7 Chapter 6

Kathyln Glayder's POV:

Standing next to my mother, who is implying a gentle smile instead of her usual cold appearance devoid of any emotions whenever she is in a public event. My brother holds an appropriate charisma that my mother disciplined him as his daily relaxing mood is now nowhere to be seen. What's left is an expression of seriousness and confidence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my precious daughter's birthday party. I'm very grateful that all of you have come here, it's very meaningful to Kathyln. So before the party officially begins, I would like to thank you on behalf of her." My father's voice echoed in the palace's ballroom, causing me to blush slightly when he mentioned 'precious daughter'.

"And well, on this occasion, I also would love to make a very important announcement for all of this kingdom. My Kathyln, regardless of being at such a young age of 7, she has accomplished a phenomenal thing in her life that hardly anyone could have done the same. As a father, I can't be more proud of her. Please everyone, let's celebrate on my daughter's awakening as a mage!"

As soon as my father made a flaunt about my "arousal" to this world's magic, we was met by a round of loud and enthusiastic applause from the party's attendees. Apart from it, I could heard compliments being given off by them:

"Incredible!"

"Her highness is just fantastic!"

"As expected from our kingdom's leader family."

"Our princess is indeed a secular prodigy!"

Prodigy..... prodigy...

The word to praise me by almost everyone, especially father, who happened to rarely care for me before. I did acknowledge of his daily busy routine as the king of this country making him unable to spend much time with me. Hence, I have my relationship with my mother better than him. On the other hand, once I formed my core at the age earlier than average individuals in Sapin would do, I immediately got his attention. From that day, I received many things from him, such as this party to celebrate my birthday, or to be more accurate: my awakening

A prize like this, he had never given me before. Normally when it's my birthday, our family will celebrate it personally without guests. But now, he invited every single nobility of Sapin to join for this event. My mind is now filled with controversial thoughts and feelings, wondering whether my father would truly love me if not for my awakening.

"Without further ado, let the party begin!" my father's loud voice cut me from my thoughts.

Sigh, now is the part I'm afraid of the most. As I know, my father and mother now will head to other nobles to greet them while Curtis goes to meet his girlfriend, allowing me to have myself a personal space. They have done this on purpose since my mother's idea was to create an opportunity for me to meet children of nobles at this party and to make friends with them if possible. Father approved her intention, however, it was strange when he advised me to try getting acquainted with "him".

Before coming down from the stage, father gestured mother and brother to go first:

"I have a few words to speak with Kathyln. Enjoy the party, I will catch up with you later."

Mother and brother nodded as their figures joined in the bustling crowd. Leaving me behind with father, who is lowering himself, placing his hand on my shoulder and whispers to my ear:

"Do you see the boy in the corner over there?" He asks as he points to the table where a well dressed black hair boy ,who looked to be only same age as me ,sitting and reading a small book.

"Yes father. So he's one you have been talking about?"

"Correct, this is your chance. Go give a talk to him and earn his trust. By then you will possibly learn many things from him in the future, understand?"

"Yes... father." I answered hesitated, didn't want to disappoint him.

'Here goes nothing.'

I let out a sigh and walk towards him, Vigor Kinsteel.

To compare me and him. If I was called a prodigy, then this boy was known as the one blessed by deities...so as people had been gossiping about him.

To be awakened at only 1 year-old. Such a bizarre thing!

I remembered when the royal medical mages of my family informed my parents that I was a rare case with the ability to feel mana much, much sooner than regular. So father took the opportunity and gave tutors for me to learn meditation, fastening the process to observe and eventually manipulate the mana of my body. After 2 years of constant effort, I succeeded in combining the mana fragments together to form the core.

This boy, Vigor Kinsteel on the other hand, did so as a toddler? Who at that time probably was still learning how to walk and talk??

Truly an interesting individual indeed, yet I was quite hesitant to approach him, due to an... unpleasant experience of mine in the past when it came to socializing with others.

I remembered last year being lectured as a child by my home instructor. I had refused to participate in class with some of the other nobles' children. Apparently, my mother had thought it was a good idea for me to make friends while I was learning.

That hadn't worked out as smoothly as she had hoped it would because I ended up throwing a tantrum on the first day, saying that I didn't want to make friends with them because they weren't princesses like me and how annoying they were.

Ignoring the kindly knitted words of discipline from the home instructor, I had barged into my room and slammed the door shut, refusing to come out.

Later that afternoon, after the other noble children and home instructor had left, my mother knocked on the door even though there was no lock.

