The Regressed Princess - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Surging Fighting Spirit; She Laughed for a While, Then Turned Around, Her Icy…

The first ray of morning light was blocked by the curtains. Andra’s eyelashes flickered, and she opened her eyes precisely on time.

After several hours of sleep, she rose with the sun. Every muscle in Andra’s body was fully rested, clamoring to swing a longsword and make a few brilliant colors bloom on an enemy’s body.

Andra peeked sideways. The tiny girl had her eyes closed; it was impossible to tell if she was awake or asleep. That constant surge of ferocity and exhilaration had vanished, replaced only by a warm, glowing joy.

Highness, Princess Highness~

She whispered the name twice, but there was no reaction. The girl’s eyelashes were long and thick, making Andra’s heart itch. She wanted to touch them just once.

Andra swallowed and looked around. The room was dim and pleasant; no one would approach the bed curtains at this hour. The attendants were all guarding outside; only she was by her side.

Gulp. A good chance.

She decisively extended her finger, brushing toward those fuzzy eyelashes.

As the gentle texture brushed sandily against her fingertip, the little Princess snapped her eyes open. Even in the dim light, the flash of ferocity in that instant made Andra shudder.

Eleanor was like a highly alert small animal. She raised her paws and shoved Andra’s embrace away with a whoosh, clutching her chest as she shrank to the other side of the bed.

This was not the reaction an aristocratically raised little princess should have.

Andra looked blankly at her finger and hurriedly knelt on the bed to apologize: “Sor—sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine.” The little Princess regained her composure faster than expected. She stood up on the bed, smoothing her skirt, and stood beside her barefoot, casting a small shadow.

“Andra, aren’t you going to sleep a bit longer?” She spoke in a sweet, mellow voice, pressing one hand against Andra’s cheek as if the frightened child from a moment ago wasn’t her.

Andra gradually calmed down under her gentle touch. She tactfully changed the subject: “It’s okay. I’m going to go practice my sword now.”

The Andra of her past life would have slept with her until very late; it seemed the start of this life was going to be more difficult.

Eleanor knew well nominally, they were Guardian Knight and Princess; she could command Andra to stay by her side at all times. But if she truly dared to show signs of letting Andra neglect her swordsmanship, the other would surely find a way to distance herself immediately, and nine times out of ten, she would succeed quickly.

Phew… luckily I’ve already thought it through.

“Love” and shackles are truly hard to tell apart, Andra.

The little Princess nodded obediently: “Okay. Sleeping more is good for the body.”

She was young now, so her voice sounded delicate without having to strain. Eleanor leaned dependently against Andra’s shoulder and whispered: “My personal guards were all chosen by Mother. Many of the sisters have bad tempers like my Royal Sister. You must be very careful not to let them bully you.”

She said this intentionally, knowing it was useless talk. Given Andra’s level of alertness in this life, it was impossible for the guards to successfully plot against her.

“Rest assured, Highness.”

Moved, Andra held her hand and kissed it, saying with a smile: “I am your Guardian Knight. I will be the strongest.”

Yes, you’re right. [If you can stay alive], you will naturally become the strongest in the world.

Eleanor marveled sincerely in her heart: So in this life, no matter what you say or do, I will lay trap after trap for you.

“Okay, it’s a deal then.”

The little Princess snuggled into the knight’s embrace, rubbing against her neck, and said sweetly: “Yawn~ I’m going to sleep a bit longer. See you at noon~”

“See you at noon.” Andra returned to the floor and gave a serious bow, changed her clothes, and left with high spirits.

Eleanor watched her back and silently moved her lips: I hope we never meet again, Andra.

When Andra walked out of the bedchamber, a smile still lingered at the corners of her mouth. She sniffed her collar, where a faint, lingering fragrance remained.

Andra’s five senses were much sharper than a normal person’s. This fragrance should have been left by the little Princess. The Princess didn’t like using incense, so this scent was…

Her cheeks turned red. She patted her sleeves and ran toward the training grounds as if nothing had happened.

