Inside the hall, the strongest swordsman, Ya, was standing at the side. Several groups of people were approaching him from ti to ti. However, his responses were always limited to only short comnts. Beyond that, he ignored them.
The man with long black hair actually didn’t want to waste his ti, which could be used to train instead, to attend this engagent party. However, he couldn’t ignore the Layver Family. The forr head of the Layver Family had once helped him, so after he received the invitation from the daughter of his friend, he decided to see the man Gyllena had chosen with his own eyes.
"Political..." He muttered, narrowing his eyes at the two figures who were dancing along the lody at the center of the hall.
It was an ideal outco he wanted to see. He understood, though. That it was indeed the a fate most noblewon had to face. A determined route.
Ya thought that it was enough after he confird the path Gyllena had chosen. He turned around and was just about to leave. But then his eyes spotted the peculiar movents of a maid.
She walked around the hall. Her pace was slow, casual even, but undisturbed by the crowd and carried a mysterious air. At first, she was there, then the next, she was already facing a guest. There was even a mont when Ya’s eyes couldn’t follow her movent.
His eyes widened. He didn’t get his title from being a fraud. His strength was at a level not even the talented ones could rival. How could a simple maid moved faster than his vision ability to detect motion? The answer, of course, was because the maid in question shouldn’t be a ’simple maid.’
Ya moved, followed the maid from behind. Her curly black hair swayed right above her small shoulders as she visibly hastened her steps. However, the distance between them failed to be widened. Instead, it shrunk.
The silent, composed chase was off the other’s attentions. They moved swiftly, but never rushed, never crashed with people no matter how crowded the hall was. Almost no one noticed when they disappeared from the hall.
The footsteps halted in the empty corridor. The maid finally turned around, facing Ya, her chaser. The cold air of the winter blew, making her knee-length skirt swayed gently.
Her face was a mask of emotionless. "Who are you?" She asked the swordsman.
A thin smile ford on Ya’s sharp, flawless face. "Ya," he answered. "Though, maybe, the title of the strongest swordsman is more familiar to you, little maid?"
The maid didn’t even blink when he revealed his identity. Which intrigued Ya even more. His smile widened when his eyes turned into eyes of a predator.
"Why do you chase ?" She asked again.
Ya raised his chin a little, taking a step forward. In that instant, he had already moved to her behind, which made the maid froze. Ya tapped the maid’s shoulder, smirking.
"What if I told you that it’s because I was interested in you?" The swordsman answered with another question.
The maid slapped his hand away as she recoiled from him, her eyes narrowed warily at him. From just a hand reach, now the distance that was separating them had widened to 10 ters.
"Don’t touch !" She hissed.
Her reaction, however, only intensified Ya’s interest in her. His smirk had now beca a crescent-shaped smile.
"Truly interesting... Now I wanted you even more, little maid." The swordsman muttered.
He moved forward with a chuckle. He didn’t imdiately appear at her behind this ti and only walked slowly toward her, but that was enough to make the maid shuddered and backed off.
"Swift legs, sharp instinct... You can beco a perfect swordswoman," he said, extending his palm toward her. "Now, take my hand. I’ll show you the wonder of sword and blade... My disciple."
The maid gritted her teeth. She wanted to flee from Ya, but she knew very well about her limit. She couldn’t surpass the swordsman’s speed. Their levels were just too far-apart.
Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to beco Ya’s disciple against of her consent.
"Sorry, sir. But my niece disliked you." The voice ca from Ya’s back.
He imdiately turned around. There, he found another maid. Her facial features greatly resembled the first maid, but she looked older. And she had a book in her embrace.
"So can you let her go?" She asked, tilting her head a little. "Please?"
Her face was the sa as the first maid. Expressionless, almost emotionless. But deep inside, Ya could still feel their emotions. It was just that they couldn’t express their emotions as easy as normal people.
Ya’s response was another chuckle.
"Then... What don’t you also beco my disciple?" He laughed.
The maid who had a book in her embrace blinked, turning her face back to neutral. Slowly, she raised her hand, her thump and pointer finger were t in the air.
