“Elly. This is Cedric.”

Alice smiled sweetly and introduced my future swordplay teacher.

But I couldn’t smile like her.

That’s because the teacher was completely different from what I expected.

‘It’s a boy, isn’t he?’

I thought it would be a girl since it would be a one who was close to Alice, and I never thought it would be a boy.

While I was so surprised that I couldn’t even greet him properly, the blond boy named Cedric came a step forward and said,

“Hi.”

“Uh..uh, hi.”

“Cedric Cainte. It’s Elena Velotte, right?”

“How..How did you know my name?”

I panicked and asked in a higher-than-usual voice, and he waved his hands as if it was insignificant.

“I’ve heard a lot of rumors.”

“Rumors? What rumors?”

Cedric grinned at my question, and declined to comment on the rumors.

The attitude made me more curious about the contents of the rumor.

I’m in the magic department, not in the swords department.

What’s there to spread my rumor there? Is it about me being Alice’s roommate, who’s in the magic department? Or about me as a student who’s not good at practical skills?

The former is fine, but the latter is a little.... no, very very embarrassing.

But Cedric seemed to have no intention of speaking about it.

I thought it was bad to press him more about the rumors, so I quit asking him.

But I couldn’t get rid of the feeling of reluctance.

‘Well, I guess it’s not a bad rumor from the atmosphere.’

When I just smiled without saying anything, Cedric also smiled looking at me.

The bright blue eyes stood out in his face.

‘Blue?’

It was a rare, but a very familiar color.

Felix had blue eyes, and also the little boy had blue eyes.

Perhaps that’s why the face of the little boy overlapped over Cedric’s.

‘Looking at it like this, I think they look a little alike..’

Cedric smiled awkwardly, as if my eyes were burdensome.

I shook my head avoiding his eyes.

“Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have anything to say?”

“No, I’m just curious about the blue eyes.”

“ Hahaha..Everyone say that. I didn’t realize this was so unusual until I came to the Academy.”

“Really?”

“Yes, our estates is in the North. Blue eyes are pretty common there, look, it’s lighter than my hair, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s amazing.”

I nodded when I saw his bright blonde hair.

The Velotte estate in the south is relatively warm and sunny, while the northern part of the kingdom is cold and hard to see sunlight.

I’m not sure if that’s why, but I heard that people in the north have lighter hair and eye colors than people in the south.

Ah, Felix also had blue eyes, but surprisingly he was from the South.

Christian estate was only two hours away by train from our Velotte estate.

‘No wonder his skin was white for a sword major.’

It was darker than me or Alice, who are used to living indoors, but Cedric’s skin color was brighter than other swordplay students whose skin tone was close to copper.

“Then wait with Alice for a moment. I’ll get you a wooden sword and other equipment.”

“Oh, it’s..”

While Cedric ran to get a wooden sword. There was no time for me to turn down the sword class.

‘How should I say no?’

I wasn’t very good at saying no.

Moreover, it was hard to refuse Cedric who decided to teach me as a favor.

But no was no.

“Alice, why don’t you think about it again?”

I whispered quietly, and Alice said,

“What?”

“It’s a boy.”

“He is the best in swords department.”

“But it’s a boy.”

“So what’s wrong with it?”

“Because it’s a boy..”

I couldn’t find a clear reason, and while I was glossing over it, I made eye contact with Cedric, who was picking a wooden sword.

I smiled awkwardly at him, who did not shy away from my gaze, and pulled Alice by the arm.

“Don’t you think it’s going to be hard to train with him?”

“It’s OK. Cedric is considerate and won’t teach you hard.”

“No, it’s not that..”

I said frankly.

“It’s a bit of a burden.”

“There’s nothing to be burdened about. It’s okay. He won’t eat you. You are going to learn for self-defense, so he won’t train that hard.”

“Still..”

I hesitated for a moment, then closed my eyes and muttered.

“If I practice swordplay, he will fix my posture from behind.”

Alice, who was listening to me with a serious look, suddenly burst into laughter.

