Arella's eyes widened as soon as Adrian stopped speaking. The snack she was about to put in her mouth fell back to the plate.
'Princess Anna! Royal Princess! An A ranked tamer! The strategist behind the wars! And most importantly, Adrian's rumored partner!' Arella's mind crashed with every thought.
She looked at Adrian with pitiful eyes.
'Why did he do that? Why bring a love rival into the mix? Has he not heard that he and the Princess were a match made in heaven? Wait, was it Adrian who proposed it, or was it Princess Anna who took the initiative? What if Princess Anna has ulterior motives? How could she deal with the A ranked tamer!'
Arella's eyes dimmed with the possibilities. What if Princess Anna wanted to snatch Adrian? What if she ridiculed Arella for her low aptitude? What ifs filled her mind with the unforeseen.
Meanwhile, Adrian watched her fleeting emotions with amusement. Her vivid expressions gave her away. He felt an urge to squeeze her tightly. 'Why was she so cute?'
He stopped his bubbling feelings in time. He knew that Ella never showed, but his past with Anna must have troubled her at times. Just like her past with Luke pricks him like a thorn every now and then. 'Why hadn't he met her earlier? That way, no Luke could have attached himself to her.'
About Anne, it was complicated. It was better to let them meet first. That is why, when Princess Anne showed interest in Ella's training, he immediately agreed. Now, looking at her puppy eyes and dejected face, maybe it wasn't a bad idea at all.
Amused, Adrian ate his fill and left, leaving a sad girl wallowing in her grief behind.
After Adrian left, a happily chirping Andrew made his way to the villa. In his hands were a few spiritual stones.
It piqued Arella's interest. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes, Andrew gave the spiritual stones to her.
"Madam, Sir has asked me to deliver these to you." Andrew's cheery voice filled Arella's surroundings.
"What for?" He has not said anything about it at all. What were these stones for?
"Oh! He said it was for the fifth floor. He asked me to find a few potent stones. He blabbered something about the fifth floor being cursed. Maybe, he wants to cleanse the air of the fifth floor with these stones?" Andrew spoke with uncertainty.
These days, Adrian's actions were beyond his level of comprehension. He said that the fifth floor was cursed. Considering the gold mounted there, it made no sense. Hmm, the fifth floor could well be perceived as a gold mine though.
Then, he would rush back home as soon as the working hours were over. This was in stark contrast to the workaholic demon they had known their entire lives.
Also, there were the off days. He never took any off days before. He worked 24*7. But last week, he took his day off.
Not to mention, that since Madam's arrival, his own work burden was reduced, so that he could accompany Madam more. Of course, he was not complaining, but this was so unlike Adrian.
Listening to Andrew's words, a silly smile appeared on her face. Is the fifth floor being cursed? She wanted to laugh out loud at the thought. She could understand his thoughts, but wasn't a 'curse' too over the top?
Bad things happened to her whenever she went to the fifth floor. But both of them knew that it had nothing to do with the fifth floor itself. Yet, he wanted to purify that floor! How overprotective!
Arella took the spiritual stones with a beaming smile and stacked them up carefully in the bedroom. Once Adrian came, they could take these to the fifth floor together.
Once done with it, she hopped back to the first floor. Andrew was waiting for her. Today was their first day of training. Arella was both excited and nervous. But to her dismay, Andrew only asked her to run laps and nothing else!
He even said that she could stop whenever she wanted. Not only that, he set up a table with all sorts of nutrient fluids on it! And he did not allow her to run in the sun! Was this even training? Arella highly doubted it! To her, it was more like letting a kid out to play in the park!
"Is this how you train in the army?" Arella was astonished. She had heard that their army training could kill anybody. Was this what they meant?
Listening to her angry tone, Andrew fell silent. He contemplated for a while and decided to come clean.
"Madam, this is the instructions Sir has given to me. He wants you to get acquainted with the idea first. As for the intensity, I am afraid, if I increased it without his knowledge, he would skin me alive!"
"Andrew, do you really think I am a fragile baby?" She dejectedly asked.
Andrew shook his head obediently.
"Good, run with me at your usual speed. I will talk to Adrian. You do not have to worry." Arella hypnotically said.
Andrew soon gave in. Frankly, even he was again Sir's over shielded approach. They were here to train. Anything lesser could damage a trainer's instinct!
So, both of them started running together. To Arella's disbelief, Andrew soon started to heave after running ten laps, but she still had even breathing. As if tortured enough, Andrew called out in time and without any sophistication, sprawled on the ground.
Arella felt flabbergasted. He could not even run more than ten laps? She followed her conscience, grabbed a few nutrients, and let him have some.
"I was in the herb gathering team. So, I might have okayish stamina." She revealed.
"Hmm, sorry about that. Bird clan members do not rely on legs. So, even if we can run, we are not very good at it." Andrew heaved as he tried to defend his stance.
Arella's lips twitched. She was a Bird as well. But she stayed quiet so as to not hurt the self esteem of this man.
She let him have some rest.
"What else do you do during training?" Arella curiously asked.
"Nothing much. It's running, crawling, fighting, picking up weights, working on reflexes, and like." Andrew spoke leisurely.
"Oh! So what will we do next?" Arella enthusiastically asked.
"That, Madam," Hesitation appeared on his face, "Sir has only arranged running for now."
Arella became speechless. Was this how they planned to train her? She would have to talk to Adrian soon about this. It will not work this way!
"Looks like I can only rely on the weekend classes," Arella muttered under her breath. Adrian would not let any harm come her way. So, expecting hard training from him looks next to impossible.
Maybe, having Princess Anna as a trainer could toughen her well.
"Weekend classes?" Who is the trainer? Sir?" Andrew nonchalantly asked.
"No. It might be Princess Anna." Arella spoke seriously.
Listening to her response, a complex emotion appeared in Andrew's eyes.
'So Princess Anna was back?' He thought, and his eyes dimmed a little. His happy mood just got ruined.