Chapter 52: Chapter 51
'He seems like a completely different person now!'
"Estelle, weren't you the one who wanted to be trained by Uncle? Stand up and fight! You know, it's not everyday that you have the chance to be trained by someone in the Enhancement Realm!"
Estelle was currently on the ground, covered in sweat and bruises. Training with her Uncle literally meant fighting him on one versus one!
Struggling a little, she stood back on her two feet once again.
"Good girl. Now come at me once again!"
Focusing on not fainting due to the pain, Estelle charged at her Uncle, Albert, once again.
He was as caring as one could get, yet he was probably the harshest instructor Estelle ever had in training.
Raising her sword in front of her once again, she stood on guard, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Her Uncle kept on doing feints, making her jolt every time.
Keeping her concentration was getting progressively more challenging, and every time she lost her focus for an instant, her Uncle would strike.
"Estelle, if you keep being this passive, you'll be playing exactly in your opponent's hands. Whoever keeps the initiative is the one winning."
'I know! But what can I do? It feels like as soon as I make a small mistake, I'll get beaten up!'
At first, Estelle was the one charging, but she got beaten up every time. In just this short while, her body already developed an innate fear. Even if she wanted to attack, her body wouldn't move.
Seizing the opportunity, her Uncle started his barrage of strikes.
'Not this again!'
Estelle tried her best to parry all of his slashes, but no matter how fast she went, she could never stop them all.
'Faster!'
She gave it her all. An incoming slash from the right!
Stac.
She parried it.
A stab!
Twisting her body, she barely avoided it. Too bad, avoiding that stab, she got off-balance. Albert struck once again with the intent of making her lose her balance completely.
Estelle knew it was coming, but she knew she wouldn't be fast enough to defend it. But she couldn't even try to counter-attack, as she would be hit long before she could do anything.
'I can't do anything!'
She was hit and fell to the ground once again.
"Estelle, you are fighting wrong. You have a great sword. Trying to parry everything will only be digging your own grave. You can't compete with the swiftness of a normal sword; let's not talk about rapiers. You have to use your overwhelming attacking power to break the opponent's defence.
You must learn when and how to forsake parrying to attack yourself. In your case, attacking is really your best defence."
After a few seconds, she stood up on her two feet once more.
"Again!"
***
Vince spent his days in the library. As he was told that in these days, he was laid off of his duty to serve Estelle, he had a lot of free time.
'I've been reading as fast as I could, yet I am not even halfway through this library. Maybe by the end of the three weeks, I'll finally be done. I've been trying to dig information about Spiritual Masters, but… the amount of information available is close to none. That'll probably have to wait longer.
I know there's a pretty extensive library in the academy. Maybe I can discover something there.'
After pondering a little, he resumed reading books.
***
Estelle kept on training while Vince kept on reading. That was until there were four days until the end of the spring break.
Today, both Vince and Estelle stopped doing what they were doing because it was a special day.
The two of them were sitting in front of the same table, with Albert and Estelle's parents.
""Happy birthday, Estelle!""
That's right. They were celebrating Estelle's birthday.
'What am I even doing here?'
Vince was quite puzzled as to why he was asked to participate. It was a small party only with Estelle's closest relatives; how could he fit in?
He then glanced at Estelle. She was focused entirely on the cake in front of her, not sparing him a glance. Nor anyone, for that matter.
While Estelle indulged herself, her mother approached Vince.
She had deep blue eyes, much like Estelle's. But, differently from Estelle, her white hair seemed like silver strings. She also was reasonably tall as a woman. Combining that with curves in the right places, she was undoubtedly a beautiful woman.
'She's easily the most beautiful woman I saw in the last seven years.'
"You must be Vince, her attendant."
"That's right, milady."
Vince replied with a broad business smile. He recalled all of the information he had read or heard about her in a flash.
'Formerly Martha Flossen, now Martha Von Sideria. One of the three princesses whose hand was given to Gilbert Von Sideria. She was the seventeenth princess of the Flossen Kingdom and had a reasonably good cultivation talent, but it wasn't enough to put her in the limelight. Especially considering she came from the Royal Family.
Instead, she's known as the Heartbreaker Princess, as she shut down marriage requests from pretty much every noble of the last generation.
Even Rupert Dawmond, my biological father in this world, was rejected by her. In fact, more than one died in duels to win her favour.
When she turned twenty-five, as she was not married yet, her father arranged a marriage with the Duke. People speculated that the king feared nobody would marry her if she became too old. But… looking at her now, I'd dare to say there'd be people fighting for her hand even now.'
After just a few steps, she was right in front of Vince. She circled around him once and then stared straight at him. But Vince never moved an inch nonetheless.
'Judging from how mana behaves around her, she must be somewhere towards the end of the Flowing Realm. Either Late-Dusk or Twilight Stage. Not bad for someone her age. But that's it. The rumours were quite accurate, I guess.'
"Estelle told me how you risked your life to protect her back when they tried to assassinate her. I must thank you for watching over her at the time. I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to her. She also told me you rushed to help her when she found herself alone in the dungeon.
Even though you are nothing special, I'll allow you to stay by her side since you proved your loyalty. But be aware that as soon as Estelle doesn't want you anymore, you'll be replaced."
"This lowly one will keep it in mind."
Hearing his humble reply, Martha nodded approvingly. It was good that the little attendant knew his place and didn't let him getting adopted go to his head.
He was a Von Sideria only on paper! If he dared to act like one, she would have given him a good lesson.
