The next week went by in a blur of paperwork, nursing, training, and exhaustion. I maybe got 4 hours of sleep a night, which even with my Vitality reducing the amount I needed couldn’t go on forever. Although I have been surprisingly resilient to my punishing pace.

Despite, or maybe because of, my exhaustion, I had made amazing strides forward. I had gotten another 6 levels in Radiant Redeemer since fighting the basilisk, and much more importantly gained a ton of skill levels. All of my species skills were maxed out at level 16. All of my Radiant Redeemer skills were above level 30 except for Titan Slayer, which hadn’t leveled at all recently, and Radiance Resistance.

Radiance Resistance was hard to level. It would go up a little bit whenever I used any radiance based skill. To get it to really start leveling I’ve had to give myself annoying little radiance welts on myself. I put the welts on the area around my crest, since I don’t really care if that part of my body gets scars. They aren’t anything too serious since I almost entirely resist my own Radiance, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

I still need to dedicate a few more weeks to nothing but woefully long days of skill practice. I suspect I’ll be getting my second class in another week or two, and I really need my Radiant Redeemer skills to be in a good place when that happens.

Today is my favorite day in all 10 years I have lived my life in this gilded cage. Halcroft will be leaving for the capital for the social season. This is potentially the last time I will ever see my warden.

I awoke to my enchanted alarm clock and rolled out of bed. Another day on minimal sleep. I shot off a few low powered radiance beams at my own hip causing the skin to redden. It served two purposes: to wake me up and to drain some of my mana so I wasn’t wasting time doing my morning routine since I would be regenerating mana at least.

*Radiance Resistance has leveled up, level 21.*

Woo a level… happy day. I groaned. Pushing myself to the brink had definitely made me lose whatever pleasure I got from the novelty of leveling up. I shuffled, still in my nightgown, out of my room, the sun hadn’t even risen yet so no one was in the entertaining room. I didn’t even know if my mom was here or in Taele’s room tonight. They spent pretty much every night in one of their two beds. They remained disgustingly happy together.

I got into the bathroom and showered myself off. I did my hair up in a tight braided bun, good for training, and it looked reasonably good. I glanced at myself in the mirror, there were dark circles under my eyes, and my usually very cute long ears seemed to be more… droopy somehow.

As I aged I noticed my ears, becoming more… expressive. When I was happy they actually perked up, the tips going further up in the air. When I was sad they drooped. Anxious, they extended out a little more from my skull. It was something I noticed in other elves, but to a much lesser degree, they seemed to know how to keep better control of them. Either that or I had particularly expressive ears.

My pretty skill did not like what I was doing, but it would just have to suck it up. Just another month or so at this pace and I’d be able to slow down a little to be sure I was recovered before the escape.

I dressed in a clean tunic and pants. At least I had plenty of nice but not too nice clothes for training. Despite my harsh training, I wasn’t wearing out my clothes too quickly. The maids’ skills at cleaning and mending clothes pretty much meant I couldn’t ruin them. Well except for the set I wore when I fought the basilisk, those had been well and truly ruined.

I ate a large breakfast, I had to eat an absolute ton of food. Since I trained constantly all day I was using every calorie of energy I could get into my system and then some. Over the last 3 weeks I noticed a tiny bit more muscle growth, just some near invisible toning really, but at the cost of my becoming more skinny than I liked. Not unhealthily so, but when I noticed it I made a conscious effort to increase my caloric intake. Of course I wouldn’t be a doctor if I didn’t routinely ignore my own health advice, so I had to rope Penelope into helping me remember to eat more.

Finally with everything out of the way I grabbed my sword and turned to leave my apartment.

I left Halcroft’s apartment and glanced down at the sword he had gifted me. It was… quite beautiful. The sheathe had a red fiery pattern on a black background, the red matched my hair much to my approval. The hilt was ornate, with masterfully crafted fine leather wrapped around it. The sword guard, a small oval as was common of a Sukeshi, had a lovely swirl connecting it to the sword itself. It was made out of a magically obsidian infused steel, making it black and granting it considerable heat resistance. My Radiant Blade skill didn’t actually damage the blade as part of the skill, but this had been commissioned before I had gotten my class. The single edged blade was sharp, so much that I feared unsheathing it at all around people I didn’t intend to harm.

