《The World of Tyre》 B.1 Prolouge Book 1:The world of Tyre and prelude to Chaos Prologue My eyes gazed at the clouded skies of the rainy night while I mused with myself and recalled about the event that transpired on this unforgettable day. The day started with a simple meal with my aunt, finishing breakfast I bid her goodbye and then went to school to sort my things out and prepare for the my graduation, and in the afternoon¡­ I was supposed to go on a date with my fake lover for one last time. But something unexpected happened... She confessed¡­ Unlike the time when she forced me on our fake relationship¡­ This time it was different¡­ As the sun was about to set and our date were about to end, she suddenly asked me of what I thought about her. Her sudden question turned the tension between us awkward, she silently waited for my answers as I was fighting the urge to tell her my own feelings. A single phrase ran through my mind when I heard her question but those were the words I wanted to say but were kept hidden deep inside of me, you may say that I¡¯m indecisive but the two of us are different. If you compare my life with one of those fairytales or Novels that are currently popular, She would be the main heroine that would steal the spotlight every time she enters the scene, a strong, elegant and willful girl that lives off as only child of a royal family. On the other hand, I was an orphan who lost his parents and their memories about them, who is living with my aunt who was my father¡¯s only living relative. An average looking guy with a normal life and an uncertain future. A meager peasant who yearns for his princess... Even when I acted as if that I hated our made up relationship, deep inside I still enjoyed every moment of it but the two of us live on different worlds. Even if those stories in those books ends in happily ever after, I know life is different. With those reasons, I hid my own feeling for her in deepest corner of my heart. I knew that someday I might regret this but it was still better than to see her struggle at my side So with that, I resolved myself to answer her query, I tried to talk casually but even when I tried my voice became dry and rigid as I stuttered my answers. My heart was beating wildly as I hoped that she wouldn¡¯t notice my agitation, it was really a relief that she wasn¡¯t looking at me. Her head drooped dejectedly when she heard my answer, as if the words she expected from me didn¡¯t came. ¡°But you know...¡±A beat later, her voice resounded, it was soft and quiet but it carried her determination to go through with her decision. She turned around and suddenly came close. Surprised by her sudden actions I moved a step back to avoid her but she grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me near¡­ I tried to warn her but before I could voice out my words my lips were blocked with hers. Our lips only touched for a moment but for me it felt like an eternity... Her lips parted from mine and this time she finished her words while facing me, her usual air of arrogance and willfulness disappeared and the only thing I saw was a meek girl that was blushing furiously as she tried to convey her feeling to the one that they were meant to. ¡°I-I love you¡± The words that I hid were conveyed by the girl whom my heart yearned for. Due to her embarrassment she hid her face on my chest and twined her arms around my back and because of the sudden shift of weight it caused me to fall backwards,hitting my head against a tree. I was dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, that I was struggling wether I was dreaming or not. But the pain that my head felt and her warm, lithe body that was pressed against mine were enough to tell me that I wasn¡¯t. I wrapped my arms around her body and pulled her close til¡¯ I could feel her heart beat. The excuses that I¡¯ve made for myself crumbled as I accepted this girl warmth. Really was my resolve really that fickle that It could be broken with just a kiss and a confession from her? A sigh leaked from my mouth and then.. ¡°You know you¡¯re really troublesome¡­¡± I said that to her with a defeated tone. ¡°Why?¡± she replied weakly, as she took a peek at my face from my chest. That action alone was enough to purge all of my remaining hesitations. This was the first time I¡¯ve seen her act like this, her (uneasiness)nervousness could be felt through her body and the fear of being rejected could clearly be seen within her eyes. The minx that I knew that selfishly ordered things from me disappeared leaving a fragile and lovely girl, that¡¯s why instead of using words to tell her my answer, I expressed it through my actions. I gently lifted her head, clamping her cheeks with my thumb and index finger. Her face was completely red and her eyes were moist as it reflected my image.Guessing what would be my next action, she obediently raised her face and closed her eyes¡­ And then¡­ our lips were joined for the second time This time it was longer than our first. I completely conveyed to her how much she meant to me. It wasn''t as fierce as those in the movies and television or as sensual as it was described in the books. It was just one long innocent kiss, the two of us both savored each other warmth as we reaffirmed our feeling to one another. Just remembering that scene made me hope that I could somehow walk away from my current situation and simply smile at her and tell her ¡°I¡¯m okay¡± But... Reality isn¡¯t so kind... Our kiss ended when a slight cough interrupted our courtship, looking at the source of the disturbance it finally dawned on us on what we had done. Noticing the gaze of the surrounding crowd, we finally remembered that we were still out in the public and what we have done was openly displayed for onlookers to see. Among the onlooker were a pair of couples that smiled at us understandingly as they gaze at our direction, others commented on how bold have the teenagers have become over the of years, while groups of little girls peeked at us excitedly. I urged my partner, whose body was turning red, to stand. Taking her hand, the two us ran away from the public''s prying eyes. Losing track of time it was already night and dark clouds have been forming in the night¡¯s sky. Since the two us didn¡¯t brought any umbrella use when a rain comes, she bought one from a nearby store. Whether it was luck or that the heavens decided it was time, exactly when we stepped at the store¡¯s entrance a heavy beads of water suddenly dropped from the darken skies. Because of the sudden downpour, all of the people on the streets were running, looking for a place to keep them dry while those who were prepared brought their umbrellas out but that was only the minority of the people who are walking on the streets. On the other hand cars started to slow down since the conditions of the road became wet. With sound of the heavy rain falling from the skies it carefully hid the sound of a car skidding its way to a stop. The two us slowly made our way to her house while we were walking we made simple talks. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.We crossed the streets in the same manner completely ignoring our surroundings, we enjoyed our simple talks and made plans for our future activities but because of this we didn¡¯t notice the danger that was about to come. Halfway across, I noticed a bright light that was quickly coming close at alarming speed, the source of the light came from the headlights of a huge delivery truck, the driver of the truck was panicking as he waved his hand outside the truck signaling us to move out of the way. But it was already too late, in a matter of seconds or less the truck will arrive at our position will surely kills us and she was still unaware about the disaster that was coming our way. My mind blank out since the choices that I could make were limited, either I ran away by myself, embrace her tightly and hope for the best, or¡­ Of course the first option was readily rejected, I don¡¯t want to lose someone important to me again, the second option sounded nice but it was either the two of us live together or the other survive and I don¡¯t want to know what state she would be if she was the one who survive and the last one is¡­ It was better than living by myself and it was far better than taking our chances¡­ But I would surely miss her... stealing my nerves, I forcefully pushed her out of they way. Her eyes became big as she was surprised by my sudden action The umbrella she was holding flew out of her hands and at the same time she landed on the streets, my vision suddenly changed, at same time as the truck¡¯s impact I heard a disturbing crunch inside me, my body became light and I flew a few feet from the ground, I didn¡¯t know how far I was blown and it didn¡¯t even matter to me right now. My body landed and rolled a couple of times. I kept hearing the same sounds as I rolled around the wet asphalt, It was miracle that I was still conscious or better yet I didn¡¯t feel any pain even when I am currently experiencing this. Until finally, I stopped moving and laid in cold streets with my face overlooking at the night¡¯s sky, with my numb limbs soaking in the cold shower rain while each drop of rain touch my battered body , it slowly steals the warmth of my body. Even when I can¡¯t check my current state, even though I can¡¯t feel any pain¡­ I know.... No matter how I try to deny it.... it looks like this would be my end... Although I would¡¯ve like it If I could¡¯ve live a little longer, to see her smile a little bit more, to at least enjoy my life with her a little longer¡­ With all of those lingering thoughts running through my mind, my consciousness suddenly became heavy, as my vision on the clouded skies became dim... I tried to resist the urge to fall asleep but it was hard to fight it with my body that became weaker and weaker as each second passed. Until finally, my consciousness succumbed to the sweet temptations. I apologised to the two people I''ve held dear since It looks like I will have to break my promise with them. With that as my last strain of thoughts my consciousness slowly faded And thus my life in this world ended. Among onlookers that witnessed the devastating scene of the accident Three figures that are unique among the crowd could be easily seen They are ''Unique'' not because of their attires or appearances, it was due to what their presence brought and the way they carried themselves. A Dark hooded figure move through the crowd, unconsciously the people that were blocking his path moved, giving him space to move freely. Those that brushed his robe with their skin felt a sudden chill that could only be felt when someone experience the danger of death but all of them dismissed it and thought that it was due to the event that transpired in front of them. Arriving at the dead boy, he extended his arms to the boys body revealing a brittle white, fleshless fingers that pierced the boy''s chest. Using ''pierce'' would be wrong in this scenario since his hands has merely passed through the boy''s body, his aim wasn''t the boy''s physical body but rather his spiritual or more commonly known as his soul. His hand stayed inside for several minutes, gathering and compressing the boy''s essences turning it into a soul shard that contained every bit of his knowledge,wisdom and his identity. Looking at his action this would''ve garnered the crowd''s disapproval and discontent but that was only if he is ''seen'', by using his will he made the surrounding people, to perceive his existence as air and while the crowd were affected by his will, within their hearts they knew that getting close to that space would result in something bad for them. He wasn''t the only one doing this, the visitors that came from another realm are concealing their existence this way. Completing his objective he withdrew his hands from the boys body and made his way to his visitors. He held his bony hand out to one of his visitors, a teenage girl with an other world beauty, she had a shoulder length charcoal black hair and wearing a black gothic dress Seeing his gesture the visitor smiled and held out her hand to received the soul that she was waiting for a decade to receive. Her smile would''ve fooled the surrounding people of her innocence but Death and her companion knew that within that innocent smile, there is something sinister being brewed. Death has finished his transaction with the girl. While he has a lot of question to his visitor on what she would do with the boys soul he knew that instead of giving answers, she would find a way to create more of them instead and so with that he left the two of them returning to his realm. Following Death the girl also planned for her departure and decided to return to her own reality. But before leaving she peeked at her companion who followed her here 5 years ago and seeing him intently watching at the girl who was hugging the body of the dead boy, whose heartbreaking wail resounded as she mourned for the boy''s death, made the her smile even brighter knowing that everything was going according to plan. She didn''t disturb her companion and disappeared from the scene preparing to travel back to her own world. ========== For now this is to tell to those who are following with my novel that I''m still planning to writing it, the only problem is that R.L is currently giving me some problems so I don''t know whens the next update is please forgive me if this chapter turns out to be more of a teaser than a prologue. I''ve just finished rewriting the novel synopsis for book 1 last week and it took some time before I could finish this chapter. The characters and story would still be the same with some new added due to the rewrite with the synopsis. Thank you for reading! Impressions, typographical errors, and constructive criticism(though there''s nothing to criticize yet T_T), anything I will welcome them in your comments! Credits to my PR who is also a good friend of my mine. Please leave a thank you for him too since he is currently helping me with writing. CIAO~ and best regards from JFG B.1 Chapter 1 Reincarnation, transmigration and or Metempsychosis. These words can be easily translated by a single phrase ¡°Rebirth of the soul in a new body¡± I thought these words were only true in novels that had fantasy as themes or in religious books and scriptures that propagate the idea of what the afterlife would be. But... if what I¡¯m experiencing right now is real then it looks like I need to change my opinion of it. ¡­. A month ago, when I opened my eyes, my vision was suddenly flooded by a bright light, even though the brightness was quite annoying but that feeling itself gave me relief. With that kind of incident I was prepared to die, but if I was even blinded by this light then that means that I somehow survived it... *Sigh. I¡¯m sure those two are upset about this incident, When I¡¯ll see them, the first thing that I will do, is to apologise. I really dont want to see those two cry.. My vision finally adjusted to the light¡¯s brightness and the first thing I saw was a man with untamed hair. He should be around 20-25 year old, his eyes that were as dark as obsidian were looking at me intently and his joy could be easily seen within it. Noticing that his face was too close to mine, I tried to tell him about it¡­ ¡°Ah,ah¡­.