SELEIYU
I LOST. I lost to a girl who was weaker and shorter than me.
After leaving Noir and Yuna in the care of the servant, I left to practice my swordplay in the garden. I had to do something.
I’d thought I was powerful. I had been convinced I couldn’t lose to another girl my age when it came to either magic or swordplay. But that was in the past. I had lost.
At first, I had been convinced that Noir and her student friend had traveled from the capital without a guard. But then Noir had said the student was her guard, and I couldn’t believe her. I quickly came to the conclusion that she might wind up finding herself in danger and asked to assign a guard to Noir myself.
However, she had insisted the girl in the uniform was strong enough to be her guard. And in order to prove it, the girl had challenged me to a duel.
I had thought I wouldn’t lose against the girl, irrespective of whether we fought with swords or magic. I had practiced enough to be sure of that, after all. But in the end, I had lost the match. And it had not been a close call. She was far more skilled than I was.
I needed to become more powerful. I didn’t have any time left. If what I saw in the past wasn’t a dream, that man would be coming for me again.
My mother was killed in front of me when I was only five years old. I hardly remember what had happened. All I know is that a man killed her. He had spoken to my mother about something or other before killing her, but I couldn’t remember what the conversation had been about. Only that my mother had been killed right in front of me.
She had begged the man to spare my life. Until her very last breath, she had told me to run, but I stayed by her side, clutching her body. I remember hearing the man say, “What a darling daughter. You seem like you’ll be just as beautiful as your mother someday.”
I had no idea what he meant by that. The only thing that stayed with me was the smile on his face.
“I’ll take you in exchange, for my revenge. I’ll come back for you when you’re sixteen. Until then, grow beautiful for me.”
Then, he had stroked my cheek. His hand was still stained in my dead mother’s blood. I was frozen to the spot in sheer terror, unable to move.
“But I need insurance. You have a younger brother, don’t you?”
I did. He and I were incredibly close. He would laugh whenever I laughed.
“Let’s keep this little conversation between the two of us. If you tell anyone else about this, your adorable little brother may end up just like your mother.”
He reached out and left a slick streak of blood on my cheek. Sometimes, I can still feel the sticky blood on my face in my dreams. I fainted as the man left, and when I regained consciousness, I was on a bed.
After, my emotions had been unstable. I would groan in my sleep, and I was terrified of being alone. The memory of what the man had done would send me into full-body shivers.
I told Father everything I could remember, even though Father had been sobbing at the time. Though he tried, he couldn’t find my mother’s killer. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that the man might come back once I turned sixteen. Though I was only a child, the thought of my younger brother bloodied and dead was enough of a deterrent that I dared not tell anyone.
Ten years had passed since that day. Even now, I couldn’t determine whether it all had been a dream, a false memory, or a terrible truth. My memories had grown hazier in the decade since. The man hadn’t returned yet, after all. I began to believe that he might never enter my life again. And yet, the thought of my mother’s murderer appearing before me on my sixteenth birthday...
I gripped my sword harder. This was the reason I had worked so hard. I had learned to handle a sword. I had studied magic. Once my sixteenth birthday arrived, for better or worse, I would be released from this curse that had held me down. I wondered whether I truly wanted him to appear or not...
I had no answer to that. All I could do was wait until I turned sixteen.
✦ ✦ ✦
YUNA
AFTER WE SPOTTED SELEIYU, Noa and I headed outside. She hadn’t noticed that we had come to the garden to join her and kept swinging her sword around. I mulled over calling out to her, but she noticed us, so she stopped swinging her sword and turned our way.
“What are you two doing here?”
“We saw you from the window,” Noa explained. “Are you practicing, Lady Seleiyu?”
“I’m very sorry. I know I’ve been a poor host, but after the duel, I felt the need to practice my swordplay. I also wanted to exercise a bit before bathing.”
“Did we interrupt you?”
“No, please don’t worry about it.”
Seleiyu looked over at me.
“Yuna, would you be so kind as to spar with me for a bit? It won’t be another duel, of course. I promise I won’t jab you again or use any other unusual methods of attack. I’d just like to exchange some blows.”
Seleiyu looked very serious as she talked.
“Okay, but it’ll only be sparring. If it seems like you’re starting to fight for real, then I’m calling it off.”
“Thank you.”
Seleiyu handed me a practice sword. Unlike the swords we had used for the duel, these were iron. Without my bear puppets, it was clear that the sword would have been quite heavy and difficult to wield.
“I look forward to this sparring session.”
Seleiyu readied her sword and began to lightly swing at me. I blocked her. After she swung three times, Seleiyu backed away slightly.
“Please swing at me now, Yuna.”
I brought my sword down on her, just like she had asked. The sound of clashing metal rang out through the space. We continued to spar wordlessly.
After exchanging a few blows, Seleiyu lowered her sword.
“Thank you. You really are amazing, Yuna. I was actually swinging quite hard at you. Most normal girls would have dropped their weapon.”
“Well, I’ve trained up.”
“After seeing your arms, I’m not sure I believe that.”
Seleiyu approached me and poked my flabby arm.
“Hee hee. Now, let’s all go take a bath together. Noir, I’ll wash your hair for you.”
“You don’t need to do that, Lady Seleiyu.”
“I’ve always wanted a little sister like you, Noir.”
“You have a little brother though,” Noa replied.
“I adore him, of course, but a little sister would have been cuter. Plus, he’s started to be more willful lately. He’s become a bit of a handful.”
“I can be willful too,” Noa said.
“Well, I think it would be more forgivable coming from you, Noir. Just don’t tell my brother I said so.”
Seleiyu smiled and brought her finger to her lips.