She sat down next to me on my bed and ran her fingers gently through my hair, what she had said to me left such a lasting impression that, even as a six-year-old, I can still almost recall her exact words:

"My little Kathyln, I know you think you did nothing wrong; everyone gets angry and fights for what they believe in. What I want you to know, my little baby, is that before you are a princess, you are a person. It doesn't matter if it's a king, a servant, a powerful mage, an elf or a dwarf. A person is a person.

"Everyone is different and that is what makes everyone special in their own ways. Don't hate someone for something that they can't change. What if people didn't like you because you have round ears or because you have beautiful white skin? Or a perky little nose?"

She proceeded to tickle me in each of the parts she mentioned, leaving me in a fit of giggles.

My mother was sensible and smart but not in the least bit cold like her appearance sometimes implied. She cared for everyone as people, not as humans, elves, or dwarves. She disciplined my brother and me heavily when it came to any type of discrimination, whether it was by social classes or race.

Ignoring my father's words, I decided to follow what mother told me instead. No needs for attempts to begrudgingly turn this boy into my friend, regardless of his "big reputation" of awakening at only 1 year old. I shall talk with him, as a person to another person. And if I ended up finding him loathsome or annoying, there are still other children in the party that I could give a chance...

'He is still keeping his mind at his book without noticing my presence , or anyone else. I believe there is a certain word to call people like him - "a bookworm"?'

"Ehem! Greetings." I greeted him.

The boy's attention instantly switches to me the moment he heard my voice. Closing his book, Vigor stands up and formally greets me back:

"Your royal highness. Happy birthday, I humbly give you my most sincere wishes for the best things to you." He bowed slightly. His voice was calm and held maturity.

"My appreciation. You are Vigor of the Kinsteel family, correct?"

"Correct your highness. It's an honor for me. May I ask how did a humble one like me get a chance to be acknowledged by your royal highness?"

"It's just…. my father mentioned about you before. No need for formality, I just want to have a little talk." I replied, surprised at the fact that he was being well educated and formal. It seemed that he was heavily taught about etiquette with royalty.

"Well then, I will be very delighted if your highness can join the table with me." Vigor kept his formal tone as he pulled the chair opposite to his seat for me with a friendly facial expression.

I took a closer look at his appearance. What surprised me more than his formality was his physical features.

He is....tall!

Too tall for a child at his age.

I was unbelievable to know he was truly the same age as me. His somewhat growth spur enabled him to stand at about the same height as my brother Curtis, who happened to be older than us by 5 years old.

Apart from his abnormal height, the charisma of him was far different from any other nobles' kids I met at annual royal balls. His firm and a little bit sharp face shows no signs of immaturity or arrogance but rather humble and confident, and it was well proportioned. He had fair skin which I could guess he inherited from his mother while his combed and tidy hair is black like mine. His eyes are like magnificent emerald, holding the similar color of it but slightly lighter which matches the accent of the suit that he's currently wearing. But somehow, they were kind of .... murky and melancholy?

Vigor suddenly expressed a bright smile as he gestured his arm for me to sit down.

I felt my cheeks hotter a little bit. I concealed all the dummy thoughts in my head as I gave him my thanks with my usual stoic expression:

"Well, thank you."

Despite the enthusiasm in his words and the friendly smile on his face, I somehow could sense a little boredom in his look. Not everyone is able to read a person as good as me thanks to my mother's teachings. He hid his feelings well with his formal acts and tone in front of others.

Pushing my thoughts aside, now I had to think about the hardest part to start a conversation with him: picking up the right words that made regular chatting and to gradually lead to the topic I wished to focus. As obviously, I knew nothing about him personally, so, it should start with getting to know each other first, right?

Vigor Kinsteel's POV:

Against my expectation, the princess just sat quietly without moving an inch. I didn't mind if the progress could go on like this until maybe she…eventually got bored and left me alone so Blaine wouldn't get a shit out of me….

BUT NO. Her dark brown eyes focused on me with curiosity for about a whole minute, which made the situation become gradually more and more awkward as I began to avoid eye-contact with her.

'What's going on in this child's mind???', I pondered, unable to read her since…she literally set her face in 1 singular default emotion.

After what it seemed to be almost…4 minutes had passed, my patient had reached its limit as my social awkwardness peaked too as she kept looking at me.

Hell, I even expected some people to approach our table to give her greetings, wishes and start talking with her. But no one at all. Maybe it was because of my presence, they misunderstood that we were talking with each other and didn't want to interrupt???

Fine. New plan: I will prolong the conversation and will direct the topics to be out of her attempts to ask whatever Blaine told her to. She can't be sitting still in one place at her own birthday party, her parents will soon call her out for the session of nobles giving her wishes and presents.

Welp, break the ice and get this over with.

"So.."

"So.."

She and I spoke at the same time, almost synchronized which caught me off guard.

