anna leaned backward to evade the attack, her right leg lifting into the air at the same time.
"Ugh!"
Seth"s dagger missed. He tried to twist his body, but it was too late and the kick connected with his ribs. The force from it flew him away to the side.
"That"s all you can do? Be more serious about it! I know that"s not all of your strength!" Anna growled at him, irritated. She was still venting her frustration at him. She wasn"t even sure why, but her emotions were in chaos at the moment.
"I don"t want to hurt you." Seth grumped under his breath.
"What did you say?" Anna"s heart skipped a beat. Even though she asked this she had already heard him.
"Get up!" Anna hollered. His words made her warm for a moment, but she also felt annoyance and disappointed.
"Do you think I"m weak?! Is this why you aren"t using all of your strength? GET UP RIGHT NOW!" She was really p.i.s.sed off now. How could he underestimate her like that? He was looking for a beating!
"s.h.i.t!" Seth"s whole body shivered from that outburst. He stood up at attention like a soldier ready for commands. "Should I try to run away?" He thought, but looking at Anna"s eyes, this thought flew away in less than a second. "No, I need to get the beating. If I don"t start to be serious, she might kill me."
Gulping, Seth moved his daggers in a position for attack. Anna looked at him silently. That only brought more pressure upon him. Sweat started to gather on his forehead, tickling slowly down to his brows.
Anna took a deep breath, trying to calm down. After a few moments, she finally opened her mouth.
"Are you going to be serious now?" Her eyes squinted at him, ready to pounce if his answer was wrong. Seth was sure that if his answer was no, she would try to kill him. His body stiffened from her gaze. He didn"t want to hurt her, that was the truth. For the first time in his life, he wanted to protect someone. His feelings were already clear in his mind. How could he hurt her? His heart would ache from pain. But, looking at those eyes, it was clear that he would regret it if his answer was no.
After a few moments of silence, when Anna was just about to explode, Seth finally opened his mouth.
"Yes."
With that said, he started to run in her direction, the wind around his daggers started to circulate and his hands were covered in small whirlwinds. He would go all in. She deserved that respect in the end. If he tried to ignore her feelings, both of them would suffer.
Anna finally smiled looking at his reaction, though she didn"t realize it. A mist slowly started to cover her body and engulf the surroundings. A clone separated from her and started to rush at Seth.
Seth swiped his left dagger in a curved direction, opening up a path through the mist with the whirlwind. His dagger pa.s.sed through Anna, but there was no feeling in it. He knew that was her clone, but from the last battle, he knew the secret behind this skill. The clone turned around after pa.s.sing through Seth"s body. Her nails targeted his leg.
Seth"s right hand was already in a backward grip. He fully turned around from the momentum of his previous strike, his right dagger clashing with Anna"s nails. A moment later, his left dagger scratched her right hand.
"Hmph!"
Anna got furious, two more clones separated from her already active clones. They surrounded Seth and started circling him, preparing to strike at any moment.
Seth closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing his body and expanding his senses to the limit. Anna decided to attack at that moment and all four of the clones jumped at him from different angles.
"Haa."
Seth sighed, feeling a bit upset. He would have to hurt her now. Strengthening his heart, he opened his eyes. A whirlwind already surrounded his whole body. All the mist in the surroundings was dispersed and the clones tried to change their course mid-air. Wings were growing from their backs. But it was already too late.
The whirlwind grew to a small tornado and locked all the clones in it. Seth jumped in the air while spinning. With a sweeping motion, the two daggers pa.s.sed through all of Anna"s clones. Three of them disappeared on the spot, as the real Anna fell to the ground, spitting blood from her mouth.
She had a wound on her shoulder, almost reaching her chest, though the wound wasn"t serious. Her dress was torn and her shoulder was bare. At the moment she was lying face down on the ground, so only her back could be seen.
Seth got a bit worried and moved next to her, not sure what to do. When he was just about to help her stand up, he heard Anna"s voice.
"Hey, Seth...Tell me...Am I useless?"
That question froze Seth in place. His mouth started to open and close, trying to think of something to say.
"Useless?" He asked back. When the word left his mouth, he already wanted to slap himself. What question was this? He had to answer immediately that she wasn"t! But that realization came too late.
"Yeah, useless," Anna answered, still motionless on the ground. He couldn"t see her face, but he could feel her loneliness and dejection. That confused him even more. Anna first wanted a spar. She was so aggressive that he wasn"t sure what was in her mind. Now she was on the floor, talking about strange things.
"You are not useless." He breathed a sigh of relief that this time he managed to say it. He was about to reach Anna and help her to get up, but his hand stopped midway with her next words.
"If I"m not useless, then...why did master leave me behind?"
That question took him off-guard. Was it because of this that her mood was like that? "Now that I think about it, her strange mood started after she returned to the castle. She was talking with the princess if I guessed it correctly." Finally, he understood what was going on. But that didn"t change the fact that he didn"t know what to do.
"You-"
"I"m useless, ain"t I?"
Anna finally turned around. Her golden eyes were teary. The blood from her shoulder slowly tickled down, leaving a red blotch on her blue dress, but her wide eyes were focused on Seth. He felt a sharp pain in his chest after looking at that scene. His mouth started to open and close, but no words came out.
"The only thing that I want is to follow master everywhere," Anna said, turning her eyes to the side. A teardrop rolled down her cheek.
"Do you know? She saved my life before. I was just a maid. No one important, but master made me her follower." More tears started trickling down her face to her chin.
"I...The only thing that I want is...is to follow her. I want to be to by her side, to help her, I..." Anna couldn"t continue her words. Her eyes became vacant and her tears continued to fall.
Seth couldn"t bear to watch her like that anymore. He fell on his knees and scooped her in a tight hug.
"You are not useless. You should believe in yourself. The princess will come back and she will need your help." Seth tried to soothe her, for the first time finding the right words in his mind. He felt Anna"s whole body trembling for a moment in his embrace. Then she buried her face on his neck and started to silently cry.
Anna"s weak sobs echoed throughout the silent training ground. Seth tightened his embrace, even more, not letting her off. He felt that if he let her go now, he might lose her. That feeling was gnawing at his heart, and it was just unbearable.
He wasn"t sure if a long time had pa.s.sed, or if it was short, but the sobs finally stopped. He could only feel the weak and even breaths that tickled his neck and Anna"s steady heartbeat.
"Hey, Seth."
"Yes?"
Seth"s whole body strengthened for no reason at all. Now that Anna started to talk, he felt a bit embarra.s.sed. His cheeks became red.
"The wound from your dagger...It hurts."
"What?"
Seth was startled. Before he could react to her words, he heard her continue.
"That"s why..."
*Slurp-!"
"Ah!" He felt a pain in his shoulder and yelped. It was too unexpected for Anna to bite him like that. Anna drank from his blood for a few moments, before finally letting him go. Her shoulder was now healed. She tilted her head backward and looked at the strange look in Seth"s eyes.
"Puhihihihihi" She couldn"t stop herself from giggling. Seth"s whole face became beet red and the blush spread to his ears as well. That made her giggle even harder. From the movements, the torn cloth on her shoulder slid down even more and more of her skin was exposed.
Seth"s gaze was locked at that place. He gulped hard, not knowing should he move or not. He lifted his head back up, only to see Anna"s smirk and her glistering eyes.
"Stupid"
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Before he could ask her what she was talking about, his lips were sealed. Anna hugged his neck and leaned against him. His body froze for a moment before he realized what was going on. Finally, he relaxed and tightened his hug.