After looking around the training grounds for a while, Yunho found a building that seemed to match the Grand Duke's description. The area it was in was slightly more isolated than the noisy main areas of the grounds.
Yunho pushed the front doors open and entered. The building was composed of a long hallway that connected to four rooms. There were no other rooms, so it was clear that these were just quarters for sleeping. Most likely for a more private rest than where the soldiers and the Grand Duke, the general, stayed.
Yunho walked further in and looked around, peeking into the open doors. All the rooms' doors were open, except for the last one in the hallway.
The words of the Crown Prince popped up in his head: "The last room is occupied, so don't go in."
Yunho gazed at the shut door down the hallway with curiosity but also anxiety. He had a sneaking suspicion of who the occupier had to be.
"Maybe it's best that I don't see who's in there for now."
Not wanting to meet Irene before he had to, Yunho decided to take the first room in the hallway and closed the door behind him. The room was furnished with the essentials and not much else. A bed was placed in the right corner, and a desk was next to it. There wasn't a chair but the desk was reachable from sitting on the bed.
Yunho still had his bag with him, so he placed it on the desk and grabbed the writing materials from it. Yunho sat on the bed and pulled the desk closer to him.
Since there was some free time, Yunho decided to try to recall as much information as he could about the Bahitan army.
The nation of Bahit had never had a particularly good relationship with Lucivia. Additionally, border issues and a refusal to trade led to strained relations between the two nations.
The temple of Baihye had a large influence on Lucivia and its people, but in Bahit, some practitioners used cursed arts using mana.
And these practices were the backbone of the Bahit war strategy along with surveillance and ambush.
But Yunho already had something prepared for that. He glanced at his bag's contents, making sure it was still there.
Yunho finished jotting his thoughts down and folded the paper into his bag.
"I don't feel like sleeping or anything… Maybe I should look around the grounds some more?"
Yunho got up and left the room, leaving his bag on the desk.
—
Soft footsteps sounded through the hallway.
The owner of the footsteps pushed the door to the first room open. Her sharp blue eyes looked around the room before landing on the bag sitting on the desk.
"What do we have here?"
—
The sun had almost fully crept out, mixing blues into the orange painting that was the sky in the early morning.
Yunho walked around the training grounds. There were still a lot of people around, and Yunho could spot a group that looked to be temple workers from their white and blue garments. They were also obviously not soldiers, so there wasn't much else they could be.
The original novel also mentioned that temple workers were present during the war arc. Still, they mostly assisted with aid in the damaged villages and did not engage in combat or strategize. Plus, they also supported their New High Priestess.
After looking at them for a while, one of the temple workers spotted Yunho and sent him a surprised, then judgmental look.
Yunho shirked back and turned away.
"I forgot that Irene wasn't exactly shy about the mistreatment she faced in her childhood. The temple workers probably all hate the other Evastines, including me." Yunho thought, inwardly sighing.
It's hard being an antagonist…
Yunho couldn't spot the Grand Duke around, so Dorian was most likely still talking with the Crown Prince.
Yunho felt stressed even thinking about the crown prince, so he tried to find something else to occupy his mind.
Some soldiers were still using the training arena to practice their moves. In pairs, they would have matches without drawing any real blood, using wooden practice swords instead of full metal ones. It was more like a performance than actual fighting but still seemed very fierce.
The soldiers were on edge due to the war they were being drawn into, but with their experienced general and the support of the temple and High Priestess, the mood was more lighthearted than one would expect. Additionally, the practice matches were a good way for the knights-in-training, in particular, to gauge their skills.
Yunho leaned on the fence separating the arena from the path and watched the matches. He had luckily arrived just as one match ended, so he could watch the next one from the very beginning.
In the training arena, two came up to the raised platform in the center.
Yunho raised his eyebrows when he saw the matchup.
"Doesn't this look a bit imbalanced?"
One of the opponents, a strong-looking hairy man, was almost double the size of the other, a young man with bouncing red curls. But, the smaller man didn't look intimidated.
The match started and before the larger man even moved an inch, the red one was already speeding. His foot raised and slammed back into the ground, pushing him forward. He pulled the sword to the front and managed to hit the larger man's shoulder before he could dodge.
The match wasn't over though. The larger man wasn't bad or slow. It's just that the redhead was so quick on his feet that it was like trying to catch a mouse with super speed.
Yunho watched with awe. He couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be able to move your body with that much efficiency.
The larger man couldn't last too long and was soon overtaken. The red-headed boy had his sword to his neck within 10 minutes, concluding the match.
The man overseeing the matches called out, "Beyr wins this match!"
Yunho was preoccupied with watching, so he didn't notice the other onlookers around him starting to murmur and shuffle out of the way of something coming. His eyes were locked on the young man with the bouncing red curls. He was now leaving the arena, but he had a giddy smile on his face.
"It would be nice to at least know a few moves."
Yunho said quietly to himself. There was something so beautifully strong about swordsmanship that intrigued Yunho.
"I could teach you."
A voice said closely behind Yunho. The voice was even and deep. But also very familiar…
For some unknown reason, Yunho felt like his skin felt hotter when he heard it.
It was probably just from the surprise of being snuck up on.
Yunho turned around and met the Grand Duke's eyes.
The Northern Grand Duke a.k.a the top general of Lucivia himself is offering to teach me swordsmanship?
