Ilario walked toward The Crown Princess, he bowed and greeted to her.

“Ilario H. De Fortis, greet to Your Highness, The Crown Princess. It is an honor to meet The Holy Star of Sapientia Empire,” Ilario officially introduced himself.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Princess Elysia said.

“Please forgive my rudeness, Your Highness” said Ilario politely, he held out his hand for escorting her.

Princess Elysia held Ilario’s hand. Ilario was escorting her to the dance floor while many nobles were looking at the two of us. Every movement of Ilario and Princess Elysia drew people’s attention to the extent of stopping all of their activities.

When we reached to the center of the dance floor, the first song started. Ilario led her dance and said nothing. We were dancing as if we were the protagonists in some kind of romantic movie. It was like the fantastic scene, even though there were no spotlights and video camera here.

Other nobles were gathering around the dance floor. Ilario could hear their words and see their expressions, some were admiring, and some were jealous.

Ilario’s heart was pounding fast while he was dancing with her. He had to remind himself that she was The Crown Princess, not just a normal girl whom he had met in Artis. He was destined to be her subordinate in the future.

“Do you want to give up?” mind communicated Solaris.

“Yeah…, wait, who said that I’ll court her?” mind communicated Ilario.

Princess Elysia was looking at Ilario for a short while but he was avoiding her eyes all this time. It was rude to not make eyes contact with her but he could avoid her eyes smoothly without any notice from the others. Thanks to the hard training, he was able to move his body freely without looking at her properly.

“Why are you avoiding my eyes?” Princess Elysia asked.

“I’m not quite sure about what Your Highness has meaning to, but if it means to be offended you, I apologize for my rudeness,” said Ilario politely, he did not know himself why he could not make eyes contact with her.

“Is there a need for you to be polite to that extent?” Princess Elysia asked. Her face was calm but her tone of voice was a little bit angry.

Ilario did not know why the girls always asked this kind of question to him. He needed to be polite because of your status, Your Highness!

“I am nothing but a royal subject in Sapientia Empire. It would be rude of mine if I am not being polite to Your Highness,” said Ilario calmly.

Princess Elysia said nothing until the end of first song. Ilario bowed and left her. He could not talk to her casually like he did when we met at the festival in Artis.

After Ilario left, many young noblemen were approaching her. She was politely talking to everyone like a celebrity. She was too high for him to reach to.

“How could I reach to a Holy Star? It’s impossible, right?” mind communicated Ilario, he did not know why he felt in this way.

“Didn’t you see her face?” mind communicated Solaris.

“She was sad because of you,” mind communicated Luna.

“Huh? What do you mean? I just talked to her politely,” mind communicated Ilario.

They both said nothing but made the expression of ‘You should think and reflect on yourself’ and neglected him.

Ilario looked at her, there were many boys who were asking her for dance. Meanwhile, there were many young ladies who were approaching him as well. They were hoping for a dance with him but he did not in the mood of dancing now. He left from that area quickly.

He went to the terrace to get some air. He thought of many things and recalled the day that he met a pretty girl with beautiful eyes whom he could not take his eyes off from her.

‘Click’ there was a sound from the door.

“Your Highness!” Ilario said after he saw Princess Elysia came into the terrace.

“Call me Elise,” Princess Elysia said.

“It would be rude if I call Your Highness in that way,” Ilario said, “and it’s not appropriate for Your Highness to stay here with me alone.” He did not realize that his tone of voice was rather cold.

She was teary, her eyes were full of tears after she listened to his words. He felt guilty after he saw her tears. It was strange that he felt uneasy about her loneliness and sadness every time, not even talk about cry. He wanted to see her smile with the happiness. His mind became weak when he stays close to her.

“You’re too slow when it come to the girl’s feeling,” mind communicated Luna.

“I’ll clear the way for you. Just have a proper talk to her,” mind communicated Solaris.

“Aside from light spirits, are you two the cupids as well?” mind communicated Ilario.

They said nothing. Solaris made illusions to block the door that connected between the hallway and the terrace.

