Chapter 2: Greeting
At the break of dawn, in the west courtyard where the old training ground is located, there was only the sound of swords being drawn and swung.
As the sun rays fell upon the ground, its light illuminated the surroundings, revealing a serene environment of the quiet, empty arena. And on its center was a lone, young knight who executed his swordsmanship in a crisp and straightforward manner. It was unlike the typical showy skills of knights in this empire. His technique is simple yet brutal, without any unnecessary movements.
"Ah… those training sure were handy at times like this…" Gale mumbled to herself while smiling.
Since her memories as herself and Cedar were somewhat merged, it was easy for her to use her physical capabilities as a male to pull off the stunt that she wasn't able to perfect in one of her movies.
"I can't believe that learning all of those martial arts and dual-sword handling would actually be handy." She thought to herself as she placed the sword back in its scabbard hanging on her waist.
With that, Cedar's usual morning practice has ended.
"Well then… after this…" searching through Cedar's memories, she tried to recall his morning routine as Prince Alexander's knight.
"Right. I've got to wake him up." She nodded and then proceeded to walk towards the east courtyard.
The palace was enormous and it looked as if it was boundless. On its walls hanged different paintings of famous people, ranging from palm-sized to something as large as a house. Moreover, each pillar along the aisle was engraved with silver and gold, forming the Phoenix emblem of the Yv Empire.
Well, being the continent's largest and most prosperous empire, this much grandeur is expected.
As Gale walked towards the Prince's quarters, she couldn't help but tense up.
She may have had Cedar's memories but it was still her first time to meet the Prince after transmigrating.
"Good morning, Sir Knight!" Someone wearing a squire uniform greeted him.
This isn't something unusual since Cedar was very amiable to his colleagues even if he was one of the empire's greatest magic swordsman, gaining a good reputation and reverence from his juniors and comrades alike.
Gale nodded towards the squire as it was 'his' usual greeting.
However, when her eyes fell on the teenage boy, she froze in place.
"Wha… Vik-Viktor?" She was stunned.
The person right in front of her was a spitting image of her younger brother! Gale's brother from Earth!
Thinking about it, Cedar also looked like herself. The only difference is gender.
'Is it possible to meet someone else who looked like the same person I know from my world aside from this guy?' She contemplated inwardly as she glanced at the person in front.
The young squire blinked in complete ignorance as he innocently tilted his head as if asking 'Who's Viktor?'.
Realizing that she blurted out her brother's name, she faked a cough to hide her embarrassment. "Aherm… well… you… you're new here?"
"Y-Yes, sir!" thankfully, the squire didn't bother to ask further.
The squire stood straight and saluted. "Yun Rivertale from Ravenmoon Legion, sir!"
'Ah… so my brother's look-alike is a noble.' she thought.
It wasn't that hard to conclude so because only the nobles had surnames. Furthermore, the Rivertales, just like the Nightingales, has a military lineage.
"You're too early. Squire's training isn't until…" she paused for a second, recalling how one would say 8 a.m. in this world's words. "...Prime."
Yun smiled sheepishly as he scratched his nape. "Well… I am not one with talent. If I don't train twice or thrice than normal, I wouldn't be able to catch up with my peers. If I failed to gain knighthood, I might even be disowned since I am such a disappointment compared to my siblings… haha…"
Somehow, she wanted to hug this brother of hers. It wasn't just the looks. Yun even had the same attitude as Viktor. Such a hard-worker yet lacks self-confidence.
She then patted the teenage boy's head. "You'll make a fine knight," he assured him. "These aren't empty words. Because effort never betrays. Remember that."
"Yes, sir." The boy gave a timid smile and bowed before leaving.
Gale sighed as he watched Yun's back that went further and further away.
"Well, seems like this world isn't too different after all." she murmured to herself and proceeded to the inner yard.
Arriving at the door, she cleared her voice and called out to the Prince 'as usual'.
"Your Highness, it's time to wake up. You have to eat your breakfast with His Majesty today."
As expected, there's no answer from the inside.
"Your Highness, can you hear me?" Again, Gale knocked on the unnecessarily extravagant door.
Still, no one replied.
"Your Highness, I will count to three and then open the door whether you're ready or not."
She paused for a brief moment and then…, "Three."
Gale abruptly opened the door and went inside the chamber.
