Sparring Session

Unable to withstand being in the same room at close proximity with his step brother, Vance resorted to having his meal inside his chamber, until at least he was stable mentally and physically, which Melva had no way to tell because he was never stable. The two of them were now back to eating in peaceful silence, served only by his most loyal butler, Wilber who seemed to never question his every odd decision and comply without hesitation. It raised a question in her mind: what Vance had ever done to him to possibly make a human this loyal.

Wilber was a human and that made him no older than fifty years. If he had been serving Vance since young, then he must have known about him feeding on human flesh. However, it seemed like he was staying here out of his own will, unlike Melva who had no other choice. And it was not only him, the other maids and butlers were also very willing to work for him. It was still a mystery unsolved in her mind.

Although he no longer devoured human flesh as of now, Vance had admitted he had done that horrid thing ritually once every two years a long time ago until a witch had cursed him. He had mentioned a witch, but Melva believed it was not merely a witch. It must have been the work of the Moon Goddess from the legend. If demons were real, why couldn't goddesses be?

Vance sighed in satisfaction as he finished his last bite and Wilber began to clean the table. "Ah, if only I could kick that bastard out of this manor, how tranquil this place would be."

"You are the owner of the manor, Your Grace. This place operates under your will. You can simply remove anyone you do not wish to live here," said Melva matter-of-factly. She was also done eating and she had to admit that the meal was more delicious when they ate inside his chamber, away from the prying eyes of his step brother.

Shaking his head in disapproval, he sighed tiredly. "It is not that simple, Melva. I am sure you already know what kind of man he is. He is a man of many schemes. If I am not careful, the next thing I know I will lose everything."

"What a very exhausting life you have been living, Your Grace," commented Melva offhandedly.

Vance merely stared at her and then replied with sarcasm. "Thank you for the obvious remark. It is very helpful."

"Well, I am glad. I hope you will also be helpful in teaching me how to use daggers. It will be a shame if I have to search for another teacher who is more capable," taunted Melva, because she knew precisely that it would get to him. He couldn't stand having his pride hurt. And lately, getting on his nerves was her only enjoyment.

Vance sent a glare her way and abruptly stood, causing his chair to fall backwards. "Let me show you what I am capable of. You will be begging for me to teach you."

It was funny to see him completely irked merely by some harmless taunts. She was holding back her giggles as she followed him out of his chamber to grab her new twin daggers from hers. Her bow and quiver were already returned back to her chamber as well from her cancelled hunting session earlier. She also brought them with her, in case Vance would be willing to let her go back in the woods to hunt, even if it was less likely.

Lord Corbett and Lady Rosina had not returned yet, judging from the empty dining hall when they had walked through it to head towards the armoury, where Vance placed his weapons. The armoury was a huge storage room which was filled with display cases of various weapons. From one glance, she could see that there were more kinds of weapons there than there were at the Crescent Light Forge. It was also much bigger than the shop.

"Do not touch anything," warned Vance while he was browsing through cases of weapons and noticing she was about to reach a bow that was hanging on the display case by the wall.

Melva didn't heed to his warning and did the opposite of what he had warned her not to. With one swift swing of her hand, she snatched the bow from its hanger. She studied the bow in her hand and saw the symbol carved on the surface of it: a crescent moon. It was just like the symbol on her twin daggers.

"Are they all from Rosetta's shop?" asked Melva curiously, tracing the symbol with her thumb. She wondered whether Rosetta was his weapon dealer who provided all the weapons he had here. If so, then their relationship was only between a merchant and a customer. That still didn't answer the question why she had to yield to him.

Vance huffed in disbelief, ignoring her question. "Will you ever listen to a word I said?"

Melva hung the bow Vance had bought her from the shop on the wall and attached the one she had taken from the display on her back. She exchanged them, because she knew the ones who had the symbols on them were the better ones. Besides, the symbol was pretty. "Do you want to hear my answer, Your Grace? You will be disappointed, so I would rather not tell you."

"Fine. Take anything you wish to take. I do not need weapons to aid me in my battles," grunted Vance as he took a pair of gold daggers from an expensive looking case. He showed them off to Melva. "See these? They are no more than decorations. For the sake of our sparring session today, I will use them for the first time."

Melva couldn't care less about his shining weapons. All this man wanted to do was brag about the money and power he had. But obviously, she would not give him the satisfaction. Also, she was not interested in the slightest.

She gave him a blank look, blinking her eyes to feign innocence. "And? I do not see the point of weapons made of gold, Your Grace. Can we just start our sparring session?"

Vance irritatedly shoved the daggers into the sheaths that were strapped on his belt and said nothing as he left the armoury. Melva had to fasten her pace to follow behind him. He took her outside the manor towards the empty field near the garden. It must be built for combat practice, for she could see various targets and dummies made of straw.

Standing in the centre of the practice field, Vance unsheathed his shiny daggers, which looked ridiculous now that he held them in position, ready to combat. "Take out your daggers and attack me. I will be on defence."

Melva was hesitant as her hold on her daggers tightened. "But, Your Grace, you will get hurt if you do not fight back."

"I would rather hurt myself than hurt you. Come," urged Vance, reassuring her that it was fine to hurt him.

She was not convinced, but she was eager to learn at the same time. The daggers would probably not be able to get through his skin or something. He was the demon after all. She would never know what these werewolves were capable of. She had never properly studied them, for no one in Ichorhold knew anything about the demons aside from what they had heard through folklore that was spread around the town.

Just like how she had been practising alone in her chamber, Melva swung the daggers one at a time, but Vance fended them off easily with his decoration daggers. He was avoiding her slashes while giving her pointers. It was so effortless for him that he could probably avoid all of her advances even if he had his eyes closed.

"Your moves are predictable. Switch them up or come up with new ones." Vance was making a point by lowering his daggers, showing her that he didn't even need to fend her attacks off if he could easily avoid them all.

"Try using both daggers at once," instructed Vance helpfully.

Melva was varying her moves as he had suggested to her. She swung upwards and then downwards. She stabbed and then slashed. Nothing was working on him. He was able to dodge them all.

She was then reminded of the quiver that was strapped around her thigh, peeking out from between the slit of her hunting dress. Taking out one of the arrows from the quiver with the same hand that was holding the dagger, she threw the arrow as hard as she could.

It was enough to take him by surprise as he made a big move to dodge it. While he was distracted by the arrow, she quickly swung her dagger and successfully slashed his chest, earning a groan of pain from him.

She was about to celebrate her success when she saw blood seeping through his now ruined clothes. The dagger had injured him and she panicked. Throwing away her daggers, she came near him to take a better look at his injury.

"Oh, my! I am sorry, Your Grace. You are bleeding. What should I do?" She touched his chest to examine his wound, seeing how deep it was. However, the wound gradually healed itself while she was taking a closer look at it, shocking her and causing her to jump back reflexively.

"You can kiss it better," teased Vance playfully.