My name is Erna Alasia the only child and daughter of the archduke William Alasia. Due to this I was always treated preciously from when I was born and countless resources had been put into my future development.

Fortunately I was very talented at everything I did and all of my parent’s effort hadn’t gone to waste. However, because of my talent I was made to work even harder, leaving no time to live a life of a normal child.

Thankfully I latter managed to become friends with the prince and princess of the country and could sometimes take my time to play with them, since they were the only people who were worth spending time with instead of studying, according to my father.

The only other thing that kept me going, were the books in the library. Since the first time I read a book, I gained a passion for them and continued quickly reading them one after another, soon this became my usual day cycle, studying and reading while sometimes having Sarah and Brendon, visit.

After some time my parents noticed that my biggest talent laid in combat, my magic and swordsmanship were impeccable, so they found me a teacher, Arnold, an old experienced knight. His lessons were always strict and exhausting, but after some time I noticed that he was actually very caring and kind, making me grow fond of him though the years.

During the time I had for resting there were many time I wanted to give up, not only with combat training, but with learning in general, I was just a young girl at the time and all of it was too much for me to handle. However every time I endured the desire and continued.

The reason for this was ironically my fiancé, Ariel Whitestone. I had learned about him quite a while back, but I also heard many rumors about him, he was someone with a frail body and unable to practise magic, someone you would call a trash with his only handsomeness as his redeeming quality.

Unfortunately I hadn’t met him then and didn’t put much thought into him besides always using his situation as a motivation to continue going. One day however, my friends, Sarah and Brendon spoke about him. Unexpectedly they had an extremely good impression of him.

Brendon showed a lot of respect and admiration in his tone for him, while Sarah’s voice contained a sliver of infatuation that I managed to detect when she talked about how handsome he was. Although they had such a good opinion of him, I still didn’t really feel like he was someone I would like and would in a heartbeat let Sarah take my place, if I could.

Don’t mistake it for me looking down on him, but due to my continued lessons and training I dreamt about marrying not only handsome, but also intelligent and extremely powerful man. There was actually a person I had witnessed and developed crush on some time ago. His name was Luke Voyar, the heir to the only other archduke of the realm.

He had golden haired and blue eyes, with the most handsome face I had ever seen. The same as me, he was a magic warrior only he wasn’t a dual one, having only the light element. However girls had fallen in love at first sight when they saw him fight in a competition and I was the same. If I hadn’t been engaged to Ariel, maybe I would have been to Luke, since we were both heirs to an archduke. Thoughts like these always kept coming to my mind, even if I knew it was wrong.

Time went by and I slowly got came to terms with it, understanding that there was nothing I could do. When finally the time came for me to go to The Academy I was very excited, but at the same time nervous. Even though it contained the freedom and friends I always wanted, I would also meet the person I will marry in the future.

With a heavy heart I arrived at The Academy and took the test, which was quite easy for me. The day soon ended and I passed, I spent the night in my dorm where I met my friend Sarah, who confirmed that Ariel had also come. Next day I was still feeling concerned about meeting my fiancé after I woke up, du to that I took a walk through the courtyard. After some time I suddenly heard some commotion and decide to see what happened.

That was the first time I had ever seen my fiancé, the only reason I could recognize the man in front of me as Ariel, was surprisingly because of Sarah’s descriptions. Even I had to admit that he was more handsome than Luke, no, the most handsome person in the kingdom.

His looks were what you would call perfection, making even me, who was usually not attracted by looks, feel dazed. I quickly called out to him when he was about to enter the building again, I confirmed that he was indeed my fiancé, the person that I was engaged to for all these years.

Unfortunately before I could speak wit him more, Sarah arrived and interrupted out conversation. I noticed that she felt jealous, so I didn’t do anything to aggravate her, unlike her brother. Although it was a bit concerning about how to deal with this triangle, I left it for the future and didn’t want to think about it too much.