I would need to perform my Sukeshi meditation on this new blade to bond with it rather than my practice blade. I would carry this blade with me as often as elvenly possible. I could keep my practice blade down in the courtyard with the others since I wouldn’t be bonded to it anymore. That would mean the manor’s blacksmith would start maintaining the practice weapon so that would be a nice bit of time for me to get back.

I walked into the courtyard just as the dawn sun peeked over the manor walls. I drew my new weapon taking several practice swings with it. I had only ever held my sword and master Garen’s, so I couldn’t really judge the quality based on that solely. The balance and feel was absolutely different from my practice blade, this would require some getting used to.

I decided to burn all my mana quickly with Radiant Step drills around the wall of the manor. Afterwards I would perform the special meditation to bond to my new weapon. Then I’d burn all my mana again and spend the rest of the morning until lunch doing nothing but practicing sword swings with my new blade.

Of course this lunch was Halcroft’s send off, so I would have to spend at least an hour getting appropriately dressed. Playing his perfect little noble was getting tiring, almost more so than the daily 18 hours of training. I was deeply glad I wouldn’t have to grovel to him ever again, one way or another.

I ran through my planned activities then went back up to my apartment to get ready. Farva and mother weren’t here, so I assumed they were with Taele. I called in another maid, Ashley, to get ready, I’d do it myself, but with the amount of makeup I would need to hide these black circles I decided I needed the help. As with all of Halcroft’s maids Ashley was an absolute professional and in no time I was ready.

I made my way down to the dining room. Inside was only Isaac. I paused briefly, dreading sitting down at the same table as that man alone. He had already noticed me so leaving wasn’t really an option. I immediately put on my princess mask and walked regally to the chair I had been assigned to since being ‘adopted’. Isaac sat to Halcroft’s right, Penelope to his left, myself to the left of Penelope, then Taele, and finally my mother. The table had far more people on the left side of Halcroft, since none of us would put up with being next to Isaac.

“Princess.” Isaac greeted me with a sour tone. Technically I was still a princess even after being adopted. My mother had informed the Ysarian capital, Glynvale, of my birth so my name was in the Ysarian family registar, but the country also likely assumed both my mother and I were dead. Although I could hold both titles, if Ysara was aware they would either revoke my title and declare me a traitor or declare war on Haka. I very much doubted they would be willing to do the latter for two princesses in name only that had been away from the country for a decade. Now if we escaped we might be welcomed, but that was a bridge to be crossed after we escaped.

“Lord Isaac.” I returned curtly.

“Your training has been the talk of the manor.” Isaac unfortunately appeared to be in the mood for small talk.

“Yes well, unlike some members of the Halcrofts, I will not besmirch the name of my family.” I made my technically true statement with as much acid as I could muster.

A flash of rage went through his eyes immediately. “I won’t be talked to by that by a slave.” A twist came to the corner of his mouth.

Rage boiled in me and I responded nearly immediately. “Better to be a slave then a wife beater.” Inwardly I groaned at taking his bait. I shouldn’t be doing this, but at the same time I desperately wanted to yell at him for an hour. Unfortunately, I also knew I was taking this too far, Isaac was too easy to provoke, and I wanted to provoke him. He had only one combat class and I bet I could already take him if not for the crest. I wanted him to feel the same fear he enjoyed instilling in others.

His lips pursued. “Sometimes… you have to beat dogs to make them behave.” Now he broke into a full sneer.

I breathed in deeply trying to calm the burning fire in me even as his words stoked them. Unconsciously I felt where my sword's location was. The bond I had formed with it gave me direction and distance despite my already knowing exactly where it was.

I looked into his eyes, unable to hold the rage I felt back. “You are a small man and everyone knows it. The butt of every joke, the riviled, the weak. Not of strength, though I doubt you could best me in a fair fight, but in character. Your own father has passed you up for succession of his title because you have proven worthless at every turn.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Anger laced his glare at me. “I will not have an elven whore speak to me that way!” He said his tone seething. Well cool racism, sexism, and anti-sex work all in one statement.

I stood placing my hands on the table and looked him straight in the eyes. “What do you dare to do about it?” This was a stupid challenge, I knew it was, but my mouth moved all its own.

I could hear him gritting his teeth. Then his eyes narrowed. “This is an-” My blood ran cold as he started to say the words, my hand went to the emergency potion my mother had made, always hidden on my person. Yet neither of us were able to finish what we were about to do when we heard voices approaching.

