Emilia looked out the window. The sky was a tar-black and large clouds were moving towards the kingdom. She could hear the sound of tapping and then it became a pitter-patter. The maids in the garden were running for cover as the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier.

The bleak sky resonated with the turmoil in her heart.

The events of yesterday replayed in Emilia’s mind.

The grand magic tournament.

The seven year old Reisha who was wearing a blue dress, metal gauntlets and had a chest plate over her clothes was raising her sword that she held in her right hand at the enemy before her, panting.

Across her was a girl, around thirteen years of age, with crimson red hair, wearing a matching red and white themed full plate of armor and had a lance a head taller than herself in hand. She too was panting, clenching her free fist, clearly she was frustrated.

The age difference was quite apparent as Reisha’s head was at the chest level of her opponent. The two were also using speed and strength enhancement spells as several blue runes were glowing on their limbs.

There were thousands of people who looked with bated breath at the arena, no one cheered, too focused to make a sound. Emilia herself who was seated in the front row with Veyron also felt herself tensing up, her heart pounding.

Reisha had taken a couple of spells that should have forced her down but despite the burn marks in her armor and the charred parts of her clothing, she stood firm. A fire blazed in her eyes.

Her opponent was no slouch either, Trishia had tanked a few spells from Reisha but the purple bruising in her skin as well as her pale look clearly displayed the effects of the ice spells she took. Neither seemed to back down and right now, they were just staring at one another, panting, trying to catch their breaths.

Their eyes narrowed.

“Erus, saleste krozum, la-” Reisha began chanting, raising her free palm. Trishia did the same, but pointed the tip of her lance at Reisha who seemed to hurry her chanting.

Water droplets gathered at Reisha’s palm, forming a ball of liquid while Trisha was forming a ball of flame in her free palm. The two guarded their spells with their weapons.

“I-..I can’t lose…” Muttered Reisha, and because Emilia enhanced her hearing, she could hear Reisha’s words clearly as if she were beside her. “Big brother….I-..haa-..haa-.. I’ll win no matter what!”

Reisha kicked the grown, and fired like a bullet, the Crimson haired twelve year old stood her ground and waited for Reisha to come close, and thrust her lance. The steel on steel plinked as Reisha redirected her lance with a swing of her own sword.

With her free hand, Reisha hurled the water ball to the opponent who didn’t back down and release her fireball to counter. The two spells collided, hissing as vapor exploded, forming a misty hot air engulfing the two.

Emilia couldn’t see but she could hear the constant sound of steel clashing against one another.

“Kyah!”

A small silhouette was thrown out.

“Reisha!” Emillia shouted as Reisha bounced a few times on the hard ground.

Reisha coughed up some blood.

Emilia felt her heart crumble, hoping that Reisha would just surrender as she was clearly in pain. Seeing her seven year old beloved daughter coughing up blood was not a sight any mother would want to see…

Emilia begged and pleaded in her mind for Reisha to surrender.

Her silent prayers were unanswered as Reisha stood up, a tear forming at the corner of her eyes as she glared at her opponent that walked out of the thick vapor.

Emilia looked to her husband, hoping that he would just declare Trishia as the winner. Her stomach dropped when she could only see the frustrated look on Veyron’s face, clearly he wanted Reisha to win no matter what…. No matter the pain.

Why? Why would Reisha go this far just to have Lazarus in her party? They’ve only been together for four months before Lazarus was forced into isolation and yet, Reisha seemed to treasure him so dearly.

Trishia charged with her lance and Reisha tensed up and striked down with all of her might, forcing the lance to hit the ground.

Reisha leaped above Trishia but was smacked away by her fist. Reisha flew in an arch and bounced on the ground. Trishia hurriedly took her lance and charged again.

Shakily, Reisha forced herself up, lips bleeding and cheeks bruising. Trishia smacked her lance around, trying to bring down Reisha who was weakly parrying her attacks and barely deflecting them. Each blow, Reisha’s little body was moved around like a ragdoll and Emilia could feel her heart bursting from sorrow.

Reisha had tears streaming down her dirt covered cheeks from the pain.

Trishia continued her assault, clearly frustrated why Reisha wasn’t going down no matter how hard she striked.

“Big-..brother…” Reisha muttered desperately amidst the assault and Emilia felt her heart split in two. She stood up. No way did she want to continue watching her daughter get hurt. But Trishia raised her lance high, intending to strike with all of her might at Reisha who was already leaning on the ground and just had her little sword up.

As Emilia was about to shout. Reisha screamed, “Haa!!” raised her open palm, a blue runic circle appeared making Trishia’s eyes widen. A burst of blue light shot forth to Trishia who couldn’t guard in time and took the full brunt of the spell.

