"You are barely on time, boy!" Theodore scolded, thumping his sword on the training ground as soon as Vyan sauntered into view.
"Sir Jacques, you wouldn't believe the storm I just came out surviving," Vyan huffed, annoyance etched on his face.
"Look at me, boy. Does it look like I care?" Theodore squinted at Vyan, who immediately straightened up, realizing he was in trouble.
"No, sir! My apologies!"
"Grab your sword and warm up," Theodore ordered with a glare sharp enough to slice Vyan into two halves. "Spencer, duel him after that."
"Yes, sir." Spencer, the second-in-command of the knights, approached with Vyan's sword and asked, "Good morning, my lord."
"Morning, Spence."
"By the way, I heard the daughter of Marquess Estelle has come to stay with us. It slipped my mind earlier, but should we assign her two knights as guards? I didn't see her bring any escorts."
Vyan chuckled darkly as he started warming up. "That woman is a one-woman army, Spence. She needs no guards."
Spencer's confusion morphed into realization. "Oh, you mean she is that daughter of the marquess? The one who is the vice-commander of the imperial military?"
"Yes, the very same," Vyan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, my! If she is here, you should duel her, my lord," Spencer chirped merrily. "I think you can match her skills now."
Vyan let out a humorless laugh. "Are you seriously suggesting I duel the human hurricane herself? Are you poking fun at my barely above-average sword skills?"
"You are not barely above average!" Spencer protested, as if he had been the one insulted. "You are way better."
"Oh, Spence, you flatter me. But I hate to break it to you, I am not exactly in the running to dethrone Iyana in a sword duel." Vyan glanced at the commander of his knights. "I wouldn't be surprised if she even bested Sir Jacques."
Spencer gasped, eyes wide as saucers. "Really? The only person who has ever beaten Sir Jacques was Lady Natalia! He is on par with the Imperial Aura Knights!"
"Well, then," Vyan's lips curled into a sly smile, "maybe Iyana can't beat an aura-user, after all."
Because, let's face it, anyone dabbling in black magic was not getting anywhere near aura abilities.
This was why Vyan was certain Iyana would never attain aura, no matter how skilled she became.
"I can't beat who?"
He nearly jumped out of his skin as Iyana appeared out of nowhere. Placing a hand over his heart, he yelled, "What is the meaning of appearing in front of me like that?"
Iyana shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe you should work on your spatial awareness, Your Grace. Not my fault."
She glanced between Spencer and Theodore and asked, "So, who exactly am I not able to beat?"
Spencer's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "Lady Iyana, can I duel with you?"
"Spencer!" Vyan growled, clearly exasperated.
"But my lord, can't I?" Spencer pleaded, blinking innocently like an overgrown puppy.
Vyan let out a dramatic sigh.
Spencer was a perpetual ball of enthusiasm—not as much Clyde—but always ready for a good fight, despite being in his late thirties.
Where did people get that kind of energy? Vyan could never understand.
More baffling was why he still kept these misfits around. They were the sort of people who would invite the enemy over for tea and biscuits instead of lopping their heads off!
"My lord, please," Spencer tried once again.
Vyan sighed once again in exasperation. "Fine, fine. Do whatever you want. I will just be over here, practicing by myself like the loner I apparently am."
"Thanks, you are the best," Spencer chimed, turning to Iyana. "My lady, would you be willing to have a friendly duel with me?"
"Actually, Sir Spencer, I don't feel like it right now," Iyana replied, her tone polite but firm. "Though I would be up for dueling with you in the morning. I don't usually spar at this time of the day."
"Same here! All the knights train and spar in the morning hours. Of course, you are most welcome to join us," he invited happily, while Vyan cursed him in his mind.
"Thanks, but His Grace just ignores the morning training and comes whenever he feels like it?" she inquired, her voice full of disdain.
"Oh, no, no. Sir Theodore and I have a special training session for My Lord at this time. He needs proper rest in the morning, after all," Spencer explained.
"Proper rest in the morning?" Iyana's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Vyan. "Why does he have so much to work at night?"
"Uh, that's because…" Spencer fumbled, his usual confidence wavering.
The truth was, Vyan could only practice and research magic at night now that there were so many prying eyes on him. Even Theodore allowed him to skip morning sessions because of that. Besides, Vyan was far more talented in magic than the sword, so it made sense to focus on that.
But Spencer was certain he couldn't reveal this to an outsider, especially not someone as perceptive as Iyana.
"That's because I am secretly a vampire. Or maybe a werewolf. Who knows?" Vyan quipped, sparing Spencer from having to reply.
"Can't you ever give a straight answer?" she frowned.
"First of all, if you ask stupid questions like that, don't expect a straight answer from me. Secondly, why don't you try running a grand duchy by yourself, Iyana? Perhaps, you will find the answer as to why I have to work late into the night."
