JiYeong was finally starting to get the hang of the training. At the very least the last two months weren’t fruitless. Her footwork had more or less been perfected. Lifting a sword didn’t cause her arms and shoulders to ache nearly as much.
And hearing Mathieu’s praise whenever she dodged him was worth it. Even if it did make her stomach flip.
Her attraction to him was certainly a new and unexpected development.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t had boyfriends before. She knew what it felt like to develop feelings for someone. Two months didn’t seem like a lot of time, but they spent the majority of every single day together. While it wasn’t impossible that she was developing a crush on him, it was worrisome.
He didn’t seem as though he were interested in anything other than what his mother had ordered him to do. Sure they’d become friends, and he was a lot warmer than the beginning, but that was it. Once he was done he would go back to his post without another thought of her.
If she hadn’t found a way home first.
It was hard to tell though. On the days when they didn’t practice, he wore that emotionless expression he’d had the day they met. Being a Lord Knight probably meant he didn’t have time for relationships. He had to focus on keeping his team safe.
She had a job to focus on, too.
Determining which job that was, however, was becoming more and more difficult.
“C’mon Champion. You can do better than that.” Mathieu teased as he dodged another one of JiYeong’s attacks. They’d gone back to hand-to-hand combat after having a several-day break. She was getting better, managing to land a few blows on him every once in a while.
JiYeong huffed, pushing her hair out of her face. It had come out of its ponytail as if often did, hanging in curls down her back. She tugged the holder out of her hair, noticing Mathieu’s eyes follow the action. “Why do you insist on calling me that My Lord?”
Mathieu quirked an eyebrow, shifting his feet in preparation. JiYeong immediately got into a defensive pose.
“Is that not what you are?”
“That doesn’t mean you have to call me that.”
Mathieu ran at her, throwing a punch at her face. She leaned backward, dodging his blow. Just barely avoiding getting hit at times but she was getting it.
He spun around, intent on grabbing her. JiYeong ducked, going to shoulder him in the stomach, managing to hit him hard enough to knock the air out of him. Mathieu stumbled back a few steps, drawing in a deep breath. “Nice work. That one actually hurt a bit.”
She beamed at him, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet. Despite the feelings he elicited from her, hearing his praise always felt good.
“Can you do it again?”
“Doubtful.” JiYeong returned to a defensive stance.
“A lot of what you are doing is muscle memory. Do it again.”
He ran to her once more, darting around her. JiYeong spun around, trying to keep him in her sights. Never let the enemy get you by surprise. Try to keep him in your line of vision at all times. Mathieu’s words echoed through her mind, and though she wasn’t sure she'd be able to get a hit on him, she tried to focus on keeping her footsteps light, following him as he circled her as if she were prey.
That's when she noticed that he was keeping his stance wide. A small smile crossed her lips before she darted at him. He made to grab her but she dropped to the floor, going between his legs. Before he could react she jumped back to her feet and onto his back, her arms going around his neck and legs around his waist.
“Gotcha!”
Mathieu laughed in earnest, patting her hip. She felt a shiver run up and back down her spine at the touch and forced herself not to audibly gasp. “Good job.”
Handclaps drew their attention towards the door. Adaora and Piers stood there, each wearing amused expressions. It was unclear how long they’d been standing there but JiYeong felt her face burn all the same.
“Wow, our Champion bested the best Knight we have. Mother, we may need to start looking for a replacement Lord Knight.” Piers mused, slowing his clapping and lowering his hands. He grinned towards JiYeong. “Perhaps I could train with our Champion next? Seems like a lot of fun.”
Mathieu chuckled, shaking his head. JiYeong didn’t say anything as she slid from his back, brushing her hair from her face again.
“Mother, what brings you two here?”
Adaora stepped further into the room, looking around. JiYeong couldn’t imagine the Queen had a need to visit very often. “I came to see how training was going. Seems like it is going well.”
“Your Champion is a fast learner,” Mathieu said, placing a hand on JiYeong’s head. She swatted his hand away with a frown.
“That is good to hear. There is another reason I am here.” Adaora said then, drawing the two’s attention once again. “It’s been brought to my attention that perhaps it is time to call a Council meeting. I have not been able to draw any conclusions alone as to what DoHyeon’s end goal may be, and while he has yet to become a problem, I’ve gotten enough information to know he is on the move and moving quickly. Being as JiYeong is our Champion, she will of course need to make an appearance.”
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JiYeong stiffened. Mathieu, whose hand had dropped to her shoulder, squeezed it lightly. The touch was comforting but did nothing to ease the constant knot that seemed to have settled in her chest.
“I have asked Shiloh to get you prepared for the event,” Adaora said, looking at JiYeong. “Starting in the evenings, so as not to interrupt your training sessions with Mathieu. As these Council meetings bring those from all over Allumia, we normally hold a ball at the end. It seems vastly inappropriate but tradition dictates.” A small jab to the rib from Piers was enough to bring Adaora out of her small tirade, and she let out a sigh. “Champion JiYeong, if you don’t mind, I would like to meet with you over tea sometime in the next few days. I feel terribly we have not had a chance to speak since your arrival.”
Lost for words, JiYeong simply nodded. It was easy to tell where the Prince’s got their personalities from.
