Chapter 40 - Little Celebration

Basic training was extremely exhausting, physically and mentally. She knew that it was going to be harsh, but experiencing it firsthand, it was tougher than what she imagined.

But it wouldn't stop her from pursuing her dream to be a field medic like her mother. And now, being the marshal's lover, the more she wanted to be a field medic so she could stay by his side on the battlefield.

Being blessed by peculiar magic, she was sure that she could heal him faster than anyone else. It doesn't mean that she belittled other medics. It was just a fact that she had healing magic and it could heal wounds almost instantly.

Returning to her barrack, Eira tried hard not to smile. She was so happy to meet Cor tonight. They could only have a few little kisses, but those were more than enough for her. It felt like she could face any obstacle tomorrow, or the day after, or until she graduated from the training camp.

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Since that day, Cor never called her to his office again. She couldn't lie that she was a little bit hoping that Cor would call her again to have a fleeting kiss. But on the other hand she knew that this was for the best. Even that first meet was actually quite risky, and fortunately no one seemed to care about why the marshal called her—they probably thought that Cor just conveyed the message from her dad or such.

Even though they no longer talked, she still could take a glance at him whenever he was around in training camp. And that alone was enough to lift her spirit.

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A wide smile bloomed on her face right after the graduation ceremony was over. The trainees' families were leaving their seat to the field, looking for their family member who had spent twelve weeks in the crownsguard training camp and now officially graduated. Cheers and laughs floated in the air as they finally met. Hugs and tears came into sight.

It was a celebration.

Just like the other trainees—or now, crownsguard freshmen—did, Eira walked around to look for her families. Even though the first thing she yearned to do right now was actually hugging Cor. Oh, she wanted to hug him so bad.

Okay, she also missed her parents and wanted to hug them too. Therefore, she began to turn her head around, eyes scanning the field, trying to find their figures. Biting her lower lip, she began to worry when she didn't see them yet, afraid if they weren't coming to the graduation day—and picking her up to go home. But, no, no, there's no way…

She then walked around, head looking left and right, hoping to find her parents. But her eyes caught another figure instead—the one she really yearned to hug, the marshal of the crownsguard.

Cor didn't seem to notice her—who was standing around 20 feet from him—. Presumably because he was busy talking with a crownsguard freshman and his parents. Well, not that she would approach him though.

"Look at my girl!"

"Waaa!" Eira yelped when someone suddenly hugged her from behind. She realized whose voice was that and she giggled happily. It was her father.

"Daddy's girl is now a crownsguard." William Heallint laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"Dad!" she blushed. She was happy but still, it was a little bit embarrassing being hugged and swayed right and left by her father.

"Eira, my sweetie…" Her mother then hugged her from the front. "I'm so proud of you."

"I missed you so much." Eira said, wrapping her hands around her mother.

"You didn't miss me?" William pouted.

"Dad, the word 'you' can be used as a plural noun." Eira complained but giggled at her father's reaction.

"You're right."

William ruffled Eira's hair, while the young lady tried to dodge it, "No! My hair!"

After giving a kiss on his daughter's head once more, William finally released her from his arms. Looking at her from toe to the head, he gave a smile full of pride, held both of Eira's hands and lifted it upward, before yelling, "Officially crownsguard!"

Eira giggled then scolded, "Dad! It's embarrassing!"

"Aherm… Pardon me." William released her hands then bowed.

Another giggle left Eira's lips again. It had been three months without seeing her parents, and meeting them today made her so happy. Even though they would be separated again in mid January because she was going to join the advanced training. But at least they could spend time together for Glacian Day and New Year.

Noticing that someone was approaching them, Eira turned her head only to be shocked when she caught Cor's figure with her eyes. Her heart raised its pace, nervous when he was around her parents. But he was still indeed her father's friend. So it would be impolite for the marshal not to greet a royal council member whose daughter just finished the crownsguard basic training, right?

"Hi, Cor!" William greeted the marshal in excitement. He casually gave a friendly pat on Cor's shoulder. "A great day, huh?"

"Hi, William."

There was a thunder in her chest when she saw her father and her lover interact. She was so nervous, a little bit worried if they noticed that Cor was her boyfriend. She hoped she could act naturally even though her cheeks began to get warmer.

Cor greeted her mother before smiling at Eira and said, "Congratulation to Ms. Eira for completing the basic training."

"Now she's your subordinate." William laughed innocently.

Cor gave an awkward laugh as the response then looked at Eira with an adorable smile on his face—which almost made her swoon. "I'm looking forward to your service in crownsguard, Ms. Eira."

"Looking forward to working with you, Marshal." Eira was glad that she didn't stutter as she spoke.