The sun had just leaped over the horizon. The morning light was like misty glass, possessing a waking-yet-not-awake transparency. Andra didn’t pay it much mind; her eyes could see the outlines of things even in the dark, and she had long been used to practicing her sword early and late.

She didn’t have a sense of urgency like “I must practice every day or someone will catch up”; she simply loved the feeling of wielding a weapon. Would anyone not love martial arts? She was never curious about that.

The youth came to the morning training grounds alone against the cold wind and pulled a longsword from the rack. Andra had never read wuxia novels about “no sword in hand, but a sword in the heart,” but she had been able to ignore and not be picky about the sword in her hand since she was a child.

In her eyes, all swords were divided into only two categories: One category was swords easily broken by humans; the other was swords not easily broken by humans.

Since Hetuya lacked high-grade iron ore and its smelting technology was basically non-existent, she had used bone knives that were relatively harder than wood for a long time. Andra’s strength had been great since childhood. To counter her Royal Sister’s bullying, she had drunk medicinal decoctions at age seven to trigger an explosive growth in her physical capacity.

The small youth wasn’t picky about blades at all; they would break in her hands sooner or later anyway. If one snapped, she’d just get another.

Whoosh.

She made a small leap and swung the longsword. Her entire posture was elegant due to its extreme precision, as if it shouldn’t deviate by even a hair’s breadth. Andra’s limbs were completely relaxed, relying entirely on the residual instincts of her body to strike this perfect blow. She was about to move her limbs to begin a set of warm-ups dancing with the sword before starting serious practice after the “play” was over…

Bang!

A massive bursting sound cut directly into Andra’s whirling dance. The moment her blade touched the wooden surface, the dummy exploded instantly! Loose fragments shot out in all directions like shrapnel.

Swish, swish.

Andra’s body had already dodged before her consciousness realized the danger. She flipped her wrist, using the sword to clink-clank away a large pile of fragments. In just a few breaths, her body had leaped out of the maximum range of the wooden shards.

She stared at the fragments on the ground for a few seconds, then raised her finger to pull out the only wooden splinter in it.

Hiss… has the training ground’s wooden dummy been used for too long? Did they buy targets made of inferior materials? Or was her strength too great, breaking it with one tap?

Andra checked the wound; such a small scratch would be healed by noon, no big deal. Regardless, she didn’t strictly need a wooden dummy to practice; swinging at the air was fine, she just preferred the tactile sensation of hitting something.

The youth waved her hand and was about to leave when her brain suddenly felt a slight stinging pain.

Being watched…

Hmph.

She whipped her head around and strode to a second wooden dummy. Andra swung her wrist, concentrating her strength at the tip of the sword, and lightly tapped it.

Stab.

The heavy iron sword in her hand performed a light, skillful thrust against the dummy, knocking open a small hole in the center.

Zing-zing fragments exploded out from the breach!

Well, look at that. Not an old wooden dummy at all, but a specifically placed hollow trap! It seemed to contain nails and rusty iron shards inside, but because the quality was poor, they hadn’t exploded out!

Andra sneered and stabbed the third, the fourth… the entire row of wooden dummies had been replaced!

“Hahahaha.”

“Oops, she saw through it!”

A few people hiding in the garden and peeking whispered to each other.

“She won’t come over to cause trouble for us, will she?”

“No, she doesn’t dare.” Batina squeezed her fist: “That girl has no evidence. Who would admit it? You?”

“Not me.”

“And you?”

“Me neither!”

The small heads quickly confirmed their sisterly bond with each other. They stared nervously at Andra in the training grounds, and only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her remain in the open space to continue practicing instead of running to the Princess’s bedchamber.

“Hehe~ she knows complaining is useless.”

They looked at each other happily and bumped fists: the training ground’s “discouragement activity” was just an appetizer; their pranks against Andra had only just begun!

