New Beginnings

Three Months Later

Rozeman Mansion, Empire of Ebon

SELENE wakes up from the distinct sound of swords clashing mingled with the hum of birds chirping. She shot up from her bed and looks outside the window and sees that the sky is slowly being dyed with red and orange hues, just like the color of her eyes. As the sun perches on the horizon and leisurely rises in the sky, Selene immediately rinses her face using the water in the basin that must have been prepared by Carol before changing into her workout clothes. Selene tightly tied her hair long wavy silver-bluish hair that had regained its previous silkiness and luster. Since she started living in the Rozeman residence, she finally has proper baths and been continuously pampered by the maids and everyone in the house.

They treated her like their precious lady, even though she's not the real daughter of this household. And a month from now, she will go to the capital to attend the most-awaited birthday celebration of the Empire's notorious Third Prince, Nicolai, just as planned. That is why Selene's been so busy with everything, including her etiquette, dance, and academic lessons. She is also keeping company the Marchioness Rozeman in her tea parties and walks in the garden. However, Selene's participation in the morning exercise of the knights, and learning how to wield a sword correctly was her idea. It is despite the initial protests of the people around her. Selene hasn't forgotten her original goal, and learning how to protect herself is the only way she can think of not always bothering Kaden.

Despite being adamant about it at first, Selene gave in with Prince Nicolai's suggestion. To avoid suspicions, she needs to stabilize her identity, and the best way to do it is to be adopted into a noble family. If she becomes a noble, it will be easy for her to blend into society. It will also help Selene with her investigations about the Holy Tree locations by accessing even the classified books in the royal library. Of course, with the invitation given by Imperial Highness.

A few months ago, after escaping the coliseum, Selene managed to regroup with the others. While she was lost in the stadium, Kaden and Prince Nicolai immediately found Cessair and Mr. Vanderbilt. And when Prince Nicolai offered Mr. Vanderbilt a chest full of gold in exchange for Cessair's freedom, he agreed without batting an eye. Luckily, Cessair also instantly decided to come with her. They traveled through the ship from Erydale to one of the port towns of the Empire of Ebon before heading to the fief of the Rozeman family. While traveling, they were already brainstorming about their next plans, and Prince Nicolai came up with a ridiculous idea. He was confident that Marchioness Ysabela Isolde Rozeman would agree with his proposal. At first, she didn't understand where his confidence is coming from, but when she saw the portrait of her supposed to be dead son, Selene realizes where his confidence is coming from. They undeniably have a striking resemblance. It is not just some of her facial features but also the shade of her hair and eyes. Selene resembles her dead husband and son. If she didn't know better, Selene might believe if others told her that she's their missing daughter. And when the shut-in Marchioness first saw her, she instantly burst into tears, and all Selene can do is hold her trembling body as she cried in her arms. From there, everything fell according to plan. Selene started living in the mansion and spent her time with the Marchioness while juggling her other tasks.

After tidying up her hair, Selene grabs her practice sword and heads out of the room when she bumped into Carol, her personal maid pushing a cart full of breakfast. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees her outfit.

"My Lady, you should have called me if you're going to change your clothes. And please go back to your room. You should have breakfast first,"

Selene walks towards the cart, grabs the lid of the tray, and pries it open. She picks out her favorite sandwich and stuffs it directly into her mouth.

"My Lady!" Carol calls out to her in panic while looking at different angles to check if someone saw what she did. The most boring and annoying lessons that she has to take this past few weeks are her etiquette lessons. Although she wants to skip it, Marchioness Rozeman utterly rejected the idea.

After swallowing her food, Selene shakes her head as she looks at Carol with a smile. "I will be having my breakfast later. I need to go to the training grounds. Bye, Carol."

Selene took off as soon as she finished talking to Carol. She ran in the mansion's spacious extensive hallway and speeded down the stairs while expertly dodging the workers doing their chores. Selene can feel their curious and amuse gaze as she passes by them, and at the corner of her eyes, she saw the Head Butler conversing with one of the maids when he suddenly stopped mid-sentence upon seeing her running around. His mouth hangs open in disbelief, and she can hear his voice calling out to her. Fortunately, she already got out of the door.

