Reincarnated into Two Bodies Chapter 127: Easing The Unease

The days after that followed a similar pattern, feeling almost like clockwork.

For Feyt, the routine was simple: wake up, warm up, eat breakfast, either relax or work out while waiting for noon, then face training with Mother. It was a grind, both physically and ntally, but it was all I could do.

For Carine, it was a slightly different rhythm. I would wake up a bit late, eat breakfast with Mother and Father, attend my usual class schedule, and then join Mother’s grueling training session. This rigid clockwork of a schedule seed to be ingrained deeply in Carine’s muscle mory, so it didn’t feel as monotonous.

The main show for the past four days was definitely Mother’s personal training. If I could describe her classes in a single word, it would be… “unexpected.”

By that, I an it was unexpectedly calm. I had braced myself for sothing grueling, punishing, or even torturous—like the first class we had with her. But none of her teaching sessions ever ca close to that level of intensity.

She was uncharacteristically considerate. She made sure to not push us too hard, give adequate amounts of breaks, and always ended our sessions precisely on ti. It all felt like the calm before a storm that was never coming.

Most of our lessons consisted of practical lessons; footwork, stances, strikes, blocks, et cetera. A lot of them were actually the fundantals… again. But, at least she gave us a specific reason this ti.

“Each person adapts our style differently. As you are now, you are rely copying what my Carine has shown you. That is nowhere near enough to call yourself a student of our style.”

Those were the exact words she uttered to on the second day of training. So, basically, we were jumping back to fundantals to help , Feyt, gain a better form.

I had to admit, she was right. Everything Feyt could do with a sword had co from Carine’s mories—or, rather, her understanding of them. I’d never tried to find Feyt’s own way of doing things.

If I was going to use both bodies to their fullest potential, I needed to have a style that suited each of them individually. Once again, another matter I couldn’t half-ass, not anymore at least.

So, despite my disappointnt at being forced to revisit fundantals, I swallowed it down. I promised myself I would do my best. For my own growth. For both of .

Another important note from Mother’s training was: no more sparring. I was relieved to learn that, I couldn’t imagine dragging myself through another one of those. I had enough of playing enemies with myselves or exchanging strikes with Mother.

The fifth day of training started off as usual. We arrived early, we prepped the room, Mother arrived, and the warm ups began. But then sothing caught my attention, both of my attention, actually.

Mother… she was spacing out. Usually she would watch over us as we do our sets, but this ti, her eyes were glued to either the wall or the sky beyond the windows. I could hear her sigh to herself every so often, almost like she was trying to think of sothing, but couldn’t find it.

Her mind seed to be elsewhere throughout the whole warm up.

At first, I chalked it up to fatigue. Perhaps she had a long day, perhaps she was starting to get bored. Could always just be overthinking things too.

But the longer the session went on, the more I noticed the little things. Her grip on her sword was lower than usual, her eyes seed to wander a few tis, there was the occasional pause between commands. Everything she did was followed by sothing… lethargic.

In the end, Mother’s condition was the only thing I could think about, and eventually, I couldn’t just keep it to myselves anymore.

Mid-drill with both of my bodies, I slowly lowered my wooden sword as Carine.

Normally, doing this would result in an imdiate lecture or scolding. The fact Mother remained indifferent ant she wasn’t paying attention to us. Through the reflection in her eyes, it would seem she was fixated on the distant clouds.

“Mother?” I called out.

“Hmm?” Mother blinked a few tis, seemingly caught off guard before stamring, “y-yes, dear? What is it?”

“Are you feeling alright, Mother?” I asked, my eyes furrowing. “You seem a little tired?”

Her eyes widened slightly, as if she believed no one would notice. Then, she took a slow breath before answering. “It was that obvious, wasn’t it?”

For a mont, I stared at her. What exactly was going on? Mother wasn’t the type to let her guard down like that, let alone show any weakness. In fact, she was the one who taught and every other student to always “tough it out.”

Father said that Mother seed exhausted before, back when she was avoiding after lashing out at . Was it happening again?

She was herself throughout the past few days. What changed that?

Mother let out a quiet exhale through her nose. Then, as if trying to assure both of us, she straightened up and faced more properly.

