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The day after their meeting in the Banquet Hall.

Damian led Noel and Orcus to a small Shooting Range set up in the corner of Count Kraus’s Lord Castle.

The Shooting Range felt somewhat empty for something owned by the Empire’s renowned martial house, as it was simply equipped with a few targets and a couple of racks for bows and arrows. Orcus gazed at the target set far off and murmured softly.

“How far is that?”

“About 80 paces.”

“That’s quite a distance.”

“Not particularly far.”

“Nope. It’s far.”

Orcus immediately denied Damian’s response. For a skilled mage like him, hitting a target from a distance was an easy feat—but that was under the assumption he was using magic. He had once handled a bow before learning magic, but according to his memory, it wasn’t a weapon that was particularly easy to manage.

While Damian regarded the target and gauged the distance, he silently picked up a wooden stick and stood in front of Orcus, swinging his arm lightly toward the ground.

Swish!

It was an exceedingly simple motion, yet a long line marked the ground. Standing right behind him and feeling no trace of mana, Orcus looked closely at the black mark on the ground and spoke to Damian.

“It seems it was a good call to ask for your help.”

“You’re too kind.”

The owner of the location they were in, Arthur, wasn’t present.

He was as busy as the Emperor in Sarham, so even for the sake of educating the Prince and Princess, the time he could allocate was very limited. With the Emperor’s orders on the table, Damian, who had relatively more free time, was tasked with guiding Orcus and Noel’s training.

While Noel, praised as a genius among her peers in the Imperial Palace, had hearsay about Damian’s skills, there was a significant difference between hearing about it and witnessing it firsthand.

Having had little interaction with his peers, Orcus wasn’t entirely sure where he stood compared to others, but having previously seen the spar between Noel and Cromel’s Lesser House, it was clear that what Damian had just demonstrated didn’t lag behind them at all.

He wiped away the residual doubt he had about Damian’s abilities.

Orcus picked up a bow that had been prepared beforehand and stood behind the line that Damian had created.

Looking again at the target aligned straight ahead, it almost felt like the distance had increased from before. Though his memory was hazy, he assumed the stance he had once held and nocked an arrow on the string.

After taking note of what he needed to hit, he began to calculate the distance between himself and the target. The wind direction and speed were familiar to him, as he had often computed these when launching bullets created by magic, so there was no confusion there.

However, estimating the amount of force he needed to exert was a challenge. Since he hadn’t moved his body often, he struggled to gauge how much strength was needed to draw the bowstring.

Finally, after pulling the string as much as he could, when the wind at his back calmed down, he released it immediately.

Perhaps because he had a good foundation, the arrow Orcus shot sliced through the air with more force than he had expected.

“Oh.”

Worrying that it might fall to the ground midflight, Orcus was pleasantly surprised to see the arrow flying straight. He even thought, “Could this be the first shot hitting the center?”—but ultimately, the arrow flew over the target and away.

“Ah…”

Though it wasn’t unexpected, he couldn’t help but let out a small sound of regret. Damian, watching from beside him, handed him another arrow and inquired.

“Have you shot a bow before?”

“Just once. It seems it doesn’t go as well as I thought. I could probably do it easily with magic.”

“Your stance needs a bit of correction, but overall, it wasn’t bad. You seemed rather shaky due to the unfamiliar posture. That can be resolved with practice, and you’ll be hitting the target in no time.”

“Is that so?”

“And when you hold the bow, you don’t need to lift it too high. Your Highness has more physical strength than you might think. A slight lift should suffice if you want to apply force.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

Orcus’s lips curled into a smile at the unexpectedly positive evaluation. He took the arrow Damian handed him, nocked it again, and adjusted his stance. He pulled back with as much strength as before but aimed lower this time.

Once again, the arrow cut through the air.

Thwack!

Though distant, the sound was faint; still, Orcus could hear the arrow embed itself into the target. He hadn’t hit the center, but just hitting the target was enough to make his heart soar.

“Well done.”

“This is frustrating. If I had lowered my aim just a bit more, it would have been the center. Clearly, as you said, I’m not yet accustomed to this, so my body isn’t moving as I wish.”

“That’s usually the way of it when starting something new. Repetition is key. Still, hitting the target on your second attempt shows you have some talent, Your Highness.”

“I’d rather not hear that from you. Hm, Noel? Do you want to try shooting this time?”

“Huh?”

“Shooting. Don’t you want to practice?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

Seeming to have been lost in thought, Noel startled back to reality at Orcus’s words and hurriedly stood up with a flustered expression. Normally, when Orcus hit the target, it would be expected for her to cheer, but it was indeed odd that she was so quiet now.

However, Orcus didn’t seem to notice anything strange about Noel’s behavior, or perhaps he knew the reason behind it, as he simply handed her the bow without saying anything further.

As Noel received the bow from Orcus and positioned herself, her gaze met Damian’s.

But unlike when they had sparred the day prior, Noel hurriedly avoided eye contact with him, as if trying to maintain her distance. Damian found himself curious about Noel’s changed demeanor, but he did not voice his observations.

He pulled an arrow from the container and handed it to Noel, who accepted it wordlessly.

She glanced at the target once before quickly nocking the arrow. It seemed she didn’t need any preparation time, unlike Orcus.

In a heartbeat, she pulled back the string and shot the arrow without hesitation.

The arrow flew towards the target at an even faster speed than when Orcus had shot, sharply embedding itself in the center of the target. Orcus let out a small sigh upon seeing this, then smiled and spoke to Damian.

“Isn’t this what one would call talent? By the way, how’s Noel?”

