Many days have passed since I started teaching Leonard swordsmanship.
Now Leonard has quite a bit of stamina. And I also have something extra to deal with while teaching him.
âBy the way, Helena, have you and His Highness reconciled?â
During the sword class at the backyard, Leonardâs question as he swung his sword into the air caused me to wake up.
âReconciliation? What for?â
âWhen you greeted His Highness in the hall, the atmosphere was harsh.â
âIt was just a young war of nerves for children. Itâs not something where reconciliation is in order.â
I grumbled like that because I felt a little sulky.
âWhy do you even care about him? Did you hear anything from Father?â
âHmm, well he wants us to get along well. Does that count? And I also think it would be good if we could get along.â
âWhy?â
âIsnât it difficult to make friends in the Imperial Castle? He must be lonely.â
Oh my god. How could there be such a pure and kind-hearted person?
Mm, alright. Brother, do whatever you want. Iâll protect you so that innocence wonât be tarnished.
âSince Brother says that, I will make up with him.â
âReally?â
âAnd there are still 298 swings left, so donât stop, Brother.â
âUgh.â
Leonard became teary and began swinging his sword again.
After fighting and winning against the beggar-like swordsmanship teacher, he doesnât question my teachings at all. He is truly a rewarding disciple to teach.
I should go to Caesar soon, too. Reconciliation⌠is, of course, an excuse to understand his power.
***
After a few days of observation, Caesar and Hamilton trained swordsmanship in the hall on the second floor, mainly in the afternoon hours of sunset.
I visited the hall in time for Caesarâs training session for spying. When I entered the hall, the prince was about to start a match with Hamilton.
âPrincess, what brings you here?â
Hamilton, who found me first, smiled and spoke to me. I approached with the bright and harmless expression of a 10-year-old child.
âI want to visit.â
âI see. The princess is also learning the sword with Young Lord Leonard, right?â
Itâs teaching, not learning, but I nodded my head and agreed.
âI heard that His Highnessâ skills are outstanding, so I wanted to see it at least once. Canât I?â
âOf course you can. Will you be okay with it, Your Highness?â
âHmm. Do whatever you like.â
Caesar said with a cold expression. If you allow it anyway, shouldnât you have a better expression?
Shortly after I took a seat nearby, the two of them started the match.
As for my appreciation of watching the confrontation.
â⌠Oh, thatâs pretty good.â
Frankly, I was a little surprised.
âHe has a high concentration and a quick reaction speed, which is not suitable for his age.â
If Leonard gets his talent through hard work, Caesar is just born with it. It looks like me, now I think about it.
âI canât even compare it with Leonardâs skills right now.â
This is bad.
This child, doesnât he have any drawbacks?
The match ended when both of them were sweating a little. I approached them and talked to them with the excuse of handing them towels to wipe their sweat off.
âAs expected, youâre incredible, Your Highness. If youâre not very tired, why donât you have a fight with me?â
âWhat?â
Caesar, who was wiping the sweat from his forehead, looked at me with a frown.
âI heard it hasnât been long since youâve learned how to use a sword. What if you get hurt?
âOne learns by getting hurt.â
âIf you get hurt, Iâll be in a difficult position facing the duke.â
âThatâs right, Princess. You canât learn anything if you compete with someone who has such a difference in skills.â
Hamilton also helped Caesar speak. Thank you for your concern, but it was just an obstacle to me, as I had to somehow figure out Caesarâs weakness.
âI guess youâre not interested in a match with meâ.
âItâs not a matter of interestâŚâ
âThen should we decide on a reward? For example, something like the loser makes the winnerâs wish come true.â
Caesar, who had been languishing, quickly opened his eyes at my new proposal.
âAny wish?â
âAs long as itâs not too shameless.â
âThereâs no turning back.â
Thus, the match between me and Caesar began. We held wooden swords and stood facing each other.
âBoth of you, please be careful not to get hurt. Got it?â
Hamilton, who naturally became the referee, said in a restless voice. Me and Caesar nodded, but it was clear we werenât really listening.
âItâs a battle to find weaknesses, so Iâll try to poke him as diverse as possible.â
With Hamiltonâs opening cry, Caesar and I leaped towards each other at the same time.
