Apart from the outdoor training ground, there was also a training hall with movable walls that opened up to allow for greater ventilation into the large hall. The polished wood floor reminded Blythe of the one in Novalbus, but it was much darker in shade.

  Multiple metal bars looking like they were meant for climbing were affixed to the wall in one corner. In another corner, a large rack of free weights and kettlebells stood a few feet away from a couple of punching bags.

  Since she hadn’t known about this place, she’d initially intended to head back to her room to do her weight training. She decided to make good use of the incredible facilities here.

  “The knights are supposed to use this place in a couple of hours, so don’t take too long,” Reuben said.

  “Do you honestly think I have the ability to do resistance training for two hours straight?”

  Shrugging, he gave her a smirk. “No, but you might dawdle in between reps and end up taking two hours to do two push-ups. Who knows?”

  Her grimace turned into a scowl. “Why are you even here? I’m not going to do push-ups while you watch like I’m a circus monkey!”

  Rolling his eyes, he said, “Fine. If it makes you happy, I’ll do some too.”

  “It’s not going to make me happy!”

  He set his sword down next to him before dropping to the floor on his arms.

  Grumbling, Blythe got down as well. Reuben was already into his second push-up, counting his reps like he was used to it. Maybe he was. The shape of his muscles were visible even through his sleeves.

  She got into position with the girl push-up, her knees together on the hard floor. Back in her original world, she’d never been able to do a standard push-up either. She doubted her current body, weak enough to struggle dragging a chair across the classroom floor, would be able to handle it.

  Sure enough, her arms protested when she tried to heave herself back up after lowering her body close to the ground.

  Weak. So weak. She was so weak!

  Despair crept through her veins like ice. If she couldn’t manage even one modified push-up, how was she going to build her arm muscles?

  Nearby, Reuben was still counting his own reps aloud. “Seven … Eight …”

  Just the sound of his effortlessness in his voice demotivated her even further.

  Allowing herself to lie down, Blythe sighed at the feel of the cold floor against her cheek. After some seconds, Reuben’s weight shifted and his presence seemed to hover over her.

  “What?” His voice was definitely nearer now. “Are you giving up already? You didn’t even do a single one, did you?”

  “I’m not talking to you,” she said monotonously, staring glassily at the space in front of her. “Go away.”

  “Brat. Come on, show me. I’ll help see where you went wrong.”

  Without moving her head, she glanced up at him. He was crouched on the floor a few inches away, staring down at her with a serious expression.

  She huffed. “I already know where I went wrong. I’m weak.”

  “You never cared about this stuff anyway. Why’d you suddenly change your mind?”

  “I can’t live like this anymore,” she moaned. “The other day, I realized I can’t even get into a carriage without help!”

  “What happened to wanting Prince Magnus to take care of—Oh. Never mind.”

  Blythe let out a scoff. “Yeah, never mind indeed.”

  “Try a push-up,” he insisted. “Show me.”

  Despite her dispirited state, she rearranged herself into the ready position for a push-up. Once she lowered her upper body, however, it was impossible to push herself back up.

  “There,” she announced. “I give up.”

  She never claimed to be a strong-willed person. Maybe she’d try one of the lightest free weights and see if that worked better.

  “Why don’t you try this?”

  Without warning, Reuben grabbed her right elbow and turned her arm outward. She yelped, nearly losing her balance and crashing face-down to the floor. Thankfully, he held her up.

  “I was just adjusting your posture! Sheesh, you really do need to train more.”

  “Don’t do it so suddenly then!”

  Grumpily, she let him turn her other arm outward and then adjusted her hands accordingly.

  “Your underarm muscles are too feeble,” he explained. “Try doing a push-up like this. This might be easier. You can do it the other way when you’re strong enough.”

  Not expecting much, she tried pushing up. To her surprise, she felt her upper torso rising until her arms were fully extended.

  “I … I did it.”

  “See, you can do it after all.” Smiling, Reuben sat down with his legs stretched out before him. “Keep going?”

  “Yeah!”

  Fired up by this small success, she did another five push-ups before dropping into a curled-up position, her arms wobbly and protesting the pain.

  “I’m done,” she whimpered, bringing her hands close to her chest.

  “Hey, you should at least do another set. You want to build your strength, right?”

  “Do you not see that I’m dying here?”

  He groaned. “Really? That’s pathetic.”

  “I already did way more than I thought I could!”

  She was going to try this again the next day.

  “Well … I guess you did. Good job, kiddo.”

  He ruffled her hair with his hand. She tried swatting it away, but she was too tired to succeed.