¡± But what came out from my mouth weren¡¯t words, they were more like a groans or heavy breathing. The man was delighted when he heard those sounds that he spinned me around for a couple of turns. Spinning and spinning and spinning U-ughh.. If this continues on, I think I¡¯m gonna puke.. ¡°#!@#$ @# &$%&$?¡± Luckily a voice suddenly resounded, stopping the man that was carrying me. The man¡¯s head was then hit resulting in a soft ¡°PLOCK¡± sound. A hand took me away from that man and carried me carefully. Unlike the first person that handled me crudely, this one held me with great care. The one that took me from the young man was someone quite older than him, an old man that should be around 60-70 years old, a pale hair color, a evidence of his age, a bearded face with the same eyes as the one that first carried me but unlike him that had laid back feeling, he had a softer, a more gentle feel to them and just like the other person this old man is looking at me with mixture of joy and relief. But contrary to their feelings, my mind was currently in a state of turmoil. For one thing I was carried like my weight didn¡¯t mean anything to them especially this to old man. Second would be, who are these people?... ¡° @#%@ --------¡± And if I base it on how this old man talk, it was obvious that he was a foreigner, his accent contained a mixture of european and maybe a bit of asian intonation. ¡°@!---^@#!%@ ##@ !!@%^ %#¡± Another voice rang out and this time it came from a woman. The old man then moved near to a bed. On it was a beautiful woman with silver hair. She wore an exhausted expression, a girl in maid¡¯s attire was currently wiping her face but even with the maid obstructing her view, her eyes were clearly glued to me. she smiled weakly as she tried to get up from her position but wasn¡¯t able to due to her exhaustion. Another maid came close and supported her back and properly sat her up. With the maid supporting her, she slowly held her hands out to my direction. Gesturing the old man to give me to her. ¡°!@$@@#$----¡± ¡°#$@$@¡± The old man talked with a hint of reluctance in his voice but the woman cut him off¡­ Even though I couldn¡¯t understand their words, I was aware that words that the woman used weren¡¯t something as kind as the word ¡®please¡¯ and with my own experience I definitely know, that those were words of an unbreakable order. The old man reluctantly passed me to her and when the woman received me,she then gently hugged my body while she lightly rubbed her cheeks with mine. Annoyed I moved my hands to push her away but the limbs that did so were not the one¡¯s that I was used to. They were short and weak, the one¡¯s that an infant should have. With this my confusion only grew bigger ¡°Ga¡­.Aiya¡­.¡± Right then, I noticed that the sounds that were coming from my mouth were mumblings of newborn infant would make. My confusion only grew worse as I started to panic and flailed my body around but the woman gently cradled my body making sure that I won¡¯t fall off It looked like my movement only made her happy since her lips curled upwards. My body was then slowly swayed while she quietly hummed a peaceful tune. My panicking heart was then calmed when I heard her humming, my movement stopped as I listened to the tune. Hearing this woman hum made me feel safe and secure, slowly my eyes grew tired while listening to the tune, as my drowsiness slowly made me go to sleep, a sudden realization hit me. Did... I die If so¡­ then, is this¡­ is this¡­ my new life? T -then this girl¡­ this woman¡­ must be¡­ My mother. I already lost my consciousness when the that conclusion hit me. ¡­ With that my new life in a new body started. I spent the following days observing and analyzing my surrounding. Remembering repeated words and learning their meaning. Remembering the faces of the people that I will come across with and understanding what their relationship with me was. And more importantly finding out the name of the country,region or continent on where I¡¯m currently living. A month passed by with that as my main agenda and finally, I was able to understand their words or more likely I was able to comprehend their conversation from the words that I remembered. While I was listening to their conversations, I mostly remember the words or sounds that are being repeated in a single conversation and then I observed on how these words were usually used, an exercise that I usually use to library foreign language by saving a self-library recording on my phone, the only downside of this exercise, is that I have to personally figure out what each of these words mean. At first I thought that understanding their words would take a bit of time, my estimate were about 2-3 months at most but with how my mother cared for me it proved me wrong. I spend most of my time being with her, which greatly help me in in understanding my surroundings. With her carrying me all the time and bringing various places, I was able to acquire more information about my current situation First of all, It looked like I was born in some kind of medieval time period, looking at how the furnitures were all made from wood and with the lack of most common household appliances and electricity made it all to obvious. At night the whole castle is mysteriously light up by some sort of device which I still didn¡¯t know. And yes! I said castle I had an inkling of idea when I first saw the maids that was helping mother during my birth but I never thought that it would turn out like this. It looks like I was born in a family that was wee bit - nah who am i kidding my parents are the king and queen and they are currently running an entire nation. Everyday, after breakfast, she then brings me to a room within the castle that displays most of our family¡¯s precious art works, gems and jewelry. Among the stuff that are displayed, are paintings of the kings of our kingdom. She didn¡¯t told me much about them and just gave me a brief introduction on each one¡¯s accomplishments and blunders. There were 4 painting that were displayed separately on a special wall. At first I thought that the country that we¡¯re ruling must be new since the leaders that were plastered on this wall were just 4, but months later, I then soon find out how wrong I was. Mom introduced me to each of them starting with the first painting on the right til¡¯ the last one on the left. The first king and the most intriguing among the the four, Subod A. Du Lucifer Von Croy De Ifis, ruled the longest among the 4, instigated an all out war against the entire world and died in a most tragic death. Causing us to lose the war and then exiled to a different continent. When the first king died, there were was dispute on who will take over the throne which lead to a breakdown between the previous kings vassals, the one who took over the kingdom and ascended to the throne was his brother, Dernet A. Von Croy De Xionard. After his ascension he immediately ended most of the quarrels within the kingdom. He quelled most of the disputes by dividing the land that they were exiled on between the major houses, giving them rights and privileges to do whatever they want in them in exchange for their loyalty and servitude. For the duration of his reign he was able to settle most of the kingdom¡¯s problems and created a functioning and peaceful kingdom independent from the central continent. One of his most notable legacy would be the foundation of the Acadia Academy, creating a environment for educating and training children from noble and peasant lineage in controlling and honing their abilities. His reign abruptly ended when he suddenly disappeared during his travel around the continent. Creating a huge ripple that broke the relationship between the ruling houses. Following his footsteps was his son, Lope Amarant A. Von Croy De Xionard. Unfortunately, he was the exact opposite of his father. He started his reign by stripping the house of Drakul of their nobility and land. Accusing them of his father¡®s disappearance, prosecuting them and imprisoning the leaders of the house. With that as the starting point of his reign, the condition within the kingdom steadily declined. Imposing laws and taxes that heavily burdened the citizens. He eliminated those that opposed him as he ruled the kingdom through an iron fist, the relationship between the nobles and commoners became volatile, corruption within the royalty increased, rebellions surfaced, and the kingdom suffered through famine and hunger. Even with all of these chaos happening within the kingdom, he was able to hold his position through the support of the remaining ruling houses that benefited from his reign¡­ but it all came to an end when the central continent invaded From how mom described the events, it seemed that was our first greatest defeat if you exclude the war that the first king waged. Of course after rallying our forces we were able to repel the opposing army but the cost of our victory was high. Due to this, the dissatisfaction of his governance increased which lead to a violent military coup resulting to his death. The 4th and current king who is also my father, Argus Von Croy de Xionard. A child from lower branch family of Von Croy, graduated top among his peers and was then assigned as a trainee for the royal army. His career as soldier was said to be the most spectacular in history, from a footsoldier he quickly climbed all the way up as a war general. He participated in two skirmishes against the invading forces witnessing how they easily mowed through our defenses and how many it was that they¡¯ve sacrificed just to repel them. The generals and military officers, suggested a reform in the kingdom¡¯s defenses and to send a spy to survey the enemy¡¯s ranks and movements but their pleas were mostly ignored by the late king. It was only a matter of time when another invasion occurs and when the time comes, the kingdom would surely fall. With that as their reason they¡¯ve readily staged a military coup during a gathering of the kingdom¡¯s leaders. The coup was a success, subduing most of the king¡¯s supporters and successfully eliminating the ignorant ruler. Upon his enthronement, father reformed most of the laws that the previous king imposed and even removed those that were too unreasonable and restricting to the citizens. Lope¡¯s supporters tried to create some troubles during his reign but father was able to deal with it easily, giving them suitable punishments in the process. Currently, he is running the entire kingdom and directing his vassals in fortifying the kingdom¡¯s defences and is even able to implement some of the ¡®tools¡¯ that the invaders used Mom was quite biased with father¡¯s introduction but I noticed that when she told me about his accomplishment her tone will sometimes turn sour, specially when she reach the part about ¡®He graduated top among his peers,¡¯ I wonder if something happened between them when they attended the academy? After the short lesson in history, we then moved on to another gallery of portraits, which mostly consisted of our relatives while some were important figure that had a hand in developing the kingdom to what it is today, while mom was talking and pointing at each portrait, my head was still stuck at previous kings¡­ Ending our tour on that museum like room with a portrait of someone that I may never meet, we then made our way to father¡¯s library and spent most of our time there. ¡­. Four months passed by and I¡¯m currently on the floor crawling my way around my father¡¯s library . The entire room is decorated with expensive decorations and furnished furnitures, shelves that are aligned along the walls are filled with books and documents that are neatly arranged and stacked, and at another corner of the room is a sturdy table that was used by dad. Mom is sitting at a table in the veranda, reading through the reports that were sent today. Ever since I was born, she dumped most of her official businesses and gave it to my dad, freeing more time to spend with me. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.On the other hand I¡¯ve rarely seen my dad since he¡¯s been drowned with all the work that were given to him by mom but nonetheless, when he has spare time, he usually spends most of it playing with me but those are just are chances of ¡®if¡¯ he has the time. Describing my parent¡¯s relationship is rather confusing, one moment father¡¯s the one ordering mom to do this and that and the next it becomes reversed. But there¡¯s one thing that I do know that¡¯s true, the two of them love each other. They quarrel most of the time due to their difference in opinions but it always end up with the other side asking to be forgiven. And even when they have their lover¡¯s spat they mostly limit it to verbal insults and never breach past on laying a finger on each other. Dad was the same as the time I first saw him, looking at him from an observer''s perspective , he would be deemed as lazy and irresponsible which made people question his achievements in and credibility in ruling a kingdom. While my mom, Keena Von Croy de Xionard has an imposing aura of a ruler and undeniable presence of a queen, so far her beauty ranks at the top most of the woman I¡¯ve met. Confident,strong, smart and gorgeous that It made me wonder how she end up with my father. Today like any other day, I¡¯m spending my time in search of books that I could read to increase my knowledge in this foreign world that I¡¯ve been born to. Ever since I¡¯ve finished two of my objectives, I¡¯ve been trying to fulfill the last one which proved to be tricky, my parents who I thought to be my best source of information wouldn¡¯t talk about the detail of their affairs during their rounds around the kingdom and mom wouldn¡¯t let me near anywhere that seemed to be a place where important matters are discussed¡­ I haven¡¯t even visited the throne hall because of her! My second best option in getting information would be through the small talks among our castle employees but that too proved to be a dead end since mom wouldn¡¯t let anyone take care of me other than herself. And here I thought that a queen had something better things to do than taking care of a child. I am her child, so that should be an exemption... with all of my choices ending up being a dead end I was left with my last option, reading. In learning a new language I could vaguely understand the meaning of each words that were used if I carefully observe the speaker¡¯s use of the word, the situation when the speaker used it, and through the gestures that speaker is doing while talking. Which was totally useless in reading, it doesn¡¯t matter whether if I could hold a proper conversation in a different language, once I was faced with foreign syllabary it only left me stuck wondering on how to read each character. In this aspect I had to ask the aid from my mom. The easiest way for me to learn how to read if she dictates and verbalize each word that is written in a book, in this case a children¡¯s fairytale should be enough and with the free time she has after she finish her daily chores she is able to read all the books that I want her to read. Although it always end with one book per session due to me sleeping halfway through it, it was still better than pondering on what those hieroglyphic-like characters mean. One book a day for the past months, repeatedly pointing on characters that I had having a hard time reading, enduring not to fell asleep during our reading session and the pain that my throat had to go through just to wail loudly just so she would read me a single book. It was selfish but I had to use every arsenal I have just so I could accomplish my goal. And today is the day where I test if I was able to read them by myself or not.. Making my way through the room I then arrived to one of the shelves near the wall. Sitting upright, I then concentrated on reading the titles of the book on lowest shelves, after a few titles that were still gibberish to me, my eyes then caught on to a book that piqued my interest.. Th-The World of T-t-tyre? Thinking that it was just another storybook my little arms reached out to it¡­ But soon I found out, that what was written in this book was what my current reality is... ================ It¡¯s been a year and a half since the King and Queen bore their first born. Prior to her son¡¯s birth,Keena, immediately arranged her schedule, clearing out all of her appointments for the whole year, giving her more time to focus on taking care of her child. For her race, being blessed with a child was something every couple could ever dreamed of but due to their origins and the state of their bodies, conceiving a child is very difficult. So when she gave birth to her first born she made sure that she can give all of her care and attention that she can give to him. Naming her son Alexander, she peacefully spent the passing days with him within their castle. The first three months quickly passed by and most of it was spent leisurely with Alex inside Argus¡¯s library . Another month flew by with no changes in her son¡¯s development, which made her anxious, excluding his mental development and curiosity which was normal,the aspect that troubled her the most was his physical growth. Using a baby from the human race as a reference in his growth, where in four to six months prior to a childbirth in which they would show steady signs of muscle development by gripping objects or rolling over the place and sitting upright and properly balancing their heads, in the seventh and ninth were the months where they would become more active and move around the place by crawling and by the tenth and by twelfth month where they are able to mumble one or two words like ¡®mama¡¯ and or ¡®papa¡¯, properly standing upright and walking without the need for assistance. In this aspect a child from their race could easily accomplish the first stage in two to four weeks from birth, the second in two to three months and the third in being four to six months early compared to a human. The reason for this was due to their race physical feature which enable a faster body growth. Excluding the first stage where she immediately noticed after she breast feed him a couple of times, the second stage where he should¡¯ve showed signs of development and growth a month from his birth didn¡¯t show, on the other hand he showed more interest in books about fairy tales and such that if she didn¡¯t read him a book for a certain time he would wail loudly, greatly distressing her. She consulted with the castle¡¯s physicians and healers about her troubles, worrying that there might be unforeseen complications during his birth that which will greatly affect his future, in which they immediately took proper actions and examined her son. But, even with all of her worries they couldn¡¯t find anything that would that would point to any complication that affects his growth. On the other hand one of the physicians diagnosed that he might have a mental defect or a slow learner which she readily dismissed. One things for sure, He doesn¡¯t have a mental illness, which she knew from the fact on how curious he is and from what the they¡¯ve observed he wasn¡¯t physically weak either, so the only thing left she could do is wait and see how he grows while hoping that he could have a healthy future. Days and months passed by with no improvement in his development. Negative gossips and whispers from their vassals and lords about his condition were spreading like wildfire, making her worries greater. She and her husband were the rulers of race that prioritize strength as the criteria for leading their own and from what she knew of their previous kings they were all men who wield great power that made their subjects and even their enemies fear them. She didn¡¯t care for what her son decides on what course his future would be, whether he wanted the throne and become king or someone who has freedom to roam the land or what not, as long as she could see him grow up to become a splendid man there was nothing she could ask for . Their supporters will understand their current situation and would even help them if needed. While their opposition, especially the late king¡¯s faction who is taking care of his grandchild, would definitely see this as a weakness that can be exploited. Even if the two of them were known to be the strongest among their race, there were always certain situations where one moment of carelessness could mean the end for one¡¯s life and in this case she wasn¡¯t afraid of her or his life since she knew that no matter what the situation was they could easily handle it. She was more afraid of what will happen when she will be distracted for a moment giving opportunity for someone to act against her son. Seeing as there was a need for her to hide her son if the situation deemed it to be, she secretly made some preparation while consulting her husband about her plans which he lightheartedly laugh off as being paranoid resulting in them having a small dispute with him leaving a palm mark on his face due to her slapping him. But all of them were for naught, at the start of the 4th month from his birth, she saw Alexander trying to crawl away from the spot where she placed him, using his left hand as his support he tried to place his right hand forward only to fall face first on the floor. It looked like his left arm wasn¡¯t able to properly support the weight of his whole body leading it to wobble ending with that scene. Her worries were chased away after seeing that scene and instead were replaced with mixed feelings of joy and concerns. Even though it was late at least he was still going to grow up properly. For the rest of following days of the whole month she placed him on the floor of the library letting him roam around the room till he is exhausted and fall asleep.Every time that happens, she gently lifts him up, cradling him softly in her arms. That was start of his fast growth, after he was able to learn how to crawl, she would often lost track of Alexander¡¯s where abouts only to find him behind a stack of books inside the library sprawled on top of a book, at first she thought that he was looking at the book¡¯s drawings but after carefully taking a closer look on his eyes when he reads , she could clearly see that they were filled with comprehension and intelligence which is a clear evidence that he was able to understand the word that were written within the book that greatly surprised her. In this aspect she thought that her daily reading session with him was the root of how fast he was able to read. Which she dismissed as something natural. One month prior to that he was able to properly walk without support and after that he was able to mumble his first words surprised her. ¡°Book¡± While pointing at a book with red leather cover at the third shelf of a bookcase inside the library, he was looking at her innocently, making it too hard not to do what he asked her to do. ¡°Of course I wasn¡¯t expecting that his first words would like be mama¡­ but at least I wanted it to be¡­ I mean I was the with him for the whole year¡­ at least I could get something for my efforts¡± she immediately handed the book that she asked for, all of the books inside this library were safe and didn¡¯t contain anything sensitive, so she left him alone and let him read all the books that he wanted On the other hand, she was torn between of being happy to hear her son¡¯s first word and on being heartbroken on them not being the words that she was expecting. at the ninth month of the year he was able to hold a proper conversation without stuttering around. six months from then he was now able to read a book that is deemed hard for his age. She hired the best tutors that she could hire to teach him everything they know but all of them quit after a few days of being hired. Of course they were meager at best compared with the teacher within the academy but even if she wanted to, he was too young to attend the academy. The opinion about him within the vassals also changed but even though there were positive comments about his growth and his intelligence at such a tender age, there were also negative comments that degrades his standing within the nobility, describing how eerie of a child he was, instead of playing outside with the those of the same age as him he stays coop up inside a room reading, describing that he might have a weak body which will greatly affect whether he would become a strong king or not and etc. With most of it coming from previous king¡¯s factions Even so with all the rumors passing by, she was confident in what ever he decides to do in the future it will be something that will garner respect and admiration to those around him. ======= Yep looks like I was wrong the prologue wont be a teaser this one is :D So anyway I won''t say why I wont be able to update, I''m just letting you know that I''ll go AWOL again for a month blame R.L for that. I won''t be AWOL from RRL though, I''ll just stop writing due to some reasons, and lurk around some novel I''ve been following and maybe leaving some comments here and there. Currently reading: Tonyorobksy novel Aenthar ^^ Now I know how my FAV T.L''ers feel like when they juggle between their hobby and Life * sigh ANYWAY~ Thank you for reading! Impressions, typographical errors, and constructive criticism(though there''s nothing to criticize yet T_T), anything I will welcome them in your comments! Credits to my PR who is also a good friend of my mine. Please leave a thank you for him too since he is currently helping me with writing. CIAO~ and best regards from JFG B.1 Chapter 2 Yo!