“ Hahahah.. What, that’s what you are worried about? Well, that’s how swords are taught. Don’t worry too much.”

I dazed for a moment at Alice’s casual reply.

‘He’s teaching me with a pure heart, am I the one that’s weird?’

‘No, but.. ..’

I was going to protest something more, but at that moment I once again made eye contact with Cedric.

Looking at his angelic smile, I couldn’t say anything.

Eventually I gave up and changed the subject.

“By the way, Cedric said heard about me. What’s the? rumor about me that’s spreading in the swords department?”

“Rumor?”

Alice, who was pondering, exclaimed,

“Ah!”

And soon started laughing.

I’m a little sorry for Alice, but it was a little insidious smile somewhere.

“Why are you laughing like that?”

“No..it’s nothing.”

“You look suspicious.”

“ What..? I usually laugh like this.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Oh, Cedric is coming. Good luck then.”

“Alice!”

Alice winked one eye.

“Good luck with your swordplay class. I’ll see you in the room in a little while.”

She left me in the training room and walked away.

Cedric, who came next to me before I knew it, looked at Alice moving away and asked.

“Where’s Alice going?”

I said roughly.

“She had something urgent to attend.”

“Really? I thought Alice would also learn swordplay.”

What a shrewd fellow, Alice must have run away since she didn’t want to learn swordplay.

“I brought the lightest one, since I don’t know what you’ll like.”

Cedric held out one of the two wooden swords he was holding.

It was noticeably small compared to what he was holding.

“I don’t know if I can hold it..”

“Huh? Did you say something.?”

“No, it wasn’t a big deal.”

I murmured to myself, grabbing the wooden sword Cedric gave me.

It was heavy, but not unheard of. It’s amazing. I’ve never held a wooden sword in 19 years.

My father taught my two brothers swordplay, but his daughter, me, was not allowed to come to the training room.

‘Will he be angry if he finds out that I learned sword?’

I thought for a moment, but soon the image of father who was never interested in what I was doing popped in my head.

As I stared down at the wooden sword, Cedric smiled awkwardly looking at me.

“It might not be good since it’s a sword for practice. It will be rough, so please be careful.”

After hearing that, when I looked at the wooden sword I could see the small thorn sticking out.

When I tried to tear it with my hands, Cedric took the wooden sword again and trimmed the fine thorns for me.

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who should say sorry for giving it to you. Here you go,”

Cedric turned the wooden sword around and handed it back to me.

“Now, I think it’ll be better, By the way Elena. Have you ever learned using sword before.?”

“No. It’s my first time. I’ve never learned.”

“I knew it. You didn’t have any calluses on your hands. So are you okay with this? If you learn the sword, you’ll get calluses.”

Hands without calluses is the pride of aristocratic maiden.

My father didn’t teach me a sword for that reason.

However, from the time I entered the academy, I decided to live as a wizard rather than as an aristocrat.

I didn’t mind getting some calluses.

“It’s all right.”

“Okay. Then let’s see how strong your basic physical strength is. Let’s put down the wooden sword and and run around the training room.”

So I started running around the training room with Cedric.

However, not long after, my heart beat like it would burst and I felt suffocated.

As an aristocrat and a student of magic, I don’t have anything to do with stamina.

In short, it was an environment where physical strength could not be improved.

Cedric was confused when he saw me gasping even though I ran only one lap around the room, and that too at a slow speed.

“Well, it’s more than I expected..”

I replied, wiping the sweat from under my chin from the back of my hand.

“It’s terrible, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t think like that. I just thought you are a little out of shape than I expected.”

“I see.”

I put my hands on my knees, slightly bent my upper body, and breathed heavily.

I felt like I was going to feel nauseous.

Cedric inadvertently tried to pat me on the back, but immediately gave up.

“I’ll get some water.”

“Yes, thank you.”

While Cedric was away for a while, I sat down in a chair on the corner of the training room and caught my breath.

“There’s a long way to go.”

While I was thinking, I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Elly, what are you doing here?”

I could tell without looking.

This brusque voice belonged to Felix.