The corners of her eyes twitched as she felt a vein popping on her temples.
The scene before her is not something new—to the old Cedar, that is.
The Crown Prince was peacefully sleeping on his bed. That was good in itself if it's not him being butt naked together with five women around him.
Within Cedar's body, Gale was royally appalled. Somehow, she knew from Cedar's memories that the Prince was quite the ladies' man. However, five ladies? FIVE? Seriously?
'Shit.' she couldn't stop herself from cursing inwardly as she realized that Cedar's head was probably overflowing with reverence for this Alexander that his eyes and ears had filtered out all the negative sides of the Prince, toning down his lecherous character. 'Damn Cedar. You're living in such a beautiful delusion. I pity you, really.'
Barely pushing her thoughts about ranting, Gale cleared her throat and 'calmly' clapped her hands loudly with a poker face as Cedar would normally do when waking up the 'visitors'.
"Playtime's over. Leave now," Gale stated while she casually opened the curtains, letting the brightness of the sun inside.
"Oh, it's you. Why didn't you join the fun last night?" an amorous voice came from behind Cedar and to his surprise, delicate, snowy white arms wrapped around his upper body. "You know we could give you a good time… sir," she whispered, coating the last word with a honeyed flirty tone.
From the hazy recollection of the original Cedar, this red-headed woman with a gigantic pair of mountains, (mind you, Gale) was called Helene. She is a woman of pleasure and quite a pricey one at that.
If it was the old Cedar, he would've tensed up right now, although he never shows it on his face. Anyhow, he was now Gale on the inside.
Without much effort, Gale managed to free herself from Helene's embrace and placed a bag of silver on her hands.
"Thank you for your service. Take these and leave quietly as usual," she told her with a business-like smile.
"Tch. You're no fun." Helene pouted.
"The doors are open for quite some time now. Please leave quickly as I do not wish for His Highness to catch a cold," Gale said in Cedar's typical icy tone, prompting the ladies towards the door.
The women eventually left after giving the knight a glare.
'I've got nothing against you ladies but I have to act as Cedar. I'm sorry for being a prick.' Although Gale is saying these words in her head, she kept Cedar's deadpan face.
Now that the women had left, Gale was the only person remaining with the Prince who sleeps like a log.
She then faced Alexander's direction, only to have all of her hair rise up in surprise.
Right in front of her was the proud member of the Crown Prince, standing like a tower on all of its glory whilst the said person was asleep spread-eagled on his bed without a care in the world.
This is the very reason why Cedar was chosen to wake the Crown Prince every morning. The original Cedar's temperament was rather calm—stoic even. He could interact with the Prince's shenanigans with a serious face.
She gulped at the sight before her, holding back her desire for 'studying' the magnificent anatomy of the human sprawling on the bed.
'I am a man. A straight man. I am a man. Get a grip, me.' Gale recited inwardly as she quickly grabbed the blanket and covered His Highness' grace.
Soon after, she gently patted the Prince's arm. "Your Highness, it's time to wake up."
Sitting beside the Prince, Gale closely scrutinized his face.
Alexander Yv is certainly a living sculpture. His face exudes a strong charm that could make anyone swoon over him. In addition to his long, slick, raven black hair, his eyelashes were also thick and dark, in contrast to his milky white skin.
Although the prince was rather fair as opposed to Gale's personal taste for tanned guys like Cedar, Alexander's manliness is oozing out and swirling around him like an aura. If he was on Earth, he could probably be on par with Elvis' charisma, maybe even surpass him.
"Quit staring, woman."
Gale flinched when a deep, mellifluous voice spoke. It was the Crown Prince.
His eyes were still closed but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, looking smug.
Gale's maiden heart—although it was technically Cedar's now, made a loud thumping sound. Maybe it was because of the shock, or maybe because of his smile or both, she wasn't sure.
Feeling quite perplexed for a fraction of time, she calmly shifted to 'act' like Cedar.
"Your Highness, it's…"
'Me, Cedar' is what she would say if she wasn't pulled in by the Prince.
What happened next reminded her why Cedar had to wake the Prince up by just nudging him with a sword hilt and not by patting him on a close distance.
When half-asleep, Alexander's instinct was to pull whomever, giving the person a deep, scorching hot kiss!
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