~ Since I forgot to add this one on the prologue I''ll just put it here... I''m a new writer and this would be my first novel so I know that there will be a lot of faults in it but I am willing to fix them as I my story develops. So after informing you guys this lets move on to the story.... ----- Chapter 2 Magic, a concept that is deemed illogical and impossible by common sense. Tracing it¡¯s roots in the earliest stages of civilization, it is a concept that people of the earliest of times use to explain a phenomenon that are interpreted as the acts of gods or acts that were deemed humanly impossible. But as time advance every phenomenon that man once feared were easily explained through logic and science which slowly overshadowed the concept of magic and by the time science reach it¡¯s highest peak, at modern times it then became a mere figment of one¡¯s imagination ¡®Today¡¯ the word magic can be associated in literatures, films and entertainment using its idea and thought to gather a crowd of curious customers that sought refuge and comfort from our harsh reality by immersing themselves in the mysteries that it brought. But even when they¡¯ve enjoyed the adventure it gave, they know, at the back of their minds they know that it was only a momentary indulgence and once they have reached the end of it, they will be back to living a harsh reality. Among the populace that lived in ¡®that¡¯ reality I was one of the majority who believed in logic. Reasoning that if magic was true then the mythical being that came along with it must be true and if so, Gods of different mythology and religions would¡¯ve descend and punished those blasphemous mouths that desecrated their existence, Dragons and monsters that are depicted in ancient scrolls, tomes, and text would still roam the land and even if we were able to exterminate them, evidence of their existence should¡¯ve have been preserved indicating they were once true. But none of it happen, strengthening the fact the they were just a myth, legend, fable and fiction, a result of people''s imagination¡­ Ahh-... Of course this opinion of mine was when I lived in ¡®that¡¯ reality... ¡­. Using the human calendar as a basis of time it should be... The 15th of Arah, 112th year of M.R Where M.R stands for the Magical Revolution or the so called Age of Magic. 50 years before the end 39th century. Human alchemists, researchers, Dwarves and Elves,that were the best among their fields and specialties were invited by the Pope of the holy empire to enter a holy sanctum where a body of a god was entombed. The events that happened within that sanctum were kept secret but the results of their work was known throughout the world especially here in Ilfis, that marked the start of magical age. It¡¯s been 5 years since I was born, with nothing special to mention except for the birth of my sister when I was 2-years old. Excluding special occasions which rarely happens, I have been passing my days within the castle banned from leaving it¡¯s grounds, since playing with the kids of the same age as me that were invited by my mom gave me mixed feelings. I spent most of my time inside my room reading until something like a mountain of finished books were stacked and scattered along the floors. Of course I didn¡¯t spend all of it inside, after my sister¡¯s birth, I usually help mom in taking care of her. When it was known that her body had some peculiarities, majority of the kids that used to be her playmate avoided her leaving her alone with no one to play with due to fear. A memory of my past flashed by when I saw her alone like that so I decided to be her playmate and protector. Time quickly passed while living a life as prince here in Ilfis and tonight, there would be a great feast celebrating my 5th birthday party. Guest from all over the kingdom would attend bringing gifts with their blessings and even the three dukes that are the head of each of their respective houses and fiefdoms, are said to attend. ¡­... Standing in front of a mirror, a reflection of a boy, a height of 110 centimeters, wearing a black formal attire with lavender colored bow tie and black hair that were trimmed and groomed just for the occasion. Looking closely at his reflection, he thoughts focused on observing his own dark obsidian eyes, a special characteristics of their race. Tyre the name of world that I am currently living, a world that was made through the ¡®divinity¡¯ of six Dragon gods, with it was the creation of seven unique race¡­ Mesarth, the Dragon God that ruled over nature created the Dwarves and Humans, sculpted from the essence of the land they are gifted with intellect to extract nature¡¯s essence from minerals and ores that is needed for their survival. It is true that among the seven they are the weakest in both physical strength and magical capacity but when it come to being innovative and resourceful they are deemed to be the best among every race. Fairies, the creation of Jura, creatures of the light, they are capable of illusionary magic and are said to have to be the best when it comes to healing magic. Sirens, the dwellers of the deep. They were created by Nevalth, the Dragon God that governed Tyre¡¯s oceans and water. He created them with the purpose of protecting the ocean¡¯s secrets from surface dwellers. Dragoons, created by Morelth, a humanoid version of a demi dragon. They live in seclusion on a volcanic continent northwest from the central continent. Winged, extinct. The creation of Valstrath. They perished at the start of the great war leaving nothing to point out what they looked like or how their civilization prospered. and last but not the least¡­ Demons¡­. ¡°Haa...¡± A sigh escaped from my lips as I thought of the origin of my lineage¡­. ¡®Born¡¯ from the Dragon God of darkness which ruled over Tyre¡¯s twin moon(s), She created our race from her own flesh and blood, thus the word ¡®born¡¯. Because of our unique way of creation, we were blessed with both abnormal strength and high aptitude in magic making us the strongest among the 7 race. Which lead to a really complicated history... Among the seven that was created, the Humans and Demons are the only race that have almost identical outer appearance, excluding the reason of having a slower body aging process due to having a larger aggregate mana capacity and stronger physical capabilities, the only natural distinction between the two is with their eyes or more accurately(,) their iris. It was either due to how we were created or that our creators decided it to be like this, Unlike the demons that have a single eye color which aligns to our creator''s power that is ¡®darkness¡¯ thus the color ¡®black¡¯, the humans on other hand have a wider variety of eye color that ranges from hazel brown to emerald green due to them being created from the essence of nature. ¡°Is something bothering you brother? ¡± ¡°!!!¡± a soft, melodic voice suddenly called out to me, pulling me out of my thoughts. Knowing who the owner of that voice is, I casually turned around to face her. A little girl with a red ribbon that contrasted her silver hair was sitting on top of a pile of books, swinging her feet hitting back and forth repeatedly hitting the stack of books with the back of her rose colored shoes. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you fall from there if you keep doing that?¡± I said, as a precaution for accidents. ¡°Hmm?, Oh! this don¡¯t worry about it, since I¡¯m holding the stack with my weight..¡± ¡°I see..¡± hearing her response a sudden urge to tease her surfaced, ¡°So~ you¡¯ve gained some weight¡­ was it because of the sweets you ate?¡± my lips curved when I said those teasing words. She innocently tilted her head when she heard my words but as she slowly uncover the meaning behind them, she cutely puffed her cheeks and then¡­ ¡°Hmph.. brother, it isn¡¯t nice to criticize a lady weight¡± My sister, Sophia, sulkily replied as her face turned to the side... I already expected her reaction, that¡¯s why when she diverted her gaze from me, I silently made my way to her, deflated her puffed cheeks and started on stretching them... ¡°I wonder who''s this ¡®Lady¡¯ that you''re talking about?¡± ¡°A-yee a-m bw-oth-ew.. a-aye am¡± she flailed her hands as she protested to my actions ¡°You¡¯re too young to call yourself a lady, and besides...¡± Letting go of her swollen cheeks, I gently lift her up and placed her on the floor, ¡°You should act more of your age and let me and mom spoil you a little more¡±. Physically we grow faster than a human and once we reach the age the of 10, (when) a demon¡¯s heart is mature enough to release mana, we are able to manipulate our growth. Of course(,) when we reach that age, we can¡¯t do it immediately but once we master how to control our own mana flow it is possible. And even if our growth is faster than that of a human, our mental development are still on par with them At first I thought that our accelerated growth also involves how fast one''s mentality develops but when dad pointed out that among the kids that he has seen and met, I was an odd ball among them all. Of course, as his son I was offended when I heard that but after he explained his reasons why¡­ I was forced to admit that I might have been a little bit unique. Long story short, I didn¡¯t act my age. For one thing, I was shocked when I learned about my current reality. Either it was from confusion or me who was denying about it, I consumed every book and text that I could hold my hands , anything that could help me prove that I was still on that ¡®reality¡¯. With that I¡¯ve forgotten about what my situation was and acted what I felt like for two years. I readily accepted that I somehow got resurrected but getting revived on a world where magic,monster and gods exist took me quite some time and books before I accepted it as a fact. After hearing his reasons, I then connected some dots and slowly made my way to a conclusion. Unlike our bodies that grew faster and can be altered with our mana, an individual¡¯s personality is developed from gathering and evaluating the values that he/she sees and experience from their surroundings and the foundation of those is their family.... Which in this case she... Sophia, ever since she was old enough to understand and seeing as my actions made the adults around us acknowledge my opinions and views that garnered their respect, she then imitated my every actions, . Which quickly molded to her current personality. Even when she acted like she knows what she is doing, under that facade is a clueless little girl who is just trying find attention. So that¡¯s why every time she acts like that, I properly remind her of how she should act. ¡°Muuu~, Brother you bully...¡± she said, as she rubbed her cheeks that turned red while tears were slowly forming in the corner of her eyes due to (the) pain. Seeing as she is behaving the way she supposed to, I gently patted her hair and tried to console her... ¡°Now-now, I¡¯m sorry .¡± ¡°You¡¯re definitely aren¡¯t.¡± She angrily retorted. ¡°Yes and also why are you here?¡± Seeing that her instincts is rather sharp when it comes to this kinds of arguments, I find it better if I willingly surrender. I expected Sophia to answer but another person responded to my question¡­ ¡°Her majesty has asked us to call you since it is about time that the party is starting.¡± A brief and concise report. The voice originated from the door, where a tall slender girl with chestnut colored hair was standing. Her well curved body was greatly emphasized by the maid¡¯s attire she was wearing Her knee high skirt was clearly showing pristine white legs, while her chest may not on be the bigger side but the way her clothes traced her body makes people wonder if she has more in store underneath those clothes. Paired with a lovely face that would definitely charm a man in protecting her, it perfectly completes the image of a fragile maiden. For those who don¡¯t know her, will have that kind of impression about her at first but once they spend some time with her, they¡¯ll definitely agree that a person¡¯s appearance is only second to their personality. For now, since there is an important event being held within the castle, so she is acting all nice and proper but once the events over and she becomes bored¡­ This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Just thinking about it make my head ache¡­ Chelsea Brent, she¡¯s my sister personal maid, a demon from a common family and birth. ¡°I see.¡± Once I heard her report I immediately finished my preparation and tried to head out but when I reached out for the door knob, Chelsea moved in to block my way¡­ ¡°Your highness, it seems that my master is still in foul mood due to your actions¡± She made a gesture for me to look behind, ¡°If you could please try to console her ¡®earnestly¡¯ this time it would be great¡­ My suggestion is that you compliment her dress since it took her some time to decide on what to wear for your birthday...¡± The first part of her words were voiced out so that the other party could clearly hear her while the later half of it was told in a whisper hiding the fact that she is spilling something that her master wouldn¡¯t want to be known. Seeing as there were some merit with her suggestion plus hearing that my sister did some effort to look her best for today¡¯s occasion, I should at least acknowledge her efforts. Sophia was a step behind when I turned around, she had her head hang low and her cheerfulness from before was gone. This girl¡­ she tries to act like an adult but can¡¯t even handle a simple teasing. Kneeling in front of her, I then took her hand¡­ ¡°My lady seems rather gorgeous tonight but wouldn¡¯t it be better if you wear a smile instead of a frown to pair with your beautiful attire¡± While saying, I gently placed my lips on the back of her hand. Sophia was wearing a light blue gown that was right for her height and was decorated with golden inlays of flowers and frills. The design itself highly accentuated her innocence making the air surrounding her bloom. Like a flower fairy that lives inside a garden. ¡°Hmph. first you bully me and now you act like some noble prince, Did you really think that I would forgive you if you do that? ¡± She strongly pulled her hand away from me, since I was kneeling I had to raise my gaze so that I could look at her face. She had domineering appearance as her arms crossed over her chest and if I look at her from this angle, she has an uncanny resemblance with mom. ¡°Even if I say pretty please?