Chapter 47 Practicing Sword and My Feeling
On the new day, I woke up as usual with the help of Adel. As she was helping with my morning routine, I was looking at her as I thought, do I need to tell her about my secret too? However, somehow I felt surely Adel would know it when I told it to Lady Octavi; she may have overheard it because she must be at the front of the living room. Knowing Adel, she would only say something if I asked her directly. I decided to keep it to myself for now and see how things in the future.
After Adel finished my morning routine, we went to the dining room to have breakfast. As usual, everyone had arrived before me. At breakfast, Cassius told me that the practice would be after breakfast, and Lady Octavi told me about the arrival of Sophia; she would come maybe around evening. Everyone seemed as usual, and we had breakfast as usual.
Once breakfast was over, everyone excused themselves from the table including me. I went to my room to change my dress, because it was my first time practicing sword. As usual, Adel helped me to change and adjusted me to attire that was easy to move, which was like the attire that Valerie usually wore. After changing, I made my way to the courtyard, where Cassius was waiting for me. Once I arrived there, I could see Cassius and Valerie, where Cassius was standing at the centre of the courtyard and Valerie was sitting on a bench nearby, watching intently.
Their eyes immediately went into me; I could see their faces seemed to be surprised. At the bench, Valerie said loudly, "Wow, you look ready for battle with that attire! Then your usual dress."
Hearing that, I didn't know she was meant to say something like that or just mockery towards me. I changed my look to Cassius from Valerie, yet I could see Cassius seemed to be stunned. I slowly walked towards him to the centre of the courtyard, while Adel was waiting at the bench beside Valerie.
As I was in front of him, I could see that his face was so
I said to him with a soft tone, "Cassius?"
He immediately shook his head and seemed to come back to reality. His eyes widened in surprise, and he stammered out a response. "You look amazing," he finally managed to say, "My apologies, I felt like I lost direction, after seeing my lady in that attire…"
"Really?" I looked at my attire, a simple white cloth like Valerie usually wore. "Thank you," I replied with a smile, feeling a rush of warmth at his compliment. My words seemed to take him aback, as he blushed slightly and looked away.
From the distance, Valerie shouted, "HEI! Stop your flirting!" Cassius quickly composed himself, turned towards Valerie with a serious expression, and said, "Just shut up!"
Oh, it was a flirting attempt, I never thought Cassius would try to do that to me. I said to him, "So? Are we going to start the sword's practice?"
Cassius chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, let's get started," he replied, his cheeks still slightly flushed from embarrassment. I couldn't help but smile at his reaction, eager to begin our training session. He handed me a wooden sword.
We began the practice session. In this first time practicing the sword, Cassius tried to teach me about stance and footwork. As I tried to grip my sword, Cassius immediately corrected me, as his face was so close to mine. I could feel his warm breath on my cheek as he whispered instructions, that my grip should be firm yet relaxed, and he moved my grip, especially the hilt of the sword, close to my body with his hand, and his other hand guided my stance. He told me the hilt must be close to my body, and that keeping the hilt close to the body helps protect the hands and allows for better control and leverage when making strikes or blocks.
As my grip was correct, I thought I would learn how to attack with the sword, however, that wasn't the case. Now, it focused on my feet. Before going to that, Cassius asked me, "My lady, which one is your lead foot?"
My lead foot? I didn't know about that. I answered, "I don't know…"
"Well, my lady can you hand the sword to me? We will start an easy test about it."
I handed the sword to him, and he told me to lean towards him until I fell. As I leaned forward, I noticed that my right foot naturally moved forward first. Cassius then explained that the foot I naturally stepped forward with when initiating an attack or defence was my lead foot, and that it was important to understand this to maintain balance and stability during sword fighting.
Once I knew my lead foot, he handed the sword back to me. Then, he started to tell me about the footwork, in which the lead foot pointed towards the opponent and the rear foot angled outwards, last one was keeping the feet shoulder-width apart to maintain a strong and stable base. First, he showed me the correct position. Immediately I started to do what he told me, and after that, he started correcting my feet before he was doing it, he said to me, "Excuse me, my lady".
He moved my foot with his hand to the correct position, and immediately, from a distance, I could hear a voice saying, "HEI CASSIUS! Be careful, where you touch…" It was a loud voice from Valeries, and I felt she was trying to tease him. However, Cassius didn't respond to it.
Once, my footwork was correct, next he told me about the knees, saying that my knees should be slightly bent; however, my legs must be relaxed but ready. I pushed down my knees slightly, and somehow Cassius wasn't correcting me, which made me feel a sense of accomplishment, or the words from Valerie before made him back off to correct me.
Next, he focused on my upper body. He told me that my torso must be slightly inclined forward, however, my shoulders must be relaxed. He showed me the correct position first, and then I started to mimic it. As I adjusted my upper body positioning, Cassius nodded in approval, indicating that I was on the right track or that the tease from Valerie still backed him off from correcting me.
Finally, Cassius moved closer to my arms and hands, giving me pointers on how to position them properly for optimal performance. While he was correcting me, somehow I felt a sense of tingling towards him, as if his touch was mesmerising. It was a strange sensation that I couldn't quite explain, it made me lose focus on his guidance. As I struggled to regain my composure, Cassius said, "Are you following me, my lady?"
