I found myself in a tough spot while my opponent was overpowering me with brawn long after I had already faced seven other opponents in a row.
"Come on, Young Duchess! You should be able to move better than that," my instructor said.
My instructor Krona Gills was a new female instructor who arrived as a substitute for our old instructor who threw his back.
This event did not occur in the first cycle, so I was a bit surprised at first but accepted it quite easily from how my past instructor had injured his back.
If everything went the same way, it would be all too easy...
If not for the fact that she seemed to be power hungry after reaching to her position, she would not have felt the need to put me into place and possibly force me to drop out of the course. If I knew it would be like this, I would have dropped out sooner, but my lineage makes things difficult. People would look down on me if I were to withdraw in the first few months.
Everyone in class was aware of the unfair treatment. No one wanted to involve themselves between a dispute of higher nobles. Even this woman is willing to deduct points from other students not willing to listen to her.
My opponent struck my wrist of my dominant hand on purpose and caused me to drop my wooden replica sword. I hunched to the ground and began gasping loudly as I tried to gather my breath.
"...Can you continue, Young Miss?"
Could I continue? There was a possibility my wrist was sprained and she was asking if I wanted to continue?
"...I admit defeat," I said quietly as I gripped my wrist.
"What was that?" she asked again.
"I admit defeat, Instructor," I repeated.
"Admitting defeat is equivalent to five laps around the school."
"...Yes," I said as I quickly got to my feet.
I walked to the church located on school grounds in my tired state. As soon as I entered through the back door, I fell through forward onto my face.
The next time I opened my eyes, I saw Gavin Lord by my side.
"What is the diagnosis?" I asked him.
"You are an idiot," Gavin said as he closed his first aid kit. "It's incurable."
I quickly sat upright to much of my own muscle pains.
"...You, Sir, are not a follower of your own religion."
"In training," he emphasized.
"Not good use of my family's donations obviously," I said as I moved my blanket out of the way.
He quickly turned his head as I went to get my clothes.
"Have some tact..."
I had used my family's influences and partially of my own money in donations towards the Church Sects and established a respectable position for myself. I learned that it was better to bring more people to my side than think of them as enemies all of the time.
"You are not the first person I have undressed in front of," I retorted.
I came to realize the people around Kaya Ouchi were still just people. There was no reason preventing me from researching or getting to know them personally.
Particularly, I found that Gavin and my personality actually worked well together. Whenever I had injuries I wanted to conceal, I would come here. The best kept secrets are usually kept in a church setting.
As I put on my skirt, I felt pain over my wrist of my right hand and dropped my skirt to the ground.
"Ow..."
"Are you alright?" he asked as he turned around slightly. He quickly snapped his head back. "Sorry about that..."
"I am fine."
I moved my sleeve up slightly. My wrist was bandaged up nicely. I quickly went back to pulling the skirt up and despite the amount of pain I was in.
"...Why hide your injuries like this? Are you trying to hide your obvious bullying from your Prince?"
Everyone seems to think that I have feelings for Prince Erik...Well, they are not wrong.
"He is not the one I am hiding from..."
I grabbed my things and made my way back to the dormitory. With my injuries, everywhere I washed sent a prickling pain all over my body. After washing my hair and my whole body, I redid my wrist bandages. Just the slightest touch was painful. I somehow managed to go through the rest of my classes with one hand.
I had Knight classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It was a Friday luckily. I would be able to recover a bit over the weekend, and then be subjected to torture at the beginning of the week.
What a week...
I thought that with my injuries, I would take a break from my daily exercise because of my injuries and go out into town by myself. I wore a white peasant top with a high waisted laced up mid-length red floral skirt with some black tights and knee high brown laced up boots and a red ribbon choker. I released my hair and let it settle in gentle curves and waves since it was too much trouble to do it up.
When I looked in the mirror, I admit I looked a bit too casual. I decided on tying low maintenance twin tails and a jeweled silver feather barrette in my hair.
I then went into town and quickly found several bookstores.
The Royal Academy rested on it's own island in the sea off the coast of Arundel and a bit close to Nariel. Including dormitory facilities and the Academy itself, there was a small town for residents on the other side and the main worker forces on the Academy side.
Almost everything is in walking distance. Most of the shops cater to students due to our higher population. The number of bookstores is nice, but most of them sell the same things as the mainland stuff which is not what I am particularly into.
My memories seemed just like yesterday as I walked down a familiar uncrowded alleyway. A large white cat with black and orange spots was laying on its back and sunbathing on top of a large concrete column.
I knew the fat cat as Chester from my first life.
"Chester! You haven't changed in a bit," I said as I scratched his belly.
He accepted my touch as if it were the most natural thing ever and gave me a low "Meow..."
I soon said my goodbyes to Chester and continued my shopping trip.
I wonder if it has been over a decade since I walked down this alley with Erik. When Erik and I married in the first cycle, the two of us did not have time to come back here together. My happiest memories were on this island. Erik wanted to bring me back here as an anniversary gift to me. In the end, our trip never happened.
An older looking antique bookshop had a dark brown stained wood board sign with a golden wing and cursive aureate writing of the name Icarus. Underneath the name, there was a smaller font with the word 'bookstore' underneath the name.
It was Erik's and my favorite bookstore. The ambiance and decor were just perfect. There were rare finds only located at this location. When I came back to this island, I knew that my first stop would be here.
I was greeted by the owner.
"Welcome in," he said.
"Thank you, Mister Hubert," I said.
"Have we met before?" he asked with widened eyes.
This is the first time we have met in this life...
"I was recommended to come here by some lovely ladies in the park," I explained. "I heard your name from them."
He smiled.
"I will tell you something good then. The best selection of books is in the second row of the classics."
I already knew that.
Hubert Knolls is a handsome mid forties widow standing around one hundred and ninety centimeters. He has sleek black hair that is short on all sides but the top. On his face, he wears large black circle framed glasses. His figure was that of a retired Knight with his bulging muscles. Even without having all of his shirts clearly being stretched out from his muscles, his gentle demeanor and his looks make him look like one of the most sensual men in the kingdom.
He is just as I remembered, if not, only more. Most of the customers were women as expected.
I quickly made my way to the middle sections with a store provided basket and started with lighter books. My wrist began hurting after picking up four books.
"...How am I supposed to carry the rest?"
"Excuse me," a male said.
"Yes?" I answered him as I turned towards him.
I was soon met to face Prince Erik in disguise with a pair of glasses and a hat.