Chapter.7. Training
7 Years back........
Princess Arden @ 11 years old POV
I was playing with my father in the garden when Mama Sarah Called me
"Dear Arden It's a beautiful morning and time for your class with Lady Akari. She is waiting for you in the royal chamber. Now come on child it's not polite to keep your teachers waiting."
I looked at the my father and said
"Papa I don't want to learn from Lady Akari. She is so mean."
Papa replied
"Don't say that child she loves you a lot that's why she is here to teach you. Now go on she is waiting for you"
I wanted to play with my Papa. I wanted to spend more time with him. But again Mama Sarah called me
"Wake up Akari your father wanted you to be a good girl and train with your mentors. Now hurry up wash yourself and then go to Lady Akari she is waiting for you"
For most of the day I was privately tutored by Master Zhang, Lady Akari , Lady Hannah and Negasso.
Master Zhang was a sweet old man who would teach me Tai chi and other forms of breathing exercises.
Lady Akari taught me manners and royal protocols. She would also give me special skin treatments to keep my body soft and pretty. I hated that part of my life. She had literally converted me into a pretty little doll. Wherever I went out I was ogled by the greedy eyes. I had become self conscious at a very young age. Well I didn't want all the eyes on me. I didn't want to look pretty rather I wanted to look strong. Due to my looks most people took me as a weakling. My father had strongly asserted that I must keep up with that farce in order to survive in the royal court.
Lady Hannah was another one of my teachers. I loved her class. She was my language teacher. I liked her lot. She would tell me stories about other parts of the world. She had taught me many languages and was planning to teach me many more.
There was also this Master Negasso who would teach me horse riding.
I also had private training sessions in a large secret hall below our royal chambers. This was the place where I was myself. My father had told me to keep it a secret. Here I loved all my teachers, even lady Akari. She would teach me about blades and knives. It was insane the way she could use blades to cut her opponents (mostly fixed and moving puppet targets). She told me once that I was her star student. I had learned a lot from her but I needed to learn more. I was also trained by Master Zhang in the art of Kung fu and by master negasso in the art of archery, spears, swords and hand to hand combat. Despite this I was not allowed to develop any muscle as they needed me to look fragile and a pretty girl. Over the years my hands and feet were kept perfect by manicure and pedicure treatments. My Face was flawless. Lady Akari had ingrained this in my mind that looking muscular didn't mean having strength. And I knew that she was right. I was only 11 but my body had already become lean and toned. I could easily kill anyone with a blade without fighting but for general public I was their pretty princess and nothing more. My father had once told me:
"Let them think that you can't do anything. Let them see you as a pretty and weak girl. Don't show them your strength as they will only break you apart. Wait for the right moment to show them What you are. Show them how capable you are to lead them as their rightful king"
The only thing wrong with all this was that despite being a boy I had to act as a girl