Chapter 3

            Lady Octavi and I walked toward the garden led by Adel. I observed Lady Octavi walking. The posture was more like a man walking than a lady, her body was strapping every step she walked. 

            We arrived at the entrance of the garden. The garden was so spacious, and there was a pavilion in the middle of it. We walked toward the pavilion, and I noticed that there were 2 chairs and a table with a tea set, cookies, and cakes in the pavilion. There were a lot of types of plants in the garden with different colors, which made the garden full of color.

            Adel set up the chair for me first, after me, she set up the chair for Lady Octavi. She poured the tea for me and Lady Octavi, we took a sip.

            “Lady Octavi, how old are you? Sorry if it’s disrespectful to you.”

            “No it’s not disrespectful, I am 21 years old, my lady..”

            “And my father said that Lady Octavi was from The Palace Academy, what’s it like to be in there?”

            “Hmmmmm…does my lady want to enter the Academy in the future?”
            “I still don’t have any intention of thinking about going there..”

            “Well..The Academy is huge as well, and there are a lot of nobles who roll in there.”

            “Really a noble studies there..What type of nobles?”

            I saw her face and seemed surprised. 

            “My lady, you are aware that you are a noble too, right?”

            “I am a noble?”

            “Yes, my lady..Your family Aurelius Family is a distinguished family, and is respected over the kingdom.”

            “It is a shame for me, that I don’t know anything about my own family…”

            “It’s alright my lady, your father gave me the mandate to educate and give all the knowledge that my lady needs, and your father had told me the situation of my lady facing off…”

            “If my father trusts you so much, I will trust you to educate me..”

            “Just leave it to me, my lady..”

            I took a sip of tea.

            “Can you tell me about my own family..”

            “Of course…the Aurelius Family has a long history of being a distinguished family. The present of the family is like the present of the royal family of the kingdom. Does my lady know the meaning of Aurelius?..

            “I don’t know..”

            “Aurelius means Golden, and the kingdom gives the nickname of the family as The Golden Family, the family being respected not just the name of Aurelius, but the family is well known as a sharp family. The proof is in here, does my lady know what city my lady lives in?”

            “I don’t aware of that..”

            “This city is the most developed city in the entire kingdom, even the capital of the kingdom development cannot beat the development of this city, it’s because of the Aurelius Family. If my lady family is such a distinguished family, does my lady have any idea what peerage of the family is?”

            “What is the peerage? I don’t know about that..”

            “Peerage is a title granted from the kingdom to the family, it has some rank, let’s start from the lowest, the first one is Baron, the baron is who oversees the village, the second is the Viscount doesn’t have any land, Viscount job is not oversee a land but to help for the higher peerage rank. The third is the Earl or Count who oversees the county, The Fourth is the Marquess who oversees the border of the kingdom. The Fifth is the Duke who oversees the duchy, and the highest one is the king who oversees the kingdom…The Aurelius Peerage rank is the duke, the family oversees the duchy of Florence..And the family doesn’t have count and baron vassals who oversees their county and their village, All the county and the villages in the duchy of Florence has been oversees by the family..”

            “What’s your rank Lady Octavi?”

            She took a sip of tea.

           “My family rank is Viscount, my lady…and Our family is the vassal of Aurelius…”

            “So you are my vassal, Lady Octavi?”

            “Yes…Claudi Family has been the vassal of Aurelius for a long time, over the generations Claudi Gens are the sword and the right hand of Aurelius…It is a great honor to swear fealty to your family, my lady..”

            “Well, I hope our relation is not agitated by the peerage relation..”

            “If my lady hopes for it, I will fulfill it..”

            “Thanks…and my father said you are my lady in waiting…Can I ask you what is that?”

            “Lady in Waiting is a companion a lady, my lady..It is usually in the royal court, but your family is so different and special, so it has a Lady in Waiting, beside a companion, Lady in Waiting can be a bodyguard of Lady..”

            “To be a bodyguard, it means Lady Octavi is great with a sword right?”

            “Well..I can swing my sword..I don’t know if it is great in the eyes of my lady..”

            “Do you mind if you show me some moves of your sword? You have the sword in your hip…”

            “Sure, I can show it to you…”

            Lady Octavi stood up from her seat, and walked toward the open grass in front of me with her sword…

            “My lady, While I am doing the move, I will tell you the name of the move..”

            She started to make a move, the first move was she raised the sword with 2 hands up in her head..

            “This is the stance of Ochs or Ox, it focuses on the enemy’s face and throat, and cutting it.” She thrusted her sword so fast, after that swung diagonally fast. 

            Next, she lowered her sword with her two hands in between her two legs, the sword pointed to the ground…

            “This is the stance of Alber or Fool, it is the defense stance, as my lady sees right now, this is a provocative stance.” She pointed to her torso with right hand. “While my sword is in between my legs, the enemy’s eyes will focus this upper body because it is so wide open..as the name of the stance “fool” it is a fool to attack right away, because…” She swung her sword upward vertically, and swung horizontally. “In this stance, it is easier to counter the attacks, and easier for our lower body to move.”

