Chapter 33

"Girl, you're hopeless!" Captain Jun screamed above Kalena's head. "Stand up, how long would I wait?!"

The first training was not the easiest, but she wasn't discouraged. She quickly jumped up from the ground and attacked once again.

"I will show you the hopeless, you old man!"

"Slowly! Listen to your body!" Jun repulsed her attack, almost knocking her down. "You are tired, and the opponent still has strength, you should conclude from this. What are you doing wrong?"

"I'm doing everything right. That's my strategy."

"What is your strategy? Reply!" He shouted, attacking so hard that she couldn't fight back. He paused, sparing her painful defeat.

"I thought if I tired of you first, you would give up sooner."

"So the same system as with Luko, Han, Zarkin and all your fights I've seen. Having a favorite strategy is a good thing, but it can't be that stiff."

Kalena attacked again, trying to save the rest of her strength, but Jun defeated her anyway. She lay on her back for a moment, breathing hard and not paying attention to his annoyance.

"We have to work on your endurance. You're good, but not as good as a Silver Guard member should be. Come here!" Jun gestured to her and sat on the ground, crossing his legs. "After each fight, even the smallest one, you need to find a moment to take care of your body. You may not even feel some of the bumps, but after a while, it turns out that they caused serious damage."

"My right side hurts," she said, "and that's it."

"It hurts you because you have been pulling this stupid jacket all the time instead of focusing on defense! After the break, you have to take it off."

Kalena felt a shiver running down her spine. She chose the long-sleeved outfit on purpose, wanting to cover her mark this way. She made sure that nobody knew her past. She did not want to repeat the similar situation she had experienced in Yagn-Sho when Mizar saw her bare arm.

"I will change and it should be fine," she replied, but the captain jerked at the material, pulling it down. She caught at the last minute.

"I won't eat you," he muttered calmly and pulled again, much harder this time. She jumped back, but grabbed her arm and ran a finger over the mark burned in on him. She felt ashamed as if she were completely exposed.

"Ah yes." He nodded. "I should guess."

"The king knows about it, you can ask him," she whispered, "he wanted me in the guard."

Without a word, he pulled up his sleeve and showed her left arm. He had it all scarred, and one of them scares, in the same place as her stigma, certainly he did not get in any fight. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"You too?"

"I thought you know?"

"I knew someone from the guard was also a liberated slave, but I didn't know it could be you. Who set you free?"

"Our king's father. I was enslaved with the whole family because of the debts that my parents owed to one of Okiani. It was a huge blow for us. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time." Jun put his arm around Kalena and patted her comfortingly. "Some people, even friends from the Guard, will not have respect for us, but the opinion of others is not the most important thing. I have understood that for people to respect me, I have to determine how much I am worth. Don't be ashamed of this stigma. If it bothers you, you can ask His Majesty to remove it."

"I was supposed to ask him, but I forgot," she admitted.

"And who should remember about it?! Me? People know that the ruler has additional rights, but it is difficult to prove that you have been liberated by the king. I'm sure he will do it for you, you can see at first glance that he loves you very much. Whenever you are close, he has a better mood and looks at you when you look away. You made a mistake rejecting him."

Kalena stood up and stepped away from him.

"Sorry, but it's not your business, Captain."

"Okay, I get it" Jun raised his hand in a conciliatory gesture. "I only shared my thoughts. I have to tell the king to try to hide his attachment to you more. There are people in the palace who could use this against him.

*

Galaspiael searched Lin-Si for a long time. He didn't find her in her chamber, or anywhere else she normally spent her time. One of her maids directed him into the garden.

He had seen the large gardens from the windows of the palace since childhood, but he spent so little time there that it felt like a strange place. Despite the king's lack of interest, the royal gardeners kept it in good condition. They had their own invention, they did not need special orders. Galaspiael, moreover, did not know what to suggest to them, since he could not cope with several vegetables in the home garden.

"If I was worried about my life, I wouldn't leave the palace without protection," he said calmly. There was only one person with his wife and not even a guard, just a simple maid.

Lin-Si turned abruptly, surprised that he came so close, and made room for him on the bench.

"I wonder if I want to go home. I don't know where I will feel worse."

"I don't mind you go away for a few days if you need it," he said, and the queen snorted in irritation.

"Father wouldn't be happy about my return. He would reproach you."

"Then stay." He threw up his arms. "Here you can rest. You said yourself that it is harder to find a quieter, more boring place."

"Full of traitors," he hissed, "I understand now why you were running away."

"She wasn't unfaithful from the beginning. Perhaps she had some feelings for you until the end. Nawarin deceived her."

When he said these words, Lin-Si jumped up, like stabbed with a pin.

"You know?!"

"I figured you were more than just a friendship between the queen and the court," he answered calmly.  "Your father had gently suggested that he would like me to... bring you to the right path."

"He wanted to exchange all my maids for eunuchs, but he didn't make it before my departure. When he got rid of me, he breathed a sigh of relief that I was your problem now. My father was very afraid that he would have to watch the shameful execution of his daughter." She turned to face her husband. "Is that why you didn't force me on your wedding night?"

"Not only that, but it was one of the reasons."

"In a few years, people will start to suspect something if we won't get a child. There will be rumors about us."

"I am aware of that," Galaspiael replied calmly, "but for now we are young, we have a lot of time before they press us. Maybe some solution will be found by then. You can tell them that at night instead of being in your room I spend time in the studio. You will find many witnesses who will confirm this. Speaking of work, I should deal with a pile of documents that have already accumulated... " He glanced at her. "Unless I have to stay with you?"

"Go. But I would prefer you to rest more. You don't look so good. You have dark circles under your eyes, you should make tea leaf compresses."

He just nodded with a smile and headed for the studio. He knew he couldn't focus on documents for long. The book obtained by Kalena tempted and upset him, because although he tried, he could not draw anything from the teaching contained therein.

Galaspiael's stomach hurt from frustration when he had to spend time meditating instead of working, but that was obligatory to learn enchantment. Also, he couldn't focus because he was still thinking about Lin-Si. Everything was fine, but he was worried about her.

The king closed all the doors behind him and sat down in the middle of the room. He promised himself that he would devote a week to it. Only a week, and if he can't do anything, he'll do other things.