Emilia felt the ground shake for a moment and a figure shot past her.

“Woaaahh!”

“Chantless magic!?”

“Ohh my god!!”

The crowd erupted into cheers as they gazed upon Veyron shielding Trishia from the massive ice pillar with thousands of spikes protruding. The spikes were thick and could have impaled Trishia and because she barely had any mana left, clearly she would’ve been killed by the attack.

It was a good thing Veyron had reinforced his body in case anything went wrong and he had shielded Trishia with his own body, destroying the spikes that impaled him from the sheer hardness of his defensive spells. Trishia seemed to be trembling, eyes widening and feet shaking. A small puddle had formed under her.

Emilia too could feel the numbness around her body. She had mentioned the chantless spell to Reisha in passing and demonstrated a few examples and yet-... she was able to do it? How?

It wasn’t just a problem of complexity as Emilia felt Reisha’s mana too were thinning so she shouldn’t have been able to cast a massive spell.

Unless…

Clerics ran through the stadium as Veyron raised Reisha up to his shoulder and roared.

“Reisha Valheart, crown princess of the twilight kingdom, while only seven years of age has won the Grand magic tournament!!”

The crow erupted into powerful cheers.

“Graaaargh!”

*Bam!*

Emilia turned to see, and there Count Valestine, a man with crimson free flowing hair with a dally mustache, the father of Trishia, had split the table into two and several drinks broke from the sheer impact of the blow. Emilia turned to look at Trishia who was trembling wildly and staring at her father in terror.

But it didn’t matter. Emilia jumped to the stadium as she wanted to see how Reisha was doing.

And when she reached Reisha who was already being healed by the clerics, she was already closing her eyes with tears streaming down her cheeks but-.. with a forced smile. She muttered in her near semi-unconscious state.

“W-with this-..big brother and I can-....”

Reisha’s body went limp and Emilia just took her and held her in her arms. Feeling the small and battered body of her daughter broke her heart. The cleric stumbled to re-cast their spells on Reisha. And that’s when the head cleric, tapped Emilia on her shoulders, not even bothering to await her response she said,

“The princess had used nature mana in her spell and now she’s feeling the effects of mana poisoning.”

Everything else was a blur but Emilia remembered breaking down in the stadium.

Emilia sighed. She had cried because mana poisoning was one of the most painful things you could experience but she had forgotten that Reisha was unconscious and couldn’t feel the pain.

After Reisha was healed, the very next day she was already bouncing about and ran around to tell everyone she won and how, because of that, her beloved big brother would be able to join her birthday party. Of course the maids and guards who heard this looked as if they swallowed something sour.

And of course, Reisha ran to Emilia who felt her world crumble when faced with Reisha’s innocent childish smile saying, “I won mommy! I won! With this, my big brother can be with me on my birthday right??”

Emilia sighed once more. She never expected Reisha to win, so too did Veyron and they only made that promise to appease her as last year she threw a tantrum.

Reisha had always acted elegantly and dignified despite being a child and yet when she was turned down from her request to have her beloved big brother on her 6th birthday, she cried and cried for the entire day. The same thing happened on her seventh.

Yesterday was even worse. It saddened Emilia to tell her she couldn’t as there would be royalties from other Kingdom’s who were also invited to her party and they were wary of the manaless prince.

Emilia shook her head. Trying to get the thoughts out of her head. And yet the look of Reisha when she was told she couldn’t.

The light on Reisha’s eyes vanished and she asked in a monotonous voice,

“Even when I tried so hard…?”

Emilia said nothing.

“Even when you have given me your promise…?”

Emilia said nothing.

Reisha suddenly fell to the ground. Emilia held her, and Reisha’s limbs just dangled limply. Her daughter had fainted from the shock and anger.

Reisha awoke that night but wouldn’t speak to Emilia and just spent the entire night crying in her room.

At this point, Emilia was frustrated. Thinking to herself, Where was Veyron? Why wasn’t he here? Then Emilia remembered he was sending out messengers to announce Reisha’s victory.

Was an announcement even more important than their daughter’s well being!?

Emilia sighed. Veyron was always like this… So it was up to her to deal with Reisha.

What could she do to make it up to her daughter who trained so hard and fought so hard only to have her wish be taken from her? Even Emilia herself thought she’d end up detesting her own mother if she fought as hard as Reisha did.

Emilia once again let out a sigh and just stared at the downpour.

*Knock-knock*

Emilia sighed in annoyance, staring daggers at the door as she awaited a maid to announce why she was being disturbed. But no such words came, instead it was from the person who Emilia expected the least.

“Mom?”

“R-Reisha!?” Emilia hurriedly ran to the door and opened it. There, her beloved little angel stood in her blue dress.