Once she reached the training grounds located at the mansion's back, she sees the other knights having combat exercises. From a distance, she sees Lord Donovan, the vice-captain of the Rozeman family's knights, in deep conversation with Kaden while Cessair is having a mock battle with one of the knights that is a lot older than him. When Lord Donovan felt her gaze, he turns toward her direction and gives her a deep bow. The other knights practicing also saw her and stopped to politely greet her before returning to their own practices. While Cessair smiles at her broadly and repeatedly turns his attention to her. However, that brief distraction earns him a sharp strike of the wooden sword on the top of his head from his partner.

"I need you to focus, boy!" his partner roared out in anger. Cessair mumbles an apology while his ears are tainted red with embarrassment. Selene chuckles before running towards Kaden.

"Good morning, Lord Donovan. I apologize for being late," Selene politely greeted before turning to Kaden with a sheepish smile on her face. Kaden smiled in return, and she couldn't help but stare for quite some time. It's nice to see him smiling, aside from his usual grumpy face. They have become busy with their tasks, especially that Kaden has been officially hired as a Marquis family knight. He's been going out a lot of the mansion. They also rarely see each other in the evening though he is living in the barracks of the Rozeman residence. With the recommendation of the Marchioness, Kaden had become an apprentice of Lord Donovan, and he had been working hard with his training and mission that she's glad he finally earned his title.

Although Prince Nicolai had proposed that he should just come with him to the capital and become a knight under his jurisdiction, Kaden flat out refused. Though Selene is aware of the reason for their arguments, she avoided discussing it with Kaden because he doesn't want to talk about it. He had never told her anything about her real family or identity. Selene didn't probe because she is waiting for him to open up to her. She thought that they had gotten close compared to the first few days that they've been together, but she realized that closeness wasn't enough for him to discuss his personal life.

Selene hears someone clearing his throat, and her head turns sharply towards Lord Donovan, who has a blank expression on his face. Her face reddened in embarrassment while Kaden remained quiet. She must have been staring far too long.

"My Lady, are you ready with your training?" Lord Donovan asks politely.

Selene nodded vigorously. "Yes, please take care of me,"

She's been feeling good about her training. It also helps that she had some background, but there are too many differences, like how she uses a bamboo sword before, but now she uses a wooden sword. She is usually wearing protective gear from head to toe, but now she's wearing regular clothes.

"Then, My Lady, please prepare for our sparring and do your practice swings. Wait for me over there; I just have to discuss something with Kaden."

Selene silently nodded and did as she was told. A few minutes later, she sees Kaden leaving the grounds without looking back in her direction. Selene snorts in annoyance while swinging her wooden sword in the air. Why does it feel like she's being ignored?

Feeling somehow dejected, Selene takes into position while waiting for Lord Donovan to get ready. Suddenly, she feels pairs of eyes boring a hole in her face. It also became unusually quiet like everybody suddenly stopped swinging their swords and decided to watch her spar practice with the vice-captain. It has been like that for a few days since she managed to get a clean hit on Lord Donovan's chest without difficulty. They must be curious how she managed to do that, and whenever she walks the halls of the mansion, she can always feel their gaze on her that it's getting uncomfortable. Despite all that commotion, no one ever dared to go near her and talk to her. She's been trying to be friendly with the knights, but they still act polite with her, or sometimes they avoid her like she has the plague.

Suddenly, Lord Donovan walks towards her direction, holding a thin sword. Unlike the longsword used by the knights, this sword is slender and a relatively long-blade with a protective hilt constructed to protect the hand.

"Why don't we skip using the wooden sword for today and change into this, instead. This blade will be easy for you to wield considering your body size,"

Selene takes the sword from his hand, and just as Lord Donovan said, it is lightweight compared to the other blade, and she can easily lift it. Considering that she's quick and agile on her feet, it will be easy for her to thrust an attack. Lord Donovan is also holding the same type of sword, but the blade looks longer and broader as it matches his size. When he took the position opposite her, the place becomes deathly quiet, and the vice-captain looks at her gravely.

"My Lady, the purpose of today's sparring practice is to disarm each other. All you have to do is take this sword out of my hands. Attack me with all you've got. You don't need to hold back,"

Selene flinched because of the strange comment. Well, she's indeed been holding back her strength. It is because it's unusual for a young girl with her built to overpower a strong knight that towers over her and with a well-built body. To not stick out like a sore thumb, Selene decided to hold back, but it's not like she's some kind of a swordmaster. Why does he have to look at her like that, like he is expecting something from her?

