Emma rose from her chair and walked out of the library. Xion only saw Emma's back as she walked away. His face looked attentive and happy.

"She never thanked you, huh ..." Xion commented to Therius.

"Thank me for what?" Therius asked Xion.

"Hm ... you teach her stuff, give her unlimited access in this ship, also the special treatments and even a personal assistant. You even offered your time whenever she needs you. But not once did I hear her say thanks to you."

Therius shrugged. "I don't mind. I am not doing all these to get her gratitude."

He then closed his book and left the library. He must do other tasks.

Xion yawned in a corner of the library and was annoyed at himself for even caring.

What a strange couple, he thought.

Wait, they are not a couple.

***

"Miss, I have checked Sir Therius' schedule. As it turns out, he is very busy for the next seven days. I got his latest schedule from Saul, the captain of this ship. Sir Therius already has many scheduled meetings with the crew and the research team. I think they are also waiting for the arrival of the messenger ship. To my knowledge, they receive news every month from back home."

"Oh, I see."

Emma could imagine that even though they had gone far away from Akkadia, Therius did not want to miss the news update about the current situation in Akkadia. She remembered the messenger ship she used to send the message to Akkadia back then. It looked like they also used the same method to communicate.

Hmm ... Emma was curious to know the latest update on her father and mother. She decided to ask Therius about it when they met again for the next class.

"All right. In that case, Miss, should I make your study and training schedule with Sir Xion and Sir Therius?" Atila asked.

Emma nodded. "Yes, thank you, Atila."

"You're welcome, Miss."

Atila typed something on her tablet. Her fingers swiftly typed in various entries and set the clock on Emma's calendar. A few minutes later, she handed the tablet over to the girl.

"It's done. All your schedule is here. During the next week you will study as usual with me, Anddara, and Sir Therius every day, and every two days you will train with Sir Xion. Starting next week, you will also train with Sir Therius on the day you don't train with Sir Xion."

Emma complained about the tight schedule and how many activities she had to do every day. After six hours of racking her brain to learn all new things about Akkadia, she would train physically with Xion and Therius for two hours.

For some reason, she felt her life in this ship was like an adult who was working full time.

'I'm still an 18-year-old girl', Emma cried inwardly.

'I am still growing and need time to play. This is too hard.'

***

"Hmm ... your progress is pretty good," Xion said as he came out of the lounge with a bottle of wine in his right hand. He checked Emma's training statistics on the training room's wall and smiled in satisfaction. "Now, you can hit the target 50 times in 2 hours."

Emma, still ??lying on the floor, panting, opened one eye and glared at Xion.

"You keep making fun of my score. How well can you hit the target in two hours by the way?" asked Emma. "I want to know."

"Me?" Xion sipped his wine straight from the bottle and then grinned. "Open your eyes wide so you can admire my skills."

A red bullseye immediately appeared on the wall in front of Xion, which was about 50 meters from where he stood. The man walked casually into the middle of the training room, still with wine in his right hand. His left hand was raised slightly, and he moved quickly to hit the bullseye with a gust of wind in lightning speed.

ZING!

He hit the bullseye.

ZING! ZING!

Even though the bullseye moved around so much, Xion was always able to hit the target perfectly. Emma, who got up from the floor and sat watching Xion show off his abilities, was left with her jaw dropped.

The young man moved gracefully to the left and right, waving his hand up and down, and he hit the bullseye all the time. All his charges were right on target.

Not even ten minutes later, Xion stopped. He panted a little, but other from that, he looked fresh and in great shape. He didn't look like he had just exerted so much energy.

"Hm ... just ten minutes for 200 hits, all of them on target," Xion said, grinning proudly at Emma.

He pressed something on the wall, and they could see his results on the training statistics.

200 ATTACKS HITTING THE TARGET IN TEN MINUTES

"Before you feel bad about your results which you still think bad, remember that I have been training for 20 years to be where I am now," Xion said, comforting Emma. He had seen the despair in her eyes.

He could imagine that Emma must have thought their differences in strength were too far for her to close the gap. If Emma felt she was very weak compared to Xion, her chances of defeating Therius would certainly be smaller.

"I only have five years to do this ..." Emma muttered to herself.

She began to feel that Therius' great self-confidence was justifiable. Of course, the prince must be very confident that he would be able to marry Emma because he realized there was such a huge difference in power between them. He knew Emma would need at least 20 years to reach the same level as him.

Twenty more years ... It means that, by then, Emma would have been married to him for 15 years.

She sobbed.

'How can I live like that?'

Emma buried her face in her hands. She cried silently. She was now truly filled with despair. However, she did not want to look weak by crying openly.

'Maybe I'll just kill myself if I failed to defeat him', thought Emma, ??frustrated.

But if she died ... what would happen to Haoran? Or her father?