That was like a master of art offering to teach you how to paint.
Not only would it be detrimental to his reputation to decline, but it would also be a lost opportunity.
"Well, if there's still time… I'd like to know at least how to do a simple block and strike."
The Grand Duke hummed and nodded.
"Follow me then."
Dorian walked into the arena, taking a wooden sword, before walking to a more isolated clearing.
—
The soldiers seeing this began to whisper among themselves. A few people knew who Iris de Evastine was but didn't know him and their General was so acquainted.
"Isn't Iris de Evastine the brother of the High Priestess? Why is he here? I've heard that he and our high priestess aren't on good terms." One said, watching as the Grand Duke led the Evastine young master somewhere else.
"But didn't he also discover the use of Frostwreath during the famine. I remember getting a lot of press…" Another replied.
"Oh, I heard a rumor about that. Some people thought it was kind of suspicious, you know. How was he so prepared?"
The soldiers fell into a conversation about Iris de Evastine, his character, and his possible relationship to the General.
Then, one of the commanders passed by the group.
"Ay, is this a tea party? Why is everyone standing around gossiping? Let's go back to practice!"
The others obliged.
—
Dorian waited for Yunho to catch up and when Yunho was finally in front of him, Dorian tossed the sword to him.
Yunho picked it up and was surprised to find that it was heavier than he thought it was, even though it was only made from wood.
"The wooden swords are weighted down to better imitate an actual one. That one is double-handed, so put your dominant hand closer to the blade than your non-dominant."
Dorian said.
Yunho nodded, now holding the sword in the correct form.
The Duke circled him, looking him over before pressing down on his shoulder.
Yunho lost his balance and almost fell onto the ground before he caught himself. He turned around to face the other man with a confused expression.
Dorian had a slight grin visible on his face but exchanged it for a more serious one.
"Your legs weren't engaged. That's why you lost balance. You want to keep steady, even with someone charging at you."
Yunho inwardly sighed and thought to himself, "This won't be as easy as I thought it would be…"
The Grand Duke gave him a quick lesson on how to run with a sword and block a simple hit. Yunho already felt tired from what felt like endless instruction before Dorian moved on to simple offense moves, like swings and jabs.
After what seemed like the thousandth run of "step-step-block-swing", Dorian finally looked Yunho over and said, "It seems you've gotten it now. That concludes the lesson."
Yunho caught his breath and watched as the Grand Duke assessed the time and began walking away.
Before he got too far away, he turned around and met Yunho's eyes.
"It's time for us to go now. Anything you brought here, you should go get them."
Dorian paused before he started again.
"We'll be going from here to the base on horseback. If you're not sure you can ride, you can ride double with one of the knights or go on one of the two carriages."
The Grand Duke then left with those words.
Yunho nodded and gulped some more air. His limbs still felt sore, but he made his way back to his resting room anyway.
He pushed open the door and saw his bag sitting on the desk. But the bag was slightly open.
"Hm… did I forget to close it?"
Yunho grabbed the bag and looked through it. Everything was in its rightful place.
"Ah, I guess I misremembered."
Yunho left the room, taking the bag with him. Before he walked out the building, he looked down the hallway again. The last door was opened this time. It seems like whoever was staying there had already left.
Well, no time to investigate. It was time to go.
…
From the training grounds to the base, they'd be traveling on horseback, and then drop the horses off at the stables and meadow in the base's territory.
There were a couple of carriages that would be going beside everyone else on horseback: one for the temple workers and one for the crown prince and High Priestess.
Yunho wasn't exactly on good terms with either of those groups, so he had to go on horseback.
But even if Iris knew how to ride on a horse, muscle memory could only go so far, especially when Yunho was a different person mentally despite now being identical physically.
So stuck between a wall and a hard place, Yunho decided to double up on a horse with one of the knights. It was awkward to ride with a stranger, but neither of them made a big deal about it.
The cavalcade made its way through the cold woods. The footsteps of the horses and the rattle of the carriage wheels were masked by the moist ground and foliage.
Yunho tried to swallow down any motion sickness that arose in him, but he found it better to just close his eyes.
Little did he know that someone was actually watching him.
—
From her carriage seat, Irene pushed the curtains on the window apart and peeked through the gap.
Her eyes landed on the youth riding on the back of a horse near the middle of the group. The soldier steering the horse was focused ahead, but the other young man had his eyes shut tight.
She remembered what she saw in Iris's bag. There was nothing out of the ordinary to cause disappointment.
She just wanted proof.
She had to know if she was right.
—
Dorian was leading the group upon a sturdy, black steed, riding in the very front with his commanders following close behind him.
He looked regal on the exterior, but on the interior, the man was contemplative.
There was no way that a young master from a wealthy lineage, like the House of Evastine, would know no swordsmanship or equestrian skills.
Yet, it was like Iris knew nothing more than the average commoner.
The information from Alec included nothing about Iris being adopted, and the young man showed an obvious relation to the rest of the family.
A thought crept into Dorian's mind, the seed growing root in his brain.
What if Iris isn't the same person as before?
Dorian shook the thought away. Something like that didn't make sense. Even the most advanced magic user couldn't replace the soul of an individual. Only something the magnitude of cosmic order or the will of fate and Baihye herself could possibly do something like that.
Iris was probably just experiencing side effects from illness.
"…"
But what if…
—
End of Chapter 32