Andra skillfully swung at the air on the training grounds, the longsword dancing like white silk. When the sun rose high and cast a golden rim around her, the other personal guards finally strolled over. They were yawning, leaning on their swords, looking like they had just woken up.

Andra ignored them and didn’t rush over to ask who did it. She simply swung her longsword in place, carving out rifts in the air with the most primitive movements.

“Oh my~ who chopped a bunch of wood all over the place here?” Caroline didn’t say it directly, but her eyes kept darting toward Andra.

“Yeah, so tacky. It’s cut up everywhere, how are we supposed to stand?”

“Disgusting… nothing but scraps.” Everyone chirped and looked at the same person, baring their teeth from time to time.

Normally, an unjustly accused person would step forward to defend themselves, but Andra gave no reaction. Her sword remained unfazed, steadily drawing its trajectory, treating their chatter like birdsong.

The guards hit a wall: they were well-bred and wouldn’t act like street thugs, rolling around or using foul language. Faced with this “turtle tactic,” they truly had no way.

They exchanged glances, and the youngest guard poked her head out, asking seemingly in a friendly manner: “Hey, Andra, have you had breakfast today?”

This question was addressed by name. Andra looked back and replied: “I’ll go in a bit.”

She was used to practicing seriously first, then eating after her muscles were loose, resting a while, and continuing to practice. Originally, as a foreign royal daughter, she would have had a specific servant deliver her three meals to the door of her quarters. But the Princess had set up a small extra canteen for the personal guards; the food in that kitchen was slightly different from the outside, with more minced meat, beans, and bird eggs. She tried it last night and it was quite good, so she planned to go again today.

“Hehehe.”

As soon as Andra finished answering, she saw a strange smile surface on the asker’s face.

Again…

Sure enough, Caroline of the guard pointed solemnly at three or four slaves walking over carrying a large wooden barrel and a big soup ladle not far away, saying loudly: “Oh, what a coincidence! Your family is handing out meat soup. Hurry up and get in line!”

“Hahahaha!” The guards burst into cheerful mockery.

Andra’s hand gripping the sword tightened. She didn’t actually care much about the joke itself—after all, in her eyes, this group was no different from slaves but being mocked like this by a group of vermin was still unpleasant.

So what to do? If she ignored them, they might continue to pursue her relentlessly over the next few days, wasting her time. If she cared cursing was useless. Fighting? If she fought too hard, the trouble would be even greater.

Seeing her hesitate, Caroline became even more emboldened. She grabbed her sword and jumped in front of Andra, saying loudly: “Oh? Aren’t you going to go run with your soldiers? If you don’t run more to train your legs, you won’t be able to run on the battlefield later~ Hahaha.”

Andra raised an eyebrow and mocked: “You’re certainly an expert in studying escape techniques.”

Caroline was instantly choked, but since the other had spoken back, she considered it half a success, so she said with a grin: “Of course I don’t need to escape, but you? You’re out of luck. If that handsome little face gets accidentally hurt, the Highness won’t want you anymore~”

Andra looked at her and the surrounding guards, assessing their strength in her heart.

Just a bunch of trash talking trash… She felt inexplicably at ease; the sense of crisis now was like a gentle breeze compared to last night. She held her practice sword horizontally in front of her and raised a hand toward Caroline: “Want to spar?”

The words were spoken casually, without any emphasis. But when Andra steadied her legs and assumed a slightly serious posture, a wave of inexplicable trepidation rushed through everyone’s shoulders via invisible vibrations.

The guards quietly exchanged looks: No good. If anyone duels her one-on-one, it’ll likely end badly.

Clang, clang!

They all moved to draw their swords, fanning out slightly like hyenas, their gazes and sword tips tightly surrounding Andra in the center.

“Spar?” Caroline made a face, stuck out her tongue and said: “We only spar with friends. If you want to join us, participate in the initiation ceremony first. Everyone~ together!”