"My apology…please start first.", I actively apologized.

"N-no, I should be the one to be sorry for keeping you waiting. This... is... the first time I've ever interacted with a same-age person....well, ever since that unpleasant experience. I was trying to pick up the right words so I wouldn't create any misunderstanding with you." Kathyln panicked as her gaze stopped focusing too much on me.

"If you don't feel comfortable talking right now, perhaps we can do it another time?", I gave a suggestion that clearly indicated my decline in a formal way so I could escape this situation quickly.

"No, it's fine." Kathyln then took a deep breath to calm herself.

"I can do it.", she exclaimed with determination.

'God damn it.', I swore mentally at the totally opposite outcome.

"I have heard a lot about you , Vigor Kinsteel, not just from my father but many people who speak highly of you because of your peculiar awakening at only 1 year-old. And as you knew from what my father just…. publicly informed to all the guests in this party, I too am a rare case like you, to awaken at only last week, 4 or maybe 5 years sooner than normal youngster mages. Perhaps, we who share this "strange similarity" of being born with inhumane natural magic's talents, can take this chance to know and understand about each other?"

'....Dios mío.'.

(A/n: It means "My God" in Spanish).

Unlike Claire Bladeheart, the princess gave me an essay to begin with.

"Of course, your wish is my command, your Highness. I would be….overfilled with joy and pride to become acquainted with you.", I was forcing my brain to spit out fancy terms and words.

"Very well, the first one among my curiosities is about the magic itself, did you manage to unlock any affinity?"

"Earth and Fire, your Highness." I answered.

"Really?! You're a Dual-Elemental? Can you show me?"

"Your Highness, we are in a party right now. I'm afraid it is not a good idea–

"It's my birthday party, and I would like a birthday gift from you.", Kathyln clarified.

*HEAVILY SIGHING INTERNALLY*

I snapped my right hand's fingers to ignite a small blaze of fire, flickering on my index finger like a candle. Then I added additional mana to change its shape. The blaze now morphed and condensed into a shape of small fire orb, orbiting around my finger as I controlled its direction to flow to my other fingers.

Now Kathyln's eyes sparkling with stars, signifying that she was getting interested in my small magic trick. Knowing what she wanted, I carried on with several different tricks, from making it bouncy on my palm like a ping pong ball to forming it into shapes of letters to entertain her. Unlike conjuring a destructive offensive fire ball while I was in the dungeon, manipulating a small and almost harmless tiny spark of flame like this one is nothing but a child's play for me.

Extinguishing the fire spell as I moved on to the performance for Earth magic. Focusing in my palm, I formed numerous tiny stone pebbles and forced them to gather and stick tightly to each other as I molded the overall shape of into 3D geometric shapes: a cube, a tetrahedron, octahedron and icosahedron, making Kathyln's attention couldn't get away from my displaying.

I sensed that several people around were watching us as they gossiped….Peak of annoyance right here…

But hey, the princess asked me for it, and I hoped that she was satisfied, and soon would leave me alone.

"Those were some of small tricks from me, your Highness.", I dispelled everything and as the geometries made of stone diminished into ambient earth mana.

"It was truly.…amazing. Thank you Vigor.", Kathyln with a higher tone, maybe….out of excitement I guess? I couldn't exactly read her by any means.

"You're welcome." I replied.

"You really have a lot to surprise others, I reckon? How did you achieve both of the elements?", Kathyln's voice with a little bit more enthusiasm.

"My father and mother being an Earth mage and a Fire mage respectively, is the main factor to my inheritance of their affinities. And…..I just…inevitably gained them..", I spoke in awkwardness.

"Wait, but what about the process? That's what I mean.", she continued to pry deeper.

She seemed to be actually interested in the topic of magic, in which I could be comfortable to talk about.

"About that, my mother conjured the fire spells as playing tricks for me when I was small. I watched carefully and for many times as I soon became able to manipulate fire like her. The same thing when I saw my father practice his earth augmentation combats as well."

"What, just by observing? Without any instructions and training from other mages?"

"From my point of view, observation is one of the best ways to learn. Using magic requires not only theoretical knowledge but also imagination as well. Despite you memorizing all the steps that a mage instructor tells you to sense and control the surrounding elemental mana, you can hardly succeed without the capability to imagine how you will actually…do it. Like if you never see nor interact with earth, wind, water and fire once in your life, then how would you expect to imagine you bending them to your will?