I was very glad our first meeting didn’t end too awkwardly, but getting used to talking with each other was still a bit difficult. AS time went by the relationship between us progressed a little, but nowhere near of being that of a fiancé and his fiancée.

One thing that did influence us deeply was the love for books that both of us shared. We would spend time talking in the library and unknowingly grew closer due to that. However one of the biggest changes happened at the newcomer competition.

There was an instance before when a duke heir named Vern came to pester us, or more exactly, me. Although I tried to hide my feeling, my friends probably noticed that the person repulsed me, because of his petty obsession and the way he looked at me. At that time Ariel stood up and denounced him, ending up with a situation where Vern was going to challenge him at competition.

Naturally I was quite worried, any girl would have her heart beat if her fiancé stood up and shielded her like this, but due to this Ariel, who didn’t have any strength would be in danger. But no matter how hard we tried to change his mind he refused to give in.

Powerlessly, I could only watch to see if his confidence hid something, or hope that a miracle would happen. On the day of the competition I experienced a shock like no other. Never had I thought that he had hidden his power like this and was fooling everyone.

Being one of the rare variants, an ice one to be precise, who also had a high rank, he crushed Vern at every confrontation. It was a dominant victory for him as he took care of everything Vern threw at him. Watching the scene I could do nothing but stare.

Since I always revered the strong, naturally my opinion of Ariel increased by a large amount, and slowly I started to feel like he was more and more like my ideal man. Even the painting of Luke in my mind slowly started to be taken over by the absurdly beautiful face.

As you have guest, after the competition the relationship between us kept developing and soon the second event happened, which made me look even more favourably at him, the camping of the purple wilds. It was an event where we went to special dimension to look for magic beast to contract and become out companion, this was exclusive for mages.

To get to the point, when entering the purple wilds, all of the students were separated, although the world was quite small and you could find each other with little difficulty. I concentrated on searching for a fitting beast which would impress my friends, so there were a lot of times I was in trouble, but nothing serious.

However one day I got extremely unlucky, I found a heard of unicorns, I had already heard that there were some here, which were groomed by the Academy itself, but it was still a sight to behold. The unlucky part came after that, when a chimera appeared out of nowhere, almost ambushing and instantly killing me.

I quickly tried to run, but after some time I noticed that the chimera would eventually catch up, so instead of wasting my strength I confronted it. Although I managed quite well, considering at the disparity in ranks, I was still slowly pushed back and started falling into despair.

At that time, suddenly an ice spell hit the chimera from the side. Turning my head I felt shocked seeing Ariel running towards me. When I tried to tell him to not get involved, he ignored my words and simply cast some spells before telling me to go get some help.

I tried to reject leaving him however he resolutely ordered me to go, leaving no room to refuse. That was the fastest run of my life as I put all of my left over strength into my legs to run just a bit faster and find someone. Unfortunately vent though I found Brendon and Sarah, by the time we reached Ariel, he had a dead chimera biting into his hand, and a ridiculous amount of blood covering him.

Luckily he was still alive, but when he calmly spoke and told what happened after waking up, I constantly kept remembering about how he came to save me, which made my heart each time beat a little faster. This was the second thing that happened which influenced my feelings.

The last time was just a couple of days ago. Several months had passed since the travel to the purple wilds and nothing interesting happened since. I and Sarah decide to have some girl time and meet up at the Academy’s café, spending some time chatting about all kinds of things.

There was nothing strange at first, but slowly I began to grow more wary, I felt something was wrong, and just on cue several black clothed figures attacked us. Thankfully I was on guard and we managed to dodge the most dangerous attack, which would have instantly knocked us out.

But Sarah seemed to have become unable to fight. She was used to battling against monsters, but humans were a bit different, and the unexpected development also juggled her mind. When she calmed down a little, I told her to leave and inform someone about this sneak attack, although Sarah was very reluctant she heeded my command.

