"What?" Dene asked back.

"You were flirting with him, that's what! They destroyed our home and you are trying to bed one of them."

"He didn't do anything, even his Father knew nothing about the invasion until it was already in course, and even so he didn't move a single one of his troops."

"Only because neither he nor his king believed in the legends about the Secret Realm. If they did, then they would be the ones marching south."

"Jonathan isn't his father, he is a good man. He saved me and has only been helping me ever since I met him."

"And when he finally gets tired of doing so, what then?

“He won't.”

“He will,” she grabbed denes shoulders. “Please Dene, open your eyes. These white people are all the same, the only difference is their family colors. They only see us as an inferior ra-”

“Dara!” A child called out. From behind her sister, Dene could see a ten, maybe eleven years old girl coming their way. Her ginger red hair reached up to her back, and her big, green eyes were teared up.

If the beautiful red dress she was wearing under a white fur cloak didn't attest to her importance, the four Paladin guards following closely behind did.

Each of them wore a dark orange brigandine with green accents, over a brown gambeson and black breeches. Their heads were covered by a padded coif and gloved hands remained over the hilt of their swords at all times.

“Damn it,” Dandara muttered softly before letting go of Dene. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

“Dara?” The child was already behind her.

Dandara opened her eyes and displayed a gentle smile that almost seemed genuine to Dene. She crouched down and asked, “yes, my lady?”

“Hmm… are you fine? You seemed angry...”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just talking to my sister, that’s her by the way.”

"Oh," the girl turned her swollen eyes towards Dene.

Now closer, she could notice a small beauty mark above and to the left of the little girl's lips. Dene believed she would grow to be a beautiful woman. "I'm Dene. It's a pleasure, my lady," she did a small bow of the head.

"I'm Vivienne, and the pleasure is mine," the girl answered with a well-practiced curtsy.

"Now tell me, my lady, why-" Dandara started asking before being interrupted by Vivienne.

"I told you to call me by my name," the girl pouted.

From where she was standing, Dene could see Dandara picking her cuticles. She always did that when angry.

Maintaining the same smile, she asked again, "Now tell me, miss Viv, why were you crying?"

“Mom doesn't love me anymore,” the girl spoke, her eyes starting to tear up again.

“Miss Viv, we’ve talked about this. You’re a big girl now, and lady Olsandre must care for the baby.”

“I know, but mom never has any time for me,” she sniffed. “It’s always Eveline this and Eveline that,” she said, sniffing once more.

Dandara stood up and wiped off the snow that had stuck to her dress. “What if I played with you?”

“Really?” The girl’s face immediately lit up. “Really, really?”

“Yes, really, really.”

“Yay!” Vivienne hugged Dandara’s legs. “Will you come too?” She asked Dene.

“My sister actually has to go. She came with the Olsens, and can’t stay with us for too long. Dene just remember what we just talked about, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Bye, miss Dene.” The girl waved. “Now, let’s go!” she started pulling on Dandara’s hand, “I’ll show you my new doll. She has a dress just like yours, but she isn’t as tall...”

The girl talked with enthusiasm as they left, leaving Dene alone, gazing at her sister’s back. When she could no longer see her, she turned around and walked the opposite way, her head heavy with doubts.

Was she wrong? Was she letting her urges cloud her mind? Would Jonathan get tired and send her away? No, he wasn't that sort of person.

She made her way through the campus, walking through the roads and under the naked tree branches in search for the dormitory.

The campus was deserted. As with the Dragon Academy, the students here were on vacation after the winter tourney, also known as the qualifiers for the King’s tourney that was held every summer.

She walked a good 10 minutes until coming across a large dormitory made of red bricks. Further ahead was an orange one and after that, sure enough, was a yellow one. In front of the fourth rainbow dormitory was a public square to where the litters had been brought.

The benches and tables were covered in snow, but the pond remained unfrozen due to charged mana stones that were thrown in. That was the same method used to keep Jonathan’s bedroom warm, as well as the litters.

Dene made her way to one of the vehicles. There were a few students inside them, no doubt seeking shelter from the cold. She didn’t get in though. Instead, she walked to the side of one and opened a horizontal door near the ground, revealing the storage compartment.

