I felt the light touch on my face as it passed through the window. I groaned a little as I turned to my side and felt the pain in my arms and legs. My muscles were strained as I had never really trained them so far. I got up slowly and started jumping a bit to relax my strained muscles.

It had been two weeks since I came to this palace. I had been enjoying my life so far, even the training as well. There were some things that I had come to despise though. Study of Etiquettes being one of them. Thankfully, we wouldn’t be going through that hell today.

I freshened myself up and made my way towards the dining hall. As I was going through the corridor, I heard my name being called in a high pitched voice.

"MEHR!! WAIT FOR ME!"

I looked back to see Sirius coming towards me while running lightly. He came by my side and put his hand on my shoulder as he began speaking.

"We'll be learning mana utilisation today!!!"

"I know, Sirius. How could I not? When you've only been saying that same exact thing for the past 3 days."

"Well, isn't this exciting? We'll learn how to use mana! I wonder if Mother will teach us how to fly?!"

I wonder, too, as to what prompted me to agree to her proposition that night. If I knew that this child blabbers on this much, I would have refused….. probably.

The conversation between Lady Maria and I was quite interesting, at the very least. I can't say I learned anything eventful, but I believe I made the right decision.

As we kept moving through the corridor, the conversation of that night blurred past in my mind…..

……...

“And what exactly do you need from me?”

It was quite amazing to see the look of shock and surprise wash over her face. She kept looking at me as I stood there and waited for her reply.

“You seem quite mature for a 4 year old child. I wonder who exactly you are?”

“Hmm? I had imagined you would know.”

Lady Maria kept her gaze fixated on me as she played with the pendant in her hands.

“Quite an ancient one, isn’t it? …….Oh, looks like it hides the influence you create on mana. Seems like something a heinous convict, trying to escape from judgement, would be using this. Not some little child who is a bit mature for his age.”

Her eyes gleamed as she kept examining the pendant. Her grip had slightly tightened as compared to before and her eyes were gazing at it intently.

She sure is taking an awful amount of time….

"Looks like it doesn't do anything more than that… Just a way to hide your mana signature. Is ….. someone looking for you?"

"How much do you know about me?"

I asked, in a gentle tone, as I looked into her eyes. She let go off the pendant, backed off and simply smiled as she started speaking.

"Nothing, really. We just knew someone would come. Someone who will be necessary for the future. I…... hadn't imagined it to be a child though."

She knew I would come here? Necessary for the future…... Is she really with Sir Ghost? But she doesn't recognize the pendant…

"And….. how did you know that I would come here?"

I noticed, perhaps, an inkling of nostalgia in her eyes as she gazed up to the starry night sky. She sighed and continued to talk.

"Someone had told me… a very long time ago."

Very long time ago… Well, that doesn't make any sense.

"How did you know it was me? I mean I could very easily not be the one you were waiting for."

Lady Maria turned her eyes towards me and read my eyes with her's. She took a moment before answering my question.

"No, it is you. There is no doubt about it. And as for what you asked before- what we need from you….. Well, that's quite simple actually. Just stay with our Son. He doesn't have any friends; to protect him, we had never allowed him to meet other people much. He…. has a lot of responsibilities."

"Isn't he just a child, though?"

".....You speak as if you're an adult." Lady Maria smiled at me as she looked into my eyes.

"Yes, he is just a child. But he is destined to be someone great. He…. will shine brighter than everyone. And for that reason, there are many people who want him to be in good company. And many..… who would try to harm him if they knew of his existence."

"But why do you trust me so much? You have never even tried to ask about me."

Lady Maria was smiling while looking at me. She approached me and kneeled down to get on my eye level. She gently dusted my clothes, the same dusty old rag that I had been wearing.

"I was told not to inquire about you. Who you are, where you come from and everything else would be off limits."

That's odd. Very odd.

"But why would you listen to them to this degree?"

"Well, they are higher ups, to put it simply. I can't tell you more than that."

"Higher ups? Like the bystanders in the hall?"

Lady Maria snickered. It was quite odd seeing her smiling with only one corner of her mouth lifted up. And with her cold eyes, the combination was something I wouldn't want to see again.

"Those people? They were in the hall because of their status in the kingdom. Nothing more. Their worth is less than sniveling worms in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, you'll be living here from now on, as long as you want. But you'd need to make yourself presentable, boy."

Lady Maria stood up, held my hand and started walking towards Sirius and the beasts. While I had some amount of information, it sure wasn’t enough. I still didn’t know what their intentions were.

“So, there are some higher ups who want me to live with Sirius, for some reason. That's what they want. What do you want though?”

Lady Maria kept walking while holding my hand. She had slowed her pace after listening to my question as she gazed at Sirius. For a moment, I thought I had seen a ghost as I saw something akin to love spread in her cold eyes.

“I… just want Sirius’ happiness. Nothing else.”