Penelope and Halcroft were heading this way and Isaac and I stared each other down. I didn’t want to reveal our trump card and he didn’t want his father to find out what he was about to do. The door opened, Halcroft’s usual jovial attitude was cranked up to 11 as he chatted with his granddaughter. He was the ever doting grandfather to her, which to me only made me hate him more. The dichotomy between the way he treats the various people in his life was horrible.

I relaxed and stood straight attempting to school my angry glare a second too late. As Halcroft noticed the tension between Isaac and I. “What pray tell is going on in here?” He asked as he paused in the doorway.

I debated what to say, but it was Isaac that spoke up first. “Just a minor disagreement.”

“Oh?” Halcroft moved toward me. “Is that so?”

I glanced from Isaac to Halcroft, what did I say here? What was the right move? Angering Isaac more just before our escape attempt wasn’t great. I shouldn’t have taken the bait to begin with and just ignored him. However Isaac would be here while Halcroft was away, and he had the power to give us orders. It was all too likely he could eventually get my mother or I alone at some point during the next two months. We needed additional protection.

“He attempted to give me an order.” I said keeping my expression calm. “Your entrance interrupted him.”

Halcroft’s eyes tracked from me to Isaac as I could see his jovial expression turn to malice. “You two.” His voice was a growl, and he was obviously referring to Penelope and I. “Out. Now.”

Penelope froze at the gravity of the situation. I walked over to her, taking her arm. “Let’s go.” I said calmly. I put my other hand on her shoulder and made her turn away.

“Princess, if you would be so kind as to remain outside, I will need you to administer first aid.” Halcroft’s voice was cold gravel and it made me shiver.

I went outside with Penelope closing the door. Servants had begun to gather around curious. I looked at the group and very obviously shook my head, hoping the message would be clear.

Shouting erupted from within the room. “Moron!” Halcroft yelled. “This will cost me two grade A cores!” When I heard that I froze. Halcroft… he meant to change who our crests were tied to. If he did that we couldn’t escape anymore. No… no what had I just done.

I sank to my knees as the ramifications of my rage hit me all at once. I had just destroyed a decade of planning because, I what? Wanted to piss off Isaac? He was a worm, I would have been rid of him in 2 months, we all would have. Now… I’ll be paraded around the capital. I’ll become Halcroft’s weapon.

I felt panic begin to rack my mind as my breaths became more and more shallow. My vision tunneled and someone touched me. I immediately fell back from the touch and kicked myself into the corner away from whoever it was.

The blood pumped through my ears, I couldn’t so much as hear what the person that approached me said. Yet still I recognized the sound of ripping flesh, then a meaty wack. The madman who I had just agreed to work with had torn his own son’s arm off. I knew it was true, Halcroft was a man of his word.

The spiral of terror racked my mind. I would be his killer. I had signed myself… for more of that. More people talked but I could hear them over the rushing of my blood. Penelope’s face showed up in my tunneled vision. Then she slapped me. I was shocked by the action. “Pull yourself together!” She said in a harsh but hushed tone. “He’ll be out here soon.”

I looked at her, the granddaughter of the man I hated most in the world. I knew that wasn’t who she really was though. She was my sister, the person in this world I was closest to, other than maybe my mother. I focused on her, on my attachment to the people that mattered to me.

I heard the door open and a heavy sigh. Penelope immediately dropped down to my side and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. The tears on her face were real, but she had made it look like I was the one comforting her.

Halcroft stepped up wiping blood from his hands with a napkin. He dropped it on the ground before his eyes went to us. I forced myself to bring Penelope in closer to hopefully hide more of myself. “Once you are confident he will live, find your mother and come to my study.” He sounded furious. He didn’t wait for me to respond, he just left.

Penelope is shaking now, the deeply callous response from her grandfather has not helped her mood. I sigh, I can’t let her see what’s in the dining room. “Pen.” I said as gently as I could, but it came out more exhausted than I’d like. Coming down from my panic attack has made me light headed, plus I was already massively overworked. Then there was the fact that I had very likely ruined our chance at escape. For the first time in a decade of being a prisoner I didn’t feel any hope at all.

