Aurelian stood inside the palace, holding a heavy longsword in her hands, her breathing extremely steady.
The iron sword, weighing dozens of pounds, seemed to have no weight at all in Aurelian's hands. It was incomparably stable, without even the slightest tremor.
Anyone could tell at a glance.
Aurelian must have gone through extremely harsh training.
Gwen stood beside her, carefully observing Aurelian's movements.
Very standard.
The way she held the sword was just like that of a veteran soldier who had been tempered through countless battles.
Extremely perfect.
"Not bad."
Gwen nodded in satisfaction, gesturing for Aurelian to start swinging the blade.
Aurelian quickly lifted the hilt in her hand and swung it forward.
She followed the motions precisely, mechanically repeating the movements.
Her swings carried a strong sense of power.
Every swing seemed to slightly tear open a slit in the air in front of her.
The tip of the sword flickered with a faint cold gleam, and flowing air wrapped around the blade, turning into a light breeze.
Gwen watched Aurelian and nodded again, seeming even more satisfied.
So teaching a student was actually such a simple thing?
Viktor had told her it was very difficult. This clearly wasn't difficult at all.
As the practice continued again and again, Aurelian's movements became increasingly proficient.
Each chopping motion became faster, and her momentum grew stronger by the moment.
The whistling vibrations of the air also became more frequent.
It really didn't look like someone who was training for the first day.
After swinging the sword several hundred times, Aurelian felt her stamina starting to give out.
After all, she was only fifteen years old. In terms of physical strength, she was naturally no match for knights who had already reached their prime.
Even when Gwen was younger, she might not have been able to do better than this.
When it was time to rest, Aurelian handed the sword toward the side.
Celia hurriedly took the sword and handed Aurelian a clean towel.
"No need."
Aurelian shook her head and refused the towel Celia offered.
A stream of energy gathered toward her from the surroundings. At her feet, a blue-glowing magic circle appeared out of thin air.
White streams of light gradually flowed across Aurelian's body.
As if completely evaporating the sweat on her body, it slowly dissipated.
Seeing Aurelian casting magic, Gwen was slightly stunned.
This spell felt somewhat familiar.
It felt like she had seen a scene like this somewhere before.
Celia looked at Aurelian with concern, but could only stand to the side, not daring to say a word.
On one hand, she had already been warned by Her Highness not to interrupt while she was studying.
On the other hand, the person teaching Her Highness swordsmanship this time was Gwen Delin.
As the princess's guard, Celia was also a woman.
And among the women in the royal capital, there were very few who didn't admire Gwen.
As a woman, she possessed extremely strong independence and firm authority.
She always gave off an air of someone you could rely on.
Her personal charm had earned Gwen the admiration of many women who wanted to stand on their own and be independent.
Of course, where there is praise, there is also slander.
There were always some people who couldn't stand Gwen's behavior, believing that her achievements today were entirely because she had a very powerful fiancé.
Just a scheming woman who took advantage of others and still acted virtuous.
While Aurelian was resting, Gwen hesitated for a moment and then asked from the side.
"Your Highness."
"You've had some related training before, right?"
The princess looked at Gwen with a smile and spoke calmly, "Yes."
"Normally, when my teacher Viktor teaches me, he always has me do several hours of physical training."
"He told me that even mages need enough stamina to support their bodies."
Listening to Aurelian's explanation, Gwen suddenly understood and nodded.
'So that's how it is.'
Gwen knew very well that Viktor also knew swordsmanship.
But it seemed that he had only let Aurelian practice the basic sword-swinging movements.
She began to consider whether to skip the tedious swinging drills and move straight into sword techniques.
But very quickly, she dismissed that thought.
Basics were the most important part. Even at her level, she still insisted on daily sword-swinging practice.
After making her decision, she said to Aurelian, "After you've rested enough, let's do a few more sets of sword-swinging practice."
"Okay, Teacher Gwen."
Aurelian closed her eyes and breathed softly.
As she felt her mind gradually calm down, her tensed muscles slowly relaxed, and her strength spread throughout her body.
Her heart thumped powerfully, beating strong and steady.
Suddenly, it was as if a fierce wind rose around them. Even the nearby curtains were lifted completely, flapping loudly in the air.
The servants hurriedly held down their skirts, afraid they would be blown up by the sudden gust.
Aurelian's long hair was blown up into the air, yet she still calmly kept her eyes closed.
She was not disturbed at all by the abnormal surroundings.
Until a warm, large hand rested on her shoulder.
As if feeling a sudden flutter in her heart, Aurelian couldn't help but open her eyes, slowly lifting her head to look behind her.
Viktor had appeared out of nowhere and was looking down at her.
"How's the training going?"
Hearing Viktor's voice, Aurelian felt an especially strong sense of joy. She happily squinted her eyes and nodded obediently.
"Mhm! Just like usual, I don't feel tired at all!"
Viktor gave her a calm nod in response, then turned to look at Gwen.
Seeing Viktor's sudden arrival, and meeting his deep gaze, Gwen looked a bit embarrassed.
"Vi… Viktor?"
"Why did you come over at this time?"
Viktor looked at her and smiled slightly.
"I was a little worried, so I came to take a look."
Hearing this, Gwen became even more embarrassed. Her face flushed as she turned her head away.
One hand clenched tightly into a fist and held near her mouth as she lightly coughed twice.