Princess Elysia tried to dry her eyes with her glove. Ilario took out his handkerchief and used it to dry her eyes gently.

“Don’t cry, Elise” said Ilario kindly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feeling.”

Her tears stopped automatically since Ilario used his handkerchief to dry her eyes. She felt warm and embarrassing at the same time.

“I will do it myself,” said Princess Elysia bashfully. She took handkerchief from Ilario and dried her eyes.

“I don’t know you are The Crown Princess. I thought that you were a lady from some noble family,” said Ilario kindly.

“Is it different?” said Princess Elysia hurtfully.

“It’s really different. Are you aware of your status?” Ilario said and asked her kindly.

“But you did not care at that time,” Princess Elysia said.

“Umm…did you remember that you had disguised yourself?” Ilario asked and reminded her, “And I had been missing many years, so I did not know the identity of The Royal Family.”

“Ah…I’m sorry,” said Princess Elysia, she felt a bit guilty but her mood was better, “I hope we can be friends.”

“Of course. It’s an honor to be a friend of The Crown Princess,” said Ilario gracefully, he smiled at her.

“Haha…let’s get along well,” said Prince Elysia happily.

‘Bang’ ‘Bang’ ‘Pop’ ‘Whoosh’ the sound of fireworks.

The sky was alight with many of fireworks, the royal officers let off the fireworks as a celebration to The Crown Princess.

Ilario wanted to make a good memory for her. He activated light magic power to make mini version of the stars like the stars in the universe range, and made it shine brightly around her.

“Wow…How did you do that?” Princess Elysia asked excitingly.

“Happy birthday, Elise” Ilario said kindly, he smiled at her sincerely.

“Thank you,” said Princess Elysia happily. Her face went red with shyness but Ilario thought that it was light reflection from the fireworks.

***

The next morning at The Crown Prince palace,

Princess Elysia was looking at a bear doll. Her mind was full of what had happened last night, she smiled to herself unconsciously.

“…Your Highness,” a nanny said, she was in her mid-forties, a bit chubby, brown hair, brown eyes. She looks very kind.

“Nanny! When did you come?” Princess Elysia asked, she blushed with embarrassment.

“I just came in,” a nanny said kindly, “I knocked the door many times.”

“Ahh…I’m sorry.” Princess Elysia said.

“Is he the one who gave Your Highness that bear doll? I mean Young Lord of Fortis.” A nanny asked kindly.

“How did you know?” Princess Elysia asked, surprisingly.

“I was taking care of Your Highness since you were young, how could I not know?” A nanny said kindly, “Your eyes were full of joy when you were looking at him and it was the same when you were looking at that doll, Your Highness.” She smiled at her kindly.

“Nah…no, it’s not like that. I’m not going to talk to you, Nanny” Princess Elysia said and left the room, she blushed with shyness.

Princess Elysia went to training ground, there was a private training ground for The Royal Family. Valerius was waiting for her.

Iustitia family was one of hero families. They were serving as the royal knight escorts faithfully in every generation, they were great at swordsmanship and wind magic power. — Marquess Valerius Iustitia, who was a knight commander, commander in chief of The Royal Knight Escorts. He was a trainer who was teaching swordsmanship to Princess Elysia.

“Your Highness,” Valerius bowed at her.

After Princess Elysia warmed up her body, they both were fighting as a training. Princess Elysia was a talent, she learned everything quickly and made her performance perfectly.

While they were fighting, Princess Elysia thought of the words of her mother, The Empress, since she was young.

‘You must try harder next time’

‘You should leave your personal feeling’

‘You have to be outstanding in everything’

‘Do not disappoint me’

‘You must do your best’

…

Every words of her mother were full of expectation, she was very strict with her. She has never gotten any praises or loves from her mother. Her mind was full of what had happened in the past. She let all of her emotion out to the fight.

“Your Highness!” Valerius warned Princess Elysia before she got hit.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was absent minded” said Princess Elysia, she concentrated and fought with Valerius again.