“I’m alright, dear” she said, with a smile that didn’t seem forced. “More than that, actually. My head’s just been… a little clouded, these past few weeks.” She pressed her fingers on her temple. “I’ve been trying to rationalize what I’ve done… and what I said.”

Was she referring to how she lashed out at and Leila? If even Mother was confused as to why she did it… I was starting to question what was really happening.

Then her gaze lifted again, cold and sharp just like I rembered. “But it’s starting to pass, I believe. I was just trying to piece things together, that was all.”

I was relieved to hear that. So my theory of Mother getting better wasn’t wrong at all. But still, there were still things that I couldn’t quite connect. There were still pieces of the puzzles that were missing from the set.

“Well?” she said, pulling back to reality. “We’re not done yet, are we? Back to your sets!” she shouted, much more focused than before like she usually was.

I still didn’t know where this sense of unease was from, but the least I could do was be grateful that things were starting to go back to normal again.

—

I walked out of the training hall, sweat freshly wiped away. Mother had left earlier, bringing along Carine with her. That ant I only had Feyt to clean up the training hall.

Withholding my complaints, I got to work. Rolling up the mats, closing the curtains, sweeping the floors. With how little manpower in the cleaning departnt thanks to Mother’s protocol, I couldn’t bring myself to call upon their already full hands.

While Feyt was still cleaning, I was walking beside Mother. We were heading towards the family bath. God knows just how much I needed that right now.

Mother had barely broken a sweat, like at all. Sure, she only gave demonstrations of sets and a couple of lectures, but with how hot today was, it was still impressive. In contrast, my training clothes were starting to beco my second skin—third skin if you really think about it.

Due to Mother’s protocol, we were escorted by our personal knights everywhere we went. So far, the two guards assigned to were very appreciative of my alone ti. I never really felt watched. Thing is, I barely knew them by na, only really recognizing them by face.

I felt kind of bad, since they were doing their job really well. But I was also too embarrassed to directly ask for their nas. I figured I could always ask Mother. She always called servants by their nas, and she never got them wrong once.

The many guards stationed throughout the halls and lobby continued their patrols, and on our way to the baths, we passed by a couple of them. I got small glimpses of their faces through their helms, and that was mostly enough for to recognize them.

These were definitely the sa knights I'd occasionally seen visiting the mansion, which ant they weren’t outsiders. As for why I was concerning myself over that, was because I still rembered that “Sebastian” dude.

As we turned a corner in the hallway, we passed by a patrolling knight heading the opposite direction. He slowed down as we approached, and with a formal step to the side, he offered a short bow.

“Your Grace,” he greeted, voice muffled through his helm.

Mother returned a small nod. “Yeremiah,” she said.

My ears perked up. That was a na that I recognized. I stared at the knight’s helt, trying to get a peek of his face, and indeed, it was the sa guy.

He was the knight that I called upon to help deal with “Sebastian.” What a coincidence running into him here.

Actually, now that I recall… I felt like I had forgotten sothing.

Sothing involving Yeremiah and his help dealing with Sebastian…

Then, it clicked.

Oh right…

His promotion…

And my apology that I never gave…

I nearly face pald myself for forgetting such a thing.

I’d promised I’d say sothing later—thank him, at the very least. But the chaos that followed kind of swept everything away, and I guess I’d just never followed through. Between all the family drama and trying not to get killed or kill myselves in sparring sessions, my list of priorities had been whack.

Still, that didn’t make it okay. I needed to take responsibility for abusing his dreams of being promoted like that.

I clasped my hands and straightened my back. I was about to ask for forgiveness and thank him right then and there, but then… he looked at .

One glance at his eyes was enough for to stop in my tracks.

“Carine, dear? What are you doing?” Mother, a few steps ahead, turned to call back.

“C-Coming, Mother!”

I averted my gaze to the floor and briskly walked to Mother’s side. I didn’t dare look back to see the knight standing there, but just from the pressure alone, I could tell his eyes were locked onto my back.

We turned a corner and descended the stairs. Only then did I let out a silent breath of relief.

But the unease didn’t leave. If anything, it sharpened.

That look from Yeremiah…

His eyes were filled. Not with determination. Not with passion.

But with anger.

And—

—Blankness.