The Orb isn't broken

"Your highness." She says worriedly. "I know this matter is of great importance since you were willing to wait for a divination to come. I have come here because of that."

He stares at her confused. "Then? has it finally come?"

"At first, i was confused to why you requested for me to find a person, an identity that was not even recorded in the record of the empire. More less, knowing that i am a seer who foresees the future that is given to me. Now that the divination came a month ago, i can clearly understand why you approached me."

"That's right, the reason why i requested your assistance was because my investigation about how i time-traveled to the past all points out to the 2nd prince, who is currently not registered in the empire." The crown prince says, still in disbelief.

After time traveling to the past, the crown prince didn't rest until he knew what was the purpose of the caster of the time travel phenomenon. Although it's been 6 years, the only evidence that he has is the fact that there was a change in the past, where the 2nd prince who was born at the same age as him, were already dead when he traveled back to the past.

The 2nd prince had a very free behavior, he often travels and comes back from time to time to the palace, he was also of great asset to the empire, he had both magical and physical abilities that surpasses any knights, and could rival enough mages.

After traveling back in time, the crown prince was horrified that the 2nd prince died young after birth, since there was no such thing in the future he had with him.

Since that was the only thing that changed since coming back, it gave the crown prince enough suspicions towards the 2nd prince.

"The 2nd prince's string of fate is tangled with another person's string of destiny." The seer says. "He is currently not of noble birth, born as a vagrant, unlike his past life."

His eye widened. "Vagrant? Not of noble birth?! Who did this?!"

"I cannot say anything further, i hope you understand your highness." She stands up, and leaves with her knights.

Leaving the Crown prince unsettled and disturbed about the realization that the 2nd prince's life changed to a beggar because of someone, and he repeatedly asks himself.

Why and who changed the 2nd prince's life?

~ + ~

As Helena holds the paper within her hands, the map of the palace, she somehow became lost due to her pride.

"Lady Helena, If you just give me the map, then we wouldn't be lost-"

Helena glares at William, making him shut up.

"We are not lost, i am just taking a break for a short while." She reassures him.

'then why do keep looking at the map, my lady?!' William sadly thought.

While looking at the map, she was abruptly stopped as she felt a strange attraction towards an aura. Judging by the map that she had, the direction was pointing out to three orbs. She instinctively followed the aura and successfully arrived at the location of the three orbs.

"Finally." William grunts in exhaustion.

Helena chants the enchantment codes and the orbs surfaced.

"Strange." Helena comments. Touching the orb, she felt a strange familiarity with the mana. Her mana was strongly reacting to the mana inside the orb. "These orbs isn't broken."

"Huh? you're right, they i don't see any cracks." William stared at it carefully.

"That's not it."

William looks at her confused.

"The mana inside is .. mixed with my mana?"

"What does that mean?" William asks.

"I don't know what happened, but every orb can only store one type of mana inside. I don't understand why my mana can be mixed with the orb."

"Then.. does that mean we can't fix the orb?" William asks, growing curious.

She smacks her head. "No idiot. Since my mana is mixed in, then it's a hundred times easier to reactivate the mana inside. If the orb was broken, then i can just put my mana inside to make it function again, i also have to fix the cracks. But since it's not broken, and there are no cracks on the orbs, then i can just activate it again."

William caress the painful bump in his head. "If that was so simple, why do you have to wonder about it so suspiciously." he pouts.

"i just told you, there's no recorded event that 2 types of mana can exist within one orb." She rolled her eyes. "Nevermind, it's useless talking to a dumb knight."

"Let's just get this over with." She starts, raising her hand, she gathers enough mana and compresses it around her.

She then releases the compressed mana to the surrounding locations of the orb, wide enough for her mana to reach every corner in the palace.

"L-Lady Helena!" William says startled. "Why did you send a surge of mana?! people in the palace might recognize-"

"Don't worry, releasing compressed mana doesn't have a mark unlike barriers so it's not easy to pinpoint from whom the mana came from. And i don't really have the time to go to every corner of the orb to activate them, so i just used this method. Don't you see it? every orb is now active once again." She smiles to herself.

'ah, how brilliant can i be?' She thought to herself.

"Let's go back to the crown prince's office since i finished my task." She said then turned away, the orbs going back to being sealed into the walls.

When she arrived at the room, she saw the crown prince doing work carefully. She then ordered William to guard behind the door before sitting down on the chair close to his table.

"Your highness, i have fixed every orb in the palace, can i go home now?"

".."

"Your highness." She calls again.

This time the crown prince lays down his papers and looked at her. "You finished it less than an hour? Every 36 orb?"

She nodded. "As you've instructed me to do so." she says confidently.

A knock came from the door.

"You highness, may i come in?" He says.

"Come in."

As Helena looks at the individual, she realized who it was. It was the famous adviser of the crown prince since he was a kid. In the future, he would make great achievements in the war against the clover kingdom.

"Your highness, a report came from the hired mages that the orbs were strangely activated, and they suspect it was because of an unknown surge of mana."

Helena gulps, looking guilty. 'is it really necessary to hire mages? he really doesn't trust me.' She thought.

The adviser hands in the report and leaves the room by the crown prince's orders.

The crown prince looks at her suspiciously after reading the report.

"What?" Helena shot back at his gaze.

"Dangerous.. really unbelievable." He stares at me. "Of course, you're an archmage."

Somehow, she felt a tone of distrust towards the crown prince's remarks.

"But since, you finished your task. As promised, you can go home."

"There's no need. i still have a lot of mana left, i can also take william with me." She disagrees at the thought of the crown prince's knight escorting her home.

"That will be better, i think it's not wise of me to escort you home anymore. The emperor's eyes is suddenly drawn towards me because of what you did earlier."

"What? why?"

The crown prince's eyes suddenly became more serious. "There's a mage in this very building right now, hired by the emperor. It's dangerous for you to stay here any longer, the emperor became suspicious of your identity. i suggest you leave right now."

"Wait.. i strolled around the place earlier! then they know already know my identity!"

"That's not it. i reported to his majesty about your visit, he already knows Helena Enilde is in here, and i also reported to hire few unknown mages to conduct the drill. I'm telling you to leave because when you created that surge of mana, i wasn't aware that the mages i hired were being observed by his majesty already. I suspect he knows that there's an individual i hired without reporting it."

"I'm a daughter of an archmage, it's normal for me to be suspected already."

He laughs. "Don't you remember your reputation at this age lady Helena?"

Helena's eyes widened.

"That's right, you're a non-registered mage, who hasn't attended the academy, also lost to a junior apprentice during the winter competition in the tower. Do you think the emperor would place his suspicion on you? No."

Helena became speechless, she was aware that she was known to be trash in her early childhood years, but hearing it in another person's mouth was insulting enough.

"Don't ever reveal you're the red magician, Lady Helena." He warns me. "The red magician is now considered as a low-level threat against the empire."

"What? just because of placing a barrier in the willow village? that's absurd."

"I told you before, the moment you save the willow village, will make you the enemy of the emperor."