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hate you even more if you treat me like a baby!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sowe so pwease forgive me pwetty pwease.¡± ¡°BROTHER!¡± she snapped and stamped her feet on the floor to make a point on stopping me from teasing her. ¡°Ok-ok is there anything that you¡¯ll want me to do?¡± ¡°When you say ¡®anything¡¯ does that mean anything?¡± she asked in confirmation. ¡°...Yes¡± why does it feel like this scene was scripted? A grin surfaced on her face when she heard my answer and then she slowly worded her orders ¡°Then I want you to...¡± ¡­... The venue for the celebration was lavishly decorated just for the occasion.Hand picked flowers that were artistically arranged to enhance their beauty were placed in location that can easily be admired by guests. The tablewares were properly polished and were shining as the huge chandelier from above was illuminating the entire room with a golden brilliance. Mouthwatering food of various delicacies were prepared and placed among the tables along the walls , a rare deer that is known for it¡¯s soft and tender meat that came from the snowy plains was especially ordered and cooked by the castle¡¯s chiefs is releasing a wafting aroma, assorted kinds of ocean cuisine that are known for their subtle taste are also prepared, while a century old rum and exquisite tasting wine that were made from the elves and dwarves smuggled from the central continent are being served by the castle''s servants. A simple tune that is combination of string and wind instruments and being accompanied by a piano is being played by a group of musician to just liven up the occasion, while the guests on the other hand were dressed in different luxurious and expensive attire that showed off their rank within the nobility were chatting amiably as they waited for the start of the party. Since this will be the prince¡¯s first official public appearance and his 5th birthday, it was only obvious that it was held in a such extravagant fashion. Half of the guest that have joined for the occasion are people who are hoping that they may be able to make an acquaintance with his highness and form a relationship with him through their gifts and some were hoping that they might be even able to have a better connection with him by introducing their daughter. While the other half are here for their own reasons. The musician suddenly stopped playing and a sharp sound of metal repeatedly hitting a thin piece of glass resounded attracting everyone''s attention. At the topmost steps of the marble staircase, a man with slick black hair was standing imposingly as he gazed at them from above. He had a tall and slim figure but from the outline of the clothes he wore shows that he has a sturdy body evidence of his days as a soldier. From a glimps, people who are picky about their attire would know that the black formal attire that this man was wearing was the most extravagant among those that are here, even when it was not decorated with expensive looking jewels or ornaments, the material itself is known to be the best among the best and are said to hardest to come by. Seeing as all of their attention gathered at him, he gave the wine glass and spoon to an attendant near him and started his speech. ¡°For now, me and my wife, Keena...¡±the host or the king said so with a clear and loud voice, he held his hand to a tall silver haired woman on his side, she charming and was wearing a fiery red gown that had long straight slit that started from the ends of her gown revealing her long slender legs and traced upward to her milky white thighs, with a long black shawl wrapped around her slender shoulders. The dress that she was wearing was said to be in a trend among the cities of the central continent, ¡° would like to thank you for responding to our invitation and coming here tonight¡± ¡°As all of you know this would be my son¡¯s 5th birthday and his introduction to high society¡± The king said ¡°As my son grew within our castle walls rumors about his growth were being spread from person to person, some said good things while others were... a bit detestable if you ask for my opinion.¡± these following words were said in irritation as his gaze were locked on a certain group of people. ¡°With that, some must¡¯ve made some assessment about his character but even so, I hope you reserve your assumptions about my son until you¡¯ve truly known him...¡± as he said so he wrapped his left arm around his wife¡¯s waist... ¡°We love and cherish our son even when he is peculiar among the rest and as his parents we could tell you all which among the rumors are true and which among them aren¡¯t but if those words came from our mouth it would become biased since we would definitely gloat more on his positive aspects rather than to tell about his negative...¡± the king paused for a few seconds to survey the room, ¡°But since the person himself will be joining us¡­.¡± he held right arm in a welcoming manner, gesturing the guards at the opposite end of the room to open the double doors, ¡°It would be much better if you talk to him and ask him yourself.¡± The doors opened revealing two children a boy and girl, with the little girl being a couple of centimeters shorter than the boy. The boy that was escorting the little girl had a complicated air around him, for some they just took this for granted and thought that it might be because this was their first time seeing him but to others specially those that were quite observant¡­ They¡¯ve notice¡­ Compared with the little girl in a light blue gown that was innocently clinging to his arms and beaming a bright smile at those who are looking at her, the boy however had a mature outlook, the innocence that should be present to a kid of his age was nowhere to be found and instead he had a more scholarly air around him,a firm and steady gait as he stride confidently across the room, and the way he represented himself to the crowd showed regal and finesse fit for royalty. All of these points made them wonder if the child in front of them really was a child. And with the prince appearance the audience¡¯s curiosity and excitement couldn¡¯t be contained as they suddenly began to whisper among themselves, asking questions about the rumors that they¡¯ve heard and about the little girl that he is with. It was only natural that most of the people here didn¡¯t know who the little girl is, after the Queen discovered about her daughter¡¯s condition she mostly kept her life a secret from others only letting her trusted aides and vassals know about her growth and since a celebration like this can only be experienced once every twenty years this would also be her first time being out in the public. To a demon, since they outlived most of the other races here in tyre, instead of celebrating one¡¯s birthday yearly, they¡¯ve changed it and only celebrated it once every twenty years where 20 is equals to a year of a demon¡¯s lifespan. But demons that have not reach the age of adulthood which will be twenty, are able to celebrate their coming of age around the 10th year from their birth, While nobles and royalties celebrate two more occasions using their children¡¯s birthday as an excuse for them to introduce their children to nobility, excluding their 10th year, five years from their children birth and another five years from their coming of age are marked as a celebration for the nobility. Due to this her existence was something that the guest didn¡¯t expect or to be more precise something they didn¡¯t know. Speculation about her identity was what most of the guests were whispering, with most of them guessing about her being his fiancee but others denied it since she wasn¡¯t a child from the 3 Duke houses. While those that have connections within the castle, were grinning as they listen to the others whisper their speculations, they were looking warmly at the sibling as they walk through the crowd unflattered by their surroundings. The prince arrived and stood in front of his parents and from the spectator''s view there was subtle change in the King and Queen¡¯s expression, the king was wearing an understanding smile as he looked at the two while the Queen was showing a fierce smile as her temples twitch which completely broke her alluring aura. Moving his left hand away from his wife, he then pick up the little girl and let her sit in his arms and then with his free hand, he patted the prince head until his hair was dishevelled, ¡°Hahaha!¡± A hearty laughter can then be heard from the King... ¡°It would seem that it won¡¯t be just my son¡¯s introduction tonight¡±The King said, ¡°Ladies and Gents this lovely little flower over here is my daughter, Sophia Von Croy De Xionard and this little man over here is my son, Alexander Von Croy De Xionard¡± finishing his introduction, he gestured to the attendant beside him to give him the wine glass that is filled with red liquid, raising the glass high in the air he then declared, ¡° With our introduction finished! a toast to my son and daughter¡¯s future!¡± ¡°To his and her highness future!¡± the crowd responded following the King¡¯s action. and with that, Alexander¡¯s 5th birthday party began. ===== Edit: And Before I forget. I''m sorry for the guy that message me way back when about my schedule of release. Instead of answering his question It would seem I did the opposite hehe~ sorry about that mate I was stressed with all the RL stuff happening and I just wrote what I had in mind. Your mail kinda of caught me off guard. Again sorry... I''m releasing 3 chapter this week and after that I think I''ll go with a leisurely writing of 1 chapter per week. Okey~ Alexander 5th birthday is done next would be his 10th! and then his 15th and maybe 20th!~~ :P Impressions, typographical errors, and constructive criticism(though there''s nothing to criticize yet T_T), anything I will welcome them in your comments! Shadow silence who is my PR and a good friend of my mine. Please leave a thank you for him too since he is currently helping me with writing. CIAO~ and best regards from JFG B.1 Chapter 3 Chapter 3 After dad¡¯s showy speech we then made our rounds greeting our guests, while Sophia was dragged away from the venue by a furious Queen which is who was furious about our stunt. Usually, Sophia has two escorts that followed her wherever she goes, so when I heard her request I was sure that they would stop her but when I stepped out of my room, the guards that should have been there weren¡¯t, which made me think of Chelsea¡¯s mood. A willful master and troublemaking maid, putting those two together made me realize that I was completely set up. Since I already promised Sophia to do anything she asked for, I obediently abide to her request. Knowing that there would be consequences to her actions was also another reason why I did it. While thinking so, Dad lead me to the lords of each houses that supported the royal family. Including the house of Von Croy that Rules the continent of Ilfis, there are 3 more houses that are tasked with different roles with governing it. Each of them have been bestowed a quarter of land to control in Ilfis leaving the remaining quarter to the royal family.. ¡°Alexander this man over here is Duke Quin of the house Bartram, he¡­.¡± I was first introduced to a fat middle aged man that was overdressed with an overgrown gray beard and wore an extravagant amount of jewelries. Due to his appearance I almost blurted out Santa Claus which I forcefully held in. ¡°Your majesty please let me introduce myself, it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m old that I can¡¯t do a simple introduction to his highness¡± before dad could finish talking the old man stopped him ¡°Hahaha, I see then go on...¡± ¡°Thank you, your majesty and It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance your highness Alexander...¡± with father¡¯s permission the duke started his introduction.¡°As your father have said I am Duke Quin A. Bartram, my house governs the land of Zhery which the late king Dernett bestowed upon me and we...