Reincarnated as the Villainess... Yeah, I'm Doomed

Chapter Twenty-Three: Future

"Straighten your back and hold your left arm up higher," Serge instructed as I struggled to keep my balance. I resembled a flamingo as I stood on one foot, holding two small swords so that they formed an 'x' above my head. Serge paced around me, his sharp eyes catching every flaw.

When I asked Prince Louis to teach me the basics of Sarchian swordsmanship, he suggested that his royal guard, Serge, instruct me instead. Serge was from a small port town that practiced the art of dancing with twin swords, a form of martial arts that was used for both performance and combat. It was a form of swordsmanship that was practiced by both men and women, and surprisingly, Serge was a well renowned master of the art. Serge's talent for the sword didn't shock me since he was a member of the royal guard, instead I was amazed by how graceful such a tall and broad man could be. The royal guard's movements reminded me of a blue heron; beautiful and elegant, yet piercing and resolute. His dance was a captivating paradox.

"Serge, give Callista a break before she passes out!" Prince Louis shouted, entering the old green house where Serge and I were training.

"You were practicing when I left for class two hours ago. There's no way anyone could keep it up that long, don't push yourself." He said, taking my swords, and guiding me to sit down on one of the nearby benches.

Prince Louis wasn't wrong, my libs were so heavy and it felt like they were going to fall off at any second, but I still wanted to practice. Serge was teaching me a respected tradition of his people, and I did not want to do it injustice.

"Don't worry Prince Louis, I'm used to this type of stuff." I reassured, remembering the long hours of meditation with Connor, and the brutal strength training my brother had put my through.

"Still, I know how strict Serge can be. He has the stamina of a horse, so you need to remind him that you are a normal human." Prince Louis nagged, handing me a flask of water.

"She is able to keep up." Serge said, indifferent towards the prince's concern. The man was not a sword master for no reason. His training was strict and unrelenting, but more than anything, it produced results. Only three weeks had passed since I started training, and I was already able to move through the basic stances of the twin swords with relative ease. My ability to control life magic helped to provide strength to different muscles depending on the stance/ movement, speeding up the learning process. Prince Louis had said something about me being a genius, but it was most likely due to Serge's training. If I was a genius, then Serge was a god.

After practice with Serge, I waited for Connor to arrive so I could continue our instruction on life magic. Since I was using a lot of physical energy when training with Serge, we had decided to focus on mediation so I wouldn't die of exhaustion. While I used to hate sitting still for hours, I recently had grown to crave the grounded feeling meditation gave me. No matter where I was or what was going on, meditation could always act as my anchor.

(A/N: As someone with an assortment of mental illnesses including PD, I very much recommend meditation. It is a life changer, so if you have the time, you should totally give it a try!)

I decided to work on some breathing exercises while I waited for Connor, sitting on the ground with my legs crossed and eyes closed. After what felt like half an hour, I opened my eyes, wondering why Connor was so late.

"FUCK!" I screamed, falling onto my back. In front of me sat a grinning Prince Philip, who had been sitting inches away from me, resting his head on his hands.

"How long have you been there?" I breathed, pushing my self back into a sitting position.

"I don't know, like ten minutes," he replied, stretching his arms.