“Roar roar roar—” They howled and pounced from all directions!

Andra moved.

One strike, two strikes. Her sword didn’t stab their necks; she easily bypassed Caroline’s vitals and used the hilt to poke the other’s lower abdomen hard.

“Aaaagh?!”

Andra didn’t bother looking back at her miserable state of rolling on the ground clutching her stomach, and flashed in front of a third person. Her sword was fast, and her legs were no slower. How could a Royal Daughter of Hetuya harm so many Nolanna nobles? Luckily, a beating didn’t count as “harm.”

Thump!

Her leg swung toward a vital point, a kick landing that made onlookers feel a chill through their bodies. When Andra lightly caught the arm of the fourth person and twisted it out of its socket with a crack, the guards were completely terrified.

The proud Wolf King shook her arm, looking with a half-smile at the hyenas whose legs were trembling as they backed away bit by bit.

“A nice welcome ceremony. It almost made me sweat~ Any more?” Andra provoked with a smirk, hoping this group would concentrate all their harassment into a day or two so it wouldn’t ruin her mood.

“Of course there’s more!” A shout suddenly came from the hillside, and Miscella made a grand entrance with a leap!

She held a large mass of indescribable spherical objects in her left and right hands; at a glance, they were two lumps of dark yellow sludge… heaven knows what was mixed in.

“Awoooo aaaah” The Crown Princess of Nolanna howled as she launched a charge at the Crown Princess of Hetuya. The first war between the two nations had officially begun ahead of schedule!

When Miscella first woke up, she was still wiping tears in bed: Yesterday’s sister was so scary.

But as soon as she finished breakfast, she patted her belly: I’ve realized!

Her sister’s meaning was simple: she hated Andra and wanted to hit her with stones. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be happy.

Then why should I wait a few days to throw stones? Why can’t I throw them today? Ahahaha.

So she wrapped two big stones in super dirty, super smelly mud and came looking for Andra specifically!

Anyone who pranks frequently knows that if the thrower is too far from the target, they won’t hit accurately. Especially since the two lumps of stony mud in her hands were too heavy; if she threw them, the trajectory would surely shift, and she wouldn’t hit anything.

Miscella was determined to stick these two big lumps of mud-stones onto the sides of Andra’s head like two smelly ears.

“Hahahaha!” She laughed maniacally as she ran closer and closer.

Like Lü Bu with a mop dipped in feces.

The people here hadn’t heard that story, but after smelling that pungent odor, they all clutched their heads and fled. Even Andra’s eyes widened, her expression one of disbelief.

Hehehe, want to run~ too late!

Miscella knew the other would definitely not cut her with a sword. As long as she could smear these two lumps on, what would it matter if she got kicked! She held the giant “stones” and howled as she charged; the distance between the two was closing rapidly, absolutely unavoidable.

Andra didn’t dodge. She suddenly lunged and grabbed the nearest person, Caroline, and lifted her… like a shield!

What kind of move is this? Who uses a person as a shield?!

The guards and Miscella screamed in their hearts.

Andra couldn’t hear the screams, but she immediately began to prove to them: a person can not only be a shield, but also a weapon.

Miscella charged. Andra didn’t just hold the shield to block; using her monstrous strength, she swung Caroline upward and rammed her out like a battering ram!

“Oooooh” Caroline was screaming.

“Aaaaaah!” Miscella was also screaming.

Thump-crash!

The two slammed into each other in mid-air. The two lumps of mud instantly flew into the sky and, under the force of inertia, splat-splat landed on their faces, one on the left and one on the right, with a portion sliding into their mouths…

“Hahahaha!” Andra laughed heartily: “You Nolannans are so interesting truly an incredibly fun welcome ceremony, hahahaha.”

She laughed for a while, then turned around, her icy gaze sweeping over everyone: “Laugh. Why aren’t you laughing anymore?”

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