14 days after the explosion - The palace

Hell week for the prince was actually heaven for Aria. Since she couldn't read or count really well, not because she couldn't learn, but because she wasn't interested in learning (her family tried for years but give up in the end), she could do whatever she wanted while the prince was busy with the paperwork

And not only did she get a lot of free time to train during that week, she also got her first disciple. Of course she wasn't sure how to train her since she had never done it before, but after consulting with a couple of people, she did manage to make a proper training regimen for her and was quite pleased with the result

At the start of every day, she would go to Lina's room and when Lina was ready, the two of them would to the training room to start their practice. Aria would do her normal training while keeping an eye on Lina since what Lina had to do was pretty basic. First, Lina would do a light run around the training room while trying to use her inner mana without running out of it, and after she would rest a little while and do some swings with a practice sword while also taking proper form and using as much mana as possible without running out

This exercise was made to both improve her mana control, increase her mana capacity and train her body without hindering her growth since training too much in a young age could have adverse effects.

After around an hour or 2 of training, they would take a quick bath and go to the dinner room to have breakfast with everyone else. Unlike herself and Lina, the prince and Susan were deadly tired and with a miserable face that grow worse every passing day. Of course, she felt a little guilty, especially with Susan since she mostly made her do all the work, but she would be lying if she says she wasn't enjoying her freedom right now.

In the end, after breakfast she would keep her training while Lina went to her normal classes with her maid and prince and Susan went back to Paperwork Hell. She heard that prince tried to escape multiple times, so she also had to help with guard duty at night since they had to increase his room security, but she enjoyed her training the rest of the day.

Well, at least she kept that routine until the prince managed to escape after one week of hell. That's when the whole castle went into a frenzy trying to find where the prince was, but no one could find him after searching every corner of the palace and even Sebastian, that knew most secret passages, couldn't find him. So in the end most people did they normal jobs and Susan and most people in Hell paperwork took a day off, without anyone complaining

Most people in the palace understood why he ran away since that much reading and signing and reading and signing would drive most people insane after a while. They weren't too worried that he would run away since they checked that he hasn't taken anything valuable from the palace and they doubt he would work for money since he was a useless leech NEET

In the end, the prince returned around midnight and with the help of some more guards lend by the duke, he had 8 guards guarding his room, with no chance of escape from now on

15 days after the explosion - The palace

Aria found her room a little empty now that Elena wasn't around, but she still got up every morning to do her regular training and tried to not think about it. In her way to Lina's room she heard from some maid that the prince returned yesterday and filling like a weight had lifted from her shoulders, she realized she was more worried than she had realized herself. Even so, Aria dismissed as an afterthought and went to Lina's room to give her the good news since she was really worried yesterday

Lina was really happy that the prince was back, but since he was probably still asleep, they went to do her regular training and planned to talk to him at breakfast like every day.

But the prince shows up with Lina's personal maid by himself before they went to the dinner room.

"Uncle!"(Lina) went to the prince and give him a hug

"Hey Lina, is Aria making you work too hard?"(prince) said while stroking her head

"No, I am having fun"(Lina)

"good good, but sadly I need Aria's help with something so you will have to cut today's training short"(prince)

"can I come too"(Lina) asked with a little hope in her eyes

"Sorry"(prince) didn't want to explain, but didn't want to lie also

This made Lina really sad but went to her maid without throwing a tantrum

"So, Go to Susan room right now, she will explain what you had to do"(prince) Left them alone after saying that

Aria was a little confused for the strange turns of events, but after saying goodbye to Lina, she went to Susan's room and when she went inside she found Susan in regular clothes instead of her usual magician cloth

"The prince told me to come here, do you know why?"(Aria)

"yes, he told me to found you some normal cloth you could wear outside"(Susan)

"Then why didn't he ask me to change myself instead of coming here?"(Aria) asked since she didn't understand why she couldn't change herself

"He doesn't trust your common sense, that's why he told me to choose for you instead"(Susan) responded as if it was obvious

Aria felt a little angry at the prince for how little trust he had for her taste, but still chose to wear the cloth Susan chose for her since they were nice. She took a quick bath since she was sweaty after the training and changed her cloth to the ones Susan recommended

When she finished getting ready, she refused the offer from Susan to wear makeup since it was a bother so Susan took Aria to the room the prince told them to meet him. It was an empty guest room that was usually locked, but what surprised them was who was waiting for them inside

It was the magician they were chasing the other day. Aria didn't understand what was he doing there since they were expecting the prince inside but after taking a closer look

"Prince?"(Aria)

"No, just a random guy.......... Of course prince! Why would I call you here otherwise!?"(prince)

"Why are you dressed like that, and weren't you the guy we were chaising the other day?"(Aria)

"We don't have the time and I am not in the mood to explain, just follow me"(prince) didn't bother to explain and just kept going

He went to the closet in the room, and after doing something, he removed the wooden panel at the end of it and a tunnel could be seen behind it.

"Susan, wake up!"(prince) clapped his hand in front of Susan's face and pull her to the tunnel

It seems she was really surprised at the prince disguise and hadn't moved since he revealed himself. Still, both of them follow the prince through the tunnel until they reached a rock wall and after the prince uses a lever, the wall moved, revealing an access to the sewers of the city

"Where are we going"(Aria)

"Just follow me"(prince) still didn't bother to explain and kept going to the sewers until they reached a ladder. He went up, follow by the two of them, and they reached the outside, in the middle of a street

Some people gave them a strange look, but what surprised Aria was the great amount of people in front of the palace. She wonders why, but when she saw the prince push some people to go through the crowd, she and Susan follow him behind

The prince kept going until he reached a podium at the front of the palace and after moving some people who were standing there just watching, he went up there while telling them to go to his side and he gazed at the crowd

And when Aria realized that all the people here were there in a protest against the prince, what shocked her the most wasn't the amount of people in front of her but that the prince, the person all this people came to protest against, was about to address them with a smug face full of confidence

The only thing Aria knew was that she really wanted to join the crowd in protest right now.......

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