Ava and Miriam were in the training ground, clad in beautiful warrior robes that accentuated their already deadly figure, each wielding a sword that exuded an aura equivalent to an Etherial as they faced each other with calm looks on their faces.
Almost as if on cue, they launched themselves towards each other with a huge burst of speed, their swords clashed, creating sparks all over the place and huge gusts of wind.
"You've gotten stronger". Ava appraised as they clashed swords.
"Not as strong as you though". Miriam responded as she dodged an incoming attack from Ava.
"Heh, obviously". Ava responded with a smug smile as she launched another assault.
Miriam began to show signs of difficulty in dodging the fast paced attacks as she jumped to dodge the blade aiming for her foot.
"You were never serious with training before". Ava spoke with a teasing smile on her face as Miriam blocked a kick aiming for her chest mid– air.
"People change, I guess". Placing her feet squarely on a nearby wall, she propelled herself forward with her sword in front of her as she aimed for Ava.
With a side step, Ava dodged the attack with ease, "Are you sure?". She asked with the teasing smile still apparent.
Miriam's eyebrows frowned in confusion as she slid with her knees crouched, "Huh?"
Casting a fire spell at the location Miriam was, Ava replied, "Are you sure it's not because of that boy toy?"
Miriam's movements faltered a little as she nearly got caught in the cross hairs of the spell, "W–what are you talking about?, and he's not a boy toy!". Rolling forward with a blush on her face, she responded flusteredly.
Their swords clashed once more with higher intensity as beads of sweat ran down their faces, "Then why is your face red?". Ava asked with a smirk, clearly not flustered by the intensity of the battle.
Miriam on the other hand didn't respond – or it would be more accurate to say that she couldn't respond, as she infused mana into her sword in order to cope with the sword clash with Ava.
"Alright, I have things to do, let's finish this". Rolling her eyes, Ava responded nonchalantly.
"But–"
Before Miriam could respond, Ava sword glowed with an intense purple hue as she swung it vertically at Miriam, blowing her away with intense force as she hit the wall of the training ground with a groan.
"Ouch!". Stretching her back, Miriam muttered something under her breath as she sat next Ava who was drinking water.
"How is your training with soul severance going?". Miriam asked.
Ava's expression changed a little as she heard Miriam's words, "It's harder than I thought". She responded with a sigh.
"You'd think learning our family's spell would be easy, but it's arguably one of the hardest spells I've learned!". Ava continued with a frustrated expression as she remembered the amount of mana she spent during practice.
"It's that hard?". Miriam asked worriedly as she fiddled with her fingers.
Glancing at the worried Miriam, Ava patted her head with a small smile on her face and she said, "Don't be so worried, I'll figure it out and break through to the next stage".
Rubbing her head on her big sister's hand, Miriam asked hesitantly, "C–could I do it?".
Ava chuckled and responded, "If it's you, I'm sure you will".
"Really?". Miriam asked with her eyes shining.
"Mhm". Ava nodded.
After a brief moment of silence with Ava patting her cute sister's head, she said with a low voice, "I've been meaning to ask you this, but I never had the time to".
Opening her eyes, Miriam asked in confusion, "What is it?"
"That boy, although I would never allow you have a relationship with him in his current state, I would still like to know why you like him so much". Ava responded with a serious expression.
Knowing she couldn't escape this round of questioning, Miriam bowed her head slightly to hide her blush whenever she thinks of the blue eyed man that always seemed to have a look of reluctance no matter how well he tried to hide it
"After that time I brought him to you– when I thought he was dead, we went back to my room and he seemed.... different". Miriam started as a look of uncertainty crept in her expression.
"Different?". Ava asked.
"Yeah, when I bought him from Maira, he was very timid and agreed to whatever I told him to do.". She continued.
"Bur after he fainted from the play I had suggested out of curiosity, it's like he bacame a different person". Her eyebrows furrowed at this point as she recalled his actions.
"He was more... confident, had this look of calm on his eyes no matter what I said and his massaging skills improved considerably". Scribbling something on the ground, she muttered with a lost look on her face.
"Hmm....this is interesting but that doesn't answer my question". Ava placed her hand on her cheek with a deadpan expression.
"I'm getting there!". With a pout, she continued, "I asked for a massage– like always, he was a bit hesitant but his hands weren't as inexperienced as before, he moved like an expert and completely eased my tense muscles."
"But apart from that... he talked to me". She seemed a little bit hesitant as she reached this part.
Ava's eyebrows raised in surprise as she listened.
"He said he lost most of his memory and hoped I could fill him in, at first I was confused but thought nothing of it, but then we started talking – at first I was the one doing the talking as I received the massage, but soon enough, he started responding with funny comments and the initial hidden fear that was in his voice was completely gone."
A silly smile formed on her face as she recalled the little expriences she has with Clark.
"We talked, and I laughed internally at his silly questions, it wasn't some grand gesture as you'd expect, he just treated me as a person, rather than a princess like everyone does".