I quickly snapped out of my daze and replied, "Yes, I'm following you now."
"It seems, you aren't following me." Slowly, he reached out and gently adjusted my hands, his touch sending a shiver down my spine.
Next, he told me to do some basic steps. He showed me how to advance and retreat in a fluid motion. In advancing, he told me to move my lead foot first, followed by my rear foot, yet in retreating, it was the opposite, first was the rear foot, followed by the lead foot. Immediately, I tried to mimic it. As I kept mimicking it, Cassius told me to do it ten times. Without any habits, sometimes I advanced with my rear foot or retreated with my lead foot. After a few tries, I finally got the rhythm of it and was able to smoothly advance and retreat in the correct sequence.
After basic steps, he told me about lateral movement, which was side steps. Same with the basic step of advance, to move the lead foot first. He showed me some demonstration of sidestepping; he was doing it to the right and the left. I tried to mimic it, side step to my right side was easy, maybe because my lead foot was my right foot; however, the side step to my left side was different. I struggled a bit with the left side step at first, eventually stumbling. Quick, Cassius lent his hand to me, before I fell to the ground. His face was so close to mine, and again, I felt mesmerised by his smile and intense gaze.
"Are you okay?" said he, "It takes time to get the habit, take your time, my lady…"
I regained my body to stand, and said, "I am okay…" and slowly, he released his hand from me.
As I continued practicing, slowly, I understood it. Cassius told me to do a repetition drill, doing basic steps and lateral movements in sequence, yet in random sequence, as Cassius said. I stumbled a few times, but with each repetition, I became more confident in my movements. At first, I was confused, it seemed my body didn't understand which foot to move. As time passed, I finally understood. Cassius's words became faster, and I found myself keeping up with the rhythm. With each repetition, my muscle memory kicked in, and I was able to execute the steps more fluidly. My confidence grew as I realised that practice truly does make perfect.
Time passed, however, and suddenly, Cassius said, "My lady, you are different…" out of the blue. I was taken aback by his words, which made me stumble. Immediately, Cassius noticed my reaction and held my hand before I fell to the ground. His hand held my back while his other hand held my hand, and he looked at me with a different gaze. I couldn't explain it, but his gaze captivated me.
As his face was in front of mine, I said, "Different? You mean, I quick learn?"
" No, my lady," Cassius replied softly, "Your eyes are different…"
"My eyes?"
"Yes…Somehow, your eyes are telling the truth about yourself—innocent and kind. I could see it in your eyes," he continued, "It's different than other nobles' eyes, when we were at the palace, all of those nobles' eyes were somehow lying, looking at everywhere, even your acquaintances, yet your eyes are genuine and sincere, always looking at someone you are talking. It's different and captivating mine…"
"You have a pure heart, my lady," Cassius added, his voice full of admiration. I blushed at his words, feeling a warmth spread through me. Somehow, I felt his face slowly come closer to mine, his eyes locked with mine, and—
*Clap! A sound clap of hands could be heard beside us. We looked at it; it was Adel with Valerie behind her.
Immediately Adel said, "I think the flirting is out of line, and look at the sun; I think the practice is over. Now, my lady needs to clean herself." with a smile. I could see Valerie's expression behind Adel, which seemed to hold a hint of amusement. With that, we finished the first practice of mine.
Adel walked me out of the courtyard. As Adel and I were walking off from the courtyard, I took a glimpse behind and saw Valerie seeming to be teasing Cassius about what had happened. Once Adel and I were inside the house, Adel turned to me and said while walking, "My lady, are you really letting Cassius have done all of that?"
I asked, "Do what?"
"Did all of that flirt towards you? Remember, you are on betrothal with the Crown Prince!"
"Of course, I know. However, somehow it's a different feeling…"
"MY LADY!!!"
"Hear me first! My feelings towards the Crown Prince are like a force in nature, how do I describe it, However, I feel like I don't want to lose him to someone, no matter what will happen to that person. Like seven years ago, when he went to my house with Lady Clara, at that time, I felt I didn't want that lady to take him. Seeing they wore the same attire with the same colour, somehow—"
"Jealous?"
"No, I am not really that jealous; I don't have any memories with the Crown Prince, so the feeling of that shouldn't be in my feelings. It's more like a protective instinct, or a sense of possession over him…"
"Well, how about Cassius?"
"Cassius seems…Warmth—I don't really care if someone will take him, yet somehow I really want that warm feeling around me. I think it's more about feeling comforted than possession over him."
"Interesting, so it seems like your feelings towards the Crown Prince and Cassius are quite different. However, my lady needs to understand, that you are on betrothal with the Crown Prince, so you need to make some space."
"I know; I will keep that in mind."
After that, we went into the bathroom, and Adel helped me take a bath. As soon as I finished taking a bath, Adel helped me get dressed in a simple gown. I went to the living room to relax, and while waiting Sophia arrived. As usual, Adel brought me some snacks and tea at the table, and of course, she left me alone to relax.