0.4.

"My apologies. I can't take this request," Anna lowered her head.

"I ... see … " Flona tried her best to hide her disappointment.

"The second princess is at threat, is what you mentioned? We should warn the royal guards if that's the case," Aaron suggested.

"Mn, I think that's a good precaution. Lady Flona, though I may not be able to help you in this, I commend your bravery in relaying this crucial information. We can do the minimal for the situation, the rest will be up to those directly involved," Anna said.

"I understand. Thank you for the advice," Flona bowed.

"Sequencee, dear. Could you check if Her Highness is aware of the matter?"

"Me?"

"Yes. It would be conspicuous if I got too close. It's a mission appropriate for someone your age, yes?" Anna's eyes were sparkling.

'Ah … crap. Mom, why are you doing this to me … '

This wasn't the first time he'd seen this face from her. It only happens when she's up to no good. Sequencee heaved a deep sigh. "Understood."

"I could help," Flona said.

"No, no. My son should be able to handle it. He wouldn't be a man otherwise," Anna quipped.

'Damn it mom!'

Trotting away from the discussion, Sequencee recounted the information from Flona's story.

Flona is the eldest in her family. She was the product of a maid (who would later become the concubine) and the Marquis; her childhood had been a rough one. She has a younger half-brother named Trevor, the son of the legal wife. The Marchioness passed away during her second delivery, whereby both the mother and baby died. It was for this reason which led the Marquis to dote on Trevor more than he did Flona. If anything, Flona was the child he didn't wish to have, thus why she was regarded as no more than a tool for the family.

After becoming engaged to Boltt, Flona began noticing the change in the air around the family. Boltt seemed to have grown closer to Trevor and began teaching him things like prostitution and drinking. She had informed the Marquis regarding the matter, but her concerns were not accounted for.

One day, as she was passing through the corridor, she overheard a casual conversation between Boltt and Trevor regarding his love–Her Highness Evelyn, the second imperial princess. She didn't think so much about it, but the topic sounded interesting so she stopped to eavesdrop. That was when she heard the conversation twist in the direction of slavery and kidnap, she began to suspect that something was wrong.

She might be overthinking, and her claims sounded very much like slander towards her own family. Nevertheless, she needed to share it because her intuition was telling her that there was something much more sinister going on.

"Her Highness Evelyn … "

Sequencee found the princess seated around a group of nobles. Leticia was among them.

'How in the world I'm I going to approach her?'

Sequencee was pondering about the matter, thinking that he should brazenly force himself in, using Leticia as the bridge when …

"Um, excuse me, could it be that you're Miss Anna's son?" The third prince approached him.

"A-Ah … Your Highness. Yes, I'm Anna's son, Sequencee."

'The hell? Why all of a sudden...'

"Sequencee?"

"I mean, my name is Sequencee."

"What a peculiar name. You have incredible magic, I quite admire it. Could you teach me how you come to learn something so advanced? You see, I've always been an admirer of mages, but I could never do magic well," the third prince said with a bitter smile.

The third prince, Patrick Equestria looked like the splitting image of Prince Wilson if not for his white-silver hair.

"I-I see," Sequencee realized how he kept his plate floating all this while. It was the unexpected catalyst that led to the prince's interest.

'I should use this but … '

"I can show you a little? Though, magic is really about practicing over and over again."

"Is that so? How do you normally practice?" The third prince guided him into his clique.

"I do this," Sequencee revealed an elemental bead. A pale green one related to wind.

"What is … "

"Could it be that this is wind magic?"

"How come it's so small?"

Some had misgivings, others snickered in disdain. Sequencee found himself surrounded by young nobles around his age commenting about a simple bead. It was quite a silly sight.

"Instead of casting wind magic over and over, what I do is I condense the magic into the simplest form and keep it there. For this, I just take the wind and then compress it. That way, I can use a very small amount of mana to practice my control. It's like a very simple multiscript. Master the fundamentals and everything else will take care of itself."

Sequencee conjured a small spinning ball of wind. It would've been almost invisible if not for the scarce fog around it. The ball of wind then quickly shrank to the size of a pebble when a faint glow began to emanate from within. Compressing it further, it became a bead. Now, there were two identical beads in front of Sequencee.

"Wow ... I'll try," the third prince wasn't swept away by the rest and trusted in Sequencee's teachings.

He began by conjuring a wind ball in his hands. The gust brought about by the magic swept some of the girl's skirt up, they quickly pushed it down

"S-Sorry."

He stuttered and quickly tried to repress the wind. He grimaced. No matter how he tried, he just couldn't.

"Try to reduce the output gradually. It's difficult to shrink it when there's too much mana."

