51 Chapter Fifty One

"…Was it about me?"

After hearing the conversation between the royal men I hid in my room, anxious. 

'I completely forgot about Lena and Alice.' I thought, remembering the rumors that the Anarchists took them away from the royal knights.

"As I thought, the King was indeed looking for me." I mumbled to myself, thinking out loud. 

The King believed I left the palace with Lena and Alice, and so he used the whole excuse of the murder of Elizabeth to mobilize knights to look for them, but he was actually looking for me. 

["Hundreds were killed in the past, do you think this one will be different? As I said, there is no need to worry, after all, this royal bastard will soon be dead too."] The words from the old man kept repeating in my mind.

"If the King believes I was taken by the Anarchists too along with Lena and Alice then he could not keep my existence a secret anymore." I realized.

'He even ordered the whole special force to go after me!' 

I gulped.

"That's it, I'm dead." I said, hopeless.

I started nervously holding my head, too tense to think. Suddenly all I had feared for years just started to become true.

'I should have never helped those women!' I shouted inside my head.

'It is all their fault!'

"If they didn't have stolen the palace's things from the start I wouldn't be in this mess right now!" I shouted clenching my fists.

I was panting, anxious. The anger I had for the maids and the fear of my unknown and dangerous future were taking me over. 

But then I took a deep breath, and with both my hands, I slapped my cheeks taking me out of anxiety.

"Ok… what should I do?" I asked myself, trying to think straight.

'The King sent the whole special force to go after me, and it seems they won't stop looking for me until they find me.' I thought, getting nervous. 

But then the answer quickly came to me.

"I don't need to escape. I don't need to do anything." I realized.

'The King sent them to look for me outside of the palace, so they weren't able to take away from Lena and Alice the information that I am still here.' I realized.

The only people that know where I am are Lena and Alice. And since they were taken away by the Anarchists, the King does not know I'm still hidden in the palace.

"There is no need for me to rush myself. Unless the King finds Lena and Alice, there is no need for me to worry." I said, calming myself.

'But… I still need to be careful.' I thought, tense.

If the King finds any of them, I might have a real problem.

'Lena and Alice do not just know that I am still in the palace, but they also know that I am a light mage and that I can become invisible.' I remembered.

"However… they don't know I can change my appearance."

Even if the King starts looking for me in the palace knowing that I can become invisible, maybe it won't even be troublesome for me in the end.

'After all, I'm just Alex the servant now.' I thought, optimistic.

Even though I felt more calm, I was still tense. 

I sighed, nervous.

"I should still be cautious. If I hear any news about the King finding Lena and Alice, then I might start planning to leave the palace." I thought, out loud.

'Though my ability to change my appearance might be my trump card I don't know for sure how reliable it is.' I thought, uneasy.

Even though I tried my best in the last four years to find any relevant information about light magic, I couldn't find anything.

'So, in the end, I don't know for sure if the King might or not know that I can change my appearance since I am a light mage.' I realized.

There is the possibility that it is a hidden knowledge that light mages can become invisible or change things around them like their own appearance through light manipulation. 

"And maybe only the royal family knows that." I thought out loud, anxious.

The only people who saw me using these abilities were Lena, Alice, and Theo. And all of them were surprised to see me using them.

'But Alice and Lena are commoners and servants, and Theo is just a child, so I can not guarantee that this is indeed something no one knows that is possible.'

"Before making plans, should I keep on searching for more information about light magic?'' I asked myself unsure.

But then, taking me out of my thoughts, suddenly someone knocked on my door asking. "Alex, are you there?" 

It was Mary.

"Y-Yes, I'm here." I shouted startled, then I quickly opened the door.

Mary sighed relieved seeing me. "For a moment I thought I would have to look for you through the whole palace again."

"Did something happen, Mary?" I asked, knowing pretty well the only reason she would be looking for me would be because of Prince Noah.

"Prince Noah told me to look for you." She answered, as expected.

Prince Noah told me earlier that I should go look for him after sunset, and it has been some time already since I left the royal library. 

"O-Of course, I was about to look for him." I said leaving my room. 

Following Mary I asked. "Where is His Highness, Mary?" 

"Prince Noah is in his bedroom." Mary answered.

"Was he there the whole day?" I asked, curious.

 "...Yes." Mary said, hesitant.

Although I didn't quite understand Mary's expression I didn't mind it.

'Well, Prince Noah seemed exhausted after his magic training after all.' I thought as we were approaching Prince Noah's bedroom.

"What took you so long?" Prince Noah asked me frowning the moment I entered his room.

'I knew he was going to say that.' I thought, already used to Prince Noah's petulance.

"I'm sorry for being late, Your Highness. I ended up losing track of time, it won't repeat." I said, bowing respectfully.

Prince Noah clicked his tongue. 

"I see." He said with his arms crossed, looking away annoyed.

Someone knocked on the door, and Mary promptly opened the door. 

To my surprise, it was some maids with food serving trolleys.

"Excuse us, Your Highness." They said bowing respectfully before entering the room with the food serving trolleys.

"You can place it there." Prince Noah said looking at the table in his room. 

I stared, confused, at the maids doing exactly what Prince Noah told them to do.

'Is he going to have a meal in his room again?' I asked myself, looking then at Prince Noah.

"What?" Prince Noah asked, annoyed after noticing I was staring at him.

"N-Nothing." I said quickly looking away, ashamed for getting caught.

