Kira glanced at the beautiful child in the mirror; she should be feeling nervous right now since there was a possibility she she had no mana. People without mana cannot use magic. As the daughter of the Grand Duke of the North, she was pretty sure she could leech off her brother when he became the heir. Her father wouldn't mind taking care of her either since he promised to take care of the three of them to his late wife, the princess.

"Sister, you don't have to be nervous," Esternon worriedly assured when he noticed she was lost in thought. "If everything comes to worst, you have me, father, and this little brat," he pointed to the three-year-old child bouncing and bed; when the latter saw his scrunched-up face, he also tried to copy it while making gurgling sounds.

The silver-haired girl was a little amused; she was not worried since she could feel mana inside her from birth. It was a little odd since that did not exist in her previous body. It even made her hysterical and at the brink of death a couple of times when she was young since she could not handle the energy inside her.

Thank goodness she managed to figure it out, or she would lose her second life. She plans to slack in this life, after all.

"Don't worry, brother, I am not worried –" she truthfully muttered under her breath, "– I'm just grateful for the duchy and all the people here. In return, I want to take care of all of you until old age," then continued it with a lie. She wanted to stay unmarried, childless, and living in the countryside while using up her soon-to-be hard-earned money.

Her brother did not seem to want to let the topic go. Nonetheless, when he saw the resolute gaze on the girl's eyes, he decided to drop the subject.

Kira was in no way ungrateful; she would try to help and plan for the territory so that she could live in peace once her older brother married and had taken the helm in leading the duchy. Among the four Grand Dukes, the Duke of the North was the most wealthy. They had spearheaded the communication with the merchant guild 300 years ago, so they had the chance to keep their power and noble title until now.

Regarding power, there were two families much more powerful than them – they were the Irvin and Vos family that had held the two Archduchy since the establishment of the Empire. You could say they were treated as the left and right hands of the Emperor, and it was necessary to balance the power in Yves.

"Are you almost done?" Esternon inquired with apparent boredness in his voice.

Nodding while checking her reflection in the mirror, the now six-year-old girl felt she looked overdressed as she stared at herself longer. "Almost. Do you know you are not needed here, right? You only have to wait for me at the great hall."

"What do you mean? Of course, I needed to be here, and you don't even have your maids with you."

"That's because it is improper for them to be here while preparing for the mana aptitude test –" raising her eyebrow, she continued, "– plus, even if you are allowed since we're blood-related, men and women should observe propriety."

"I call bullshit. When have we ever done that?" The boy remarked, a little irritated as he let himself fall on her bed. Doing so, their little brother bounced that made him giggle.

The silver-haired girl swiftly snatched her little brother beside Esternon and carried the baby in her arms. Her older brother said that they never observed proper etiquette in closed doors unless ordered by her father. Their family was prestigious; however, they made sure to never adhere to the practices strictly. From what they believed, these rules around nobility were made for other nobility to watch.

They had no one to perform inside their own homes; there was no need to make it hard for themselves.

After making sure that her dress was not crumpled while she carried Al – her baby brother – she went outside of the room with the now grumpy silver-haired boy in tow. They let themselves be ushered by the maids patiently outside the room to the great hall to which the aptitude test would be held. Usually, essential gatherings would be held here depending on the importance; they only need to move the tables and chairs to fit the required guest number.

Surveying the great luxurious hall with her eyes, she felt desensitized with the family's wealth. There were many people this time; some servants announced her arrival, which made all the guests put their eyes on her while she carefully gave Al to a trusted maid beside her. Making her way in front of the hall, she did not even try to meet anyone's eyes and only stared at magus in the middle.

Is this some sort of baptismal? Why are there a lot of people? She pondered as she stepped onto the platform.

A circular glass ball with a long sturdy base attached from the ground up to her head was in front. The base was made of gold and was encrusted with a lot of jewels. The magus was beside her, behind a table that was full of magi-operated artifacts she was not familiar with. The man was wearing a long robe that surprisingly did not reach the ground.

"You can now touch the crystal," the middle-aged man instructed as he stood in front of her.

This was Kira's first time encountering a magus that wore ceremonial robes since her father did not bother with other pretenses when he was at home. Curiously looking at the magus in question, she felt that they were not that amazing after all.

It did not take long for the crystal to change color to light blue. It glowed brightly for a few seconds, then suddenly dimmed.

"Congratulations, Your Grace! It seems you have another ice age in the family!" The man exclaimed to the Grand Duke as he came down on the platform to shake hands with her father.

The Grand Duke seemed happy and had a slight smile on his stoic face. "I would also like to thank you, High Mage."

The white crystal ball only tests for the existence and the type of magic in a person's body. The glowing of the ball means there was mana inside the body; the color symbolizes the kind of magic the magicians had. This did not mean that there could only be one type of magic inside the magi, what it means was the magic they could control, and they had a lot of that type.

In unusual occurrences, the existence of two types of mana could either be a blessing or a curse. If a person had a big mana reserve, that means he could freely control the two, while if they had a small reserve, then that only means they could more or less perform small magic tricks here and there.

After a short while, the High Mage finished the ceremony. They continued to the after-party, which could also be treated as her birthday celebration.

"High Mage, we are prepared to leave." A voice mentioned behind him.

They were preparing to leave, the Grand Duke insisted on spending the night in the Grand Duchy. But they were busy people; they could not afford to waste time. In the first place, they had only given face to the man since he was a powerful mage and also part of the nobility. If others tried to pull the same stunt and invited a high mage from the council, they would not receive a reply.

The middle-aged man turned around with a sigh, removed his robe, and passed it onto the apprentice mage beside him. "You go first. I would take care of things here."

The man beside him bowed his head and silently got out of the room.

He had already talked with the Grand Duke; he confirmed there were no problems with his girl. On the contrary, it made him feel more worried since there was more to this noble family than meets the eye from what he could see. He had met many people, especially in his younger years, and they could not compare with the child he met today.

He was fond of the girl, and strangely he wanted to take in this girl as an apprentice, but she was too young. Maybe he could come back after a few years, he thought. This was because the more you grow in power, the longer your life span would be; it would not be a problem if he waited for another decade or so.

Glancing back on the crystal ball in front of him, he felt like he still had a long way before him. Grabbing the crystal's jewel-encrusted base, he quickly lifted it with his right hand and put the ball inside the storage bag he was holding with his left hand. The bag was small, but there were magic circles that made it a larger space inside to store anything freely as long as he minds the remaining storage.

"Huh?" He whispered as he noticed a tiny crack on the crystal surface.

Crystal balls used for aptitude tests of mana reserves were not delicate as others would think. Today was an era of magic, and they could protect anything using spells or magic circles. Since using crystals was essential in finding potential magus candidates, it would make sense they would do their best to protect it.

The High Mage tried to remember if the crack existed before coming to the Grand Duchy or if it appeared after. He decided to think of it when he came back to his quarters in the magic tower. If it broke after the aptitude test of the little girl, then there was a problem. Which means he needs to do more paperwork than usual.

The middle-aged man exited the room with a huff and an annoyed face.