"N-Nearly a bullseye, Iniabi! It's nearly there!" Cynthia said with wide eyes.
Cynthia might have yelped at his growl, but Noire didn't even flinch. She released another shot with her bow, before turning her attention back to her tome.
Iniabi and Cynthia had gone out into the Ylissean countryside to spend a little private time together, away from their children, the rest of the royal children, the other wives, and ruling the Ylisse-Plegian haldom. They didn't need to worry about the children because the wives could handle themselves. And if they got tired out, Morgan, Amber, and the rest of Morgan's family promised to step in. Morgan especially wanted a chance to bond with his multiple grandchildren. Heather was also coming over to supervise her great-grandchildren, despite Amber's claims that they could handle themselves.
Noire had also decided to join Iniabi and Cynthia, needing a break as Duchess of Themis. Currently, the three were at the same cabin that Iniabi had gotten trapped in before with Idoun a few years earlier. Iniabi had bought the cabin and used it from time to time if he or any of his other family members were in the area. Iniabi had proposed that he and Noire have a little sort of archery "competition", to see who was better. Cynthia thought it was a great idea, though Noire was against it. Though, after much convincing, the Themian agreed.
Iniabi was doing fairly well, but Noire was outdoing him by a long shot. While Iniabi's shots landed close or right next to the bullseye, Noire's arrows dug right into the bullseye each time. One had even landed so perfectly that it split a previous arrow in half vertically as it lodged into the targe. Iniabi had forgot that Noire's future self, who had remained on the continent unlike most of the other future children after the war against Grima, had personally trained her with the bow. Noire's future self seemed rather cowardly most of the time, a stark contrast to Noire's open and serious behavior, but she could be quite terrifying if pushed too far. Iniabi had forgotten she had grown up in a dark future, and had fought in the wars against Valm and Grima as well. The middle-aged woman never talked about it and never really acted like it. Noire had already beaten him twice, barely even looking at the target before shooting, And despite the anger bubbling up from being embarrassed by her, Iniabi couldn't help but feel impressed.
"Noire, I am impressed..." Iniabi started to say.
He frowned when she didn't even look up at him.
"Thank you." Noire said simply.
"Why don't you go hunting some time? You seem like you'd be amazing at it, so..." Iniabi started to ask.
"Because I don't take pleasure in killing animals." Noire replied.
The violet haired woman didn't get any louder, but her tone was tense as she lifted her eyes and stared directly at him.
"You might see it as a challenge, hurting unarmed animals, but I don't." Noire said.
She took her final shot, the arrow lodging deep into the bullseye, resulting in another win for her.
"I'd get a new hobby, Iniabi. I don't think you're very good at this one." Noire said.