Selene heaves a huge sigh. Maybe, she can try putting in a lot of effort this time around. It will be rude not to reciprocate his sincerity. "Yes, Lord Donovan. I will try my best,"

Without warning, Lord Donovan flew towards her direction and powerfully struck with his sword. Selene deflected the attack using her own sword as a shield, but the force was so strong she was slightly pushed back, and her boots slightly dug down the ground. She can see that Lord Donovan was taken aback by her strength, and she used that chance to take a step back and regain her bearing. They circled one another, each waiting for another opportunity to strike. Selene tightened her sword grip before continuously attacking him with her sharp swings, not giving him a chance for a breather. She deftly and swiftly attacks Lord Donovan while putting more than enough strength to overpower him. However, it seems like it wasn't enough. He couldn't dodge her attacks because of how quick she was, but he's been managing to parry each one of her attacks.

Selene gritted her teeth. She put forth another sharp and strong swing of her sword when Lord Donovan takes a step forward and uses plenty of force to block her swing and displace her sword out of her hands. Luckily, Selene was able to fight back with more than an amount of strength that left his body rattled, instead. With their close distance, she took that chance to grab his hand holding the sword and twist his wrist before kicking his knee to knock him off balance. As Lord Donovan fell on the ground, he slowly loses his grip on his sword, and it naturally slid away from his hands. With ragged breathing, Selene pointed the tip of her sword to the side of his neck, and he raises his hand in defeat. Her heart loudly thumps as she hears the loud whistles of the knights as they cheer on her. She never thought she could pull it off, or maybe he's going easy on her? Either way, that wristlock has become very useful to her these past months.

SELENE grimaces with gritted teeth when she felt the sharp and stinging slap of the stick on her back. Lady Sinclair places another book on the top of her head as she keeps on walking.

"My Lady, keep your head up and straighten your back. As you walk, gently swing your arms back and forth at your sides. You need to learn how to walk elegantly with no wasted movements!" Lady Sinclair sharply instructed. Without looking at her expression, she can tell that she doesn't like what she's seeing.

Whenever she hears her hit her other hand using her stick while under the strict scrutiny of her glaring eyes beneath those glasses, Selene can already tell that she did something wrong. And true to her hunch, it's been only less than five minutes, and the book already fell on the floor with a loud thump. Why the hell does she have to learn how to walk appropriately?! She'd rather attend the sparring practice of the knights than deal with this lesson. Never in her life did she ever thought that she has to worry about how to walk elegantly!

A frustrated moan escapes her lips, and her etiquette tutor doesn't like it one bit. She slightly moves up the eyeglasses that perch on her nose, and she can feel her hot, burning gaze. "A noble lady should remain proper and graceful at all times. You should stop making vulgar noises that will taint the Rozeman family. Let's repeat from the top,"

Selene immediately bit back the retort that almost erupted from her lips and bowed her head in apology. "Yes, Lady Sinclair,"

After her morning sparring with Lord Donovan, she had breakfast, took a quick bath before changing into a proper dress that befits a noble, and then, she spent her entire morning learning the etiquettes of a lady. Selene thinks that she spent two hours of it just to learn how to walk correctly. She had a brief lunch break and her afternoon flew by quickly that mostly entails listening to the lectures of her academic instructors. Selene was so tired that she practically zoned out during the history lesson. Aside from her morning sparring, she's actually looking forward to her magic lessons. She's going to meet her instructor tomorrow. When Marchioness Rozeman learned that she has an affinity for magic, she took it upon herself to look for someone with the right qualification to teach her.

Selene's already feeling guilty because she's receiving too much, and all she had to is to stay by the Marchioness' side, get her out of her own world, and keep her entertained. She never thought she would quickly agree to take her in. No matter how many times she thinks about it from a different angle, there is no merit in accepting her as the household's daughter. The Marchioness may have missed her husband and son, but it doesn't mean that a girl like her with unknown origin can replace them and fill the hole brought about by their absence.

As she lay on the couch and stare off into space, Selene thinks of a way to somehow help the Marchioness in another way when the door opens, and Carol comes inside.

"My Lady, it's almost time for your audience with Marchioness Rozeman. Let me help you get change,"

Selene sighs. She still has a long day ahead of her.