"Where am I supposed to put my thumbs? Is it at the top of my fist or the side?" He pondered for a while then finally decided to put it at the side.
He then took a fighting stance in front of a punching bag in the training room and threw punches at it.
After about thirty minutes he decided to take a break because it was getting hard to breathe and his chest was tightening.
He sat down on one of the benches and drank water; he sat there for a while, then stood upagain to go to the punching bag.
This time, he lasted longer than before, but he still felt the pain in his chest. Sweat dripped from his hair to his face. It began to blur his sight, so he decided to wipe it with a towel.
He turned around and met a familiar face with a familiar grin. "Why are you staring?" Adan asked and proceeded to pick up his towel.
"Point of correction, I was not staring. I was admiring, there is a clear difference" Aziel smirked and walked towards his brother. "Besides, I did not know Father allowed you to use the training room."
"He allowed me this morning." Adan turned back, preparing to go at it again. "By the way why are you here?"
"Oh, so because Father allowed you to use the training room, no one else can use it." Aziel joked.
Adan ignored him and continued punching. "I guess we need to work on your sense of humour," Aziel rolled his eyes and observed the room.
"So do you plan on punching that poor thing for the entire day?" He asked, noticing that Adan had not stopped yet.
"If you are here to mock me, I suggest you leave the room," Adan answered annoyed yet he stopped punching and sat down.
"Come on, Brother. I was trying to find your sense of humour and I am starting to think it can not be found," Aziel lamented mockingly with a grin still on his face.
Adan shook his head "As always it is pointless to argue with you"
"And this is why I win every argument. But seriously you could use the other equipment here. You could work on your abs and biceps that's what ladies like."
"The last thing on my mind is what the ladies like."
"Then we need to change your priorities." Aziel feigned a serious face.
Adan shook his head once again, wondering what he would do with this brother of his.
"Okay, no more training today as from tomorrow I shall teach you. That would be better than you throwing punches every day."
"I do not need your charity." Adan stood up acting uninterested.
"Too bad, my charity needs you." Aziel smiled and pulled Adan out of the training room.
"Where are we going?"
"The garden."
"Why?!" Adan asked, trying to escape Aziel's grip.
"It is almost noon, and some maids go there to eat. This is a good way for you to learn how to talk to the ladies."
"But I have not taken a bathe yet and I just exercised. Besides I never said I wanted to talk to them."
"That is why I have taken it upon myself to teach you." Aziel said with a righteous face ignored the first part of Adan's sentence. "By the way, have you seen your personal maid?"
"My what?!"
"Your. Personal. Maid"
"No, I have not. She just says whatever she has to say from the door and she only cleans my room when I'm not in it." Adan said with a confused look. Why was he asking?
"I knew you had not seen her face. Well, I saw it this morning, and she is a beauty. She has a very curvy waist and plump lips."
Adan had no idea how to reply, he just shook his head while Aziel laughed and put an arm in his shoulder.
The noon bell rang across the entire empire. Some maids from the Euphrasian Palace were making their way to the garden.
When they got there, their mouth fell open as The Princes stood in front of them. One had his usual charming smile and the other had a look of displeasure and boredom on his face.
"I told you, girls like your type. Cold but hot." Aziel whispered and walked towards a group of females.
He keeps giving them the wrong idea. Adan face palmed mentally.
"Yo…your High…ness?" a short cute maid with shoulder length red hair. Her hair was a clear indicator that she was of the fire race.
"Yes." Adan answered.
"Do you want some of my cupcakes? I made too much and I can not finish finish them alone, Your Highness." She looked up at Adan with round golden eyes that resembled his second eye colour.
"Well, I do not really…" He was cut off by a feeling of someone staring at him, he turned back and saw that his brother was glaring. He then looked back at the girl and said,"On second thought, I would love some."
The maid nodded and hurriedly gave him two. She left before he could even thank her.
With a defeated sigh, Adan took a bite into the cupcake. Strawberry flavour burst on his tongue, This was his first meal of the day and he was happy he accepted it.
*Two days later*
It was about an hour past noon and Prince Adan and Prince Aziel were at the courtyard training. "Your stance determines how deep your cut will be." Aziel said sternly. Showing a bit of seriousness in something.
Adan nodded and copied what his twin did.
"And not just your stance, The way your hand grips your sword is another key factor." Aziel added and told his brother some more tips.
Soon it was time to take a break so they decided on a bench close by.
"Have you heard about the ball?" Aziel asked after drinking some water from a bottle before passing it to Adan.
"What ball?" Adan answered his brother question with another question and took the bottle from his hand.
"Do you live in a cave or something? How do you not know that the time for the annual ball held by each empire to celebrate prosperity and growth is approaching?"
"Oh."