Soon, only I and a large amount of black clothed men were left in the room. After that, a difficult battle ensued. I fought desperately, my skill were much better than theirs, but there were simply too many of them. After downing several dozens of them I slipped up and got hit unconscious.

The next time I woke up, I was in a dark, damp dungeon with barely nay light surrounding me. I had remembered how I was captured, just before my capturer appeared before me, Duke Revor, the father of Vern, someone who was quite likely to do such an act.

Naturally I tried to ask why he did this, but it ended in failure as he tried to gain the secrets of our family. He used several ways to torture me without inflicting serious damage, and although it was so painful I wanted to cry, I always kept remembering my father’s words to always stay strong and never to betray the house. Gritting my teeth I endured, the slowly, hellish torture, when suddenly the reinforced door of the dungeon was blown off.

Through it came the already familiar silhouette of Ariel, seeing his handsome face I could do nothing but cry out to him in happiness. He slowly came and calmed me down with a gentle expression on his face. I had already unknowingly started feeling safe around him, and feared he would leave me.

From then on a battle ensued between him and the duke, I myself was unable to see since Ariel put a protective wall around me. However I clearly heard when the duke’s son apparently died and he lost himself in rage.

When the ice walls got destroyed I grew fearful, but also happy that I could see what was happening and not be anxious. Unfortunately the duel didn’t go in a very favourable direction as I saw the duke cast a powerful spell directly at me.

A giant ball of flame started heading towards me, but in front of me I could see the reliable back of Ariel. I don’t know when he became so precious to me and I stated to trust him so much, however I quickly started praying for his safety.

The next moment an explosion occurred, shaking the entire manor. I waited for the dust to clear, but when I saw the bloody body of Ariel, barely standing there, I broke out into tears as I desperately called out his name.

Ariel fell to the ground and at the same time I started to shake uncontrollably. Just at that time, the duke finally directed his gaze at me and spoke with a hysteric laugh. “Really now, a prince charming tried to save the princess, but need up like this. You are probably in love with him from the way I see it. I wonder how much pain you are experiencing now.”

His words gave me a realization. I might have truly fallen for him, but it is too late, what should I do now. The duke watched my changing expressions with amusement and was just about to speak again, when suddenly something happened.

Ariel’s body, which should have already grown cold, started to stand up with out a word. I was shocked, but at the same time relief flooded me as I watched him. However something was different, Ariel had and even more expressionless face and spoke.

“You had quite a bit of fun hadn’t you? I think it is time form me enjoy, myself.” His cold words rang out as Mana started to gather around him. The duke grew panicked as he saw this and spoke while trembling. “How is this happening, you should have been dead, and even if not so, you shouldn’t have any Mana left.”

Ariel didn’t reply as he stretched out his hand. Suddenly vines made out of ice with beautiful flowers growing on them, started to spring out the ground, slowly enveloping the duke. The person in question grew horrified and tried to defend, but his Mana has already dried up.

He screamed in pain as the vine’s thorns pierced his skin, while Ariel spoke. “This is your punishment, now die.” With his words countless more vines appeared and surrounded the duke, soon there were no more sounds heard form the other side.

I saw Ariel give me the last final look, before he fell down on the ground. From then on it was as you already know. I and Sarah stayed by his side day and night, waiting for him to wake up. One day we had awoke when Ariel gained back his consciousness and spoke with the elder, but both off us acted as if we were still sleeping.

Only when the elder left and we felt the Ariel relaxed, die we look up. Just in time to see Ariel make a radiant smile, the first smile I had ever seen on him and also them most beautiful smile I witnessed in my life. My face got red and my heart started beating faster.

Recalling the words said by the duke before, I slowly started accepting my feelings. However at the same time I felt too weak, Ariel had to save my life so many times already. I knew that if I wanted to stay on his level I had to get stronger as fast as possible.

With these thought in mind I slowly drifted off to sleep, while listening Ariel’s calm breath, and making an oath to myself.

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If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/ I will always have an extra chapter there