¡± To cut the long story short, His house is mainly in charge of Commerce and Trade, and with the Empire¡¯s Blockade on goods from the central continent to Ilfis, they mostly deal with Black Market tradings and smuggling of goods, other than money they also help in collecting information on the movement of the 3 nations within the central continent through the black market. The 3 nations of the central continent are Atrye Empire, Holy kingdom of Thairus and the Forest of the Demihumans Freora And while we were talking the crowd around us moved away giving us some space. After his introduction and some pleasantries he then gave me a small rectangular box, which I gratefully accepted, Opening the box, two small green gems that shone brightly, were neatly placed in silken cloth. Seeing my astonishment, he gleefully explained the contents but even without him explaining I already know what these two are. Among the items that empire banned from trade, the mana gems are among the items that have been heavily emphasized as non tradable, a single rumor of a black market dealer holding even a single piece of gem would instantly qualify for a summon from an inquisition team from the empire, that will capture the dealer, confiscate his possession and then immediately sentence him to death without going through trial. The reason why I was astonished was because of this fact, he must have deep connection if he was able to smuggle these out from the Empire. Thanking him for this special gift we then excused ourselves and made our way to my next guest.. Following him was a tall slender man with blond hair and crimson red eyes, his attire consisted of midnight blue tux and trousers with white silk undershirt and black necktie. His name is Duke Belmont II from the house of Drakul which leads the Vampires and Succubus and governs the land of Trares, the land of Eternal Cold and Winter.His house mainly deals with espionage and assassination due to their inherent abilities and powers. When the 1st king lost the war the Demon race weren¡¯t the only one that were Exiled. During the course of war, four more races surfaced, each with different origins, the first two that emerged within the later half of the great war, approximately 886 D.G.W, were a byproduct of magical experiment by a group of rogue alchemist. The next two groups surfaced at the end of the war but unlike the first two groups that were the result of another¡¯s action, these two group¡®s changes are the result of their own greed. The first two groups sided with the humans while the race that surfaced at the end of the war the vampire and and succubus were exiled here with us. The same thing happened with the Duke of Zhery, after some pleasantries he then gave me his gift... ¡°Your highness Alexander... I¡¯ve heard from your father that your thirst for knowledge is particularly high¡± hearing his statement, I simply nodded to confirm his words. ¡°I see, then I hope your highness will be pleased with my gift then¡­¡± saying so, three figures appeared behind him. Two of them were dressed properly for the occasion while the one that was between them is wearing a robe with his face being hidden under a hood. ¡°I found ¡®this¡¯ when ¡®someone¡¯ invited me out for a talk¡± he gestured to take off the hood, showing a face of a little girl with light brown hair was her emerald green eyes, a Human. ¡°A slave?¡± I said with my mood turning bitter. ¡°Hm? is there a problem with the gift your highness?¡± ¡°...No¡± I lied, turning down his gift in front of this crowd would surely turn the relationship between our family awkward. When dad took over the throne, among the changes he made was that Lope¡¯s judgment about the conviction of the house of Drakul. Seeing that there was not enough evidence that leads to them doing the said crime and knowing the previous king¡¯s disliking to their race was also another reason for their conviction, made dad revoke the previous king¡¯s verdict. But even when their conviction was revoked, the damage to their house and their people has already been done. The relationship between three races has already been damage due to Lope¡¯s action. From what I know, the house Drakul is currently divided among two factions, first is the anti-demon alliance which is lead by a vampire from a commoner''s house but is being supported by some of the High Elders, second is the faction that Duke Belmont is leading which it¡¯s main goal is to restore the relationship between the three race. Not only will we be facing some minor problems between Houses if I turn down his gift, We¡¯ll also be seeing some major conflict between our races. Haaa-... This should¡¯ve been a happy occasion for me. Why am I caught between a political problem during my birthday! And whoever said that living a life as a prince would be easy should be hanged for lying The reason why I don¡¯t have an attendant with me is because I didn¡¯t want to have one. Before I became a demon and prince, I was human who lived a normal life, I did most of the house chores by myself since my aunt works for our food and bills. Mom tried to assign some when I was younger but I mostly turned them down. Except for the food, laundry and some others that needed an assistance of a servant, I mostly do things on my own. Now what Duke Belmont was about to give me is something lower than a servant. Unlike a servant where they can reject a master¡¯s order when they deem it, A slave on the other hand does not have that kind of privilege making them more of an object rather than a living being. Merchants that catch slaves for a business brand their slaves by inscribing a magic array on the slave¡¯s chest. In the past it used to be a collar-type artefact that binds the slave¡¯s will but since there were some that were able to find a way to unlock the collar without activating its function, they changed their ways of binding their slaves. Instead of inscribing the spell on a collar they thought that it was more effective if they inscribe it on the slave¡¯s chest making it more efficient and unremovable. The mana that sustains the magic array is slave¡¯s mana itself, which in this case a human even if they have near zero amount of mana in their bodies it is enough to power the magic array for as long as the slave is living. In Ilfis, since the hate for humans is high they use human slave as a form of entertainment, Males are signed up to arenas where wild monsters that were recently captured are set free letting fighters fight them to the death. For comparison, a common wild monster captured here in Ilfis is ten times stronger than your average demon, making it the most dangerous in all of Tyre. Those that survive that hell hole are then sold again to a different owner as used goods. For female slaves, the most common use for them are turning them into servants but to some, specially for those that are nobles and knights of high standings, are turned into meat slaves, breaking down their pride, bringing their morals down until they are nothing more than mindless objects and once they have lived their purpose they are then thrown to the wild never to be seen again. To vampires and succubus they simply use them to sate their own needs and desires. This Goddamn mosquito, what does a slave have to do with ¡®Thirst for knowledge¡¯? Hearing my reply he then introduce the slave. ¡°I see, well then, This boy here came from a famous family of scholars that lived off at a town near the borderline between the Nation of Atrye Empire and Holy kingdom of Thairus¡± ¡°Boy?¡± I asked surprised looking at the slave. A pair of long and narrow eyes, a slim greek like nose, thin lips, narrow chin with hair that was around shoulder length with this face anyone who didn¡¯t know him would definitely think of him as a girl. ¡°Yes¡± He smiled seeing my reaction. ¡°Even though his face look like a girl but the part that points out his gender proves otherwise¡­ If you¡¯re in doubt we can check now?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need for that.¡± I quickly replied. This¡­ this¡­ is this duke some kind of perv or something Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°hahahahha!¡± The Duke and my dad suddenly laughed loudly, Which made me look at them with a questioning gaze. Guessing what my gaze meant, Duke Belmont stopped laughing and straightened his posture. ¡°Ahem¡­ I¡¯m sorry for my rudeness your highness but It¡¯s entertaining to know that your highness is already old enough to be aware of the opposite sex.¡± ¡°Of course it would be problem if my son¡¯s swings the other way.¡± ¡°Dad I¡¯ll definitely tell mom about this.¡± Duke Belmont is way too compatible with my dad. Publicly he acts like a king, privately he¡¯s an easy going person. He only acts like this in public if the person he¡¯s talking to is someone he trust and with the space the guest gave and noise that are surrounding us giving him a lot of leeway in acting whatever he likes. ¡°Now-now, I¡¯m sure that having a little fun during a party isn¡¯t bad for your highness and besides I¡¯m sure her majesty would understand.¡± ¡°Yeah! Also you¡¯ve been stiff ever since you¡¯ve came in¡± dad pushed my back as he said so. ¡°You were saying Duke Belmont?¡± before these two could really hit if off,I diverted their conversation by letting the duke finish the slave¡¯s introduction. ¡°Che- you spoilsport.¡± dad frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Argus, the night is still young we can continue this after you¡¯ve done your greeting for now... ¡± Saying so he continued with the slave¡¯s introduction. The slave¡¯s name is Denovan Ashton, like the duke said he came from a family of scholars that is well known within the central continent, his family lived in a town between the borders of The Kingdom and the Holy Empire which was attacked by the Crusaders from the Holy Kingdom, the cause for the attack was said to be heretics were living within their town which caused the slaughter of every people in it. Parents and siblings are missing or presumed dead due to the attack. ¡°Belmont... it seems you¡¯ve did your research properly¡± ¡°I¡¯m just making sure that I can give his highness the best of what I can offer, so what do you think your highness, do you like my gift?¡± Hmm... I¡¯m reluctant to own a slave But... if I do it this way... I think it should be fine and with his background I should be be able to stretch it out somehow¡­ ¡°It¡¯s great but do you mind if I ask how much have you spent to buy him?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Nothing... just a reference when I come across a slave with the same value...¡± ¡°I see¡­ well it nothing worth mentioning... to be exact I think it was around 3 gold plates¡± he reluctantly answered What! ¡°Is that the standard price for a human slaves?¡± ¡°Of course not, common humans specially villagers and peasant are priced around 50 to 150 gold coins, for experienced adventurers, soldiers and generals they are priced around 200 to 500 gold coins and for nobilities with well known names within their respective nations is around 800 to 1 gold plates¡± There seems to be a slight price between each class of slave but then¡­ ¡°Then why is he worth 3 gold plates¡± ¡°Ah! you see your highness it because...¡± Duke Belmont then explained to me why the price greatly differs from the norm. In the middle of our conversation, mom intruded in our talk reminding me that I have spent too much time on talking with the Duke and that there were many guest who would like to have an audience with me. Excusing myself from the duke and thanking him again for the wondrous gift, while dad stayed with the Duke of Trares and continued their pleasant conversation, mom guided me to the Duke of Zlivaham. He was a well built man that had an appearance that should be around 35-40 years old if he was human; with a prominent deep scar on his right side of his face, he had short curly red hair and clear black eyes . His name is Cyrus Denholm, his house was recently established and replaced the former rulers that governed the land of Zliveham which was the head of the previous kings faction. While he was introducing himself he was kneeling on the ground, with his left knee was on the ground while his right supported his right arm crossing his chest with his head bowed down facing the floor. This action is how a soldier, military officers and generals do when in front of royalty. This doesn¡¯t just show their respect to the royalty but it is also a sign of loyalty and acknowledgment on their rule. I hastily acknowledge his actions and made him stand on his feet. After his excessive display of loyalty our conversation went smoothly. Unlike the previous dukes that are tasked with information gathering and covert operations, his house mainly deals with military movements and development in national defence which is currently one of father¡¯s major projects. Among the developments he and my father made was the implementation of Mana gems and artefacts for our military. Even though a single demon is more superior than a single artefact but the efficiency and ease in using an artefact made from the right material and is powered with a high class mana gem and a powerful magic system which is used in numbers is equal to a tantamount of chaos. Examples of that said artefacts, which left a deep impact with dad and the Duke of Zliveham was the said artefact that is known as an artefact ship. Of course ships that traverse the seas are present in this world but the ship what dad meant was something meant for war, in short abattleship. Equipped with the highest and purest mana gems that powers a levitation spell, then let¡¯s add a hundred thousand tons of Dwarven metal that has a specialized property that negates most of the magical attacks directed to it, able to float a thousand feet in the air, and spells that are capable of razing a single city that is able to outpower an entire army of mystic rank demons. All of that plus transporting a few ten thousand soldiers and combatants made it more like a mobile fortress than a battle ship. My closest comparison that I can think of is that of a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier which is the Naval trademark of the U.S army or the Yamato battleship which was the heaviest and biggest battleship of world war II. But unlike these two that I¡¯ve thought of, an artefact ship has one advantage that these two don¡¯t. Mobility. In my opinion, no matter era, even if you have supremacy in land and sea¡¯s, if your attacks can¡¯t reach