I didn't mean to

Princess' secret training grounds reverberated with the clash of words. A well-trained ex-knight's sword flew away, almost scaring the maids who kept watch over the princess.

"It is encouraging to see you improving, princess. Yet, I must admit that if you proceed as you do, those swordsmen might beg you to be their teacher. Even I a knight that had the luck of serving in the imperial army struggle to keep up with a lovely princess.”

Even if Arthur needs the help of a wheelchair to get around he is not to be underestimated, he has along with the help of the palace mechanic has made a wheelchair that can be turned into a great defense weapon, with the help of rods it can make a moving shield that stops any attacks near the use.

One of the first lessons I learned while training was how to look for blind spots.

A weakness that exists in everything can be exploited if you know how to find it.

Every morning, he would say it as a blessing right before training and it would continue until training was over.

"I still feel as if I haven't trained enough. The teacher is very skilled, but I urgently need..." "...someone with a proper body that can teach you to deal with opponents that possess two legs. Isn't that right?"A loud laugh reverberated throughout the chamber as he continued to cough into silence. She promptly grabbed a glass of water to help the teacher with his more frequent coughing.

“I know your mind child, as I have had the honor to train you ever since you first showed the determination to fight back against the world. It was obvious you'd want to talk about this matter, so I've arranged a sort of conversation with an old acquaintance that I know you'll enjoy. The 'swordsmen' will be nothing but diapers for you if you defeat him."

As soon as the master had finished, if I may describe him as a rather big slightly old man with rippling muscles came hurriedly by. You must know that I have no intention of marrying off to old men since this is impermissible. However, I must give credit where credit is due.

He is like those handsome grandfathers that would still be surrounded by ladies and would be the envy of young men.

“I greet the fourth Princess luna of our beloved nation, I greet the start that shows the light when the people are blind. I am Eardich in the imperial army I was second in command before I retired three or four years ago." He bowed, holding his right hand against his chest while closing his eyes, expressing his deep respect for me.

"I am glad to be in the presence of a person who has served this nation” in return I also closed my eyes while I curtsied, and I even lowered myself a little to reciprocate his greeting. "I am too highly regarded by the princess. As a spectator at the match, I witness how the princess is capable of surpassing even the Emperor if given the proper training and time."

Upon being complimented in this way, I blushed a bit. "I guess the princess isn't used to such compliments. What is the length of time you've been training with Arthur?"

If my calculations are correct, the princess has been training for about five to six years now."

"That's then around the time the queen..." Before Eardich could continue, he was bashed by a picnic basket and the ends of a sword. Edardich quickly received the memo and bowed in apology.

"It is true that after my mother's funeral I began to study swords." A smile bearing pearly white teeth emerged.

“To be able to reach your majesty’s level in just a span of a few years is just magnificent. Most like myself start by the ages of six or seven, to advance in your level will take about reaching the thirties.”

“You flatter me, Eardich”

Eardich was being too friendly with the Princess, and Arthur was horrified that he might ensnare her away from him. "Enough talking, Eardich, I'm tired of hearing your voice." He cried madly at his friend.

"I would be honored to be your highness' sparring partners, as your old man said."

“I am only forty-five years old even the general is older than me, what right do you have mister forty-seven…” “This is FALSEHOOD, my dear princess, please allow me to throw this old man and his demon wheelchair into a pit of horse dung.”

“*giggle*"

"How did you know about the wheelchair, Eardich?”

"Last week, he tried to deceive me into sparring with the princess, making sure to trip over his damned wheelchair in front of all my friends and claiming that 'I am losing my touch.' However, I saw the princess's skills and decided instead to take a little break. I am glad to have canceled my planned vacation so I could witness her skills."

"I have required of myself to be a swordswoman due to my plans for acquiring an army, I simply thought that if war were to break out it would be best to have a force that is strictly under my command so that I could at least fight for my life on equal footing with the enemy and my empire."

"It is highly commendable of you, princess. May we begin our spar, your highness?"

"You may call me Luna in private if you like. Others are unwilling to comply. I could only compromise by calling myself a princess in private."

"My brain doesn't like needless legal jargon."

"I have no patience for that."

Following that, we quickly walked ten paces from Arthur's location.

"On a battlefield with no rules, everything goes as it pleases. Eardich will utilize his full potential as the princess has previously requested. Unless there is a clear winner or if anyone of you is greatly hurt or if either of you requests that the match be terminated, I agree to allow each of you to harm the other. There are trained doctors at hand. Do you concede to this spar on these terms.?"

"I concede"

"You got it, gramps"

“Begin” in an irritated voice the match quickly began.

Having spotted an old wound on his right shoulder from the unusual way that Eardich angles his shoulder, I quickly aimed the tip of the sword at it. However, in the nick of time Eardich was able to deflect my sword and crouched to throw a powerful aim at my throat.

Using my left knee, I kicked Eardich in mid-throw and threw him off balance. As he moved his feet forward to balance his throw, in a split second, he decided that his future attack would come from the back of my body. I twisted my body towards the left and struck him at about the level of the hip bone on his left side. In brute strength, he moved his sword downward to deflect mine and threw me off balance as if reading my mind.

At that exact moment, I used my right elbow to shield him and upturned my, and then at the last moment, I threw my right leg and kicked him near his abdomen and used the time to quickly make a small jugular vein while he was in midair.

To accomplish this little task, I cut and struck at his fingers sharply to make sure that he would lose his ability to use the sword; however, little did I realize that he would backpedal and redirected the sword towards my heart during that time.

Fear quickly rose to the surface and took control. Despite knowing deep down that this was a spar, I had no logic at the time. I felt like it was my first assassination attempt a week after my mother's funeral.

I don’t want to die

I don’t want to die

I don’t want to die

I don’t want to die

I don’t want to die

Please DON’T KILL ME!!!!

“Princess”

“Princess Luna. Please wake up!!!”

“Luna...let…let me g-go”

I quickly returned to reality after hearing those words.

What did I do?!?!?!

How did this happen?!?!?!?

By the time I regained consciousness, I was strangling Eardich and the wound in my hand had deepened thanks to my earlier cut; the ground was stained with blood. My hands had deep scarring from Joslyn trying to remove my hands from this poor man's neck and Britta and Arthur trying to pull me off of him by tying their arms around my shoulders.

The coughing and gurgling made me jump off and use all my strength to carry him to the medical wing.

Almost completely forgetting the doctor Arthur had brought on board, thankfully the doctor arrived in time to prevent me from fleeing to the medical wing.

My heart filled with emotions I haven't felt in a long time as I asked Arthur to guide them to my private medical wing. Eardich was in a horrendous state of desperation.