After the maids were done setting the table, Prince Noah took his seat. And not much after he then looked at me and asked frowning. "Won't you sit?"

"Y-Yes, Your Highness." I quickly said and did as I was told.

I should be used so far, but after what happened in the servants' hall, I became too aware of how the other servants were staring at me whenever Prince Noah treated me this way.

I don't know if it was me overreacting because of that, but the look the maid had while placing my meal in front of me, made me lose any appetite I had.

I couldn't stop looking at the plate in front of me and asking myself if it was safe for me even to eat this food.

"What is up with your face?" Prince Noah suddenly asked, staring at me.

"N-Nothing, I'm fine, Your Highness." I said, startled by his sudden question.

Prince Noah kept staring at me like I was acting weird, and well, I was.

"I…I have been curious about something, to be honest." I said completely changing the subject.

"What is it?" Prince Noah asked.

"I was curious about the light mages, Your Highness." I answered.

Prince Noah got silent for a moment before asking. "...What are you curious about?"

"I was curious about what they can do." I said, unsure, not knowing how to make Prince Noah clear my doubts.

"What do you mean?" Prince Noah asked confused.

I was unsure if Prince Noah would tell me anything since we were not alone, there were the maids near us, but still, I decided to ask.

"I mean, what can they do with their magic?" 

Prince Noah looked at me as if I was an idiot. "They conjure light, isn't that obvious?"

"I know that, but… is that all they can do?" I asked, curious. 

I just realized how bad my question sounded when it was already too late. 

"They can endure chaos energy and have the strongest magic in the world, yet how can you ask if this is all?" Prince Noah asked me pretty mad, he seemed offended by my question.

"I-I am sorry, Your Highness." I quickly said, apologizing. 

Prince Noah said nothing, but he didn't seem mad anymore. Ashamed by the sudden silence, I regretted asking him about light mages.

'I didn't think it would be such a sensitive topic.' I thought looking at Prince Noah that was still frowning staring at his plate.

"...I've heard that in the past all light mages used to come to the palace to study light magic, is that right, Your Highness?" I asked curiously, hoping to break the awkward silence.

Prince Noah stared at me for a few seconds before looking away saying. "Yes."

'This much doesn't help me at all.' I thought, annoyed.

"So…Where did they use to study light magic? Was it in the main library?" I asked, knowing already the answer.

"No, of course not." Prince Noah quickly answered, looking at me as if I was an idiot for suggesting such a thing.

Not hiding my curiosity I asked. "Then where was it, Your Highness?"

***

'It might be this place.' I thought looking at a big and large wooden double door at the end of the corridor guarded by two royal knights.

Prince Noah told me the place where light mages used to study light magic in the palace was the private royal's library, a place where only royals could enter.

All he said was that this library was near the King's office, and it was guarded by knights.

After finishing my dinner with Prince Noah, I quickly left his room to explore the palace. Since I visited the King's office before, I knew already where to look to find the private library so it didn't take me long to find it.

Looking at the knights, I sighed, frustrated. 

'Even if I'm invisible, it's impossible for them to not notice the door opening, if the door is not locked. What should I do?' I asked myself looking at the knights.

An idea came to me, but it could be risky. Still, I decided to go for it.

I took a deep breath and then I forced myself to go there.

I was tense and got even tenser when the threatening knights' eyes were staring at me.

But, just as I got close, both knights bowed respectfully to me. 

"Good night, my lord. What are you doing here at such time in the night?" One of the knights asked me, kindly and respectfully.

'Just as I thought, it worked.' I thought, relieved.

Before walking toward the guards all I did was change the color of my hair to black and also the color of my clothes, keeping only the true color of my golden eyes. 

'Thanks to the visit of the royal family there might be other royal boys in the palace besides the twins and the princes. So the knights wouldn't suspect me.' I thought before interacting with them, and I was right.

Both knights believed I was just another young royal kid.

"This is the private royal's library, isn't it?" I asked, forcing myself to act confident.

"Yes, my lord." The knight promptly answered.

"Then, I can go in, right?" I asked, tense.

"If you have the King's approval, of course, you can go in, my lord." The knight answered, respectfully.

"T-The King's approval?!" I shouted surprised.

The knights seemed confused by my reaction but they tried to not show it.

"Don't you have the King's approval, my lord?" The other knight asked me, patiently.

'What even is the King's approval? A letter or something?' I asked myself, nervous.

"...N-No, I don't have it." I said, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Then, we are sorry, my lord, but we can't let you in without the King's approval." He said politely.

"I-I see…T-Then, I'm leaving." I said, quickly turning around and walking away, with my cheeks all red.

'Why didn't Prince Noah tell me about such an important thing?!' I asked myself, feeling ashamed of myself for going through this silly plan.

"How can I even go in without the King's approval?" I asked myself, nervous.

I needed all the information I could gather about light magic before leaving the palace. 

'I can't make the right decision without knowing all they know about light magic.' I thought, anxious. 

'Also, this knowledge can be essentially useful to me later.'

Although my main reason was indeed to know if they do or don't know if light mages can manipulate the light to change and alter things like their own appearances, I also got excited to learn more about light magic overall before leaving the palace.

'When I'm out of here, all I will have will be myself, so learning more about my magic will definitely be important to me.' I thought, looking at the moon through a window.

I sighed. ''If only I had the King's approval…''

But then it came to me. 

'I might have an idea!'