"I see."
Her expression beca even colder when she uttered that last short sentence.
Then,
*Flick!*
She snapped her fingers.
The sound was minor, barely audible, but strangely echoed through the open corridor.
At first Ya was still at the corridor—he blinked—then he found himself cornered by a myriad of papers. The papers were not normal, brittle ones, but the enhanced, sharp ones.
The mont he saw them hovering in the air, they ca at him. With the speed of a bullet.
His smile disappeared, Ya sharpened his eyes. His right palm beca his blade as he sliced every papers that were coming at him.
Ten seconds passed.
More than four thousands swings were thrown.
More than ten thousands piece of papers were sliced to crumbles.
However, once he finished. He realized that the two maids were already gone, leaving no trace for him to follow.
The swordsman’s face darkened. His mood dropped.
Slow footsteps were coming. He looked at the source, and found another maid. But she was clearly just a normal maid, not another strong maid.
The maid froze when she found him standing at the corridor alone with crumbles of papers scattered all over the place.
She was from the Layver Family, so she of course knew his identity. And that only made her found the scene even more ridiculous.
"E-exuse ... Lord Ya, what is... This?" She asked him hesitatingly, having a conflict whether asking him would offend him.
Fortunately, it was not. The swordsman’s face hardened, though.
"I was trying a new technique," he replied, trying to cover his embarassnt. "Give a mont to clean everything."
The maid didn’t know what to do at this kind of situation, so she decided to help him.
...
Ya’s face beca dark when he returned to the hall.
He ignored everyone and settled himself on a seat that was located at the corner, far from others. He grabbed a cup of tea from a passing butler’s tray and emptied it in one glup.
"What a mistake..." He muttered, gritting his teeth.
The butler gave him a strange look when he went to the other places. Ya didn’t even looked at him, his mind kept getting distracted with the awkward look the previous maid was giving him when she was helping him gathering the crumbles and cleaning the corridor before.
He was certain that if any of his close friends heard about what happened, they would surely use him as a joke. A vague shade of red on his cheeks couldn’t lie even if he was trying to keep a straight face when he was still in this party.
When he was like that, Gyllena, who had already finished her dance since earlier, approached him. She bowed gracefully at him.
"I am glad to see you here today, Lord Ya." She greeted him with a polite but honest smile.
She had t him several tis before when she was younger due to her parents’ connection with Ya. There were tis when she considered him as a cool and strong big brother.
Ya shook his head lightly to erase his embarassnt and forget about the incident.
He smiled back at Gyllena.
"I was surprised when I heard that you was engaged with the second prince of the Tarram Kingdom, Gyllena." He replied, tapping her shoulder gently.
His look then mixed with worry. "But are you sure about him?"
Gyllena giggled in response. "Lord Jahreon is an amazing and knowledgeable person, Lord Ya. My father was often praising him before, telling about his remarkable intelligence."
Ya sighed a little, smiling weakly at the her response. He didn’t like the prospect of her having a political relationship instead of the normal, more pure one. Still, he also aware of the Layver Family’s situation after the disappearance of both the Head of the Family and his wife.
"... Just contact if you ever need my help," Ya said, tapping her shoulder again. "I am still indebted to everything your parents had done for —"
He couldn’t finish his words.
His eyes were attracted to the a maid with long, curly blonde hair who were passing by them with two ard butlers. He sensed sothing similar from her, just like when he was conftonting the two maids he t earlier.
Without hesitation, he imdiately grabbed the maid’s wrist. This ti, he succeeded. The maid seed to be more untrained and weaker.
"You! What is your na?" He hastily asked her.
"E-eh!? O-oh, I-I am Carole..." Surprised, the maid answered.
The two butlers who were with her looked at Ya warily, even Gyllena was surprised, but the swordsman ignored them entirely. With a smirk, he leaned in while still holding the maid’s wrist.
"From now on, consider yourself as my disciple!" He stated.
Carole’s mind went from surprise to a complete stunned state.
"Eh!?"
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