The little princess was so happy that she got a sword, she really liked playing around with it. She giggled while swinging the little wooden sword around and the king seemed kinda interested.
"Cordelia do you want to learn swordsmanship?" The king asked Rory.
Everybody in the room was shocked. How could a lady handle a sword? Swords weren't made for girls - especially not princesses.
"Yeah, I want to learn like papa" Rory giggled. Her giggles made everybody melt in awe.
"Augustus tell the clothes designer that he needs to make swordman clothing for Cordelia, he should also add our coat of arms to present our kingdom" The king ordered Augustus.
"Everybody is done with training for today, I'm going to teach Cordelia so leave the training area" The king dismissed the knights in training.
"The king is not harsh on us today because the princess is here, I wish she would come here every day" Everybody whispered, they were happy that the king didn't yell at them today, normally he would get really angry whenever the knights made a mistake, and he would shout at them, sometimes even punish them.
"Cordelia repeat after me" The king swung his sword, while Rory did the exact same thing, but her swings weren't hard or accurate enough, but that only because she was 4 years old!
"You're doing it wrong" The king sighed.
"Papa I will learn it!" The princess nodded. Valdemar spent the next 30 minutes trying to teach her the basic stuff, of course, he would get mad but he wouldn't let his anger go out on the little princess. But after all the Rory was learning it bit by bit. She was on top of that also a quick learner so if she continued to train like today, she would be one of the strongest female knights in the future.
"Papa I'm sleepy" The princess yawned, all the practice really made her tired.
"Oh is that so? then let's head to your room" The king could see that she was very sleepy. The king walked towards the exit while Rory followed him. After quite a long walk they reached Rory's room which was in fact right beside the king's room.
"Sleep" The king replied after he opened the door for Rory. He didn't know how to be a sweet father, it was after all his first time doing stuff like this.
"Goodnight papa" Rory waved her hand, normally Mary would sing a lullaby for her until she fell asleep, but Rory was a smart and obedient girl, she knew that if she asked for something like that papa would definitely get angry at her.
Rory fell asleep right away since she was so tired after playing with her sword, while the king went to his office.
Soon after Augustus came inside the king's office telling him that Rory needed to get measured tomorrow for her clothes.
"You've softened since you met Rory" Augustus teased the king.
"Do you want to die?" The king replied.
"Geez don't sweat too much about it, it's cute after all she's your daughter" Augustus responded. The king didn't reply to him because he was irritated. Was I getting soft again? He thought to himself.
"Oh, now that I'm thinking about it Rory is going to start training right?" Augustus asked the king.
"Yes if she likes swords, I won't hold her back" The king replied. Even though he refused to let women become knights, so it was quite a surprise that he let Rory participate in training.
"Can she train with Amir?" Augustus asked the king.
"You're son?" The king asked him.
"Yeah since he's around her age it would be more fitting" Augustus replied.
"Hmm I see… yeah I suppose it would be best if she trained with Amir" The king responded.
"Great I'll let Amir know, they might even become good friends" Augustus smiled. The king glared at him, he didn't like the idea of a boy coming close to his daughter.
"No, I won't allow her to be friends with Amir" The king declined Augustus idea.
"Why not? Amir is the second youngest child here in the palace, Rory might feel lonely if she's going to hang out with you all day. " Amir used to be the youngest child in the palace but since Rory came he's now the second youngest. The king allowed his special workers to stay in the palace with their family, but since the palace was so big he has never come across families living here. The palace is divided into two, the left side where the king had the whole side for himself (now also with Rory) and the right side for special workers and maids since they needed to be available every hour.
"No" The king rejected Augustus. He promised himself to not let any boy near the little princess. Not because he was jealous, but because he wanted to protect Rory. Many boys and men had dirty thoughts, so he was simply scared that they would do something to Rory.
"You can't keep her from being friends with boys you know that right? Stop being so overprotective nothing will happen to her as long as I'm here" Augustus knew why the king was worried.
"Besides nobody dares to touch something that belongs to you, they know that the moment they do something their heads will be cut off" Augustus assured the king that nothing will happen to Rory.
"I suppose you're right, but only Amir gets to get close to Cordelia since I've known him for a long time" The king gave permission for Amir to get friendly with Cordelia - even though he still hated the idea.
"You've grown quite fond of Lorelai, she reminds me so much of Lady Victoria, am I right?" Augustus tried to tease the king once again. He was probably the only person not afraid of the king.
"Don't mention that woman's name ever again" The king replied. He hated to get reminded of Lady Victoria - he was still not over her even though it's been 4 years since she passed away.
"I understand why you hate to get reminded of her, but you can't keep pushing away everything that reminds you of her. You need to move on" Augustus responded. The king would only hurt himself in the end if he wouldn't get over her.