Chapter 16 – At the Country House

Emma's POV

  At our palatial country house outside of town surrounded by gardens, our maids and butlers gathered at the front door in two lines and greeted, "Welcome back, William-sama and Emma-sama."

  "Good afternoon to all of you, too," William greeted back positively.

Me and William then went upstairs to our bedrooms to change our clothes.

But, as I dressed in my indoor clothes, I can't help but think and remember how Robert had win against me in that short duel at school.

  "First, he's brutal at using that single, tiny spark on me," I thought in my head as I look at the vanity mirror, "and now he's so nice? He's so two-faced!"

Not long after, after changing in my indoor clothes, I returned downstairs to train up at a room with fireproof walls. I decided to train more and harder so I could win against Robert-kun. And as I train my fire magic, the feelings and thoughts of him being a brutal, sadistic person really makes me pump up in energy and strength. I really believed these strange thoughts about that boy.

But then, the noises of my constant bombarding of fire balls and fire bombs really heard by William, who then came to my training room and asked, "Emma-chan, are you okay?"

I then turned around and pretended to smile at him. "Yes, everything is fine, cous. I'm just stressed out a bit." I then pretended to chuckle a bit.

  "Can you please keep it down?" William made a request. "I had homework and mock administrative work to do so I could be next in line to the throne."

He then sighed in mild annoyance. "Man, being an heir to the throne means a lot of training at a young age. This is so hard."

He then left the room as I reassured that I'll do my training with minimum noise.

Once William went back to our personal library, where he always study and do mock work, I thought in anger, "This is all Robert's fault!"

I then resumed my magic training.

  Later at 7 in the evening, me and William are eating dinner. Our food is always high-quality and a bit expensive, and are always well-cooked by our best chefs in the whole kingdom. While our household staff are eating their own dinner at the kitchen, I expressed my hatred and assumptions of Robert to William.

  "Yeah, I saw his personality being dual," William partially agreed with me, "but I truly respected him and his clan. You should do the same thing as I do and be nice to him."

This causes me to slam my hands on the table, producing a loud noise.

  "Really? First off, big brother, and now you?" I asked in response. "Where's your pride?"

  "Look, I don't care what social class he was in." William put down his steak knife on the table, "as long as he is a nice person despite being serious and a bit brutal. And please, don't piss him off or make fun of his clan. His clan contributed most of the success at the war with Vanworth. Otherwise, he'll strike you with his lightning magic."

But, I wouldn't listen to my older cousin at all, who, despite being an authority to me, was weak at being the pride of the royal family and was always nice to people like Robert.

  After dinner, while the maids are washing the dishes for us, I was in my room doing my homework and studies. It was a peaceful night, away from the bustling noises of the town.

As I study, I looked at the framed picture of my late father, who died years ago during the war with Vanworth.

  "Father, I will win against that boy," I thought to myself while kept looking at it, "the boy who humiliated our family name in front of everyone. I promised that."