Inside, were various travel bags and tourney weapons. Further back, wrapped in linen cloth was a framed painting. That was Jonathan’s “gift” to the Phoenix Academy, which he would hang on their main building after the competition.

Every time there was a contest between the two academies, there would also be some sort of bet. Its stakes were decided by the two headmasters, usually some sort of insult towards the other.

Dene grabbed the bag she left there the previous day. Inside were just some changes of clothes. Besides that, she also grabbed a shield, a longsword, and two shortswords, before closing the door and heading inside the green dormitory.

Inside was a large corridor that went straight to the stairs, while to each side were smaller ones leading to the rooms. Dene climbed up the stairs until reaching the fourth floor, where she searched for Jonathan’s room. It wasn’t hard, as his' was the only one with guards posted outside.

He said she could take any of the other rooms, so she went into the one directly in front of his.

She dropped her bag on the bed and grabbed a black, button shirt from inside. She messed with it for a few minutes before putting it on, grabbed the training weapons, and headed to Jonathan’s room.

The two guards outside made no movement to stop her, and so she just knocked on the door. Then she did it again.

"Jonathan, open the door."

"..."

"I was kidding earlier. Now open the door, it’s important."

It took a few seconds, but the door finally opened. "What?"

"Let’s go spar. Some light training for tomorrow will do well."

"That’s it? We are just going to spar?"

"Well, it would be more accurate to say I'll beat you again, but I wanted to preserve your male pride."

"Ha, you wish. I'm not the same as when we first sparred."

And that was true. Jonathan had improved a lot these past years, not only in cultivation but also in fighting technique.

Today he was already an eighth stage Crusader. As an archmage, Dene had better reflexes, but without casting spells the winner was never assured. These days, he was as likely to win as she was. But not today.

"So, is there anywhere we can do this?"

"Yeah, either in the basement or the roof. I'm not going back to that cold though, so let’s go downstairs."

“All right. Here, take your weapons.” She handed over the shield and the longsword, and they both descended the stairs followed by the guards.

The basement had the same layout from the other floors, with various empty rooms for them to choose from.

They entered a room at random, and Dene told the guards, "you two, stand guard at the door. We don’t want anyone to see how badly Jonathan will be beaten.”

They both looked towards Jonathan for confirmation who repeated the command.

After the two left, she then asked, “before we begin, care to make this a bit more interesting?”

“Interesting how?”

“In the castle, I’m always having to stay inside that stuffy servant’s room, while you get to sleep in a comfy bedroom with silk sheets and temperature control. After I win, we’re trading rooms for one whole moon.”

“If you win, but what do I get if I win?”

“Then I’ll still sleep in your bedroom, but you won’t need to move. Besides sparring partner, I’ll also be your bed warmer. And I assure you that I am very hot.”

Jonathan was not impressed though. “Seems to me that you win no matter what.”

“I always play to win.”

“...”

Dene sighed. “Fine. If you win, which won’t happen, I promise to stop trying to entice you. No more innuendos, sexual jokes, I’ll even start wearing a long coat so that my pure lord doesn’t get tempted with dirty thoughts. Happy?”

“Very much. Let’s do this then.” Jonathan raised the shield on his left arm, putting it between him and her.

Dene kept her swords pointing down as she slowly walked around him, looking for the best chance to strike. But the first to do it was Jonathan as he lunged forward with shield raised, attempting a bash.

She stepped back, out from the bash range, but not from the follow-up sword slash. Unable to dodge, she met the attack with one of her own, deflecting the blade to her right and leaving her facing Jonathan’s unprotected side.

Instead of trying to put the shield back between them, he jumped forward to avoid her thrust and did a quick turn, just in time to block a flurry of slashes.

Failing to get past the shield, she stepped back, putting some distance between them. Dene could feel that her secret weapon was almost ready.

Again, Jonathan struck first, this time with a stab aimed at her left so that she couldn’t —once more— dodge to his unprotected side.

But that wasn’t her plan. Easily dodging to the other side, Dene released another series of attacks over his shield, which would have been useless if not… for her shirt.

The buttons —that she intentionally damaged back in the room— finally snapped, revealing her naked breasts. Making use of Jonathan’s moment of distraction, she kicked at his leg and he fell on one knee.

She then quickly got behind him, one arm wrapped around his neck, while the other held a sword to his face.

“I win.”