Chapter 16: If Only

"It's not fair, I thought I had you there for sure." Neo pouted, slowly sitting up on the floor.

"And right there lies your biggest mistake." Aina retorted.

"Huh?"

"Don't make any conclusions about your victory until you've actually landed the finishing blow, if you do that, the result will always be like this for you."

"Why are you lecturing me about that when you were doing the exact same thing? You said I was going to end up losing before we even started the duel."

"And you did end up losing, didn't you?" She retorted.

"Well, yeah." He muttered, bringing his gaze down a bit annoyed.

"There will always be exceptions to the rule, when you're sure that there's nothing your opponent can do to get the better of you then you can be cocky but still, it's better to keep an open mind and face every opponent like you would face a master swordsman." She articulated. "I only said you would lose because you said you were looking to settle the score."

Listening to her say all of that, Neo found himself captivated and his unmoving gaze fixated on her now.

"What is it now?" She asked after noticing the way he was looking at her.

"I don't get it." He remarked.

"You don't get what?"

"If you're this good with the sword then why didn't you bother to at least give me some pointers during my training all these years?"

This time, there wasn't any quick retort from her as she slowly turned away from him before taking a deep breath.

"I guess you could say I just didn't feel like it." She uttered.

"You didn't feel like it?"

"Yes, but on the other hand, I thought you were doing fine on your own and wouldn't really need much of my help."

'In other words, she felt like she was only going to be intruding.' He said inwardly. 'I guess she has always been the most distant of the three.'

"And I was partially right, you did manage to make good progress training on your own all these years but you know."

She paused at that moment to turn to him.

"Huh?" He muttered with a confused expression on his face.

"It's never too late to get a master, you're still just eleven years old so you have quite a long way to go."

His face lit up in a smile at that moment as he uttered. "Seriously?"

"Yes." She nodded, offering him a hand up. "I'll teach you everything I know."

He took her hand with a smile and got pulled up by her.

"I guess that means I have to call you master now." He said, jokingly.

"I'll allow it but only when we're training." She responded.

"That's fine by me."

He turned his gaze toward the left where his mother was last seen standing with the other maids but she was no longer there.

"I wanted to talk to her about something."

A few minutes later, he found himself standing in front of the door leading to the empty room with the weapon glass cabinet.

"This is the only place she has to be in if I can't find her anywhere else." He muttered before slowly pushing the door open.

Just like he thought, she was in there, however, she was just standing in the middle of the room doing nothing.

She heard him open the door, and in response to that, she turned to him.

"Oh, hey, Pookie, you need something?"

"Not really, I just wanted to talk about something." He responded as he quickly made his way down the staircase.

"Talk about what?"

"I've been curious for a while now." He said just after stopping in front of her. "What weapon do you use?"

"You want to know the weapon I use?"

"Yeah, like I know Aina uses a sword, Nicole didn't really master any and Emilia uses a bow and arrows." He remarked.

"I see, well, I guess there's no harm in showing you."

The weapon cabinet slowly pulled up from below just a few seconds after that, and now that it was out, she made her way to it and pulled out a red spear.

"A spear?"

She skillfully spun the weapon around first with both hands before slowly removing her left hand to spin it around a few more seconds with her right hand before stumping it on the floor.

"This is what I would normally use in a fight."

"You use that and decided to give me a sword?" He uttered, not looking particularly impressed with what he had just seen.

"I thought you might say that, I just thought a sword might suit you better." She shrugged.

"Seriously? That was your only line of reasoning?" He sighed before shaking his head. "I can't say I'm disappointed with learning swordplay instead of something else but still, I would have preferred it if you had given me the freedom of choosing."

"Yeah, you make a good point." She nodded. "But you know, there's no rule that restricts you from learning how to use another weapon, you just have to take it one step at a time but you'll still have to focus more on the one you've already put more effort and time into."

"So you're saying…."

"Yeah." She smiled before pointing the spear at him. "I can teach you a few things about how to handle the spear, the basics are easier than that of a sword anyway."

_________ ________

Later that day, when the sun was almost completely gone from the sky, the maids were busy getting dinner ready and Neo was in his room fast asleep. Henry returned from work and made his way straight to his room.

He opened the door to find Luna standing there, staring out the window, the yellow rays of the setting sun illuminating her perfect figure.

She was in a silk white robe with her hair tied back in a ponytail.

He had been married to her for years now but he found himself enchanted for a moment there until she called out to him.

"Hey, honey, how was work today?" She asked, still looking out the window.

"Fine as usual. A bit stressful though but it's a good thing someone thought of putting a hot bath in that office." He responded as he made his way to the bed. "You're looking quite delectable today."

"Well, a meal has to look delectable if it wants to be eaten." She remarked.

"Oh, that's an interesting fact."

After that, there was a sudden moment of silence between the two, as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt before pulling it off to reveal his well-built muscles and chest.

"Luna." He called, just after turning to her.

She slowly turned to him at that moment with a warm smile on her face before moving closer to him.

She stood there and stared at him for a couple of seconds before climbing his lap.

"Sorry." She muttered.

Her fangs slowly grew in length at that moment before she slowly sunk them into his neck as slowly as she could, her eyes turning crimson in the process.

Something like that ought to be painful, that's why Henry had his teeth stuck to his lower lip to stop himself from groaning.

They stayed like that for about five seconds before she pulled her fangs out of his neck leaving behind the fang marks and trails of blood on his neck.

She stared at his chest for a while, her eyes turning back to blue before she slowly got off his body to sit on the bed beside him.

"I can never get used to how much this hurts," Henry uttered with his hand on his neck.

She heard that but she didn't really seem to be paying attention to him at the moment as she was looking outside.

"The sky's turning red, almost like…."

"Huh?" What are you talking about, hun?" He inquired with a confused expression on his face.

"It's nothing." She shook her head. "I sort of let my mind wander for a second there." She added with a little chuckle.

"Oh, okay, so how's Neo doing?" He asked.

"He's okay, the baby's fully reverted back to his energetic self." She replied before slowly crashing down on the bed.

"I see, that's good to hear."

"You know I heard him say something interesting to Emilia today."

"What did he say?"

"It sure would be nice to have a little sister or younger brother, that's what he said." She disclosed.

"Well, you know, we can always make his dream come true."

"True."

"And while enjoying a delectable meal."

He slowly leaned closer to press his lips against hers at that moment while slowly pushing down the left sleeve of her robe.

'If only it was that easy.'