Catherine POV
Several weeks later, everything was relatively well.
I heard from her that she has started eating at the dining table with her family. Good for her!
Everyone has started chatting up with her as she started to open up... except her brother.
Stella is getting worried about why her brother started hating her. Unfortunately, I don't know what made Samuel become distant with her because I haven't even tried Samuel's route in the game so I can't help her with this problem... I'm sorry for not being able to help you, Stella.
As Stella started opening up with her parents, she mentioned my name on her conversations.
Her mother told her to invite me for magic lessons since they hired a tutor to prepare them for magic academy and it would be great for a friend to join her.
She probably wanted to know more about her daughter's friend.
I got a bit scared knowing that I'll meet the duchess so I asked my mother to come along with me.
As I step in on our carriage with my mother, I become nervous.
Although I have greeted and talked to other nobles on social gatherings, they are usually just pleasantries and I usually never talk to them again.
Her family knows about Stella's past which means that they will become wary of me making sure that I don't have any bad intentions.
What if I gave off a wrong impression...What if they saw me as a bad influence...Will I ever see Stella again?
As I became more nervous, my mother held my hand.
"You should not be nervous. I became friends with Duchess Sinclair so I know for sure that she will adore you!"
"In fact, she invited me to come to her house so we can introduce our children to one another."
Compared to myself, my mother is a social butterfly. She gets along well with a lot of people ranging from commoners to high-ranking nobles.
Because of this, I kind of expected for her to know Duchess Sinclair. Thanks to this, I heaved a sigh of relief.
As I prepare myself for meeting the Sinclair family, the carriage stops which means that we are here.
As I stepped down of the carriage with my mother holding my hand, I am greeted with Stella and the duchess.
"Long time no see, Lady Stella. I am glad that both of you have arrive here safely." the duchess said
"No worries, Lady Ivy . Thank you for extending an invitation to my daughter. I hope you don't mind me accompanying my daughter."
my mother replied
"We don't mind. Well since our tutor has been waiting for us, do you mind if we continue our conversation in our garden?" the duchess said
"Of course."
When we arrived in their backyard garden, I was astonished about how expansive it is. Although we have a backyard garden, we only have vegetable plants and flowers planted on our lot, unlike them who had trees and even some animals living in their territory.
As we head to the garden, we saw a middle-aged man wearing a black robe down to his ankles. He had short brown hair with some streak of white. He had a strict yet kind aura around him and since he is hired to be the a tutor of the duke's children, he must be extremely talented.Aside from the robe, he looked more like a butler rather than a magic tutor.
As we head to the magic tutor, a maid comes running to us.
"Sorry to inform you, Lady Ivy but Sir Samuel is still preparing himself so we need to wait a few more minutes."
"That kid...I understand that he doesn't like visitors but to be irresponsible and make the visitors wait...I'm going to lecture him later." The duchess said before she heave a sigh.
A few minutes later, Samuel has arrived.
"Samuel, Why are you late for your magic lessons? You did not wait and greet our visitors yet you're the last one." The duchess aggravated by Samuel's actions
"I'm sorry, mother. It won't happen again." Samuel said
"Since you're here, why don't you greet our visitors?" The duchess said
He sighed showing that he is clearly upset.
"I apologize for my manners. My name is Samuel Sinclair. I am pleased to be your acquaintance."
"No worries. My name is Catherine Crocus. Hope we get along well." I said as I return his greeting with my own.
As we finished our greetings, we started our magic lessons.
"Greetings! I am Sir Matthew Thompson. I will become your magic tutor from now on."
"Before I teach you all about magic, it is important for all of you to find out about your aptitude towards every type of magic." The magician stated
As he said this, he showed us five colored stones and lined them up on the grass. They are colored white, red, blue, brown, and yellow .
"This stones represent a type of magic and tests how strong your aptitude towards to that type of magic. The stones represent wind (white), fire (red), water (blue), earth (brown), and light (yellow)."
"Sir, how do we test our aptitude by using these stones?" I asked
"It is simple. You just hold the stone that you want to test and concentrate to transfer your magic in it. After you transfer your magic in the stone, it will react and release that type of magic based on your magic's aptitude."
"For example, if the water stone gushed out water like a faucet, you have high magical aptitude towards water-type magic. If the water stone releases small amount of water, you have low magical aptitude towards water-type magic. If the water stone releases no water, you have no magical aptitude towards water-type magic."
"May I ask if we are going to get hurt when we're casting fire-type magic?" Stella asked
"Don't worry. As long as it doesn't touch your clothes, the magic won't hurt you." Our tutor replied
Wait... That makes me more worried! I need to be careful when casting fire-type magic!
As our tutor finish explaining to us about magic stones, we started our aptitude test.
I am the first to take the aptitude test.
It turns out that I have a high magic aptitude on light and wind magic.
My magic tutor was shocked because apparently, high magical aptitude towards light magic is rare. It is so rare that he needs to consult the magic institution about light magic spells to teach me. I can heal other people so that is great....too bad I can't heal myself.
Oh yeah! About wind magic, it is more reliant on my surroundings since it can't be used to directly attack the opponent. It can be used to manipulate objects and throw it to the opponent. I can also stop thrown objects and throw it back so that is great.
I also have water and fire magic but they have low aptitude. I can at least start a fire or splash water to someone.
Wait...I remember that there are scenes on the otome game where I burned the protagonist's clothes and splashed her with water. I should be careful when using this magic.
After finishing my aptitude test, next is Stella.
She had a high aptitude towards wind and water magic. She also had a low aptitude towards earth and fire magic.
I kind of expected it since there are scenes in the otome game where she used her powers to protect Emily.
She splashed water on the villainess when they used fire magic to burn Emily's clothes. She also used wind magic to dry Emily up when she got splashed by water. She made the girl who is bullying Emily trip by using her earth magic. Although, I am surprised that she had fire magic since I haven't seen her use it. But then again, she is also a pacifist like Emily so I doubt that she will use fire magic to hurt people.
After Stella's aptitude test, the last one is Samuel.
He had a high aptitude on earth magic. He also had a low aptitude with water, fire, wind, and light magic.
I am kind of intrigued to know Samuel's types of magic since it was not disclosed in his character summary.
It is amazing that he has light magic like me.
After our aptitude test, our magic tutor taught us about the basics of spell casting. We then tried casting simple spells like splashing water and making a breeze.
After 3 hours of learning, we then took a break.