"It's my working time right now…"
"You being here will interfere with my work."
Aurelian and Celia stood to the side, blinking as they stared at Gwen together.
A strange feeling arose in Celia's heart…
'Why does this feel different from what was said?'
'Wasn't Miss Gwen supposed to be a more independent, self-reliant woman?'
'Why does she now look no different from what the rumors describe?'
'No… how is that possible??'
'How could Miss Gwen like that man whose attitude and behavior are both so terrible!'
As the princess's personal guard, Celia didn't have many channels to obtain information.
Naturally, she had no idea that under last night's dark sky, the fireworks filling the royal capital, were set off especially for someone.
Aurelian simply stood to the side, watching the interaction between the two, gently pressing her lips together.
Suddenly, she raised her head, as if reminding Gwen, and said, "Teacher Gwen, I've rested enough."
"We can continue."
Hearing Aurelian's cue, Gwen finally snapped back to her senses. She hurriedly came back to herself and patted her slightly warm cheeks.
"Ah! Okay, Your Highness!"
She no longer paid attention to Viktor at the side and walked straight over to Aurelian, beginning to supervise her sword practice.
Viktor didn't find it boring either. He casually found a chair and sat down.
His gaze stayed on Gwen, not shifting even for a moment.
The surrounding servants treated him with great respect, diligently preparing all kinds of fruit and placing them on exquisite plates.
The princess's teacher, Count Viktor.
These servants were already very familiar with him.
After all, Viktor often entered the palace, and over time, they naturally came to recognize this noble figure.
And the princess had also given special instructions.
Once her teacher came to see her, they were to serve him wholeheartedly.
Even more respectfully than they treated her.
This made the servants feel an enormous amount of pressure.
But the person in front of them didn't think much of it.
After the fruit was set down, Viktor even politely said to them, "Thank you."
The calm, gentle tone, combined with his handsome face, made the servants blush uncontrollably.
They hurriedly bowed and quickly turned to leave in unison.
After leaving, they couldn't help but think of the grudges between the Kleivna family and the Raiser family.
A noble who treated even servants like them so politely, how could he possibly be a bad person?
Viktor sat on the chair, quietly watching Gwen and Aurelian.
Both of them were extremely focused. His arrival hadn't made either of them slack off.
Instead, their states had actually improved.
Aurelian's movements became more and more skilled, and Gwen constantly observed and corrected the princess's posture.
Whenever Gwen entered work mode, she became extremely responsible.
And Aurelian was also a particularly obedient student, doing her best to meet her teacher's demands.
At the beginning, Aurelian found the sword-swinging quite easy.
Soon, the real swordsmanship training was brought out.
Chopping, thrusting, upward slashes, blocking…
Many combat techniques appeared before Aurelian.
At first, Aurelian struggled somewhat.
Because swordsmanship training was on a completely different level of difficulty compared to simple sword-swinging.
But with sufficient stamina supporting her, she endured training session after training session.
Under Gwen's tireless guidance, Aurelian gradually began to relax.
What Gwen needed to do was to let Aurelian remember this feeling and form long-lasting muscle memory.
Before she knew it, the sun slowly hid behind the western mountains, leaving only a red glow.
The light of dusk streamed through the windows, slanting into the luxurious room.
Vega stood on the table, finishing the last grape on the fruit platter.
At this time, Aurelian planted the longsword in front of her.
Even though she was utterly exhausted, she still supported her body with the sword, panting heavily.
The magic power in her body had been completely depleted. She couldn't even use magic to recover her stamina or clean away the sweat.
Looking at Gwen instead, she also planted an ordinary knight's longsword in front of her.
Yet she looked as if she wasn't tired at all, not a single drop of sweat on her.
For Gwen, compared to her usual training intensity, this was nothing at all.
The breeze coming in through the window stirred her long silver hair, making her look valiant and dashing in the glow of dusk.
"Let's stop here for today."
Hearing this, Aurelian immediately felt an overwhelming wave of fatigue wash over her entire body.
Today had really exhausted her.
Her whole body couldn't help but lean backward.
At once, a mass of wind energy supported her body.
The soft force made Aurelian feel especially at ease.
Only when Teacher Viktor was by her side could she be this unrestrained.
Because she knew... as long as he was there, she would never get hurt.
Viktor stood up and raised his palm, releasing a streak of white light over Aurelian's body.
As the white light brushed past her, the sweat on Aurelian's body was completely cleaned away, and the sticky feeling beneath her armor disappeared.
It felt as if she had just taken a bath, refreshingly cool.
After all this, Aurelian felt a strong sense of drowsiness.
In her hazy state, she only heard Viktor's voice ring by her ear.
"Have a good rest today."
"Tomorrow, I'll take you somewhere else for training."
Hearing that reassuring voice, Aurelian slowly closed her eyes.
After that, Viktor walked over to Gwen and said to her, "Let's go back."
Gwen returned his smile and nodded.
"Okay."
A stream of wind gathered beneath their feet, and the surrounding air became restless.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the whirlwind burst apart, and Gwen and Viktor had already vanished without a trace.
Only after everything around them became completely quiet, a sudden voice sounded.
"Celia."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Celia stood respectfully beside Aurelian.
At the same time, Aurelian opened her sleepy eyes.
She quietly stared at the ceiling and asked Celia in a calm voice, "If I could sit in Father's position."
"Would I be able to get everything I want?"