In front of the whole crowd, without even giving a face to the Duke himself, he just shouted in that loud voice of his, "General, why didn't you bring her to me earlier? Even you wouldn't hold a candle against her in the near future!", and then he started laughing. The Duke and he were originally friends even with the class disparity and the soldiers all knew that too so, they knew that he wasn't flattering the duke when he said it!
He who didn't like to take any commission to make swords, no matter the social standing of the other party, then went on to tell her that, when she grows up, he will make her the best creation of his life.
As for Yuki herself, she also had a content face, after all, she was a weapon-otaku herself and she enjoyed talking to a man who was on the same page as her, though her face was still aloof as ever, her eyes were also sparkling like a cat who got her fish~
So, under these conditions, some of them had just come to watch her practice out of pure curiosity, but were enchanted and stayed to practice along with her.
Without her knowing, she had a mascot like existence in the army, not that she cared.
….....
It was the start of the new week and as discussed earlier with the Duke, she will be attending the royal academy with other kids.
She was supposed to be home-schooled for a longer period before attending the middle-school, but it seems once the Emperor knew about the Duke's child, he had been pestering him to make her attend the school.
Yuki was going to be a 7 year old soon so, in the end, she did miss half of the first year, but she was the child of the Duke after all and so, she will just start attending from the second half that will start next month.
Today, she along with Aki and, of course, the Duke would go the palace to greet the Emperor, after that, the Duke will continue his duty while Aki and Yuki will visit the Crown Prince who was in the same year as Yuki, to have a better grasp of what was covered in the last semester.
Yuki chose the clothes for Aki and herself, she was in a simple yellow dress with a beautiful Rose brooch made up of blue crystal pinned to her chest, while Aki was wearing a cute blue suit with a yellow bow, they were in pair~ As for the Duke, he was in his work uniform, a white shirt over black pants which was finished with his long jacket that was let loose on one side held by a silver chain, the jacket itself was adorned with all his medals and the Dukedom's insignia, with his hair gelled back, he looked perfect from every inch and had the bearings as the man who held immense power.
In a way, the three of them looked oddly imbalance, but there was an undertone of similarity in them as well, Yuki had the same expression as the Duke, while she was in a match with Aki, in the end, everything worked out and they looked like a beautiful family of three.
It was the first time for both Yuki and Aki to meet the Emperor and Aki was very stressed and anxious, even he wasn't ignorant enough to not know what an Emperor was!
The Duke had told them to just greet the Emperor and then go back, but the pressure was still very high, as for Yuki, well, the Emperor was a person, he won't harm her so, she was fine and was not particularly interested, she may want to lead a successful life, but she didn't want to have anything to do with the nobles and such, she was still laid back in that sense plus, the need to meet the Crown prince afterwards, she was going to be bored and almost wanted to stay back, but it was the 'request' of the Emperor himself, what can a small existence like her do, right?
She just patted the soft hair of Aki and played with his soft hands which was a stark contrast to her callused hands, she found that it squishing them made her stress lessen during this period of time and has been helping herself with his softness and without meaning to also helped Aki relax...
'Onee-chan is with me so, everything will be alright', was the thought of little Aki.
….....
"Greetings to his Imperial highness, this imperial general wishes you a long life", this was the simplest of the greetings to the Emperor and the Duke just gave him a simple nod as he said this, well, the Emperor and he has been through thicks and thins, both in war fronts and also in the political war front along with the Emperor's little brother so, it was beyond them to still do formal greetings.
Yuki and Aki also did a simple curtesy.
" The children of the Imperial Duke greets his Imperial Highness, wishing you a long life", came out the flat but tender tone of Yuki, which was followed by the same thing, just a little fumbled by Aki, who acted his age as a little child and was nervous in contrast to Yuki, who was probably even cooler than the Duke.
The Emperor gave both the kids a look and burst out laughing for a moment before finally regaining his composure, "Ahem! You may go visit the Crown Prince", he spoke out.
Yuki as if waiting to be excused, gave him a very fast bow and, "We'll excuse ourselves", saying this she directly held the tender hands of Aki who also gave a little bow and took hurried steps that still looked elegant given her sword practice and went out of this suffocating area...
After the door closed, the Emperor spoke, "Duke, your daughter is just like you, but your son is just your opposite... hahaha... it's been a while since I enjoyed something this much!"
Well, his prince was similar to Yuki, in that, they always had the same look of disinterest in everything so, as a father he would actually like a soft kid like Aki who acted nervous and cute, too!