Hellbound Heart

This bonus chapter is dedicated to @Chinawa! Thank you much for the supergift!!!

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Rion had initially thought that the princess just needed some human punching bag to vent or to release her pent-up stress from the several days she had been locked up. Or maybe she was even joking with him. But he was wrong! Absolutely wrong!r

"What's wrong, Rion? Don't tell me that this is the limit of the skills from the Reign family's royal guards?" Elle had asked, looking down at Rion who was currently flat out on the ground. She had actually managed to bring him down!!! This fragile looking red-haired lady! Who would have ever thought that she had been actually hiding such skills? Now, Rion believed that this was not just mere skills, but talent as well. Her movements were quite fluid. She was very flexible and quick as hell!!!r

"Haha." Rion scratched at the back of his neck a little sheepishly. "Of course not, princess." r

"Then do be serious. I told you I am used to this already. When I was younger, my trainer had come at me like he really meant it. And that was how I managed to improve a lot. So be serious." r

"But… princess..." the stare she threw him had Rion sighing in surrender. 'Oh well, might as well entertain the princess a little. His Highness did not forbid physically training her anyway. I might as well teach her more skills as she still has so much to improve.' Rion told himself and stood. "Alright, princess. Come at me." r

Her eyes lit up and she immediately went at him with her topnotch high section kick. r

But Rion easily caught her ankle, holding her leg up high in a steady grip. Elle's eyes widened at how he had blocked her move. r

"Now how are you going to get away if this happens to you in real life? Huh, Princess?" Rion was suddenly behaving like he was a strict teacher. r

Elle's eyes gleamed and she jumped, twisted her waist, and aggressively kicked at him with her other leg. The core strength she had shown was truly impressive!r

Rion was again shocked at her aggressive choice of move. Whoever had taught the princess was well… he seemed to be the really aggressive type of fighter. But for Rion, this was not the fighting style he would have wanted the princess to learn. r

Elle ended up on the ground. She smiled disbelievingly because of Rion. She could not believe that he had managed to dodge her kick at point blank range. This guy is really not bad.r

"That's one fluid move you've got there, Princess. But that's pretty dangerous." Rion complimented her but at the same time, provided her with advice as a professional.r

"For my opponent, of course." Elle was confident in her moves.r

"Nope. More like for you. I think your teacher only taught you to fight. But he or she might have forgotten to teach you how to defend yourself while you are attacking. Your skills could help if you were in competitions, but not in real circumstances. Also, with your size and strength, my advice is for you to focus on defending yourself instead of focusing on how to take the opponent down. Do not fight them head on, especially if you don't have a clue at what skills they actually have up their sleeves."r

"Defending myself…?" Elle looked at him seriously. Her interest piqued and it was flashing intensely in her eyes. "But what's the use of defending myself if I can't bring the opponent down? The fight will never end that way." She rebutted. r

"You're right, princess. I'm not saying that you need to forget about how to bring your opponent down. I am just reminding you that you should focus more on defending yourself. Like what happened a while ago, you came at me with that high kick. However, you have left yourself wide open and vulnerable for even a simple attack. That could be a fatal hit for you, especially if your opponent is much stronger than you. And I noticed that you would attack aggressively but you're not aiming at the vital spots. I guess, your teacher missed teaching you that important point as well. I'd like you to learn more moves which are the not so flashy ones. I can teach you the kind of sneaky and less flashy yet deadly attacks, if you are willing to learn, princess." r

Elle held his gaze for a moment and then nodded decisively. "Of course, I'd love to!" r

Her willingness to learn had Rion nodding his head in approval. She was definitely not the typical princess that needed to be coddled and pampered.r

"But we'll need to stop here princess. At least for now. You've just recovered. I can't risk you getting –" Rion did not want to overexert Elle as she had just barely recovered from her sickness. If Prince Sebastian finds out that she got sick again because of their training sessions, he would surely be skinned alive! But…r

"No, I'm fine now. And seriously, we only went at it for several minutes. I'd like to train more today. Yesterday is already more than enough for me to rest. Sebastian is set to return tomorrow, so today might be my only chance to practice with you as long as I'd like." Elle insisted that she was fine and wanted to continue on their sparring cum learning session. And of course, being so insistent, Rion could only give up in the end and continued their session.r

…r

Elle's training with Rion was such a big distraction for her. She honestly wished that she could have trained with Rion in those five days she had spent being locked up! What a complete waste of time those five days were!r

Time had gone by quicker than ever, at least for Elle. And now it was time for Sebastian to return as he had promised her. r

The waiting time as she sits in their room and waited for him to appear was just purely torturous. She was having so many emotions running through her all at once. Excitement, restlessness, nervousness, and more. r

Looking up at the clock, Elle took a deep breath and then unconsciously held it in when her room's doorknob finally turned. r