“Perfect. Her posture is steady, and her instincts are sharp; she knows exactly how to shoot to hit the target. I’d recommend the Princess go out to the forest and hone her skills through actual hunting.”

“…”

Though Noel didn’t cheer at Damian’s praise as she had before, her eyes sparkled, clearly thrilled by the compliment. Seeing Noel like this, Orcus smiled softly before asking Damian again.

“It seems we’ve both shown our skills. How about we see the capabilities of our instructor?”

“If you wish.”

At Orcus’s words, Damian took back the bow from Noel, retrieved another arrow, and nocked it to the string.

As he raised the bow again, Noel’s eyes began to sparkle with curiosity. Just moments ago, she had been avoiding his gaze, yet now her demeanor shifted entirely. Orcus could only chuckle quietly at her rapid change.

But that was short-lived, as Orcus again turned his attention to Damian.

He was equally curious about Damian’s talents, just as Noel was. While he understood Damian wasn’t an ordinary instructor, this curiosity stemmed from genuine interest rather than doubts about his abilities.

With surprising lightness, Damian nocked the arrow to the bow.

The amount of force he applied couldn’t be discerned just by watching. Drawing the taut string required considerable strength, yet his hands moved with such ease and speed; the arrow was sent flying almost simultaneously with the nocking.

Wham!

The only thing Orcus and Noel could see was that the arrow Damian shot split the arrow Noel had previously hit the target with in half as it pierced the center.

“Now, allow me to guide you through what you need to do next.”

*

Noel stepped away from the Shooting Range and made her way toward the Isilia Pavilion.

Neither Damian nor Orcus accompanied her. Right now, she walked the path alone.

Unlike Orcus, who received a bundle of arrows from Damian to practice with, she hadn’t received anything.

“What about me?”

“I have no tasks for you, Your Highness. If I had to suggest anything, it would be the need for practical experience. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be moving to Rune Proud for the tournament preparations, so today you may do as you wish.”

“What do you mean?”

“Freedom. You can practice swordsmanship as usual or train with Prince Orcus. By the way, do you need a bow?”

She unexpectedly found herself bestowed with freedom.

Usually, she might have happily shot arrows in practice, but there was a place she needed to get to. Shaking her head and declining Damian’s offer for a bow, she exited the Shooting Range.

While she hadn’t memorized all the paths in the Lord Castle yet, she knew that among the buildings beside the beautiful garden, the Isilia Pavilion was the only one she could remember.

Just following the fragrance of blooming flowers revealed the appearance of the Isilia Pavilion in no time.

As she approached, the colorful blossoms on display captured her gaze, but one thing eclipsed them completely.

Hair as white as snow that shimmered in the sunlight like a star.

Elena Edelweiss.

She was sitting on a bench in the garden, waiting for someone.

Elena’s appearance was so beautiful it could be described as doll-like, even making Noel, a fellow woman, feel that way. As she sat there quietly basking in the sunlight with her eyes closed, Noel suddenly recalled their first meeting back in Merohim.

A shy girl who hardly spoke.

And a girl who loved flowers intensely.

That was how Noel remembered Elena.

Though many things had changed about Elena since then, seeing her sitting among the flowers made Noel think some things hadn’t changed.

Noel knew she wasn’t the one Elena was waiting for.

Noel had simply come to find her after hearing that she would be at the Isilia Pavilion; the one she was waiting for would undoubtedly be her fiancé, who was currently instructing Orcus at the Shooting Range.

And that fact was why Noel found it hard to speak to Elena.

Recalling yesterday’s events, Noel pinched her cheeks. When she first spotted Elena here, she had merely thought she recognized someone from a foreign land called Sarham. She had even forgotten how she ended up in this place.

Even though she had certainly heard from Orcus that the engagement was between Kraus and Edelweiss, she had been so caught up in the fact that she was going to Kraus that she had forgotten the most crucial part.

When she initially met Elena and their eyes met, despite seeing her, she simply greeted her and then passed on to Damian, which made her slightly sulk. But recalling her later behavior made her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

Why hadn’t she focused on the conversation she was having while everything was happening in front of her with her fiancé holding hands with another woman? Realizing that she was the source of such awkwardity made her feel even more humiliated.

Thoughts crept into her mind, wondering if Elena would now think poorly of her due to yesterday’s incident.

Though Noel knew nothing about love between men and women, she couldn’t help but think that Alexander was the one who might have changed Elena.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was clear that those two shared a bond far deeper than she had. Touching their relationship filled Noel with considerable anxiety.

Although it had only been a single day of meeting, Elena was the first friend Noel had ever made since her birth.

In mere months, Elena had changed significantly from the girl she once knew. The brief encounter they’d shared made Noel fearful that she had already become a passing memory in Elena’s life. Coupled with her reflections on yesterday’s events, her anxiety only grew stronger.

“Ughhh…”

Ultimately, unable to say a word, Noel let out a frustrated sound, pacing anxiously. But then, someone slowly approached her.

“Your Highness?”

“Ah!”

Suddenly confronted by Elena’s face, Noel lost her balance and began to fall backward. Elena caught her hand and pulled her back up next to her.

“Why have you just been watching?”

Upon hearing Elena’s words, Noel realized she had been keenly aware of her gaze for quite some time. The thought of her cheeks heating up again crossed her mind, but recalling the sensation of Elena’s warm hand holding onto hers, she tightened her grip and exclaimed loudly.

“E-Elena!! It’s been a while!”

Why did such an awkward greeting come out?

Noel herself didn’t quite know the reason, but upon seeing Elena’s bright smile reflected in her eyes, all her worries melted away like snow.

“It has been a while, Noel.”

 

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