The Light in Abyss【OC Story】✵The Eminence in Shadow✵

Chapter 8 - Sparring, Apology

A/N: In case you're wondering, the terms and translations I'm using are from the manga and light novel, not from the anime. If you're confused about why I used 'Kagenoh' instead of 'Kagenou' and 'Spellsword' instead of 'Dark Knight', that's because I used manga translations. You can read the manga to familiarize yourself with the terms, or not really. After all, this is fanfiction.

(Third Person POV)

"What's the meaning of this?" Rose quipped with surprise seeing Cadian and the other two, Alexia and Cid. "Would you mind explaining?"

"Right, I guess I didn't have the chance to tell you. Rather, you wouldn't give me that chance." Cadian panned. "Basically, I came here to train Cid after seeing his horrible practical score. And since Princess Alexia was with him, I decided why not let her train with us."

"You what?!" Rose raised her voice, and he was not prepared for it. "How could you rope the princess into your plans?!" She walked over to Alexia. "I'm sorry about Cadian, princess. Despite his brawns, he could be quite insensitive at times."

Cid snickered, earning a gut punch from Cadian.

"It is quite alright Lady Rose." Alexia waves it off with a closed eye smile. "Lord Cadian asked permission from Instructor Zenon for this occasion. So there is nothing to worry about, it is also a privilege to be able to train alongside the two of you."

"Is that so." Rose huffed relieved. "Alright, since you both have permission from your instructor, then there is no problem."

"Excuse me but, I have something to ask." Cid posed. "Is it just the two of you in the second year's expert class?" He asked, noticing the empty hall.

"About that, normally we're not allowed to have the hall to ourselves. But our instructors surmised that we couldn't really improve if we were to spar with the rest of our classmates. It would be unfair with the gap of skill." Cadian answered. "So half of our electives are just me and Rose left by ourselves, much to my dismay. Training with each other, pointing out our points and faults in our spars, and sometimes magic training at the side."

"What do you mean, to your dismay?" Rose pouted at him.

"At this point do you really have to ask?" He sighed.

Seeing their interaction with each other, Alexia found the sight somewhat cute. Even more surprising, his look on Cadain heightened the tiniest bit, after seeing him being defenseless around the princess of the Oriana Kingdom. 

"Are you both perhaps an item?" She innocently questioned, instantly getting the two's attention. "You two seem a lot close with each other."

"U-Uhm... w-well..." The older princess fumbled with her words, not really knowing what to answer as she perceived the question in another sense. 

"Me? Her? An item? Please, she's just my friend. Nothing more nothing else." Cadian said with full honesty. "Besides, a baron's son like me has no shot at a foreign princess like her." He added.

"...yes, that's right. We're just friends." Rose's face was one of relief as she agreed with what Cid said.

But Alexia's eyes were sharp, seeing Rose's expression was not what it seemed to be. She can tell that something was within her facade. And it somehow amused Alexia. She walks over to Rose, puts a hand on her shoulder, and whispers something to her.

"I'll be rooting for you." Hearing Alexia's words instantly made her face red. 

She looks at the younger princess and sees an innocent yet supportive expression on her face. It wasn't like that at all, she thought to herself. But Alexia thought so otherwise. Even when she has yet to experience the feeling, she's still a woman. And she can definitely tell that Rose is not accepting of what she wanted. But that wasn't her journey to explore she thought.