Chapter Text
He was insufferable, she decided. His cocky attitude coupled with his inability to take anything serious grated on her already impossibly short nerves. He had humiliated her with their draw back in Verdane. If it was some other person in her predicament she would have laughed to their face. A swordsman losing to some oaf of an axe knight? Stupid. And yet here she was, an even bigger fool for having fallen for his trap.
And so she would glare at him whenever she had the misfortune to be graced by his presence. She didn’t bother to hide her apparent dislike. While she would be thankful of Sigurd, despite his Grannvalian heritage, that didn’t mean that she had to like all Grannvalians. Her sword was Sigurd’s and only for Sigurd’s until it was the right time to go with Shannan and take Isaach back. But for now she would make do with glaring at that oaf. If she remembered correctly he was some second son of the house that descended from Neir. She thought back to lessons she didn’t care for, back when she was just Princess Ayra, a flighty tomboy who her father and brother doted on. She tried to recall his name. Was it Rex? Dex?
The voice of the red-haired young man called out to the object of her hatred. Ah, so the fool’s name was Lex.
She got up, her still recovering muscles aching in protest. She wasn’t the petty type to be left stewing in her own anger. If she had an outlet she would let it out. The voice of her father gently chiding her to calm herself echoed in her head. She shook her head and took a deep breath. Her father was dead, and if this Lex would become the person who she’d center all her hatred for the Grannvalians on then so be it. She needed to reclaim her honor as one of the last descendants of Od. Ignoring his surpised expression as she approached, she challenged him to a duel.