  “Suzy!” she called out, lifting her head just enough to move her jaw comfortably. “Could I have some water, please?”

  Suzy got off the wall she was leaning against and scurried over to Blythe.

  She held out the glass bottle. “Here, my lady.”

  Reluctantly, Blythe shifted herself into a sitting position and took it. She finished gulping down several mouthfuls of refreshing water and met eyes with Reuben, who was intently staring at her.

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  While she wiped off the water droplets at the corners of her mouth with the back of her left hand, she passed the bottle back to Suzy with her other hand.

  “What are you looking at?” she asked Reuben. “Do you want some water too?”

  He shook his head.

  After seizing the bottle, Suzy began frantically searching through her pockets.

  “My lady, I have one of your handkerchiefs here—”

  Oh. I guess it wasn’t ladylike to wipe my mouth like that.

  Blythe stifled a sigh, waving at Suzy. “It’s fine, thanks. I don’t need a handkerchief now. I’ll ask for one next time.”

  For a second, Suzy looked almost distraught, opening her mouth as if intending to say something. But then she closed her mouth and bowed, retreating to stand by the wall several feet away again.

  “You’re really strange today,” Reuben said, dragging his gaze over her left hand. “When did you become so polite to the servants? And you never wipe your mouth like that. What happened to the ‘demure lady’ persona you’re always so proud of showing off? Plus, you didn’t even tell me off for calling you ‘kiddo’!”

  Maybe it was because he was her brother, but Blythe wasn’t worried about being ‘out of character’ in front of him. His behavior reflected a great deal of care for her as his little sister, so she was sure he would just want the best for her. Unlike Jessica and Sophie who were just her friends, and schoolmates at that, he would have absolutely no reason to view her as competition or scheme to take her down behind her back if he thought she had become clueless about societal norms.

  “I forgot to use a handkerchief,” she said lazily, pulling herself up to her feet. “I’ll remember it next time. I can be polite if I want to be. And I don’t care if you call me ’kiddo’; you just helped me with the push-ups.”

  She earned a green light flash for that.

  Grinning widely, he rose to his feet. “Alright. So are you already done exercising for the day?”

  She cast him a confused look. “I’m doing lunges. The push-ups only trained my arm muscles.”

  The truth was, she was completely worn out. Her exposed skin was slick with sweat, and her face was uncomfortably hot. She could only imagine how flushed she looked at the moment.

  “Wow. You’re really doing this. This isn’t a one-off thing, is it?”

  “No! I’ll exercise regularly from now on,” she said, scowling. “I’ll run tomorrow too.”

  Despite his snort of laughter, Reuben didn’t seem to be making fun of her. His smile was more amused than anything else. Shrugging, he got down on the floor again.

  “Good for you. I’ll work on my own training, then. Let me know if you need help.”

  Lunges were much more manageable than push-ups. It took Blythe a bit to get into the right posture, but she managed two sets of eight reps for both legs before flopping back down on the floor in exhaustion.

  “I’m really done now,” she panted. “Suzy!”

  At this point, Reuben had done fifty push-ups. He stopped counting and sat up as well.

  Suzy hurried up to Blythe and produced a handkerchief so she could wipe her sweat. As Blythe patted her face, a male servant came striding into the training hall and stopped a few feet away from Reuben and Blythe. Bemused by the sudden intrusion, Blythe looked up at him from the floor she was sitting on.

  He bowed to them. “Good morning, Lord Reuben and Lady Blythe. His Grace requests your presence at the main estate’s dining hall for brunch once you are finished with your exercise. Additionally, His Grace would like to remind you to shower before making your appearance, Lord Reuben.”

  Blythe snickered.

  Recoiling, Reuben said, “Why are they only reminding me?! Blythe’s here working out too. Remind her too! Remind her!”

  The poor servant shifted his weight from one foot to another, clearly uncomfortable with Reuben’s random demand.

  “My apologies, my lord, but I am simply conveying the message His Grace has entrusted me with. If I may take my leave … ?”

  Amidst Reuben’s frustrated complaints about how unfair it was, Blythe dismissed the servant, who promptly scuttled out of there.

  “That’s what you get for not showering after sweating like a pig,” she told Reuben, making a guess at the reason behind their parents’ request. “I don’t need a reminder to take a shower after exercise before showing up for a meal with them.”

  Red light.

  Oh, well. It’s only a small hit.

  He sneered. “That’s because you never exercised before now.”

  “And that’s about to change!”

  They bickered a little more before Blythe decided to go back to her room, leaving Reuben there to finish up his workout. She took a shower then departed for the main estate with the carriage Suzy called for her.