âShould I go into the pelvis first?â
I swung my sword aiming at a difficult place to defend.
But Caesar quickly blew my attack away and escaped to the side. Not only that, but he also launched a counterattack towards my upper left body.
I quickly knocked out Caesarâs sword and fell behind him to widen the distance.
â⌠Ho!â
âHaha?â
The position changed in an instant. Caesar and I burst out laughing at the same time.
I bumped into his sword only once, but itâs enough. This kid is incredibly talented.
âI thought I gained quite a bit of stamina by holding the sword again these days.â
But after all, it canât be helped that this is a childâs body. It was fortunate that the attack flowed quickly.
Well, anyway, technically, I have the upper hand.
Caesar picked up the sword. The red eyes staring at me became a little sharper.
âYouâre not a beginner, are you?
âI wouldnât have asked for a match with a bet with the intention of losing.â
Having grasped each other roughly with one sharp attack, we rushed back to each other with all our might.
âWhy is this kid so good?â
Despite my deliberate attempts at a blind or difficult attack, Caesar blocked the attack well.
It is not by education. Itâs an instinctive reaction. Is he simply a natural?
âLetâs see if you can stop this too?â
Somehow, I became greedy, and I attacked with a high-level technique that a child could never do.
Not knowing what to do this time, bewilderment appeared on Caesarâs face⌠or thatâs what I thought.
â⌠What?!â
Rather than avoiding, Caesar ran towards me, blocking the attack with his left arm.
âT-Thatâs dangerous!â
I tried to stop the sword, but eventually my sword was stuck in Caesarâs left elbow.
It must have been quite painful, but Caesar doesnât blink. Now the one in a difficult position is me. Caesarâs sword rushed in toward my upper body.
âWhat kind of madmanâŚ!â
âStop there!â
At the same time as Hamiltonâs shout, Caesarâs sword stopped in mid-air.
We gasped and looked at each other.
Soon Hamilton ran and shouted to Caesar.
âYour Highness, are you okay?â
âWhy did you stop when you had the upper hand?â
Caesar frowned and threw the sword in the air.
âItâs a draw.â
âI would have won if Hamilton hadnât stepped up.â
âIf this were a true sword, Your Highnessâ left arm would have been cut off.â
âWhatâs wrong with an arm? Whoever gets their head cut is the loser, right?â
âUwaa, both of you, stop talking about horrible things! I told you not to get hurt!â
Hamilton cried out with a face almost crying.
Well, Iâm a little sorry. But who would have thought that he would block it with his arm?
âAnyway, it was a fun match after a long time.â
âI feel the same.â
Unlike the fierce match, we finished with a light greeting. Caesar left the hall with Hamilton who was trembling.
Left alone, I glanced down at my right hand, which still had a tingling sensation.
âThat kid is a very good thing. I like him.â
If Leonard follows and learns well as I teach, Caesarâs charm lies in his unpredictability.
Did Master who first discovered me felt this way? Iâm so sure that Iâll do anything if I can raise him.
âI want to raise him.â
I realized later that the corners of my lips were raised.
***
That evening, Caesar did not come to dinner on the pretext of being tired.
Everyone thought that was the case, but I felt guilty.
âDid I break his arm?â
It felt pretty light when the sword hit his armâ I mean.
He didnât even frown, let alone scream, so I thought heâd get a bruise at most.
âHelena. You met His Highness earlier, right? Did you really make up?â
Leonard, who was sitting next to me, asked me.
âWe made up⌠I think.â
But I couldnât help but worry about it, so I ended up going to Caesarâs room after eating.
When I knocked, I heard a surprisingly cheerful âcome inâ from the room.
What was I worried about? I opened the door and went inside.
However, I soon found Caesar sitting in a rocking chair and was speechless for a moment.
â⌠Is it broken?â
I asked with a puzzled face. Caesar lifted his bandaged left arm to check, then shrugged his shoulders.
âItâs no big deal. Just leave it be.â
âUghâŚâ
Itâs obviously a big deal.
âYour expression is worth seeing.â
Caesar grinned at me.