"I suggested I do a memory transfer since I was too lazy to speak". Miriam's expression turned sad as she spoke, an expression Ava didn't miss as she listened on.
"I didn't think he'd forget to give me access to his mind before the transfer begun, so during the process, he entered a state of memory fragmentation".
Ava's expression changed to surprise as she heard Miriam, 'Memory fragmentation?, but that's almost impossible to survive, you either die or enter a permanent vegetative state!'. Ava's mind raced as she tried to remember the few who survived it but other than a number of S ranks, there was no one at his level that came to mind.
"I thought he would die, so I called the top elves that worked for our family to treat him, but they said they couldn't do anything about it as a case like that was extremely rare since almost everyone knew the basics of memory transfer." She continued
"It was then that the reality hit me – that the first outsider to ever treat me like a normal girl, was going to die due to my stupidity". Miriam's body shook a little as she remembered his face going pale in real time.
"My chest was unbearably tight, I felt a pain that I couldn't describe course through my heart as I watched him die – although he was someone I shouldn't care about since we just met less than a month ago, I couldn't help it".
"Luckily, he survived and I was so happy that tears started falling from my eyes, I couldn't think straight as I stared at his confused expression."
"When I told him what happened, he asked why I would go so far for a boy toy like him, it was a genuine question since I could get another one at any time, but for some reason, hearing him call himself that irked me to an unbelievable degree."
Ava's expression was unreadable as she listened to her younger sister but she refrained from making any comments.
"The next day was when the whole tournament stuff happened – which once again was my fault, but we shared a moment after you guys left". Miriam continued with a love struck expression.
"I was really guilty about everything, so I asked if he hated me and I was really scared if he said he did, so I poured out my heart to him in a bid to console myself and shut out my thoughts."
"And then, he.....hugged me..... really tight". Miriam smiled widely as her blush intensified at this point.
"He told me he appreciates my care and whispered something in my ear, but my brain couldn't register what he was saying over my rapidly beating heart, I was really happy he didn't hate me and I cried again".
Ava couldn't believe her ears, 'Miriam...cried?, TWICE!?, someone who's killed more people than I could count has this love struck expression?, should I be worried or happy'. Ava began questioning the meaning of life as more questions formed in her mind.
"Strangely enough, he cried too, but he didn't tell me why and just hugged me again with more force – like he was afraid I would leave him or something". Miriam continued with a smile.
"After a while, I convinced him to stay and he did, he gave me another massage at night–"
"What?". Ava interrupted.
"What happened?". Miriam jolted in surprise as she asked.
"He came to you in the night?". Ava asked carefully.
"No, no, I did, I just wanted to talk". She responded flusteredly.
"And he didn't try anything?". She asked.
"He only gave me a massage and we talked some more". She responded hurriedly.
After the conversation over the boy that was sleeping in an inn somewhere, they finally went back to the castle and had a change of clothes, Miriam was called by her father through a maid and although confused she followed the maid to his office.
Ava walked into her room to arrange her thoughts and possibly have a quick nap, only to be jolted out of her bed by a loud shout that resounded from her father's office.
Moments before:
Ava walked into her father's office and took a seat with a cheerful smile still on her face.
"Miriam, how are you?". Luke asked with a warm smile on his face as he looked at his daughter.
'I hope she doesn't react too violently'. He thought inwardly as he braced himself for the question he was about to ask.
"I'm good, so what's the issue?". She asked as she played with a yellow ball that adorned his table.
With a sigh, Luke asked, "How would you feel about marrying Greg Vandemire?".
A heavy silence descended over the office as Miriam's movements came to a halt.
A minute passed and there was no response from her.
But before Luke could say anything else, Miriam interrupted with a loud voice, "NO WAY!!"
Luke was startled by the intense rejection but he couldn't say he didn't see it coming, after all his wife warned him and she was never wrong; as proven today.
"It was only a suggestion". Luke spoke with a calm look.
"I apologize for my outburst". Taking a deep breath, Miriam said calmly, "But I don't love Greg".
".....do you like anyone at the moment". He asked after a brief moment of hesitation.
A small blush appeared on her face as she heard his question and she replied with her gaze averted, "N–no, not at the moment."
'Haaa.....Astoria was right'. Luke thought, as he placed his hand on his forehead.
"It's alright, you may leave, but do think about it some more."
Ignoring the last part of his statement, Miriam left the office like there was a ticking time bomb inside.
"Haaaa...". With a heavy sigh, Luke slumped back on his chair and placed his legs on his table.
"Leon, we have to find another way to do this....". He muttered to himself lowly.
What he was talking about would only be known to himself and Leon.
Hey, author here, sorry I didn't update yesterday 😔, my phone died and my dad had to take it to his office to charge it, he came back pretty late so I didn't have enough time. I had to rush this chapter, but also made sure it was enjoyable, so I apologize if I made any mistakes, my statistics dropped by alot too, so I'm going to try to get it back up, support if you like 😔