The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 40: Was It Me?

Chapter 40: Was It Me?

LEO

Morning came, and I woke up to a sunbeam directly poking my eye through the little gap I didn’t notice when I built my umbrella-tent the day before.

I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked around to see that everyone was still sound asleep, including Dimitri, who was surprisingly quiet for a change. To my right, Mario’s tent was empty. It didn’t take long for me to find him, though, as his heavy breathing was very noticeable in the morning calm. When I looked, he was practicing his sword swings under the sunlight.

This time, I knew better than to try to surprise him, so I walked up to him and stopped a few steps away from him.

"Good morning," I said.

Mario stopped his swing, his sword freezing mid-air.

"Good morning," he said, finally putting his sword down.

"You stayed up all night?" I asked him.

"No. I swapped guard duty with Dimitri about an hour ago."

"Oh, I see."

I felt kind of bad that Mario and Dimitri took it upon themselves to guard the area all night.

"Why are you up so early?" Mario asked.

"I always wake up around this time," I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, in the village everyone’s used to it because we have to make the most of the sun for farming."

Mario didn’t say anything, which made me feel like he had no interest in hearing about my village talk. He could be cold like this at times..., I thought to myself.

"If you are waking up early anyway, why don’t you get in the habit of training?" he suggested, his eyes enthusiastic.

"Training?"

"Yes, even for a mage, basic physical fitness is beneficial," Mario said matter-of-factly.

"But I don’t think I will ever use a sword to fight..."

"Give it a go."

And with that, Mario turned his sword around, carefully placing the blade flat on his palms and presenting the hilt to me to grab.

With some hesitation, I took the sword he offered, and my arms immediately started to tremble.

"It’s so heavy...," I said.

"You can use both hands at first."

So I placed both hands on the hilt, but now I had two arms trembling instead of one.

"Here, let me help you."

Mario swiftly stepped closer, placed his hands over mine, and adjusted my grip. His hands were warm and sturdy, and I could feel the hardened skin on the upper part of his palms.

"You must practice a lot," I said without thinking much about it.

"I have been training since I was young," Mario said as if it was nothing.

"With a sword like this?"

"Please concentrate," Mario cut me off, and now moved his hands to support my forearms, then gently positioned them slightly below my shoulders and at a slight angle so the sword was pointing a little upward.

"Now, keep your forearms in the same position," he said calmly.

After that, he moved his hands below my upper arms and squeezed my triceps.

"Yeek!"

"You need to put on some muscles here."

I didn’t say anything and just tried to keep my arms in the position and angle Mario guided me into.

We stood like that for a moment, a good few seconds—but it felt much longer—and it was already making me huff and puff.

"There, now we are going to practice a swing," Mario said and walked around me to position himself just behind me, then wrapped his arms around me to hold my upper arms in his hands.

"Wha—what are you doing?"

"Shh—"

Mauricio then pressed his body tight to my back. His chest felt hot even through the shirt I was wearing, and I was scared he could feel my heart thumping.

"Mariwoo, what am I supposed to—"

Before I could finish, he guided my arms and the sword to the bottom left side, wrapped one leg around my left leg to drag it back a little, and pressed his body tight—so tight that I almost felt like our bodies had become one.

"Maroo..."

Then without warning, he—or more like, we, joined together—spun his upper torso in half a circle, which made me spin the same way, and I made a smooth swing from bottom left to upper right, ending with the sword pointing toward the sky.

"That felt good, didn’t it?"

Maria whispered into my ear. His breath was so close and hot I felt ticklish and let out a weird sound.

"Ahn—"

Morius then flinched and immediately jumped away from me. Without his support, I dropped the sword to the ground. My knees were shaking as if they were trying to clap.

"So... sorry, I dropped your sword...," I apologized.

"No... no. I shouldn’t have insisted. I didn’t mean to force you to learn."

Morio said, looking ashamed.

"It was—it was really good. I felt good when I made the swing!"

I tried to reassure him I wasn’t offended, but he turned away from me and covered his face with one hand.

"Really! It was great! Thanks for teaching me!"

Although he couldn’t see me, I bowed my head again and again to show that I meant it.

Mari said nothing, making me feel awkward. He then walked away into the woods, which he specifically said we shouldn’t do—wander off alone.

I felt a little disappointed and annoyed, so annoyed that my heart was skipping around in my chest.

Then I heard some suppressed laughter. I turned to see Isabelle sitting up in her tent, looking at me, and then at Mario’s back, then looking at me again, covering her mouth, but her eyes struggling to hide that she was laughing.

"Mario! Don’t go!"

Without knowing why, I ran after him. He paced away, not exactly running, but taking big strides with his longer legs.

It was thoroughly unfair.

"Mairo, stop!"

I couldn’t catch up with him, so I yelled to him before he completely disappeared into the wilderness. He then finally stopped, not turning back to face me yet, but he did stop.

I jogged up to him, stopped just a step away, and used up all my courage to speak to his broad back that seemed to be growing bigger.

"Thank you, Mario... you can teach me again. I... liked it."

Mario didn’t say anything.

And I didn’t know what else to say at this point either.

Then when he finally spoke, my heart sank.

"I think it’s better if you train alone."

With that, he walked away—

Leaving me behind.