Chapter 10: Chapter 10. Roseanne? More like Legolas..!

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Last Chapter: Roseanne visits the sparring grounds and witnesses a fight between an older veteran knight and a younger knight. Everyone were surprised to see the princess walking about, especially at the sparring grounds, and the chapter ended with her complimenting the young knight.

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I stood before the younger knight, with his brown curly hair sticking to his forehead with sweat from the bout, his brown eyes wide with surprise to see me before him.

“You were amazing” I said.

Both the knights around us, and Arthur, were looking at us with wide eyes.

Did they misunderstand something?

-

I looked over at the veteran knight who looked quite banged up as well, and said.

“Both of you, you were both so amazing, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I can sleep better at knight knowing the knights guarding the kingdom is so competent.”

The older knight looked up at me, with a very surprised expression, before looking down again while kneeling.

“Thank you, you are too kind!”

His face was wrinkled from days out in the sun, and his moved expression reminded me of my father in my other life.

I could really respect the knights, training and working hard to both protect us and to better the kingdom for everyone.

I do of course know that most of them do it for the benefits; the money and such, but most of the knights I’ve met here really seemed like they had the heart in the right place, which is a comforting thought.

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I looked over at the younger knight again, who had still not gotten up from the ground, in front of me, while Arthur and the older knight were standing slightly in front of the other knights in the sparring area.

I held out my hand to him, waiting for him to take it.

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He looked up at me for a split second, before taking my hand, but using mostly his own weight to get up, which I was grateful for, as I realized I did not at all have the power to help him up.

His hand was a tanned brown, sweaty and callused, and comparing it to mine, which was pale and soft, it really highlighted the differences between the two of our lives.

Though if I had to pick between a callused hard and tanned hand, and a beautiful, soft, and small hand, I think I’d pick the soft one.

I don’t need to do any work in this life, so isn’t it okay for me to have completely uncalloused hands for the rest of my life?

and I like being beautiful enough to make a room hold its breath, okay?

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Even though I couldn’t use my own power to help the knight up, it’s the thought that counts though, right?

A couple seconds passed, without anyone saying anything, before my brother walked up to me and the younger knight.

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“So, what did you think of the fight?” he asked with a smile, his composure seemingly fully gathered again.

He stood to the side of the other knight, but slightly in front of him, and it almost looked like he was trying to obscure him from my vision.

Was he jealous that I showed him my attention?

Looking at his face again, I could see that his smile was just slightly too wide, just a bit more strained than usual.

I walked over to him and took his hand in mine instead.

“They were both very valiant, though my favorite knight is still you, brother,” I said, looking at my brother with a fond smile.

I did enjoy the fight, but my brother is still my favorite knight.

Is it that weird that I wanted to help the looser of the fight get back on his feet?

-

Luckily, that seemingly did the work, as I could see my brother’s expression changing to a pure, warm smile instead.

“You are too kind, sister,” he said, doing an exaggerated mock bow, though his smile was now just as wide as before.

A true smile this time.

He gesticulated over for the knights to start training again, while we walked over to one of the bigger shacks, my brother leading me over to a chair in the shade of a tree.

While walking over, he explained to me about some of the different moves the two fighters did during the fights, and the mechanics of such a spar.

It was exciting hearing him talking about the fight, and it was heartwarming hearing him talking with fondness and respect for the other knights, even though he’s the crown prince and the highest of nobility.

Out here, he’s just another knight, even though he is still the first in command.

-

Sitting in the shade, another young knight quickly came over with a glass of water for me, which I gulped down gratefully but still quite gracefully, as it was quite warm outside in the sun.

Maja were looking around at the hustle and bustle and were not observing me for signs of weakness every second anymore, which was quite refreshing.

It was quite nice just sitting in the shade looking at the knights bustling about, stealing glances over at me and Arthur from time to time.

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Most of them were now sparring with each other, and they were truly sparring with gusto!

They were fighting like their lives were on the line, and everyone were truly going all out.

I wonder why everyone are suddenly so energetic?

You are reading story The Frail Princess at novel35.com

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Anyhow, looking over at the archery range again, I could see that there was still one open spot where nobody were shooting, and I really wanted to try it out.

I looked over at my brother, who was quite comfortable and happy sitting beside me, and I were about one hundred fifty percent sure he would let me do anything I wanted to, except maybe swing a sword.

I never shot a bow in my old life, but it had always looked really cool to me, while swinging around a sword had never really held much interest to me.

I looked over at my brother, doing my best doe eyes.

“Hey brother, do you think I may try shooting with a bow at that target range?” I pointed to the shooting range were the knights were shooting at the targets.

He looked over at me gaping like a fish.

“You want to shoot a bow?” he asked, dazzled.

“Yes!” I answered, nodding, looking down at my feet.

He was speechless for half a second, before he got up, answering.

“Well, of course you can!”

-

We went over to the storage building at the side of the shooting range, me and Maja following a couple of steps behind him, and I watched him get me both a bow, which was shorter than the ones wielded by the knights, and a quiver of arrows.

Afterwards, we walked together over to the shooting range.

The knights shooting, stopped shooting while we walked over, looking over at us with questions in their eyes, but I quickly motioned for them to keep at it.

They still didn’t keep shooting, but when my brother also motioned to them that it was okay to continue, they finished their round of shooting.

However, they didn’t go to get their arrows from the targets, but instead chose to observer this strange new scene.

-

Standing before the right most target of the shooting range, the target being one of the closest ones to the line around twenty meters away from us, were me and my brother.

I was holding the bow, and Arthur was standing beside me, showing me where to hold my hand, and how to shoot so that the string wouldn’t catch my forearm after the shot.

“Hold your hands like this, no-, yes-,  like that, and be aware that although this is a smaller bow, it still takes some strength to pull fully.”

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He helped me put an arrow on the bowstring, and standing behind me helping me aim, I let go of the arrow.

It soared out into the air like the legendary phoenix, majestic and beautiful, tail wings soaring like the golden crane of Chinese mythology, before quickly meeting the ground like an old sock thrown out the window by your grandma, quite a bits in front of the target.

“Good for a first try!” my brother said, before helping me put another arrow on the string.

I harrumphed.

I let go the second arrow, and it flew higher than the first, and came much closer to the target, meeting the ground between the wooden legs of the target.

“Well done!”

“.”

I sheathed the third arrow, and used all my power to pull the string, my arms shaking slightly with the effort, while I aimed at the target.

I let go of the arrow, and this time it hit the target, and even came quite close to the middle.

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“Amazing!” My brother said, hugging me tightly.

“You must be a prodigy!” he said with a smile.

I put the bow down on the ground.

“You are surely jesting; I am sure every knight here did better their first time at this range.”

I said with an exasperated smile, though I was quite proud I was able to at least hit the target.

 

Feeling the strain in my arms, I decided three arrows were enough for today, especially when I looked over at Maja, seeing her looking worriedly from the sidelines.

-

We walked back to the sidelines, me with a slight spring in my step.

“Thanks for showing me around, it would be pretty fun if I could learn the bow from now on!” I said to him.

He looked over at me smiling.

“That would be great, but you must not overdo it.”

 

“You are still not well enough to start exercising I’m afraid” he looked over, his smile and eyes a sadder hue than before.

I decided to change the conversation to a lighter topic, as I didn’t really want to talk to him about the illness everyone were still convinced, I was so deeply ailed by.

“Luckily, I’ve been feeling much better recently, and tomorrow we’re all going together to the temple for the festival” I said, taking his hand in mine again.

He smiled down at me, his smile true, but still slightly unconvinced.

“Yes, I can’t wait!”