I approached Caesarâs side, sat down, and continued the conversation.
âHave you been treated properly?â
âHamilton brought a doctor in earlier. This will get better soon.â
âI mean, itâs not something to be taken lightly. I know because I have broken a finger before, so I know how painful it was when it rained later.â
âYou broke your finger? What happened?â
âWhen blocking the opponentâs attack head-on⌠Not , thatâs not it. Itâs a mistake while playing around.â
Oops, I almost told him something that happened in my previous life.
Caesarâs face turned bewildered at my gibberish. I quickly changed the subject before Caesar dug deep.
âBy the way, you got hurt because of me, but why didnât you tell on me?â
âWhy would I do such a childish thing? I got hurt while fighting fairly.â
âOhhhââ
What? Thatâs so cool. I giggled to tease him and lengthened the tail of my exclamation. Caesarâs face turned red at my reaction.
âGet rid of that look.â
âI thought Your Highness hated me.â
âEven if I donât like my opponent, I wonât do such a dirty thing.â
âYouâre not saying you donât hate me.â
âThe feeling is mutual.â
âHuh? Not really. I like Your Highness though?â
Caesarâs expression changed strangely at my words. Itâs hard to define whether heâs angry, surprised, or embarrassed.
Anyway, itâs pretty cute that heâs heated up to the end of his ears.
âWell, more than that, whatâs with the match earlier?â
âWhatâs wrong with it?â
âDid you relax on purpose in the end?â
Oh, you mean that?
Clearly, as soon as I saw Caesar raise his left arm, I relaxed. It seems that it is wrong to change the course of the sword, and the unfortunate event in which his arm gets cut should be avoided.
âHow did you know?â
âGiven the speed, I should have ended up with more than a broken arm.â
âYou know that, but you blocked it with your arm? Are you crazy?â
âIf I lose, what kind of weird wish would you make for me?â
âYou donât trust people.â
âWhat wish were you going to make?â
âI want you to be my subordinate.â
âLook at that!â
Caesar was genuinely angry, so I burst into laughter without realizing it.
âWhat about Your Highness? What wish were you going to make if you prevailed?â
ââŚNevermind that. Itâs a bet that failed anyway, so whatâs the point of knowing?â
Caesar looked away from me and mumbled. Now Iâm more curious because you didnât say anything.
âWhat is it? Youâre so petty. I told you mine.â
âYou donât need to know.â
âI mean, Iâm curious. Oh, if you were trying to make me do something strangeâŚâ
I said, covering my chest with both hands, and Caesar squawked with a face red as if he would literally explode.
âDo not be ridiculous! What do you think I am?â
This is bad. Itâs so fun to tease him. Itâs a different kind of pleasure Iâve never had when Iâm with Leonard.
âJust⌠I was going to propose to call each other by name.â
âName? Does Your Highness want me to call you by your name? How difficult is this that you wanted to make a wish for it?â
âItâs difficult for everyone to call me comfortably. Hamilton even fell flat in front of me asking for forgiveness at once.â
Oh, I can imagine. That man, he looked inflexible.
âWell, I know how it feels.â
I, too, once asked Erez for such a favor.
Everyone supported and revered me, but they all followed me behind me and didnât want to stand by me.
So I told Erez to speak casually when we were alone.
The old-fashioned guy was serious and told me not to even joke about that, and Iâve never asked for such a request again since then.
âIâll call you by name.â
âWhat? Really? Will it be okay?â
âAnd speak casually like a friend.â
âNo, not so farâŚâ
âSo, will you fight with me from time to time, Caesar?â
I called his name.
Then Caesar froze. As if I was the first person to know what his name was.
âIf Erez had called me by my first name then, would I have reacted like this?â
Suddenly, I felt that Caesar was pitiful.
That pity is the pity toward me in the past.
â⌠Had I known this would be the case, I would have thought of a more plausible wish.â
Perhaps shy, Caesar murmured in a complaining tone. However, he could not hide his good mood.
How adorable is a 14-year-old boy who rejoices so much just hearing his name.
In the end, I burst out laughing out loud because the shy guy was so cute.