In Time And Memories

Chapter Fourty

In the end, my opponent is Cavelia Treuvoui. All of them are silent, waiting for the fight to start. Cavelia bowed her head to give curtsy.

"Greetings, Your highness. I hope you won't take whatever happens in this spar seriously," she gave me a smile but I can tell that it's fake. I smirked. That rumor must be true and it seems like Cavelia has developed feelings for Prince Urus.

The whistle was blew, it's the sigh to start the fight. Cavelia is the first one to attack but I almost failed to block her.

My eyes widened at how swift she is. She's not as powerful as Cain but I must say that her agility is outstanding. I am easily on par with her when it comes to strength but it's hard to adopt her movements.

Is this why she's confident?

She's a great fighter, I must admit. I am starting to think that I can't win on this fight. No wonder why she obtained the title of being the youngest woman knight to be the vice commander.

But still, giving up is not in my vocabulary.

Everytime I blocked her attack, I moved forward then attack her back. She stumbled but she immediately regained her balance. As I attack her, I kept on moving forward to corner her.

I saw her eyes twitched. I smiled. When I successfully pushed her in the corner, I can give my final blow.

I stretched my arm to prepare my strength for the final blow. I swung my sword but before it even reach Cavelia, a lot of chains suddenly appeared from the ground and it was wrapped around me.

My sword fell on the ground and as I lost my balance due to the chains on my feet, my body also collapsed.

"Princess!"

"Your highness!"

A groan escaped my lips after feeling the impact. The chains are also wrapped around me tightly and it caused the fall more painful.

"I-I apologize, Your highness," Cavelia said and her voice is shaking.

The chains disappeared. Prince Urus and Cain ran towards me and checked if I'm alright. Prince Urus held my hand and supported me to stand up.

"Are you alright, Your highness?" Cain asked.

"Yes, I'm alright— Ah!" I winced in pain after Prince Urus touched my arm. It hurts. This must the arm where I fell into.

"The contest ends here. You may all go to your respective barracks and rest," Prince Urus announced. I heard some concerns from the knights but they didn't dare to come closer as their commander guided me.

I saw Cain's hand slowly moved back. It looks like he was about to support me as well but Prince Urus is the first one to do so.

"Let's go," Prince Urus said to me. My eyes went to Cain, his eyes are staring at Prince Urus' hand on me  and he has a distaste expression which I couldn't understand.

Xiel went to us and opened a portal. "Here." He gestured his hand inside.

"Can you walk, Princess?"

"I can," I answered Prince Urus. He guided me until we went inside the portal, in a blink of an eye, we're already at the infirmary.

A nurse assisted us but Prince Urus insisted to tend my bruises. That's why it's so painful because the chains left some bruises all over my body and also because of the fall. There are also dark spots on my left arm, where I fell into.

"You don't have to do this, Your highness." I still feel ashamed from what happened last night.

He only looked up to me before going back on what he's doing. My outer dress shirt was removed, only leaving me on my undershirt.

"Do you hate it, Princess?"

I stared at him. "I just don't want to inconvenient you in any way, Your highness." The cotton stopped moving as he looked at me straight to my eyes.

"Then, do you hate me?"

Both of us fell silent as we stare at each other's eyes. This is probably the longest time I stared at his eyes making me notice his bloody red eyes. No one in the imperial family owns such pair of eyes before. I also have not seen anyone who has them, only Prince Urus.

But do I hate him? I would immediately answered yes, if I was asked three years ago. But since I came to know about him a little, I can't tell that I do hate him. Although we still have differences and I don't see myself being close to him.

My hatred towards Celestia and Queen Frizella is far greater than anything else that I don't even hate anyone unless it's them.

I was about to open my mouth but he suddenly looked away. "Nevermind."

After that, I didn't try to speak and he kept his mouth shut. The nurse gave me some medicine to subside the bruises and some painkillers. My limbs feel weak and some of it are still aching.

Healing is a rare ability that's why the empire kept on developing some medicine especially for the knights.

So far, there are only four healers that resides here in the whole empire. One is a member of the elite knights under the emperor, one is at Meldevion City, and another two at Gavoiunt City; where medicine researchers are located.

I silently peeked at Prince Urus while he's carrying me in a bridal style. There are faint gasps coming from the servants as if it's a rare sight to see.

"Lady Cavelia is sure strong and beautiful. Why didn't you chose her?" Prince Urus suddenly stopped walking. I looked at him and saw that his expression has became sour.

Am I pushing him too hard?

"Because I didn't want to."

"Despite sharing the same bed before?" Okay. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"It only happened once and it was a long time ago. I can't even remember what happened." His voice is sharp. Is he mad? I think he is.

But still, the rumor is true then.

"I chose you because I wanted to protect you." My eyes widened and I looked up at him. "I'm not the one who can explain it to you but I hope that answers your question, Princess." His eyes met mine.

"And... I apologize that I ruined your relationship with Prince Pierre." Something warm touched my heart.

I buried my head on his neck then closed my eyes. I don't know where we are but I just heard the door opened and Prince Urus gently tapped my back.

"We're here." He slowly put me down on the bed. "Have some rest and don't move around too much. Don't forget your medicine, Princess," he said then turned his back.

I gaped. "I don't... hate you," I muttered.

"Hmm? What is it, Princess?"

"I don't hate you, I mean, if you asked me that three years ago, I would say yes but... I don't hate you." I looked at him. His eyes are bit widened, it looks like he didn't expect me to say it.

I sigh. "You're treating me nicely and you consistently sent letters to me before. I just... don't hate you nor like you... But I acknowledge you as my husband, that's all."

A small smile appeared on his lips. "It's nice to know that, Princess." After that, he left me to let me have some rest.

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