Iris's head felt heavy. Her body automatically reacted to Xuan Li's presence, and she flinched visibly. Xuan Li sent a look of confusion to her, wondering why she was scared before they had even started fighting.
Iris blinked once, blinked twice, but the dizziness didn't reduce. For some minutes, she felt like she was living in a dream, no, living in the past, in Irisine's memories.
It was a cold night. The moon was barely visible under the cloudy sky. Underneath the dim yellow light of the lamp, she saw him standing in front of her, a lovestruck expression on his face. He was clenching her hand tightly, unwilling to let go, his eyes fixated only on her. He neared closer, his face slightly pink, maybe because of the cold, maybe because of Irisine standing before him.
Iris held in a breath, anticipating an intense incident. At that moment, her eyes fell on a handsome young man, standing behind him. The pain was evident in his expression. An expression that showed nothing but his heartbroken self. He stepped back, stumbling against a pebble on the ground.
The noise made the man before her turn backwards, looking for the source.
But to both his and Iris' surprise, there was no one there.
It was as if the handsome man had never been there.
Vanished, disappeared, faded.
Iris' lips moved but no words came out.
An ear-splitting noise snapped her out of her semi-conscious state. She shook her head once, holding her hand to her ears.
When she came to, the young man whom Irisine was about to have an intimate moment with...was standing before her. Iris' eyes grew wide, lips spreading apart.
'Ah, that's right, I was here to fight him.'
She had forgotten the main reason she had arrived here.
After all, right now, she had a bigger problem to face. Looking at Xuan Li's expressionless face, she assumed he was angry at her. A grimace overtook her features, and she clenched her fist. Contemplating on the choices provided to her, Iris decided to take the sensible way out, "Irisine's way out".
Had it been Irisine, she would have pretended to be playing around.
If this man was who she thought he was, then he would know that Irisine wouldn't shy away from a fight, especially one where she got the opportunity to battle against 'him'. 'Him' being Xuan Li, her… fiance.
Iris forced a smile on her face, pulling up the corners of her mouth. "Let's start, shall we, Mister?"
Calling him by his real title would showcase their status. The safer way would be to use a term that wouldn't disrespect him, but it wouldn't reveal his royal status either.
She peeked from under her eyelashes. His expression remained unchanged. Inwardly, Iris let out a sigh of relief. 'Looks like he isn't angry.'
That made her question, 'What was the sound from before? So noisy.'
A sword lay before her on the ground. It was glistening under the sun, the emerald on its hilt glowing brightly. She cocked an eyebrow, wondering who had thrown it here. It looked too expensive to have been disposed of for no reason.
A deep voice rang out. "Take the sword, missy. You'll need it to defeat this master. An unarmed fighter is not a fighter."
Iris blinked.
'An unarmed fighter is not a fighter.'
These words were very familiar.
Familiar to her, not to Irisine.
As a matter of fact, these words had been written in her family's Grimoire.
"An unarmed warrior is not a warrior, just a hindrance"
A sentence that had haunted her for life. She, who couldn't even lift her legs and arms, was way worse than 'unarmed'. Her entire existence was a burden, a 'hindrance'. The pain and humiliation she had suffered every time she uttered the sentence during Grimoire recitals, was still fresh as ever. Biting her lip, she stopped thinking about it.
What was more important was...Who was this person? Who knew these lines? As far as she remembered, all her family members had died. And even then, she only had 5 family members. She didn't recognise this voice.
"Who…" She muttered.
Iris' breath was bated as she looked at the person who had spoken. To her relief and disappointment, it wasn't someone she recognised. A middle-aged man, with a scar on his forehead and piercings all over his ear, had his gaze fixed on her.
His arms were folded tightly, biceps flexing as he shifted. He was definitely well-built. His eyes… they had no light.
The man was surprisingly blind.
'But his gaze...it's as if he can see. If I hadn't looked closely, I would have thought he was fine.' Iris mused to herself.
The scars on his body were unmistakable. He was a warrior, a true one at that.
Not wanting to prod any further, Iris silently picked up the sword. It looked heavy, but was actually pretty light, easy to move around, and sharp. Testing her reflexes, Iris swung the sword back and forth.
Each cut made the air move, a clear slice seen as the sound of wind filled her ears.
An excited gleam appeared in her eyes. It had been so long since she had held a real sword.
The feel of the carved hilt, the dancing blade, the nostalgic sounds.
Yes, this was why she wanted to live.
To indulge in the joys of battling, the euphoria and the bloodthirst.
A grin makes its way onto her face and she confidently faces Xuan Li...who had dozed off.
The grin drops and she resists the urge to knock his head with her fist. She nudges his foot, expecting him to wake up. Once, twice, thrice, he didn't wake up. Losing patience, she stomps hard on his foot.
"Son of a-" Xuan Li woke up with a shout, biting his tongue in the last minute to not curse in public.
"Can we start, mister?" Iris asked, eyes shooting sparks in anger.
Xuan Li brings back the calm look he originally had, and replies, "Of course."
Iris exhaled, and her right leg moved back. She bent down slightly, sword in her right hand. Like one would hold a spear, she gripped the sword in a throwing position, wrist anchored just enough to give momentum to her throw.
Xuan Li stood motionless.
A burst of energy flowed from Iris' body to the sword.
The energy was so high that Xuan Li felt a warm tickling feeling inside his chest, and his nose started bleeding. He doubled up, sensing a huge energy wrecking his insides. Iris hadn't even attacked him yet. This wasn't Iris' doing, no, something was awakening inside him.
It was...