"I see your point Kara but do we really need to be that careful? Princess Mira's been blessed by a Goddess. She'll have her awakening sooner or later."
"I know that… Thing is, she hasn't."
"Hmm…"
Karliah really wanted to show off a bit of her magical prowess to Aurelia, but Kara's worries seemed to override her own feelings.
With a sigh of resignation, Karliah has to drop it.
"Alright alright, I'll put a pin on the idea."
"Did ya already promise Princess Aurelia that we'd spar?"
"Not yet, no."
"Then we'll do one next time I can leave Princess Mira ta Count Syrias or Lady Nova."
"Ok that, I will hold you to."
Finally reaching the laundry room and dropping off the clothes in their hands, the two decide to take a small break.
****
"Good morning Mira!"
Aurelia hugged her little sister who was sitting by the table waiting for her food to arrive. Though it took her a while, the girl eventually wrapped her arms around Aurelia.
"Good morning sis."
A voice with little energy behind it. After Aurelia pulled away from the hug, she took a seat and looked at her little sister.
Her eyes were only half open and they were looking downward. She was clearly still tired but Aurelia expected that.
For the past week they had been getting up early in the morning to spend a lot of time together in the library. Aurelia was used to waking early so it was just routine for her. But from the things she'd heard from her little sister's maids this was a new thing for her.
And seeing her now with bags under her eyes and a rather lifeless voice, Aurelia began to think that she was pushing her little sister too hard.
"Mira, are you alright? You look really tired."
"Huh? Oh… yeah. Yeah I'm alright sis. Just had some trouble sleeping last night."
The girl rubbed her eyes and let out a small yawn as she answered. Shaking off her drowsiness, the girl gave Aurelia a reassuring smile. It eased her heart slightly seeing her little sister smile.
Before more conversation could take place, the doors of the dining hall swung open to reveal Pyron walking in.
"Oh, well this is a pleasant surprise. You both are up really early."
"Morning dad!"
Aurelia stood up from her chair and gave Pyron a hug as he walked in. Joyous laughter came from him as he returned Aurelia's hug.
"Haha, good morning to you too sweetie."
As the two were locked in their embrace, another pair of arms came from behind Pyron and tried to wrap themselves around the two.
"I hope there's enough room here for one more."
Jyllene came from behind and embraced the two as she entered the dining hall. After a short time the three release each other from their arms.
"Morning Jyll. I thought you said you already ate."
"That was just a small snack. Nothing actually filling."
"Go ahead and sit down then. I'll talk with whoever is in the kitchen and ask for a heavy breakfast."
"Thank you darling."
Exchanging smiles with each other, Jyllene sat down next to Aurelia and waited. Then she noticed the gaze of her youngest.
"Good morning Mira. Nice to see you up at this hour."
"Y-yeah… Good morning mom."
It lacked the girl's usual enthusiasm but that was attributed to her not being used to matching schedules with Aurelia yet.
"What do you two plan to do today?"
"Well, I got a letter from Count Terain that he'll be coming here today so that we can continue our lessons."
"Is that so? That's great. And you Mira? What are you gonna do today?"
Jyllene tilted her head as she asked her youngest.
"I'm going to the library."
A short but positive answer. With Aurelia around, she had been basically dragging her little sister up out of bed early to go read books in the library.
Now that Aurelia's teacher was going to come to the palace, Jyllene was a little worried that her youngest was going to waste the day lazing around.
But with how quickly she answered, a satisfied smile showed itself on Jyllene's face.
"That's good Mira. It'll be a couple of days before Nova or Syrias can come by again to teach you so keep that up until then, yeah?"
"Yes, mom."
With everyone having a plan for the day, they all start by having a meal together.
****
It has been an entire week since the girl was free to do anything by herself, though she had no plans to do anything different. Even if her big sister was away, she was going to the library to study on her own.
What did change however, was what she was going to read.
For the past week, the books that she read with her sister were all pertaining to her awaking. But as the person who was probably looking into it the most, she had already read most of those books.
Although the girl was getting more and more anxious about it, she still had faith that with the blessing of a goddess, she too would awaken soon.
But that was a story for another time. Right now, her fiance needed help with his problem. The girl gathered all the books she could that were related to manifestations and earth magic and laid them out on the second floor study.
It was a lot of books but with her wanting to help, she was determined to get through them.
'Alright, let's do this.'
Rolling up her sleeves and psyching herself up, she began reading through all the books she found.
****
Depending on who you asked, three weeks could either be a short or a long time. For Felix, it was strangely a mix of both. Not going anywhere and just staying at home would normally be fine. Within the palace of Laten, there was a lot that he could do.
Practicing archery and swordsmanship was a normal occurrence for most nobles and Felix found them quite enjoyable. But with the snowstorm blocking the outdoor training grounds, he was stuck inside. They had an indoor training ground, but the feeling of training inside had begun to feel somewhat claustrophobic for him.