Emilia felt her heart squeeze from terror. What if Reisha was here to lash out at her?

Reisha was looking at her with determination. No doubt to scream at her…

Emilia composed herself and tried to think of the many things she wanted to say to her but Reisha spoke first,

“Big brother is not sick… so can he please join my birthday party?”

Emilia’s stomach dropped.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days after the incident—

Lazarus was staring at the greenery outside of the window. Reisha hasn’t come back for a couple of days now.

-’Maybe I was too harsh on her?’-

No. It was her fault. She shouldn’t have drank from his cup. Lazarus felt like he had a heart attack when she did that so of course he told her off. But Reisha didn’t take it lying down as usual and ended up in a screaming match with him.

Why was she acting that way?

It seemed like, no matter what, she wanted him to join her in her eight birthday party. She didn’t want to take no for an answer. Instead Reisha just kept rambling about how she tried so hard and won… so he had to join her.

Of course Lazarus never agreed. And while he thinks winning the grand magic tournament is quite a feat, he never got to see it. But from what Reisha told him, it seems like this year only those that were 16 years of age and less could join.

How hard would it be for a genius like Reisha to win? Probably not that hard despite the age difference… She was a genius after all, right? Nothing like the manaless him.

Lazarus only wanted her to understand that just by doing that, it didn’t really help the fact that had a disease. He had tried to let Reisha understand this but she would have none of it and only stormed off after their argument saying, “You have to join!”

And when Lazarus told her ‘No.’ she stomped her foot and cried. He wanted to comfort her but she leaped through the window and landed on the ground, crying as she ran. Lazarus wanted to follow but he couldn’t, unlike her, he didn’t have a reinforcement spell and he’d definitely break his legs if he tried.

What now?

Lazarus sighed. Maybe Reisha was never coming back after that…

The door clicked open, and Lazarus turned to see a very rare look of annoyance from Falon as he entered.

“Young Prince, was Reisha visiting you after all this time?”

Lazarus felt his stomach drop to his knees. He wanted to deny it but before he could Falon sighed and continued,

“Do not lie. The truth has already been exposed. And now Lady Emilia is ordering the maids to better look after the crown princess as it was found out that she had drunk from your cup to prove that you are not truly sick.”

If a knife had been stuck to Lazarus' stomach, he could feel someone twisting it.

“I-...”

Falon sighed. “In any case, it is not the truth I need from you. But an answer. Why would you allow this to happen knowing you might get the crown princess sick? Do you not wish to protect her?”

“I do! But Reisha-..”

“If you really did, then you would have reported this to me and I would have prevented her from coming.”

Lazarus never thought of that. How could he have not seen it… But wait..

“How’s Reisha? Did she get sick?”

“No… at least not as of the moment.”

Lazarus let out a sigh of relief, “That’s good to know…So-.. maybe I’m no longer sick..?”

“Perhaps. But we cannot risk it.” Falon adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms, “Now, tell me, how did the young princess come in despite having placed a barrier?”

Lazarus froze, he briefly glanced behind him but never enough to actually look at the window but Falon seemed to take notice and muttered,

“Ah-.. so the window. I’ll have to place a barrier there too then.”

“W-wait that’s-..”

“Do you not want to protect the young princess?” Faloned turned to look at Lazarus who looked down.

Of course he wanted to protect her, but at the same time-... that thought of not being able to see Reisha or to get out somehow scared him…

“I see, so you wish to let the princess get sick because of your selfishness.” Falon sighed, “If that’s the case, then I won’t stop you. I’ll leave this window be and-”

“No-...” Lazarus clenched his fist. A shadow loomed over his eyes as he continued, “I want to protect her… so-..” he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Falon, having gotten what he wanted, nodded and said, “As you wish.”

A second barrier was placed on the window and Falon left after setting it up.

But it was okay… so long as Reisha was fine… it was okay…

He was protecting her this way…

The very next day, Lazarus awoke and pushed the windows open. There, a transparent blue film of light blocked the window. Despite that, the cool breeze of the morning still brushed against his cheeks and he could smell the grassy scent from outside, and yet…

When Lazarus tried to touch the light, it felt as if a wall was there.

Lazarus sighed and went back to bed.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the castle corridors, a maid with brown ponytail hair sighed. She was standing in front of the door together with a fully armored knight. This wasn’t any ordinary knight but a royal knight under the direct supervision of King Veyron and Queen Emilia. The knight never spoke to her and would only stand there like a statue. So boring…

“Hey-... I know you can hear me, but can we talk about something?” Lilia asked and of course the Knight merely responded with silence.

This was worse than doing her chores. Standing around doing nothing was making her feel antsy. If the knight was here, why was she needed here too?

