Someone is Getting Hurt!

Like all the other Generals and Lieutenants, General Osmond also had to devote a few hours of his time every day to teach the future rulers of the Kingdom.

Osmond walked to the front of the training ground and then spoke in a very loud voice so that he would be audible to everyone, "Gather up everyone! I have a special announcement to make."

General Osmond gestured his hand towards the direction of Adeline and continued in his loud voice, "Princess Adeline will be joining the training classes from today. I hope every one of you will be kind to her and will be supportive to her."

Little chatter was going around from the other Princes and Princesses. Some looked at her with curiosity, some looked at her envy, while some didn't seem to care.

"All right, please be quiet everyone. We will begin with our usual warm up routine. And after that we will practice sword fighting." Osmond took a pause and then shouted, "I don't want any one of you slacking. Everyone must run around the ground for 15 times. You may begin."

With that order from General Osmond, everyone started to get in position and run around the ground.

General Osmond went near to Adeline who was about to hop around and bowed to her, "Princess Adeline, since today is your first day of your training, you can take it slow. You will be able to catch up with the others after some more days."

"Okay" Princess Adeline smiled at the General and asked him, "What is your name teacher?"

"I'm Osmond, Your Highness." General smiled back at the Princess.

"I had seen you in my dream once. But after that I never saw you. But I'm happy to see you now." Adeline innocently smiled at the General and took off with Nigel.

These words from the Princess reminded the General of horrible incidents that happened two years ago. The sight of his daughter dying on his arms flashed vividly before his eyes. He was frozen at the spot for quite some time. But slowly the grief in his eyes turned into determination, determination to take his revenge on Queen Lillian.

General Osmond also started to run alongside all the royal children. He caught up with Adeline and Nigel who were running at the end of the line and started to run beside them.

Slowly the speed of everyone was wearing off after taking 10 laps around the large training ground. General Osmond had thought that since it was her first day, Princess Adeline would give up after 2-3 laps.

However, to the General's disbelief, Adeline was not showing any sign of tiredness. She was not sweating, nor was she slowing down. Even her breathing was still normal.

Adeline was rather excited that she was allowed to run freely. If she had ran around like this back in her quarter then Hawisa or Osanna would catch her and ask her not to run around.

After 12 laps Prince Nigel finally broke his silence and spoke with heavy breathing, "Adeline, aren't you tired? You can tell me if you are tired." Nigel glanced at Osmond who was still running beside them and whispered to Adeline, "You don't have to be afraid of General Osmond."

"No I'm not tired. How many times do we need to go around now?" Adeline directed the question at Nigel.

Nigel had hoped that he would also be able to get out of doing warm ups if Adeline said that she was tired. But he was disappointed when he heard her answer.

"We have 2 and a half round left. Are you sure you can keep on running?" Prince Nigel tried one more time to get a chance to skip running.

But her answer was the same, "Yes I am sure I can run. Don't worry."

General Osmond was listening to the conversation that was going on beside him. He raised his brows in surprise when he heard the Princess talking without showing any sign of gasping or heavy breathing.

"I didn't know the Princess had such a good stamina." Osmond thought to himself. By now, even he was starting to take deep breaths.

After everyone completed 15 laps around the ground, all of them gathered in the middle of the ground to practice sword fighting.

"Why don't you form a pair among yourselves and practice yesterday's moves?" General Osmond suggested his students. Before today, Osmond would often pair with one of the Prince or Princess so that everyone could have a pair. Now, finally everyone would have a pair.

Several types of waster (wooden sword) were kept on display on an elevated platform that was in front of the children. Some resembled double edged arming sword with single handed grip, some resembled double edged longsword with two handed grip, and some resembled single edged falchion with single handed grip.

Everyone went forward to grab their waster from the display and that was when General Osmond suddenly remembered that those wooden swords would be too long and heavy for Princess Adeline to handle.

Osmond went towards Adeline who was waiting for her turn to pick a sword and leaned down to whisper, "I'm sorry Your Highness. The wasters that are here will not suit you. I'll quickly grab something for you. Why don't you wait with Prince Nigel till then?"

Osmond then looked at Nigel who was standing beside the Princess and said to him, "Prince Nigel, I think you should pair up with Princess Adeline. I'll be right back."

General Osmond saw how much Prince Nigel cared for his sister so he thought it would be best if he left her with him. He knew that the others were waiting for their chance to pick on the young Princess, and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her, not again.

Prince Nigel picked the one which resembled an arming sword and led Adeline back to the ground with him. "Now you and I can practice fighting against each other. Isn't that wonderful?"

Princess Adeline was too happy to hear that and she clapped and laughed. "It is wonderful. I will also get a toy like yours right?"

Nigel giggled when he heard her calling the sword a toy, "Yes, the General will get you one."

Meanwhile the twins Margery and Muriel were glaring at Adeline with envy. They were the daughters of the second wife of the King, Queen Vultrada, who used to be a Princess from Tarrin Kingdom. The twins were 9 years old and were inseparable from each other.

Muriel had a disgusted look on her face. She stared at Adeline from the corner of her eyes and said to her sister, "Look at her all happy and satisfied. Why does she get to spend time with father but we don't. What is so special about her anyway?"

Margery shared the same jealousy and said, "Let's find out. You distract Nigel; I'll go get that pampered brat."

Both of them looked at each other and nodded with an evil look on their face. Then they made their way towards Nigel and Adeline.

As Margery and Muriel walked towards their prey, they had a cunning sneer on their face. And they said in unison, "Someone is getting seriously hurt today."