Chapter 29: Tea Time

Asura's PoV (1st):

So she was that country's princess. I see. Well she did kind of seemed different and I wouldn't forget a beauty like her easily. I am after all a man. Still its not like i had the time or the interest in any relations with the humans.

I know that i am human on the inside but in this world they had made me their enemy. So i pushed her to the back of my mind and went back to my research. It went rather well because i slowly understood how that seal was created. It had hardly any weaknesses except for the amount of magic power it consumed.

I was pretty sure there was a source somewhere hidden within the academy. And the most likely place was their temple meaning the place where the light students were trained. Interesting. So I had two options:

Find and destroy the magic source or have enough power to forcefully break through. The first would take quiet some time while the second was not doable at this moment. From everything i had found out i could calculate that i needed roughly the power of three emperors to completely nullify the magic circle.

So the second method was out at least for now. Left me with option number one. That was the moment when i remembered: the princess was a light student and on top of that... She seemed interested in me. Slowly my face turned into a dark grin. I think i have just worked out how i can get my hands on that so called sage. How about some tea with princess Theresa?

Theresa's PoV(3rd):

The next few days after she had visited her father were quiet uneventful. Maya still was not tired of teasing her with Asura but at least we managed to concentrate on her studies and cultivation again. She didn't expect that her impulsive invitation from the duel would bear any fruits but it was a start. A small one.

But it was just so difficult to get into contact with him. She could only hope for the next monthly ranking competition because she thought that would be the only occasion that he would leave his tower. By now it was publicly acknowledged that the wind tower was Asura's. Rumors even had it that he had already taken control of the entire wind department but Theresa couldn't believe that.

She believed it would be way too much hassle for him. From the impression she got he valued his freedom highly. All these things and more she thought while walking towards her wind class with her friends. The girls around her were all chatting merrily but she was too deep in thought to realize that for some reason they suddenly had quieted down.

They were only a few meters to the entrance of the wind tower but everyone had stopped moving. Theresa suddenly came back from the world of her thoughts when she bumped into Maya who had walked in front of her.

„Maya what is...?“ But she stopped when she saw that Asura was standing in front of their group. He looked at them with an impassive expression but his meaning was clear: They were in his way. The others seemed to realize the same thing at the same time because everyone started to make way for this young genius.

When he passed Theresa could her the whispers behind her: „He is so cool isn't he?“ „Yes and soooo handsome, I would give anything to go out with him.“ That and similar comments came to her ears and for some reason she could not explain, it bothered her.

Just as they were to go into class a cold voice from behind caught their attention. „Princess, does your offer still stand?“ If he had stripped naked and shouted he is the king of the world he could not have shocked them all more. But the most surprised was Theresa herself. Never would she have thought that he would actually take her serious!

Flabbergasted she didn't answer immediately not until Maya elbowed her from behind. „ah eh yes, yes of course!“ she answered and finally managed to put a smile on her face. His expression though still didn't change. „I happen to be free tomorrow afternoon.“

With only that he left. Behind her the girls were back to their gossip. „Must be good to be a princess.“ „Yeah if you can have anybody of course you would go for the jackpot right?“ „Ah i so want to have tea with him as well.“

Theresa turned around and waved her arms: „Shush, we have class and we are late already.“ But in contrast to her calm outwards appearance, her insides were dancing and jumping around. Only because she succeeded of course!

The next day Theresa was way more nervous than she should be. She had everything ready hours ago even though she knew that he would be coming in the afternoon and if there was one thing she knew: He would always do everything exactly the way he said he would.

So of course she knew that she still had time but nonetheless she was nervous and her heart wouldn't stop beating fast. She hardly could concentrate on her lessons earlier and now waiting for him proofed to be an even bigger challenge.

Today for the first time in a long time she did not wear her robe but a light summer dress. Held in light blue it perfectly emphasized her near perfect figure without it looking over the top. She naturally had bright red lips and her slightly pale skin wouldn't loose to even Asura's. Paired up with her cheeks that had slightly reddened from excitement she was without a doubt the dream for any man.

But she was not expecting ANY man. She was expecting the prodigy of wind the untouchable Asura. Everyone had thought that he could not be swayed by beauty but the rumor of him having tea with her had of course already spread throughout the entire academy. She would absolutely smack those girls when she had the chance!

Her room looked lovely as well. A 140 centimeters wide and two meters long bed four-poster bed was as well colored in a light blue and stood in the far corner of the room. An oaken desk with chair stood on the opposite wall and one closet held the few clothes she had here. Next to it were shelves that held quiet a few books. A beautiful red carpet was laid out throughout the room and golden framed glass doors lead out to a balcony with a silver balustrade.

