bang~~"who are you. Stop right there? ", the guard who burst opened the door commanded her to not to move.
His eyes wandered around the room and landed on her body to check whether she was carrying any weapons with her.
He saw her leg pinned to the ground and his master lying on the floor while dripping out blood from his mouth.
He slowly marched towards her as she raised her hands surrendering to him. When he was at an arms length she suddenly bent down to grab the fork which was holding her leg firmly and stabbed it in his heart. Before the soldier could understand what happened he already started to bleed and collapsed on the ground. He didn"t die but , he didn"t find energy to fight back. But, he knew he would eventually die seeing as the stab was straight at his heart.
"So weak... ", she groaned and then immediately shoveled the letters and bell snakeroot in her pockets .
She went near the window. Before jumping she turned to check the death of Samuel, " Told you to not to get agitated", she said with little pity and huge sarcasm and then jumped out of the window.
On the other side....
"Very well"
Evan took out his sword and stood calmly before her. Aeins.h.i.+a was sweating furiously. From the practice earlier and surely because of prince Evan, one of the well known sword fighter, most skillful and dangerous when involved. Sure, she knew he wouldn"t hurt or the Emperor will have his head. OK, maybe not have his head but, Evan would get an earful from his father. But, somehow this confirmation seemed not to help her current situation. How could a beginner fight with a trained and skillful person!? This is unfair!
She unconsciously pouted her lips a bit but, immediately collected herself and put on a stoic face to show her confidence and determination and focus. But, she didn"t notice the small smirk on Evan"s face in her internal panic.
(She surely needs to observe her surroundings) - author.
Evan was one of the skillful fighter. He had an amazing strength, that his one blow could send you to another world and also snap one of it. His aim was accurate. Nothing could miss his eyes. Neither little changes in movements in one"s body nor the expression changes on one"s face. He saw exactly what was Aeins.h.i.+a going through. He said he would be her teacher only because he wanted her to improve herself. Deep down, he wanted to know her more and hoped these lessons not only taught her sword fight but, he also would learn everything about her and can stay close with her.
Both stood there staring at each other, neither one making a move. Evan was irritated by the delay "Aren"t you gonna attack?" he asked a little impatient but, kept his face neutral. "I thought you were going to go first" she said innocently. Evan wanted to laugh at her, but he knew better not to upset her.
"I"m your teacher. You are the student. You have to learn so, it makes sense only for you to attack" he said and motioned for her to make her move. She contemplated for a bit and lifted her sword nervously. She gripped the handle tightly as her hands started to clam up. She gulped and charged towards him. Evan saw her nervousness clearly and smiled a bit.
Evan easily dodged her attack and moved from the place, this made Aeins.h.i.+a to stumble a bit. She turned around, still bent and huffed a breath. Again she charged and swung her sword to where the prince moved. And again, Evan dodged them easily, not once lifting his sword. After repeating this cycle, Aeins.h.i.+a got frustrated. Evan saw her raising anger but, didn"t stop his game. When she stumbled again, she lost her patience "What are you doing?" she almost yelled at him. He only stood in front of her, with his sword still facing down the earth. " Lesson three. Defense" he simply said shrugging his shoulders with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face.
Aeins.h.i.+a blinked her eyes. "But, you told me to attack?" she said a bit confused. "To teach you defense." he said as a matter of fact. This p.i.s.sed off Aeins.h.i.+a but, she tried to understand his words. Evan let the information sink in for her. "From now on, try to observe" he said slowly and this time Aeins.h.i.+a understood.
With new enthusiasm, she took a deep breath and proceeded to attack but, this time observing his steps. Everything was going well until Evan suddenly lifted his sword and held it where Aeins.h.i.+a was going to strike, just at the nick of time. A sound enamated from the clash of two swords and made Aeins.h.i.+a loose her balance. She barely kept her footing and as soon as she lifted her head up, she was horrified and by instinct raised her sword a little to protect herself. Evan stopped when the sword almost made a contact with the arm of Aeins.h.i.+a.
Aeins.h.i.+a froze in her awkward position. Her left arm raised in front of her face, that the sword almost cut. The sword held tightly in her right arm, slightly raised. Her head facing towards her right, blocking the image. Eyes tightly closed. She slowly cracked her eyes open and saw the prince stood in the attack position. The sword held only in one arm and body facing towards his left. She didn"t dare to move a muscle. Evan retrieved his hand and observed her for any response.
Aeins.h.i.+a snapped out of it and was little angry "You wanted to kill me." That wasn"t a question , it came more like a statement. This made the young prince panic. "No! I would never even think of it!" he wasted no time in yelling out his response. When he realized what he said, his eyes widened and a slight blush came onto his face. He felt his face heat up and cleared his throat to speak. "No" he simply replied again.
Aeins.h.i.+a s.h.i.+vered slightly from his yell. But, she didnt miss the blush and how his eyes widened. She tried very hard to stifle her laugh. "He surely loves me a lot, huh? He looks so cute! I hope another Lily doesn"t appear between us this time" she thought and internally admired his rarely seen cutesy.
"Lesson four. Find your opponent"s weakness." he started while putting his sword into its sheath and locking his hands begin his back life before. Seeing his serious face, she started to concentrate on his words. "And then, attack" he completed with a slicing with one of his hands. "What if they don"t have any physical or visible weakness?" she asked him.
Evan raised his brow a little. He was impressed with the question and he knew the answer but, self learning is better than anything taught. The lessons learnt by oneself are never forgotten. He took slow steps towards her. Aeins.h.i.+a immediately remembered the moment before they started their little learning fight. She blushed slightly but, pushed the thought back and focused on him. This time, the prince stopped about a stride away and bent down to look into her eyes. "Like I said, stay alert. Keep your eyes open." he widened his eyes and looked around rapidly, for emphasis and Aeins.h.i.+a didnt know why, but she burst into laughter.
Evan smiled. He made his love happy. He felt like he accomplished something. Her laugh was like music to his hears, that he would never would get tired to hear. He wanted to see the beautiful face of his love filled with happiness and laughter for the rest of his life.
As he continued to admire her and Aeins.h.i.+a continued her laughter, they heard someone clear their throat from behind. They turned their heads to see Peter. "Prince Evan. Princess Aeins.h.i.+a. Greetings" Peter bowed. Evan just nodded towards his guard and best friend while, Aeins.h.i.+a greeted back. "What happened?" Evan asked immediately. He knew Peter well. There is no way, he would come find him this early without any reason. Aeins.h.i.+a looked at Evan and then towards Peter, who seemed a bit uncomfortable. There was something wrong.
"Samuel Cullen. One of the main officials of the royal court is found dead in his house today. Cause of death, poisoning. Murder or suicide, still unknown. Family found missing." Peter replied in his professional attire. Aeins.h.i.+a was shook listening to this. Before, she could process her thoughts, Evan spoke up "Let"s go and check." saying this he started walking towards entrance to leave. "I"ll go with you!" Aeins.h.i.+a declared.
Both men, turned to face her. She knew what was going in their heads. "But, Princess..." Peter trailed off. She raised her left eyebrow trying to be authoritative. "I"ll go with you." she said again with more calm and stern voice. This was her final decision. The prince sighed and turned to walk and Aeins.h.i.+a smiled and followed him. Peter followed after her, for her safety.
As they were walking, Aeins.h.i.+a let her thoughts run. She was curious on who was this official. For some reason, she had a sick feeling in her stomach when she heard the news. It was just a normal case of murder or suicide of a higher rank person for his rank or money or personal problems, right? Why was she over thinking about this? She thought to herself but, one part of her told thats not true. Whatever, it maybe she wanted to know.