  Upon seeing her enter the dining hall, her parents beamed in delight and called out to her.

  “Good morning, sweetie!”

  “Good morning, Mom and Dad,” she said, sitting down in the chair opposite Tatiana’s and next to the head of the table, where Alasdair sat.

  Blythe was startled when Reuben’s booming voice traveled across the enormous room. “Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad.”

  He pulled out the chair beside Blythe’s and sat down. The faint scent of green tea wafted off him, a good indication that he’d showered as requested. His hair only looked slightly damp, whereas Blythe’s hair was still damp from the middle to the ends.

  “You’re done?” she asked. “But I left first.”

  “What are you talking about? You’ve always taken a long time to shower. Don’t you always say your hair takes longer to wash and dry?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She shouldn’t have bothered asking.

  She ignored the odd look he gave her.

  He heaped a ladleful of scrambled eggs, among a bunch of other foods, onto his plate. She did the same before sitting back down.

  “Blythe, I was so surprised to hear from the servants that you were voluntarily going for a run!” Tatiana exclaimed, picking up her teacup. “I suppose you’re no longer afraid of becoming overly muscular?”

  “She’s never had to worry about that,” Reuben grumbled into his scrambled eggs. “Girls don’t develop muscles the way guys do.”

  She knew that, but obviously the original Blythe didn’t believe it.

  “He’s right,” Alasdair said, smiling at Blythe. “Don’t worry about things like that.”

  She smiled back, attempting to look reassured. “Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

  “It’s rare for you to ask us to have brunch together so spontaneously,” Reuben commented.

  Blythe made a note of that in her head.

  “Oh, your adorable sister here will be staying at Novalbus as a boarder starting from the next weekend onwards. Your mother and I wanted to eat together as a family as much as we can before that.”

  “I don’t understand why she gets to be called the ‘adorable sister’, but I never hear you call me the ‘handsome brother’ to her face,” Reuben groused, frowning at Alasdair.

  “That’s kind of shameless, not going to lie,” Blythe said before she could stop herself.

  “Easy for the one getting praised to say, isn’t it!”

  Alasdair’s guffaw boomed through the dining hall. It was clear from whom Reuben got his voice.

  Tatiana’s dainty laugh was like the tinkling of bells. “Oh, my. Now, now, you two, you know very well that you’re both the most beautiful children in the world in our eyes. We love you both very much. There’s no need to be jealous, Reuben. Your father is just showing his affection with his words.”

  “I had no idea it bothered you so much, Reuben,” Alasdair added. “Very well. For the sake of fairness, I’ll refer to you as Blythe’s ‘adorable brother’ from now on.”

  “Dad! You know that’s not what I meant! Look at me; I’m not adorable. Do you know how many ladies were falling over themselves to give me love letters when I was in Novalbus?”

  Blythe tried and failed to curb the twitching of her lips at Reuben’s indignation as he gestured wildly down at his muscular, broad-shouldered build.

  “That doesn’t matter much now, does it? You weren’t interested enough in any of them to send out a marriage offer. You’re still single. What’s the use of having so many admirers? You’re so picky!”

  Alasdair was ruthless.

  “Dad!”

  “That aside, we have something to ask you, Blythe,” Tatiana said, shooting Alasdair a silencing stare. “Let’s continue this line of conversation later, Al.”

  Blythe’s poached egg nearly went down the wrong pipe. She snatched up a napkin and coughed into it, hot tears squeezing out from the corners of her eyes.

  No, no, it’s okay. I have infinite favorability points with them. It doesn’t matter even if I get the answer wrong.

  She smiled tentatively at Tatiana, willing her heart rate to slow down. “Yes?”

  “We only want to make sure … You’ll be coming back on the weekends, won’t you?” Tatiana wagged an elegant, slim finger at Blythe. “You can’t forget about your family simply because boarding life is so fun.”

  “You have to come home on weekends, Blythe,” Alasdair said, his tone switching from playful to serious so suddenly it gave Blythe whiplash. “We’ll send the carriage to you every Friday evening. If you want to stay at school over the weekend, you’ll have to let us know in advance, do you understand?”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  Blythe didn’t have a problem with this, so it was easy to answer them. After all, the food and facilities here were great, and she was surrounded by people who loved and cared for her. It was a no-brainer, especially looking at her relationship stats with everyone she had a connection with. Besides, Magnus wouldn’t be here on weekends since she’d already canceled their longstanding breakfast dates.

  “I’ll definitely come home on weekends,” she said, smiling at Alasdair’s and Tatiana’s satisfied faces.

  It would probably be great for her to recharge after a long week at school, too.