"Maybe, Reed can teach me?" she added when Gavriel remained quiet. She heard Reed was the best in swordsmanship among the elite of Gavriel's men. It occurred to her belatedly that it would not be good for her to ask Gavriel to teach her personally. Her reasoning was because the man was just too strong, and she was sure he had other more important state matters that needed to be attended to.

But unbeknownst to her, what she suggested just made Gavriel's face turned a few shades darker. His gaze immediately flew towards Reed. 'Reject her.' he mentally ordered. 'Politely.'

Gods… Reed groaned inwardly nearly unable to hold back from rolling his eyes before he smiled sweetly at Evie.

"Forgive me My Lady. But even though I am good, I'm a bad teacher. His Highness is actually the best choice among all of us. He's a very good teacher." Reed politely gave his excuse while buttering up his Lord. No harm singing his Lord's praises in front of the Lady, as he still wanted to keep his hide.

Evie looked at Gavriel and his face was almost sparkling. She did not notice Reed turn around, acting out as if he were barfing. Gavriel was pleased and thus, only sent a sharp piercing glance at Reed, warning him to quit while he was ahead, having the rest of the elites smirking at Reed's antics.

"Come, wife. I'll teach you." Gavriel offered and Evie could only take his hand.

"Ugh… His Highness is getting more and more unbelievable by the day." Reed complained to his other companions.

"Well, I believe this isn't bad at all. We should be glad that he's found something else to pay attention to. Or else, we'd be stuck in the Middle Lands right about now, hunting beasts while waiting for the war to start…and enduring that freezing ass cold. I know we are fine with the cold and aren't against hunting, but it is really starting to get quite meaningless and tiring, don't you think?" Zolan mused and everyone agreed.

…

"My sword is too heavy for you Evie," Gavriel said placing his hand over hers, stopping her from swinging the sword again. He had taught her some basic steps and helped her correct her hold on the sword as he positioned himself right behind her, effectively caging her within the confines of his strong arms.

She had been quite attentive and willful despite the fact that she was struggling. Gavriel had been wanting to stop her and discourage her for a while now since he realized that she was having a hard time even lifting it. He kept staring at her small and fragile wrists, afraid and worried that she might be exerting too much strength or perhaps even hurt herself. But how could he have the heart to tell her to stop when she was this determined?

Gavriel held on for another long while but when he noticed her hands started to tremble ever so slightly during the next attempt in swinging the sword, Gavriel stood before her. He firmly and resolutely took the sword from her hand and sheathed it.

"Your wrist can't handle it anymore for today." he phrased it as neutrally as possible, doing his best not to make a mistake of offending her.

"I think I just need more practice. I must at least learn how to protect myself." She replied, her gaze serious.

"You are very good in archery, wife. In fact, if you hone that skill even more, you could be one of the best. You're the best female archer I've ever seen."

Evie's eyes widened ever so slightly. She looked at him, pouting as she was expecting a mischievous look to appear on his face but was surprised at how serious he looked. Was he really… wait… of course, he meant a female human archer, right? Of course. And she's easily the best because she might be the only female human who liked and practiced archery as a hobby.

With a sullen face, Evie stared at his sword again. "Yes. I'm good…but using bow and arrows are useless when the opponent is right before me." She said and Gavriel's fingers twitched.

He knew she was thinking about that situation that she encountered when she was in the little forest. The thought of that moment made Gavriel's blood boil quietly within him. He had sworn he would never let anything like that happen – ever again. He could not help but feel angry towards himself and now he could only agree with her wish to learn to protect herself.

After staring at her for a long while, Gavriel sighed. "Alright. But you are not to train with this sword. I will have something else prepared just for you."

Gavriel returned Evie to his quarters when the night was getting deeper, and the temperature dropped further into the negatives.

As soon as they were inside, Gavriel went towards the table and pulled something out from its drawer.

"I'm giving you this, Evie." He said as he placed a beautiful looking dagger in its sheath onto her open palms.

Evie stared at it and when she unsheathed it, she suddenly felt strange. Was it because the dagger looked strange? The blade was pitch black. So black it seemed to swallow the light that was surrounding it. It was not heavy despite it being a little bigger.

"You can use this for close combat. All you have to do is plunge this into the enemy. Be careful though, because this dagger is special. It can kill instantly even if your stab didn't hit a crucial spot." Gavriel explained. His gaze never leaving her face as he spoke.

She swallowed and scrutinized it. "That's amazing. Is it because it's poisonous?"

"Mm… something like that." Gavriel's response was vague.

"Are you really giving this to me… you mean I can keep it? Seems to be something really valuable…" Evie asked quietly, half talking to herself and partially double checking with Gavriel.

Gavriel smiled and bent to kiss her the corner of her lips. "Yes, wife. It's yours now. Let it guard you well."

___

AN: Check out the Ylvia family's crest in the comment box.