As he was hitting away at a dummy with a wooden sword, he heard the doors of the training ground open. By the door was an older gentleman with the same auburn hair as Felix.
"Good morning father."
"Good morning son. Hard at training again?"
"Yes father."
A short conversation.
"Haa…. Well, keep at it son. There will be a lot of things to do."
"Understood father."
"Alright... I'll… see you later, son."
"Goodbye father."
As his father left the grounds, Felix was once again left alone to hit the dummy.
"!!!"
Though now there was a lot more strength behind his strikes. Seeing his father gave him mixed feelings. On one hand he's his father, on the other that same man basically buried him in a cave and told him to use magic to get out.
"Ngh!"
Though he was mad at his father for doing such a thing, he was also mad at himself. After the initial shock of being thrown into an enclosed space dissipated, he had confidence that he could get out on his own.
He failed in the end and had to be set free but for three long days he was stuck in a cave unable to do anything about it.
"Careful young master Felix, both that sword and that dummy won't be able to take much more of your swinging."
Perhaps because he was too immersed in relieving his frustrations, Felix failed to notice his knight come into the grounds. Looking down at his sword, a fracture was starting to spread across its length. The dummy was much the same, having lost a lot of the straws that made it up. Seeing the damage, Felix let go of the sword and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Sorry Kirk. Got a little worked up there."
"It is alright young master Felix. Would you mind showing me your hands?"
"Uhm… sure…"
Felix stretched out his hands toward Kirk unsure of what to make of his request. Kirk produced a small tube of cream and grabbed his hands.
"Pardon me young master Felix. Please bear with the pain for a moment."
"What do yo-"
Before he could finish his thought, a sudden sting made him retract his hands.
"Ow! Why?"
"There's a lot of blisters on your hands young master. You were really going at that dummy weren't you? It seemed like you were using mana too, albeit unconsciously."
"I was?"
"I would assume so at least. The dummy's inside are spilling out after all."
Felix once again looked at what was once an intact training dummy. Indeed even at his full strength such damage would be difficult to inflict.
Looking at his hands, they were quite red and had little cuts on them. Understanding the reason for the sudden pain he offers his hands again.
Now ready for the pain, Felix grits his teeth. After a short while, Kirk lets his hand go.
"There you go, young master. Hopefully that won't get worse."
Felix thought that he only covered the blisters with some ointment, but looking at his hands they were neatly bandaged too.
"Thank you Kirk."
"Do not mention it, young master. It is a knight's duty to look out for their masters."
"Do knights also do first aid?"
"No, but this knight does. It pays to be prepared, young master. The people here aren't the only ones that are going to be sad should you injure yourself."
There was no need to question who Kirk was talking about.
"Are you ready to meet the second princess on friday again after so long?"
"Does it matter how I feel on this topic?"
Kirk remained silent to his question. It was difficult to say that Felix's feelings did matter in this regard. An arranged marriage was not so easily overturned.
"Did you have someone you had your eyes on, young master?"
"No, but it would've been nice to at least be able to choose who I marry."
"Is the second princess that lacking?"
"Compared to the rumors of the first? Yes, she very much is."
Felix let out a sigh filled with disappointment and exhaustion. As he was thinking of the girl, he remembered how earnest she was in helping him during their last date.
"I guess she's trying now."
"They say failure is a grand teacher. Perhaps in due time, she will grow into a fine princess."
Kirk was being optimistic, but Felix had his doubts. Though it was a bit unfair for Felix to think that way as right now he too was lacking in certain areas.
"You said that I was using mana unconsciously right? Can you teach me how to use it properly?"
"Certainly I can teach you how to do it like earlier, but it would not help you to manifest your mana outward, young master."
Felix raised his brows at Kirk's words.
"Why?"
"Well what you were doing before was the earlier stages of enhancement. A trick for those of us who prefer to be up close and personal in their fights or people with less than stellar imagination. It's what most knights do."
"Is that so? How come they never taught me this?"
"It's not advisable to learn both manifestation and enhancement at the same time. Also you are being trained to be a mage not a knight, young master."
"Not now, but eventually?"
"One day, yes. A capable mage should also be able to enhance their bodies. Conversely a knight worth their salt should have the capability to launch a spell or two. Mind and body should act as one and all that."
"Enhancement huh…"
Felix looked down at the destroyed dummy again. With it barely being intact and having its guts strewn about, a smile crept onto his face.
It was not on purpose, but he had unconsciously used his mana. If he could find a way to grasp how he did, perhaps it could help him learn manifestation.
He clenched his fist as thought of the day that he would become capable of not only manifestation but also enhancement.
"I hope this storm ends soon."