They were guarding Reisha’s door to prevent her from sneaking out but god… What was the point of her standing here if there was also another maid that tended to Reisha every hour. They would switch out the maids taking care of Reisha and never leave her out of sight. So what was her purpose here?

She was assigned to Anastasia so why??

Lilia sighed once more. This was all that damn prince’s fault. If only that manaless thing wasn’t here then all would be well. It had frightened Lilia when she found out Lara had gotten sick as she was in close contact with Lara too.

It was hectic and annoying but it already blew over so it was quite frustrating to know that very same issue might happen again.

“Hey Lilia!” a feminine voice called out.

“Ah!” Lilia covered her mouth and smiled, “Are you here to switch with me Ayla?”

“No…”

Lilia hung her head. “So why’re you here?”

“This.” Ayla gestured to the wooden cart she was pushing and there were several porcelain cups on it and a couple of plates.

“Oh-.. It’s time to replace the Princess’ stuff.” Lilia surmised. It was already known by everyone that Princess Reisha drank from Prince Lazarus’ cup and was at risk of becoming manaless but so far nothing has happened these past few days. Still, the head maid made it a point to just throw away Reisha’s used utensils, cups and plates. The queen approved of this method as well so it couldn’t be helped.

Still, that was so much wasted money. But Lilia understood why they were as cautious as they were as she was also hit by the disease. She’d quit if she had a better job lined up but unfortunately no one would pay as good as the Valhearts.

“Alright, thanks so much.” Lilia said to Ayla who just smiled and walked away saying, “See you!”

“Wasn’t she a maid of Young Prince Clovis?”

Lilia jolted and turned to look at the fully plated knight.

“Was she the one designated to deliver the utensils today?”

“I guess so.” Said Lilia, after all. “I am a maid of her highness, princess Anastasia and yet I am here being made to watch. We’re all busy so some tasks are being juggled around.”

“I see.” Muttered the Knight before he went back to staring at the wall.

”So you can talk!” Lilia accused, but the Knight didn’t respond, frustrating Lilia some more. She sighed, “Fine-..fine… Anyway, could you open the door so I can get these things inside?”

The knight obliged and pushed the door open. Lilia smiled, of course she could’ve just opened the door herself and pushed the cart inside, but that little pettiness was somewhat of a revenge for having ignored her. Served him right.

After pushing the cart in, Lilia left the wooden cart and went out, as she was sure the maid in charge of Reisha would sort it out. And back she was just standing there.

“Are you not afraid of becoming manaless once more?”

Lilia smiled, “I am. It’s just that lady Emilia graciously upped the salary of the maids who would do this for Reisha. And well, I’ve never had much mana to begin with so money means more to me than my magic…What about you..?”

“I am the will of their Highness.”

“That’s it?”

Silence…

“You can’t be serious…” Lilia stomped in front of the Knight, “Are you going to start ignoring me again after you just spoke to me first!?”

“I’m kidding.” Said the knight in a monotonous voice.

“That was you joking!?” Lilia smacked her forehead. “I can’t believe you… In any case, have you heard?”

“About?”

“Princess Reisha winning the grand magic tournament!”

“Yes, everyone knows.”

“Can’t you be a little more enthusiastic??”

“I am.”

“Not from your voice you're not.” Lilia went back to leaning on the wall but still peeked a glance at the Knight as she continued, “Still, isn’t it incredible? To win at such a young age…”

“As expected of a Valheart.”

“You really are no fun are you? I mean, it is incredible that she won at such a young age but I couldn’t help but feel bad for Lady Trishia Valestine…” Lilia looked down, “Even when she lost to a prodigy, she still lost to a seven year old…”

“Do not feel bad for a Valestine.”

“Why?” Lilia frowned as she glanced at the motionless Knight.

“After the late Duke’s passing, they had taken on the mantle as the head of the anti-royal faction. They deserved it.”

“I know that!” Lilia sighed, “But Trishia Valestine is still a child you know? She’s not involved in this. I said I felt bad for her, and not the Valestines. How dense can you be?”

The knight said nothing.

“Oh.my.god. I can’t believe you, you’re just going to stop the conversation just like that?”

“...”

“Urghh!”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has already been a week and Lazarus could only stare at the scene beyond the blue film of light. It was time for breakfast but he wasn’t looking forward to it… The silence was more deafening than it was three years ago… Maybe he could re-read some of Emilia’s letters?

The door creaked open and Lazarus could see Falon walking in. But he didn’t have a wooden cart with food with him… Strange.

“Young Prince…”

“What?”

Falon adjusted himself and sighed, clearing his throat before he said,

“The crown princess is sick…”