Chapter Fifty Three

On the other side of the corridor, there were Ethan and Erick, the twins, walking together, getting near and near toward us.

'I knew I would end up seeing him again, but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon.' I thought, feeling a bit cornered looking at Erick. But to my surprise, Erick completely ignored my presence.

The twins stopped in front of us. Ethan had a calm smile on his face while Erick was glaring at Prince Noah.

"Greetings, Prince Noah." Ethan said politely.

"Greetings, Ethan… Erick." Prince Noah said, he seemed uneased.

"I knew I was feeling a burning smell from somewhere." Erick said frowning while staring at Prince Noah with his eyes full of despise.

'Burning smell?' I asked myself, confused. 'What is he talking about? I can't smell anything.'

Prince Noah clenched his fists, glaring at Erick.

"What is your problem, Erick?" Prince Noah asked through gritted teeth, obviously angered. He seemed like he was about to punch Erick.

'W-What is going on?' I asked myself, confused seeing how things escalated so quickly.

Erick got closer to Prince Noah, obviously trying to pick a fight.

"My problem is knowing a freak pyromaniac is walking around in the palace, yet no one seems to do anything about it."

'Pyromaniac? Is he talking about Prince Noah?' I thought, surprised, looking at Prince Noah.

After Erick's words, Prince Noah's will to fight vanished. He seemed conflicted rather than offended.

Erick had a grin on his face after seeing how Prince Noah reacted. It seemed like he was going to say something again, but then all of a sudden, Ethan hit Erick on the stomach with the back of his arm, making Erick flinch back.

"Ouch!" Erick shouted in reaction.

"Apologize now to the prince, Erick." Ethan firmly said, glaring at Erick.

I was already expecting a fight between the two brothers to happen. Erick and Ethan were glaring at each other, and Erick seemed furious, while Ethan stayed firm, not intimidated by Erick at all.

Erick clicked his tongue, annoyed. 

"As if I would apologize to someone like him." He said before suddenly leaving furiously passing through the maids behind me and Prince Noah.

"Erick!" Ethan shouted in vain while his twin left.

Ethan looked at Prince Noah and said, bowing respectfully. "I'm so sorry for my brother's behavior, Your Highness. I promise I won't let him say those things again."

Prince Noah looked at Ethan with a weird expression on his face which I didn't comprehend without saying a word. 

For a brief moment, the two boys stared at each other in silence, Prince Noah seemed tense, but Ethan seemed completely calm.

"Again I apologize, Your Highness. I will go look for my brother, excuse me." Ethan said, breaking the silence.

And so Ethan left looking for Erick, while Prince Noah stayed standing in the same place without saying anything.

I looked at Mary and the other maids' faces but none of them seemed to know what to say or do. 

"...Are you alright, Your Highness?" I asked worried.

Prince Noah seemed to have snapped out of his thoughts after hearing me. "I-I'm fine… I just want to go to my room."

The maids and I followed Prince Noah back to his room, but after entering there he said. 

"Can you all leave for a moment? I want to stay by myself for a while…"

Prince Noah clearly wasn't well, but I felt like I shouldn't intervene at that moment. I don't know if I was just afraid of offending him, or if I just wasn't sure if I could even be of any help to him, but I decided to not insist.

He wanted me to leave, and so I left.

'I hope he gets better.' 

***

In front of me, there was Prince Noah, smiling.

He was laying his hand on his hips and had a childish smile on his face. But then he crossed his arms and was frowning like he suddenly got mad out of nowhere.

And then his expression softened and he uncrossed his arms.

'It is so realistic.' I thought, surprised looking at the mirror.

"If I didn't know better I would have thought Prince Noah was truly here and it wasn't just an illusion." I said, thinking out loud.

After Prince Noah ordered me and the maids to leave him alone, I went to my room and decided to practice my new magic trick for a while. 

I had the idea of trying something easier since creating the image of the King was too hard for me, so I thought about trying someone else. 

And Prince Noah was the best choice. 