their target or if you can¡¯t move your army over certain obstacles with ease then wouldn¡¯t that power turn to nothing more than a bark rather than a bite. In this aspect, An artefact ship has the mobility and capacity to transport armies over terrains, power to attack and destroy targets that are assigned to it and defense that can tank most of the strongest spells. A hundred and sixty years ago this was main the reason why we lost on defending our own territories and why it took us a lot of effort in repelling them back. Due to this, it became the sole reason why dad was so insistent at creating our own Ships. Immediately after his enthronement, dad ordered to search and scavenge of whatever is left of the Human¡¯s artefact ships that could help us creating our own , and with mom¡¯s abilities, we were able to salvage a third of the 36 Mana gems that powered them. Once the personnel that were assigned by dad to examine the Ship¡¯s remains were able to unravel the magic system¡¯s puzzle, we were able to immediately build our own ships within a matter of years. My conversation with the duke ended in a good note, with him giving me an ornamented sword as a gift. Of course my rounds for greeting my guest didn¡¯t end with just the 3 dukes, after them, I was introduced to officials, earls and marquises that are assigned to govern a plot of land or town within our territory and then there was another group of military officers that are eager to talk with me. Some of my conversation lasted after a couple of pleasantries and the likes which ends with them giving me their gifts while others took longer due to parents introducing their daughters. An hour later with all of those troublesome matters, my face is already cramping due to maintaining a smile and my brain was exhausted with thinking of lines to respond to some of my pestering guests that wouldn¡¯t offend them, I was already on the brink of insanity as the endless torrent of guest waiting to have a moment of my time kept flowing, luckily in the middle of my rounds the musicians that were tasked with the music started to play a soft melody that signaled the start of the dance. Relieved I tried to find a place for respite but¡­. as the center of the attention during this occasion something like that wasn¡¯t allowed for me. ¡°Brother~¡± ===== And HERE''S the second chapter for the week.... Also when I said ''I will release 3 chapters" I meant that including this and the previous one there will be 3 chapters which leave us with one more left which will be delayed since Shadow silence will have some important things to do other than PR''ing my novel... but it won''t be delayed that long though... the earliest update should be around Thursday and the really late one should be around sat or sun... On another topic diablo asked me two question which I will gave my answer here 1. Maybe... 2.If you want to know please read and support my novel And for those who are thinking about denovan''s nose decription thinking "What the fuck does a greek nose look like!" here''s my reference..... Noses! With that out of the way~ Thank you for reading! Impressions, typographical errors, and constructive criticism(though there''s nothing to criticize yet T_T), anything! I will welcome them in your comments! Credits to: JFG - writer and author Shadow Silence- PR CIAO and goodnight (It''s already 4:00 am where I live)~ best regards from JFG B.1 Chapter 4 A bit earlier than what I expected..... Oh well just give your thanks to Shadow since he did this last night. = Chapter 4 ¡°Brother~¡± The first one to pull me over to the center of the hall was my sister. Looks like this would be another one of her request, It seems that the little devil was able to evade her punishment and persuaded mom on letting her join the dance Arriving at the center of the hall, she curtsied and held her hand in front of her gesturing for me to take the lead. I took her hand and slowly moved my body according to tune of the piece. The music that the musicians are playing was slow and had nice tempo, suitable for people who are dancing for the first time, specially for a little girl like Sophia. Corresponding to the tempo of the music I lead Sophia around the floor. Handling her body gently I made sure that the errors she made would not be noticed by the crowd... With every step and turn I made sure that there were no mistakes, no missteps, no pause everything in one single motion. As fluid as the flowing water and as elegant as a wading swan on still water, I made perfectly sure that after tonight they would never forget my cute devilish little sister.. I turned my gaze to her to see that she was smiling happily as we danced around the floor. Her bright smile coupled with her attire really made her look like a fairy dancing around the room captivating people that saw her. As the conclusion of the piece that the musicians played came, my dance with my Sophia also ended. The hall suddenly exploded as the guest that watched our dance gave us a thunderous applause. Looking around it seems that it was only the two us were dancing at the piece that the musicians played. Sophia wasn¡¯t surprised at the sudden attention she has gathered and did another curtsy at our guest. ¡°Brother can you grant one last request of mine tonight¡± after honoring our audience that was entertained by our dance, she then turn around and look at me¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­ of course why not¡± I¡¯ve already did 2 of them anyway adding one more shouldn¡¯t be a problem. ¡°Then can you ¡­ ¡­. ...¡± Well this is odd, for once it seems she¡¯s shy about something... ¡°Ehh? can you repeat that again.¡± since her voice got lower as she talked I moved my head closer so I could her request. I was expecting another selfish request from her but what came was something unexpected, ¡°Thank you for being my brother and please spoil me more from now on¡± Using her two hands she grabbed my face and placed a soft kiss on my cheeks. Spoil her from now on? She really did ask for something selfish but¡­ ¡°Didn¡¯t I told something like that before we came here?¡± ¡°Hehe but that one has a condition this one doesn¡¯t and besides what¡¯s so bad if I act the way I wanted to anyway? ¡± she said as she look at me with her big black eyes ¡°Well there nothing bad about it but...¡± ¡°So it ok right or is brother backing out on his word?¡± Uhmmm... why am I getting cornered here? Sigh*¡°fine I¡¯ll do as you say¡± ¡°Hehe Thank you brother¡­ and oh brother...¡± ¡°What? I thought that was the last of it?¡± ¡°Of course that was the last but..¡± She had a huge grin as she raised her hand poked my face with her fingers¡­ ¡°Your face is turning red¡± This little¡­ ¡°AND WHOSE FAULT DO THINK THIS IS!¡± For the second time the hall exploded in a commotion but unlike the first time where it was due to our guest applauding our dance this time around were laughters due to our bantering. From the looks of it, the people around us must have heard our conversation, it must be due to seeing Sophia¡¯s action that the hall became quite making our voices more perceptible to those around us. She smiled unfazed and said to me ¡°Un~ with that, the people that have gathered have bared witness your promise with your little sister, If you break it, I¡¯m sure the people here will question your leadership when you become king¡± saying so she moved away from me and¡­ ¡°Hogging you all to myself tonight would be too selfish~ of me, so with this thank you for the dance brother and please do enjoy your night~¡± made her through the crowd while saying this goodbye¡¯s Hahahaha Before I could properly process everything that happened, it seem like that I¡¯ve did something irrevocable. My room, mom and the dance everything was planned. If she¡¯s like this when she¡¯s young I don¡¯t how she¡¯ll grow in the future¡­ Realizing that I was played by my sister, I tried to move away from the center of the hall but before I could do that¡­ ¡°Your highness please dance with me next¡± Pleas for me to accompany them for the next piece came from parents and girls that were two to three years older. I can¡¯t just turn them since I don¡¯t really have a good reason to do it which forced me to entertain some of them It looks like it¡¯s gonna be long night¡­ At the 2nd floor balcony, Argus is warmly looking over at the scene where Alexander was getting pulled on by different guests asking him to accompany them to a dance. Satisfied, he brought the wine glass that held a white translucent liquid to his mouth, savoring the smell and taste of the hundred year old liquor he then started a conversation with the guest that appeared behind him. ¡°Did you enjoy the party Cyrus.¡± ¡°I did your majesty.¡± Argus frowned, hearing his long time friend¡¯s answer made his mood sour. ¡°Do you really have to be so uptight even in this situation, Cyrus¡± placing the wine glass on the stone railing he turned around to look at him. ¡°As a soldier, it is natural to have a proper courtesy when facing the king¡± ¡°Then how about as a friend?¡± ¡°I can only do that in ¡®private¡¯¡± Understanding his concerns Argus released a subtle amount of mana, this kind of amount wouldn¡¯t attract anyone¡¯s attention since the amount he just released was only capable of activating a harmless ability but with it he was able to do two things, first was to encase the two of them in a wall of wind that blocked sound from moving in and out of it, second was to make a small spark explode, sending an unnoticeable heatwave for around three to a six-meter radius, checking for any signs of anyone hiding from his perception. A few seconds after he released his mana, sensing that there wasn¡¯t anyone nearby he gestured Cyrus to talk. ¡°So how did his highness conversation with the two dukes fare?¡± ¡°It was okay, the two were able to hide their fangs from one another but its still isn¡¯t that surprising since the two them were standing at two different locations of the hall¡± ¡°Yes it would be another story if the two of them were huddled up in single location though...¡± The Dukes of Zhery and Trares hated each other to the point that if that a simple misunderstanding in their word would light fight between the two, this was a fact only known to those that have interacted with the them simultaneously. ¡°Then, this should surprise you then...¡± Argus said while having a large grin on his face, ¡° the old fart tried to amend his relationship with Belmont by inviting him out on a drink¡± ¡°!!!¡± ¡°Well, the two still duked it out in the end though, including the tavern they were drinking on it would seem that their fight destroyed half of a city that the old fart governed but because of it Belmont was able to find a nice gift for Alexander. ¡± ¡°I see...¡± hearing the inevitable outcome, the surprise that Cyrus felt at first slowly resided, ¡°But a slave huh, did he make sure that the slave has no connection with Duke Quin?¡± ¡°Yes, he even did a complete background check on the slave and the trader¡± ¡°Well, it should be fine then..¡± saying so he walked near the stone railing and looked over, as the dance was still going on. Argus followed suit and held the glass that he placed on the railings with his right hand ¡°It¡¯s a shame that your daughter wasn¡¯t able to come though¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help it, the girl is as stubborn as a mule, once she decides to do something she won¡¯t take it back...¡± ¡°So~ is that also the reason for the scratch on your face...¡± Even though the wound wasn¡¯t as prominent as the scar on his face, Argus could still see some faint traces of a ¡®scratch¡¯ from his daughter¡¯s spar, of course that scratch didn¡¯t came from something mediocre like her nails or the likes, it should¡¯ve came from a sword wound but for 7 year old girl to land a hit on Ifi¡¯s Tyrannical Weapon¡¯s Master she must¡¯ve been really good. ¡°Yeah¡­ It would seem that she really is my daughter since she¡¯s learning to hold a sword so quickly-¡±Cyrus replied with a flat tone. ¡°Haha~ your the same as Keena. What so bad about letting your kids learn how to defend themselves anyway, sooner or later they are bound to learn it...¡± ¡°You¡­ No wonder Keena always complain about your behavior in raising your kids...¡± Remembering how Keena usually visits his wife to complain about how Argus spoil his children made him sigh. The reason why he took on the title of the duke and to establish his name as one of the 3 supporting family within Ilfis, even though he didn¡¯t want to carry a heavy responsibility wasn¡¯t only because Argus asked him to but was also because he didn¡¯t want his daughter to experience to hold a sword and in up a war like he did years ago. But the daughter that he was bent on protecting was moving on different path that he wanted her to walk. Inheriting the same stubbornness as her mother he can only surrender and instruct her with the techniques that he forged in combat hoping that with it, she can somehow survive through the ordeal that she might face in the future. ¡°Oh and speaking about Keena, how¡¯s your preparation about her request coming?¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost done with Instructing Rozalin, In a month I should be able to finish my preparation and comply with her request¡± ¡°Thats good to hear.¡± Argus Replied with simple words ¡°On the topic about daughters, didn¡¯t Duke Belmont brought his daughter with him, today?¡± ¡°Ahh... yeah- about that, it would seem that the ¡®Vampire Princess¡¯ got bored while waiting for the start of the party and left the hall, from what Belmont said, she should be somewhere on¡­.