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n“Don’t you know I won’t make anywhere if I practice alone? No matter how much I try, I can’t make any progress. I’m really frustrated.”

n“Well, I’m not sure about it because I’ve never felt like that. ”

nI felt he was really cheeky. I turned around after staring at him for a moment. I didn’t feel like I would get an answer even if I kept talking, and I didn’t want to face him any more because of the shadow of another man whose image was constantly overlapped with his.

n“Now that you give up right away, I don’t think you were serious about learning fencing.”

n“… Well, I don’t want to talk anymore with you who is trying to toy with me,” I sharply rebuked him.

n“You need more muscle and strength to practice fencing. That’s why you can’t get anywhere. Why don’t you build up your strength first before talking about fencing?”

nI stopped for a moment. Physical strength and muscle? I sighed, but as I was looking for a solution, I felt a bit light-hearted. At the same time, I became more emboldened.

n‘I’ll never give up. You won’t get away with this!’

n“Welcome back, young lady.”

nWhen I got home, every maid and servant welcomed me. I greeted them with a nod and called the butler.

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n“Butler, wait a minute.”

n“What’s the matter, young lady?”

n“I’m going to do more intensive training in the future. Starting tomorrow, I would like to eat mainly nutritional food, so tell the chef about my request. ”

n“Are you sure you want to do more training than now?”

n“Yes.” I nodded at the butler double checking with me hesitantly.

nSilent for a moment, he replied with a heavy voice, “Okay, my lady, but don’t be too hard on yourself.”

n“Sure, thanks.”

nI went up to my room with the worried butler looking at me anxiously.

nWhen she was reflecting on my conversation with Lars, Lina came in with a knock and asked,

n“My lady, what happened to you at the duke’s house?”

n“Huh? Well… Why?”

n“Because you told the chef to change your menu as soon as you came back. Did you argue with Sir Lars’ brother? ”

n“… ”

n“I think my guess is right. My lady is not the one to quarrel with anybody, so he must have done something wrong to you. Cheer up, young lady! Hang in there! ”

n“Yes, yes.”

nI smiled at her awkwardly as she was eager to cheer me up, and organized what I had to do from tomorrow. Anyway, I went to bed thinking that I should try hard from now on because I realized what my problem was,

nStarting the next day, I started building my muscles. Based on my memories of other knights’ training, I asked Lina to make a sandbag tailored to me so that I could attach them to my wrists and ankles.

nAnd, as usual, I did basic fitness exercises and practiced basic fencing constantly. I kept running until I was gasping for breath, and wielded my sword until my arm was almost paralyzed. Because of this hard training, I had to skip dinner and went to sleep right away after training.

nHow many days did I practice? I knew not. The butler and other staff began to show concern about my hard training. I knew when I woke up in the morning, I felt so heavy and my face looked haggard. I knew that I could not improve my skills with this practice method. Despite all this, I continued to go out to the training place before the morning sun rose, then came back home after dark.

nI couldn’t stop this reckless thing because fencing was the only way for me to avoid the fate of getting entangled with the royal family.

n“Are you crazy?”

nThen one day, an unexpected visitor came to me. The boy whose face turned red like his hair color screamed at me, “Do you think you’re practicing in the right way? Huh? Are you serious? ”

n“Yes, of course. Didn’t you tell me I needed to build my physical strength first before talking about fencing?”

n“Who told you to practice like this? You don’t want to hold the sword for the rest of your life, do you? Stop it now! ”

n“None of your business!”

n“What did you say?” He asked as if he was dumbfounded.

n“Don’t you remember you asked me why you should bother teaching me? I won’t ask you for help, so don’t meddle in my matters and go back.”

n“…Are you upset with me because I asked you to prove your skills? Are you protesting right now? ”

n“If you have no intention to help me, don’t bother. As I’m busy, let me leave. Take care.”

n“Hey, you!”

nI just ignored him when he was trying to say something to me, and left.

nIt was about ten steps that I walked when he began to chase me, hurling abuses.

nWhen I took another step pretending I hadn’t heard, I felt my knees buckle.

nWhen I tried to keep my balance, I suddenly felt dizzy.

n“Damn it….Hey! Wake up!”

nMy blurry vision was filled with red thread, and soon, the whole world became dark.

nFinally, I passed out, feeling like someone was pulling me.

nWhen I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling.

nI smiled bitterly. After returning to being a ten-year-old girl, I was steadily trying to get in good shape, but I had no choice but to laugh uncontrollably as I passed out often. I was struggling to live a life different from my past, but it was so difficult.

n“Have you come to your senses, young lady?”

n“…Lina.”

n“First, drink water. Here you go.”

nAfter drinking the water that Lina gave me, I barely sat up. I couldn’t see the sandbags that were bound to my wrists and ankles, and my hands and feet were a bit swollen because they had been bound a bit tightly. I sighed a little. What should I do? If I can’t do this, how can I escape from my past?

n“Miss.”

n“Huh?”

n“Lars is here.”

n“Lars?”

n“Since he brought you home after you passed out. He’s been visiting here every day since then.”

nI opened my eyes at her unexpected news. I could understand that he caught me when I was falling, and carried me home, but I was curious why he kept visiting me everyday. I was puzzled, but I felt I had to express gratitude to him, so I told Lina to let him in.

n“Uh, are you okay?”

n“Fine. Thank you, Lars.”

n“Uh, for what?”

n“Well, you caught me when I was falling that day. I wasn’t injured because of your help. Thanks.”

nI still felt bad about his actions, but bowed and thanked him. As if he was greatly embarrassed, the boy swept his red hair. His gaze was wandering all over the place without turning at me straight. Was it because he was nervous? Unlike how I felt at the first meeting, this time I didn’t see the shadow of someone else overlapped with his blue eyes. When I looked at him comfortably, the boy who took a deep breath said more calmly than before.

n“Hey, just stop this kind of practice right now. ”

n“… ”

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n“If something goes wrong, you will never hold the sword. Why do you think your father didn’t train you?”

n“… ”

n“When you attach something like a sandbag to your ankles when you’re young, all your joints are injured. That’s why your father didn’t train you that way, I think.”

nI agreed. It was for this reason that my father did not train me on top of my weakness. Even though I practiced with Allendis for the same period of time, the reason why he achieved far more than I was because he was superior to me in terms of inbred muscular strength and physical strength. Perhaps that’s why there were a few female knights in the empire while most of the empire’s knights were men.

nBut no matter how difficult it was, no matter how disadvantaged my innate physical condition was, I had to learn fencing. I could never give up because I had a desperate reason to get out of my past.

n“Why are you trying to learn fencing? Why are you in such a hurry? ”

n“… ”

n“Because you’re the only legitimate child of the Monique family? Are you trying to be the successor of your family?”

n“…. ”

n“Good, but I feel you are still weird. You don’t have a rival. So, there is no reason for you to hurry up. Then, what the heck is the reason? Why are you being so hard on yourself?”

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