“Sir Terrence, I am sorry. I was reckless.” I said as I followed closely behind him while walking through the hallway of the castle. I dusted my arms and shirt already, but there were still remnants of when I literally mopped the ground.
“Rose, wipe your face.” Nate chided me. He took a damp cloth from the following maid and started whipping at the dirt on my face gently.
“No, princess. I was at fault here so you do not have to apologize.” Terrence says.
“Great.” I moved my face slightly to the side so that I could see Terrence amidst Nate wiping at my face. “Can I have the weapon back?” I pleaded as we continued to follow him. I even plastered on my most convincing look.
Terrence immediately stopped and abruptly turned his head in our direction. “NO! I mean, Um…” Terrence hesitated. “I will give it back to you, princess. After we meet the queen and head back outside. You know, where it is less hazardous for you to practice.” He looked back and gave me an apologetic smile.
“Right.” I grumbled and continued to follow him towards the Queen’s study. I hid a little behind Nate when Terrence knocked on the door and twisted the doorknob open when the queen responded.
“Sh*t. I should have changed.” I whispered and made a fist on the back of Nate’s shirt. I was pretty sure that Ren and Ace were still inside because I heard their voices before Terrence knock on the door.
He chuckled. “Too late for that now. Let’s hope that they don’t notice you.”
Right. As if that were possible.
I stayed closed and hidden behind Nate as the three of us entered the room. As soon as the door closes, did I hear Terrence speak. I peaked out a little to see what was happening with this setting.
As usual, the queen was seated behind her study. Custard and Viex were sitting on her desk until they saw me and started heading in my direction. Ren and Ace were sitting on the couch in the room near, but they got up when they saw Terrence.
‘Master!’
‘Princess, what happened to you?’
My two little familiars called for me as they ran. I stopped them with a command from my mind because right now, I do not need any attention. Not when I am looking like this.
Terrence bowed. “It is an honor, Queen Elizabeth.” He says and when he was back up again, I saw him quirking a smile. “Or should I say, little Liz?”
“Terrence!” The queen gasped and immediately stood up. “So it is true! You’re still alive. This is a surprise. A huge surprise!”
Terrence laughed. “Not as much of a surprise that you become a queen and older than me now.”
“Watch it, Terrence.” The Queen warned and gestured towards the sofas in the room. “Please sit. And do tell me what you would like to eat. I’ll call for my servants immediately.” Then her head suddenly changed in direction as she looked towards Nate and I in a corner. “What are you two doing there? Go sit as well.”
Nate bit his lower lip nervously as he glanced back at me. “You heard her.”
“I did? I must be closing my eyes because I clearly didn’t.” I averted my gaze from them.
“Rose, they will find out sooner or later. Better to have them see you now and get distracted with my father afterward. Come on.” Nate grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the seat. I sat beside Ren while he sat at my other side. On the opposite couch, I saw Ace moving at the other corner of the seat so that Terrence would be sitting near the queen.
The queen and the princes took one good look at me and their eyes widened. “Dear, what happened to you?”
“Ask him?” I pointed accusingly at Nate so he will take the responsibility of explaining. I mean, what do you all expect? For me to get in trouble all on my own?
“Hey! I had nothing to do with that!” Nate complained.
“Just-!” The queen sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. “We’ll talk later.” She gave me a stern look before returning her attention to Terrence.
I looked at Ren, who was sitting peacefully beside me, and grinned. I gestured for him to come closer. We leaned toward each other and as I whispered. “Guess what? I got a new weapon.” I said and looked at him. An excited smile starting to spread over my face. “It’s really cool!”
“Really?” Ren leaned in curiously and started looking around. “Where is it? Where?”
I grabbed Ren’s face and forced him to look at the weapon that Terrence set at the edge of the table. Immediately, his eyes sparkled in fascination as he looked at me. “Again, what is it? What does it do? Does it cast magic?”
“Nope. But it’s a sword and a whip!” While I was talking to Ren in a hushed tone, the others were having their own conversation as well.
“Terrence, how are you? PRINCE Ace and Prince Ren already told me most of it, but honestly. Seeing you in the flesh is still like a dream to me. I am happy that you are alive.” The Queen asked.
Custard and Viex decided to settle in the space between Ren and I as we continued to talk. “A whip?” He asked dubiously. “They let you handle a whip?” He asked me with a raised brow before his eyes went to Nate to confirm this. Nate simply shrugged as if there was nothing more that he could do.