On the balcony on a fragile looking table tea ware for two had been laid out with a tray of some of the best sweets that could be bought within the empire. Everything was ready only her guest was missing. The nearer the afternoon came the more nervous Theresa became. Did she do too much? Should she have been wearing her robe instead? What if he didn't like women who dressed up? And why was she so nervous when she needed all her wits to convince him to support her family? And where is he?

If she had any experience with men maybe she would have recognized what was happening to her. But in her innocence she didn't realize: She had fallen madly in love. And she didn't even know it. When she was about to go crazy suddenly from outside:

„Seems like the light students really do get preferential treatment.“ She almost jumped but before she could rush towards the balcony doors she took a deep breath and walked instead. When she opened the doors she saw Asura floating just in front of her balcony as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

This was one of the things she found fascinating about him. He showed amazing displays of magic as if it were nothing. When she didn't say anything he sighed and said: „Princess this is the point where you ask me in you know?“

She blushed and answered a bit too quickly: „Yes, yes of course. I am sorry, please, come and sit.“ The corners of his mouth actually moved slightly up. Theresa was shocked: Did he just laugh? Did that ice cold mage that could discard common sense actually laugh just now but she couldn't think further because just that small chuckle from him had turned the handsomeness of his sculpture like face into something beautiful.

She would have never thought that she would call a man beautiful but when he smiled he was just that: Stunningly handsome and good looking. A face that every woman would dream about if she had only seen it once.

While she still tried to regain any kind of composure he floated down onto the balcony and sat down on the white chair that was prepared for him. As if the smile had never appeared in the first place Asura looked at her again with a serious face and one eye brow raised:

„Princess, is there something on my face?“ She slightly shook her head and stuttered: „Eh well no, i'm sorry i just.. well“ and her face turned into an even deeper shade of red. This was going horrible!

So without another word she sat down and poured Asura some herbal tea that she had collected herself from the royal garden. It was her favorite tea that had a full aroma with a slight sweet touch. Both started to drink tea but conversation would at first not come up.

After a while when the atmosphere became a bit awkward, he suddenly sighed and said: „Well princess, I assume that the daughter of his royal highness did not just ask me here for afternoon entertainment? You have something to ask, so please: ask.“

While he said that he took an eclair from the tray and took a bite. His eyes became slightly wider and he finished the eclair rather quickly. That actually made Theresa chuckle. Seems he really does like sweet things. She gathered what was left of her confused thoughts and started to answer:

„Well first of all, it's good to see that you enjoy the tea and the food. And yes i do have a request. As you know the grand tournament is coming up. The grand tournament is not just an event that is exclusive to the academy. People from all over the empire will come to see not just the mages battle it out for the top but swordsmen, musicians and more are coming as well to find out who is the best of the best. It is a grand festival that is held once a year. The academy uses the mage tournament to rank the departments but i think you already know that. Well you might have found out already but the empire is not as stable as it seems. There are a lot of factions and all of them have their eyes on the shining throne. My father keeps them in check but we always have to be wary and it is a never ending political nightmare.“

You could see the anger and sadness on her face: „Especially when we are always facing the threat of the northern demons, we should be united not fighting among ourselves! People die because some can't control the greed in their hearts.“ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She reopened her eyes and directly looked into Asura's dark eyes:

„I wish you could participate in the mage tournament and the swordsmanship tournament in the name of the royal family. With your abilities it should be a given who wins and if those factions knew you support us... It would strengthen my father's rule greatly and would most likely lead to a more stable empire.“ When she finished Asura sighed and said:

„So you asked me here because of politics.“ and he looked away into the distance. Was that disappointment she saw in his eyes for a second? She wasn't sure but her heart ached heavily. Still she can't stop here:

„You only have to declare that you support us and actually wouldn't have to do anything. If you have any kind of wish my father and i will be glad to do anything in our power to make it happen.“ After she finished she anxiously looked at him. After a while he sighed, emptied his cup, took one eclair and started to float over the handrail.

Theresa looked down and was about to cry. She had messed up she understood that much. But suddenly: „I really hate politics.“ She looked up and saw him standing in mid air looking at her. „But because it's you i will think about it.“ With that he left leaving behind a Theresa who's heart was beating faster than ever before.

Isn't he smooth mv groove?^^ Anyway guys i have changed the formatting, posting here first instead of wordpress which got rid of the size problem. How do you like the new font? I changed my paragraphing and i made the text smaller and added a PoV "counter" so you know beforehand when the PoV changes. Do you like? Should i write all my chapters like this now? It's a little experiment because when i have found a proper font I will try to change all my chapters like this. Anyway enjoy the chapter