            She brought back the sword to her sword scabbard in her hip, and bowed to me. I clapped my hands..

            “I hope it’s enough to impress my lady about my sword skill..and there are still some moves…If my lady is curious about the sword…I can teach my lady about it, but with my lady father’s approval first..

            Suddenly a voice of someone could be heard from behind Lady Octavi “THAT AMAZING..”

            We turned to the voice, and it was Aurelio and Ophelia. Aurelio immediately ran to Lady Octavi with their maids.

            “YOU…What was that?” Aurelio spoke to her.

            “That was just a small sword move.” she answered.

            Aurelio started to imitate the move of Lady Octavi “you doing like this..and like that…and with fast you doing like this..That was amazing…TEACH ME! HOW DO YOU DO IT?”

            “Aurelio, you are being disrespectful in front of Sister Aurelia’s guest.” Ophelia behind Aurelio “You should introduce yourself first, before asking someone a question or making a request to a guest..” She lifted her skirt and greeted Lady Octavi “Deeply Apologize, for my brother’s behavior.”

            Lady Octavi responded to the greeting and greeted back with bowing to them “It’s okay young lady Ophelia, and young master Aurelio, and let me introduce myself. My name is Octavi Claudi.”

            “Lady Octavi seems to already know about our name, but we will still introduce ourselves. I am Ophelia Aurelius…And this is my stubborn brother…”

            “My name is Aurelio Aurelius…”

            “What’s Lady Octavi position to have an afternoon tea with our sister Aurelia?” Ophelia tried to intimidate her.

            “Your father has appointed me as Tutor and Lady in Waiting for Lady Aurelia, so it’s my obligation to accompany her..” 

            “So you are the one who is trying to steal our time with Sister Aurelia..” Aurelio said.

            “Well I am not aware what Young master is talking about, if the young master wants to be with Lady Aurelia, of course the young master and young lady can join us.”

            The little two came to the pavilion with Lady Octavi, and suddenly there were 2 chairs beside me without my knowledge. Their maids set up the seat for the little two, and lifted them to the chair. 

            “How do you guys know that I am here?” I asked them.

            “Aurelio was the one who watched Sister Aurelia come to the garden from his room, and informed me that Sister Aurelia had a tea party with someone.” Ophelia answered.

            “Yes, we want to bring back Sister Aurelia from someone who stole her from us.” Aurelio said with pointing his finger to Lady Octavi.

            “Don’t blame or accuse Lady Octavi, father has appointed her as tutor and Lady in Waiting for your sister…And Aurelio, before you said you wanted Lady Octavi teach you about something..”

            “AH YES…YOU TEACH ME HOW YOU DID THAT.” Aurelio said with a happy tone.

            “I can teach the young master about it, but with your father’s approval..”

            “Really?? I will talk to my father later..”

            “Lady Aurelia, I can teach Lady too..”

            “I will consider it..”

            “NOOOO!!.” Ophelia suddenly “Sister Aurelia will become a proper Lady, with her beauty, she will become the center lady of the kingdom, so she must not hold a sword.”

“But Ophelia, as you can see, Lady Octavi is a lady too but she is great with a sword..” 

“Really? May I ask you a question Lady Octavi?”

“Sure..”

“To be a tutor for Sister Aurelia, you must have an education background, may I know what your background is.”

“I am from the Palace Academy, and I am from the Claudi Family..”

“Sister Aurelia, Palace Academy is not a lady academy, it is a knight academy who wants to be a knight…..”

“So you are a knight? That’s amazing.” Aurelio was amazed with Lady Octavi.

“Aurelio, why are you amazed by that? She is a knight but became a tutor to Sister Aurelia..”

“What’s wrong with that, Ophelia?”

“Why should a knight become a tutor for Sister Aurelia, it must be a lady to become tutor for Sister Aurelia not a knight.”

“Well, a knight can become a lady too right like Lady Octavi, let’s not judge Lady Octavi, father has chosen her, it means there is nothing wrong about that.” I said.

“But her outfit is not a lady outfit, but a man’s outfit..”

“But she is still beautiful with that outfit right, a real lady will be beautiful with any outfit.”

“I think she is cool with her outfit.” Aurelio said.

“See even Aurelio as boy can see the beautiful and the coolest of Lady Octavi.”

“Whatever..” Ophelia grumbled.

The four of us continued the tea party, like eating the cookies, cakes or drinking the tea. We were having afternoon tea, until the sun almost set. The tea party was over, and Lady Octavi parted away to go home. Ophelia was still grumbling and went off without a word, Aurelio was still with me. We were walking to the second floor together with our maid.

“Aurelio, it seems you are interested in swords.”

“Yes, Sister Aurelia, After saw Lady Octavi…” While walking, he imitated Lady Octavi Sword’s move “She was doing this so fast.. And like that…and that was so amazing and cool.”

            “How about we asked father, to give Lady Octavi a permit, so she can teach you in the future.”

            “Really??”

            “Yes, I will try to ask father about that..”

            “Thanks Sister Aurelia..”