The Royal Deal

Chapter 193

She had been looking at him, so she was pretty sure he looked this way. She had seen him smile a little. She looked at Lunia to see if she saw it too, but Lunia was looking at the knights, so she wasn’t sure if she saw Alexcent’s gaze too.

Did no one see it? Or did I imagine it? She could hear the knights panting and didn’t move much out of fatigue. On the other hand, Alexcent deflected Hill’s attack with only one arm. Hill appeared composed but his hands were shaking. Seeing ow Alexcent wasn’t deflecting his attacks immediately, it seemed Hill was indeed strong.

Buer took it as an opportunity and ran towards Alexcent. Alexcent pushed down on Hill’s attacks and hooked his leg to his, because of which Hill lost his balance momentarily. As Buer advanced, Alexcent pushed the stumbling Hill towards Buer. Buer couldn’t slow his momentum and collided with Hill. Alexcent stepped aside anticipating their clash and fall. Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.

“Gah!”

“Ugh.”

Buer wrapped his hands over his head, while Hill grabbed his chin as he moaned in pain.

“Tsk.” A dust wind blew past, and Alexcent stood there leisurely.

Amethyst who had been tensely observing the whole thing finally loosened her clenched fist, unable to watch any longer as she got up.

“My lady?”

“I-I need to go back. I don’t think I should stay any longer.”

“But…”

“Let’s go. Next time—”

“Madam, I am so sorry!” said Lunia, as she pushed Amethyst out of the bushes and towards the arena. She was exposed and everyone looked at her.

Lunia followed her into the arena out of the bushes. Amethyst flushed a deep shade of red when she felt everyone’s eyes on her.

“Lunia!” she glared at her.

“I am so sorry,” apologized Lunia, “I fell…”

“What do you mean you fell? You just pushed me!”

“I would never!” said Lunia, pretending to be aghast.

“Lunia!” exclaimed Amethyst. She was about to scold her when she was interrupted with another voice.

“What’s going on?” asked Alexcent as he approached them. Instinctively, Amethyst turned to face him, her skin covered with goosebumps.

“Well… I… um,” she stammered. What should I do? He would get angry. He told her not to come to the training grounds and she didn’t listen. Why do I always end up making him angry?

“Her ladyship said she wanted to show you something, so we came to visit,” said Lunia. Amethyst was thankful. Her mind had gone blank.

“Something to show me?” he turned to Amethyst, “What is it that you want to show me that made you crawl through the bushes instead of taking the main entrance?”

“Madam,” said Lunia, “You should show it to His Excellency now.” Lunia smiled at her fearfully and nudged Amethyst.

“Uh… yeah… it’s not really that important. I just practiced my shooting….” Now that she was here, rambling about showing her results felt so foolish. She felt like a kid showing off her exam paper to her friends. It felt very awkward.

Seeing her hesitate, Alexcent took the target sheet from her hands. “Hmm,” he said, “You did very good. Better than expected of a beginner at shooting.”

She had expected him to get angry at her for appearing at the training ground. But this unexpected praise surprised and confused her.

“By any chance, did you hit your head?”

“What? Why would you say that? Do I look like someone who would allow myself to be hit by amateurs?”

“Then why…”

“What do you mean why?” he said, still looking at the target sheet. “Wow! This truly is amazing. I have never seen someone hit the center so cleanly.”

Amethyst thought that he was just testing her now. “Liar! You are teasing me, aren’t you?”

“Is it really that difficult to accept a compliment from me?” he asked. “I am telling you the truth. You did a really great job.”

Amethyst scowled. Alexcent laughed and ruffled her hair, messing it up. He then turned to Hill. “Let’s end the practice for today.”

“Yes, my lord,” said Hill and bowed respectfully, followed by the other knights.

“No! It’s alright. You can continue. Don’t stop because of me. I was hiding in the bushes because I didn’t want to get in the way.”

“My lady!” shrieked the knights in unison. Amethyst wondered what the fuss was about while Alexcent glared at the knights. Lunia, Hill and the knights avoided his gaze and turned away pretending to be busy with something.

Alexcent was amused and Amethyst looked adorable to him as she struggled with the situation. Really, she always made him laugh at the most unexpected things.

“You really didn’t need to hide, though,” he said, chuckling.

“But… you said I am banned from entering the training grounds for a while.”

“Hmm, that I did. But when do you ever listen to me?” he said with a smirk.

“But still… you are not finished!”

“Alright, alright,” said Alexcent, raising his hands in surrender. “You can do as you please.”

“Really?’

“Of course!” he said, “So, what do you want to do? Do you want me to continue training? Or, we could go back.”

Amethyst slowly looked around at everyone. Everybody looked at Amethyst with a desperation in their eyes. “Shall we go back then?” asked Amethyst.

“If you wish,” said Alexcent. “Let’s go.”