¡± ¡°Fuuu~¡± Alexander breath in the cold night¡¯s air as he stood in front of the entrance of castle¡¯s garden maze. He had spent about an hour entertaining his guests, which ended with him dancing for a couple of song with girls young and old until he was worn out. If it wasn¡¯t for his father¡¯s meddling, he would have still be dancing inside. Tired, he tried to go to his room and sleep but with the sound of the boisterous celebration from the Great hall was still audible even from his room making it hard for him. So with that, he decided to go out of castle and take in some fresh air at the castle¡¯s garden. The maze was made by a tall hedge, standing around 10 feet and with a collection of complicated pathways and dead ends. If someone who doesn¡¯t know his way around it enters, it would take them for about a day or two before they find the exit. But for Alex who made this maze a playground for him and Sophia, he is able to to enter the maze and find its exit in around an hour or so but what he was aiming for wasn¡¯t exit but the center of the maze. At the center of this complex maze was a small clearing and a small flower garden that only grows one specific flower that bloom brightly during the night. ¡®Brightly¡¯ since this specific flower collects light from the sun in it¡¯s petals during the day and releases it during the night. While the flower releases the light that It collected, the light passes through the flower¡¯s blue translucent petals creating a peaceful scene, making those watch at it feel at ease. The light last until the twin moons hangs at the topmost peak from the sky, which was usually around midnight, which is also the origin of the flowers name ¡°Midnight Flower¡± or ¡°Aphophis¡¯s Flower¡± which means ¡°The flower that only blooms under the moon¡±. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After turning left for the last time Alexander arrived at the center of the maze that was being illuminated by midnight flowers, this scene was something that he expected but among the clusters of flowers that grew abundantly was a girl standing at the center of the patch. The girl must¡¯ve noticed his arrival since she turned around and greeted him with a smile ¡°Oh! I didn¡¯t expect that someone would be here in this hour¡± the girl said looking at Alexander with her red crimson eyes. From Alexander¡¯s observation the girl was five to ten centimeters taller, determining her age to be two years older than him, her pair of strong and confident crimson eyes and her long golden blond hair that reached her waist was something that was more of a marker to her identity. ¡°I too didn¡¯t expect that a Duke¡¯s daughter would wonder around in here in the middle of the party¡± Alexander said confidently ¡°Oh! It would seem that the rumors about the prince being a clever is quite true¡± ¡°And you¡¯re basing that on?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple...¡± The girl said reaching her hand out to him which made Alexander confused by her actions, curious, he tried to question her but before he could voice out his question, something quickly passed by him. That something, was a black bat that gently landed on the girls fingers, hanging upside down and as if it was made from Ice the bat slowly melted with the liquid like substance dripping from it merging with the girl shadow. As this spectacle made Alexander stare at her in awe the girl then slowly talked ¡°This occasion is for the celebration for his Highness the prince 5th birthday, while I was inside I memorized all the faces of the guest that attended including the kids that came with them, at first I thought that your family must¡¯ve came in late since you weren¡¯t there earlier but I then dismissed it...¡± With the bat completely merged with her shadow the girl then slowly walked toward his direction ¡°Your attitude, the way that you addressed me was quite brazen knowing that I came from a family of higher status second to the royal family which suggested that you also must¡¯ve came from a Duke¡¯s family or higher but as I¡¯ve said before, a duke is only second to the royal family so either you came from a Duke¡¯s house or a part of the Royal Family itself comparing the two, the later has a higher chance with the other...¡± ¡°And with my shadow that I left at maze''s entrance I was able track your movement inside this maze, locating the center of it a minute earlier than I was.¡± The girl stopped a few steps away from Alexander and then, she bowed her head and holding the two end of her magenta colored gown, she did an elegantly curtsy. ¡°Your age, status and your familiarity with this maze, lead me to think that you must be his prince Alexander or are you going to deny it and tell me that you''re the caretaker of this garden dressed in that clothing?¡± she jokingly added Alexander didn¡¯t change, minus the bowtie that he took off since it was getting uncomfortable for him, he was wearing the same attire he wore during the party. ¡°No, you right...¡± With all of those facts that the girl said it was hard to deny all of it, not like he was going to deny it though. ¡°Then prince, please let me introduce myself, I am Rushella Drakul De Trares as you¡¯ve guessed I am the daughter of the Duke Belmont, pleased to be of your acquaintance prince¡± ¡°For someone who said my actions were quite bold aren¡¯t you doing the same?¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t like all the unnecessary pleasantries that¡¯s all¡± The girl honestly answered. Usually, ¡°your highness¡± ¡°his or her highness¡± and such were the proper terms in addressing the prince and princess of royalties, while on the other hand addressing a royalty to their corresponding titles is still within the bonds of etiquette but only individuals that are close to them are able to call them that lightly. ¡°Since you don¡¯t like it, it¡¯s fine if you call me by my name and in return is it okay if I call you by yours?¡± seeing the girl¡­ Rushella was being familiar with him, Alexander found it better if Rushella calls her by his name rather than feeling uncomfortable being called ¡°Prince¡± all the time... ¡°Understood, then I¡¯ll call you Alex from now on¡± she replied, even shortening his name. ¡°Ale¡­ nevermind, do you mind if I join you in enjoying the scene?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t and besides it was getting a bit lonely with just me around enjoying this view, so having someone to watch it with would be splendid¡± Rushella replied... With Rushella¡¯s permission, Alexander walked to a spot that he usually use when watching the midnight flowers bloom, moving to where it was, Alexander then sat there with his back leaning against the hedge with Rushella following suit, sitting a few centimeter away from him. With the two of them like that... Time slowly passed with the two of them peacefully enjoying the flowers bloom. Although this was their first meeting and there were things that they wanted to ask each other but looking at the flowers that were blooming, the two them thought¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll ask after this is over...¡± For now they just wanted to enjoy the calm-silence and beauty that they are looking on. Not talking was their way of not breaking the serenity they are currently experiencing... By doing so they hoped that time would stop¡­ forever, so that they... could somehow forget their current situation¡­ But... But time wouldn¡¯t stop by just wishing for it to So Instead of stopping... It moved slowly¡­ slowly, just for the two, it moved ever... so¡­. slowly¡­ Knowing that time won¡¯t stop for them¡­ And knowing that working for their wishes for it come true¡­ was better than waiting for it happen¡­ Each of them vowed to strive to see their dreams to come true¡­ For Rushella it was something¡­ Trivial Something so insignificant¡­ so superficial¡­ so¡­ simple, that if someone hears it¡­ They might just laugh at her¡­ But for her who has a responsibility to her race. It was something that she had to abandon. But for a girl like her, she still hoped that... someday¡­ It may come true¡­ And for Alexander, It was something that was deemed¡­ Impossible from the very beginning¡­ Even with all the Wealth...Fame¡­and influence. Even with the warmth of a family that he had once forgotten... Every time he closes his eyes and dreams¡­ He always see the same dream. Eating breakfast with the person that took care of him after his parent¡¯s death... Going to school and being bossed by the girl that he hated but¡­ also loved¡­ And then fulfilling it with a kiss under the evening sunset... only to end on that same day on a stormy night... Wakin¡¯ up everyday for the last years with the same end Made his longing resolve stronger¡­ made him think¡­ That even if it was impossible¡­ With the help of magic¡­ With the help of something that ¡®that reality¡¯ didn¡¯t have and with it, He will go to their side to fulfill his promise. And with that the two of them silently vowed in their hearts that no matter what, one way or another, the two of them will fulfill their Desires.. Cah! Cah! Cah! A sharp cry of an animal suddenly broke the silence that they were experiencing. Alexander frowned as he search for the origin of the noise, while Rushella stood up from her position and just like before raised her hands in front of her.. Alexander already expected what would happen seeing her next action. Moments later a crow that two times bigger than normal came from the bustling castle and landed on her arms. And with her back facing Alexander,she talked softly with the crow. The crow only looked at Rushella for a moment and then flew off to where it came. With the crow gone, Rushella turned around. ¡°It would seem that my 12th o¡¯clock has arrived and the magic that my fairy god mother has casted on me will now disappear, I enjoyed your presence Alex but It is time that I must leave.¡± using a soft voice she bid her farewell to Alexander. Alexander stood and did a courteous bow ¡°I too enjoyed your presence¡­ so does her lady needed an escort to get out of this maze¡± he jokingly added Even though it was short amount of time he really did in all of the essence of the word enjoyed it. Though they didn¡¯t talk much during their time when they watched the midnight flowers bloom, just sitting beside each other was enough to tide over their curiosity to one another. ¡°Fufu~¡± seeing his action, a stifled laughter came from her; ¡°My it looks like his highness is quite the gentleman but it¡¯s fine I already remember my way out of here and before I leave...¡± Declining his offer, she then stopped talking midway. Alexander raised his head to see what was stalling her only to be surprised. The distance between them shortened with her hand reaching out and holding his cheeks. ¡°My gift to the birthday celebrant¡± saying so, she blocked Alexander¡¯s lips with hers¡­ and as fast as their lips touched one another that too was how fast it ended. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything that will fancy your interest which is why I hope that my lips should suffice for a gift¡± she said, as she look at him mischievously. It would seem that she was satisfied with Alexander¡¯s reaction to her sudden gift that she left while almost skipping her steps a few times leaving him in a daze. Different from the time with Sophia, where he only felt embarrassment due to his sister antics. When Rushella and his lips touched an image of ¡®her¡¯ suddenly flashed through his thoughts which tightly gripped his heart making him feel guilty about what he just did, even though the one who initiated it wasn¡¯t him. Which made him realize that even though his relationship with her only lasted for a short moment, his feelings for her was already buried... lodge deeply inside his soul. Realizing this, it only made his resolve stronger and he slowly review his plans for the future. Letting his body fall, he lay down with his limbs sprawled on the grass, with the midnight flowers blooming around him his gaze was locked up on the night skies, where the twin crescent moons with the countless stars were glowing brightly along the carpet of darkness. Looking at that scene, he closed his eyes, recreating his last moments of his life on that other reality. Ignoring the cold, discomfort and weakness that he felt as his consciousness faded, Filtering the sounds that he heard until he could only hear one familiar voice¡­ ¡°Please don¡¯t leave me--¡± It was weak and fable far from her usual confident voice, as if she was chanting a prayer, her pleas kept repeating and repeating until it became distorted because of her sobbings and even though it hurt him so hearing her cry, he still kept repeating it, every plea she made in his mind he would reply with words of comfort and reassurance: ¡°Please don¡¯t worry¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t cry¡± And ¡°Please wait for me¡± ... Until he slept, he kept repeating these words in his heart hoping that the person herself would somehow hear them. === I don''t have anything to rant since I wasn''t expecting to post 1 chapter today.... And yeah! as I''ve said I''ll switch to weekly updates from now on there won''t be any set date or schedule just that I will release at least 1 chap per week that all over and out! Thank you for reading! Impressions, typographical errors, and constructive criticism, anything! I will welcome them in your comments! Credits to: JFG - writer and author Shadow Silence- PR CIAO~ and best regards from JFG Edit: I''m really sorry It looks like I pasted the unedited version of chapter 4 by mistake but I''ve already fixed it hehehe.... :D Really sorry about that guys it look like I was half asleep while I was posting it.