“You will be fine.” Adaora reiterated, seeming to sense her hesitation. “It is a three-day event. The only time you will have to be the focus is the first day, where introductions are made. The second day will be for us to discuss exactly what to do about the situation. Mathieu will be expected to make an appearance, since he is a Lord Knight, along with our Lord Commander. While it is customary for a Champion to be in attendance, it isn’t mandatory. And then the third day is the ball, where we can gather and mingle. It is very laid back, so do not stress too much about it.”
Adaora smiled, giving a light nod. “I will leave you two to your training then. Piers and I have some things to handle for the upcoming gathering.”
JiYeong collapsed to the ground once the Queen and Piers left the room, letting out a sigh. She was never one for big gatherings. Being the Champion was already stressful to think about. Now she had to worry about remembering who was who and keeping up her persona in front of even more people. If she hadn’t felt unqualified before, this was definitely the nail in the coffin. “This is too much.”
“You will be fine.”
“I’m going to die.”
Mathieu looked down at her, crossing his arms. He was quiet for a moment before lowering himself to sit next to her. “Do you realize how dramatic you are?” JiYeong responded with a groan, which prompted Mathieu to reach out, brushing a stray hair from her cheek. Her stomach did a somersault. “You will be fine, JiYeong.”
“I’d much rather train with you all day.” She found herself saying, trying to ignore how small her voice sounded.
Mathieu laughed at that, shaking his head. He had a curl wrapped around his fingers, eyes thankfully on that so he missed the blush that stained JiYeong’s cheeks. “It cannot be that bad.”
“I’ll have to wear a proper dress and remember names and titles and how to dance.”
“I can help you with the dancing if you wish.” Mathieu offered, finally lifting his gaze. The sight of JiYeong staring at him with eyes full of shock startled him and the curl he’d been playing with fell from his hand. “What?”
“You can dance?”
“Of course I can.” Mathieu scoffed. “I am a Prince. We basically learn to dance before we can walk.”
“Right...” He’d managed to throw her off with his offer. She’d still been under the - painfully obvious - wrong impression that despite their friendship, he was training her because he had to and not necessarily because he wanted to. But this offer was completely voluntary.
She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
“Your training with Shiloh is only a few weeks. You’ll be a true Champion before you know it.” JiYeong opened her mouth to question him but he stuck out a hand to help her up. “We’ve rested long enough. Pick up your sword.”
⚔⚔⚔
Work with Shiloh was meant to begin tomorrow, which meant dancing with Mathieu began that night. JiYeong spent the better part of the nighttime for the last week in the library as she usually did. Though instead of reading about getting home, she’d been brushing up on her knowledge of the royals of Allumia.
As with most things in Allumia, JiYeong was realizing the game had very limited information when it came to things she actually needed to know. Outside of the Kingdoms, and the names of the rulers for each, there wasn’t too much she knew outside of Criesal.
That was a problem, especially considering she was meant to be from Tariadene. It would be awfully suspicious if she claimed to be from a land she knew next to nothing about.
With a sigh she pulled the giant book she’d been pouring over the last few nights off the shelf, letting it land on the table with a soft thud. She didn’t bother with sitting - the book was too big to comfortably balance on her legs.
The first pictures that greeted her were Adaora, Piers, and Mathieu. On the next page was a picture of the castle, and then an overview of Whitewall. There were a few cities she already recognized from the game: Azelport and Slyshire being a couple, as well as some outposts. There were so many more cities that were not mentioned in the game that she went over in depth the last few nights.
Skipping the last several pages for Criesal and there was a Dragoeve. On the left page was a painting of Tariadene, and on the right the Dragoeve in question.
“Well he looks absolutely thrilled to be there.” JiYeong snorted to herself.
He had green scaly skin, his eyes slanted and yellow. His hair was emerald green, darker than his skin. Beside that picture was one of a female. Her scales were a yellow color, her eyes yellow as well. She had long brown hair tied in an elaborate-looking hairdo on top of her head. She also had a bored expression on her face.
Underneath those two was another female who looked like the male with the older females coloring, her hair which was green instead of brown also in an up-do.
“The Emperor of Tariadene, Arixsal and his wife, Ygrainne. Their daughter and future Empress, Aluvir.”
The next few pages were filled with pictures of various cities in Tariadene. There was one of Sinuipo, the city she’d claimed to be from. It was beautiful, just at the base of Mount Hasan. The picture was taken at the very base of the mountain, a cluster of cherry blossom trees scattered everywhere. There were Dragoeve in the picture as well, looking as if they were going about their daily lives.
The rest of the pages were much of the same. The Elcres Queen, a tall pale woman by the name of Imryll, ears jutting from beneath her platinum blonde hair. She had a regal look about her, her bright blue eyes piercing even from the page. The picture was one of Ellshire, the Elcres Kingdom, and the land Silvvyr was from. The next few pages were like Tariadene, various pictures of the different cities and life in Ellshire.
Khug Molduhr was the next Kingdom, where the Cliraite were. Their Leader Vragrym, a dark giant of a man. He had a full beard and bushy eyebrows in the same color as his dark brown hair. His eyes were green. Khug Molduhr sat far above Tariadene just past the mountains, so the Kingdom was rocky and had little to no plant life. It didn’t look like a place JiYeong would want to visit long term. Or at all.
Finally, after several hours of studying JiYeong’s eyes began to ache. She closed the book with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I suppose I should sleep.”
It didn’t seem as if there was much she would be learning from Shiloh. Fittings for new dresses and armor mostly. The toughest thing would be the dancing, God help anyone who had to be her partner.