The self-serve banquet at Red Fort Hall continued energetically into the night.
Like small mountains, the expansive castle complex had enough rooms to accommodate the entire nobility of the Shadowflame Grand Duchy.
Within the Inner Fort.
Lady Meryl, Lady Kuna, and another female relative from the Shadowflame Family were accompanying Princess Anxia in a game of cards.
Princess Anxia was somewhat distracted, occasionally glancing out the window at the lawn.
Outside on the lawn, where the lights shone as bright as day, Russell was instructing Princess Kunlaya in swordsmanship. Without physical contact, Russell occasionally corrected her posture with a wooden sword.
"The way of swordsmanship is profound and extensive, easy to learn but hard to master, and the further you go the more difficult each step becomes," Russell said.
Princess Kunlaya, dripping with sweat, gritted her teeth and persisted in her practice, "I have the resolve."
