Chapter 5: Princess Training (2)
I stood up, my body trembling slightly, but my eyes burned with a new determination. I could feel the steady beat of my heart in my chest—calm, controlled. I focused myself completely, blocking out the fear, the confusion, and the fact that I was still wearing maid clothes. Across from me, Lucy smiled, her expression laced with amusement and just the slightest hint of challenge.
"You're a prodigy, aren't you?" she teased, her voice silk-smooth, laced with mocking playfulness. "Then try to copy what I just did."
With that, she raised her wooden staff, and spells came flying toward me—low-level fireballs, gusts of wind sharp enough to sting. I could barely react in time. One fireball grazed me, tearing through the thin fabric of my clothes. I winced, but didn't cry out. My body tensed, and my eyes turned cold—serious.
I exhaled deeply, remembering how she'd formed the spells. I could still feel the burning on my skin from her earlier fireball, but I pushed the pain aside. Instead, I focused on how it felt—the pressure of the mana, the shape of the heat, the will that directed it.
She continued her barrage, testing me. Her expression was almost bored, like a cat toying with a mouse. But with each blast, I began to sense something. Something small. A flicker. Like touching the edge of a dream.
Then, with a deep breath, I reached into myself.
I felt my mana core stir.
It was faint—fragile like the first breath of wind before a storm. I focused harder, imagining fire, imagining heat. But instead of casting it outward, the spell combusted in my face.
"Ah—!"
The fireball exploded against me, sending me stumbling backward. It didn't hurt too much—she had held back—but it was still enough to sting. I blinked through the smoke, coughing slightly, and looked up to find her chuckling, amused by the soot now covering my face.
"You poor thing," she said with a soft laugh. "You'll live. I can always heal you."