I was busted!

A few months later since the Royal Bathhouse incident.

[Royal Garden]

"Hey Ara, how good are you now at using swords?" Cassie asks.

"..?!" I almost spilled the tea I was drinking out of shock.

I never told anyone from outside the palace about my swordsmanship training since it might lower my credentials as a woman, so how did she know? Vivi is not also the type of person to talk about something with others without asking for my permission first. Maybe she is just bluffing? I better play it off as a joke for now.

"E-Eh~ What do you mean by that?" I said so while my eyes are looking at a distance.

"Come on Ara, you can't trick me like that. I can see it through your posture, and sometimes on your way of talking. I'm training to become a knight too so I know how training can make you so disciplined, at the same time while being dignified." Cassie points out her speculations while stuffing her mouth with cookies.

"Ugh.. Since when did you know?"

I noticed that Cassie can really eat a lot.

"Hm.. When I saw you talking with the others at the first tea party you held here?"

That's pretty much as soon as we first met then!

"O-Oh, is that so? I'm sorry for keeping it a secret to the both of you, but since Cassie knew about it, you probably knew about it too, right Bea?" I smile awkwardly.

"W-Well, yeah, of course. I am a Creutscher after all. It's only natural for me to know about that in an instant."

"Ugh, I knew it. I'm really sorry for hiding it from you two." I bow slightly to them in order to apologize sincerely.

"..!! N-No, it's okay Ara, Sandra and I don't really mind it that much. I'm sure you have your reasons for doing that so, raise your head, okay?" Bea became flustered and asks me to stop apologizing.

After a few minutes of apologizing, I stopped since Bea looked like she was about to cry just to stop me from bowing my head.

"Hey Ara, how about sparring with me?"

After she suggested that, Bea stood up and went in front of me with her arms wide open, her body facing Cassie, as if she is trying to protect me from something.

"No! What are you even talking about?! Why would you ask Ara to practice with you? You know it yourself, that you are already stronger than some actual knights!"

Eh? Did I hear that right? Cassie is already that good despite being only 7 years old?!

"Ehehe." Cassie places her hand on the back of her head while grinning embarrassedly due to having been complimented.

"Who knows what will happen if you spar with an amateur instead of a real knight."

After Bea said that, Cassie suddenly looked serious, "But we don't know for sure if Ara is really just an amateur."

Usually, Cassie doesn't really pay much attention to what we are talking about, but when the topic is about swordsmanship, she is suddenly eager to participate and becomes so spirited.

Looks like they don't know that I'm merely training my swordsmanship simply because of Alex. I feel bad for keeping it from them but I think it doesn't really matter right now.

While the two are still doing a debate, I speak up, "I think it's a good idea. I want to know my actual skill level when compared to the actual knights anyway. Also, I don't know if I might have just been burdening my instructor with my lack of talent."

When I said that, Cassie's face lit up while Bea has left her mouth open (probably due to my unexpected answer) and finally looks like she has been prepared for the worst case scenario.

I then glanced at Vivi from behind and asked, "What do you think?"

In which she vaguely replied, "I believe in Milady's abilities." and as vague as it may be, I was still happy to hear that Vivi believes in me.

.

..

...

[Training Grounds]

A few weeks have passed, and now it's time for the appointed time of my sparring with Cassie. We planned ahead so we can match our schedules, and I even made a 'deal' with the bastard just so that we can use the training grounds for our sparring. I was given permission to use the place, but in exchange, I'll have even more time allotted for my training. However, knowing him, he'll probably want to watch me suffer an utter defeat and feel humiliated, which is why I didn't specify which time I'll be using the training grounds. Thank god he's dumb enough not to notice that.

Anyway, It looks like we are the only ones here today. Apparently, the other knights were given some assignment by the commander. Seriously, I owe the commander quite a lot now, I wonder when will I have the chance to thank him?

Right now I am wearing my usual attire whenever I was training, and Cassie was given the same uniform. When I first saw Cassie in her uniform, I was in awe for a while. I was surprised to see her look so dignified, which is a lot different when compared to her wearing a dress. She emits such a strong aura even though she is just adjusting her uniform, I guess that is what you can expect from a child of the House Braymont.

I'd be lying if I said that I'm not looking forward to see if there will be some interesting developments during this time, but I'm certainly not expecting a good outcome from this. This will be my first actual battle so I'm quite nervous, I don't even know if I'll be able to use what I've learned from Miss Deuwen. Oh well, there's no point in worrying about it, I'll just deal with it when the time comes hahaha.

After fixing my thoughts in place, I hear a voice calling for me, "Sis!" I look around and see Alex along with some few people from the palace.

"Sis~ I've brought mother and father to come watch you!" says Alex as he cheerfully waves his hands around while coming towards me.

"..."

Are you fucking kidding me?