Joe and Eden were raining attacks on Jacob once more. Jacob was able to last for almost twenty minutes this last time before being sent on his feet.
"Ugh. It feels like no matter what, I can't stay up against you two. I feel like I'm missing something important."
Eden and Joeseph were catching their breathe. Joeseph eventually walked over to him.
"My lord, your swordsmanship is absolutely divine. It is no doubt the reason you are able to keep yourself up for so long, but what's the point in staying up if you're going to be weakened enough to eventually fall down?"
Jacob scratched the back of his head trying to decipher a hidden meaning in those words.
"What I'm trying to say is your swordsmanship is not the problem anymore. It is your strength that is holding you back. You've been doing nothing but cardio the past four days. I think it's time we start trying to put some muscle on you."
Jacob felt like hitting himself in the head. It was so obvious. He now had a magnitude of energy, but what's the point if he can't put that energy to good use? Or perhaps be able to store even more of it?
"What is it you suggest, Joseph?"
A creepy smile appeared on his face.
'I don't think I like that look he's giving me'
"It's simple, really. I think we should start with your legs before anything. This will help you with your footwork and balancing your body. Therefore, I am going to give you a new task that you must complete by the end of the day today."
"And what would that be?"
Joseph gestured over to Eden and pointed to his back. Eden mounted it and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You're going to give both me and miss Eden here a piggy-back ride around the kingdom."
"I have to carry both of you?!"
"Ten laps."
"TEN?!"
Jacob felt like throwing up.
"Would you rather I make it twenty?"
Jacob backed off and quieted his voice.
"Ten is good."
"That's what I thought. Now turn around and let me crawl on your back."
Jacob let out a massive sigh and face forward, away from the two. He then felt a massive pressure on his legs. His back arched forward with the new distribution of weight. It felt like he was carrying a massive weird-shaped boulder that was trying to choke him. Jacob bit his teeth down and took his first step.
'First step of many. This is nothing. Just keep throwing your feet forward'
He then heard a voice whisper into his ear from behind.
"Oh... did I forget to mention you have a hundred squats waiting for you when you get back?"
Jacob wanted to drop them right then and there but instead grunted and pushed forward.
Each step he took made his feet ache, his legs were starting to shake by the sixth lap, his back was screaming in pain, his arms were numb from holding them up.
As they walked around the kingdom, passersby would look on in awe seeing the prince put himself through this. He would hear their conversations when they talked to each other.
"Is that the prince? Why does he have servants riding on top of him?"
"Did the king punish him for something?"
"No... look at his face. Have you ever seen someone so focused before? I think he's putting himself through this."
"But, why?"
"I'm not sure, but could that mean the rumor going around about him is true? Did he really change?"
"There's no way someone can change that fast. It's all an act, you just wait and see!"
Jacob couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything, and his mind was completely blank. He could feel every bit of pain going through his body but that never slowed him down. All that he felt in his very existence was the will to keep moving forward.
That will, pushed him all the way around the kingdom for his last lap, carried him up the stairs of the palace, and stayed with him as he squatted the people on his back one hundred times. When he got done with his last squat, the two people on his back climbed down.
"Well done my lord. I am so incredibly proud! I didn't even think that would be possible to be honest with you."
The prince stood facing away for a moment, before slowly falling backward toward the ground completely unconscious.
Eden caught him in her arms and smiled.
"I'm not sure if he heard you, Joe. Do you think we should give him the day off tomorrow?"
Joseph quietly laughed.
"I would love to give him the day off, but there's no way he would allow that. He is one stubborn man, just like his father."
"But they are also nothing alike it seems...at least not anymore. He is acting just like his mother if anything."
"Mrs. Vice truly was benevolent. I miss her absence every day."
"I agree, and I am sure the king does too. As tyrannical as he is, the queen was the only woman he ever loved. I couldn't imagine being with someone that long just to lose them so suddenly."
"There are just some diseases too powerful for even the strongest of us to handle. Grief is just another part of life. To grieve deeply is to have loved fully. Sometimes, it feels like he's still mourning her."
Eden and Joseph started dragging Jacob's body back towards his chambers. After laying him in his bed and throwing blankets over him, they both went and got mounds of food to rest by his bedside for when he woke up. He would undoubtedly be hungry when he opened his eyes.
They left his room quietly before continuing their conversation. Eden was the first to talk.
"Do you think the king has noticed how different he is?"
"...I'm not sure. For Jacob's sake, I hope he doesn't find out for a long time. I don't think he would be too happy with the path Jacob is walking."
"I heard from someone that the king attacked the woman he's always with. Something about her being too weak and dragging him down."
"The king attacked one of his friends?"
"The servant who saw it happen said it was a brunette woman with green eyes. I'm not sure if that sounds familiar to you."
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a moment.
"There's something I need to discuss with you Eden."
"Certainly, what is it?"
"It's about Prince Jacob's legacy."