Janet had done a lot better after that night, so her studies had progressed. Several months had passed by and the facilities that were planned out were now being put to further use. Children were coming in from all over the region to attend either the academy or the training hall.

Maddock had opened his eyes and played around with Janet often, quickly growing from a small size to that of a medium sized dog. Winter was ending and the status of the region was increasing slowly. Janet mastered the entry level magic she was taught and also learned basic swordplay.

Now that she was nearing eight years of age, it was almost time to start working on tougher assignments. One day, while she was practicing the next level of sword moves outside from Ivan, Abigail had come outside.

Ivan coughed a bit and tried to ignore her, but he kept looking over. For some reason, Janet was frowning.

“Captain, how does this look?”

Ivan’s attention was removed as he analyzed her skills. However, he shook his head and walked forward, adjusting her posture and moving her body around to simulate the movement of the strike. Without a care for where he touched, he taught her. For him, she was just a little girl, a brat. However, Abigail over reacted.

“You! Where are you touching?! She is just a little girl!”

Ivan, thoroughly confused, released Janet and confronted the maid.

“I was teaching her.”

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“You were obviously reaching for some intimate areas!”

“The groin is a major part of posture! If her legs aren’t spread enough, she can’t take up the correct stance! Her knees need to bend or else they will break under strong force! If you don’t let me train her, and she has to fight, she could hurt herself more than the enemy could!”

His words had grown louder, as his anger was growing higher. Janet giggled again, but then realized that the two were becoming closer like that night. She called out, but was quickly cut off.

“Wait-“

“You think you can yell at me because you are the captain here?! You don’t have your authority anymore! You are just a regular soldier!”

“Woman! I will not have you disregard my concerns for Miss Brittoli!”

“Your concerns?! She is a young girl who needs care and affection!”

By now, they were within inches of each other’s faces. Now, Ivan looked away faster than that drunken night. However, Abigail took it as her win.

“Hmph! Come, Janet. We need to work on your manner classes again. We can’t have you forgetting them.”

But, Janet was upset. She crossed her arms and glared at Abigail and started stomping.

“Stop bullying Ivan! He is also doing what is best for me! My life is in danger if I want to rule this place, so I need to learn how to defend myself! I don’t need manners to protect myself from a sword!”

She abruptly turned around and began to quickly perform her sword moves again, but they were far better than before.

“Eh? Was she playing around before?”

“Janet, you…”

Both were confused, but Abigail looked depressed. For some reason, a heated argument that felt like a dream was replaying in her head as she turned to Ivan and bowed.

“My apologies. I will take my leave.”

She rushed out of the training area, but her eyes looked a little wet.

Janet turned back around and faced Ivan with a beaming smile, as if to say, ‘praise me!’

Unfortunately, Ivan was completely unsure of what to say. He shook his head and returned to pointing out her flaws, though there were far less than before. For some reason, Janet pouted, but she happily let Ivan teach her.

But Ivan now tried to teach her without touching her, which seemed to aggravate her.