"Oh, by the way, are you free tonight? We're going to have a little celebration dinner. I wonder if you could come?" William said, not having any clue that his invitation toward the marshal almost killed his daughter in shock.

Eira widened her eyes in disbelief. Looking at Cor, she waited for his answer. Yes, she would be happy to have dinner with Cor but not with her parents. She hoped Cor refused, even though in the next second her hope was shattered.

"Sure. If you don't mind my presence," Cor answered.

It was an endeavor not to glare at Cor. She kept smiling, pretending to be happy the marshal was going to attend the celebration dinner. Okay, from now on she would temporarily forget that he was her lover.

He's just the marshal. He's just your father's friend. Yeah… Definitely not your boyfriend.

Eira tried to hypnotize herself.

"Nice!" William grinned widely then turned his head to look at Eira, "Hei, Eira, isn't it great to have the marshal join the celebration dinner? Awesome right?!"

She could only respond with an awkward grin.

If only he knew that Cor was her lover.

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She could hear her own heart beat. It thumped loudly, too loud it bothered her so much. She felt a little bit dizzy, due to the nervousness that tortured her.

Right now she was in a restaurant in Caelum Hotel, sitting next to the marshal in front of her parents. She wished that her mother who was sitting across her seat didn't notice that she was almost faint. Meanwhile, her father was casually chatting with Cor, and Cor seemed to be relaxed. She envied him.

"Thank you so much for coming, Cor. It's been a while since we had dinner together like this," William said.

Unlike William, his daughter often had dinner with Cor though.

"Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to join this dinner." Cor smiled.

"I still remember the first time we invited you to dinner when you visited our house and Eira cried because you were so scary." William laughed. He really enjoyed teasing his daughter.

"And she hugged me the entire dinner." Elaine giggled as she reminisced about the past.

"And now look at her, she was sitting next to you. Not afraid of Marshal anymore?" William teased.

"Dad, please. That's embarrassing." Eira blushed. She glanced at Cor for a split second, wondering what he was thinking about that time, before looking back to the table. "I don't even remember it."

It was very unfortunate that she didn't remember it. What did he look like when Cor was younger before he got wrinkles on his face? But she loved him, including his wrinkles. They were adorable.

Now that she was thinking of it, Cor saw her when she was still a kid. Guess he didn't expect that the little kid was going to be his girlfriend when she grew up. Thinking about it made her want to giggle.

The appetizer came out, and she was glad that it helped her to prevent her father from speaking further about her childhood. Hundred percent sure that he would tell Cor a lot of embarrassing stuff from the past.

And then, they began to enjoy their dinner. It was awkwardly quiet when they were busy savoring their appetizer. Of course Eira wouldn't initiate any conversation as she was too shy, though.

She secretly glanced at Cor. Only for a split second before looking back to her risotto. She didn't dare to stare too long at him, not in front of her parents. As she munched her food, she looked at her parents. Her father was insensitive, so she didn't need to worry about him. But her mother… as a witch far far better than her, she was afraid that her mother was secretly capable of reading her mind.

"So, how was the training camp? Did you have a chance to spar with the marshal?"

Eira almost choked when her mother suddenly lit the conversation. Gulping quickly, she then shook her head, "No, I didn't."

"Hei, Cor, you should teach her combat too," William blabbered his random idea. "Oh wait, you're currently having a task to teach the prince's friend, right?"

"If she wants…" Cor glanced at her and she quickly avoided his gaze. He then added, "Sure, I can teach her along with the prince's friend. But from what I saw in the camp, Eira is very skillful already. Lizette taught her, I presume?"

"Yes." Elaine nodded. "Sometimes I taught her too."

"No wonder she's very good at hand to hand combat despite not joining the crownsguard training in the citadel," Cor flattered.

"You're exaggerating," Eira said.

"But if you're not good, you won't survive the training camp," Cor added.

"Yeah, unlike me," William laughed.

"Perhaps instead of training Eira, you should train William," Elaine suggested.

"Oh! Yeah! Sure! Sure!" William agreed in excitement, "I need to train using the armiger. But really, summoning the weapon from an armiger is exhausting."

Cor chuckled, "Elaine's right. William needs the training."

"Right?" Elaine.

Eira just silently watched Cor talking with her parents. It was nice seeing Cor relaxed around them. It was nice to know that her boyfriend had a good relationship with her parents. But still, she wasn't sure that they would accept him as her boyfriend.

What if they knew about their relationship…? Would they hate it? Would they hate Cor?

Cor was their age. No way they would agree if their daughter had a relationship with someone their age.

…

…

If only there were no age gap between them… She would certainly tell them right now that Cor was her boyfriend…

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Ah…

What a dream…

Author's note:

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It really brightens my day!