Now all I had left was giving a good life to the people I loved. Penelope still hadn’t looked up at me, so I sat down further and looked up into her eyes. “Can you find someone and ask them to get a few healing potions from the armory. Then… go to my room, I’ll be there when I can alright?”

Penelope nodded, then stood and walked away from where her asshole of a father had just been brutalized. I got up, centered myself for a moment then walked into the dining room.

Isaac lay on the floor motionless, his right arm just below the shoulder joint is missing. He is bleeding out and probably only has minutes to live. His face is already ashen, yet he is still breathing. I walk over to a side table and rip the table cloth off. Then I apply my First Aid skill and begin tying the table cloth around his body to apply pressure.

The combination of relatively minor magic and the physical aid I offer immediately causes him to stop bleeding. Only now do I turn to see his detached arm. It was dropped just to the side of him obfuscated from my view by the table.

I briefly considered if I could use Fire healing to reattach it. It would have to be frozen and even then I would have to start within the next day. Since I was still two levels from unlocking the class that wasn’t going to happen.

Instead I wait until the head maid, Caroline, enters. She has two potions with her. She takes one look at Isaac on the floor and I see the tiniest hint of a grin break her usual impassive face. I guess no one liked Isaac much. I motioned with my hand for her to bring me the potions. All the while still maintaining the use of my First Aid skill.

She takes her time walking toward me handing me one of the potions. I take it and uncork it with my thumb. “Make him drink the other.” I say.

I briefly stop using my skill to untie the table cloth and his blood starts to gush out. I reapply the skill and pour the potion directly on the gaping wound. Skin starts to reform and the bleeding slows to a tiny trickle. It is obvious one potion wasn’t enough since I am still applying First Aid.

Caroline tilts his head back and makes him drink the other potion. Taking it that way takes longer than applying it directly, but it's also more effective. Another minute goes by as Caroline stands impassively. The bleeding stops and the skin slowly closes over the wound. Finally once I can’t see any openings I stop using my First Aid skill.

“He’ll live…” I stand, dreading what came next. “Thank you…” I mumbled before leaving the dining room.

Penelope was waiting outside and her eyes widened when she saw me. I wonder what face I must be making for her to react that way. “Did… he live?”

“Yeah.” I said, still miserable. “Just with one less arm.” She starts to move toward her father and my hand goes to her wrist holding her back. “Don’t go in… Caroline will see to him.” I hated Isaac, but I still didn’t want Penelope to see that. Then I drop her arm and head toward my doom.

A few minutes later I found my mother. She gave me one look and her brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

“I made a mistake…” Then I told her what happened.

“We’ll find a way.” Mother said optimistically, but I had no idea how she still held to hope. I had sold myself to the devil, and then removed any chance of getting out of it. All because I wasn’t able to control my anger.

Mother did her best to comfort me, but eventually we had to go. She led me to Halcroft’s study, knocked, then entered.

Halcroft was sitting in a giant comfy looking chair at a desk which was surrounded by books. Daniel, his court mage, was sitting across from him with two luminescent orbs in his hand. “I didn’t wish to waste a fortune on correcting my original error, but it seems I now have no choice.” Halcroft said. “Please sit, Daniel will update your crests and I will no longer have to be concerned about my son’s idiocy.”

He never asked if his son was still alive, but I somewhat doubted he really cared that much. I walked forward not able to put up any fight, not since this entire mess was my fault. I slumped down, no longer able to maintain my ruse of the haughty noble. I suppose I could hope Halcroft thought I was just reacting to having to deal with Isaac. There was blood all over my dress after all.

I zoned out as the others spoke. Only when Daniel touched my arm did I raise the skirt of my dress so he could get to my crest. He applied the orb to the crest speaking some strange language. Unlike the last time the pain was subdued, annoying but nothing worrying. The crest changed shape slightly, now looking like the same stylized one Taele had.

Daniel repeated the process with mother. Everyone spoke some more, but I tuned it all out. Mother stood giving me a concerned look then the court mage and she left the room.

I looked up at Halcroft.

I was walking back to my apartment, not really sure what to do with the rest of the day. All my initiative to train had drained away. I stopped at a window overlooking the front gate of the manor. I saw Halcroft enter into a carriage leaving for the capital. This was supposed to be the last time I saw him. Instead I knew in the matter of a few months I would be presented as the future of his family.

I returned to my room, discarded the bloody dress I had on and curled up for a good cry.