“…Huh?!”

I tilted my head, looking at Helena, whose eyes were wide open in surprise.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Are you serious…?”

Looking into Helena’s soft blue eyes, I blinked slowly. As if my reaction was frustrating, Helena let out a short sigh and continued.

“You were invited to Her Highness the Princess’s coronation ceremony?”

“To be exact, I was made to be her escort.”

“Anyway!”

When I told Helena I had been invited to Princess Ashillya’s coronation ceremony this Friday, she seemed more surprised than I expected.

“That’s completely….”

“It’s not like that.”

Of course, from other people’s perspectives, there could be some misunderstanding about the fact that Ashillya personally invited me as an escort, mainly about our relationship. But there was not the slightest hint of that feeling that people might think.

“She said it was simply to honor my family.”

The two most important events in a royal’s life are the coronation ceremony of the Crown Princess or Prince and ascending to the throne as Emperor.

The fact that I was invited as an escort to one of those events could be seen by others as marking me as a consort.

However, as everyone knows, Ashillya and I did not have that kind of relationship. After hearing my answer, she put her hand on her chest.

“Aha….”

For some reason, Helena let out a sigh of relief as if she was glad. I suddenly felt mischievous.

“I guess you’re so upset I’m getting a partner before you?”

“… I’m not upset…”

Helena stuck out her lower lip and spoke bluntly. Naturally stroking her head, I shrugged my shoulders. If she’s not upset, is she jealous then? As I burst into laughter, Helena poked my side with her elbow and turned her head with a humph.

“Anyway, you know well that we’re not that kind of relationship.”

Knowing from experience that Helena stays angry for a long time when she’s like this, I calmly soothed her in a steady voice.

“There there, I won’t leave you yet.”

“I do know…! I know, but….”

Helena seemed somewhat appeased by my answer as she mumbled something to herself. Ruffling her hair, I continued in a subtle voice.

“By the way, Helena.”

“Uh…huh…?”

Helena’s body naturally shrank at my voice. I took a step closer to her and whispered in her ear.

“You….”

“Yeah….”

She turned her body slightly, raising her shoulders as if ticklish. I smiled slightly at her reaction.

“Why haven’t you been coming to training these days?”

I had to do it alone yesterday, too. After we first trained together, it seemed like she was coming out quite consistently, but a few days later, Helena was nowhere to be seen.

No matter what, consistency is the most important thing in training.

Helena’s eyes widened at my words, and then she took a step away from me with wavering eyes.

“That’s because I’ve been a bit busy….”

She gave an awkward laugh. I raised my index finger firmly and shook my head.

“No matter how busy you are, you shouldn’t skip training. If you skip even a day, you’ll regress in skill.”

“But I have to prepare for exams too….”

“You should do that normally? And if you don’t prepare for the practical exam, won’t you get hurt badly?”

“I, I’m satisfied with my practical exam scores…?”

Helena took another step away from me with an awkward smile. I took a big step closer to her and continued.

“Kya!!”

“Eek…!”

“Being satisfied with one’s own level is not the quality of a knight!!”

A knight should always strive to improve! At my rebuke, she was startled like a frightened cat. I began admonishing her with a strict, solemn, and serious expression.

“There is no satisfaction in the sword. Only advancing to a higher place is the quality of a knight. Therefore, one must not neglect training.”

“….”

“You’re still not used to it yet. So, let’s train together again, okay?”

The carrot and the stick are very important. Since I wielded the stick with rebuke, now was the time to give the carrot to appease her. Realizing this, I immediately coaxed Helena in a gentle voice.

Helena blinked slowly at my reaction, then shook her head vigorously.

“N-no… it’s too hard…!”

“It’s always hard at first. You’ll get used to it as you do it.”

There’s nothing that isn’t hard. And if you keep repeating it, you’ll get used to the level, and once that happens, there’s nothing more comfortable. As I refuted her words gently, Helena shook her head and started running away backward.

“No!!”

“Come here, let’s have a conversation…!!”

“Save me!! The training monster has appeared…!”

Monster?! Do I look like a training-obsessed guy? I quickly followed Helena as she ran away. Helena started running even faster to get away from me. Chasing after her, I reached out my hand.

“Sylvia, help me!”

Helena, running out of breath, raised her voice when she saw Sylvia approaching from the front. Sylvia, who was walking towards us with a fluttering gait, looked at us with a startled expression at Helena’s shout.

“He-Helena? What’s going on…?”

“The training monster is trying to devour me…!”

As Helena hid her body behind Sylvia with a tearful face, she finally grasped the situation. She looked at me, running towards them with a smile.

“Felix, were you bothering Helena again?”

“…Bothering her? I was just trying to help her with good intentions?”

After the Leonhardt incident, I worried Sylvia might be a bit timid. However, that concern seemed unfounded as she still showed a bright demeanor. At the same time, she had become much closer to Helena and me, answering my words with a familiar smile.

“I think Helena finds Felix’s training too hard.”

“Training is supposed to be hard…?”

Hard training is real training. Isn’t there a saying like that?

If you don’t get sore muscles after training, you didn’t train properly. When I told them my theory, Helena’s face turned pale.

“He’s really a monster….”

“Whew…! I think I understand why Helena calls you a training monster.”

Sylvia laughed leisurely with Helena hidden behind her back. I looked at Helena hiding behind Sylvia, then realized something and blinked.

Come to think of it.

“Sylvia.”

“Uh…huh…?”

Sylvia answered wide-eyed, perhaps sensing something unsettling in my sudden idea. I smiled and placed my hand on her shoulder so she couldn’t run away like Helena.

“Do you want to train too?”

“I-I’m a healing type, so I don’t think it’s really necessary…?”

At Sylvia’s words, knowing one thing but not two, I shook my head and started persuading her.

“No. Even if you’re a healing type, Sylvia, you will also be on the battlefield.”

“I-I guess that’s the case…”

“Of course. The monsters won’t suddenly avoid you because you’re a healer, right?”

Everyone is equal on the battlefield. Or rather, support roles like Sylvia’s are more likely to be targeted.

Isn’t it common sense to attack the healer first?

“So you need to be at least able to protect yourself, don’t you?”

“….”

Finally understanding the situation, Sylvia’s face turned as pale as Helena’s.

“He-Helena? W-will you help me…?”

She belatedly looked for Helena to help her, but she had already run far away when I brought it up to Sylvia, sensing my intention. Realizing that Helena was not behind her, Sylvia bit her lip resentfully as she watched Helena’s back.

“You traitor!!”

“I’m sorry…! I’m sorry!!”

Helena kept repeating that she was sorry like a parrot as she moved away from us. Sylvia, caught by me, had no choice but to face a dilemma: whether to run or not run away.

“Now then, we should go ‘train’ together, right?”

It was a pity that Sylvia and Helena did not know the importance of this training. At the same time, I was glad to be able to tell them about its joy.

“Eek…!!”

As I smiled at that thought, Sylvia let out a sharp scream upon seeing my smile. Holding her arm, I couldn’t help but hum as I headed to the training ground.

Everyone, let’s train!

And Pamela, who watched the whole situation while passing by, frowned.

“What are they doing…?”

Seeing Felix grinning grotesquely, Helena running away from him, and Sylvia… Pamela understood the situation and quietly hid herself, shaking her head.

“That guy seems really crazy.”

In Pamela’s mind, Felix’s evaluation dropped another level in this incident.