Tangled By Fate

Veronica started to pant after some time. However, she didn't progress even a little bit.

'This is humiliating. I need to come up with a plan.' Even if she thought so, she couldn't come up with anything.

She abruptly lowered her body and stretched her left leg to knock him out.

Darius wasn't expecting her sudden attack on the lower leg. However, he stepped back without being worried. He yawned, feeling bored.

His moment of distraction caused him to slip his foot in the snow and he began to fall.

Veronica's eyes flashed. She didn't let go of this chance. She thrust her sword toward him.

Darius saw that happening while slipping. He moved his ax in a flash.

Veronica's strength was nothing compared to him. As their swords clashed, her sword flew away from her hand.

She took out her hidden dagger and threw it at him.

Darius shoved the dagger with his ax. But since he was falling and he had no balance in his body, the dagger went in the wrong direction.

The handle of the dagger got stuck on the snowy field. It was snowing at noon and so the snow was firm enough to keep the dagger in one place.

The problem was the dagger was right under where Darius was falling. Except for Veronica, Catherine, and Sebastian, no one saw the dagger's position.

Everything happened so fast that no one had the time to act.

In the end, Darius fell to the ground. The sharp blade got stuck to his right butt cheek. He opened his mouth. His lips turned into an 'o' shape. His body leaned to the left side and collapsed on the snow.

"Oh, my Goddess! Darius!" Veronica quickly ran after him.

Catherine let out a small scream and covered her mouth. Recently she experienced the pain of a sharp blade piercing one's flesh. She knew the pain the poor guy was going through.

Ovior and Arthur realized that something had happened and came to take a closer look.

Veronica already crouched down and touched his back.

"Don't… touch…" Darius was in the snow but he was sweating.

Veronica did as he told her. She didn't touch. "Okay, I'll heal you as soon as possible." She used her healing power to heal him.

The wounds around the dagger began to heal and his flesh clenched around the sharp blade. It hurt even more.

Darius gritted his teeth. "Pull it out!"

"Yes." After getting his permission, she finally pulled it out.

"I hope you won't be traumatized sitting anywhere," Catherine prayed when Darius was finally healed.

Darius stood up and stroked his butt. "You know, I don't feel much pain but I never thought slicing butts would hurt this much. I have a feeling that my butt isn't healed properly. It's still hurting deep inside. Veronica, do something."

'But I already did what I had to do.' Veronica helplessly stared at him.

"That's your mental pain. You are scared and so you are thinking you are still in pain." Arthur stepped closer to Veronica. "Are you hurt somewhere? How are you feeling?"

"…" Darius stared at him as if he was wronged.

His eyes were resentful as though they were saying – "I'm the one who got hurt. Why are you asking your wife if she was okay?"

Veronica replied, "I'm fine. I just wanted to play fairly. I didn't mean this to happen. I'm sorry, Darius."

Darius shook his head. "Don't bother about it. It's my fault too. I wasn't careful enough."

"Even though it was an accident, the winner of the battle is Veronica," Ovior announced.

"I accept defeat." Darius raised his hand.

Veronica said, "I just got lucky. If he didn't slip, I wouldn't have the chance to throw the dagger at him. Or else, I'm no match for him. That's why I can't accept the outcome."

Darius agreed. "Yes, you should focus on practicing harder."

"No need. She is doing fine for a normal person," Ironin interrupted.

All this time, he was sitting on a tree branch and observing the whole play. He wanted to see how his female disciple was doing.

After Ovior announced the result, he came down to give his opinion.

"I believe so. Normal soldiers cannot be a match for Nica," Arthur approved his words. "Up until now, she always fought with Ironin and Roxana. They are both highly skilled and professionals for many years."

"Ture. Veronica, you must be thinking that you are not powerful enough, right?" Ovior glanced over Veronica.

Veronica shrugged. "I'm losing my confidence every single day," she confessed.

"Then it's time you have spars with royal soldiers," Darius suggested. "Every year they hold competitions. Why don't you try and find out what your capabilities are?"

"Why do you always have to push her to the limit?" Arthur stood between his wife and Darius. "She didn't even beat you up and yet, you are trying to punish her."

"Huh? When did I do that? I just want her to gain some confidence. She will never know her capabilities if she is always with powerful people. She needs to fight with warriors of every caliber to find out her strength."

After Darius explained properly, Veronica understood what she was lacking. She held her husband's hand and said, "I want to do it."

Arthur sighed and rubbed his temple. He was having a headache.

'I really don't want her to go but I can't control her actions either. We just made out last night. I don't want her to keep any more distance. I'll just need to force Ovior to come up with better ointment to cure her injuries.'

He gave a slight nod and agreed. "Fine, do that."

Veronica gave him a huge grin in reply.

-------

Later, Catherine was walking beside the lake. Sebastian caught up to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Catherine looked at him. "I am. What about you? Are you feeling well enough to go for a walk?"

"Of course. You can never underestimate Mistress's power. She is a genius." After replying to her question, Sebastian hesitated before adding, "I'm sorry if I made you upset last night."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Catherine was puzzled.

Sebastian elaborated, "I teased you too much. It wasn't my intention. But after I woke up, I saw you taking off my pants, I couldn't help but wonder that you wanted to see me naked–"

"Enough! How long will you keep going on and on about it? I know I'm wrong and I'm sorry if you think that way but it wasn't my intention. I didn't think you would be so sensitive about it. Anyway, I won't do anything from now on. Please spare me from your accusation!"

Catherine scoffed in frustration and strode away.

"No… no... wait!" Sebastian nervously called out to her but she didn't heed his words. She even sped up.

Realizing that she wanted to be far away from him, he stopped chasing after her.

Later at night, he was sitting on the stair of Darius's cottage. He was gazing at the emptiness.

The cottage was in the corner of the hill. So, under them were heavy clouds, sticking close to the mountain peak.

It was an amazing view for a person who lived in the city but his heart wasn't moved by the beauty of nature.

"What's wrong, Sebastian? Is everything okay?" Veronica asked him.

She was going to the restaurant for dinner but seeing him like this, she couldn't just go.

Sebastian was depressed. 'Should I tell Mistress? She is Catherine's friend. She will be able to tell me what I can do for Catherine.'

As he thought that, he told her everything.

"Hmm… so you wanted to apologize but she got angry on the other hand," Veronica concluded.

Sebastian hung his head. "Yes, I totally messed up. I don't know what to say. Vincent was telling me last night that she cried because of this incident. I feel like slapping my face."

Veronica nodded in understanding. "Did you not understand where your mistakes were?"

"No, I didn't. That's why I told you, Mistress," he replied.

"Well, for starters, you wanted to apologize to mend up your relationship, right?"

"Right." Sebastian nodded.

"Then why did you go and try to justify your action?" Veronica calmly inquired.

"But… if I didn't, she would misunderstand me. In fact, her actions were wrong and misleading."

"But you didn't go to her to prove her wrong, did you? or did you want to prove to her that you were right, she was wrong; even so, you went to apologize to her."

"No way! I didn't think that way."

"Then, you should have sincerely apologized. You had to tell her that you didn't know what overcame you and you mistakenly bullied her. It was your fault. You shouldn't have done that. You would do anything to make her feel better."

"Feel better?" Sebastian scratched his head.

Veronica shook her head.. She couldn't believe this guy was so clueless.