Mei Ruan April 27th, 20XX

Cai sent me a toothy grin as I undid the spell and quickly flipped himself upright, shaking his head to rearrange his curly hair around his face.

“ You would never harm me-”

He paused and the goofy smile slipped off his face for a split second but popped up again like it had never left.

“ Well, not while you’re in your right mind anyway.”

He took an obvious poke at the past with his words but fluttered away towards the miniature obstacle course before I could respond.

He was more comfortable around me now than before, although I wasn't quite sure what had triggered the change.

My attention was drawn from the topic to the contraption as the prince began to put it together but even before he was completed I was already amazed.

Honestly, it was incredible, what he had accomplished but I couldn't help but be worried.

To begin, males were less competent than females in magic. It wasn't due to anymore or fewer resources than were available but was just a biological fact, an unfair advantage written into our genes that everyone except Cai was aware of.

Royalty or not, such a thing was impossible unless…… his mother had given him all her power when she had died.

I quickly shook my head to rid it of the thoughts even before they completely formed.

The prince’s life was more than complicated enough without adding such an element to it.

Were anyone to find out or even suspect it than any thoughts of a simplistic life as he seemed determined to achieve would fly out of the window.

Besides we had all felt the death of the royal and the massive wave of magic that flooded through the land.

Maybe the Prince was just a prodigy or perhaps just lucky.

The fact that he as a royal already had a larger magic capacity than others would have helped but maybe growing up without the bias that other fairies grew up with had proved to be an advantage.

It was a concept worth investigating

At the prince’s request, I began to push my magic through the course and he stood to the side gathering his magic around him. After a few deep breaths, he brought out his wand and began to use it to conduct the magic through the mannequins.

I was caught off guard at the sight of the wand, a wonderful construction of Marian heartwood and the silk of the Auronea Malizesider.

Marian heartwood was found in the heart of the Marian heart tree an ancient and notoriously vicious species in contrast to their charming name, their hearts were sought out as top-class wand materials because they were virtually indestructible even at their outer shells.

The Auronea malizesider was a golden spider that is known for its incredible magic blocking and amplification skills that could turn a simple water ball spell back at its caster as a flood.

Of course, only someone as craz- brave as the previous queen would go through such lengths to get materials just to make a wand, especially for a prince that under normal circumstances would never inherit the throne.

Hundreds of threads attached themselves to the puppet as well, controlling every joint and acting as muscles, flexing and relaxing in a pattern so perfect it was almost grotesque. The strands slowly sank through its hard wooden exterior and settled in, glowing from the inside out.

As the machine whirred to life a puppet animated to life and stepped up to the platform, even going as far as to do a few stretches and test motions in place.

Once the prince was satisfied he let the puppet run the course as he had done before, manipulating his magic both through the figurine as well as to pass the course.

The puppet ended up finishing with only 2 minutes left on the clock, a downright pathetic result in comparison to our previous scores but considering that it was an inanimate object being controlled by someone’s magic while they cast supporting spells... It was a downright terrifying result.

The Prince released the puppet when it reached the ending platform and it crumbled into itself without the support of the prince’s magic, but I had no liberty to pay attention to it as the prince flew towards me with an annoyingly bashful expression on his face.

Anyone else would have come back with a smug or arrogant expression and it would have been deserved, so to see his current expression it could only come across as snide even though I was completely aware of how far from the truth that was.

“ It's more of a toy than a training exercise, I know, but I couldn't find a way to make it any more challenging than it already is… and even if I did, I'm not sure I would be able to run it”

The fact that he had been able to take apart my original machine, even with the blueprints I’d provided, and recreate it into such a thing was incredible in itself, never mind that he had managed to operate it.

To use object manipulation spells, puppetry spells, flight, and shield spell all at once? I was afraid that even if I tried, with all my skills I wouldn't be much better than him.

“ No such thing Cai. This is incredible! How on earth did you think to come up with this?”

I could definitely see the similarities between this and some children's toys that had risen in popularity recently. But those only required the child to run magic through it in no particular pattern or strength. The toy would act as a sort of physical spell and would route the magic in a pattern which would manifest as a spell that would move the toys in predetermined motions.

I had been amused by the toys when I had first seen them, but this? What the prince had done? It was nothing short of incredible.

As the prince went into an explanation I could only stare him down and thought to myself.

What sort of monster am I preparing myself to marry?

Not that I was anything except impressed and awed, but to think that the kid who had passed out from magic exhaustion less than a month ago would already be able to do this?

It made me shudder in thought and perhaps in anticipation of the future.