In the last few days, all I've done was follow Prince Noah around the whole day. I knew every aspect of him. Also, he isn't much taller than me, compared to the King, so the illusion of me being Prince Noah seemed way more realistic. 

The illusion wasn't transparent, and it was naturally following my movies, I could even change his expression as I wished.

"But it is still too draining." I said, exhausted, making the illusion fade away, letting it reflect my real appearance in the mirror, not Prince Noah's anymore.

It was not just about how much mana I needed to use this magic, but it was also exhausting how much effort and mental discipline I should have while doing this magic. If I let my thoughts run freely the illusion could quickly fade away, or become transparent showing myself behind it.

"I should be careful whenever using this new trick." I said to myself, serious.

This magic could work not just to enter the guarded library, but now that people are looking for me, and maybe even wanting to kill me, seeing like I am someone completely different from myself can be pretty useful.

I sighed. 

'I hope such time doesn't come.'

"Alex, are you there?" Someone suddenly asked, knocking on my door.

"N-Nicholas is that you?" I asked, surprised noticing it was his voice.

"Yes, can I get in?" He asked from outside.

"Yes, of course." I said, but then I almost had a heart attack when I noticed my reflection in the mirror, showing my real appearance, my blond hair and golden eyes. I wasn't using my magic.

Nicholas opened the door, and I quickly used my magic to change my appearance back to Alex the servant, not the King's bastard child. 

'That was close.' I thought, perplexed by my own carelessness.

"Are you alright, Alex?" Nicholas asked after looking at me, noticing me nervous.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine, don't worry." I said still tense.

"I see." Nicholas said smiling.

"Is everything alright, did something happen for you to come here?" I asked worried, thinking something happened to Prince Noah.

Nicholas seemed troubled for some reason, he was blushing, not looking in my eyes. "I-I just wanted to see you."

"Oh, I see." I said feeling a bit at ease since I was already expecting the worst.

For a brief moment, Nicholas and I kept standing there in front of each other without saying anything. I was waiting for him to say something since he came to my room looking for me.

But it seemed like Nicholas didn't have anything to tell me, he was just standing looking at me like a shy child, blushing unsure of what to say. 

"H-How are you?" Nicholas suddenly asked, awkwardly.

'What happened to him? Is he like this because of his family's arrival?' I asked myself.

"I'm fine… just feeling a bit tired." I said without thinking much.

After training the illusion magic I got pretty tired, the effects of the coffee Prince Noah gave me earlier weren't kicking anymore.

"Tired? Why?" Nicholas asked, worried.

Noticing what I did, I rushely said a half-truth. "I-It's just that I had to wake up earlier today than usual because of Prince Noah's schedule."

Nicholas seemed like he just realized something. 

"Oh, I see. Maybe that is why Noah seemed like that before." Nicholas said, thinking out loud.

"Did you see Prince Noah today?" I asked, curious.

"Yes, just before coming here I went to Noah's room. I thought you would be there with him. Noah told me you weren't there with him, so I came here to look for you...Noah seemed a bit weird. I think he was just tired too then." Nicholas explained.

I felt some troubling feelings by Nicholas's words. 'Is Prince Noah alright?'

"Nicholas, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course. You can ask me anything." Nicholas said with an excited smile on his face. 

"How is Prince Noah's relationship with the other members of the royal family?" 

Besides the main family, I only know the twins Ethan and Erick, and it is obvious that Erick dislikes Prince Noah for some reason.

'The other royals are like this too?' I asked myself, worried.

Nicholas was taken aback by the sudden question, he seemed like he didn't know what to say.

"To be honest, Alex, I don't really know. I suspect that it might not be that good. Since after Prince Noah's magic awakened, I remember not much later that other royal children stopped visiting the palace and then…" Nicholas said but stopped himself.

"Then what?" I asked, curious.

Nicholas was clearly feeling troubled, he didn't seem to want to tell me. 

"I… I am sorry, Alex, I don't think I should tell you any further." Nicholas said looking down, avoiding my eyes.