Meanwhile I watched my parents manipulate the elements in person , which greatly benefited my process to self-develop my senses and abilities with fire and earth mana as their nature and features have been imprinted into my brain. How the fire is constantly moving in chaos, urging to burn any flammable substance around it, and how the earth is solid, sturdy, stable and can only be changed by applying great forces. All of those real life experiences I got thanks to observing my parents' display of magic, thus accelerating my imagination to be effective whenever I do it. To think and believe myself can do exactly how my parents did…"

I stopped as I noticed how I was becoming carried on with and explaining in wayyyyyyy too much detail.

Kathyln's face remained emotionless as she went silent.

".....I may have just rambled, your Highness. My fault…"

"N-no, there's no problem at all. In fact…. it was very informative, thank you. I was just really astonished by how deeply understanding you are about magic in general…"

She was astonished??? As her face literally showed nothing but calmness and apathy? The novel didn't lie about her hiding emotions all the time.

"Your praises are too much for me.", I bowed down my head slightly, it was a super formal way to receive compliments from people who have higher statuses according to my mother.

'Haizzz, when will this end? And why does it take so long for my food to wait???' I diverted my eyes in annoyance, looking for the earlier waiter who wrote down my order.

'And my stomach is about to commit anarchy due to the hunger!!!'

"Uhmm…is everything alright Vigor?", Kathyln asked me.

"Pardon?", I shifted my eyes back to her.

"I notice that the expression on your face is quite…unpleasant. Is there something bothering you?", her studying eyes locked back to me.

'Nothing, nothing at all. Maybe except your goddamn father, the goddamn people who're watching me and gossiping, this long ass party, and especially my fucking food's order!—

I snapped out of my intrusive thoughts to scream out loud those swearings.

"No your Highness. I was thinking about something else, that's all."

"Well….. if it is…. because of the formality then as I told you from the beginning, no need to keep it too serious you know.", Kathyln said hesitantly.

"With all respect, are you certain, your Highness?"

"I don't want to make you speak constantly in such a way that makes you so uncomfortable, I'm trying to get acquainted with you after all."

I took a look at the surroundings to check if my parents, or to be more specific: my mother was around.

"She's not here, yes, I think I can speak freely with my normal leveled vocabulary now."

"Who?", the princess eyes widened in slight surprise, questioning my action.

"It's my mother, she won't be contented hearing me talk to you in an informal tone.", I explained with an emphasizing.

Kathyln….let out a small giggle as she covered her petite mouth to hide it.

Damn, first time for everything.

"Your mother, lady Selena Kinsteel seems to be very strict at etiquette and manners I reckon?"

" 'Very' is an understatement if you know her well, your Highness." I admitted.

"Kathyln, there you are!", a male voice filled with charisma called out the princess by her name.

I turned my head right and saw Curtis Glayder walking to our table.

"Your Highness.", I actively stood up to greet him.

"Vigor of house Kinsteel.", Curtis nodded as he switched to his sister:

"It's time for you to meet with the noble houses. They got a lot of presents for you sis. And wishes too, but the first one is more important."

'MY UTMOST APPRECIATION TO YOU,YOUR HIGHNESS!', I wished to say that outloud to the prince - my great savior who ended my coercion for socializing.

Kathyln returned back to her stoic face as she stood up:

"I have to go now. Again, ….thanks. It's been a pleasure and….really fun talking with you Vigor. See you later, I want to find out more about you.", the princess' lips curved up a little, vaguely resembling a form of a smile.

"It was my pleasure as well, your Highness.", I bowed formally but I hoped I wouldn't have to meet her again tonight. And somehow, I felt that Curtis was glaring at me…. suspiciously?

As both of them walked away, Curtis suddenly turned back, pointed his two fingers to his eyes and pointed them back towards….me??? with an angry and cautious expression on his face…..

'I had no idea what he meant….but anyway, It worked I guess.', I sighed in relief.

It was truly and finally over, I was freed.

"Sir, your order is here. One medium rare strip beef steak and one cup of fresh orange juice." The waiter bringing a plate of food informed me.

'Hell yeah! Just right about time!'

"Thank you."

Happiness overflowed my mind. The tempting cheese like smell of the cooked meat and its spices radiating from the steak drives me crazy and restless to taste it. Placing the metal food plate on my table in an elegant way along with the orange juice, the waiter then lifted up the cover, revealing the beautifully attractive and delicious piece of a tender and juicy steak. Next to it was a slice of bread and mashed potato as additions.

"Enjoy your meal." Said the waiter as he quickly turned his direction to other tables.

"Finally…. the only good thing in this party.", I picked up the fork and the knife as I licked my mouth.

'Just me and you now, my perfectly-cooked gorgeous piece of protein. Nothing can ruin our—

"There he is! Hey Vigor!!", the voice of Claire shouting my name... As she approached me closer and closer to my place, I noticed she brought along a tall noble boy with her.

'Fffffffffffuck me!'. I groaned in desperation.