Learn.

Valerian woke up the next morning, with some anticipation in his eyes. Last night Azula had told him to focus on learning about magic and various other things. Things that will justify his presence around the princess. After all, she could not bring along a freeloader.

Valerian could not ask for anything more than this, after changing his clothes. He went out of the room. The duties of attending to the princess were taken over by Priscilla. He did not want to be anywhere around that amber-haired lady.

The boy held his magic slate under his arms and moved through the castle, going straight to the kitchen and grabbing a quick bite before he headed to wake up Rectus.

The process was quick, Valerian greeted the staff with a formal smile and came to the find Rectus. He knocked on the door but got no response. He knocked again, but he was greeted by silence.

He frowned and turned around to find the person who had come up with the arrangement, the princess. He came to the door and found Priscilla entering the room with a trolley.

She gazed at him and the child bowed his head in greeting. She asked, "What?"

This was her first communication with the child. Valerian gulped and used his magic slate to write, 'May I have an audience with, Her Highness?'

"I will inform her, and she will call you when she is ready.", after saying this, Priscilla went inside the room.

After a few minutes, the door was pushed open and Priscilla gazed at the boy, and said, "Her Highness has called you inside."

Valerian nodded and bowed his head slightly to show his gratitude and walked inside the room. The boy found Azula to be working, while the princess raised her head to look at him and was about to ask when Valerian started speaking with his hands, 'Your highness, did you not say that you will take it easy? You have just woken up and look at you. The food is not eaten completely, this is bad.'

Azula could not help but smile, to think the boy noticed the half-finished bun in front of her. She said, "I will take it easy when I have recruited trustworthy officials to fill the vacant seats."

Valerian tilted his head and asked, 'Why can you not recruit these officials?'

Azula shook her head and said, "How will I know what skills they have? I cannot have anyone come in at random, can I?"

Valerian shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Mother Diligentia will test me every time I finished a book, she will quiz me and only then I will be allowed to move to the next book.'

Priscilla snorted and said, "Do you think it is as easy to find officials as a child reading books?"

She did not hide her contempt at all. Valerian was intimidated but then he still said, 'The books told me that the purpose of an official is to manage certain departments and respond to certain situations. You can just ask them how they will react by creating hypothetical scenarios.'

His words were not heard by anyone, but his little hands shook Priscilla. She was countered and speechless by what he said. This was an insult to her.

Priscilla had a very volatile temper and that was why only Azula would deal with her. Well, Azula could counter her elements and vice versa, otherwise, this maid did not even put Rectus in her eyes, what standing did Valerian have.

Priscilla glared at him and said, "Sertum Flamma."

In a blink, Valerian was surrounded by a ring of fire, and he was shocked, Azula had the same reaction.

The spell would slowly reduce the distance and will burn the target caught within. Azula was worried about Valerian but then she saw, the ring of fire be unable to get closer to the child.

Valerian had cast a spell around him as well, 'Ventus Scutum.'

Azula saw that Priscilla still did not want to stop and she said, "Pruina Sagum."

A curtain of frost appeared around Valerian and extinguished the flames. Azula said, "Priscilla, have you gone insane? How dare you cast a spell against him."

Priscilla retorted, "He talked back to me, who is he?"

Azula looked at Valerian and caught him staring indifferently at Priscilla, she had a bad feeling in her heart and right in front of her, the boy waved his hand, the floor tiles broke and a vine crept out of it.

The vine entangled with Priscilla and before the girl could react, thorns as long as a finger, protruded from the vine, digging inside her flesh. Priscilla grit her teeth to look back at the boy with hateful eyes.

However, she was shocked to see his indifferent visage. At this moment, the door was pushed open, and Rectus walked in with a goofy smile, but he stagnated when he saw Priscilla's leg entangled with a thorny vine and her blood turning into a puddle on the floor.

He said loudly, "Val, what are you doing?"

Valerian replied calmly, with his gaze still set on Priscilla, 'She attacked first.'

Rectus cast a gaze at Azula who nodded. The Mage said, "Undo your spell, she will die."