I stubbornly glared at him for a brief moment wanting to make him tell me, but then I stopped myself.

"Thank you for telling me this much, Nicholas." I said forcing a smile, showing it was fine.

Nicholas and Prince Noah are really good friends, I can't blame him for not saying things about Prince Noah behind his back. 

'And Nicholas always tells me anything I ask him, so he might have his reasons to not tell me this.' I realized.

Nicholas raised his head and looked at me blushing, feeling guilty. "Sorry…"

"It is fine, don't worry." I said genuinely smiling this time, thinking how much like a puppy Nicholas looked like.

"Did… Did something happen to Noah?" Nicholas asked, worried. Probably, he was suspecting why I was asking those things.

"N-No, no. Nothing happened, I was just curious. That is all." I lied, nervously.

'Sorry, but this time it is me that can't tell you something.' I thought.

What happened between Prince Noah and Erick didn't seem to be something I could tell others.

'By how badly Prince Noah seemed after that conflict, maybe telling what happened to others could hurt his pride.'

Noticing how he was looking at me, I could see Nicholas didn't seem to believe my words.

I quickly turned around avoiding his eyes.

"H-Hey, Nicholas, I've been reading this book, and I'm loving it. Have you read it before?" I suddenly asked trying to change the topic while walking towards my bookshelf to pick up a book.

"Which book?" Nicholas asked curiously behind me, taking the bait.

"This one." I said showing him the book.

"May I take a look at it?" Nicholas asked, politely. And I nodded.

I gave him the book, he opened it and started reading a few pages randomly.

"...It is a mystery book." He noticed.

"Yes, it is a pretty good one by the way. Have you read it before?" I asked, smiling.

"No, I haven't. Did you borrow it from the library?" Nicholas casually asked, giving me the book back.

"Oh, no, I received it from a friend. After I finish it I can lend it to you if you want." I said thinking this was the reason he asked me because he wanted to read the book too.

'I'm already at the end of the book. It won't take much longer to finish it anyway.'

"F-Friend? Was it Noah?" Nicholas asked with a weird expression on his face.

"No, it wasn't Prince Noah. It was Ethan." I answered putting the book back on the bookshelf.

When I turned around Nicholas was frowning.

"Who is Ethan?" He asked.

"He is one of the guests, a royal boy." I explained.

 "Ah, this Ethan..." Nicholas said, pensive. Then he looked at me frowning again and asked. "B-But why did he give you a book?"

"Ah, well, I think it is because we became friends?" I answered though it sounded more like a question, maybe because I was also unsure myself why Ethan gave me the book. 

"We seem to have similar tastes and I think he liked me." I said, coming to this conclusion. 

'Kids don't need many reasons to befriend others after all, right?' I asked myself, realizing it was also how Nicholas and I became friends in the first place.

"L-L-Liked you?" Nicholas suddenly asked surprised, with a complex expression on his face, he was blushing, but he was also frowning. I didn't know if he was embarrassed or if he was mad.

"I-I mean as a friend, of course!" I shouted embarrassed, trying to clear any other interpretation.

Nicholas was still frowning and his face was red. 

'Why does he seem so mad?' I asked myself, confused.

Then, all of a sudden, Nicholas turned away and rushed to my door, opening it. 

"N-Nicholas?" I called him, surprised.

For a moment I thought he would run away, but then he looked back saying, determined.

"I will be right back!" 

And so, Nicholas left me standing in the doorway, confused by his sudden departure.

'...What is wrong with him?'

I was left alone and confused in my room not sure why he left, but I still waited for him unsure oh how long it would take. But just as he said, Nicholas came back and called for me from outside.

"Alex, can you open the door?" Nicholas asked, he seemed to be arfing, surely because of all the running.

"Nicholas why did you-" I was asking while I opened the door, but then I stopped myself surprised when I looked at him.

Nicholas was holding a pile of books in his arms, and with a smile on his face, he said, proudly. "Here, these are all for you!"