After training, Princess Elysia went back to her palace. She saw her father, The King was walking while holding hand of her sister, Princess Aurelia. She has never gotten this kind of kindness from her father before. They look like a normal family. Her mother was only one who was looking after her strictly. For that reason, she did not close to her father. In Sapientia Empire, The King has no power or authority to rule the empire, the marriage was likely politics in the purpose of keeping the relationship with the nobles.

“Father,” Princess Elysia greeted The King.

“Elysia! Did you finish the training?” The King asked.

“Yes, I did. I will take my leave, Father” Princess Elysia said.

She knew that her father could not carry on a conversation any longer. He has always had a brief conversation with her like a business acquaintance. He did not even know her favorite food. Because of that fact, their relationships were growing more distance.

She went back to her bedroom. After she came inside her bedroom, she saw a phoenix on her bed.

“Dia!” said Princess Elysia cheerfully.

…

Back to the time when Princess Elysia was 5 years old,

‘Sob’ ‘sob’ ‘sob’ A Young Princess Elysia was crying in the garden, on the back of her palace, where she always come to play. She was crying nonstop because she got scold from her mother, The Empress, after her mother knew that she skipped a lesson.

“Why are you crying?” A woman’s voice, her voice was calm and kind.

A Young Princess Elysia was scary because she did not see people around her. She turned her head left and right, looked for the source of the voice.

“I’m here. On the tree,” a phoenix said. A fiery bird, she has golden eyes, fiery red feathers and shining with gold aura around her body.

A Young Princess Elysia was stunned by a creature in front of her. She stopped to cry, her eyes were shining while she was looking at a phoenix.

A phoenix reduced her size. She flew to A Young Princess Elysia and perched on her shoulder. She used her wing to wipe the tears on a young princess’s cheek gently.

A Young Princess Elysia was not burned or harmed by the fiery gold aura of a phoenix but she felt warm and calm instead. All of her bad feelings and memories were erased by the touch of her wing.

“Who are you? Why you can talk?” A Young Princess Elysia asked.

“I’m Dia, a holy beast,” said Dia kindly.

“A holy beast? I’ve never heard about it before,” A Young Princess Elysia said.

“Apart from Stella, there was no one could see me,” said Dia kindly.

“Why I can see you?” A Young Princess Elysia asked.

“Because you have Holy Magic Power at a very high level like Stella,” said Dia kindly.

“Do you mean The First Empress Stella?” A Young Princess Elysia asked.

“Yes,” Dia said.

‘Your Highness, where are you?’ ‘Your Highness’ The voices from maids who were looking for A Young Princess Elysia.

“We will meet again,” said Dia kindly.

A Phoenix flew up to the sky, it was shining and beautiful.

…

Back to the present, at The Princess Elysia’s bedroom.

“I miss you,” Princess Elysia said while hugging Dia, a phoenix.

“How have you been?” Dia asked, kindly.

“I’ve been busy as always,” said Princess Elysia depressingly, she felt lonely all of a sudden. “Why can’t you come more often?”

“As I had told you, your body was absorbing my power. If I stay with you all the time, it would be harmed to your body. Wait until you reached to the age of 18,” Dia said and asked, “are you lonely?”

“Umm…I’m rather familiar to this feeling,” said Princess Elysia sadly.

“How was your birthday party?” Dia asked.

“There was nothing much…” said Princess Elysia, her face was blushing. She avoided her eyes. “There were many people.”

“It’s strange. Did something happen?” Dia asked kindly.

“…I could not hide anything from you,” said Princess Elysia bashfully.

“Do you have a new friend?” Dia asked, pleasantly.

“Yes,” said Princess Elysia, she smiled the smile of happiness.

Princess Elysia told everything to Dia.

“That’s interesting,” said Dia pleasantly.

Princess Elysia felt happy every time she talks to Dia, she could talk everything to her honestly like she was one of her family and a closest friend. Dia was always kind to her, she was caring about her feeling, and helping her to pass through the hardness since she was young.

***