In the end, Commander Range had to follow my order. The other knights were starting to give him disapproving looks as he kept giving one question after another to me like an interrogator. The meeting was dismissed with the additional strategy of having the mater mages in the frontline. It relieved me, but my work was far from done.

As the other knights left the tent one by one, I stayed behind.

When I was finally left alone with the Commander, I spoke up, "Commander Range, I have a request."

Commander Range was perfectly stoic. As usual, it was hard to read his mind.

"Please teach me how to use a sword."

He wasn't a man of subtlety, and it showed in the way his eyes moved up and down as he looked at me.

"My Prince, I don't think-"

"Let me rephrase that." I leaned forward, propping up my chin with my elbow on the table. "Teach me how to use a sword, Commander."

Commander Range stared at me, his eyes narrowing in contemplation before he finally nodded stiffly. "Understood, Your Highness."

I stared back. Even though I already predicted this response, the sheer obedience was still shocking.

It confirmed my hypothesis; Commander Range and everybody here was part of the neutral party. They sided with no one in particular and respected the royal family members equally.

I could see why their death would benefit the King.

My father, not only got rid of me, his despised son, he also got rid of the unpredictable variables in the upcoming succession. How sly of him.

"Let's go." I got up from my chair.

"Are you going back to your tent, Your Highness?"

"No, you and I are heading to the training ground."

"Right now?"

"Commander, we don't know when Fentena will launch their attacks. Time is precious."

It almost sounded like an inside joke that only I could laugh at.

||I don't think you understand the meaning of inside joke, Prince||

Commander stood still for a second before bowing respectfully to me. "Understood, Your Highness. Please follow me."

I thought about this before, but he really walked like a man with great purpose. Tu walked by my side, skipping her steps cheerfully.

||Good luck my Prince (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡||

||me think he gonna kick ya ass but ya'll be ok||

Very reassuring, Huan, thank you.

The training ground was already full of knights. They scurried away to make space when they saw us coming. Commander Range ignored them and placed me in the center. I could feel their stares stabbing the back of my head.

Commander Range's eyes were more intense than all of those stares combined. He was watching every single of my moves.

This man didn't intend to train me. He wanted me to give up.

Commander Range was an idiot if he thought I would succumb easily to the pressure.

He rubbed the back of his neck with a resigned expression as if he just read my mind. Striding forward without flinching, he handed me a sword.

The sharpened steel he gave me was old and rusty, but it felt heavy in my hand.

"Your Highness, hold it like this."

I copied his posture, keeping my elbows bent and close to my body while gripping the sword with two hands.

Putting my left foot forward, I hold my sword upright.

The Commander then instructed me to attack from different angles.

"My Prince, for now, just practice your swinging." He gestured at one of the knights. "Dutro will watch over you in my stead."

"Your Highness." Dutro came forward and bowed nervously. He looked young, barely older than my oldest brother, the Crown Prince.

"I get it." I nodded at the Commander.

"Then excuse me, Your Highness, I have other things to attend."

I watched his back getting further away. At times, it felt like he built an impenetrable wall between him and other people. It wasn't immediately obvious, but at moments like this, it was hard to miss.

||I thought he was gonna humiliate you (￣³￣)||

Whether he humiliated me or not, I had no choice but to move forward, didn't I?

||(灬º‿º灬)||

I stared at the floating text, crossing my arm.

Huan didn't give any confirmation. Whether that made her kind or foolish, I had no idea.

Back then, my end of the deal was to get happiness in exchange for my soul. If I had known they were not, in fact, a hallucination, I would have made a more specific deal.

There were a lot of gaps in the current deal that they could easily take advantage of.

||How rude ಠ_ಠ||

||We are not humans||

||We don't do underhanded things like that||

||(ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻||

She said that, but so far, they were more human than most people in my life.

I ignored the floating text and started swinging my sword.