“Thank you, Liz, I mean, your highness.” Terrence laughed heartily.
“I didn’t get hurt, Ren. So it is fine.” I said. Ren stared at me and then raised a brow as he questioned my current look with his gaze. I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I admit that there was bit of an accident. But I am not injured or anything.”
“By the way, your highness.” Terrence continued speaking with the queen. “May I ask a bit of a favor?”
“No. But you look like you’ve been dragged through mud.” He commented.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Actually, that’s...the accident.” I smiled sheepishly at him.
Ren sighed. “Well. At least you’re...alright I guess. So how does this sword to whip thing work?”
“Good question. First of all, you do this. And then you do that. Then move like this and that. And then you raise it and do this.” I made some weird hand gestured with my arms and hand.
Ren was observing me closely and I actually feared that he wouldn’t understand me. Until he nodded. “I see.” He says. “So when you do this, you do that. And to convert it back to that you do this?” He asked and made some demonstrations with his hands as well that surprised me.
I gasped in delight. So I really am good at explaining things! I should be a teacher.
“But of course, Sir Terrence. Please, as long as it is within my power, tell me what you need.”
“Yes! Exactly.” I nodded eagerly. “But be careful not to do this or move it like this because you might get these.” I gestured towards myself.
“Ahh.” Ren nodded in understanding. “So that is how you got those.”
“Precisely.”
At the corner of my eyes, I saw Nate’s eyes twitching before he exchanged glances at Ace, who frowned weirdly while looking at us in disgust. “The two idiots finally managed to create their own language.” Ace says as he averted our gaze.
I scoffed at him. “You’re just jealous that the fun side has their own language.”
“Why would I be jealous of an accident-prone side?”
“Because we risk our lives to have fun…?” I paused. Okay. That didn’t come outright.
Nate snorted at my response while Ace simply sparred me one of his infamous side glances. The look that says to be grateful because he was still giving me a bit of his time. “I wonder what sort of world are you living in for you to think that it is okay for you to say that.”
“A world where people risk their lives to gain petty views on their videos.” I said without any emotion.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Your highness.” Terrence and the queen carried on with their discussion while the princes and I were having our own. “I would like to stay here in Thalia and become Princess Rose’s tutor in self-defense. I believe that this is what I am supposed to do.”
“Permission. Granted.”
“I would also like to train the princes as well. Just to polish their skills. And I would like to ask the elf prince for a favor as well.”
At the mention of his name, PRINCE Ace glanced at him. “It depends on whether it interests me or not, Sir Terrence.”
“Prince Ren and Nathaniel are skilled in fighting, but they rarely make use of their weapons. Compared to you, your skills in wielding weapons far exceeds both of theirs. That is why I would like you to spar with Princess Rose while I polish Prince Ren and Nate’s some combat moves.”
There was a long pause while we waited for his response, But I already knew the outcome. I scoffed. “Sir Terrence, it’s fine. I think PRINCE Ace has far better things to do than train, I mean, it doesn’t matter. Did you know I once beat him when an evil spirit possessed me?” I boasted and cackled at the memory. “I bet it traumatized him.”
At the mention of his name, PRINCE Ace sparred him a glance. “It depends on whether it interests me.”
“Prince Ren and Nathaniel are skilled in fighting, but they rarely make us of their weapons. Compared to you, your skills in weilding weapons far exceeds both of them. That is why I would like you to spar with Princess Rose while I teach Ren and Nate some combat moves.”
There was a long pause while we waited for his response. But I already knew the outcome. I scofted. “Sir Terrrence, it’s fine. I think PRINCE Ace has far more better things to do than train. I mean, did you know I once bested him when an evil spirit possessed me?” I boasted and cackled at the memory. “I bet it traumatized him.”Beside me, Custard was poking me worriedly.
‘Master, I don’t think that you should provoke-’
“I bet it hurts his pride as a PRINCE.” I added a bit more and dared to see Ace’s reaction. He was now fully looking at me with an emotionless and unreadable expression.
Ren leaned in and whispered, “Better stop now, Rose.”
“Yeah but...I think it is too late for that.”
There was another long pause as we all waited for either his response or my demise. Suddenly, Ace’s eyes darkened and I saw a ghost of an evil smile making its way to his lips. “Alright, Sir Terrence. I’ll take you up on your offer. I’ll be her sparring partner.”