THERE WASN'T ANY MAID TO HELP ME OUT on my bath, and I was glad for that. Especially when my maid-in-waiting in Emilia, and would probably try to kill me. And although I know she isn't the one who will cause my death, I don't like the idea of people trying to kill me at all.
So I took a relaxing hot bath, trying not to think of the fact that this was Avy's bathroom, and I was laying down on Avy's bed. When I was done, I dressed in one of my training clothes, not caring if that was improper for a Princess. I also put my long hair on root braids, which is an easier hairstyle to train on.
Finished with that, I got out of Avy's chambers and headed out to the private training grounds of her castle. It was easy to get there, taking as I know this castle as I know my own house. To my pleasure, there wasn't anyone there, so I began to train alone.
Too caught up in my mind to notice when someone approached me.
When I was done running around the grounds for the tenth time, I realized that Rai was there. He had a bottle of smoothie in his hands and was standing awkwardly on the left side of the sitting area. Watching me with those red hawk eyes of his.
I stopped and went to where he was. "Are you disappointed that I'm still alive?"
He said nothing. Rather, he gave me the bottle and I stared at it suspiciously. "What's this?" And I didn't try to hide my thoughts.
"I was going to the kitchen when your doctor came to me with this and told me to give it to you. He said you would be here, so I came. And he strictly told me to be sure that you drank all of it," of course, it was Hov.
Sighing, I took it from his hands. After taking a good look at it, I began to drink it. It was quite good. A mixture of cold milk, strawberries, bananas, papaya, avocado, mint, apple, lemon, and orange juice.
Licking my lips, I put the empty bottle in his hands. "Thank you for bringing this to me."
He rolled his eyes annoyed. "I only did what he told me to."
"But you still did it. So thank you. And thank you for not messing with the smoothie," I was about to turn my back on him when he held my hand. And my eyes went from his hand to his eyes. "What? You are not going to try to kill me right now, right?"
Sigh. "No. Of course, not, Nsomi." Ugh, that name again. "I just... I..."
"You?"
"Are you alright?" Is he sick?
"Are YOU alright? Why the heck are you asking me that? That's not like you at all," he sighed again.
"You almost died, Nsomi," his voice was low.
"I bet you were happy with that!"
Closing his eyes, he made an angry sound and released my hand. "Think whatever you want. It's not like I care!" And just like that, he disappeared.
I kept staring at where he left, wondering what the hell had happened. "Bipolar," I said under my breath and sensed as Sohan and Adonis started to approach.
Choosing to ignore them, I began to train with the daggers, reaching all of the targets more than five times each.
"And I thought you were as skilled as a frog."
I heard Sohan's voice and turned to him. Then I threw the dagger in his direction, purposely missing and only making a slight cut on his left cheekbone, as the dagger got stuck on the middle of the target behind him. A smirk took over my lips as I saw their dumbfounded gazes.
They were frozen on the spot, and I walked on their direction. Then I took the dagger back and step away from them a little bit.
"What were you barking about? Oh... I mean... Taking?" They closed their fists in pure annoyance.
"Are you out of your mind?" Adonis exclaimed.
I giggled like a psycho. "I thought you all knew the answer for that, little boy!"
"What was that for?" Sohan questioned, covering the slight cut with his hand.
And I directed him a deadly grin. "Are you seriously asking me that stupid question?" He sighed. "What the hell are you doing here after all?"
"It's our duty to go wherever you go, Nsomi. Have you forgotten?" Adonis said, clearly angry.
"Oh, yeah. Your punishment. Do whatever you want, I'll be training here for the rest of the day," I turned my back on them and began to head to the armory with swords and chose the one who suited me the best. "If you want to train with me, I wouldn't mind that. It would be awesome to have a reason to beat you two up," I smirked.
Then I started to slice the thin and long sword through the targets, making the cuts I wanted, where I wanted. And when I turned to them, they were still standing there, staring at me with that stupid gaze.
"What is it?"
"What?" They asked together, making me roll my eyes.
"Look, we can hate each other and still have a conversation. So tell me, what is it? Why are you two staring at me as if I was an alien?" After sharing a gaze, they let their shoulders down.
"Since when are you so... Skilled at fighting with daggers and swords?" Surprisingly enough, the question came from Adonis, and he seemed more annoyed than usual.
"And why didn't anyone know that?" Sohan complemented his friend's question.
I played with the sword, refusing to look at them. "I was always interested in fighting, but I only decided to actually train and refine my skills after Avyanna died by the Rosé disease. As you know, I only had her in my life, so after she died, I was completely lonely, with lots of time to spare, and lots of chaotic feelings bottled up inside of me!"
Leaving the sword on the ground, I switched to a bow with 30 arrows. Then I began to hit the targets again. Never missed any of them.
"Bad and harmful feelings like the ones I bottled up during my entire life are a great font of energy and motivation. So after I mourned her death for almost a year, I decided to do something with what I was feeling. I began to train alone every single day, from morning till midnight."
I hit more four targets.
"Swords. Daggers. Spears. Bow with arrows. Crossbows. Kung Fu. Taekwondo. Jiu-Jitsu. Karate. Judo. I know everything!"
Another seven.
"I'm not a master on them, of course. But I'm outstanding, I know that for sure. And the fact that I learned everything by myself, without any external help, makes me a prodigy."
I turned to Adonis and threw an arrow at his direction, purposely missing and making a light cut at his right cheekbone.
"Beware that I purposely missed the dagger and the arrow," they said nothing, so I kept talking. "Because I may not be close to you, but I know enough to understand that you both are the type to only believe what you can see. The cuts are superficial, nothing like the wounds you left on me!" My tone was as bitter as my smirk.
When I felt another person approaching, I released an arrow from the bow, just half centimeter above the person's head. And the girl screamed frightened.
It was Rebekka Lise Madsen, daughter of Earl Madsen. One of the girls competing on the Trials. But a scared ugly duckling in the middle of all of those vipers.
And... She doesn't like boys. I don't even know what the hell is she doing here, when she isn't interested in what Daisuke could offer as a man and prospect husband.
Actually, she was in love with Avyanna. I guess she may hate me as well. Although her feelings for my dead best friend was something that only me and her knew of.