'If not for the princess, I would have died as well.', Valerian was not going to budge, the spell he cast was called, Vitis Paralytica. The vine will leave the prey in temporary paralysis. This spell was often used for hunting beasts.

Rectus said, "Did my sister teach you this? How will she feel if she knew that you have become…"

Valerian finally turned his gaze to look at him, and asked, 'Become what? A curse, like all the others, said, come on, say it. My mother never wished for me to be bullied, even if it was the gods, she would not let me be bullied, let alone an egoistic maid, who cannot even handle the fact that she is narrow-minded.

Don't you dare preach to me, Mage Rectus? It was you, who invited me here. I agreed to be a servant for the princess, only because she has the Frost Bucks beside her.

I do not trust you, nor her, but I trusted the beast. In my eyes, humans are not better than the animals, as, for someone like this maid, she is not even an insect.'

He ignored Priscilla, who was glaring at her and turned around to look at Azula. Valerian bowed his head before he said, 'Thank you for your help, I will pay back the three hundred Shilling that I owe you. If you would allow me, I would like to resign and leave this place.'

Rectus and Azula were surprised, they did not expect the child to be so headstrong and wafter they have understood his thoughts, they could not help but feel ashamed. After all, they were the ones who insisted on bringing him along with them. The promise of his education was already delayed and now that he helped the princess, her maid tried to kill him.

Azula said, "Valerian, I apologize for Priscilla's misconduct. I also promise you, that she will never act like this against you. Please, do not leave the palace, I will feel very ashamed. I apologize, you can learn with Mage Rectus, and even go to the imperial library whenever you want to."

Rectus added, "This is compensation by her highness. Valerian, learn to make big things small, and small things smaller."

Valerian hesitated, he said, 'I will spend my time in the library, and I will pay you the money back by working in the palace. I apologize, I just got angry.'

He waved his hand and the vine vanished, leaving a lot of bleeding holes on Priscilla's leg. Then Azula winked at Rectus, who took the boy outside the room.

Azula came to the injured maid and said, "Curatio Lucis."

The wounds healed slowly and the paralysis receded. Azula said, "Do you now understand what is he worth?"

Priscilla nodded and said, "I understand, however, the spell just now. Is he able to use wood element runes?"

Azula shook her head and said, "He can use four elements now, fire, wind, wood, and light."

The words shocked the maid, she could not help but mumble, "Treasure indeed."

The whole situation was a test for Valerian. Azula wanted to see what Valerian really had in his mind. After learning the fact that he will not be bound by status and other things, she thought of killing him for a second, however, she realized that the talent of this child, no one in the Lumen empire could match.

…

Rectus brought Valerian outside the study and said, "Are you out of your mind? Attacking someone in the broad daylight?"

Valerian did not reply, he just kept walking beside this man. Rectus shook his head and said, "Fine, I will teach you the basics, come."

The young man did not say anything and kept on following him. Rectus sighed and after a few moments, he said, "Val…"

Valerian raised to cast him a cold gaze and said, 'It is Valerian, for you.'

Rectus could understand his state of mind and nodded, "Valerian, you should not have cast the second spell."

Valerian stopped walking and gazed at the man. He asked, 'Why?'

"She is stronger than you, what if Azula was not there? She would have killed you.", his tone was somber, obviously, if Priscilla can attack the boy, she could kill him too.

While he was aware that the previous situation was just a test to determine Valerian's potential. If Priscilla was really to attack, killing the boy in one spell won't be an exaggeration.

Valerian locked gazes with Rectus and snorted, the Mage looked at his signs and was shocked.

'If not for the princess to be present, then I would have cast Mors Vitis. I will never bow my head to the others unless I have done nothing wrong. If she dared to attack me, then I will do my best to return the favor, even if I end up dying.', after he said that he walked ahead.

Rectus was still standing in his place, thinking about what happened just now, and Valerian, who was a few steps ahead turned around and said, 'Before you teach me magic, learn about what self-respect and pride mean.'

Then, he walked away.