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scene eight:
the feathery sword

"How is she so skilled with
the sword?"
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JUNGWON YAWNED AS he walked through the halls of the castle. Although he had woken up, taken a bath, and eaten already — he can't help but feel sleepy.

He has his lips pouted as he thought of what to do in his free time. Surely, he'll start working later in the afternoon.

"Good morning, your highness." A butler greeted Jungwon. The prince smiles sleepily, then a certain someone popped into his mind.

It was a fever dream, right? She's actually in their kingdom, right?

"Uhm, hey — where is Princess Ava?" Questioned Jungwon.

"Princess Ava is in the training fields. Her crowned princess has been there since she finished preparing." The butler answered and noticed Jungwon's surprised expression.

"I see... Also, can you prepare some treats for my office when I work later?"

"Of course, your highness."

Jungwon smiles as thanks to the butler. He hurried his steps to the training fields where Ava was like the butler said.

He knew Ava could fight. It was obvious just from her stern and independent personality. Plus, carrying a dagger with her wherever she goes also gave it away.

The second Jungwon stepped into the training fields, he immediately saw Jay and Niki standing there.

Their eyes were wide at the sight of Ava fighting with their strongest knights.

"Oh, good morning!" Niki was the first one to notice Jungwon's presence.

"You're finally awake!" Jay smiled at the younger.

Jungwon nodded and stood on their side. His eyes landed on the knights grunting on the ground. Their hands supporting a part where they felt a little pain.

There was a lot of them. "Did Ava do this?"

"Yeah — I could confirm that she's stronger than all of them." Niki pointed out, which made Jay snicker.

"It's not so obvious with the grunting knights on the ground." The three focused on Ava's training with the knights.

They noticed how Ava's style with the sword was completely light. It was as if she wasn't putting any weight on her fighting style.

She spins at the times to push away bee enemies. The three princes noticed her little jumps and her movements of leaning forward after and before an attack.

Her sword clashing onto the swords of the knights. She barely even uses anything else other than her sword.

"She's as light as a feather when fighting." Jay has his finger on his chin. A pose he does when he's incredibly focused on the training of someone else's.

Niki nodded. "It's as if she can go behind your back within a blink of an eye."

Jungwon couldn't say anything and just focused on Ava. His eyes widened when he saw her moving her sword from right to left and back into her right hand.

He didn't even notice it at first because of how fast she was going.

"Her sword-,"

"It's going back and forth from right to left." Jay pointed out, to which Niki gasped.

"I didn't even notice that... Wait, what does that mean?" Niki laughed, being clueless with swords as he's a claymore user himself.

"Honestly, I'm not so sure either. I've seen no one do that before. I'm certain that she isn't doing that because she's inexperienced." Jay said while Jungwon kept watching.

"I think she's doing that because there are enemies coming from both sides. With her fighting style, it's easy to move forward and back. The closer your sword is to the enemy, the faster you are to pushing them back."

The two awed at Jungwon's statement. Niki clapped at Ava's training, and Jay was just heavily impressed.

The three of them were speechless when Ava finished all the knights. Now, they're not sure if they should be afraid of her or not.

Ava caught her breath before she lifted her head to where the boys were. She felt her mind shut down and her body freeze.

Have they been watching the whole time? Ava was bewildered, immediately looked away from the prince.

It wasn't because of her training — it was because of how sweaty and tired she looked. She has sweat dripping from her forehead down to her neck.

She felt disgusting, to say the most.

AVA SAT ACROSS THE THREE PRINCES. Silence snuggled between them. Niki eyes his two brothers before eyeing Ava who's now dressed in her casual clothing.

Niki decides to break the silence, "Ava, Ava! How do you look so light while fighting? It was very cool."

Ava slightly flinched at his compliment before letting out a soft chuckle.

"I guess, it's because I trained for a very long time? I was very small back then, so I just adapted to moving lightly." Ava answered his question.

"Don't you use a sword, Niki?"

"He uses a claymore." Jay cleared his throat to ease the awkwardness. Ava smiled, realized what he was doing.

"That's right! My type of claymore is heavy, so I tend to use both of my hands. I like the sword but I'm not used to it. I prefer more weight since that's what I grew up with."

Niki explained and Ava nodded as she drank her tea.

"Claymores are cool weapons for great damage against the enemy. You're certainly very good with it."

Jungwon lets out a cough, "why did you learn to use the sword, Ava?" Intended to change the topic due to 'feelings', he stared at Ava.

"Mostly because I watched my brothers train with them. I grew interested, so I secretly asked our general to teach me. I've gotten better at it and my family eventually found out. In the end, they were late to stop me."

Ava laughed at the memory of her disbelieved family when they caught her fighting knights with a sword. She was already 15, 8 years after she started learning.

"I wish you could teach me your art of the sword, Princess Ava." Jay's voice softened.

Ava's cheeks evidently turned pink at how gentle the prince looked just now. She isn't the type to fall easily and she isn't but...

They're making her feel things.

"Well, if you would like then it's alright with me."

"Wah, Jay gets to learn from a master! I want to learn too but I use the claymore." Niki shook his head in disbelief and envy.

"I hope he loses to Princess Ava." Jungwon said as he takes a another sip of his tea.

Ava laughed at his remark while Jay started nagging him.

JAKE STOOD ON THE OTHER SIDE of the training fields. Across him were where his 3 brothers stood and watched Ava.

His hand was pressed against the pillar as he reminisce Ava's training.

He's a swordsman himself but he's never seen anyone fight with a sword like Ava. It was something he was pleasured to see.

"My my, what got you stuck here?" Jake was snapped out of his trance by an approaching Sunoo and Heeseung.

"I could ask you the same."

"Oh, were you watching Ava too?" Even Sunghoon appeared from their side. Sunoo lets out a laugh.

"Wah- you're all unbelievable." Sunoo was shut up when Heeseung smacked his head lightly.

"You were mesmerized with Ava and you're calling us unbelievable?"

"To talk seriously though, Ava is really skilled with the sword, isn't she?" Said Sunghoon which made Heeseung smile.

"No need to say that again. I'm 100% sure that she duels with her brothers." Heeseung said, remembering the angry moments of Ava towards her brothers.

"Now that you said that — her brothers, especially Choi Yeonjun and Choi Beomgyu are extremely skilled with different weapons. Do you think Ava mastered other weapons as well?" 

Jake brought up which silenced the 3 princes with him. Heeseung thought carefully while Sunghoon waited for the older's answer.

Sunoo gasped, "that would make her so cool!"