"Is that so ...?"

Trying his advice, the magic snuffed out instead. Too much mana, you can't shrink it. Too little mana, the spell crumbles.

Seeing how the prince had failed, the other nobles began trying. The outcome was similar.

"It's hard."

"How did you say you did it?"

"How does this relate to the floating plate? My teacher never told me about this exercise?"

Sequencee was bombarded with questions. He answered them one by one, but eventually they lost interest and returned to some national topics which Sequencee couldn't quite relate to.

'Looks like we don't mesh after all.'

The fire dies down into amber as soon as the wood is burnt up. Not that the prince had changed the topic, simply, the novelty had worn out.

"Sequencee," a sweet voice called out to him.

"Hm? Yes, what is Leticia?"

He turned around to meet her crimson eyes. It complemented the slightly rosy cheeks she had. Sequencee found her rather adorable.

"Her Highness wants to talk to you … "

'Jackpot.'

"Lead the way," Sequencee said amusingly.

===

"So what happened after that? Did the spear wolves die? Or could it be that the spear wolves killed them before you reached?" Evelyn, the second princess, asked with glittering eyes.

"Well ... we weren't able to save one of the warriors. The other three were able to recover after we got out of the dungeon. We encountered a lot of other monsters along the way, and the marshfield really made it difficult to move around. We were literally soaked when we reached the exit. The warrior that died actually died from the poison, not in the dungeon."

"That's quite unfortunate … "

It first began with the floating plate, then they shifted into the topic of the elemental beads, followed by Sequencee's relationship with Leticia, and now they were talking about Sequencee's adventure with his mother. The two hit it off in an instant.

Apparently, this princess is fond of adventurer. She's kind, easy to get along with, and really–innocent.

"Can't you have used some healing magic? Like restoration magic?"

"We did do that. It just wasn't enough."

"Really? Then the blood, was it scary to see?"

"No. Once you get used to it, it's quite tolerable–but it depends on person to person. I've met people that can't get used to blood no matter how they try."

"Oh, then I'm the fortunate one then," Evelyn giggled.

"You're not afraid of blood?"

"Nope. Not at all, but it's creepy though."

The two were like in their own little bubble. The nobles surrounding them couldn't help but feel jealous at how close they were.

Her Highness Evelyn and Sequencee. One was royalty, the other a commoner. It was like the budding of a love story.

"U-Um, your highness, if you say it's creepy, doesn't that make you afraid of it?" One of the nobles tried to argue.

"Hm ... you are right about this point. Perhaps I am afraid, though, not to the extent which Sequencee had mentioned," she smiled.

Again, another argument shot down.

"Oh right, just recently my mom and I actually encountered a lesser leviathan," Sequencee recalled.

The crowd of young nobles gasped.

"A leviathan?! Isn't that only found in the Taboo Sea?" Evelyn jumped.

"No, no. A leviathan is an SSS-rank creature. The lesser leviathan is only S-rank. It's found in the underwater caves connecting the Black Ravine."

"Only, S-rank?" Evelyn found that statement a little iffy. It was said that even SS-rank mercenaries would struggle to take down an S-rank creature.

"We didn't try to attack it, we just ran away," Sequencee reminisced.

"Didn't I not leave a large wound on its head? Where did that fact disappear to?" a mature voice boomed.

"M-Miss Anna!" Leticia's voice couldn't contain her surprise.

"Miss Anna?"

"Miss Anna!"

"Uh?"

"Oh dear, talking about my dark history, aren't you know?" Anna harumph. The young nobles made way for her entrance, she stood behind Sequencee and leaned forward against the backrest of the sofa.

"Dark history?" Sequencee furrowed his brow.

'Why is she here all of a sudden? I thought she left it to me to ... oh wait, that totally slipped my mind …!'

"It's a privilege to meet you, Miss Anna. Your son has been sharing the wonderful stories of your adventures together. Nothing about your dark history has been disclosed, though I would be interested in hearing those too if possible," Evelyn chuckled.

"Oh me oh dear. I can't possibly let a princess know my deepest darkest secrets, can I now?" Anna smiled bitterly.

"Of course you can. I swear by my name as princess I won't tell anyone else."

With a chortle, Anna continued. "Now, now. Let's not get too far ahead. Before I forget, Your Highness, could I talk with you in private?"

"You wish to talk to me in private? Is anything the matter?" Evelyn found the abrupt change in tone a little distressing.

"We'll discuss the matter when it's only us. Sequencee."

"S-Sorry. I forgot," he lowered his head.

"This son of mine … come on, let's go," Anna said with a sigh.

Evelyn could only be confused by the sudden call for a private exchange.