Smitten

Eru silently sat down on the dinner table munching on a cookie. It was crumbly and just sweet enough to cater to his likes. He subtly glanced up at Deric and thought, 'wow, he can even bake. Isn't that awesome?'

Silas next to him nudged. "Hey aren't you smitten with that Zhong, why are you looking at Deric like you are going to eat him," he whispered with a naughty smirk.

Eru slapped his shoulders softly. "Kaden!" she said out loud. For which Silas panicked and muffled his mouth.

Kaden who was sitting just opposite them glanced at them with a questioning look.

"Nothing....it's nothing," Silas said with a fakest smile he could muster. On his side glanced he threw a glare at Eru. "You don't have to throw me under an arrow for just a joke," he whispered like a mosquito.

"Joke my ass," Eru popped her tongue out at him.

Silas rolled his eyes and chomped on a cookie loudly.

Lumian walked in to see this exact scene. Four people were sitting on the dinner table with Yelli, the maid standing nearby serving them. His lips rose up in a small smirk. It had been so long since this house had had many occupants.

Clearing his throat loudly, he sat on the leading seat. "Eru, Silas, Deric, you three will be starting your training tomorrow at the break of dawn. Assemble outside this house, but remember you should not cross the mile stones you saw earlier," he said with a grave expression.

Everyone nodded their heads.

But there was a weird question that was haunting Eru's mind. "um, uncle, how did Deric, Silas and everyone arrived before us,"

Lumian glanced at him and chuckled. "Because they flew here,"

"What!" Eru shot up. With narrowed eyes, he gazed at his uncle. "You said that we can't fly over here,"

"Yes, that was to test you," Lumian calmly said and ate a small cookie, "tastes good Deric," he praised.

Eru was blatantly ignored. He gritted his teeth and banged the table. "I thought you tested me back in the palace itself,"

Lumian finished chewing slowly and drank a cup full of tea. Only after wiping his lips with a linen cloth did he glance up at the prince. "It's because the second and third stage of your test was conducted during our travel,"

"What were you testing? My skills? My reaction time?" Eru said with a glare. 'I can't believe he put me through so much danger just to test me. he could have just duelled with me if he had wanted but NOOO he had to throw me in a dark dingy forest and make me fight jaguar,'

Lumian noticed his glare and calmly walked over to him. He threw an unexpected punch at him. Eru dodged and retaliated with a punch. "The mist was to test your mental strength, you barely passed it."

Lumian then jabbed him with his elbow and punched him square in the face, for which Eru twisted around and sent a sidekick. "The jaguar was to test your resilience and willpower. That, you passed with flying colours." Lumian whispered with a dazzling smile. "If you had failed even one I would have sent you packing back to your dear daddy," he said and plopped down on his seat.

Eru panted and wiped his aching cheeks. "I am just stating that the training methods seem too dangerous. And besides I am here to train on my magic, not my sword art,"

Yelli's ears perked at this. She subtly glanced at the prince. 'He has magic? Why didn't I know about this? I have to inform them soon,' she thought, clenching her skirt tightly. "Prince, please excuse me," she whispered and hurried out the dining room

Deric who was eating silently noticed all her reactions. He gestured to Kaden with his eyes.

Kaden nodded softly and stood up. "I will check if we need any more firewood,"

"But we already have it stocked....." Lumian said, but Kaden did not stop even for a moment. He watched his retreating back with a sigh. "Youngsters nowadays, they fail to listen to everything we say,"

Silas squealed softly. "Eru look, Kaden loves to bring firewood. I bet he would look super sexy chopping wood. I stand corrected, he would look super hot doing anything," he said with shimmering eyes.

"You are smitten, that's for sure," Eru whispered and chuckled.