Samuel rubbed his left cheek and winced slightly. He was fairly certain that a bruise would be forming there over the next. It was only his second training session and he'd not learned much yet except the right stretches to help relax his body and less so how not get pinned, tossed, and knock over by his instructor. Clarice was proving to be no pushover. She took her job very seriously.

He was certain that she must've talked with Lena about her training schedule because the time was suddenly shifted from one to two hours twice a week.

​​

He figured it had something to do with the fact that Clarice felt that she needed more time to work with him since there was a lot for him to learn. He wasn't sure though he could've survive that much time at once if he didn't improve quickly

"Having a rough time in the land of training?" Looking to his left, Samuel spotted Leo who was coming from the direction of Zane's office. As he got closer he motioned with his hand over his left cheek to indicate what he was referring.

"It isn't that bad." Samuel replied despite his cheek throbbing in protest.

"It's not easy by any means, but nothing is in ur beginning. I'm still learning something though and it's getting me one step closer to where I want." Even if it only did feel like it was one inch at a time.

"And where have you decided it is that you want to end at?" Leo inquired as he stopped near where Samuel was standing at the bottom of the staircase. He was curious to know what kind of goals the other had set for himself.

"In three weeks I want to be able to solidly defend myself and how to fight back and by the end of six I want to be on par with Lena." Samuel replied. He felt confident that it would be possible to do though he didn't miss the way that Leo's lips twitched as though he wanted to smile when he heard.

"Does the princess my sister know yet what your goals are? I'm sure she'd be amused to hear that." He asked not entirely sure how serious the other was about the timeframe.

"No, but I don't intend yet either. At least not until I met my first goal. Speaking of her though, do you know where she has been? I haven't seen her at all today and I thought we were supposed to do something this afternoon?" The little queen had somehow disappeared earlier that morning after dance practice without so much as a word to him about where she was going.

"I've no clue myself. I've been working with father since morning and I can just say that she hasn't stopped to ask or request anything while I was with him." Leo replied as he mused as to where she could've gone.

"If you're not sure where to find her, you can always just text or call her to ask and good luck with that goal of yours." He didn't miss the chance to ruffle the older boy's hair as he walked up the stairs past him. He had to go change his clothes to something more formal as there was more work that he needed to.

Samuel knew that he meant it as a tease, but it felt slightly insulting as well coming from someone who was slightly younger than him. He was very serious about his goal. He wanted to prove to the Princess before their engagement that he was more than capable of protecting himself physically even if he did still have to better learn how to handle a gun.

He was originally going to go up and take a shower before changing into clean clothes, but he decided to first peek into Lena's office to see if she wasn't there beforehand.

For the first time however, he found that the princess's office door was locked and he couldn't enter.

Even when he knocked on the door and announced himself, he heard no reply from inside. Did she usually lock it when she wasn't using it? He had been under the impression that she didn't since he had no problem entering her office before when she wasn't occupying.

It was potentially possible that she could be in her office as well and just not want to be bothered at that moment.

Not sure which the case might've been, he decided to text her before his shower just to see where Lena was. He remembered after looking at his phone that they were supposed to be going and getting measured and deciding on what type of outfits that they wanted to wear for their engagement party. Since it would take some time to make sure that everything was tailored correctly and fit, it was better to get it taken care of early on.

By the time that Sam had taken a shower and changed clothes, Lena had written him back to let him know that some things had needed her attention at the office but it was taking longer that she had expected to wrap everything.

She also told him that since Jeff was with her as she needed a driver, he could ask Romeo to take him in one of the other cars.

He hadn't really interacted much with Romeo, but he was aware of which of the staff in the house after seeing him around and hearing his name enough time.

What he wanted to text back to the princess was that he would be fine waiting for her rather than going with someone that he wasn't that familiar with, but instead he said he would ask to see if he would be willing to do the task.

Romeo might've been a very stoic and intimidating person, but Samuel was more then well aware of the fact that he wouldn't even consider doing anything to him since he worked for Lena's family. Didn't mean it made it any easier to go up and talk to him however.