“Hm?” XiaXin raised her head to the source of the voice. Blond, short hair, emerald eyes. His gait had an air of supremacy to it, not to mention his shiny clothes that almost made XiaXin squint.

“I presume you are Miss XiaXin?”, he thought when she raised her head, her white porcelain skin and delicate facial figures practically glowed. Her blazing red hair illuminated with a soft marigold light, refining her brazen but still appearance even more.

“Yes, and you are supposed to be?” XiaXin didn’t think that phrasing her word with annoyance would add time to her reading session. She controlled her urge to tell him to tick off by using a voice contained with a mix of surprise to it instead.

“Prince Romeo,” he bowed, “Pleased to meet you Miss XiaXin. What do you think of the books here?”

“These? I love them obviously!” XiaXin replied in an instant. She was, after all, a book addict. It had been over a month since she last touched a book, and when she heard that there was a library, every part of her had been itching to go. “The information that can be found here is impressive. A lot of which I have never ever seen before.” XiaXin didn’t realize, but she forgot her initial impression of him when her geek cogs started running in overdrive.

“I-is that so…” Prince Romeo had a stiff smile on his face, “For example?”

“Chemistry. First time I’ve seen a subject purely based on particle theory. It has such a detailed record of everything,” XiaXin tapped on top of a book close to her, Introduction to Chemistry, Part 1, “I can’t understand it yet, but I’ll definitely learn this.”

“You’ve never known Chemistry?” Prince Romeo took a seat opposite to XiaXin, a puzzled expression flashed on his face.

“Nn. I’ve studied alchemy, chemistry is new to me. Actually, does this place have alchemy?”

“What? Doesn’t that only exist in fantasies?”

“Hey, from my point of view, your world is very fantasy-like to..” XiaXin quickly held her hands over her mouth. Was it appropriate to expose something like this at this time? Though the Jesters had been in this world for 10 years now, people here knew nothing about Elfian Dynasty, Human Dynasty and the long-standing war between them.

Fenrir had also said before to not casually mention these things as of late.

“I’ve heard from my father, though it’s just a speculation, you came from a faraway place. Are you perhaps from another empire?” He placed a finger on his chin.

“Empire?” XiaXin thought she should just go with his assumption, “Probably? We refer to it as a Dynasty.”

“Dynasty—“ he mulled over it. “Then, do you wish to return home? Though, not that I know how to send you back.”

“I think I’ll probably stay, since...” her words were cut short when she noticed Prince Romeo’s gaze directed at—

“Wha..what’s that?”

Nina, who had been quietly observing their conversation continued to lay motionless. With her sluggish response, it was inevitable that she would be found out sooner or later, |Ekk!| with a yell, she quickly flew behind XiaXin’s shoulder.

“Too late now,” XiaXin lowered her head, and in a timid voice she pleaded, “Prince Romeo, please help keep this a secret.“

“I understand, I’ll keep it a secret. Can I ask what that is?”

{Zephyr Sensing}

‘Nobody besides the prince is present. Odd, how did he find me here?’

XiaXin cocked her brow.

“It’s a who, not what. She’s NiNa, a pixie. How did you find me here anyways?” she then pinched NiNa’s nape and dragged her out.

|What are you doing!| NiNa flailed her arms.

|You’ve already been found out. Even though he was half-blind,| XiaXin wanted to roll her eyes.

“Pixies?! That’s so fantasy.. And apparently, you can speak another language?”

“Says the person who thinks flying whales are normal.” XiaXin retorted jokingly, “Yes, our language is called called Uir.”

|XiaXin, what are you doing!? Let go!| NiNa’s yell sounded oh-so desperate.

|Opps,| XiaXin released NiNa, she went on to scuttle XiaXin's forehead with her petty hands.

“She's cute,” Romeo laughed.

|What did he say?| NiNa sat on XiaXin’s shoulder after having her fill of violence.

|He said you’re cute,| XiaXin gave her a shrewd smile. She turned back to the prince, “Unfortunately, NiNa can only speak and understand Uir, it would take some time for her to learn human language.”

“Human language?” He made a face of wonder.

“English..” XiaXin made a mental note of that. In Elfian Kingdom, it was commonly referred to as ‘human language’ despite being English due to the stigma against humans.

“By the way, Miss XiaXin, would you like to join a class? I think having the professors explain subjects that you may not be familiar with would greatly help with your learning progress,” pausing for a bit, ”Regarding how I found you, I was actually on my way to class when I stumbled upon you,” he lifted a small book in his hand, a book he found close to the shelf where XiaXin was.

“I’m interested,” XiaXin eyes were set aflame, ‘free class why not?’, “But there’s also..” XiaXin looked at NiNa.

|I get it, I get it. I’ll go find my brother, I have no interest in books,| NiNa prattled on, she looked frustrated and bored out of her mind, |Then have fun flirting!| NiNa shot a comical pose and stuck her tongue out.

|You!| before XiaXin could restrain her, she jumped away and escaped.

“Would she be fine like that?” Romeo couldn’t help but wonder what would be the reaction of the people if they saw a tiny flying girl glowing in pink.

“She can use basic spells, so she’s fine. NOW, shall we?”

“Do you intend to leave all your books here or carry them with..” His words stopped flowing out when half the books shot into the sky. The rest hovered around XiaXin.

“I’ve returned them, let’s go!”, XiaXin said with enthusiasm. She meant it when she said she would do anything to learn Chemistry.

Prince Romeo couldn’t help but remember his time with Will. That evening duel back then? He got beaten up pretty bad. Also, his father warned him about these unorthodox mages having the capability to kill at the lift of a finger.

‘This girl is well mannered so it should be fine to calm down a bit..’

Prince Romeo tried to console himself. He probably should have never said, “Don’t go easy on me!”. Fortunately, Will had conscience and used a spell to heal his wounds after the match, which lasted only 3 seconds.