"No offense, Your Grace, I just think you have poor time management skills and everyone just babies you," Iyana taunted.
"What?" Vyan's eyes flashed with anger.
"Looks like offense was taken," Spencer mumbled, feeling the spark of animosity between the other two. "Let's stay calm, my lord," he tried to put out the fire.
"Why are you telling me to calm down when she is the one instigating me?" Vyan scolded Spencer.
Iyana rolled her eyes and said, "Anyway, I should get going. While your time may not be precious, I am pretty sure others' time are." With that, she walked away nonchalantly, while Vyan fumed.
"Um, my lord? Let's just enjoy and start dueling?" Spencer chimed in, slightly nervous.
As Vyan shot him a deadly glare, Spencer understood he was, in fact, not going to enjoy today's duel and was going to get absolutely obliterated.
———
Vyan emerged from his bedroom, freshened and dressed up after his training session, now ready to tackle the mountain of paperwork on his desk when Iyana popped up in front of him again.
"My tour?" Her eyes gleamed with a twinkle that annoyed him to the bones.
"Why are you so desperate for a house tour?" he grumbled.
"Because I keep getting lost," she reasoned innocently.
"Oh, just admit it. You want to memorize my home's layout so you can sneak around and find all those non-existent clues against me."
She chuckled. "As if you would be stupid enough to leave anything lying around for me to find."
"Then why—"
"Also!" she interjected, "I am here to help with your annual festival, Your Grace. Painting me as a spy is so offensive."
"Why, you—" He gritted his teeth.
"So, shall we go now, Your Grace?" she asked excitedly.
He let out an annoyed breath and started walking forward with her by his side.
"So, Your Grace—"
"Why do you keep calling me 'Your Grace'?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Who are you putting on this act for? It's just us."
"Huh?" She looked genuinely confused.
"My name," he muttered, avoiding her gaze. "You used to call me by my name. What's with the pretentious respect now?"
"Well…" Iyana fell quiet, making Vyan glance at her. "Well, who knows how offended you would be if I dared to do that? Better safe than sorry."
Vyan wanted to punch himself. Why did he expect her to call him by his name for a moment there? He even held his breath!
To save himself from embarrassment, he blurted, "Haha, you are right. I was just baiting you."
"Anyway, lead the way now, Your Grace," she chirped, her voice dripping with overly enthusiastic politeness.
Vyan sighed dramatically like a theater actor running out of lines and started walking forward, doing his best to guide her through the necessary areas.
His internal clock was set to 'let's get this over with,' but she seemed hell-bent on dragging him to every dusty, irrelevant corner, regardless of their actual significance.
"Wow, you really do look a lot like the previous grand duke and duchess," she remarked with wide-eyed awe.
He raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Oh, really? Did you think I have been fooling the entire country with a fake identity this whole time?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, as if that were a genuine possibility, and he scoffed.
"Anyway, we have seen enough of the interiors. If you want to tour the exterior part of the estate, you will have to find someone else—"
"We are not done exploring the interiors yet," she interrupted, her tone as matter-of-fact as a judge delivering a verdict.
"Huh?" Vyan blinked, caught off guard.
"We missed a hallway earlier," she pointed out.
Vyan tensed slightly.
He had purposely avoided that hallway, hoping it would go unnoticed, but with her eagle-eyed scrutiny, she had found it.
"Oh, that one?" He let out a fake chuckle. "There is nothing there. Honestly, I am not sure what's there."
"All the more reason to explore it!" She pumped her fists in excitement, looking like a kid in a candy store rather than someone investigating her enemy's stronghold.
Vyan scoffed, resigning himself to his fate. "Fine, let's get this over with."
As they started towards that ominous hallway, Vyan thought, whatever, it's not like she will discover my magic chamber. I upgraded the lock just last week.
Glancing at Iyana's confident strides, he recoiled, she won't find it... right?
They reached the end of the hallway, and he barked, "See? Told you there was nothing to see—"
Just then, Iyana twisted a photo frame on the wall, and a hidden door was revealed as if it had been guarded by an invisible spell until now.
"What the hell?" he blurted out, flabbergasted.
She glanced back at him with a triumphant grin. "I knew there was a hidden room here."
"No, wait—"
This isn't my magic chamber! What is this room? I never knew this was here!
Anyway, that's not important! Who knows what in the world she might find here? What if she stumbled upon my family's secrets? I can't let that hap–
Before he could process the implications, Iyana stepped through the threshold, and he lunged after her, grabbing her wrist.
But it was too late; they were both inside.
The door vanished behind them, dissolving into thin air.
Vyan stared around the dusty, windowless room, then down at his hand still gripping Iyana's wrist.
Doomed.
I am so doomed.