"Father already sent out the invitation two days ago. Our Empire's ball is today."
"Today?!"
"Yes! It is today. I am starting to think you live in a cave." Aziel said before adding, "How could you not know? Just imagine all the beautiful daughters from noble and knight families that will come today." His usual mischievous smirk appeared on his face.
"Do you ever think of anything other than girls?"
"Of course I do! I think of you too."
"That is a very odd thing to say, but then again, your entire existence is odd."
"Is that humour I am sensing? Being around me is rubbing off on you." Aziel laughed while bumping his brother with a shoulder
This time, Adan wanted to laugh as well but he had forgotten how to…
Prince Adan was now in his room staring at the mirror, He had been trying on some suits his mother prepared for him.
The one he currently wore was black with blue outlines and had sapphire stones embedded in the buttons. He looked at himself for a few minutes then decided to wear it. He put on his eye contact and took a deep breath.
The ball didn't start for another hour, but the guests were already arriving, and music was playing.
I have to start going now if I want to get there in time. Adan thought as he prepared to leave his room.
A knock on his door turned his head, the person burst into the room and it was none other than his twin brother.
"You could have at least waited for me to respond before you came." Adan said.
"You would have still let me in, would you have not?" Aziel asked with a jovial smile.
"Who knows, maybe I would not have. Maybe I have gotten sick of seeing your face." Adan sounded almost too serious.
An awkward silence began to fill the room but Aziel broke it, "If you were not just looking at yourself in the mirror I would have believed that you were really sick of ever seeing OUR face."
Adan rolled his eyes and followed Aziel out of his room "Why did you come here anyway?"
"Mother said we should meet her at the entrance of the grand hall. She probably wants both of us to make a grand entrance with her." Aziel smiled, "So let us get going, you do not want our mother waiting for too long."
"I do not understand why you are so excited for this dreadful ball." Adan remarked unable to comprehend Aziel's excitement.
Aziel stared at his brother with disbelief in his eyes. How can he call this ball dreadful?
"Sometimes I wonder if you live IN the palace or you just live in the palace" Aziel joked as they kept on walking.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"In case you do not know which you clearly do not,Father has added two new families to the noble ranking. So I might get to see some new beautiful faces tonight." Aziel flirty smile appeared on his lips.
"What if they don't have daughters that are our age?" Adan asked teasingly.
"Ever heard of 'Age is just a number'. I stand by that phrase."
Adan was once again left speechless by his brother's perverseness.
***
"Your Majesty, Their Highnesses are here." A guard said to Empress Inga. She had been waiting for her sons in front of the entrance door.
She turned around and looked at her two sons love filling her eyes. "My sons!"
"Our mother." The two boys said in sync bowing their heads.
Empress Inga was about to say something when she was cut off by her daughter. "Brother Adan!" Princess Yamuna ran towards Adan.
"How are you?" Adan asked while hugging her.
"I am well, Brother."
"Yamuna, did you not see your mother here?" The Empress asked crossing her arm over her chest, feigning anger.
"Sorry Mother, Greetings." Yamuna courtesy to her mother.
"It is fine." Their mother smiled at them.
"What about me?" Aziel pointed at himself.
"I get to see you all the time, but Brother Adan rarely ever leaves his room." Yamuna complained.
The Empress was about to speak yet again but the temperature around them decreased drastically. The Emperor had teleported and appeared in from of them.
*Father always likes to show off his aura.* Aziel whispered to his brother who was next to him. *Also, was he not inside already?*
"I was inside, but I can not let my family walk into the grand hall alone, can I?" Emperor Mykel stared at his son who stared back with wide eyes.
*He heard me!* Aziel still whispered to Adan. Adan just shook his head and tried to hide his laughter.
Meanwhile, inside the hall, The Presenter called, "Presenting The Euphrasian Royal Family of the Eudora Lineage, Descendants of The Goddess Aida. Please give them a warm welcome."
The crowd clapped and cheered until they saw the door wide open and The Royal Family walking in. The Emperor and his wife are in front, their beloved princess in the middle, and their princes are at the back.
The temperature of the room became low, some ice was appearing on the walls yet The Royal Family still walked as elegantly as ever. The people in the hall were of the Knight family, so they felt intimidated.
Soon enough, Adan and Aziel took their seat on their respective thrones along with their Parents and younger sister. Yamuna already looked at the food in front of her with hungry eyes and was about to lose her composure when The Empress kicked her from under the table. She grumbled and folded her arms, falling into her seat.
"You may begin the celebration." Emperor Mykel's voice boomed across the whole room, leaving everyone more tense as the room temperature returned to normal.
"Now, let us welcome the Noble Families as they arrive" The Presenter tried to lighten up the atmosphere and the crowd clapped.