Having said all she had to say, Martha walked up to Estelle and gave her a present.
"What's this?"
"It's a gift from your mom!"
Since Estelle was long done eating the cake, she was once again capable of focusing on something else. The only time Albert tried to take a piece of cake for himself, Estelle glared at him like he was never glared at before.
He immediately gave up on the idea of tasting that cake.
Without waiting for a second longer, Estelle tore the paper and opened the box.
Inside there was an exquisite hairpin. It had a shiny sapphire shaped like a star decorating it. And if one looked closely, they would notice a floral pattern all over the golden body of the hairpin.
Estelle softly picked it up, and after admiring it for a good minute, she immediately tried to wear it. Too bad she had never worn one. Seeing her clumsiness, her mother helped her by showing her how it was done.
After giving her mother a big hug, Estelle rushed towards Vince.
"How do I look? Does it look good on me?"
"It suits milady perfectly. It looks like a comet straddling the sky at sunset."
"Mooou~ enough with the milady! We've known each other for more than a year! Just call me Estelle!"
"As you wish, Estelle~."
She was surprised when she heard him calling her with that name he had never pronounced. She hadn't expected him to start immediately!
As she averted her gaze, her face flushed red.
The adults all laughed, seeing Estelle fall victim to her own idea.
'I wonder how long these peaceful days will last…'
***
Estelle's father called her to his office on the day before the spring break was over.
It was a grand room full of decorations. There were the previous Dukes' busts and even statues for those who had accomplished the most. The room was well-lit even though it was evening. That was thanks to the lamps shining bright. Estelle could guess they were mana-powered, as candles couldn't emit this much light.
Her father pointed at the chair on the opposite side of the desk. Estelle thus sat.
"There's something important I have to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Me, along with the elders, have decided that it's time to lift the seal on your cultivation. That time in the dungeon, it lifted itself due to your fear. It was made in such a way to help you in case of danger.
We won't put a seal anymore. Your body is now ready to progress in cultivation once again. It'd be a waste to let you wait any longer. But, revealing your talent will be a considerable risk.
There might even be assassination attempts like the one you and your brother Henrick suffered. So, it'll be best for you to be ready. You'll have to be vigilant at all times."
"I understand, father."
'Finally, I can make full use of my cultivation base! Maybe I'll be able to get back my first place.'
"When you get back, you'll probably have some explaining to do as to how you reached the Early-Noon Stage. If you are enquired, answer that your father personally helped you cultivate during the spring break.
That should be sufficient as a cover-up of your talent for the time being. But in the long run, that explanation won't be enough anymore. At that time, you'll have to be ready to face the whole nobility of this Kingdom. You may even be seen as a threat from the Royal Family."
"May be a threat to the Royal Family? Why is that?"
"Well, since your mother is a princess at first, they will ignore you even if you are talented. They might even protect you as you are a testament to the quality of their bloodline. But once they realise you might become the strongest being in this kingdom, even they won't stay quiet.
The elders from our family are a bunch of old foxes full of ambition. They will protect you with their lives because they see you as a chance to overthrow the Royal Family. But even they cannot completely stop the Royal Family. So fighting them head-on is a gamble. But if successful it'd bear the most profit for our family.
Else, you might have to marry one of your cousins from the Royal Family. It'd be less risky but still bear significant profits. Whoever you marry would pretty much be guaranteed to become the next king. And having you as the queen, our family would gain the best foothold for a whole generation.
So it's up to you really. You can either decide to marry into the Royal Family and not face any danger or not marry and try to fight them head-on. In both cases, you can be assured that our family will support you wholly."
Hearing these things, Estelle looked quite puzzled. She couldn't understand what her father was saying. Fighting? Marrying? Why would she be a threat to the Royal Family in the first place?
From the way Gilbert talked to Estelle, it was clear that he didn't give any of his children much attention. If he had been a good parent, he'd know that a kid her age was not capable of making decisions this important.
It was way too early to tell her such things. This was a decision that'd influence her whole life. It's not something someone can decide at seven years old. Especially if she doesn't understand the causes and the consequences.
After finishing his sentence, Gilbert looked distracted for a second. Then, his face quickly became one of shock. He hurriedly added something more.
"It's okay if you don't get it now. It's still too early to be talking about such things. You should just keep this in mind and ponder about it. When the time comes, you'll have to make one final decision.
So be a good girl and think about it once in a while, okay?"
"Yes!"
"It's a promise?"
"Pinky promise!"
"Okay, you may go and play now. You trained all the time, today you can rest and do whatever you want to. Tomorrow morning you'll be going back to the academy. I'll see you off one last time tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow!"
Saying that Estelle jumped down from the chair she sat on and left the room.
After she left, Albert and an elderly man became visible. They had been in the corner of the room for the whole time.
"Was it too early for me to tell her all of this?"
""Yes.""
Both Albert and the elderly man replied.
"I'm a terrible father, huh. Am I like this to all of my children too?"
""Yes.""
"Oh, come on now. You are hurting my feelings!"
"What feelings? You never put in any effort in the first place. All you care about is your cultivation. You made this decision yourself. Since you were already absent, you might as well completely give up on being a parent and just focus on breaking through. If you manage to make it to the Sage Realm, you'd be a perfect umbrella both for Estelle and all the other kids.
Even the Royal Family would have to tread carefully around you."
Hearing what the elderly man said, Gilbert pondered a little and nodded.
"Anyway, you still haven't told us. What did you find out in the neighbouring Kingdom?"
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